The Ancient Gods' Whisper

In the darkness, Gu Jianlin raised the index finger of his right hand, a droplet of golden blood gleaming brilliantly at his fingertip.

It was clearly just a single drop of blood, yet it radiated an intense, sweet metallic scent.

Like a poisonous fruit growing on a toxic tree, bright and lethal—both dangerous and alluring.

For a brief moment, all five people, including the mentor, held their breath.

Especially the mentor, whose eyes betrayed unrestrained eagerness and yearning, as if he had glimpsed a glimmer of hope for survival.

"Look, the Ancient God's Blood you crave."

Gu Jianlin said indifferently: "I might be able to understand the terror of a mind polluted, a body distorted and collapsing, life nearing its end. But the question is, how do you prove yourselves worthy of it?"

In the deathly silence, the sound of strained breathing and pounding hearts was unmistakable.

"As long as you are willing to grant us the Ancient God's Blood, we will prove our value."

The mentor knelt on the ground, speaking solemnly: "Because we can serve as your bridge to the outside world! For instance, the Sea Demon can provide intelligence from the Ether Association—the largest organization of Ascenders on Earth today and the greatest enemy of the Ancient God's lineage. As for the Moon Princess and the Butcher, their combat skills are exceptional; they can raid resources for you in the outside world!"

He swallowed hard and continued in a steady tone: "As for myself, as I mentioned earlier, next time I will provide you with an abundant amount of spirituality! Given that we are being hunted, wanted by the Ether Association, and barely managing to stave off loss of control and deformation, crafting these Spiritual Secret Medicines has already been immensely challenging. It's impossible for us to provide large quantities of spirituality."

Their confidence lay in the fact that this Ancient God could not access the outside world.

Far more powerful individuals existed on this Earth.

Yet in the Qilin Immortal Palace, they were his only choice.

In the darkness, Gu Jianlin's gaze remained as cold as ever, his golden eyes burning fiercely.

"Is it really impossible, or is it that you simply don't want to?"

His raspy, drifting voice exploded like a clap of thunder.

The mentor was struck by terror, as though his petty schemes could never hide from this Ancient God.

He'd been exposed.

Because indeed, it wasn't that he couldn't, but that he didn't want to.

After all, trading with the Ancient God was an extremely risky affair.

The mentor wasn't even sure how much spirituality the Ancient God would need to break free of his restraints.

But he did know one thing.

Once the Qilin Venerable broke free, they would be rendered useless.

For the mentor and the other four individuals, their goal was survival—by any means necessary.

Ultimately, the worst outcome was death.

Being killed by the Ancient God was no different from succumbing to deformation or losing control.

"Of course it's impossible."

The mentor crawled on the ground, his voice trembling: "As you can see, my life is nearing its end! I beg you, grant me one more chance. I will refine higher-level…"

But before he could finish, his words were interrupted by a faint, mocking laugh.

"Humanly capability is inherently limited; there's no need to overstrain yourself."

Gu Jianlin raised his intense golden gaze, enunciating emphatically: "I want you to do something else."

For now, he didn't need higher-level Spiritual Secret Medicines; earlier, he'd only been chastising them.

He understood well that this Alchemist was calculating and cunning, and would never provide a large quantity of Spiritual Secret Medicine all at once.

That, of course, suited him just fine.

The mentor hesitated for a moment, trembling violently, then said: "Please speak."

Gu Jianlin spoke coldly: "When you entered the Qilin Immortal Palace, did you encounter the Kui?"

He wasn't sure how to describe that thing, so he simply referred to it by name.

Testing these people.

After all, that monstrous entity was terrifying enough to leave an indelible impression upon contact.

"The Kui?"

The mentor and his four disciples exchanged confused glances.

"Though I don't know what you're referring to, if it's something critical enough to garner your attention, we haven't encountered it," the elder replied. "We accessed this place using *Xu Fu's Record*, bypassing most dangers within the Qilin Immortal Palace. After all, the strongest among us is only Fourth Rank. If we encountered such powerful entities, we'd already be dead."

So that's the situation.

