Worlds’ Apocalypse Online

TN: the title refers to a practice in ancient Chinese culture, whenever an army is going out on a decisive battle, the commander would bring out a "sacrifice" (usually an important person from the opposing force that they took prisoner during a previous battle) and execute them in front of his army, thus "offering" that person to the flag of their army to boost the morale of troops.

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In the void.

The black dragon slowly transformed and turned back into Gu Qing Shan.

"I've not been able to contact you the entire time, so I have no idea how you currently are----- where are you right now?" Gu Qing Shan asked.

The scale gently shivered, but didn't give a reply.

Gu Qing Shan thought briefly and lightly tapped the scale instead.

The scale suddenly came apart and manifested into a vision.

Huang Quan.

It was the world of Huang Quan.

A large opening had opened up in the sky, from which numerous weapons, armors, and treasures that gave off an immense presence flew into the Huang Quan realm.

All of them were heading towards the Hall of Reincarnation.

All of a sudden, a sword from among them shifted and moved, trying to escape from the crowd of numerous treasures.

It gave off a gentle but loud ring as it approached the Forgetting River.

The water of the Forgetting River suddenly flew up and gently enveloped it in an attempt to take it into the river.

Unfortunately.

Even with the Forgetting River's help, this sword still couldn't escape the same invisible force that was pulling it towards the Hall of Reincarnation.

The sword gave off a wail filled with unwillingness.

At this point, another sword emerged from within the numerous treasures.

It was a sword that appeared almost like an autumn river's flow.

As it suddenly flew out, it struck the first sword with a considerable amount of force.

"Go!"

An aloof female voice resounded.

The first sword was immediately sent flying as it submerged within the Forgetting River surrounded by its water.

It was free!

The sword floated to the top of the river and loudly called out with an expectant tone towards the sky.

In the sky, the autumn river blue-steel sword rang out a single time.

A lonely female voice spoke from the sword: "I am a sword of the Samsara, representing a Samsara Deific Authority; I must first return to be sealed, as the Laws of the Samsara Clash for Supremacy dictates"

"-----stay here and wait for gongzi to arrive"

"At that time, you will once again come into his hands, pass the numerous difficult trials, triumph against all enemies, and then… awaken me once again"

"Gongzi will surely come"

"He will definitely come!"

After saying that, the autumn river blue-steel sword returned to the massive flow of treasures and entered the Hall of Reincarnation with them.

Only the first sword remained above the water of the Forgetting River.

After staying silent for a few moments, it suddenly gave off a resolute ring.

The waters of the Forgetting River silently moved apart.

The sword flew deeper into the river before vanishing out of sight.

And the vision ceased.

The giant corpse's voice slowly sounded:

"There are things that I cannot tell you"

"But I have hidden several secrets with your sword"

"…Go, retrieve the sword from within the Forgetting River, I will buy you some time and temporarily ensure that Huang Quan won't be disturbed…"

"This is our only chance, Gu Qing Shan"

"I'll leave it to you!"

After these words, everything vanished without a trace, as if nothing had happened at all.

Gu Qing Shan then felt the fish hook abruptly speeding up.

At the very next instant, the scenery around him changed.

He found himself violently crashing into a cold stony surface.

Two voices cheered:

"Rhode is back!"

"We finally managed to save him, that's great!"

Gu Qing Shan slowly pulled himself back up and looked around.

Only to see that Xiao Lang and Liu Li had respectively put their fishing rod and glazed lamp away, both with an excited expression on their faces.

"You guys… how were you able to save me?" Gu Qing Shan asked.

"Huang Quan bestowed us a great deal of Merits, allowing us to promote our Deific Authorities as well as our strength, so we combined our powers to invoke a Divine Skill to retrieve you" Xiao Lang explained.

Liu Li waved her hands dismissively: "No need to thank us, it's just that uncle is such a good meal ticket that we can't just lose you like that"

Gu Qing Shan felt a sense of warmth from the bottom of his heart and smiled: "Thanks a lot, both of you"

He began to observe his surroundings and found that this was one of the side halls of the Hall of Reincarnation; there were several Deities with various equipment and tools in their hands, seemingly trying to assess something.

Their gazes were filled with caution.

One of the Deities stood ahead of them all, seemingly the one in charge of this matter.

Noticing Gu Qing Shan's gaze, Xiao Lang explained: "It's ok, they're just worried that we might have carelessly summoned the enemy here as well"

"They might ask you a few questions, just answer honestly" Liu Li added.

As soon as they said that, the leader Deity approached.

「 Rhode, there is a worry of an unknown monster attaching itself to you and trying to sneak into this realm; furthermore, we also want to collect data about your battle, so I will be asking you a few questions 」

The Deity began to operate a jade tray in his hand while solemnly explaining to him.

"Got it" Gu Qing Shan said.

「 Your task 」

"A suicide mission"

「 Please explain in detail your combat situation 」

Gu Qing Shan then explained everything from beginning to end.

The Deity nodded continuously, then finally sighed: 「 Part of the reason why you were able to survive was that the monster underestimated you, only leaving its subordinates to kill you; the other part was that your improvisation abilities were impressive, and finally that the two Deities here saved you 」

"Does that count as deserting?" Gu Qing Shan asked.

「 If it did, you would have been dead as soon as you returned------ no one can deceive the Laws of Huang Quan 」the Deity replied.

He then curiously asked: 「 How come when that monster chanted the same incantation, it was still restrained and was unable to escape like you did? 」

"Ah, about that. Actually, that incantation requires a corresponding catalyst in order to invoke; since that monster only chanted the incantation, it naturally couldn't escape" Gu Qing Shan explained.

He casually showed him a Card.

The Card depicted a group of impoverished people whose entire bodies were clad in tattered clothes while being surrounded by fog, all of which were kneeling while praying devoutly to the sky; in the air above, a man with wings of light was looking down pitiably on them while radiating brilliant white light.

Indeed, this was a Card from the Condemnation Codex, the evolved form of [Divine Word – Cleanse].

When he first saw the starlight enemies, when the Book of the Sea said that he still owed '3000 years of debt', it automatically flipped open to display this Card to him.

Being the shrewd person that he was, Gu Qing Shan naturally understood what it wanted to say.

Since the Saint Pillar book didn't explain anything, it was obviously something that couldn't be revealed.

But even though it didn't say anything, it handed him this Card, which shows that it still wanted to help Gu Qing Shan.