I Have 10 Equipment Slots

Chapter 416: Chapter 238: So Close

With a single thought, Gu Zheng could now plunge the five hundred-plus members of the four Alien Races into a state worse than death.

They had offered up their Divine Souls in a pledge of eternal loyalty.

This wasn’t just talk; it had actually been done!

Gu Zheng had nothing to say to this. Since they had handed over their very lives, he was naturally not stingy. He took out all the Bone Pearls and distributed them among the four Alien Races.

Each race received about thirty Bone Pearls. If they managed their time well, all the members of the four Alien Races would have their Cold Poison completely eradicated.

For the few Aliens whose Cold Poison was about to flare up, Gu Zheng took out Antitoxic Source Fruits and had them consume them.

The effects were immediate.

In less than a quarter of an hour, the Cold Poison in their bodies had completely dissipated without a trace.

This made the four Clan Leaders—Ji Taihao, Bo Taixing, Wu Taidu, and Sen Taibai—both grateful and sincerely glad for the choice they had made.

They had bet right!

They knew of Source Fruits. Although they had never seen one, they were recorded in a few well-preserved ancient texts—the Bone Books.

Before one was consumed, no one knew what function a Source Fruit possessed.

Yet Gu Zheng could state its function with certainty, which meant he clearly had a secret.

They didn’t ask what this secret was, but deep down, they were overjoyed.

The more mysterious Gu Zheng was and the more methods he possessed, the greater their hope—and their chance—of leaving the Ice Prison.

And so.

While Gu Zheng was in secluded cultivation, the four Alien Races—including the Two-Eared and Three-Eyed—mobilized every member they could and sent them out of their caves to search for Ice Dragon Fruits.

Ice Dragon Fruits could greatly help Gu Zheng break through to the Fifth Realm, so naturally, the more they found, the better.

With most of the Aliens from the four races out searching, they had to face threats. Besides the Demon Fiends originally in the Ice Prison, there were also two Undead Race Great Monarchs.

The threat from the latter was, arguably, the greatest.

Before, whenever a fourth-rank Demon Fiend was about to emerge in the Ice Prison, it would be killed by Bo Taixing, Ji Taihao, and the others.

For the past thirty thousand years, aside from the first few hundred when they were at a disadvantage against the Demon Fiends, the four Alien Races had always held the upper hand and dominated the Ice Prison.

Now that two fourth-rank Undead Race Great Monarchs had suddenly appeared, they were without a doubt the greatest threat.

For this reason, the four Clan Leaders, including Ji Taihao and Sen Taibai, split into pairs and scoured the entire Ice Prison. Yet, even after searching three times, they found nothing.

The two Undead Race Great Monarchs had gone into hiding.

...

「Half a year passed in the blink of an eye.」

Inside a spacious cave in the territory of the Three-Eyed Race, Gu Zheng swallowed an Ice Dragon Fruit and immersed himself in a wondrous state of enlightenment.

Gu Zheng had already fully comprehended the Dao Rhyme from both Xie Hongye’s Enlightenment Plum Blossoms and the Xiao Family’s Enlightenment Round Mirror.

Now, his only option was to consume Ice Dragon Fruits to obtain Dao Rhyme and seek enlightenment, searching for the way to break through to the third stage of the King’s Body.

There was no guidance for the third stage of the King’s Body, King’s Body: Seeking Truth—how to seek, or what to seek. It all depended on one’s own comprehension.

Once he achieved that enlightenment and understood it completely, he would grasp the way forward.

Unfortunately, half a year had passed. He had used up the Enlightenment Plum Blossoms and the Round Mirror, and had consumed over a hundred Ice Dragon Fruits, yet Gu Zheng still hadn’t found his path.

He was so close.

Every time he was immersed in his meditative state, he was just shy of a breakthrough.

He could never quite grasp that crucial spark of insight.

Gu Zheng had no choice but to temporarily halt his cultivation and leave the cave.

"Master!"

"Greetings, Master!"

"..."

Inside the mountain cave, the Three-Eyed Race People who were passing by quickly stopped, moved to the side, and bowed respectfully upon seeing Gu Zheng.

"Mm."

Gu Zheng nodded in acknowledgment and walked past them at a slow pace.

In the past six months, Gu Zheng had not only learned to understand the ancient language used by the four races, but could also speak it.

With people to converse with, explain things, and teach him, learning a new language wasn’t difficult for Gu Zheng.

What was difficult was how to "Seek Truth."

He was so close, but this was something he couldn’t find through secluded cultivation.

Perhaps a walk outside would lead to a sudden epiphany.

...

"Master!"

As he was strolling, Bo Xiu came jogging toward him, bowed respectfully, and reported, "Master, something unexpected happened, but I believe we’ve located the Undead Race Great Monarchs."

"Oh? Where are they hiding?" Hearing this, Gu Zheng’s interest was piqued.

