Chapter 18 Reverse Cultivation

Gu Shen withdrew his outstretched hand, and the frost and snow above the coffin scattered with the wind—

No miracle occurred.

In the wilderness, Bai Shu's expression didn't change much. Although he hoped that the Pluto Fire Seed could create a miracle, he was even more clear that Gu Shen's current strength was not enough. Reviving the spirit of a Fallen was already a taboo that broke the transcendent iron law.

This was not something Gu Shen could do at this stage, so failure was to be expected.

However, he saw something interesting this time.

"You... you're cultivating the Four Seasons Breathing Technique in reverse?"

Gu Changzhi's greatest blessing to Nagano and the entire Eastern Continent was this breathing technique.

The Three Great Academies regarded it as a treasure, encouraging young transcendents to complete missions, exchange rewards, and comprehend Jingzhe Guyu (Awakening of Insects and Grain Rain).

In recent years, being able to cultivate into a Spring Breather was already considered a genius!

Being able to go further and push the Four Seasons Breathing Technique to the second step was a genius among geniuses.

But what should one who cultivates in reverse be called?

Naturally, it wouldn't be just stacking "genius" upon "genius." Bai Shu looked at Gu Shen with both surprise and astonishment.

In the past twenty years, only one person had cultivated in reverse—a true prodigy.

From Spring Rain to Great Cold.

The Pure Land Domain, projected into the real world, was a desolate and frigid place… In such an environment, not to mention reviving a Fallen, even other transcendents would not be able to withstand the biting cold of this "Pure Land"!

"Yes."

Gu Shen quickly said, "When this junior went to Piyue City Disaster Zone, by accident, I gained some insights… and began to cultivate the breathing technique in reverse. Is there something wrong with this kind of cultivation?"

"No… it's not wrong. Of course, it's not necessarily right either."

Bai Shu said meaningfully, "There is no right or wrong on the path of cultivation. Even though Gu Changzhi was such a peerless talent, he ultimately fell at the threshold of Great Cold. Does that mean everything he did was necessarily right?"

He patted Gu Shen's shoulder and said with relief, "You have the Pluto Fire Seed and are cultivating in reverse, from winter to summer. Perhaps you can achieve a spirit even more powerful than Gu Changzhi!"

"It's a pity…"

Gu Shen looked at the coffin. His current realm was still shallow. Even with the blessing of the Fire Seed, wanting to revive Li Rou's spirit… was hopeless.

"Don't be discouraged. You are the Pluto who will control the order of life and death in the future."

Bai Shu said softly, "I've already waited twenty years. Do I care about waiting another twenty years? Walk the path of burning fire slowly. I'll wait for you to become a god in Qingzhong."

The two stayed in the cemetery for a while before bidding farewell and leaving.

In fact, the purpose of this trip was to see Divine Seat Bai Shu and explain everything that had happened in the Northern Continent.

Gu Shen was worried that after the death of the Blessed Child, the Holy Adjudicators from Light City would send Assassins after him.

Bai Shu told him that as long as he was in Nagano, he didn't need to worry.

The main reason why the Eastern Continent's order had been trampled on by other continents several times in the past was that Gu Changzhi was sleeping in the Qingzhong Cemetery, his life or death uncertain… Now, however, things were very different. He held the Fighting Fire Seed and comprehended the divine level. This was his prime!

If those Divine Seats wanted to do something beyond the borders, they would have to weigh it carefully.

Once they ignored the iron law and took the initiative to provoke,

Then Bai Shu would immediately retaliate and teach them a lesson.

Now, Gu Shen's hidden strength was already at the Fourth Order. It wouldn't be easy to kill him. With Bai Shu in Nagano, even if the Holy Adjudicators had ten thousand guts, they wouldn't dare to enter Nagano to carry out an "assassination"...

However, even the most powerful Divine Seat could hardly take care of an entire continent.

With the integration of the Five Continents and the promotion of the federal system and the Council, it was inevitable that believers of Light City would move freely. Now, there were some believers who worshipped the light in Snow Forbidden City.

However, the probability of assassination happening in the Eastern Continent was too small.

In fact, aside from Gu Shen and Meng Xiao's grudges, the relationship between Light City and the Eastern Continent was not bad. They had maintained close cooperation over the years… Gu Nanfeng's bringing back the Apostle Token was enough to get a glimpse of it.

The relationship between continents involved the contact of hundreds of thousands or even millions of people. With such a large number, there would always be friction and collisions, which were normal.

In Light City, some people hated Gu Shen and believed that his death was inseparable from the death of the Blessed Child.

Besides these… there were also some pacifists who advocated investigating the truth first.

But there was one thing that was very unified.

All believers in Light City believed that "Pluto Fire" was evil, disordered, and chaotic.

This was the premise of believing in light.

To believe in light was to eliminate darkness.

