Worlds’ Apocalypse Online

「 Don't stop, they're observing you, keep walking 」the sword spirit's voice echoed again.

Gu Qing Shan understood what it meant.

He continued to follow the path and headed towards the entrance of the palace.

At this point, he had lost all of his powers and was unable to even send his voice, but the Samsara Delimitation Divine Sword's spirit had actively formed a telepathic connection with him.

The sword spirit----- seemingly sensing something, started speaking rapidly: 「 So it was the Palace of Fear. With your current strength, you wouldn't be able to resist it at all----- the situation has gotten extremely dangerous, you're at risk of being devoured at any moment! 」

Gu Qing Shan's expression remained unchanged and silently asked: "Then what should I do now? Wait, do you know about everything that happened up to this point?"

The sword spirit replied: 「 Not at all 」

"Should I tell you everything that has happened until now?" Gu Qing Shan asked.

「 No, there's no time for that 」the sword spirit hurriedly continued: 「 Since you were able to save all of my blade's fragments, I'll save you in return for now 」

Sha sha sha.

His surroundings had gone extremely quiet, to the point that not even the wind could be heard, the only audible sound was Gu Qing Shan's own footsteps.

There wasn't anyone on his way, no strange or unusual monsters blocking his path.

-------there was only a short distance left from the palace.

The sword spirit's voice became even more hurried:

「 My power has been practically drained, I will soon fall back into slumber 」

「 Take this 」

「 No one would be able to help you, even I can only provide a little bit of support----- if you can survive through the Palace of Fear, we will have a chance to meet again 」

The sword spirit's voice disappeared.

At the same time, Gu Qing Shan felt something cold in the palm of his hand.

He didn't look down to see what it was and instead maintained a calm expression, as if nothing had actually happened at all.

Lines of bloody glowing text were scrolling through the void of space:

[You've received a Delimitation Divine Sword fragment (1)]

[This fragment contains the following unique power: Govern Spirit]

[Govern Spirit: You can die at any moment you wish, up until the moment you want to revive]

Gu Qing Shan's thoughts turned.

This ability… seems to carry some sort of implications…

He continued to ponder the ability's use as he quickly made his way forward along the stone path.

The flight of stairs leading up to the entrance of the palace wasn't very long, so he soon reached a floating piece of paper.

Gu Qing Shan approached it and read what was written:

[Palace of Fear]

[Those who enter this palace will instantly lose their body and soul if they feel any hint of fear in their hearts]

[Special note:]

[Without a proper reason, you cannot refuse anything within the Palace of Fear, otherwise, your body and soul would also be confiscated by the palace]

After Gu Qing Shan finished reading, the piece of paper immediately burst into flames.

------so the difficulty has increased.

Originally, the rule only stated that I can't feel fear, but now there's also another rule that forbids refusal unless I have a proper reason.

Gu Qing Shan silently sunk into thought.

All of a sudden, his surroundings changed.

The entire world had vanished.

When Gu Qing Shan regained his senses, he found that he was standing on the side of the road with a tombstone as tall as a mountain sitting right behind him.

A long horse carriage being pulled by four skeletal horses was rapidly approaching him.

The carriage door opened.

A skeleton with a whip in its hand turned around and looked at Gu Qing Shan.

「 Get on the carriage, I will take you to the village 」the skeleton said.

Gu Qing Shan looked at it, then behind it------

There was another group of skeletons sitting behind the skeleton in front, all of which were staring straight at Gu Qing Shan.

Only a single metal seat remained.

There was a pile of burning coal right beneath the seat, heating up to the point of glowing red.

The seat itself was also filled with green glowing spikes.

Several winged black snakes were also flying around the seat like a bunch of flies.

-------if I sit on that, I can forget about leaving alive.

Gu Qing Shan went silent and tried to think of a proper reason to refuse it, but the coachman skeleton had already spoken up ahead of him:

「 This carriage is the only one allowed to enter the village, if you pass up on this chance, you will be swallowed up by the darkness 」

「 Hurry up and get on 」

Gu Qing Shan was instantly speechless.

The darkness around him immediately began to creep closer, almost like it was ready to cover this entire space at any moment.

----no matter what kind of reason he gave, none of it would be as important as his survival, so the skeleton had preemptively cut off all of his excuses.

Should I really sit on that seat?

But what other proper reasons would there be for me to not board the carriage? Or not sit on that seat?

Gu Qing Shan stayed silent for a split second before drawing an arrow from his back.

"This is a robbery"

He spat out those words.

As soon as he did, a thunderous boom resounded from his bow.

Gu Qing Shan's hands moved like afterimages, emptying the entire quiver on his back in a mere breath's worth of time.

Clatter------

The skeletons were completely decimated by the arrows and broken into pieces.

An entire carriage filled with skeletons had been killed.

Gu Qing Shan sighed.

It's still early so these guys are all weak, that's the only reason I was able to do this.

With my powers sealed away, what should I do if I run into something I can't defeat?

He looked up, only to see the darkness from above was creeping increasingly closer to him.

Something seemed to be continuously moving in that darkness.

Gu Qing Shan didn't hesitate any longer and stepped onto the carriage, picking up the whip and snapping it towards the horses.

"Yah!"

The carriage slowly moved forward.

A line of bloody red text appeared in the void of space: