Chapter 190 Snowstorm

After the explosion of the Heaven Sheath.

The iron walls were covered with fragments of the "Sword in the Stone," and the mental force that could previously encompass the entire prison was greatly hindered.

But a faint, ethereal voice came from above the tower.

"Are you looking for him?"

Mr. Snow used his powerful and profound mental strength to guide Gu Nanfeng to the location of the Tomb Ghost.

His voice was complex as he said, "This young man is lucky... he barely survived the explosion."

Gu Nanfeng immediately set off, with Lanche wrapping around a whirlwind, and arrived at the place where the Tomb Ghost had fallen.

Xing Yun had already lost consciousness.

Soon, Luo Yu, running at full speed, also arrived at the scene... After seeing the tragic scene here, he fell into a long silence. Only then did he understand what Mr. Snow meant by "lucky."

A stone pillar had pierced through the missing Night Watcher of the Gu family.

In the great explosion just now—

This Night Watcher had withstood a fatal blow for the Tomb Ghost.

"If I remember correctly, his name is Gu Qiang... right?"

Gu Nanfeng's voice was very soft, and also very sad.

"Yes... yes."

Luo Yu was stunned and lost in thought, his emotions very low.

This young Night Watcher was a "distant relative" of the Gu family in a remote area of Jiangbei. Although he was surnamed Gu, he did not work in Nagano... The Gu family was a large clan with势力遍布 (shili bianbu, influence spanning) Jiangbei in the Eastern Continent. Coming to the Tundra for construction was a hardship and a trial for the Nagano descendants, but for the young people in other districts, it was an opportunity, a chance to gain experience.

Many Jiangbei descendants came here admiringly.

They admired the young master Gu Nanfeng and were willing to come to this frozen snow land of the Tundra, to build the Snow Cage together with the young master.

But there were hundreds of people who came to the Tundra.

And every period of time, there would be a rotation...

They didn't know that, to Gu Nanfeng, these people, these people who were willing to come to the Tundra, were not just "nameless" nobodies.

The young master of the Gu family had recorded the names of every follower in his heart.

"Pass down my order—a grand burial, a generous reward."

Gu Nanfeng stretched out his hands and held the bloodied man pierced by the stone pillar on the snow.

"Bring his parents, family, relatives, and friends to Nagano."

His hoarse voice echoed in the cold wind: "If there are those who do not wish to come to Nagano and want to live in their hometown, send people to take care of them. Arrange for all the mundane matters that can be resolved with worldly possessions for the rest of their lives."

Luo Yu took a deep breath. For some reason, today's cold wind seemed to be filled with many knives.

He forcefully wiped his face, his voice trembling.

"...Yes, Young Master."

……

……

After the second explosion, the Tundra Prison gradually returned to silence amidst the smoke.

The tallying of the Gu family's temporary base was completed.

The inspection of the Northern Continent's Source Energy Boat was also initially completed.

No one knew... if there would be a third explosion.

Lin Chou and Gu Nanfeng met in the northern part of the base. The Ghost and Mr. Snow, who were responsible for monitoring the entire Tundra Prison, also left the tower. After this explosion, the Ghost and Snow duo ordered the gathering of the "guarding forces" inside the Tundra.

No one knew what these four were talking about.

But soon, the Deep Sea broadcasted the event of the Tundra Prison explosion into the deep waters of the two continents... The sudden explosion of the Heaven Sheath aroused everyone's attention, and the Deep Sea forum was abuzz with discussion.

No one knew why this "Sword in the Stone" exploded—

In the past hundreds of years, the Heaven Sheath had been stable!

The Eastern Continent had even built an entire solid prison around it!

But this "explosion" made people feel deeply uneasy. Was it a change caused by the "Traveler" drawing the sword, or was there some other reason? People are often afraid of the unknown, afraid of losing, and corresponding to transcendents, they are afraid of "death" and "being deprived of their abilities." The Heaven Sheath fragments possess this strange and terrifying power!

The Northern Continent adopted information blockade measures to the outside world.

But perhaps because of the same unknown origin, some people mistakenly linked the "Heaven Sheath" and the "Traveler" together. Posts had already appeared on the forum saying that the "Traveler" had not actually died, its consciousness was actually entrusted to the Heaven Sheath, the Sword in the Stone was gradually awakening, and this explosion was a sign. When the outer shell of the Sword in the Stone fell off, the entire Tundra would be shrouded in "forbidden power," and all the transcendents who approached the Snow Cage would be deprived of their power.

Of course... more people would scoff at such absurd claims.

