Chapter 1955 - 1539: Treacherous Mountain Road, Summon the Soul-Devouring Python!

Gu Changsheng looked at the rolling mountain range before her, her eyes filled with astonishment...

Divine Mount Qilian could be said to be the tallest mountain on this continent besides the Five Great Mountains. The ridges stretched endlessly beyond sight. Standing at the foot of the mountain, Gu Changsheng felt that, in this moment, she was utterly small and insignificant!

Taking out the Geomancy Map that Landuoer had given her yesterday, Gu Changsheng looked up at the mountain and sighed. "According to what Landuoer said, Divine Mount Qilian is the main place where the Tashi Tribe mines ore and does smelting. However, the Divine Weapon Forging Tower lies deep within Divine Mount Qilian, protected by a maze formation set up by the Tashi ancestors. Only those with fate can find it..."

How to put it, when Landuoer handed her this Geomancy Map, Gu Changsheng had indeed been quite pleased in her heart. After all, it meant she had first-hand information, practically like having a back door opened for her!

But when she actually stood at the foot of Divine Mount Qilian and saw the endless, cloud-piercing mountains rising and falling before her eyes, Gu Changsheng realized that having this Geomancy Map in hand was actually not much use. At most, it only pointed out a general direction, enough to keep them from taking too many detours in Divine Mount Qilian, or even getting lost!

"The mountain paths are difficult; carriages can hardly pass. We can only abandon the carriage and go on foot!" Zhou Mu looked at Gu Changsheng’s face, which still carried a hint of pallor, and deep in his eyes, as dark as a Cold Pool, an unhidden worry flickered.

"Mm." Gu Changsheng responded noncommittally upon hearing this.

"Hah! Did you hear that? These few people actually plan to go into the mountain on foot! On foot! What a joke. This is Divine Mount Qilian, the mountain rises in tens of thousands of layers. Going in on foot—what are they trying to do, go sightseeing? Really don’t know which pauper’s den they crawled out of. Have they fallen so far that they can’t even afford a single mountain horse?"

Just as the four of them were hesitating at the foot of the mountain, a group of people came riding towards them, whips cracking.

Judging by their clothes and bearing, they were all people of the Itinerant World, and among those from all trades, there were even a few young masters and young ladies who looked like they came from noble families.

The saying "Divine weapons of the world come from Qilian" was known to all in the Itinerant World. Naturally, many noble families came to seek treasure in order to obtain a Divine Weapon to bolster their prestige!

What’s more, the ancestors of the Tashi Tribe had left a rule: the Smelting Masters gathered in the Tashi Tribe would select a single Divine weapon every year and place it in the Divine Weapon Forging Tower. This Divine Weapon Forging Tower was even open to outsiders. Those Divine weapons that money could never buy—whose hands they would end up in depended entirely on fate and strength!

On this, Gu Changsheng only wanted to say one thing: damn, the prosperity the Tashi Tribe enjoyed today was absolutely not built in a day. Their ancestors were truly good at doing business!

Just a single Divine weapon was enough to whet the appetite of countless people, and adding "only those with fate shall obtain it" made even more people flock to it. If the Tashi Tribe’s trade and commerce didn’t skyrocket, that would be the real oddity. Over time, how could they not become prosperous?

As for them today, it was hard to say whether their luck was good or bad. They had just reached the foot of the mountain when they ran into others who were also here to seek treasure!

Moreover, this group of people didn’t look like they would be easy to get along with.

Especially those few noble men and women, who looked rather arrogant and overbearing.

Hearing that man’s sneering words of contempt, Gu Changsheng didn’t even bother to turn her head. She didn’t want to argue with irrelevant people, and she had already promised her own evildoer that on this trip to Divine Mount Qilian she would behave like a well-behaved invalid!

"Hey! Young Master is talking to you. Are you blind or deaf, pretending you didn’t hear?" The young master who had mocked Gu Changsheng saw that none of them responded to him and immediately felt ignored, so he barked out a rebuke on the spot.

"Insolence!"

Yuan Bao finally couldn’t help it. He turned his head, his voice sharp and stern as he snapped.

He actually dared to curse his own lady as blind and deaf? That was practically courting death!

Yuan Bao was about to make a move when Gu Changsheng reached out and grabbed him, shook her head at him, and said softly, "Divine Mount Qilian’s road ahead is unpredictable. Right now, the less trouble the better."

This was only the first wave. They had just arrived beneath Divine Mount Qilian. The farther they went into its depths, the more treasure seekers they would encounter. At such a time, it was not advisable to make enemies, nor to make a name for themselves.

Gu Changsheng very well understood the meaning of "the shot hits the bird that sticks its head out"!

Even so, Yuan Bao’s shout of "Insolence" had indeed carried some weight. Even that arrogant young master was stunned for a moment. When he came back to his senses, he realized that the one who had shouted at him was just a fat man. Judging from his clothes, he didn’t look particularly distinguished. The young master immediately felt he’d lost face; his expression alternated between green and white, turning very ugly.

"Where did this lowborn wretch come from, daring to raise his voice at Young Master?" the young master snapped in anger, his horsewhip cracking sharply in the air.

"Noisy. Get lost." Lowering his head to look at the Geomancy Map Gu Changsheng had handed him, Zhou Mu’s deep voice sounded, carrying an endless chill.

His little woman was still injured, and Shi Wujue was also in poor health. At the moment, neither of them liked noisy sounds. Zhou Mu knew this was not the time to stir up trouble, but that didn’t mean he would tolerate too much.

