Chapter 58

The dim light undulated like water waves.

In the passage, luminous moss layered thickly covered the rock walls on both sides, and various luminous plants hung from the ceiling.

Clumps of luminous mushrooms of various sizes grew scattered in the passage; many small flying insects flitted among them, their luminescent organs emitting a hazy glow that illuminated a small area around.

The passage was sometimes narrow, sometimes wide.

At its narrowest it was only a dozen meters wide; at its widest it could almost hold a gathering of ten thousand people.

Stalactites and stone pillars of varying thickness stood upright; in the wider sections, thick vines coiled around the massive stone pillars, their leaves flickering with luminescence, light waves like water flowing through their veins and leaves.

Old Iron sprinted wildly through the passage, exerting all his strength.

His body was heavy, his four claws made of metal, yet he landed silently, like a gentle breeze drifting through the passage.

Wu Tie lay limp on his back, his limbs weakly shaking. Just now Old Iron had poured seven or eight bottles of white liquid into him, then smeared a thick layer all over his body.

High temperature continued to surge from Wu Tie's bones, burning his flesh to a ruin, yet the white liquid constantly repaired it, causing his flesh to rapidly regenerate.

The first phalanx of his left index finger continuously emitted a dim gloomy light, like water flowing into his entire skeleton. Under the high-temperature tempering, Wu Tie's bones continually fused with the metallic essence of two metallic bodies.

His bones became harder, more flexible, and their density increased.

Accompanied by faint metallic clinks, Wu Tie's bones grew rapidly. Old Iron ran in the passage for over two hours, and Wu Tie had grown about half a foot taller.

The rapid bone growth stretched his flesh, leaving it bloody and blurred, with terrible cracks all over, accompanied by faint sounds of his meridians and muscles being torn.

A faint footstep sound came from the passage; a group of wandering gray dwarves mixed with a few lizardmen sneaked out from a side passage, blocking Old Iron's way.

Before these wanderers of unknown profession and identity could make a sound, Old Iron let out a loud 'wang' roar that shook the passage, sending out a white shockwave.

The large clumps of mushrooms were shattered by the shock, various juices splattered everywhere, countless vine leaves flew up wildly; the wanderers screamed and crawled on the ground, but by the time they lifted their heads, Old Iron had vanished.

After continuing to sprint for five or six hours, the heat on Wu Tie's body gradually dissipated; under the strong effect of the white liquid, his wounds slowly healed, he grunted and woke up.

Old Iron suddenly stopped, his body swayed, and he set Wu Tie down on the ground.

Here is a fractured rock layer in the passage; ahead of Old Iron and Wu Tie, more than ten meters away, lies a bottomless cliff.

The opposite passage is a kilometer wide; a stone beam spans the cliff, connecting the passages.

At that end of the stone beam, at the exit of the opposite passage stands a stone fort; its stone walls several meters high seal off the passage, with only a small gate in the wall for entry and exit.

After running so long, Old Iron brought Wu Tie away from the territory of Thousand Fish City into another faction's domain.

"Old Iron, what's wrong?" Wu Tie staggered to his feet, patted Old Iron's neck, "No strength left?"

Old Iron shook his head, his eyes flashing with blood-red light, staring fixedly at the far end of the kilometer-long stone beam.

Wu Tie felt a pang, quickly drew his spear, and looked toward the stone fort at the beam's end.

Below the cliff, a cold wind swirled upward; amid the 'whoosh' of the wind, a faint bloody scent drifted over.

"Oh, we've been discovered."

A clear, sweet voice came over; then the stone fort's gate silently shattered, and a slender figure emerged slowly.

"Truly lives up to being labeled a Blood Three-Star ancient pollution source..."

At first glance she appeared only thirteen or fourteen, sweet and cute, wearing a purple long dress, hands behind her back, she walked slowly along the stone beam toward us.

"I've been waiting for you for a long time…… waiting and waiting, couldn't see you, bored, I cleared out the people at this border outpost…… I didn't expect your noses to be so keen, heh."

"Ah, they really aren't fun to play with."

The girl smiled brightly as she approached, her big watery eyes scanning Old Iron up and down without blinking.

"Finally found a chance to go out alone, without those disgusting old ghosts watching…… I thought I could have fun, but I didn't expect to kill them in just a couple moves."

