Chapter 1 The Moment the Mask Broke

The moment the mask broke, Yin En saw Chu Ling's true face and was stunned. He had walked the mortal realm for over a hundred years and had never seen a woman of such breathtaking beauty.

He couldn't help but imagine –

What would the soul of such an exquisite girl taste like?

However!

The moment he bit down, he sensed something was wrong!

Under the ritual of life sacrifice, biting the soul was merely an illusion. The real meaning was "life transfer." Because the longevity technique he had mastered was incomplete, a large amount of life force would be lost in the void. After such a ritual, he could only receive one-twentieth of the life of the one being drained.

But that was enough. This girl looked to be less than twenty years old.

Even if he could only live for another sixty years…

He would gain three years of life…

But this first bite felt "empty." Yin En felt like he hadn't gained anything… Was it an illusion?

He quickly bit down a second time!

Nothing happened. His "lifespan" hardly increased at all. Perhaps… it increased by a few tens of minutes? In the long river of years he had experienced, these few tens of minutes were truly like a ripple.

Insignificant.

But soon, something "stimulating" arrived!

Yin En's pupils constricted, and he groaned. He felt a large amount of surging "memories" pouring into his spiritual sea, whether he wanted them or not. This was the "price" of two bites, something he had to endure, the inevitable "extraction." There was no free lunch in this world. If he wanted to eat the "lifespan" of the drained person, he needed to eat the corresponding memories.

On the surface, this seemed like a good thing.

But in reality, it was a disaster.

The longer a person lived, the longer their memories… An antique like Yin En, who had lived for one hundred and twenty-one years, had a spirit that was already aging, and his memory space was filled to the brim.

If he swallowed a period of life, it meant swallowing a period of memory.

Then his spiritual sea would be filled with a large amount of "memories"… He would gradually forget who he really was and gradually lose his "self" in the memory war in his spiritual sea.

The longevity technique was the most powerful forbidden art in the world.

Its side effects and price must also be the most terrifying.

…

…

Chu Ling did not resist. She even reached out and held Gu Shen, who was about to act.

"I feel… my life is decreasing."

She said calmly, "About one day less."

One day wasn't a small amount for her.

The life she possessed was even shorter than that of a summer cicada.

A complete life cycle was only a little over ten days.

Gu Shen hesitated. He looked at the "eerie array patterns" radiating a bloody aura. If Chu Ling hadn't stopped him, he would have tried to interrupt this evil ritual of life transfer…

He respected Chu Ling and understood what she meant by stopping him.

"This array pattern seems to be the beginning of everything… but in reality, everything has already ended."

Chu Ling said softly, "From the moment he took the first bite."

She could feel that what was being lost was not just life.

But also, memories.

Massive amounts of data that couldn't be described in words.

The data, which could almost break a whole room full of hard drives, crazily drilled into Yin En's head. In an instant, the young man's face turned red, and even his breathing became difficult.

In his mind, a strange picture suddenly appeared.

A train flashing with electricity roared past the bottom of an endless sea.

Immediately after, there were mountains, snowfields, deserts, and blue seas, tens of millions of switching camera shots. These were surveillance images captured by eyes. These images flooded into Yin En's mind in an instant, and they were still constantly splitting. The power of the longevity technique forcibly dragged him into the soul sea of the original owner of this bite of life, allowing him to experience the original scenes of these memories.

These were the most bottom-level and useless junk data in Chu Ling's spiritual sea.

Yin En's forehead bulged with veins, and his eyes protruded.

"You are…"

Yin En stared at Chu Ling intently. He suddenly understood.

It was a pity that his mind was already filled with massive amounts of data, and his own thinking space was squeezed to the limit. Even speaking became a luxury.

He tried his best to open his mouth.

"You are!

!"

In the next moment, with a "bang" –

His head exploded!

All of this happened without warning, extremely abruptly.

The bloody array patterns in the house dissipated at the most intense moment. Countless crimson hues no longer surged, slowly calming down.

It was just that a layer of blood really covered the ground, making the scene inside the cellar look strange and eerie.

Probably no one could have imagined that Yin En, who had calculated his entire life and had been shrewd his entire life, would end in such a way…

Such an ending was truly ironic.

"You already guessed it?"

Gu Shen looked at the headless corpse that had fallen and had a complicated expression.