At worst, he would just kill them all; it wouldn’t really affect anything.

"You!" The young master on horseback looked at that tall, slender back turned toward him and suddenly felt a chill spread over his whole body, a trace of fear rising from the depths of his heart. But then, thinking of his own status, if he backed down just like this, how would the people around him see him?

Yet before he could flare up again, his servant spoke first, face darkening slightly. "Young Master Jin, when traveling outside, caution comes first. We shouldn’t make enemies of those whose depths we do not know. Let’s wait until we get to Smelting City, hire more capable experts, and then decide what to do!"

The Young Master on horseback had the surname Jin, given name Luoyi. He’d already been thinking about backing out, just couldn’t pull the face to do it. Hearing his own servant talk like that, he immediately went with the flow, turned his horse around with a dark look, and even as he left, he still didn’t forget to drop a vicious threat: "Don’t let this Young Master run into you in Smelting City, or you lot are dead meat! Hyah!"

With that, the group cracked the reins and drove off. From beginning to end, aside from Jin Luoyi, the other three—two women and one man dressed in rich finery—sat straight on their horses and never said a word. Only, the woman protected in the very center, that pair of eyes beneath her veiled hat stayed fixed on Gu Changsheng’s group, the corner of her mouth hooking into a sharp little curve, full of arrogant confidence.

Once Jin Luoyi and his people had ridden off, Gu Changsheng and the rest merely blinked and treated it as if nothing had happened.

But in the very next instant, Gu Changsheng suddenly grinned smugly. "Heh heh... Yeah, mountain paths are hard to walk—but they’ve only got mountain horses that’ve been trained for this kind of terrain, whereas I’ve got Witch Gu Horses!"

Mountain horses, big deal.

She’d actually almost forgotten—those two seemingly ordinary horses of hers were Witch Gu Horses!

"Mm, once we enter Divine Mount Qilian—after all, from here to Smelting City the mountain road should still be passable for Witch Gu Horses. It’s just that the section after that is extremely treacherous; I’m afraid even Witch Gu Horses might not be able to get through." Zhou Mu nodded after hearing this, and ordered Yuan Bao to unhitch the Witch Gu Horses from the carriage.

"You and Shi Wujue ride; we’ll follow behind. We’re not in a rush to make time." Zhou Mu took one look at his little woman’s pale face, then at Shi Wujue, and spoke after a moment of thought.

"Mm." Gu Changsheng had no objections to that.

She just watched Yuan Bao unhitch the Witch Gu Horses and looked very reluctant to part with all the stuff loaded on the carriage.

Finally, inspiration struck in Gu Changsheng’s mind—she suddenly remembered that besides the Witch Gu Horses, she’d actually brought another Gu insect along!

The Azure Dragon Spirit-Consuming Python!

"Heh heh, Yuan Bao, hurry up and unload everything from the carriage and sort it out!"

As she spoke, Gu Changsheng glanced around. They were right at the foot of the mountain now; there weren’t many people about, but every now and then a group heading into the mountains to hunt for treasure would pass by. She definitely couldn’t just blatantly summon the Spirit-Consuming Python under everyone’s gaze—that’d scare people half to death!

So Gu Changsheng immediately had Yuan Bao and the others lead the two Witch Gu Horses, loaded up with all the carriage’s goods, into the dense forest to one side. Only after they found a spot away from prying eyes and stopped did she summon out the Spirit-Consuming Python coiled around her wrist!

In just an instant, the metallic snake bone chain wrapped around Gu Changsheng’s wrist appeared before the four of them!

A huge snake’s body, a waist as thick as a water barrel, a scarlet forked tongue, lantern-like snake eyes...

Looked pretty majestic and badass—if you ignored the way it hit the ground and went tumbling head over tail a few times...

Being abruptly summoned, the Spirit-Consuming Python’s supple waist rolled and crashed right into a tree root. Fortunately that big tree was sturdy enough or it would’ve been knocked crooked by it!

Once it steadied itself, the Spirit-Consuming Python was absolutely brimming with resentment!

Feeder, could we maybe give a heads-up before you summon a Gu next time? This summoning method where you just yank and toss—exactly who did our dear Feeder learn that from?

This is way too crude and violent, total Gu insect abuse!

In the Snake Eyes of the Spirit-Consuming Python, there was nothing but deep grievance and hurt, shiny and moist—just short of being speechless with sorrow...

"Heh heh, Little Snake, long time no see. Looks like you’ve been living quite the comfy life..."

Gu Changsheng wasn’t someone who relied heavily on Witch gu, so she rarely called the Spirit-Consuming Python out. Seeing it again now, she raised her hand in greeting—and suddenly felt like her little snake’s waist had gotten even thicker.

Feeder, long time no see. You look like you’ve been living pretty rough. Just look at that pale face—clearly injured...

"Little Snake, you’ve put on weight..." Gu Changsheng stared at the Spirit-Consuming Python’s body several times over, and finally couldn’t hold it in, blurting out what was on her mind. "Water-snake waist, water-snake waist—here I was dreaming you’d slim down a bit and become a sultry little snake!"

Hearing that, the Spirit-Consuming Python’s entire body jolted!

No! It was absolutely not losing weight!

In the World of Gu Insects, plump is beautiful; skinny Gu insects get treated like they’re malnourished and losers!

Also, there was no way it was ever going to have that so-called ’water-snake waist,’ okay?