Chapter 172 Endless Doors

"Rumble—"

A low rumble echoed through the narrow passage.

A brilliant flash of blade light sliced through.

Mu Wanqiu stood with her blade sheathed, watching the countless stone walls she had shattered, and the [doorway] beyond, shimmering with black light. She held her breath and looked at Gu Shen.

After a moment.

Gu Shen shook his head.

"Oura Oura Oura—"

The Judge struck again, gathering countless stones to seal the wall, and the shattered [door] was closed once more.

The entire maze returned to silence.

And the ancient texts inscribed on the stone walls changed once again as the [door] disappeared… Although Gu Shen couldn't understand the ancient texts, he could clearly sense the changes on the other side of the wall.

The feeling of danger from the crucifix pendant rose and fell.

This was the way to "leave" here.

Simple and direct, requiring little thought, but somewhat time-consuming.

Theoretically… if you couldn't understand the ancient texts, you couldn't leave here.

But for Gu Shen, who possessed "absolute correct premonition," finding the right [door] was only a matter of time… After roughly confirming the "rules" of this maze, he didn't even need to move much. He could simply stand in a fixed position and continuously break the same stone wall in front of him.

The next thing… all he could do was wait a long time.

"Break."

"Break again."

Gu Shen spoke again and again.

Mu Wanqiu struck again and again.

In the underground maze, the sound of blades and the shattering of walls echoed continuously.

Given that the [Blessing of the Goddess of Fate] was too special to explain or expose… every time Mu Wanqiu struck and shattered the stone wall, Gu Shen needed to examine it "carefully" for a moment, pretending to be seriously divining.

Mu Wanqiu didn't notice this.

However, one thing did exceed Gu Shen's expectations.

At such a time, Mu Wanqiu's patience was surprisingly good. She had been hacking at the same stone wall for hours, hundreds, even thousands of times, and each time the result was "failure"… Yet she didn't get angry, not even the slightest bit impatient.

After careful observation.

Gu Shen discovered that this crazy woman was hitting the same spot every time, her strength becoming lighter and lighter, the shattering effect getting better and better. Was she taking this opportunity to practice her swordsmanship and study the characteristics of the stone wall?

Over these several hours, each of Mu Wanqiu's strikes became more precise and powerful.

The [Judge]'s speed of repairing the doorways was also getting faster and faster…

As expected of the people of North Continent, "war" flowed in their blood.

It was just a pity.

With each wall broken, he hadn't sensed the "safety" that should theoretically exist.

Each time a new [door] appeared, the pendant would send back a faint mental signal, and each signal was very consistent.

["Danger."]

["Danger."]

["Extreme danger."]

Every signal that came back was danger!

Gu Shen knew that being trapped in this underground maze wasn't necessarily a bad thing. During this time, his energy had recovered a bit… But if he kept breaking through like this, how long would it take to find the correct [door]?

Could it be… was there something wrong with his guess?

Who designed these broken [doors]? There were so many of them, and their intentions were so vicious…

Gu Shen sincerely despised the designer of this ancient ruin.

With a "boom!"

A sudden explosion suddenly pulled Gu Shen's thoughts back to reality. This time, the commotion was particularly violent, so much so that the faint blazing fire between his eyebrows was startled and swayed!

Something was different…

The sensation from the crucifix pendant was also different from before!

Two different "dangerous sensations" were superimposed on top of each other.

Gu Shen's pupils shrank.

"Close the door quickly!"

Staring intently at this door, cold sweat flowing from his forehead, he subconsciously roared out, his voice slightly hoarse.

Holding her long blade, Mu Wanqiu stood behind the dark, chaotic [door]. She narrowed her phoenix eyes and frowned as she examined the square doorway filled with "chaos." For some reason… she also had a bad premonition this time.

Before Gu Shen could finish speaking, the Judge had already acted.

The huge, snow-white ghost figure spread its arms and instantly unleashed tens of millions of phantoms, instantly stuffing the stone wall back in place.

……

……

After the stone wall was closed.

Gu Shen breathed a long sigh of relief.

Mu Wanqiu glanced at Gu Shen, who was still shaken, and asked in confusion, "What did you see?"

The previous few times they had broken through [doors], there hadn't been such a violent reaction. Could it be that behind this [door], there was a living being about to crawl out?

Thinking of this.

Mu Wanqiu was startled. It seemed there really was one.

"It's Meng Xiao…"

Gu Shen stared at the closed stone wall. The ominous premonition in his heart gradually subsided, and he finally relaxed a little. He turned his head and explained seriously, "Meng Xiao was behind that [door] just now!"

Two different dangerous sensations were superimposed and transmitted to his mental sea by the crucifix pendant.

One came from Meng Xiao!

The other… came from the unknown behind the [door].

What really frightened Gu Shen wasn't Meng Xiao, but the unknown sensation… After breaking through [doors] hundreds of times, this was the most dangerous signal the pendant had ever returned!

Taking a deep breath.

"Heh…"

Gu Shen twitched the corner of his mouth, then couldn't help but laugh.