……

……

Leaving the inner mausoleum, one could see from afar that many people were waiting outside the mountain mist.

Among them were many familiar figures, all of whom were judges and officials from the Prison Administration… Little Iron Man and Bai Lu were also among them.

The leader was Mr. Shan.

"Chief Adjudicator."

Gu Shen bowed and asked in surprise, "You are here… waiting for me?"

"Exactly."

Mr. Shan quickly raised Gu Shen up. His expression was a little anxious.

The Chief Adjudicator didn't stand on ceremony and directly stated his purpose: "Mr. Gu, no one has entered the inner mausoleum for a long time. Except for you and Miss Chu, no one else has the right to enter and leave the inner mausoleum at will. We are waiting here because we want to ask about the situation inside."

Gu Shen was even more confused when he heard this.

"A few days ago… an A-level Fallen imprisoned in the Prison Administration was taken out of the prison wrapped in golden light." Mr. Shan lowered his voice and said, "I saw that coffin flying towards the cemetery."

Gu Shen immediately understood.

He joked with a smile, "Chief Adjudicator, are you worried that the A-level Fallen will escape from the cemetery?"

Mr. Shan was a little helpless.

He certainly knew about that golden light… It came from Divine Seat Douzhan!

Not to mention a mere A-level fugitive,

Now the entire Snow Forbidden City was vaguely shrouded by Douzhan's divine domain. Even if Bai Shu pulled all the Fallens in Nagano into the divine domain, nothing unexpected would happen.

"Mr. Gu…"

The Chief Adjudicator simply stated further and asked, "Is this Divine Seat Bai Shu's intention?"

"Yes, but not only." Gu Shen smiled.

He knew what Mr. Shan wanted to ask.

This Chief Adjudicator could certainly find out the specific information about A-009 and could vaguely guess the past between Li Rou and Bai Shu.

Bai Shu, who had achieved the position of Divine Seat, brought his former dearest friend into the divine domain. Was he trying to "revive the Fallen"?

This was the message that the Prison Administration was waiting for!

Of course… more importantly, this heavy news might also involve a second Divine Seat.

Pluto.

"Divine Seat Bai Shu and Pluto are trying to 'revive the Fallen'." Gu Shen opened his mouth and said, "Although this is a violation of the transcendent iron law, with two Divine Seats taking action… maybe a miracle will happen."

As soon as these words came out,

The judges standing behind Mr. Shan held their breath.

The Chief Adjudicator glanced at Chen Li. This little guy looked confused and didn't seem to know what had happened in the inner mausoleum.

"And then…" Mr. Shan waited for a while, but there was no follow-up.

"There's no then." Gu Shen shrugged and said, "Miracles always take time. Qingzhong wasn't built in a day… Besides, that's the business of the Divine Seats. I only had time to glance at it."

Mr. Shan was greatly disappointed.

Those waiting behind him also sighed and dispersed under the leadership of the judges.

On the way out of the cemetery, Gu Shen asked with a smile, "Mr. Shan… you came all the way here and waited here for so long. Wouldn't it be just to inquire about this news?"

"This news is indeed important."

Mr. Shan said softly, "The Prison Administration imprisons countless Fallens… There are many transcendents in Jiangbei and Jiangnan who originally had promising futures, but embarked on this irreversible path because of their mistakes. Some of them were forced to overdraw their power in battle, while others were lost in the power and willingly fell into depravity. But if the Divine Seat can create a miracle, then these Fallens will be saved."

Gu Shen was slightly stunned. He was just asking casually.

But he didn't expect that this cold-faced and ruthless Chief Adjudicator would have such a delicate and gentle side.

"Whether it's adjudication or judgment, the essence of raising swords… is to make the world a better place." Mr. Shan smiled self-deprecatingly and said, "If we can achieve this goal without using swords and bloodshed, that would be the best."

"Of course, waiting for you here is not just to inquire about news."

The Chief Adjudicator said softly, "Little Gu, if I'm not mistaken, you should have a good relationship with that 'Pluto', right?"

Gu Shen raised his eyebrows.

"You don't have to answer me this question."

Mr. Shan said slowly, "During the previous battle in the cemetery, only you… watched the entire divine battle. And Chen Li, the most trusted disciple of Pluto in the Three Great Academies, also has the best relationship with you. When you went to the Northern Continent, I repeatedly reviewed the relevant files of the cemetery divine battle… The more I looked, the more I thought, and the more messy thoughts emerged in my mind."

He looked at Gu Shen, his eyes without sharpness, only gentleness.

"To be honest… Pluto looked for me after the end of the divine battle."

For Mr. Shan, this was a secret.

He could not tell anyone.

But at this moment, he chose to tell Gu Shen.

