Chapter 271 Dust to Dust

With Gu Shen's words, "Dust to dust, earth to earth," the blood-colored sea of fire in the hold of the Dwarf shuddered violently.

The dream shattered, returning to reality.

Large chunks of crimson-silver flowed across the ground, the interior of the hold a scene of carnage, corpses strewn everywhere.

Yekaterina leaned against a broken wall, gasping for breath, calming her mind.

She looked at Gu Shen in disbelief. This young man did not seem so powerful... She felt like a third-tier transcendent, how could he possess such profound mental strength?

Was he deliberately concealing his power?

The immediate priority was to deal with the battle at hand. The situation had changed once again. With this powerful reinforcement, she seemed to no longer need to escape—

"Boom!"

The figure standing in the shadows did not hesitate and fled outwards directly.

Xiao was extremely decisive.

The moment the dream shattered, he crashed directly into the Dwarf's armored hull. Blood-fire condensed, instantly using high temperature to pierce through the iron armor. A large amount of seawater poured into the hold, the Dwarf immediately losing balance and slamming into another freighter docked in the shallow bay.

"I'll give chase."

Gu Shen exchanged a glance with Yekaterina and said calmly, "You need to stay here and handle the aftermath."

Yekaterina paused slightly.

She knew what Gu Shen meant by "handling the aftermath." This attack would definitely attract the attention of the Upper City... Before long, He Chan, another Envoy from Rhein City, would arrive here. The "goods" that Red Grape had spent a huge price to obtain from the Southern Continent were destroyed in such a confusing manner, the Upper City would definitely investigate the truth.

If the aftermath was not handled, then this mysterious man, and Gu Shen as well.

They would probably be hunted down...

Then the most important factor that caused this attack—the Guwen Association—would most likely be exposed.

"I understand."

Yekaterina took a deep breath and nodded.

The next moment.

Gu Shen crashed out from the other side of the Dwarf. He unfolded the "Pure Land Domain," directly traversing the deep waters of Rhein Bay, and immediately a familiar and clear voice rang in his ears.

"Due east, half a kilometer... Target positioning map sent."

A three-dimensional stereoscopic guide map appeared before Gu Shen's eyes.

In the dark Rhein City bay, the lights were extinguished. A woman draped in red and white priestly robes stood on a distant high mountain. She silently watched the black sea in the distance, her eyes penetrating the clouds, her large sleeves flying, constantly fluttering strands of fine golden thread, countless lines of code turning into streams, flowing through her clear pupils.

Xiao's means of escape were remarkable.

Logically speaking, after Gu Shen met him in the Southern Continent last time, after a series of games, the followers of Storm should have locked onto him. No matter how powerful Xiao was, being targeted by a great figure of Storm's level, even if he wasn't dead, he should have lost a layer of skin.

But now, he still had the ability to run to Zhongzhou and act presumptuously!

Chu Ling mobilized the [Eyes of Heaven] above the sea, but unfortunately, these [Eyes of Heaven] could not capture the disturbances on the sea surface, just like the station video in Linz City malfunctioning.

Xiao possessed a special means of shielding [Deep Sea].

The birth of this guy was related to a certain experiment conducted by Mr. Turing. He seemed to have inherited some of the characteristics of the "key." The "blood-fire" that looked somewhat similar to Chi Huo was enough to explain this connection.

Chu Ling used "Divination" to directly lock onto Xiao.

Then, through the [Deep Sea]'s dynamic map, she transmitted the information back to Gu Shen's mental sea!

With accurate positioning, Gu Shen's pursuit became much easier... He wrapped himself entirely with the "Pure Land" mental domain. This was the first time he had gone all out since leaving the Dolu River disaster zone!

The currents of Rhein Bay were swallowed by the Pure Land.

The next moment.

Gu Shen's speed soared, traveling along the seabed, facing the sea surface, and saw Xiao flying at low altitude.

"Whoosh!!"

The next moment, he lightly patted the seabed with both hands, his whole body like a soaring sword, directly piercing out, breaking the sea and setting off a column of water, blocking Xiao's path.

"So eager to run away?"

Gu Shen sized up the disfigured man in front of him and said lightly, "Old friends reunited, aren't you going to chat a little more?"

"Gu Shen..."

Xiao smiled hoarsely, "The speed of your growth is really beyond my expectations."

This sentence had a deeper meaning.

What he said was not "you," but "you guys."

