Rise to God with Life Skill Professions-Chapter 401 - 391: Madness, Bones, Pseudo-God

"Is this... the corpse of the Mountain Patrol Silver General?" Qin An’s eyes flashed with a hint of surprise.

The skeleton had long since decayed, but the badge at its waist revealed its identity.

However, Qin An noticed something unusual.

He used the Straight Blade to turn over the skeleton, carefully observing the black clothing it wore.

"Whether it’s the style or make, it differs widely. Apart from the badge, it seems he was wearing a different set of clothes."

Qin An rubbed his chin, thinking to himself.

He examined a few more skeletons and found that the clothes they wore were even older.

"Is this... a style from decades ago?"

In order to cultivate in the Scholar Profession, Qin An often went to the Confidential Library to browse various miscellaneous books.

So he was already familiar with some local customs and histories.

These styles were indeed from Xunyang Prefecture, but they were from decades ago.

"In other words, a great battle broke out in Yellow Sands Hall decades ago, and even Xunyang Prefecture was involved."

Qin An pondered for a moment, suddenly feeling that there might be a big secret waiting for him.

But now was not the time for him to think about those things.

"First, let’s search for clues on Earth Extreme True Intent."

Qin An cast aside various thoughts and continued searching within the Yellow Sands Hall.

Yet after searching for a long while, he still found nothing.

"It seems I have to delve deeper."

Qin An looked towards a small door at the end of the hall, thinking to himself.

At the end of the hall, a small door was hidden discreetly.

If one didn’t look carefully, they certainly wouldn’t discover it.

With no clues in sight, Qin An decided not to linger, and after a brief thought, he headed towards the small door.

Behind the small door was another side hall.

Upon stepping inside, Qin An found the scenery almost identical to the outside.

Skeletal remains were everywhere, belonging to both humans and monster-like Pseudo-Gods.

But they all shared a common characteristic: they all died from battling each other.

Qin An searched once more but still found nothing other than skeletons.

Not far away, there was still another small door.

Just as Qin An was about to step through it again, something unusual suddenly occurred.

The pile of corpses not far away suddenly started to shake as if someone inside was trying to move it.

"Clang!"

Without hesitation, Qin An lifted his blade and slashed across.

The Seven-Colored True Essence spread across the blade, attacking the pile of corpses.

At this moment, the pile of corpses suddenly erupted with a terrifying Evil Qi.

The Evil Qi projected out through the gaps in the pile, transforming into a fearsome net that blocked the Cold Star’s Seven-Colored True Essence.

"Boom!"

The True Essence spread wildly, its residual power rippling out, rapidly spreading before the naked eye.

The skeletal remains, having been here for so long, were swept by the residual power and instantly turned to dust.

From within the pile of corpses, a hunched silhouette suddenly emerged.

The Evil Qi, carrying a frenzied aura, was accompanied by a manic voice that permeated the entire side hall.

"Ah, ah, ah!"

"All are madmen, all are madmen!"

"What’s so good about Divine Soul Refining Body Skill! That Pseudo-God is just a fraud!"

"Yellow Sands Hall is a conspiracy! It’s a conspiracy to kill everyone!"

As these words were spoken, the hunched silhouette gradually became clear.

It was an elderly man in tattered clothing, waving his hands and feet while standing in place, muttering to himself in a disorganized manner.

The elder’s eyes were like the fading glow of the setting sun, carrying a hint of golden color, while the pupils were a profound darkness, making anyone who looked fall into an endless abyss.

Qin An squinted slightly, his gaze carrying a hint of vigilance: "Half-Step Unity Realm, who are you?"

Although he already knew this old man was a Pseudo-God, Qin An wanted to try to communicate.

Just now, the mad old man had mentioned the Divine Soul Refining Body Skill, so he suspected it might be related to those behind it.

If communication were possible, it might help to obtain Earth Extreme True Intent.

Besides, he could uncover the secret of the Divine Soul Refining Body Skill.

