Humans are devouring and selling off the heavens.

Chapter 13 The Divine Crossbow "Gauss Rifle"

Inside the Zhutian Pavilion, the candlelight flickered, and Xu Qing's gaze narrowed as he looked at the silk thread before him.

A short while later, the silk thread connecting Hong Yi began to move.

[Guest Hong Yi requests entry into the Pavilion of All Heavens. May we grant him entry?]

"Reception."

As soon as he finished speaking, the silk threads emitted a radiant light, and with a ripple in space, a handsome young man of about fifteen years old, dressed in brocade robes, appeared inside the Zhutian Pavilion.

As soon as he stepped into the Zhutian Pavilion, Hong Yi was taken aback by the surrounding environment and Xu Qing in front of him.

"A shop, what kind of illusion is this? No, something's not right..."

His words came to an abrupt halt, and Hong Yi's pupils contracted sharply.

"Why is my physical body, my soul..." He suddenly stopped, his expression changing slightly.

The soul that should have been within the Peach Blossom Sword could now clearly perceive every inch of the body's texture, and the sound of blood and qi surging through the meridians was as clear as a war drum.

Is this actually real?

"This……"

Although he remained outwardly calm, Hong Yi was inwardly seething with shock.

His body was in a military camp, protected by seven innate masters, while his soul was in the Peach God Sword. How could someone in the world be able to pull him away silently?

This is many times better than Wu Laogou, or even Hong Xuanji.

Capturing people from a distance and tearing apart the void—what kind of supernatural power is this?
Looking at the short-haired man sitting behind the counter, dressed in strange armor, Hong Yiqiang suppressed his shock and politely bowed before asking:

"Who is your Excellency?"

Upon hearing Hong Yi's question, the short-haired man smiled and said:

"Young Master Yi, welcome to the Pavilion of All Heavens. I am Xu Qing, the Pavilion Master of the Pavilion of All Heavens."

"Don't be nervous. This is a trading place. Even I can't lay a hand on you."

Before he finished speaking, a streak of light flew from his fingertip and entered Hong Yi's brow.

In an instant, Hong Yi felt a flood of information appear in his mind, including the rules of the Zhutian Pavilion and the methods of trading.

"Zhutian Pavilion? A transaction?" Hong Yi murmured, realizing that Xu Qing wouldn't harm him, and gradually felt relieved. His gaze was drawn to the shelves beside him.

The shelves were filled with a dazzling array of strange and unusual items that he had never seen before.

However, Hong Yi's gaze stopped as soon as it swept over an item on the display shelf next to him.

"Huh? This is it?"

The object on the shelf gleamed with a dark light, and its entire body seemed to be cast from black iron. A half-curved handle extended from the bottom, and a crescent-shaped mechanism was embedded in the tiger's mouth, making it look like a crossbow.

However, this crossbow had no drawstring arm, nor any place to catch arrows; there was only a foot-long iron pipe pointing straight ahead.

Looking at the information about the "crossbow," Hong Yi stared intently, a slight tremor running through his heart.

"Gauss semi-automatic rifle, what kind of repeating crossbow is this? I've never heard of it before. Its range is so great that it can take a life from ten thousand paces away, and it can even pierce six feet of fine iron within a thousand paces?!"

What's even more terrifying is that this "repeating crossbow" doesn't require a warrior to load arrows or assemble a quiver. The fletching is as fine as cow hair, and there are millions of them. It can fire tens of thousands of arrows in the blink of an eye.

When the Martial Saint draws his bow, the arrow's fletching surpasses sound, capable of taking a life from a thousand paces away.

This weapon is a hundred times more terrifying than the Martial Saint's rapid-fire bow!
With this item, one person can be worth a million soldiers, so what is there to fear from Chief Steward Wu?

Thinking of this, Hong Yi became interested in buying it and couldn't help but ask Xu Qing:

"Master Xu, what is the price of this item?"

Xu Qing lightly tapped the counter with her fingertip, a mischievous thought creeping into her mind. A smile played on her lips as she looked at the young man before her and said:
"Young Master Yi, what price do you think it should be? Do you think you can afford it? Do you think the Great Qian Empire's treasury's reserves of sixty years can buy it?"