The girl smiled ever more sweetly, gently asking Old Iron, "Can you let me play a bit longer?"

The girl revealed the hands she had behind her back; on her small, clean palms, left and right each held the heads of two men and one woman, three youths.

The three heads were clean, with not a trace of blood.

The wounds on their necks were smooth as mirrors, a hint of icy light flickering, faintly exuding cold qi.

Wu Tie sized up the girl.

She was very sweet and cute, her complexion tender and dewy, every pore seemed to emit light; vast life force was stored in her petite body, her vitality nearly overflowing.

"Changsheng Sect disciple?" Wu Tie frowned.

"Changsheng Sect disciple Guo Que Nu, I greet you." The girl smiled, eyebrows raised, and performed a bow.

As she bent her knees, she casually set the three heads on the ground; when she rose, a large burst of blood mist erupted around her, accompanied by a sharp shout, and her petite body shot forward, a flash of cold light instantly reaching Wu Tie.

Wu Tie swung his spear in an arc, the tip flashing with cold light, and struck hard against the cold light in Guo Que Nu's hand.

With a crisp sound, Wu Tie didn't budge; Guo Que Nu grunted, staggered back dozens of steps, almost stepping off the beam.

"Eh? Such great strength? Impossible…… you're only a Foundation Establishment cultivator." Guo Que Nu stared at Wu Tie in disbelief: "Don't say my own cultivation has already reached Half-Step Chonglou Realm; after devouring the full cultivation and life essence of two senior brothers and one senior sister…… I can say I'm already a Chonglou Realm master."

She narrowed her eyes and blinked at Wu Tie, then softly said: "With such strength…… you must have a secret."

Old Iron spoke up gloomily from the side: "Little girl, what did you mean by that ancient pollution source you just mentioned?"

Guo Que Nu slapped her forehead in realization, then chuckled and nodded at Old Iron.

"That's exactly what I meant…… I received orders to cleanse you…… so I barely managed to ask those old ghosts for an outer perimeter clearing mission, not staying with them."

"With two senior brothers and one senior sister, I had previously received orders to come here and intercept you…… heh…… I didn't expect you actually to come here."

Wu Tie glanced at Old Iron.

Old Iron stared at Guo Que Nu and said in a low voice: "Someone knows our movements? Impossible; even I, Grandfather, only made a temporary decision on where to run."

Guo Que Nu clapped her hands and laughed: "Who knows? Perhaps there are other cleansers like me waiting for you in other passages."

Shrugging her shoulders, Guo Que Nu lightly laughed: "Anyway, as far as I know, within the Changsheng Sect there are several senior sisters who seem similar to me……"

"You…… are not merely a Changsheng Sect disciple?" Wu Tie roughly inferred some of Guo Que Nu's meaning.

"What a clever little brother……" Guo Que Nu smiled, eyebrows raised, gave Wu Tie a thumbs-up: "Really clever…… Que Nu indeed is not just a Changsheng Sect disciple."

She narrowed her eyes and stepped forward two steps: "If that's true, I should now follow those hateful old ghosts to find Mist Blade for revenge…… heh, you say it's funny or not, Mist Blade thinks that after killing Lord Lan and his gang, our Changsheng Sect wouldn't know what they did."

She shook her head, feigning a deep sigh: "Really too naive."

Smiling, she looked at Lao Tie; Guo Que Nu chuckled softly and said, "It's just like you, this blood‑three‑star pollution source, trying to escape my cleansing… really too naive."

Blood Light flickered in Lao Tie's eyes; he muttered lowly, "Among the Mist Blades, there are your people—that's not uncommon… what's uncommon is that you could know… Grandpa me…"

"The ancient pollution source, the chief culprit of civilization's collapse, the origin of all evil and chaos in the world, the initiator of all darkness and terror." Guo Que Nu shouted, "You must be thoroughly cleansed; only then can we wash away our sins… only then can we…"

She raised her head, looking at the dome faintly glowing several kilometers above, and Guo Que Nu whispered, "Only then can we escape this murky darkness…"

Lao Tie's tone turned strange: "Grandpa me actually became the chief culprit of civilization's collapse? Huh, fine, there's nothing to say to a little girl like you… but you say you can cleanse Grandpa me? Just based on you, having just stepped into the Chonglou Realm?"