Little did Qin An know that as soon as he finished speaking, the mad old man seemed to realize something, turned to look at Qin An, and the madness in his eyes deepened.

"Die, die, whoever dares to snatch the treasure from me will die!"

The old man screamed violently, charging fiercely at Qin An.

The Evil Qi was as thick and dense as stagnant ink, hard to disperse.

With a wave of his hand, a gust of fierce wind first attacked.

Qin An’s eyes narrowed slightly, brow furrowed.

The Cold Star Saber slashed diagonally, with Seven-Colored True Essence swirling, covering the Cold Star Saber’s blade, cutting through the fierce wind.

The split wind fell against the wall behind, causing the wall to burst open.

In the instant Qin An made his move, the mad old man had already approached, his fists hammering heavily towards Qin An’s neck and chest.

With Half-Step Unity Realm cultivation, if this strike landed on Qin An, he would likely die instantly.

But just before the fists reached him, Qin An circulated the Seven-Colored True Essence within, activating the Seven Stars Manifestation.

The Seven-Colored True Essence condensed into a semi-transparent manifestation, covering Qin An’s body.

The fists struck the manifestation, which cracked like a spider web but also provided Qin An a brief chance to strike.

Without hesitation, Qin An slashed downward with the Cold Star Saber.

The old man was already frenzied; even as a Pseudo-God, he couldn’t change his deranged state.

Thus, there was no longer a need to continue communication.

As the slash descended, the old man’s madness seemed to rob him of the last thread of reason, and he ignored the Straight Blade, only accelerating his attack in an attempt to break Qin An’s defense.

The Straight Blade cut across, slicing halfway through the old man’s neck.

Qin An didn’t use the Three Blades Unification Secret Skill; he simply unleashed the Seven-Colored True Essence.

The Seven-Colored True Essence became unstoppable, instantly severing the old man’s head.

"Boom!"

The corpse fell to the ground, twitched a few times, and then was motionless.

Qin An picked at the pseudo-mark on the old man’s chest, his brows knitting deeper.

The reason he could easily cut down the old man was that the old man’s mind was in chaos, making no defense against the Cold Star.

If the old man had been a normal Pseudo-God, Qin An would have needed to use the Three Blades Unification Secret Skill.

However, this served as a warning to Qin An.

After death, the old man became a Pseudo-God, possessing Half-step Unity Realm strength, meaning he surely had such strength when alive too.

With such power falling in this strange place, Qin An felt that even at his current profession’s fourteenth level, he needed to remain cautious.

With that in mind, Qin An paused for a moment, shifting his gaze to the only exit.

Qin An, without hesitation, stepped towards the small door, all the while making calculations in his mind.

"This place holds the Earth Extreme True Intent, and there’s a secret of the Divine Soul Refining Body Skill. Perhaps I can kill two birds with one stone."

Thinking this, Qin An had already reached the entrance of the small door and stepped inside without hesitation.

...

Dim darkness spread before him, and within a few breaths’ time, Qin An traversed the pitch-black corridor.

What lay ahead was another side hall, but this time with significantly fewer corpses, at most half compared to outside.

At the forefront of the corpses was a dark wooden box.

At this moment, the wooden box was open, making it impossible to discern what was inside.

All the fallen corpses were prostrate towards the position of the wooden box.

Qin An thought to himself: "Perhaps they were fighting over the treasure in this wooden box, killing each other."

With the clues available, this was the only hypothesis Qin An could make.

Yet, the opened wooden box piqued Qin An’s interest.

After thinking briefly, Qin An approached the wooden box.

As he got closer, the contents of the wooden box came into view.

The wooden box was mostly empty, but nestled in the corner was a small brocade box.

After contemplating briefly, Qin An used the Cold Star to open the brocade box, revealing its contents.

Inside the box was a palm-sized jade disc, engraved with intricate patterns.

If examined closely, one could notice a faint flow of True Essence within the jade disc.

"Based on the era I know, it dates back several decades." Qin An thought to himself.