"What he ate was not just 'life' but also memories." Chu Ling lowered her eyes and said slowly, "In this world, no one can bear my memories… He would definitely be crushed to death. It was destined to be like this from the moment he took the first bite."

Blood flowed to the two people in front of them.

It also flowed to the withered wheelchair.

An aging body trembled violently.

After Yin En died, his "spiritual control" over his disciple Hu Po was also lifted… The bloody aura stimulated Hu Po. The latter knew very well that his awakening meant something.

It was just that he could no longer hear, see, or speak.

Even his own spirit could not be conveyed.

"Mr. Hu Po…"

Gu Shen sighed softly in his heart. He tapped his finger and shot out a wisp of blazing fire, crashing into Hu Po's brow, sharing the scene he had seen with this "pitiable person" whose days were numbered.

Yin En was dead, burdened with monstrous sins, lying in a pool of blood.

No one took action to kill him.

What killed him was his own greed.

Such a death seemed a little too easy for him, but for a "life-grabber" who tried his best to live a few more years, such a death was the most suffocating and painful.

He could feel the uncontrolled emotions in Hu Po's spiritual sea at this moment!

This young disciple had initially admired Yin En's talent and character as a university scholar and had come to Linz to serve and follow him, but before long, he was deprived of his life by Yin En's "longevity technique," tied to a wheelchair, lost his five senses and six senses, and became a living dead.

Today, he was finally able to see it. He saw "Yin En's" ending!

The fragile body trembled violently.

"Thank… Thank you…"

Hu Po tried his best to convey this sentence in his spiritual sea.

Just conveying this sentence exhausted his remaining strength.

The old shell in the wheelchair stopped all movement, and his hands slowly drooped…

Chu Ling reached out and tested his breath, then shook her head at Gu Shen.

Hu Po was also dead.

This was a natural death from old age, and it was a death caused by exhausting all of his vitality.

…

…

"Absurd."

Gu Shen and Chu Ling stood quietly in the cellar like this. After a long time, the two had the same thought at the same time.

Everything that had happened before, and everything that remained at this moment, was absurd.

Yin En was dead, and Hu Po was also dead.

It was just that one of them was lying in a pool of blood, and the other was sitting in a wheelchair.

At this moment, in this unknown cellar, there were only forbidden drawings and incomplete ancient texts of the "longevity technique"… Only these cold, dead objects could prove that Gu Shen's trip was not a complete waste. At least he still had something to gain. It was just that this was not his original intention when he came. He initially came to Zhongzhou just to find a way to quickly connect with the members of the Ancient Text Society.

"Is this… the misfortune brought by Hades?"

Gu Shen squatted in front of Yin En's corpse, his voice a little complicated.

Yin En's dramatic death made him suspect that it was because he had come into contact with him and was contaminated with invisible misfortune that led to this great disaster… If he hadn't come to Linz, this old guy might have lived a little longer.

However, the next person to be drained might be "Hollin," who was rushing back to Linz.

In fact, it was not only Yin En who was affected by misfortune.

The biggest trouble was still on Gu Shen's side… First of all, the problem of connecting with the Ancient Text Society had not been solved at all. Yin En had given him a vivid lesson: never trust "strangers."

Fortunately, Chu Ling had absorbed the "legacy" left by Yin En. These spiritual messages were all garbled and out of order, but Yin En probably did not expect that Chu Ling's reading had nothing to do with order, and she did not need to care about the order.

These "legacies" were enough to decipher the ancient texts.

It just needed some time.

There was never a shortcut in this world.

Deciphering ancient texts was like this, and restoring the real-world connection of the Ancient Text Society was even more so. Yin En's death made Gu Shen completely understand that this was not something that could be "accomplished overnight." This was destined to be a long and arduous task.

Even if he was talented, he had to walk step by step.

However, he had also initially achieved his goal. At least he had obtained the "Wind's Rose" of Rhein City. In the future, Yekaterina could be used as the first choice for the "pillar holder" of Zhongzhou.

What remained were the corpses in the cellar.

This was not easy to deal with.

…

…

It was a sunny morning.

To the south of Linz, there was a public cemetery area. Many transcendent beings had come here to offer white flowers for the funeral of a new tombstone… The owner of this tombstone was named "Yin En Leonard."

