When the woman found that no one replied, she stopped smiling and turned away.
The group silently watched her return to the night marketplace in front of a two-horned man covered in a purple cloak, reporting.
Gu Qing Shan suddenly asked: “Fellow Dao seekers, who is this fellow Dao seeker Huang that you mentioned earlier?”
The cultivators turned to a certain person.
He replied: “Fellow Dao seeker Huang arrived from my cultivation world; he was the one who came here to face his Sumeru Lord realm Tribulation the previous time”
“Where is he now? Did he lose his life from facing the Tribulation?” Gu Qing Shan asked.
“How do I say this… last time the few of us also came to escort him through Tribulation, but then——-”
The cultivator appeared a bit fearful and pointed towards the marketplace.
Gu Qing Shan followed where his finger was pointing.
Only to find a man standing in a secluded corner of the marketplace with a round furnace.
The man wiped some sweat off his face but was still soaked in sweat as he was shouting something.
Unfortunately, other than the woman from earlier, none of the voices of the others managed to reach them, so Gu Qing Shan couldn’t hear anything.
The man picked up a ball of dough, threw it onto his cutting board, stretched it a few times before sticking it to the inside of the furnace.
——-he was making bread.
“Fellow Dao seeker Huang believed in his high cultivation and wondrous techniques, but when he entered that world with their invitation, all of his powers were rendered useless and he succumbed to his death” a cultivator said.
“We first thought about how to recover his body in order to bury him, but then he suddenly stood up, walked to a corner of the marketplace, and began to sell baked bread there” another cultivator replied.
“Did no one try to wake him up?” Gu Qing Shan asked.
“We’ve tried everything, but he seemed to have turned into another person entirely” the cultivator replied.
Gu Qing Shan turned to the man in the marketplace.
A {Mahesvara King} realm cultivator suddenly losing his life, then being resurrected.
He had forgotten everything and remained in the night market selling bread.
No, that’s not right.
He’s already dead, so thoroughly that not even his soul remained here.
Otherwise, the Devil King Warden Rod would be able to sense the dead person with my inner sight.
Then, can this person actually remember his previous self?
Gu Qing Shan glanced through the human night market and turned to the other worlds that were being obscured by various barriers.
They included Cultivation worlds, Wraith worlds, Technological worlds, Asura worlds, Savagery world, Martial Arts worlds, Beast King worlds, Card worlds, Angelic worlds, Hell worlds, Wooden spirit worlds, Deep sea worlds, Lifeless worlds, Mysticism worlds, Heavenly worlds, Spirit worlds, Primordial worlds, Sound worlds, Ruined worlds, Artifact spirit worlds, Magma worlds, Silent worlds, Darkness worlds… etc. numerous worlds of numerous origins.
No matter how long Gu Qing Shan observed them, he still couldn’t see through anything.
The living beings of each world were acting exactly how their racial traits suggested that they would.
This won’t be easy…
Gu Qing Shan pondered.
According to the other cultivators, there hadn’t been anyone who successfully managed to pass the Sumeru Lord realm for the past few thousand years.
This time, it was Xie Dao Ling’s turn to face the Tribulation.
Fortunately, Shifu had never been arrogant or underestimated danger due to her high cultivation.
But if the same situation persists on the Pillar To Heaven as well…
No, I need to understand this world better to help the Tribulation as much as possible.
While Gu Qing Shan was thinking, that girl flew up from the night market again and faced the group.
From the other side of the barrier, she asked: “Gentlemen, are there anything you wish to buy or sell?”
The cultivators remained silent.
When Gu Qing Shan was about to reply, the cultivator from before pulled on Gu Qing Shan’s sleeve and told him out of goodwill: “Don’t make any transactions with them”
“Is it dangerous?” Gu Qing Shan asked.
The other cultivator replied: “It’s not dangerous, but they would always trade cheap and meaningless items for our precious commodities—— it’s not a transaction that anyone would be willing to accept”
Gu Qing Shan thought about it briefly and tapped his Inventory Bag to take out a bag of spirit stones.