Meng Xiao had indeed come here.

Moreover… he had been teleported behind an extremely dangerous [door].

This was truly a pleasant piece of good news.

Although he was being tormented by countless broken [doors] here, Gu Shen felt relieved to see that Meng Xiao was in even more pain than him.

Mu Wanqiu thought for a moment and understood why Gu Shen was laughing.

Schadenfreude was an inherent trait of all humans… Thinking of this, the corners of her lips also curled up slightly, but she quickly returned to her original expression.

As far as she was concerned, as long as Meng Xiao was still alive.

This couldn't be considered good news.

Mu Wanqiu slowly sheathed her blade.

She didn't continue to hack at the stone wall in front of her, but suddenly asked a question that had nothing to do with breaking through the wall: "Why is Meng Xiao chasing you?"

Gu Shen thought hard but couldn't come up with an answer, so he sighed, "Does being chased… need a reason?"

"Of course."

Mu Wanqiu said softly, "Everything in this world has a reason. If Meng Xiao came here only to summon the 'Light Throne,' then why would he be so persistent, even jumping into the 'River of the Dead' to kill you…"

"If I said 'I don't know,' would you believe me?"

Gu Shen shrugged, looked directly into Mu Wanqiu's eyes, and said calmly, "But that's the truth. This is the first time I've come to the North Continent. I was targeted by Meng Xiao after the Gu Fort mission… God knows why he went crazy and wanted to kill me."

After hearing this, Mu Wanqiu's expression didn't change much.

She quietly held her blade and just stared at Gu Shen, her face saying, "Continue."

"Alright…"

Gu Shen smiled.

It seemed that this question couldn't be easily glossed over.

Mu Wanqiu only seemed simple-minded… but this woman wasn't stupid. Putting aside her S-rank intuition, she still had a bit of a brain.

"Since you even know about the 'River of the Dead,' what can't you guess?"

Gu Shen said lightly, "Meng Xiao is chasing me, probably because of the irreconcilable differences between light and darkness… He thinks I'm 'darkness,' so naturally he would chase me."

"But…"

Mu Wanqiu's expression finally changed a bit. She frowned slightly, a little puzzled, "Why would Meng Xiao think you are… darkness?"

The reason she concealed her Disaster Dream was because she realized that this dream was very likely related to the "King of the Underworld."

Twenty years ago, that King of the Underworld left a lot of shadows on the Five Continents.

Mu Wanqiu's concealment was for her own protection.

In the nightmare, her [Judge] looked towards the end of the River of the Dead, at the majestic figure sitting high on the throne, her eyes full of longing, a high salute of worship.

But the Gu Shen in front of her…

No matter how you looked at that ordinary "flame," it shouldn't have any connection with the King of the Underworld.

"Those who call themselves light, of course, believe they have the right to convict 'darkness.'"

"And those who disagree with them, those who go against the interests of light, can all be darkness."

Gu Shen smiled indifferently and said, "If he thinks I'm black, then I can only be black… And the reason why chasing doesn't make sense is because it doesn't need the other party's consent. Meng Xiao comes to kill me with a blade, and if I can't beat him, I can only run. He started chasing me from Black Snow Mountain, and I had no way out, so I had to jump into the 'River of the Dead,' and he continued to chase relentlessly, so I had to escape into this door."

Very simple logic.

Also very cruel.

Mu Wanqiu was speechless for a moment, but she felt a little fortunate in her heart. If her "dream" was leaked, wouldn't the unlucky person targeted by Light City be herself?

"Let's try again… This time, we'll change locations."

Gu Shen stretched out his finger and pointed to the end of his line of sight.

Mu Wanqiu was slightly stunned, "Change locations?"

"If… the ancient texts here are randomly replaced, then perhaps a large area has been marked as 'dangerous.' In that kind of area, no matter how many [doors] appear, there is only the path of death to choose." Gu Shen said slowly, "And to avoid this possibility, we should choose a [door] in an area where 'life' has appeared."

Mu Wanqiu's eyes lit up with a strange light: "That is… the stone wall I hacked at in the beginning."

The two came to the front of the stone wall they had first encountered.

They looked at each other.

Gu Shen seriously pointed to a specific point on the stone wall.

He gently took a breath: "Break."

Mu Wanqiu struck.

This strike shattered the stone wall with devastating force.

["Danger."]

The signal from the crucifix pendant was already familiar after seeing it countless times.

Gu Shen wasn't discouraged. He shook his head, and after the Judge acted to repair the stone wall, he spoke again.

"Break again."

Mu Wanqiu struck again.

This time, after the stone wall exploded, it bloomed with a different kind of dazzling light.

Under the cover of the light, a [door] intertwined with countless gray airflows emerged.

This time, it seemed different…

Mu Wanqiu looked at Gu Shen somewhat nervously.

Gu Shen, who was silently clutching the pendant, stared at the gray doorway for a long time, and smiled wearily: "These broken doors, finally, are broken."

……

……

(There's another chapter before 6 PM this afternoon!)