The other captains exchanged glances and said gravely, "Gu Master! It's another Gu Master!"
Li Yijie's face was somewhat grim. "How is this possible?"
Chen Qing said coldly, "It's not the profile that's wrong—it's the divination results. The clues from the profiling were correct; Lin Yuan indeed has issues. But we failed to divine the true Lin Yuan."
She left the latter half of her sentence unsaid.
Divination is a capability only possessed by Fourth-tier Spirit Communicators.
And the Lin Yuan divined by Li Yijie turned out to be a decoy!
"Looks like we've been played."
Lin Wanqiu crossed her arms and stood behind them. "We've spooked the snake out of the grass already—can we still salvage this?"
Li Yijie noticed everyone's eyes turning toward him and, gritting his teeth, said, "Yes! I can use these Gu Worms as a medium for divination! Thirty seconds, and I'll pinpoint his precise location!"
·
·
Gu Jianlin, upon hearing the name 'Qilin Wedge,' already understood that they weren't referring to that mask.
Back at Black Cloud City, Uncle Mu had mentioned the wedge of the Ancient God Clan—a tool crafted by the gods to anchor themselves to the real world, siphoning nature's energy from Earth to facilitate the arrival of the Ancient God Realm.
At this moment, Butcher looked visibly shocked after hearing that the Qilin Wedge was in his possession.
The enormous Gu Worm spoke with human words, continuing its speech: "Your Rank is still too low. Carrying the Qilin Wedge is just courting disaster; someday, it will be the death of you. Why not hand it over? You have quite the talent—I can take you as my disciple and grant you every form of power you desire, including evolution… and immortality."
It paused for a moment. "I know the King of Qing seems to value you highly. But in truth, his days are numbered. The karmic burden he bears might be too much for you to shoulder… And let's face it, he may not be a good mentor."
Like grains of sand gathering, the countless Gu Worms merged together. The friction of their jointed limbs echoed like an ominous sea tide.
"You sure talk a lot. But here's the issue—you already tried to use the Grave Digger Organization against me. Why should I trust you?"
Gu Jianlin said with an expressionless face, "First of all, if you're looking for the Qilin Wedge, then that thing isn't in my possession. Secondly, who in their right mind would believe someone who can't even show their face is stronger than the King of Qing?"
As his words fell, he pressed both hands against the Void, and a torrent of countless dark particles gathered and vibrated furiously.
Seeing this, Butcher took a deep breath, crouched down, contracted his waist, and clenched his fist. The billowing Qi surged outward like crashing sea waves.
Boom!
The darkness shattered as Qi Force exploded outward.
The disparity between Second Rank and Fourth Rank became painfully evident.
Even though Gu Jianlin's Dark Shock carried twice the potency, it was still confined to an immaterial domain, releasing unobservable dark energy to generate cataclysmic shockwaves and annihilate the Gu Worms.
On the other hand, Butcher simply charged up and delivered a punch—the impact felt like a cannon blast.
The Qi surged forth like tidal waves, clearing the field and obliterating the Gu Worms in a brutal sweep.
Yet, as the explosions faded, those Gu Worms—reduced to powder-like fragments—continued squirming, consuming each other to multiply and rapidly regenerate!
Gu Jianlin's expression darkened; these things seemed impossible to kill.
"This Gu Master's ability is seriously disgusting!"
Butcher cursed under his breath.
Amid the thunderous roar, an icy chuckle came through.
The enormous parasitic Gu suddenly lunged forward!
Both Gu Jianlin and Butcher instinctively reacted the same way—taking immediate action to kill the Gu Worm.
Yet, in that instant, they both realized the danger and leaped back to evade.
This parasitic Gu, every time it was killed, would explode in countless eggs that quickly hatched into new Gu Worms.
If this massive Gu Worm were shattered, who knew how many eggs it might unleash?
It was like a souped-up nightmare version of a cockroach!
This moment revealed the comprehensive aspects of the Divine Path—Gu Jianlin could use the Divine Sacrificial Fire to directly burn away the parasitic Gu's life force. However, the sacrificial array under his feet was too slow; he'd need to get up close to use it!
Yet he still hesitated.
First, he wasn't sure whether getting close would expose him to danger.
Second, he had a cleanliness obsession—fighting a massive insect up close was just revolting.
At that moment, Butcher roared, "Boss! Help!"
And in that fleeting instant, the piercing sound of Gu Zheng strings erupted like the clash of swords. Within the tearing resonance, there was an icy killing intent—cold as steel, the bloodlust thickening.
Zheng!
Zheng zheng!
The strings of the Gu Zheng were plucked—a sound akin to silver vials shattering and water bursting forth.
The musician of the Gu Zheng merely strummed three notes carelessly, yet it exuded a detached air.
With the shattering sound of a mirror, sinister cracks tore through the Void like jagged scars. This broken space could no longer sustain itself, collapsing entirely, swallowing all of the Gu Worms whole.
Butcher spun around ecstatically. "Boss!"
Gu Jianlin followed his gaze.
From a distance atop a dormitory rooftop, a petite girl wearing a cat-face mask softly brushed her fingers across the Gu Zheng strings. Her eyes sparkled like the Milky Way, icy and indifferent, casting a glance that emanated overwhelming killing intent, enveloping everything around.
The wind swept through her jet-black hair, with a black short dress accentuating her slender, graceful figure.
She was stunningly beautiful.
The parasitic Gu turned, gazing calmly before being devoured by the collapsing space, and said, "Ghost Slayer Path… Fourth-tier Xiu Luo? Interesting. Someday, I'll find you and feed you to the Gu."