He asked the woman: “3000 spirit stones, what can I buy from you?”
Seeing his spirit stones, the woman’s eyes lit up and replied: “Please wait a moment, Dao seeker”
She turned back, picked out various things from the nearby shops in the market, and put them all into a basket before returning.
“Please take a look, Dao seekers, 3000 spirit stones can be exchanged for any one of these items”
Gu Qing Shan looked into the basket.
It contained some snacks, clean water, a muskmelon, a straw fan, moon cakes, such mundane items.
Gu Qing Shan thought for a bit and asked: “Can I have some baked bread?”
“Sure” the woman nodded, returned to the night market, and approached the cultivator named Huang.
The cultivator named Huang immediately took out a fresh loaf of baked bread and handed it to the woman.
The woman returned to the barrier and looked at Gu Qing Shan.
“Give me the bread”
Gu Qing Shan tossed the spirit stones forward.
As the spirit stones collided with the barrier, the woman formed a hand seal to receive them.
The woman then formed another hand seal to send the bread forward.
Gu Qing Shan received it.
The loaf of bread was still steaming hot as if it had just been freshly baked not too long ago.
“Dao seeker, do you require something else?” the woman asked expectantly.
“No—– but I have a question, what exactly are you? And where did you come from?” Gu Qing Shan asked.
The woman shook her head and replied: “I don’t know”
Saying so, she took the spirit stones and returned to the market, disappearing out of sight.
Gu Qing Shan was a bit regretful.
A line of glowing text was being displayed on the War God UI:
[You’ve activated the Iris Technique: Time Recollection]
[Due to the isolating world barrier, your technique failed]
[Time Recollection]
Even while Lin was vastly more powerful than me, she was still affected by this World Technique.
But since they were literally a world apart, this technique couldn’t be used.
Then there are no other ways.
Gu Qing Shan evaluated the loaf of bread a bit, then offered it to the cultivator behind him.
“Fellow Dao seeker Huang’s world surely had its own rules and etiquette, please take a look if you can see any hidden message from fellow Dao seeker Huang here” he told the group.
The cultivator finally realized what he was doing.
A few moments later.
After passing through everyone’s hands once, the bread returned to Gu Qing Shan’s hand.
Everyone was dejected.
The loaf of bread was just bread, there was no information, secret messages, or hidden signals inside.
“It seems that fellow Dao seeker Huang had truly lost his life” someone sighed.
Everyone nodded.
Gu Qing Shan pondered—-
There’s not much information.
The first probing had basically failed.
“Fellow Dao seekers, do you know if the other worlds are also willing to do business like this as well?” Gu Qing Shan asked.
A cultivator answered him: “They all do, but they’re all the same as that one earlier. It’s basically impossible to trade for anything useful from them”
Gu Qing Shan nodded: “Then I’ll just go take a look”
The cultivator tried persuading him: “They won’t tell us what all of this is about”
Another cultivator followed up: “That’s right, we’ve already tried. The only thing they’ll do is try to pawn off useless items on us. Most likely, they don’t even know what’s actually happening here”
“Ah, I see, I’ll just go take a walk then”
Saying so, Gu Qing Shan started walking along the city walls to the East.
He soon passed the border between two worlds.
The next part of the city wall was no longer connected to a human world, but rather a magma world.
The magma world didn’t have any civilization, just a few non-sentient primordial fire elementals.
Gu Qing Shan directly passed this world and continued forward.
The next world he came across was a Magic-type world.
He picked out a random magic Card and exchanged it for a memory stone from a mage.
It’s said that this memory stone contained some of this ancient magic world’s secrets.
Gu Qing Shan received the memory stone and slowly read the information inside according to how the mage taught him.
Hm…
Lord A was actually Lord B’s illegitimate son, Lord B’s wife was having an affair with Lord C, Lord C and Lord D were actually a pair of long lost brother and sister.
Sure enough, ancient secrets.
And just like what the cultivator earlier told me, this thing doesn’t explain where the Magic-type world came from, nor why it appeared in Heaven Pillar world.
