Longevity Martial Arts: Grinding Experience in the Chaotic World Chapter 1604 - 825: Supreme Tonics

Gu Yuanyuan looked at her master’s unwavering resolve in his eyes and thought of her own insignificant strength, truly only capable of becoming a burden.

She bit her lip, forcefully suppressed the sourness and reluctance in her heart, and nodded vigorously.

"Yes, Master! This disciple obeys! You... must be careful!"

She took one last deep look at the ruins where she had grown up, her gaze sweeping over the familiar broken walls, her eyes filled with complex emotions, then decisively turned and walked towards Shen Qingtan.

Shen Qingtan reached out to pull Gu Yuanyuan onto the flying sword, letting her stand behind him.

She gave one last glance at Gu Sheng, her eyes beneath the bronze mask carrying inquiry and concern, but in the end, she said nothing more, merely nodded again to signal.

"Off we go!"

Shen Qingtan shouted in a low voice, the azure flying sword beneath his feet vibrating with a buzz, suddenly bursting into a shocking speed, transforming into a dazzling blue rainbow, tearing through the air, shooting towards the exit of the Secret Realm!

This flying sword was evidently extraordinary, capable of ignoring most of the No-fly Arrays in the Secret Realm, its speed far exceeding typical flying artifacts, and in the blink of an eye, it vanished into the dim horizon.

Gu Sheng stood in place, watching that blue rainbow completely disappear, until he could no longer sense the aura of the flying sword, only then did he slowly retract his gaze.

The heaviness on his face did not dissipate, but rather deepened.

Sending away the Divine Craft Maze Palace and Gu Yuanyuan was an act of survival by cutting off the tail, as well as leaving a contingency for the worst-case scenario that might come.

Next, he would face alone the immense hidden dangers within this Thousand Souls Hall Secret Realm.

His gaze finally fixed deep in the ruins on the enormous black portal suspended in midair, exuding ominous vibes.

That was the entrance to the core area of the Thousand Souls Hall.

Without any hesitation, Gu Sheng’s figure flickered, swiftly traversing through the ruins, headed for that black doorway.

The evil cultivator disciples of Wuya Sect guarding the entrance seemed to have received orders only to prevent outsiders from leaving, merely glancing indifferently at Gu Sheng, who was clearly rushing inward into the Secret Realm, without making a move to stop him.

Gu Sheng took a step across that gigantic portal seemingly formed by congealed darkness.

The scene ahead abruptly changed!

The anticipated grand and eerie hall did not appear; what unfolded before his eyes was an immensely vast plaza.

The plaza floor was paved with giant stones dark as ink, cold and hard, stretching to the horizon.

The plaza was empty, without any buildings, only an oppressive sense of stifling silence pervaded the air.

What caused Gu Sheng’s pupils to suddenly contract were the people on the plaza.

Dense shadows of people!

There were over a thousand people!

These individuals seemed to have been subjected to an immobilization skill, or like sculptures lacking souls, standing rigidly across the plaza.

They wore a variety of attire, from the green robes of Holy Academy disciples to the garb of other sects or Loose Cultivators, and even quite a few wearing Wuya Sect attire.

Yet at this moment, regardless of their original faction, they all exhibited an extraordinarily bizarre identical state.

Their eyes were blank, with no spirit, as if their souls had been extracted, leaving only hollow shells.

Their expressions were frozen in numbness and confusion, with no reaction to the presence of the sudden intruder, not even a flicker of their eyes.

Over a thousand people, like a thousand stone statues, standing on this dead silent plaza, constructing an exceptionally eerie and bone-chilling scene.

What sunk Gu Sheng’s heart even further was that he sharply perceived the aura emitted from these martial artists, though weak, included formidable forces!

His gaze quickly swept across, soon locking onto a burly man clad in animal-skin attire.

The energy fluctuations emanating from this person had surprisingly reached the Eighth Level of Sect Realm!

This level of expertise would be considered a powerful figure anywhere, yet now stood stiffly, eyes hollow, oblivious to everything around.

"These are... sacrifices?"

A chilling sensation rose in Gu Sheng’s heart. Xiao Beixuan and Venerable Ming River had indeed acted!

The thousand martial artists resembling walking dead on this plaza were precisely the "materials" prepared by them to activate that sinister Thousand Souls Sacrifice Array!

He cautiously released his Divine Sense, like invisible tendrils, carefully probing this dead silent plaza.

As his Divine Sense swept over the stiff martial artists, the feedback further confirmed his suspicions.

Their Divine Souls seemed imprisoned, suppressed by some powerful force, and even... being slowly extracted!

Though their life auras were still present, it was like a candle flickering in the wind, extremely weak, and steadily, irreversibly, waning.

The True Yuan within them, moreover, was like a frozen river, deathly still, yet subtly drawn by some colossal force beneath the plaza’s floor.

Gu Sheng’s gaze turned towards the ground. The dark stone pavement was not entirely smooth, faintly revealing countless extremely fine, near the same color of the surface, dark red patterns.

These patterns crisscrossed, forming a vastly complex diagram almost beyond imagination, covering the entire plaza!

Currently, these dark red patterns were emitting extremely faint energy fluctuations, like countless greedy root systems, silently extracting Life Force and True Yuan from those stiff martial artists!

"The sacrifice has already begun warming up..."

Gu Sheng’s heart sank to the bottom. The situation was worse than he anticipated.

Xiao Beixuan evidently lacked patience for the three-day period, or rather, to ensure the array’s success, had already commenced "processing" the sacrifices ahead of schedule!