Chapter 18 Drip

"Drip."

"Drip."

Blood fell.

Gu Shen gripped the ruler, wiping his face with his other hand. The fire tide surged. The only door leading to the rooftop had been smashed to pieces, and as for the person who smashed it... he was now scattered in every direction of the rooftop.

Time slowed down.

A second, for Gu Shen, felt like an hour.

He could see the angle of every sheet flying on the rooftop, the shape of every flicker of flame, everything within his sight, and he could sense all living things around him.

After holding the Ruler of Truth, his thoughts became clear, but also numb.

This power, rather than a gift from God, was more like a deal with the devil... You grasp the power, and while you gaze into the abyss, the abyss is also gazing at you.

The orange cat became quiet, not saying a word, standing small and sparrow-like on Gu Shen's shoulder, its eyes flashing with ever-changing fluorescent light, observing Gu Shen at this moment.

["This person is dead."]

Gu Shen looked at the messy door panel and blood clots in front of him, and this thought appeared in his mind.

["I did it..."]

Then came a long period of confusion.

["...Did I?"]

In the long passage of time, countless thoughts were cut apart, repeatedly questioned, and the answers were always the same.

["He did it to himself."]

Gu Shen sighed deeply, feeling as if all the strength in his body was about to be drained... It felt like a century had passed, but in reality, only 20 seconds had gone by.

20 seconds later.

Gu Shen wiped the blood from his face, silently watching the second "hunter" appear at the end of his vision, shocked by the bloody scene.

There were two people who wanted to kill him.

The guy he had just killed seemed to possess a power that enhanced his physical body... as could be seen from the way he broke through the door.

He was a brute.

And now, what he saw was the complete opposite, a skinny man who was not tall.

This was probably the one who had tried to break into his apartment door.

At that time, he had heard the sound of the door panel corroding... He must have mastered a similar power, so he was also the mastermind behind this arson case.

Gu Shen looked over slowly.

At the end of the corridor, the skinny man who saw his companion turned into a pile of碎尸 (sui shi, minced corpse) had a pale face and a trembling voice.

"You've got to be... kidding me?"

He doubted what his eyes were seeing.

Was all of this real?

On the rooftop, the teenager with thousands of blades suspended behind him, holding a戒尺 (jie chi, disciplinary ruler) in his hand, stared at him coldly. Just the gaze alone brought an invisible sense of oppression...

How could this be an ordinary person?!

["He's afraid."]

Gu Shen saw the meaning in the other person's eyes.

He was actually afraid?

Afraid of himself... or this ruler?

He slowly looked at the silver戒尺 (jie chi, disciplinary ruler). In the clear, silvery-white body of the ruler, he saw himself as he was at this moment. The familiar face had become very strange, because his eyes were filled with overwhelming murderous intent.

["Killed so many people..."]

["You... deserve to die..."]

Gu Shen heard his own voice squeezing out of his chest, bit by bit.

This time, the scene he imagined was what he had just seen from above the rooftop... because of that explosion, innocent people were trapped in the fire tide and burned to cinders.

As the words fell.

"咻!!!"

The silver light of the Ruler of Truth suddenly erupted, and this bright light instantly crashed into the darkness at the end of the corridor.

Night turned into day!

Under the power of the Ruler of Truth, that 超凡者 (chao fan zhe, transcendent) with incredible power seemed to have become an ant.

The terrified man suddenly caught fire. He shrieked and frantically beat at himself, even rolling on the ground. He tried to extinguish the flames, but the fire burst out instantly, engulfing him like a tide.

This was a fierce yet gentle, man-eating fire, burning only on him—even when the man crashed into the pile of wooden planks in the corner, it only splashed out a few dim sparks, which quickly extinguished.

The fire did not spread.

It burned only him.

Until after a few breaths, the arsonist who had been shrieking and screaming was burned to ashes by the fire he had set himself.

This fire, which completely defied logic and understanding... slowly extinguished.

A miracle.

In a sense, this was a miracle.

Gu Shen stared at this scene. He watched the flames surge and roar in the dark corridor, slowly extinguish, and finally turn to ashes... every second that burned also burned his own thoughts.

It was an ethereal, yet real thing.

The man was burned.

His own "thoughts" were also being burned.

Supporting the miracle was himself, holding the戒尺 (jie chi, disciplinary ruler)... In the dark, his spirit was being used as fuel.

After the burning was over, all that was left was exhaustion.

Gu Shen breathed out a long breath.

The fingers holding the戒尺 (jie chi, disciplinary ruler) began to tremble violently. Needle-like pain surged, like a tide. He gasped for breath, wanting to breathe fresh air, but perhaps because of the fierce fire tide, his chest felt so stuffy that he couldn't breathe.

"A little side effect." The orange cat emphasized the words "a little," and said calmly, "To summon wind and rain like a god, you have to pay some price, right?"

"...Yes."

Gu Shen smiled hoarsely, "Thank you for reminding me."

The overdrawn spirit was constantly reminding Gu Shen that it was time to let go.

But he did not let go of the戒尺 (jie chi, disciplinary ruler), but instead gripped it tighter, and slowly raised his head, looking at the sky.

The spirit that should have been scattered re-coagulated.

The orange cat raised its head along with Gu Shen's movements.

Above the rooftop, the dome shrouded in the smoke of the fire tide inexplicably surged with patches of dark clouds. These clouds pieced together and thickened in a matter of breaths, eventually covering the old building, and soon raindrops fell, then became a continuous rain.

This scene, although absurd, was within the scope of the Ruler of Truth's power.

"You really are a... lunatic." Chu Ling said softly with emotion.

Gu Shen smiled, "Can I take that as a compliment?"

He was like a dry green plant, meeting timely rain after a long drought, or rather, meeting a torrential rain.

The raindrops splattered down.

Gu Shen felt a headache, a real headache, both inside and out.

The final rainfall drained all of his spirit. At this point, Gu Shen could no longer precisely determine the size of the rain like he did when he first created the刀域 (dao yu, blade domain)... But judging from the howling and roaring momentum of this heavy rain, extinguishing the fire tide would not be a problem.

After doing all this, Gu Shen had reached the point where his brain ached even when he closed his eyes.

It really was a deal with the devil.

After the deal was over, he would not only be reduced to his original form, but also fall into hell.

"Meow..."

The orange cat meowed.

Gu Shen's eyes were confused. He could no longer hold the戒尺 (jie chi, disciplinary ruler) firmly. Chu Ling's voice in his ears had returned to a cat's meow... As the heavy rain fell, he leaned against the wall and sat down, his consciousness gradually drifting away.

The orange cat sighed, burrowed its little head into his arms, and pulled out a cell phone.

Gu Shen's lips were dry. He no longer had the strength to be surprised, and helplessly watched the orange cat dial that number for him.

"Beep—"

"Beep."

The call was answered on the second ring.

"Hello..." Gu Shen squeezed out his last strength and asked with difficulty, "It's me..."

There was a burst of laughter on the other end of the phone.

"I'm in trouble... can you help me sort it out?"

"Of course!" The person on the other end of the phone laughed happily, "Even the biggest trouble can be sorted out!"

"Really..." Gu Shen also smiled, "Two terrifying guys wanted to kill me, but I killed them instead. That counts as self-defense, right... Can you guys handle that?"

The laughter on the other end of the phone disappeared.