After saying this, Xiao looked back at the green shade and mist along the coastal mountains of Rhein City. He knew that Gu Shen could not have locked onto him so quickly with just [Deep Sea]... Obviously, there was also a pair of eyes peeking at "fate," staring at him.

"Your growth speed is also beyond my expectations."

Gu Shen said a sarcastic remark expressionlessly.

At their first meeting.

Xiao stirred up trouble deep underground in Dadu. He possessed an entire powerful and prosperous Evergreen Foundation, and even seized the quasi-S-class ability [Annihilation Dream] of the titled powerhouse Zhou Yu for his own use!

But after Bai Shuyi cut off these connections, Xiao's more than ten years of painstaking efforts in Dadu were completely wasted.

The approximate location of his true body was also determined.

This "S-class fugitive's" true strength was far from so powerful... Without such a powerful physical shell, he could only hide underground like a rat crossing the street, playing with conspiracies.

This time, he arrived in Zhongzhou, only the physical body of the "Tenth Layer of Deep Sea" was available.

Obviously.

After the Xiyin City incident last time, he encountered an extremely tragic massacre by the followers of Storm in the Southern Continent.

"Heh..."

Xiao laughed self-deprecatingly. He was not angry at Gu Shen's sarcasm, but said slowly, "I didn't expect that you would come to Zhongzhou... Are you here for 'this thing' too?"

He took out a stack of drawings from his chest.

These were the ancient texts snatched from Holling.

"Indeed... you killed Mr. Holling." Gu Shen's eyes turned gloomy when he saw the stack of drawings.

He reached out and pressed his chest, making a sword-drawing posture. The Iron Throne drove countless iron scales, and the nameless dull iron forged breastplate rumbled in a low voice, and in the dense sound of splicing and collision, Gu Shen "drew" a jet-black battle blade from it.

"Mr. Holling?"

Xiao keenly captured this detail in Gu Shen's words.

The next moment.

The long blade cut through the void.

Gu Shen had already moved in close. He was no longer the small fry that Xiao could arbitrarily manipulate. Even facing a "fourth-tier," he had the power to fight, even to kill!

"Clang—"

The long blade slashed through the air, Xiao quickly retreated, he pressed his brow, summoning blood-fire!

This clone was indeed very weak. In high-level battles, there was only the option of mental confrontation.

Blood-fire howled out, directly crashing into Gu Shen's brow.

Gu Shen sneered, summoning "Chi Huo" at the same time, crashing fiercely into the blood-fire... He was only a third-tier, but after three transcendent ascensions, his mental strength had stabilized at the fourth-tier level!

With this crash, the blood-fire was directly shattered!

"Three transcendent ascensions?!"

Xiao was shocked, coughing up a large mouthful of blood.

His face suddenly turned pale. The blood-fire he crashed out was directly confiscated, becoming a component of the Chi Huo in Gu Shen's brow.

"Crack, crack..."

The next moment, a slight, dense cracking sound spread across the sea surface.

The Pure Land domain unfolded by Gu Shen spread at an extremely fast speed, catching up with the retreating Xiao!

Great Cold fluttered, in just a moment, the sea surface was shrouded by the meaning of Great Cold, freezing into blue ice, and the constantly fluttering Xiao, after falling to the ground, was directly frozen to death on this sea surface!

Xiao's expression suddenly became extremely ugly.

He thought that this battle could last a little longer... But he never expected that this was simply a crushing battle!

"Buzz, buzz!"

The sound of piercing the air shattered the frost and snow, and Gu Shen's iron blade slashed down across the void.

One blade severed his arm at the root.

"Ah..."

Although Xiao used mental links to connect these physical bodies, he could still feel the pain on the physical body. The pain of the severed arm at this moment was transmitted to his mental sea with extreme clarity!

He howled shrilly.

"Rumble—"

Ancient text drawings fluttered in the air.

"Thump!"

The broken arm fell and smashed on the ice surface. Although there was blood-fire entwined, it did not smash a cave out of the ice... The blood-fire was quickly swallowed by the Chi Huo in the void, the arm gradually extinguished, like a cigarette butt that had been trampled on several times, and finally condensed into ice slag, shattering.

Gu Shen raised a palm.

He controlled these drawings with his mental power, countless grass pages flew in, and the ancient texts lost by Holling were recaptured by him at this moment.

Now was the time to completely end this guy's life.