Hong Yi was stunned by the question and didn't know how to answer it.

Price? Can I afford it?
Gold and silver treasures? I may have a little, but there's absolutely no way I could buy such a divine crossbow.

The Peach God Sword? Even a Martial Saint would be at a disadvantage against it, how could it compare to this? Perhaps it's better to be safe than sorry.

Even considering the entire Qian Dynasty treasury, Hong Yi didn't believe he could afford to buy this item.

You should know that if this item were in the hands of a Grandmaster, it would be enough to kill a Martial Saint and even withstand an army of a million!

That was a Martial Saint. The Great Qian Dynasty had a population of one billion or two billion, but in Hong Yi's memory, there were only three or four peak beings of that level.

Even his own father, Hong Xuanji, might not be able to withstand the impact of this weapon.

This is priceless...

After thinking for a long time, Hong Yi shook his head. Seeing Hong Yi's embarrassed look, Xu Qing couldn't help but laugh:
"Haha, alright, Young Master Yi, it was just a joke. If you like it, I'll gladly give you the little toy as a bonus."

"Small toys?"

Hong Yi was taken aback upon hearing this. Hearing what Pavilion Master Xu said, was this kind of divine crossbow something that could be given away casually?
This is a treasure capable of killing a martial saint.

But before he could even react, the divine crossbow flew over and landed in his hand.

"Sect Master Xu, you're just giving it to me like this?" Hong Yi couldn't believe it.

Or is this divine crossbow not as powerful as I imagined?
Hong Yi examined the crossbow in his hand and tried aiming, but it didn't seem special. Apart from the different design, it was no different from a bow and arrow. He put his finger on the trigger, wanting to shoot an arrow to test it, but as a guest, he dared not be presumptuous.

"How about giving it a try?"

As Xu Qing's words rang out behind him, Hong Yi hadn't even reacted when a loud sound rang out, and a piece of refined iron, a full ten feet thick, appeared before him. Pure white light filled the space, and Hong Yi realized that he had somehow entered a huge room of unknown width and distance.

Xu Qing walked over and stood beside him, smiling as she said, "This is the testing room."

After he finished speaking, Hong Yi was stunned for a moment, and could only marvel at the other party's supernatural power. Then he exerted a little force with his fingertips and pulled the trigger.

The expected snapping of the bowstring and the sharp whistling sound did not occur; only a very faint "click" was heard, like the delicate sound of a mechanism meshing together.

Then, Hong Yi's pupils suddenly contracted—there was no violent impact sound, but before Hong Yi could react, the surface of the ten-foot-thick steel wall was dented as if it had been struck by an invisible giant hammer.

In that depression, a deep hole, as wide as a human head, pierced through the steel wall, with molten iron gushing out at the edges like lava, and a wave of scorching heat carrying the smell of burnt metal wafting towards you.

Hong Yi's soul penetrated deep into the cave, reaching a depth of six or seven feet.

It's a full two meters long.

Is this still a crossbow bolt?

Hong Yi, who hadn't felt the shot, couldn't believe it; his thoughts drifted to the molten iron.

It turned out that it was indeed 100% steel, and high-quality steel at that.

Without pausing, Hong Yi pulled the trigger again and again. Dozens of dark blue lightning bolts appeared and disappeared at the "muzzle," and each shot left a hole of the same size in the steel wall.

The wall was gradually covered with honeycomb-like wounds, and hot metal fragments fell down, accumulating into dark red pools of molten metal on the ground.

"It can pierce through six feet of fine iron from a thousand paces away, and take a life from ten thousand paces away. It is truly a divine crossbow."

Hong Yi looked at the damage caused by the divine crossbow in his hand and couldn't help but sigh.

More importantly, this divine crossbow can fire tens of thousands of bolts in the blink of an eye, which is comparable to firing hundreds or thousands of Explosive Flame Divine Swords at once. Moreover, the quiver alone contains a million bolts.

Before this divine crossbow, even if a Martial Saint wore a black gold cassock capable of withstanding armor-piercing crossbows, it would be as if he were nothing.

