I Don't Agree to the Terms
Chapter 255 - 153: Plotting, the Cave Dwelling at the Border!_2

Chapter 255: Chapter 153: Plotting, the Cave Dwelling at the Border!_2

Thinking this over, Gu Shanhai hesitated, what if he himself got into trouble...

Oh, no, the opponent was still not cautious enough because someone truly cautious wouldn’t actively seek trouble.

So, his purity wasn’t high enough, and when his purity was deficient, it meant he wasn’t cautious enough, and there was no need to worry about the other party unexpectedly turning the tables.

For this reason, he performed a divination to inquire about the strength, and the result of such a question docked him three thousand years of life, which was the price of a king of myriad herbs.

The outcome naturally was the same as with other Martial Arts True Immortals; all their strengths were suppressed and they couldn’t make a move at will.

This reassured Gu Shanhai. If the opponent were truly hiding their strength, then Gu Shanhai’s actions would have been much more ruthless, directly annihilating Heavenly City!

"If I were to make a move, the hexagram foretells great misfortune, I thought it would only be misfortune."

After calculating that he, indeed, could make a move, naturally, he attempted to divine whether this action of his would be dangerous.

The result was unexpected yet within reason.

Had it been mere misfortune, Gu Shanhai would have charged in headfirst. Now that it was great misfortune, he hesitated.

The risk of death surged greatly, but he was capable of escape, it wasn’t a situation of one survival in ten.

The origin of the great misfortune hexagram was definitely that he would be besieged by Martial Arts True Immortals.

"It’s just great misfortune, not like I haven’t experienced it before."

"Disaster sometimes paves the way for fortune, and fortune may lead to disaster!"

An object capable of rebirthing someone was worth staking everything on.

In any case, he had a backup plan. Even if he couldn’t win the fight, with his thick-skinned and resilient nature, he could still escape as long as he returned to "the First Epoch"; the opponent definitely wouldn’t have any means to pursue him.

As for Huang Yanshan, when the time came, he could re-enter, and leaving didn’t mean he couldn’t return. High-level worlds only required life to be paid as a ticket for endless traversal, which could be considered an alternative invincible tactic.

"Now, through Prophetic Divination, I need to find the weakest Martial Arts True Immortal to see if I can capture or Soul Search them, at the very least, I must kill."

Gu Shanhai wanted to know who was the mastermind. Direct Prophetic Divination would deplete his strength significantly, and a hundred thousand years of life was just the starting point. This action was not only about locating a Martial Arts True Immortal but also about finding that rebirth object. Anything related to rebirth involved time, and even without the ability to shield against prophetic insights, it wasn’t something he could scrutinize now.

As far as Gu Shanhai was concerned, in his past life, he had found the slice of time scale needed for his rebirth, consuming nine-ninths of his lifespan. At that time, he was practically immortal, undying, but the vast amount of life he drew nearly cost him his life.

He also considered claiming that scale in this life, but it was just a thought. The scale had probably vanished; it was of high rank and unique in nature, with only one in the entire timeline. Since it was consumed in the river of time, it naturally disappeared.

Otherwise, why would he gamble on the rebirth object in the hands of a rebirther?

"Found it, twenty thousand years of life, how can the consumption be so huge, something’s off with the life consumption." Gu Shanhai sensed the lifespan vanished from his body, and it did not match the amount he initially estimated.

In Gu Shanhai’s calculation, at most it would be around five thousand years. After all, the Martial Arts True Immortal he calculated did not involve any rebirthers or related aspects, so exceeding ten thousand was impossible. Now it was quadrupled.

"Is it because this Martial Arts True Immortal is related to the rebirthing True Immortal?"

"Or is it that all Martial Arts True Immortals are related to that rebirther?"

At this moment, Gu Shanhai speculated a lot, but soon, he suppressed these speculations. Speculating too much was no substitute for taking action and asking directly.

Rising from his spot, he moved silently toward the location foreseen by his divination.

Traveling forward, Gu Shanhai finally reached the border of Heavenly City.