Lao Tie shook his head, extended a claw and pointed at Guo Que Nu: "Little brat, beat her up, let her know…"

While Lao Tie was speaking, Guo Que Nu had already smiled and undone her belt.

Lao Tie shut his mouth, Wu Tie also shut his mouth; they stared dumbfounded as Guo Que Nu took off her purple long skirt, neatly folded it, retreated over a hundred meters, and placed the removed clothing neatly on the stone beam.

Not only the purple long skirt, but also her close‑fitting garments.

She even undid the hairpin on her head and placed it neatly on the folded pile of clothes.

She took off her small lizard‑skin boots and placed them carefully beside the pile of clothes.

With her hair flowing like a waterfall, Guo Que Nu walked back, laughing.

The disciples of the Changsheng Sect are unusually full of vital energy; Guo Que Nu's whole body seemed to glow. As she stepped closer, that captivating youthful vitality surged forth, leaving Wu Tie at a loss, stepping back repeatedly until he stood behind Lao Tie.

"Useless thing… isn't it just a yellow‑haired girl?" Lao Tie gazed at Guo Que Nu with composure: "What? Knowing you'll be beaten, afraid your clothes will be torn, so you tidied them up yourself first?"

Guo Que Nu looked at Lao Tie and smiled, she gently shook her head, then her eyes suddenly turned a terrifying deep blue.

No whites or blacks, the entire eyeball became a deep blue devoid of warmth or emotional fluctuation.

From above the dome, a thread of deep‑blue cold light, finer than a hair, fell straight down silently and entered the top of Guo Que Nu's head.

A mass of thick icy cold mist spread from within Guo Que Nu, accompanied by a low rumbling, waves of immense energy rippling outward.

The gale battered; Lao Tie's four claws dug deep into the ground's rock strata, the strong wind forced him backward repeatedly, his claws gouging deep marks in the earth.

Two points of azure light sparked in Guo Que Nu's deep‑blue pupils; she fixed her stare on Lao Tie, reached upward with both hands, and a strangely shaped weapon materialized out of thin air, which she gripped tightly.

It was like a combination of a long sword and a long spear.

A six‑foot blade with an added six‑foot handle, the whole weapon crystal clear, as if assembled from countless exquisite Xuanbing ice scales. As this strange weapon appeared, terrifying cold qi spread in waves, quickly covering the surrounding ground and stone walls with white ice crystals.

The frigid white ice crystals howled outward; in just a few breaths, the passage behind Lao Tie and Wu Tie, as far as the eye could see, was solidly buried under two‑feet‑thick ice.

Only behind Guo Que Nu did the ice extend about a hundred meters, stopping exactly where she had stacked her clothes.

What terrifying, what precise control.

Wu Tie stared in shock at Guo Que Nu, gripping his spear, but his attention was wholly on his right hand's White Tiger arm guard. He instinctively felt that the standard spear in his hand could never match Guo Que Nu's weapon.

"Who are you?" Lao Tie's voice changed, becoming murderous, filled with raging fury.

He fixed his glare on Guo Que Nu and said in a deep voice: "Who are you? Report your name."

Guo Que Nu looked at Lao Tie without expression.

Thick cold mist continually gathered on her, and soon a fully enclosing Xuanbing Ice Armor wrapped her body. The strangely shaped armor bore sharp ridges everywhere, those pointed protrusions constantly reflecting cold glints.

"Who am I?" Guo Que Nu's icy voice came: "Blood‑three‑star pollution source…… there's no need to tell you who I am."

With a "swish", Guo Que Nu's body jerked.

Wu Tie couldn't make out her movement; he only noticed Lao Tie suddenly dodge to the side.

With a "hiss", Guo Que Nu's strange weapon slashed heavily across Lao Tie's body, tearing a deep, ferocious gash in his side.

Countless streams of light, like substance, spewed from Lao Tie's wound; he grunted, his body lurching sideways several steps before he barely managed to steady himself.

"Misjudgment…… you're at most the level of a black nine‑star." Guo Que Nu's icy voice came: "Really strange, how could there be such a huge assessment error?"

She moved again; this time she rushed to Wu Tie's front, and with her strange weapon she delivered a horizontal slash, heavily chopping at his waist.