Chapter 1 The Torment of the Saint Arbiters

The resentful Saint Arbiters were trapped within Pluto's abandoned palace.

They were like the "water ghosts" that old folks in the alleys often used to scare children, only able to find so-called liberation by finding a scapegoat to take their place… But unfortunately, no living person had set foot in this great hall for twenty years.

Willing to fall, yet still unable to break free.

This was true, ultimate torment!

As long as a wisp of spiritual energy touched them, or a slight sound was made… these cursed Saint Arbiters would "open their eyes" and project the memories of their past suffering, along with Tong Guang, onto the scapegoat.

Within the deep main hall.

Gu Shen proceeded forward, feeling the wall as he went.

As he had expected, the end of this hall was the location of the door, and the material of these stone walls was similar to that of the previous labyrinth… and covered in ancient script!

Meng Xiao must be behind one of these doors.

"The danger warning from the pendant earlier… must have been sensing the Saint Arbiters' resentment."

Gu Shen narrowed his eyes and said silently in his heart, "It seems that Pluto buried the Saint Arbiters in more than one place."

He had just taken a rough look around, and there were probably seventy or eighty Saint Arbiters wandering in this main hall?

And in his memory, the legion that attacked Pluto's Palace had at least several hundred Saint Arbiters!

Back then, the Light City's Saint Arbiters had suffered heavy losses.

Those who had been pulled into the River of the Underworld were definitely dead beyond dead… But the others who had not been swept into the divine domain were likely saved by the Light God Seat. Considering this, there were at least a hundred Saint Arbiters buried at the bottom of the River of the Underworld.

This hall was the most important burial ground!

Although there was no map, the main structure of this underground ruin of the River of the Underworld was not difficult to guess. It was likely based on the "Pluto's Palace" as the central core, with doors as connecting points, and independent spaces arranged by Pluto scattered throughout the branches.

The remaining Saint Arbiters must have been casually thrown into different doors by the "Pluto" of that time.

"Let's try it here."

Gu Shen tapped and knocked, and finally, relying on his intuition, selected a direction.

He held the cross pendant and signaled with his eyes that Mu Wanqiu could draw her blade.

"Dang!"

In the next moment, light and fire burst out!

The Judge's blade fell, shattering the stone wall, ancient script flying, and countless black Yin Sha Qi (dark, malevolent energy) winding through the void!

Gu Shen stared intently at the stone wall, sensing the spiritual fluctuations from the pendant.

Then he shook his head.

"Ora ora ora!"

Perhaps because he had taken that wisp of flame, the Judge was working extremely hard at this moment. He paid close attention to Gu Shen's expression, and immediately took action after Gu Shen shook his head, instantly closing the wrong door!

Then there was another "Dang!" sound!

This scene was repeated continuously.

Door opens, door closes.

In the depths of the dark hall, the Judge's roaring voice echoed, along with the sparks from repeatedly striking the wall, looking from afar like a blacksmith hammering weapons.

What Gu Shen had to do was very simple.

Earlier, he had inadvertently opened Meng Xiao's door, and at that time, he had hurriedly closed the door, unable to dodge in time.

But at this moment, the situation had reversed.

….He was going to actively search for Meng Xiao!

The Judge was constantly opening and closing doors, like drawing from blind boxes, and Gu Shen stared intently at the doors, wishing he could win the prize in one go.

"Ora!"

This time, after the stone wall shattered, two familiar senses of crisis came from the pendant!

"Here it comes!"

Gu Shen's eyes lit up, and he opened his mouth in a low voice.

Mu Wanqiu immediately understood.

This door that had just leaked a wisp of aura—

Mu Wanqiu immediately restrained the "Blazing Fire" that enveloped her body, which was equivalent to extinguishing the symbol of "her own people."

Then she threw her war blade.

"Zheng!"

The long blade cut through the void, shooting hundreds of meters away, directly piercing the chest of the Saint Arbiter skeleton hanging in the hall. Accompanied by the crisp sound of bones falling to the ground, the hall, which had returned to deathly silence, seemed to have regained its vitality.

Skeletons rose slowly, one after another.

These Saint Arbiters, propping themselves up on their knees, had sunken skulls that burned with wisps of dim light!

They cast "scarlet gazes" at the place where Mu Wanqiu was, like a tide!

Mu Wanqiu's heart instantly tightened.

She had successfully awakened the Saint Arbiters' resentment in this hall. In the next moment, the Judge took out the "fire seed" again, holding this extremely small Underworld Fire above Mu Wanqiu's head—

Those scarlet gazes converged on the position where the two of them were standing at this moment.

The aura of living people disappeared.

But these gazes… did not immediately dissipate. Skeletons walked aimlessly, their faces long corroded by black water and weathered by time, but in their empty eye sockets, they seemed to still exude a dazed spirit.

Gu Shen and Mu Wanqiu held their breaths, and the entire hall was silent. Even though they knew that they would not be targeted by the Saint Arbiter's undead souls… they were inexplicably nervous in their hearts.

A few seconds later.

These wandering, scanning blood-red Tong Guang (pupil light), one after another, converged on the door that Gu Shen had opened!

"Wuwuwu…"

Wind blew past.

But it sounded like the wailing of a dead soul.

But for Gu Shen and Mu Wanqiu, who knew about Pluto's curse, this wailing sound sounded more like a cry of joyous celebration. These Saint Arbiters who had been thrown into the main hall had finally discovered "living people."

