The demonic phoenix continued flying above the clouds.
It was indeed very fast and even possessed a natural-born anti-wind Thaumaturgy, which allowed for a stable flight.
After waiting for a while, Xie Dao Ling and Gu Qing Shan both closed their eyes to rest, letting it fly as it pleased.
The demonic phoenix quickly made its way through the thick clouds until it finally reached a stone tunnel covered in moss.
This stone tunnel wasn’t particularly big, and the demonic phoenix could only barely retain flight as it traveled through.
The demonic phoenix continued along the stone tunnel, making its way upwards for about half an incense stick’s worth of time when it reached the other end of the tunnel.
「 Here 」the demonic phoenix spoke in human language.
It exited the stone tunnel and slowly landed with the two people on its back.
Xie Dao Ling and Gu Qing Shan looked around.
They noticed that the tunnel from earlier was actually an old well.
The well was located at the center of a temple, which housed a number of statues.
Xie Dao Ling observed those statues, muttered something, then quickly returned to her child form.
She pointed at the statues: “Qing Shan, take a look, these are the statues of the four tribal Kings of the Asura”
Gu Qing Shan turned to look.
The statues had differences, but they all carried solemn expressions with weapons ready in their hands, ready for combat.
Staring at them for a while, Gu Qing Shan suddenly walked up and stopped in front of a certain statue.
The statue had nine heads, a thousand eyes, a hundred arms, eight legs, the torso gave off flames that made it unforgettable at a glance.
“Shifu, please take a look at this statue, do you remember something?” Gu Qing Shan asked.
Xie Dao Ling blankly stared at that statue and muttered: “I have a Causality Divine Skill from this Vijaydhrana tribe Asura… this Asura King’s weapon seems to be a bit incorrect”
In legends, the Asura race were a coalition of four tribes, each of which possessed their own King. Respectively, they were the Mahabali King, the Kharakaṇṭha King, the Vijaydhrana King, and the Rahu King[1].
The statue in front of them was of the Vijaydhrana King.
Gu Qing Shan drew his sword and tapped it on one of the Vijaydhrana King’s weapons.
“Shifu, this weapon here, isn’t supposed to be his”
——–it was a scepter with a long handle, the tip of the scepter was a skull with a single horn.
The Devil King Warden Rod!
An Asura was wielding the Devil King Warden Rod!
Xie Dao Ling appeared a bit lost, then slowly closed her eyes, apparently recalling something.
Gu Qing Shan returned to her side, summoning all three of his flying swords to silently protect her.
A few moments later.
Xie Dao Ling started muttering in a trance:
“The Vijaydhrana King, one of the four Asura Kings, came to take on his duty at the Divine Mountain…”
Her voice slowly turned lower and lower, as if entering a unique state.
Gu Qing Shan abruptly swung his sword at the void of space.
Klang!
The sound of weapons crossing resounded.
Gu Qing Shan turned his gaze.
A man was standing on top of the Vijaydhrana King statue.
He wore a heavy suit of armor and wielded a spear in his hand, his face hidden behind a metallic mask, obscured from view.
Gu Qing Shan shielded Xie Dao Ling behind him and shouted his question: “Who are you? Why did you ambush us?”
「 Why should you know? 」the man slowly spoke, 「 After all, now that you’ve reached this part of Mount Sumeru, your only outcome will be death 」
Gu Qing Shan was about to say something else when he felt a commotion in his Thought Sea.
The [True Crimson Demon Spear]!
Gu Qing Shan summoned the [True Crimson Demon Spear] from his Thought Sea and allowed it to silently hover in the air.
This spear had been bestowed his new Mahesvara Thaumaturgy – [Orange Unseen] and was now pointing straight at the armored man who also wielded a spear of his own.
It was expressing the desire to kill him.
Gu Qing Shan realized something and recalled [Orange Unseen]’s characteristics.
[Evil Suppressor – Orange Unseen]
[Mahesvara Thaumaturgy, can evolve]
[This Thaumaturgy must be affixed to a long-handled weapon]
[While you are using this Thaumaturgy, your long-handled weapon will obtain the ‘Unseen’ characteristic, unable to be discovered by enemies weaker than you are]
[Furthermore, this Thaumaturgy will help you suppress all evil, forcefully converting them into pure Origin power to provide for the Divine Mountain of Sumeru]
Gu Qing Shan looked back at the man opposing him.
Sure enough, the man didn’t notice at all and continued: 「 Enough, I’ll send you on your way now 」
He tapped the head of the statue with his spear, creating a resounding chime.
The gate of the temple opened up as numerous armored soldiers poured inside, charging at Gu Qing Shan and Xie Dao Ling.
Gu Qing Shan glanced at Xie Dao Ling.
She still had her eyes closed, deep in her contemplation.
“Calling to fight and kill immediately after meeting, I guess you’re better off dead”
Gu Qing Shan wielded the Heaven sword and swung it forward.