Gu Jianlin hadn't expected much in the first place and spoke indifferently:

"Aside from that, I'm interested in someone who previously entered this tomb. Based on your Ascender understanding, he should be a Sixth-tier Sky Master."

Gu Jianlin said detachedly: "I want to know his whereabouts."

These words fell, plunging the tomb into an eerie silence.

The mentor remained kneeling on the ground, but his hunched body visibly trembled, and his hands clenched the earth tightly.

At the same time, the Sea Demon and the Moon Princess also tensed their bodies.

Gu Jianlin was keenly aware of these subtle changes in their expressions and movements, and immediately recognized the truth.

These three individuals clearly knew who he was talking about upon hearing "Sixth-tier Sky Master"!

"The person you're referring to—is it Gu Ci'an?"

The mentor asked, trembling: "A Sixth-tier Sky Master? That's the only person I could think of. After all, in this world, those capable of entering here without relying on *Xu Fu's Record* are extremely rare."

"And as for Sixth-tier Sky Masters, there's no one else but Gu Ci'an."

He mentioned this name, his voice dry and hoarse. "He…he did appear in the Immortal Palace. Could it be that he entered ahead of us?"

At that moment, turbulent emotions surged deep within Gu Jianlin.

As expected, they knew!

Through careful observation, he deduced that the mentor harbored great reluctance to talk about his father. Something must've happened between them.

"You seem to have a particularly deep impression of him."

Gu Jianlin forced himself to remain calm and spoke coolly.

The mentor's eyes flickered briefly, as though recalling a painfully vivid fear, and then he explained softly: "As you might have expected, I do remember him well. How could I not? Back then, I secretly kept ancient documents, bringing the Scholar and the Butcher into the Immortal Palace, only to be hunted by Gu Ci'an. We barely escaped death…"

Gu Jianlin thought, this old man isn't lying.

The Joker had said the same.

"At that time, we were all trapped in the deepest layer of the seabed—a region still barely inhabitable by humans, unlike the uppermost layer here, which is saturated with the Spiritual Domain you left behind. As long as we carried sufficient supplies, we would not be forcefully teleported away. But the problem was, Gu Ci'an followed us in, chasing us relentlessly for six full months!"

The mentor spoke in a ghostly voice: "Gu Ci'an mastered profiling, making him a living nightmare for us. If it hadn't been for *Xu Fu's Record*, we would've already been captured."

For a brief moment, the tomb was steeped in grim silence.

On the surface, Gu Jianlin remained composed, yet internally, a storm raged within him!

The Alchemist claimed his father was trapped alongside them in the deepest seabed layer for six full months!

He couldn't determine who was telling the truth.

"Gu Ci'an is from the Ether Association, right?"

Gu Jianlin attempted to maintain his calm, speaking flatly: "Hunting down traitors."

"I initially thought the same, but then I realized it wasn't that simple."

The mentor's pupils contracted, and he said respectfully: "Because after six months of conflict, Gu Ci'an suddenly abandoned his pursuit of us. We found it strange since, even with *Xu Fu's Record*, the Immortal Palace was overwhelmingly perilous for us. At that point, we were already at the brink of desperation, and Gu Ci'an was merely one step away from capturing us."

"Yet he vanished without warning, and we ended up following his trail into the next layer."

He paused briefly, adding a note of suspicion to his tone: "Through sheer luck, we were later teleported back to reality. What's baffling is that on the very day of our return, we received unexpected news."

Gu Jianlin tilted his head, gazing down at them.

"The Ether Association announced that, three months before we reappeared in the real world, Gu Ci'an suddenly lost control and orchestrated the Blood Moon Slaughter Incident, killing a large number of A-level investigators before fleeing overnight. When news of him resurfaced, he had inexplicably died in a car crash. A Sixth-tier Sky Master, killed in a car accident?"

The mentor shook his head: "What's more, his moment of loss of control coincided exactly with the time he pursued us in the deepest layer of the Immortal Palace. I even kept some of the supplies he left behind, including the dagger with which he wounded the Butcher."

"..."

At that moment, Gu Jianlin's mind was engulfed in a chaotic storm.

If the Alchemist's account was true, then his father had indeed been trapped in the Immortal Palace.

Then…who was the other Gu Ci'an?