If the people who came to mourn knew Yin En's true identity as a remnant of the Ancient Text Society,

Then they would not offer flowers.

If the members of the Ancient Text Society knew that Yin En had abused the longevity technique and violated the moral bottom line,

Then they would no longer pay their respects.

This was an "old man" who had lived too long, lived until he forgot why he was living. He was both crazy and pitiful. Under the temptation of longevity, he personally wrote the word "ridiculous" on his life.

However, this did not seem to change anything.

Now he was dying in a sea of flowers, still enjoying the high respect of countless people after his death.

Gu Shen was also in the funeral, but he was standing at the very back… In the past few years, he had seen too many "partings of life and death." Attending funerals seemed to have become a commonplace thing.

He silently watched all of this, and his heart was calm.

Exposing Yin En was meaningless to him. As an outsider, he would only provoke countless troubles. To take a step back, showing Yin En's ugly side would also be a blow to the Ancient Text Society.

After thinking for a long time in the cellar, he made a decision.

Preserve "Yin En's" good reputation.

It was just… at this moment, the person lying in the coffin, being offered flowers, being respected, and being worshiped, was the innocent victim, Hu Po.

The real "Yin En" had been burned clean.

Gu Shen explained to the outside world that Hu Po, the disciple responsible for taking care of Yin En, had chosen to travel after his teacher's death… No one would care about this young man, because in their eyes, Yin En had really died of old age.

"Mr. Gu, you don't seem to be sad."

There was one other person who was at the very back of the team with him. It was the high-level Star Envoy sent by Shangcheng to investigate the Hollin case.

This high-level Star Envoy checked Yin En's body and confirmed that there were no problems before there was today's funeral.

"Star Envoy, you are not sad either."

Gu Shen glanced and said calmly, "People's joys and sorrows are different… Do we have to squeeze out tears like them to prove our emotions?"

At the very front, there were a few students who had been rejected by Yin En, with sad expressions, "sincere and earnest."

For Gu Shen, who knew Yin En's true face, this scene was a bit funny. These guys were all turned away by Yin En because of their poor qualifications.

If they could really enter the courtyard, they would probably be the next to have their lives drained… He wondered if they could still cry then?

"That's true."

The high-level Star Envoy smiled after hearing this.

He was not prepared to make trouble for Gu Shen on this matter.

This Star Envoy suddenly said, "Mr. Gu, when I left Shangcheng, I heard an interesting thing… Perhaps your Dongzhou guest would be interested."

Gu Shen raised his eyebrows, "What, has something big happened in Shangcheng that is related to Dongzhou?"

"It's not a big deal."

The Star Envoy said indifferently, "Lu Nanjin fought with the 'Vermillion Bird Divine Envoy,' one of the Four Divine Sons, in front of the Source Tower. Qin Ye, the Vermillion Bird Divine Envoy's senior brother, died in your Dongzhou. The fight between these two has caused quite a stir."

"…"

Gu Shen looked calm on the surface, but his heart sank.

His senior sister's so-called "look" was indeed not that simple.

The status of the Four Divine Sons of the Source Tower was roughly equivalent to the "Children of Blessing" of Light City. These four were carefully selected by the Twin Gods as future agents of divine power!

When the name Qin Ye came out, Gu Shen guessed the ending.

It was related to the old case from back then. His senior sister must have drawn her sword, but if she encountered the Four Divine Sons now, the outcome would probably be dire.

"Lu Nanjin lost."

Sure enough, the high-level Star Envoy paused deliberately.

When he said this, there was a smile on the corner of his lips. He had deliberately saved it until now to say it, just to see Gu Shen's reaction.

This Star Envoy wanted to see surprise or dissatisfaction on Gu Shen's face.

But in the end, he was disappointed.

There was no fluctuation on Gu Shen's face.

He asked calmly, "What happened later?"

"Later?"

"Her strength was not enough, and she was too far behind the Vermillion Bird Divine Envoy. She was beaten until she vomited blood and suffered a crushing defeat, returning in defeat." The Star Envoy paused and smiled, "As far as I know, Lu Nanjin was very embarrassed when she escaped from the Source Tower… The Vermillion Bird Divine Envoy chased after her all the way, and no one knows what happened after that. I don't know if she has caught up now."

Beaten until she vomited blood?

Gu Shen's eyes gradually became gloomy.