They began to run.

Gu Shen and Mu Wanqiu retreated quickly. Dozens or hundreds of skeletons trampled through the hall, rushing towards the door of "liberation." The howling wind swept through, a carnival of the undead!

"Quick… close the door!"

When the last skeleton crashed into the door, Gu Shen quickly spoke to the Judge!

He could feel that the "spiritual fluctuations" from the pendant were abnormal.

Worthy of being a Child of Blessing.

Meng Xiao seemed to have survived the spiritual impact of the individual Saint Arbiters.

The last time the door was opened, Meng Xiao had likely sensed something suspicious.

But at this moment, the sudden influx of so many Saint Arbiters was both a disaster and an opportunity for him!

If they didn't close the door again, this guy might rush out!

"Ora!"

The Judge responded as calmly as ever, giving a sense of bursting security.

….This tall, snow-white ghost shadow had been waiting for a long time. It was extremely calm, and its reaction speed was also extremely fast. It acted the moment the Saint Arbiters crashed into the door, countless stone chips flying as it sealed this black door tightly!

At this moment, the entire hall fell into true silence!

Gu Shen looked at the main hall that he had "emptied out," and the door that had closed as if nothing had happened… and a huge weight in his heart finally lifted.

"Eighty-three Saint Arbiters…"

Mu Wanqiu's expression was a little pale. She had just carefully counted the number of skeletons that had crashed into the door.

The resentment of these Saint Arbiters,叠加(superimposed) together, should be able to wipe out any team in this restart mission…

Meng Xiao shouldn't… be able to withstand it, right?

"This is the River of the Underworld. What Pluto hates the most are the transcendents of the Light City… not to mention he's a Child of Blessing…"

Gu Shen saw Mu Wanqiu's worry.

He gently exhaled a mouthful of turbid air, "Even if he really has earth-shattering abilities, an iron will, and can resist the Saint Arbiters' thoughts, and find the exit… this calamity alone will leave him with a layer of skin peeled off, even if he doesn't die."

Although the undead's vitality was incredibly tenacious.

Having been shot twice by himself, Meng Xiao was already seriously injured. These Saint Arbiter souls were even more crazy existences that had completely lost their reason, only thinking about dragging him into hell…

After personally confirming that eighty-three Saint Arbiters had poured into Meng Xiao's door with curses, Gu Shen's tense spirit relaxed a lot.

He really couldn't think of any way for Meng Xiao to survive.

……

……

Darkness.

Boundless darkness.

A wisp of scarlet Tong Guang enveloped him.

Nightmares descended and shattered.

Above the River of the Underworld, Meng Xiao's soul was buffeted by countless freezing gales. He endured the spiritual purgatory suffered by the "Saint Arbiters" back then without any expression… except that at this moment, the purgatory had fallen upon him.

His father, the former Duke Zhen Yue, was being burned in purgatory.

With the blessing of the spiritual curse.

This should have been a heart-wrenching scene.

But Meng Xiao's eyes did not change in the slightest. He coldly watched his father being burned to death, coldly feeling the will imposed by the River of the Underworld—

"All of this is because of him."

The Saint Arbiter's soul of that year could no longer withstand the torment and had collapsed first.

He knew that there was only one way to end this torment.

On the River of the Underworld, declare his betrayal of the Light.

Meng Xiao would certainly not do that.

He did not speak, nor did he lower his head, just staring straight at the black mist at the end of the long river, waiting silently… the wisp of spirit in the deepest part of his heart was still clear.

Meng Xiao knew that all of this was a dream.

The blood-colored Tong Guang was the lingering thought of the Saint Arbiters, and this endless purgatory actually had an end.

Lingering thoughts would eventually dissipate.

If he just persevered… it wouldn't be long before he could break free.

Relying on this tenacious will, Meng Xiao sat cross-legged above the River of the Underworld. He silently endured the pain of being cut into pieces in his spiritual sea, and in his mind, he stubbornly visualized a "repulsive" face.

Gu Shen!

He had been dragged into this nightmare… all thanks to Gu Shen!

….Just at the moment he entered the dream, he also felt a wisp of aura fluctuation from the outside world—

A certain door outside had been opened, and then quickly closed!

It must have been Gu Shen!

It was just that the timing was too bad for him, and he didn't have time to react at all before it was closed.

However, it no longer mattered.

Meng Xiao was certain that he would be able to get out soon.

Because in this Saint Arbiters' cursed dream, he was about to endure until the Light descended. The spiritual torture in his mind was gradually fading, and the River of the Underworld's influence on his spirit was also slowly decreasing.

He could vaguely feel that he was regaining his body and his perception of the outside world.

Just as Meng Xiao was trying to open his eyes in the "real world"—

"Kacha!"

The familiar sound of the door shattering rang out again!

It had been opened again!

This time, it was open for a longer time… Meng Xiao's spirit had already sensed two familiar auras nearby!

Gu Shen and Mu Wanqiu!

But then, he heard wails, roars, and laughter that made his scalp tingle.

Meng Xiao looked up in astonishment.

His expression was as pale as it had ever been in his life.

After the door opened.

There was a fleeting moment of weak light.

In the next moment, countless Saint Arbiters, wrapped in curses, completely extinguished this glimmer of weak light.

Light Barrier.

The Panda Who Falls When He Wrestles reminds you: Remember to collect after reading