A light-blue sword phantom suddenly erupted into a crescent moon that illuminated the entire temple.
Numerous sounds of broken items resounded.
All their armor was cut apart by the sword phantom, the armored men disappeared on the spot.
The entire temple was emptied, leaving on the man who stood on top of the statue that managed to block Gu Qing Shan’s attack and remained there.
「 How surprising, the people who came to face the Tribulation this time were actually a bit potent, I underestimated you 」
He casually said.
Gu Qing Shan smiled.
I didn’t even use that much force just now.
“Who exactly are you? Why did you attack us without any reasons?” he asked again.
While asking, Gu Qing Shan silently activated a telekinesis seal and coiled it around the [True Crimson Demon Spear].
Controlling it, he tossed the spear forward.
The man didn’t notice the spear at all and replied: 「 Within this Mount Sumeru, my status is incomparably noble, why would I arbitrarily tell such riff——– 」
Shuu——
The [True Crimson Demon Spear] pierced his chest.
The Evil Suppressor power activated!
Without leaving him a moment to say anything else, the man was broken into numerous fragments that disappeared into the void of space.
All of his power was forcefully dispelled by the Divine mountain of Sumeru, then converted into its own.
Gu Qing Shan sighed and gazed at the fluttering fragments: “Seems like you needed a promotion”
The [True Crimson Demon Spear] returned to his hand.
A line of glowing text appeared on the War God UI:
[The Divine Mountain of Sumeru had absorbed a decent amount of power from this combat, please continue doing your best and use its power to evolve your Mahesvara Thaumaturgy]
Gu Qing Shan was a bit surprised and examined the War God UI again.
Aside from that notification just now, the War God UI was empty, there were no other notifications.
“Hey, I just fought a battle, why weren’t there any combat synopsis? Are you broken?” Gu Qing Shan asked.
The War God UI replied: [Firstly, the War God UI only records evenly matched combats or combats against stronger enemies. Your previous action of stomping on an ant can be considered killing, but not a battle. Secondly, I’m not broken]
400 Soul Points was silently deducted.
Gu Qing Shan was surprised even further.
He could feel that the soldiers who came into the temple were at least equivalent to Paragon realm, quite a few could be strong enough to even reach {Yama King} realm.
While the guy standing on top of the statue had already surpassed {Yama King} realm.
He was most likely an entity equivalent to {Mahesvara King} realm.
How could that be considered stomping on an ant?
Wait——-
Gu Qing Shan slowly realized.
Right, I now hold the power of the two dragons; either the Demon Dragon or Azure Dragon alone would have made short work of these guys.
And I have both of their powers combined.
When Shifu said that my strength had surpassed her and could protect her while she scaled Mount Sumeru, I still hadn’t fully realized it.
But I finally understand, my current strength has already surpassed the realm of {Mahesvara King}, perhaps surpassed even Sumeru Lord realm.
Gu Qing Shan facepalmed himself.
This was similar to the situation of a homeless man who suddenly won the lottery, counting if he has enough money this month to patch up the holes on his clothes out of habit.
——–I still haven’t gotten used to the sudden surge of power.
Thinking back, Gu Qing Shan turned his gaze to the [True Crimson Demon Spear].
Due to the power of the Mahesvara Thaumaturgy, [Orange Unseen], everyone weaker than me shouldn’t be able to discover this spear.
On Mount Sumeru, there shouldn’t be anyone… stronger than me…
At this point, Xie Dao Ling opened her eyes and replied: “Qing Shan, the person you killed just now was the Vijaydhrana King”
“What? Why does he look so much different compared to the statue?” Gu Qing Shan was surprised.
“The statue was his Dharma form, but before he could reveal it, you already killed him” Xie Dao Ling replied.
“What exactly was he doing here?”
“Originally, on this Mount Sumeru, each generation of Vijaydhrana King would stay stationed on the side of this mountain, eliminating all wicked and evil outer demons, while also guiding the cultivators who came here to face their Tribulation”
Gu Qing Shan replied: “He didn’t seem like he wanted to guide us”
Xie Dao Ling slowly replied: “There is a great secret within the Divine Mountain, a secret that’s closely associated with us cultivators. We must quickly reach the summit of the mountain to find out everything”
As they said this, they both turned to the demonic phoenix.
“Huh? Why did you stay completely silent up to now?” Gu Qing Shan asked, a bit surprised.
The demonic phoenix couldn’t hold its body back from trebling and showed a reluctant flattering smile: 「 Gu Qing—— no, sir Shan, you were too overwhelming just now that I was frightened 」
[1] Take all these names with a giant grain of salt, as they were a result of most likely inaccurate English transcription of Chinese names, which were originally transcriptions of Sanskrit names. Please treat them as separate entities from their religious counterparts. I’m by no means an expert in Sanskrit, nor do I have such a talent under my employ, so I could only do my best