Especially the people of the Northern Continent, especially the transcendents living in Central City.

The reason was simple.

The "Traveler" mentioned in the post was now burning in the furnace under Central City... The entire City of Ascension was enjoying the heat brought by burning the Traveler's Fire Seed. This was the divine gift bestowed by Her Majesty the Empress!

What Sword in the Stone, what will of the Old World, it was ridiculous!

In front of the ever-victorious "Our Empress," they were all brittle paper that could be easily destroyed!

In addition to the Heaven Sheath breaking, there was another very important message... that aroused the attention of the transcendents of the two continents!

The Heaven Sheath shattered the iron walls of the Tundra Prison, causing the Snow Cage to break, and a large number of transcendent criminals escaped. These criminals were the most dangerous existences in the Eastern Continent. They were at least powerful Tier 3 transcendents, and some of them were irrational "out-of-control" individuals!

The silver lining was that this prison was built in the most barren "Tundra" of the Eastern Continent!

The Tundra region was extremely vast, and it was very difficult to cross.

However, because of the frigid climate, the deployment of the Deep Sea was also quite loose. It was very difficult to capture the criminals relying on the Deep Sea, and it would take a very long time... and there would inevitably be some who slipped through the net.

Nagano and Central City had already discussed that this situation was special, and the two continents would jointly carry out the criminal capture mission of the Tundra Prison.

The Northern Continent military had already mobilized the elite forces in the legion, first stationed in the north, and then slowly moved south to gradually compress the range of activities of the escaped prisoners.

Nagano also acted in the same way, with the Five Great Families and the Three Great Institutes acting together, dispatching a sufficient number of transcendents, and Elder Gu Qilin personally came forward to be responsible for leading this capture operation... The two continents acted simultaneously from south to north, encompassing the Tundra.

The information released by the Deep Sea was equivalent to a warning to all transcendents—

Central City and Nagano had carried out an unprecedented joint operation!

During this period of time, the Tundra area would welcome a large number of high-level powerhouses. Irrelevant people who were not involved in this capture mission must not step into it... If they encountered law enforcement officers from the two continents, they might be accidentally injured, but this might still be a good ending. If someone really stepped into the Tundra and encountered a high-risk transcendent criminal, his end might not be as simple as being accidentally injured.

……

……

Such a huge change alarmed the entire Nagano overnight.

The Five Great Families and the Three Great Institutes conducted selections overnight... This joint capture operation was very important, because the high-risk criminals who were capable of being imprisoned in the Tundra Prison were at least at the strength of the eighth layer of the Deep Sea. Most of the transcendents in this realm had already comprehended the "Domain Embryo," so it was necessary to be cautious and careful to carry out the capture.

Although this mission was dangerous, it aroused the attention of many transcendents!

Danger is often accompanied by breakthroughs in strength!

Many young transcendents were eager to participate in this mission and fight together...

Nagano was a well-known war-loving city. Although it did not have the cruel killing environment of the Northern Continent, every transcendent in the Three Institutes and Five Great Families was warlike and good at fighting. In fact, many of the criminals sent to the Snow Cage were their handiwork.

The higher-ups of the Three Institutes and Five Great Families were actually very clear.

This "joint capture" was indeed high-risk, but as long as it was organized properly, it would be a rare "sharpening" opportunity!

The young people of Nagano needed sharpening!

There might not be such a good "mission environment" in many years to come. This mission was different from the past. For those transcendent criminals who escaped from the Snow Cage, if the situation was critical, they could be directly killed!

Tonight was destined to be a sleepless night.

The Five Great Families and the Three Great Institutes were busy drafting lists and selecting the best candidates to carry out the mission.

The entire Nagano was noisy.

But there were exceptions—

In the Mystic Realm of the Shrine Mountain, it was as quiet as ever.

It was shrouded in a faint floral fragrance, and white petals skimmed across the high sky. Between the clouds and mists, the shadows dissipated greatly, and the mountaintop, like a snow mountain where the first snow had melted, gave people a very sacred feeling.

If you only looked at the top of the Shrine Mountain, you would feel that it was only holy, dignified, and peaceful.

But if you looked from afar, you would find that the lower half of this high mountain, the waist and the foot of the mountain, was still pitch-black, entwined with a large amount of death energy and ominousness. This was the foundation from which the "Black Flowers" began to spread, and it was the truly huge and troublesome "calamity" itself.

Perhaps six hundred years ago, the Shrine Mountain was originally in this snowy-white and pure appearance, but after a long period of time, the Black Flowers gradually covered the mountain.

