Chapter 1723: The Fear Apocalypse

Chapter 1723: The Fear Apocalypse Translator: La0o9

「 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 first 」

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:

[You've used the proper reason of a 'robbery' to replace the coachman]

Gu Qing Shan glanced through it and smirked: "How interesting..."

The four skeletal horses began to pick up speed and carried the carriage away from the darkness. ... "How was your trip?" a coachman-looking individual asked.

"Quite uneventful" Gu Qing Shan answered.

—-the other party must be assuming me to be a peer that they're chatting me up like this.

Gu Qing Shan disembarked the carriage and looked towards the outside of the village.

Only to see that the outside of the village had already been covered in darkness with various howls and screams echoing from it, followed by heavy cries and shrieks.

Even while standing in the village, he could feel the ferocious aura within the darkness.

Gu Qing Shan silently evaluated for a brief moment before drawing a conclusion.

——if I want to live, I need to remain within this village.

The other coachman called out: "It's been an entire day of hard work already, let's go for a few drinks at the bar"

"Alright" Gu Qing Shan answered.

He didn't have a clear destination, so this was an opportunity for him to stay here for a while as he slowly came up with an answer to how he would be able to leave this Palace of Fear.

The two of them parked their carriages next to the village carriage lot, then followed a straight path before turning at a certain corner.

There was a relatively peaceful bar here.

The bar was lit with candles, there were several guests enjoying their drinks while chatting at their tables.

Gu Qing Shan and the coachman both came in and sat down at the bar counter.

"I'm seriously bummed out" the coachman complained.

"What's the matter?" Gu Qing Shan smiled and asked.

"—-Give us two shots of your best liquor, and not the diluted one!" the coachman called out.

The bartender was a young man with a full beard and a complexion as pale as wax, who began preparing their drinks as soon as he heard that.

The coachman sighed and began to explain: "Today's my birthday, so I originally wanted to go back home to celebrate it with the missus and the kids, but with the mountain path collapsing, there's no way I'll make it back"

Gu Qing Shan followed up for him: "That really is something to feel bummed out about, what a huge delay"

"Here are your drinks"

The bartender gently placed their drinks in front of the two of them.

The coachman raised his glass and loudly called out: "Come, it's my treat today, care to join this brother for a drink?"

Gu Qing Shan answered: "Then I wish you a happy birthday!"

He glanced at their glasses.

Only to see that the glasses were filled with writhing colorful insects of all kinds.

The coachman finished his entire glass in one gulp before putting his glass back down: "Bottom's up!"

Gu Qing Shan turned to the coachman.

Only to see that the coachman's facial muscles began to heavily distort, the insects from the glass crawled out of his eye sockets before crawling back inside through his nose, ears, and mouth.

His features also began to rapidly distort as well, turning into a monster whose face was full of parasitic creatures.

『 Brother, didn't you say you were going to wish me a happy birthday? Why haven't you touched your drink? 』

The monster spoke.

Gu Qing Shan stayed silent briefly before having no choice but to pick it back up.

The monster smirked: 『 That's right, you need to finish that drink for this to be a proper congratulation 』

Gu Qing Shan held the glass in his hand before suddenly answering: "I can't drink this"

The monster stood up and solemnly questioned: 『 Why not? Give me a reason 』

The others around the bar immediately came closer to surround Gu Qing Shan.

In an instant, masses of dark fog began to swirl and coil around his body like snakes.

A frigid presence blew in from the dark fog, practically trying to freeze Gu Qing Shan into a block of ice.

Lines of bloody red text rapidly appeared:

[You need to give a proper reason to refuse the liquor, otherwise, your soul and body will both be confiscated by the Palace of Fear!] [Hurry up!]

Gu Qing Shan glanced over the message and calmly answered: "I need to embark again tonight"

『 What does that have to do with wishing me a happy birthday? 』the monster solemnly questioned.

Gu Qing Shan earnestly answered: "Don't drink and drive if you want to live a long life"

He lightly placed the glass back down.

Fwoom!!!

The dark fog around him was instantly dispersed.

The surrounding mob begrudgingly retreated.

The monster was stunned, still pointing at Gu Qing Shan with its hand, unable to say anything in retaliation.

Suddenly, the bartender tapped the bar counter with his hand.

"Sir—-" He put a well-made small cake in front of Gu Qing Shan and spoke: "A certain lady is treating you to this dessert"

A bit further away, a mature woman with alluring charm emerged from the crowd of people to approach Gu Qing Shan.

"You said that you didn't want to drink, yes?" the mature woman asked.

"That's right, I won't drive if I drink, and I won't drink if I drive" Gu Qing Shan answered.

"Then I'd like to treat you to a small piece of cake, I hope you won't refuse me" the mature woman answered.

Gu Qing Shan picked up the plate, seemingly interested in it.

The plate was clearly plated with a pair of human ears, decorated with five bloody fingers.

The fingers had gone completely black, seemingly rotting away.

Gu Qing Shan picked up a small fork and pierced it into the 'cake', asking:

"I'm touched, but why did you want to treat me to a cake?"

The mature woman gave him a seductive look and gently said: "Young brother, I've had my eyes on you as soon as you walked in, but since you refuse to drink a drop of alcohol, this one had no choice but to treat you to cake instead"

Everyone turned to Gu Qing Shan again.

The dark fog that had just disappeared once again surged forward, trying to envelope Gu Qing Shan.

The mature woman's expression slowly became ferocious, long thick yellow fur also began to grow all over her body, even her voice gradually became thicker: 「 Hurry and eat it, young brother, this cake represents my sincerity towards you 」

Gu Qing Shan threw the cake back onto the bar counter.

"Trying to chat me up with a shitty cake? I'm worth a lot more than that" he scoffed.