But such a wondrous object...

Hong Yi lowered his eyes, staring at the cold metallic patterns on the crossbow in his hand. Suddenly, he held the Gauss rifle horizontally forward and said in a deep voice:
“Sect Master Xu, although you have been so generous, Hong Yi knows that one should not accept a reward without merit.” He raised his head, his gaze sharp as he looked directly at the mysterious and unpredictable Sect Master of the Heavenly Pavilion.

"Please enlighten me, Lord Xu, on how I should repay you?"

The little guy is quite interesting.

Upon hearing this, Xu Qing smiled and waved his hand, and the surrounding scenery changed again, returning to the shop building with lit candles.

"It's just a little trinket. I gave it to you as a gift." Xu Qing said with a smile as he returned to the counter.

As he spoke, another Gauss rifle, identical to the one in Hong Yi's hand, appeared in his hand.

"See, Young Master Yi, these little things are mass-produced and have no value."

After saying that, Xu Qing tossed the Gauss gun aside like trash.

This thing doesn't require people like Zheng Zha and his friends to be foolish enough to buy the unlimited ammo version. Even if you buy two more Gauss rifles, it won't cost more than a hundred reward points.

Moreover, for him, this thing couldn't even hurt a hair on his head; it was really just a toy and had no use whatsoever.

“If you really don’t want to accept a free gift, then just buy two items as a bonus.” As he spoke, he pointed to the shelf next to him.

Hong Yi turned around and looked in the direction Xu Qing was pointing. He saw a glass bottle containing liquid and a green crystal the size of an egg floating on the two shelves.

"Dragon blood, when applied topically, can increase strength by 50,000 jin; thousand-year-old willow heartwood, when ingested, can increase strength by 500,000 jin."

Xu Qing said calmly, "Has Young Master Yi seen you before?"

Upon hearing this, Hong Yi felt his heart pounding like a drum.

He had witnessed the might of the Martial Saint; someone like Steward Wu was capable of taking the head of an enemy general amidst a vast army, and heavily armored troops were nothing in front of him.

But Hong Yi never imagined that he could obtain such terrifying power and become a Martial Saint solely through external objects.

If one were to consume these two divine items, wouldn't that surpass the level of a Martial Saint?
This is many times more precious than that divine crossbow.

The divine crossbow, however much you can say, is just an external object, but these two heaven-defying divine medicines have the potential to make someone a human immortal.

Even Hong Yi, who loved reading miscellaneous notes, had never heard of such a heaven-defying thing.

Just as he was about to speak, he saw Xu Qing suddenly radiate billions of rays of light, like a blazing sun rising inside the pavilion.

"This is?"

Hong Yi's pupils were trembling. As someone who cultivated Taoist arts, he could naturally see that it was an endless surge of blood and qi. He felt that all the candles in the pavilion had been extinguished, and only the flames of the blazing sun enveloped the entire space.

"This is the power after taking it." Xu Qing's voice was high above, as if it came from the clouds. "What does Young Master Yi think?"

The overwhelming energy that Hong Yi couldn't describe filled the entire pavilion, as if he had fallen into the sun. Hong Yi felt as if his fully-formed spirit was about to faint.

This level of qi and blood is already ten or even a hundred times greater than that of Wu Laogou, and even Hong Xuanji's qi and blood has not reached this level.

Strangely, he couldn't sense any martial intent or spirit in the person before him, as if the person in front of him was a pure giant of qi and blood, rather than someone who cultivated martial arts.

If he is not a martial arts practitioner, then is he a master of Taoist arts?
But what kind of Taoist master can possess the body of a human immortal?

What kind of Taoist master could place a powerful elixir that leads directly to immortality on the shelf?

What kind of powerful Taoist master could teleport him here?
"Could it be..." Hong Yi's pupils contracted sharply as a thought exploded in his mind like a thunderclap.

"Yang Shen?!"

Suppressing his excitement for a moment, he quickly regained his calm demeanor, but the way Hong Yi looked at Xu Qing was different now.

(End of this chapter)