Gu Shen walked on the mountain path.

He picked flowers all the way, stopping and going, completely forgetting himself. "Blazing Fire" fed on the Black Flowers, and he fed on cultivation. After possessing the "Pure Land Domain," the Susu Wood silently transformed the Source Quality into energy, allowing his body to maintain the most basic life characteristics for a considerable period of time without needing to eat.

This was actually not difficult, most Tier 4s could do it—

Transcendent cultivation was essentially a leap in the "level of life." Divine Seats, like those who had fused with a Fire Seed, were completely different levels of life forms. They did not need to eat, breathe, or sleep, and could survive safely even in the Source Quality storms of the Old World.

The most difficult part of continuous cultivation was actually the spirit.

But this was nothing to Gu Shen either.

His spirit, after three Transcendent Realms, had already reached the average level of "Tier 4." The Spectator's Mindset allowed him to be completely immersed in a certain thing.

Without external interference.

He could continue to maintain the "picking Black Flowers", absorbing, transforming, and accumulating cultivation.

As the [Source Code] Chu Ling had already known what happened in the Tundra, but had not told him, because she did not want to disturb Gu Shen's state of meditation.

She knew that this state of cultivation was very precious.

Once he withdrew, it would take a lot of time to re-immerse himself.

So, she didn't care what was happening outside.

If the Tundra Prison was destroyed, someone would naturally be responsible for repairing it.

If criminals escaped, someone would also be responsible for capturing them.

The current Gu Shen was not yet the "Pluto." Even if the sky collapsed, it would not be Gu Shen's turn to patch it up... She was fulfilling the duties of the Deep Sea, summarizing the lists.

Unfortunately, Gu Shen had other identities besides "Pluto."

He was the disciple of the Grand Arbiter, the successor of Chino, the younger generation of the Gu family, the young leader who controlled the power of speech in the capital...

When peace was broken, Gu Shen would be the first to be disturbed.

Just as Mr. Bai Shu said... The peaceful days were coming to an end.

The Shrine Mountain was always peaceful.

But when the outside world stirred up storms, this peace no longer belonged to Gu Shen.

An email from Zhou Wei, the chairman of the Federal Security Committee, was directly sent to Gu Shen's mailbox... Chu Ling, as always, pre-emptively read it on his behalf. After deciphering it, she knew that she could no longer remain silent.

This email invited Gu Shen to represent the Arbitration Tribunal to participate in this joint capture plan, the final drafting of the list of all personnel.

This was a very important message.

This capture was a major event, and the Three Institutes and Five Great Families all needed to provide transcendents...

And the person responsible for drafting the list must be the "leader" with the highest authority.

The command post was Elder Gu Qilin, the prison post was Mr. Shan, and the Arbitration Tribunal, after losing Zhou Jiren, Tian Tong, and Zhu Wang, no longer had a titled powerhouse stationed there, seeming "high-level and deserted," but there were still other powerful Tier 4s, even Quasi-Titled existences, but they all actively chose to withdraw from the final list drafting this time.

The reason was simple.

They were giving the opportunity... to the young man who was most likely to become the "Grand Arbiter" in the future.

Gu Shen.

In the eyes of outsiders, Gu Shen was just a transcendent at the seventh layer of the Deep Sea. No one yet knew about his breakthrough and the condensation of the "Fire of Vitality." In theory, a seventh layer of the Deep Sea was not enough to make these Tier 4s actively give way.

But the current Arbitration Tribunal, after the Zhu Wang faction was purged, had become very united.

Those Tier 4 Arbiters who had been cultivating for many years knew very well in their hearts... With Gu Shen's potential and the strength he had shown, it would not be long before he could break through, and it was not appropriate to compete and snatch at this time.

Mr. Zhou Jiren was still fighting for the hope of mankind in the Old World.

They knew that their power was limited.

If the Grand Arbiter was really unfortunately martyred, then the future Arbitration Tribunal urgently needed someone with sufficient ability to stand up and carry this banner... This opportunity to attend the list drafting was the result of discussions among these Arbiters.

They regarded it as a gift, given to the youngest and most talented young man in the Arbitration Tribunal.

This was a gift full of hope.

It was also a heart-warming act of kindness.

……

……

(ps: It's a bit late to write, everyone has been waiting for a long time. Thank you to the alliance master "Yuan Lai Shi Yu" for the reward, this chapter is an extra update for reaching 2000 monthly votes. The extra update for the alliance master's reward will be placed tomorrow.)