"Heavenly People would never expect that the Martial Arts True Immortals they worship don’t actually reside in the central part of the city; instead, they inhabit the cracks in the outermost regions of Heavenly City," Gu Shanhai gazed at the chaotic border with a very calm expression.

What followed was figuring out a way to open one of the rifts, allowing entry into it.

"Activities are getting increasingly vibrant. I estimate it won’t be long before, even without my help, the Martial Arts True Immortals would be able to detect the mutations in Heavenly City."

Gu Shanhai acutely noticed that the chaotic appearance of this border was undergoing changes.

At this point, Gu Shanhai didn’t bother with subtleties and prepared to forcibly break through the boundary before him.

"Ah, this..."

The attack landed on the boundary without any reaction, which was a bit embarrassing.

"The force isn’t enough, I need to use full strength... Wait, let me try the natural channel to see if it works." Just as Gu Shanhai was about to use his limit state, he suddenly remembered that he had this talent. He had used it once before to absorb the energy of the Holy Grail, unlike the speed evolution talent that Gu Shanhai consistently used to help cultivate Spirit Plants.

So he thought about trying to create a passageway through the natural channel; otherwise, using his limit state would be somewhat of a loss.

And sure enough, the effect was quite good. Gu Shanhai quickly discovered the signs through the natural channel. During the continual adjustment process, he caught a new, small alternate space rift.

If Heavenly City was a grand city, then the location he had discovered was like a minor secret chamber.

Quickly deciphering the secret key matched it successfully, and Gu Shanhai opened the passage smoothly.

A torrent of Spiritual Energy surged out before being retracted.

"At this energy density, it’s at least a myriad times that of Heavenly City’s." Gu Shanhai infiltrated it silently and couldn’t help but remark, then checked the chamber’s situation and praised, "Truly a masterful design."

Using Heavenly City as a grand mechanism for energy gathering and transportation ensured the sustenance of Spiritual Energy in the chamber, even extracting life essence from Heavenly People within the city at all times, encompassing everything from birth to old age, illness, and death.

The very reason they taught Martial Arts to the Heavenly People, to make them stronger, was also to extract better Spiritual Energy.

Even security wasn’t a concern; even if the Heavenly People discovered these chambers, they couldn’t enter. With their low Spiritual Energy constitution, entering such environments of dense Spiritual Energy would result in only one fate: instant death, with no possibility of posing any threat to the Martial Arts True Immortals.

Mortals were even less of a concern to the Martial Arts True Immortals, let alone the fact that mortals couldn’t even enter the Heavenly Gate and reach Heavenly City, not to mention that their rudimentary Cultivation Techniques were utterly incapable of meeting the threshold required for entry.

Player characters weren’t regarded either; to the Martial Arts True Immortals, they were merely odd beings. Mortals were passable for making do in the Mortal World, but ascend to the heavens? Impossible.

Of course, to avoid accidents, the Heavenly Gate isolated Heavenly City from the Mortal World, ensuring that all final uncertainties were eliminated. Unless it was a necessary event like the extermination of Huang Yanshan’s entire family, communication was generally limited to fixed time periods with the government, Heaven Sect, and Demon Sect.

However, even this form of communication was conducted remotely.

Gu Shanhai originally thought the Heavenly People were merely provisions, but they turned out to be fuel; the former at least being consumed all at once, while the latter was constantly being squeezed and burned, both in life and in death.

"One truly cannot underestimate anyone."

After witnessing such methods, Gu Shanhai became even more cautious.

Carefully delving deeper into the chamber, though labeled small compared to the grand city, the area was quite extensive and seemed to have been artificially expanded.

If they could stabilize Heavenly City and build such a city, then expanding a chamber shouldn’t be too difficult.

As he progressed, Gu Shanhai entered the core area, an area sealed by some special Martial Arts seal. He could hear powerful heartbeats and breathing sounds, but whether it was one or the other, the sounds were prolonged and relaxed, evidently due to a special dormant state induced by a unique Cultivation Technique.