"In the caves of the Ice Ape Race!"

Bo Xiu’s expression turned serious. "The two Undead Race Great Monarchs have taken control of all the Ice Apes and even created a fourth-rank Ice Ape King! My Clan Leader and Clan Leader Sen Taibai are locked in a fierce battle with it right now. I was on my way back to inform Clan Leader Ji Taihao and Clan Leader Wu Taidu..."

"Have they been notified?" Gu Zheng interrupted.

"Yes, they’ve been informed," Bo Xiu nodded.

"Good," Gu Zheng said with understanding. "Come, take me to see what’s happening."

"Yes, Master!" Bo Xiu wasted no time, turning and heading out immediately.

Gu Zheng followed close behind.

The two of them exited the mountain cave and sped south.

Along the way, Bo Xiu explained that the Ice Ape Race was the greatest rival to their four races within the Ice Prison.

Every adult Ice Ape could grow to be over ten zhang tall.

That is, more than thirty meters.

They were practically small mountains.

When they moved, they were incredibly violent and ferocious. It often took three cultivators at the Heroic Body Realm to deal with a single third-rank Ice Ape.

Because they were so powerful, the four Alien Races had always suppressed them, never giving them the chance to produce a fourth-rank Ice Ape.

For a fourth-rank Ice Ape to suddenly appear was clearly abnormal.

...

The caves of the Ice Ape Race were located deep beneath a thick layer of ice.

The entrance was spacious, and the passage beyond was even taller and wider.

It was like an entire subterranean palace laid out beneath the ice.

When Gu Zheng arrived with Bo Xiu, the battle between Bo Taixing, Sen Taibai, and the fourth-rank Ice Ape was at its most intense.

BOOM!

RUMBLE!

The tremendous noise traveled upward, causing large cracks to fracture the vibrating ice sheet above.

In a subterranean cavern four to five hundred meters high, a behemoth fifty to sixty meters tall roared and bellowed. It had a snow-white body and thick fur, and as it moved, it was enveloped in a violent aura that assaulted the mind and spirit.

SWISH SWISH SWISH!

Sharp icicles, ice arrows, and ice spikes shot out in all directions.

The figures of Bo Taixing and Sen Taibai weaved rapidly through the air, clashing fiercely with the fourth-rank Ice Ape. The resulting shockwaves shattered ice pillars and caused the ice ceiling to crack and collapse.

Gu Zheng glanced over. The aura of this fifty-to-sixty-meter-tall, fourth-rank Ice Ape was indeed abnormal.

Its Death Qi was far denser than its Vitality!

Manipulating Death Qi—this was clearly a technique of the Undead Race.

Gu Zheng activated his Five-Orifice Divine Techniques, scanned the entire cavern, and said, "The Undead Race Great Monarchs aren’t here. They’re gone."

"Gone?" Bo Xiu mused. "Perhaps they’re just hiding nearby."

"Look, Master. In this entire cavern system of the Ice Ape Race, only this fourth-rank Ice Ape is here. There’s no sign of the others. They were most likely taken by the Undead Race Great Monarchs."

"They took the other Ice Apes but left this fourth-rank one behind... Their goal was almost certainly to lure us here..."

"Oh no!"

Suddenly, Bo Xiu’s eyes widened in alarm as he blurted out, "The Undead Race Great Monarchs are plotting against us! They’re heading for our clan territories!"

’A feint?’

Gu Zheng’s gaze turned cold, and his figure vanished.

"I’m heading back immediately."

"You notify Wu Taidu and Ji Taihao and tell them to return at once."

Leaving those words behind, Gu Zheng pushed his speed to its absolute limit.

Then, he tore straight through the void, rocketing back toward the mountain cave of the Three-Eyed Race.

This was one area where the Soul Illumination Technique fell short of the Nether Heart Slave Seal.

With the Slave Seal, Gu Zheng could have used Telepathy directly instead of relying on a messenger.

’This scheme by the Undead Race Great Monarchs is actually rather mediocre.’

’I’ve been in secluded cultivation in the territory of the Three-Eyed Race this whole time, and only came out today on a whim.’

’I could just as easily have been in the territory of the Two-Eared, Toothless, or Hidden Spirit Race.’

’The Undead Race Great Monarchs had no way of predicting that.’

’So, even if they managed to lure away all four Clan Leaders, including Bo Taixing and Sen Taibai, attacking the other members of the Alien Races would still be a gamble.’

’A gamble on whether or not they’d run into me!’

’Under these circumstances, the probability of them targeting the Two-Eared or Toothless Race was higher than them targeting the Three-Eyed Race.’

’After all, I started out in the territory of the Three-Eyed Race, and the Hidden Spirit Race has too few members to satisfy the Undead Race’s need for slaughter.’

’But anything is possible.’

’What if they thought I had moved my cultivation spot and decided to take a gamble on attacking the Three-Eyed Race?’