He coldly looked at the ugly man frozen on the ice surface by himself. The only regret was... Even if this body was killed, the real Xiao was still alive, and his true body should still be in the Southern Continent.

What an unkillable cockroach.

"Hiss... ha..."

After being cut off an arm, Xiao looked pale. A large amount of blood loss made his true self's spirit almost unable to maintain a stable connection. At this moment, he raised his head with difficulty and said hoarsely, "Anyway, I am bound to die, why are you in such a hurry to kill me?"

Gu Shen's forward footsteps paused slightly.

Xiao smiled with difficulty, raised his eyes to stare at the drawings, and said, "You just called him 'Holling'... Mr. Holling? You seem to respect him very much? You've met him?"

Gu Shen was silent.

Although he had not met Holling, he was a "pillar" worthy of being recommended by University Scholar Ian as an "important successor," a future core member of the Guwen Association!

His silence was a good answer.

"Ha... haha..."

Xiao's voice trembled, mocking, "Gu Shen, how can you easily comment on a person you have never seen in person... What's more, even if you have seen him in person, people can be deceived, can't they?"

"Sorry, I've seen you in person. I don't know about others, but I know... you're not a good thing."

Gu Shen carried the iron blade and continued forward.

He came to Xiao's front, and put the iron blade in front of Xiao's neck. For this destined "nemesis", his attitude had always been very simple, as long as he could beat him, then he would fight him every time he met him... Blood-fire and Chi Huo were in a state of mutual competition, killing Xiao once, he could seize a part of Xiao's blood-fire.

One positive and one negative, Xiao's strength would be weakened.

On his side, he also saved a lot of effort in swallowing originium.

"Do you know... what I have been pursuing?"

Xiao was not afraid of Gu Shen's blade.

He raised his head, and at the last moment of his life, looked directly into Gu Shen's eyes, still wearing that crazy smile on his face.

"..."

Gu Shen frowned.

What Xiao had been pursuing.

This guy's layout was extremely deep, and he seemed to be pursuing a special kind of "forbidden ancient art". In the tundra area, he had excavated an ancient text stone tablet... Perhaps he had already gathered many important clues in his hands.

"I am pursuing the strongest 'forbidden ancient art' in the world."

Xiao grinned and said, "How about we make a deal? I..."

When the word deal came out.

Gu Shen drew his blade directly, blood spurted out, freezing into scarlet snow slag in the air, falling all over the ground, crackling like jade beads shattering, without a trace of blood staining Gu Shen's windbreaker.

These two words gave him too many bad memories, and in an instant, they reminded him of the devil in the ruler who was trying his best to put him to death.

He did not make deals with any enemies.

Especially cunning foxes like Xiao. Once he found a chance and said a few more words, it might greatly affect his mind.

Looking at Xiao's fallen "corpse," Gu Shen fell into thought.

Although there was no deal.

But the information Xiao said still aroused his attention... The true side of Holling was indeed an unknown secret, and the information of the Guwen Association was destined to be hidden under the deep sea.

Even Chu Ling could not find out what kind of person Professor Holling of the Upper City was, and what kind of integrity he adhered to under the undercurrents of the past twenty years.

He decided to tell University Scholar Ian about these things after he went back.

"Is it over?"

Chu Ling's voice came.

"Yes, it's over." Gu Shen waved his sleeves, and the Great Cold wind completely sent Xiao's corpse into the sea. The [Deep Sea]'s monitoring checked no useful information, and everything tonight would be submerged in the silent sea tide.

Just as the two were talking, a very powerful explosion sound came from the distant Rhein Wharf.

"Boom!"

A strong wind blew.

Even Gu Shen could feel the aftermath of the explosion.

The glaring flames tore through the long night. This was Yekaterina's "handling." Blood-fire had ignited the bottom of the freighter. She condoned this explosion, watching all the evidence and information rise to the sky with the shock wave, and then fall into the sea.

Along with this loud noise, the Dwarf was blown into tens of thousands of pieces.

The other freighters around were also impacted to varying degrees. Some were directly melted by the heat wave, and some capsized and fell down. The explosion was like a blooming flower, and these freighters accompanying the "Dwarf" were like petals surrounding the stamen.

When the heat wave dissipated.

Smoke filled the night sky of Rhein.

Almost all of the docked ships at the wharf were scrapped.

These losses were not the most important... What was important was that Red Grape's transaction disappeared in this loud noise, and even in the end, "no one" knew what was loaded in the freighter.

(End of this chapter)