Gu Qing Shan silently put the memory stone away and continued heading forward.
After passing through the Magic-type world, a Savagery world, and a Silent world, he reached a Wraith world.
Thinking of something, Gu Qing Shan suddenly stopped.
When he stood still, an Arch Wraith slowly flew in front of him and invited him into the Wraith world.
Gu Qing Shan shook his head and said that he was only here for a transaction.
So the Arch Wraith returned, carried a bunch of severed arms and legs over, displaying them to Gu Qing Shan.
『 This tastes good, this also tastes good, this one next to it also tastes really good! 』
The Arch Wraith was drooling as it introduced its wares.
Gu Qing Shan crouched down and acted like he was interested in these severed arms and legs from across the barrier.
“Are there any innards?” he asked.
The Arch Wraith opened its eyes wide, then nodded: 『 I never thought I’d see a gourmet here, yes! 』
It turned around, about to prepare some.
“Wait, I want it really fresh, can you sell me a living wraith or devil?” Gu Qing Shan asked.
『 Alive is no good, alive cannot pass through this barrier 』the Arch Wraith shook its head.
Gu Qing Shan heard and seemed a bit regretful.
He took out several plates of spirit cooking, placed them all on the ground, and said: “My food is full of energy, I’ll exchange them with you”
『 I said alive is no good 』the Arch Wraith replied.
“Then how about this, look for the freshest severed head among the cooking ingredients you have in stock—– the fresher the better” Gu Qing Shan said.
The Arch Wraith looked down at Gu Qing Shan’s spirit cooking and shook its head: 『 I want to try your food first 』
Gu Qing Shan sent one plate over.
The Arch Wraith chanted an incantation, received the plate, then poured everything down its mouth.
『 Hm… taste a bit strange, but it is indeed filled with energy 』the Arch Wraith was pleased.
Gu Qing Shan tapped his Inventory Bag to take out 5 more plates of spirit cooking, placing them all on the table.
“Now, please find me a severed head” Gu Qing Shan replied.
『 The fresher the better? 』the Arch Wraith asked.
“Right, not only do I need it fresh, I need it to have lived long enough as well. If you can do that, I’ll pay even more” Gu Qing Shan replied.
The Arch Wraith nodded and left.
A few moments later, it dragged an old wraith over to Gu Qing Shan.
The old wraith was constantly spouting blue flames to attack the Arch Wraith.
The Arch Wraith then broke its neck, reached through the barrier, and handed the head to Gu Qing Shan.
『 Very fresh 』the Arch Wraith declared.
Gu Qing Shan sighed, then replied: “Now I know what it truly means to be a wraith”
He gave all the spirit cooking to the Arch Wraith and received the old wraith’s head from it.
With his inner sight, Gu Qing Shan could tell that this severed head was no longer alive.
But it hadn’t fully stopped functioning.
At least, the jaws were still opening and closing, trying to bite his hand.
Gu Qing Shan carefully lifted the head and faced his eyes.
Let’s hope I make it in time!
Gu Qing Shan silently prayed, then—–
[Time Recollection], activate!
In that brief moment, the world in front of Gu Qing Shan collapsed to reveal nothingness.
The nothingness only existed for a brief moment.
A split second later, another world suddenly unfolded itself and appeared in front of Gu Qing Shan.
The sky was falling, the earth breaking apart.
An inextinguishable column of smoke was rising to the sky.
The world was quickly collapsing.
Countless desperate cries.
The fleeing wraiths collapsed to the ground one by one, exploding into mists of blood.
A cold female voice suddenly resounded from above:
“A Samsara world is only to this degree after all”
Gu Qing Shan looked up.
He saw a woman.
An indescribably beautiful woman.
Numerous stars were constantly being created and destroyed behind her, displaying the great Divine power she wielded.
Gu Qing Shan’s heart jumped.
——-in front of the four Pillar Gods’ statues, he had seen a vision of the past and had seen this woman.
Indeed, she was the Pearl of Infinite Worlds, Master of the Star River, Blessed One of the Inner Plane, Grand Empress of the Pantheon, Reneedol!