"When Pluto left the Eastern Continent and rumors spread that he was dead, I copied that mansion overnight… Now I have returned all the items in the mansion to their original places and sent a gift of apology. Although Pluto's status doesn't care about my apology, the fact that he chose to accept it shows that the grievances of the past have been cleared."

Mr. Shan paused slightly and said, "I know that after this matter is over, the wisest thing to do is to stay away from 'Pluto'. Those who carry 'Pluto Fire' will cause endless disasters around them. The more you want to glimpse the veil, the easier it is to attract ominous things."

"But Pluto chose Chen Li as an Apostle… perhaps, not just Chen Li alone…"

Saying this, there was quite a meaningful implication.

Not just Chen Li alone, this sentence was meant for Gu Shen.

Gu Shen listened quietly.

Since Mr. Shan believed that he and Pluto had an extraordinary relationship… then coming here today most likely meant that he believed that he was the second Apostle.

"For the sake of the young people under my command, I still have to investigate."

Mr. Shan continued, "I have always been worried that Pluto, who has returned to the Eastern Continent, is in an unstable state, as the Council announced to the Five Continents that year… sinister and evil, bewitching people. But after several contacts with Chen Li and sensing the state of his spiritual sea, I found that this was not the case. That little guy's spirit is very stable. Perhaps because of you, his 'Eater of Iron' has moved away from being a Fallen. In any case, this is a good thing. The current Pluto is likely to have returned to 'normal'."

Hearing this, Gu Shen became interested and said, "Mr. Shan, what do you mean by returning to normal?"

Pluto… in his heart, he had always been a lunatic.

If he could, this guy would have liked to kill the entire Five Continents and drag them into his Pure Land!

Did this kind of guy ever have a normal time?

After hearing this, Mr. Shan fell into memories.

"During the period when Mr. Gu Changzhi first achieved Douzhan… the Five Continents were unprecedentedly peaceful."

He murmured, "This is probably the rarest true peace in six hundred years. Seven Gods stood side by side, and the Five Continents were in order. Several storms outside the Great Wall were shattered by the Supreme Seat working together, and the frequency of black spots in the inland also dropped to the bottom."

Hearing this, Gu Shen understood the reason in his heart.

The so-called peace was because Gu Changzhi was strong enough.

He himself was the most powerful "Douzhan" in history, the Empress was his younger generation that he had cultivated, Light was his close teacher, and Pluto was also an old friend… Under such powerful authority, he could certainly dominate the Supreme Seat.

Order needed someone like Gu Changzhi to establish it.

"The 'Pluto' of that year… made many contributions to mankind."

Mr. Shan looked at the cemetery and said softly, "Mr. Gu, this land we are stepping on now… a lot of the credit comes from Pluto."

"Qingzhong?"

"Yes, Qingzhong."

The grass and leaves fluttered, the formation patterns operated, and countless sources of quality flowed in the air of Qingzhong…

This was the miraculous land of the Eastern Continent, a sacred cemetery that carried the dying will of countless heroic souls.

"The 'ancient text blueprint' for building this cemetery was left by Pluto. As you said before, the miracle of Qingzhong cannot be built in a day. Later, Pluto's loss of control and Mr. Gu Changzhi's departure caused the order that the Five Continents had managed to build to be broken again, and the progress of this miraculous land that was originally planned to be built was greatly delayed."

"Whether it's the Grave Fiend or Master Chino, they are both translators responsible for fulfilling this ancient text blueprint, as well as formation pattern controllers. The creator of this miraculous land is actually… Pluto."

Mr. Shan asked, "So, now you know why the Qingzhong Act was so controversial back then?"

Gu Shen's expression was complicated.

"No one believed Pluto's blueprint."

"No one believed Pluto."

Mr. Shan finally used telepathy to earnestly warn, "Mr. Gu, the following words are somewhat 'shallow words', but your teacher is still far away in the borderlands, so I have to say: If you really get close to Pluto… be careful, be careful. If Divine Seat Bai Shu is optimistic about you, and you have a choice, then being Pluto's person may not be a good thing."

After saying this, the Chief Adjudicator left.

Gu Shen's heart was filled with mixed feelings, mostly gratitude.

Mr. Shan didn't know the news of Pluto's death… He came to the cemetery specifically to remind himself, which was actually a considerable risk. Judging from Pluto's erratic style of behavior back then, once he knew about this, he would definitely question him.

However, the information provided by Mr. Shan was also very useful!

No wonder "Pluto Fire" had been stored in the Qingzhong Cemetery for twenty years without being discovered. This was simply a "resting place" tailored by Pluto for his Fire Seed. Countless sources of quality from the dead nourished the Pluto Fire.

There was also a very important thing—

When he opened Pluto's box, in addition to black silver, there was… an unknown ancient text blueprint!

Now it seemed that the ancient text blueprint was likely left by Pluto himself.

So, the "land of miracles" that Pluto wanted to build might not just be Qingzhong alone?