"But for the True Essence in the jade disc to still remain after all these decades, it surely is no ordinary item."

Qin An paused slightly, then deployed the Seven Star Phenomenal Form.

Enveloping his left hand in the Phenomenal Form, he intended to pick up the jade disc for further investigation.

After all, this jade disc was the only lead in this place.

But just as Qin An’s hand was about to approach the jade, a voice echoed in the side hall.

"I’d advise you not to meddle with it."

As soon as the voice appeared, Qin An turned, looking toward its source, his Straight Blade lowering to the ground, poised for action.

At the entrance to the small door at the far end of the side hall, stood a vague shadow.

When Qin An locked onto it with killing intent, the shadow slowly emerged from the small door.

Out of the door walked a man clad in an Evil Extermination Bureau uniform.

The young man had a handsome visage, with a silver-patterned badge hanging at his waist.

Upon closer inspection, it was clear the man’s dark attire was identical in style to Qin An’s.

Qin An raised an eyebrow: "When did you come in?"

The Mountain Patrol Silver General shook his head: "I’ve been here for a long time, trapped here for nearly half a month. I didn’t expect a colleague to enter here too; just good luck."

As he spoke, the Mountain Patrol Silver General walked toward Qin An.

He only stopped when approaching Qin An closely.

For as he got closer, the killing intent on Qin An grew more intense.

Qin An suddenly raised his eyebrow, a teasing tone in his voice: "Who exactly are you? No need to disguise in front of me, to me, you’re full of flaws."

The Mountain Patrol Silver General was slightly taken aback: "What are you talking about? I don’t quite understand."

"It’s fine if you don’t understand," Qin An said flatly, "You can mimic my clothes and the badge I wear, but you can’t mimic the aura of the living, and... the illusions you’ve stacked using Array Power are full of flaws."

Hearing this, the Mountain Patrol Silver General’s expression turned extremely stiff.

He realized and burst into laughter: "Interesting, interesting, you could actually spot my flaws. It seems you have made quite the achievements in the art of arrays."

As the Mountain Patrol Silver General spoke these words, his clothing turned utterly decayed.

The badge transformed into a piece of wood.

His handsome features rotted away, leaving only a skeleton in tattered clothing.

Qin An narrowed his eyes.

He could sense that this skeletal Pseudo-God before him lacked madness, and seemed capable of communication compared to the deranged elder.

Qin An asked again: "Who exactly are you?"

The skeletal Pseudo-God ceased laughing, blue flames fluttering in the eye sockets: "You ask who I am? I am the guardian of this side hall, you’ve intruded into the Yellow Sand Palace, and killed the former guardian. Now, surrender your life."

"The former guardian?" Qin An raised an eyebrow slightly: "You mean that madman?"

"So what if it is?" The skeletal Pseudo-God raised his left arm, and a bone sword suddenly appeared in his grip.

Qin An said calmly: "It seems there are others in the Yellow Sand Palace, and you seem to serve them, otherwise you wouldn’t be called a guardian."

"Very clever," the skeletal Pseudo-God sneered, "But your cleverness will be of no use, I am different from that madman, you’re going to die miserably."

Qin An ignored the Pseudo-God’s threat, speaking again: "Does the Divine Soul Refining Body Skill still exist within the Yellow Sand Palace?"

The skeletal Pseudo-God realized: "You’re trying to trick me, courting death!"

He stopped exchanging words, and with the bone sword in hand, thrust at Qin An’s chest.

The Half-step Unity Realm Cultivation radiating from him crashed down on Qin An like a world-shaking wave.

Qin An narrowed his eyes, and as the bone sword was about to strike, he suddenly swung his blade horizontally.

The Seven-Colored True Essence, with an overwhelming might, collided with the bone sword of the skeletal Pseudo-God.

A chilling killing intent flashed in Qin An’s eyes: "Since you won’t speak willingly, I’ll force you until you do."

With that, the Seven-Colored True Essence surged wildly.

Seven Star Ruthless Blood Transformation Saber.

Three Blades Unite!