Chapter 176 Farewell
"Sir…"

Jin Suihua asked carefully, "Are you returning? Can I come with you?"

Gu Shen looked up.

Looking at that burly figure that seemed to stretch on forever...

If he brought this big fellow back to the Northern Continent, it would probably cause a huge riot. Perhaps the Umbrella Defense Line wouldn't even "open the door" for him…

Gu Shen could vaguely feel that his blazing fire resonated with Jin Suihua.

If the power of the Pure Land was strong enough…

Perhaps… he really could carry it within.

However, his current strength wasn't enough to do such a thing.

"You continue to stay here…"

Gu Shen pondered slightly, reached out his palm, and plucked a small wisp of Jin Suihua's spiritual fire, a kindred force to the Underworld Fire Seed… Placing it in his "Pure Land" should extend the connection between the two over a very long distance.

Even if he was within the Five Continents, as long as it wasn't the Southern Continent, he should be able to communicate spiritually with Jin Suihua.

Jin Suihua felt a wisp of its soul being taken.

It lowered its head silently, its tone becoming somewhat sad, "My King… are you abandoning me?"

As it said this, the once blazing look in the serpent's golden eyes dimmed noticeably.

For it…

Most things in this world were unimportant and didn't need to be cared about… Waiting in the Frozen Canyon to reunite with the "Monarch" was its greatest destiny!

But now that it had finally reunited after twenty-one years of separation, they were about to part again.

All of this seemed to be because of the trouble it had brought to "Lord Monarch."

Their hearts were connected.

Gu Shen felt the big fellow's "intentions." He helplessly reached out his palm, patted its big head, and said softly, "All separations in this world are for better reunions… It won't be long before I come to find you again."

The serpent nodded listlessly.

Gu Shen thought for a moment and added, "You staying here actually has another mission…"

Hearing the word "mission," the light in Jin Suihua's eyes rekindled.

"That wood chip just now… was left behind by someone very important to me."

Gu Shen said slowly, "The three people you saw at the end of the maze are my teacher, senior brother, and senior sister. From today onwards, I grant you freedom. You don't have to stay guarding the maze."

Jin Suihua's serpent eyes were somewhat blank.

From the moment it was born into this world until today's reunion… it had never thought about leaving.

"If possible, help me find their traces."

Gu Shen said earnestly, "But the premise is… you must take care of yourself."

The order within the [Old World] had collapsed, making it extremely dangerous!

The serpent carefully memorized the order.

After saying these things, Gu Shen stood before the snow-capped canyon. He looked at this "maze stronghold" that had troubled the Gubao military for more than a decade. Over the years, the Investigation Corps had listed it as a key exploration target.

In fact… the maze was indeed worth exploring by humans.

Its end was not an oasis.

But a great serpent that had awakened extraordinary powers!

The failure of the two elite teams would surely attract the attention of high-ranking figures at the legion commander level. The next team to arrive at the maze might be a top-tier explorer team led by a "title holder"… And if Jin Suihua's spiritual dream was seen through by a title holder, its existence would become a blockbuster news story that would shock the entire human world!

Gu Shen didn't want such a thing to happen.

"Lastly… help me erase these people's memories."

He looked at the serpent and said softly, "Like waking up from a dream… whether it was the 'oasis' they saw or the 'battle' that happened, it's all just memories that dissipate in a dream. After we leave, you destroy this maze."

Because of the restriction of the golden circlet, it wasn't convenient for Gu Shen to do it himself.

It was better to leave this matter to Jin Suihua.

The serpent nodded slowly.

It looked at the surrounding craggy rocks, and a complex emotion that was difficult to explain slowly emerged in its cold, ruthless eyes.

Since awakening its intelligence, it was no longer a cold-blooded animal.

It could think and enjoy joys, sorrows, and everything in between.

Dwelling here for twenty-one years.

Now that it had gained "freedom," it was instead somewhat… reluctant?

…

…

Jin Suihua raised its body, and its scales began to tremble, stirring up golden sparks.

A strong wind swept through.

A deep chanting sound rang out from the high sky… The sound was somewhat like ancient writing, each word obscure and incomprehensible, but listening carefully, one could seem to feel the arrival of some kind of "powerful force."

For Gu Shen, the sound of chanting was not uncomfortable.

Jin Suihua's soul came from his Pure Land.

These chanting sounds were likely the spiritual inheritance left to it by the Underworld King…

The dream slowly disappeared.

Gu Shen looked down at his feet. The scattered rubble and spilled blood had all disappeared… The entire world was shrouded in huge patches of light, and large swaths of pale snowflakes blew past.

Only those who had experienced the previous tragic battle knew how fortunate the current "silence and tranquility" was.

The great serpent was nowhere to be seen.

But on the rocks, the snow covering them faintly surged with Jin Suihua-like blazing light.

The transcendents in the team opened their eyes one by one as if awakened from a nightmare… They looked at each other and saw that they were all safe and sound, their faces full of astonishment and shock.

"What… just happened?"

Lao Mo looked at his hands.

The clothes under the Source Armor were soaked with sweat and almost stuck to his skin!

And his hands were unstained by blood…

He vaguely felt that he must have experienced something, but the "memory" had been erased.

The command channel was silent.

The great serpent had erased the memories of every transcendent in the team, but their innermost transcendent senses still lingered on the emotion of "fear"… This was an indelible physiological reaction.

If this dream hadn't been erased…

Then they would now be immersed in a nightmare… and would probably think that they were already dead.

"We… just stepped into some kind of dream?"

Li Chen was the first to react.

His voice was hoarse, and his brow was burning hot. The [Source Eye], which had been functioning normally, couldn't be opened no matter what he did… How strange was this?

The only explanation was that they had experienced a nightmare.

But what was unreasonable was…

Why was no one injured in a nightmare that could leave a shadow on the entire team?

He looked back.

None of the team members were harmed, but each of them was pale, their faces filled with terror, and their memories seemed to have been cut off…

"I remember that the source quality instrument underwent a mutation…"

"Wait…"

Li Chen suddenly stared at the instrument and muttered like he had seen a ghost, "The source quality instrument shows that everything is normal!"

Damn it…

The root of the dream has been found.

The source quality instrument didn't mutate at all. Did they enter the dream from that moment?

Captain Yuan Yuan's expression was gloomy. One hand gripped the hilt of his long saber, and the other was pressed firmly against his chest. After waking up, his heart was pounding violently, making it difficult to calm down… Although he was a fourth-order transcendent, his memory, like that of the other members, was a blank.

But based on his body's reaction, Yuan Yuan was certain that he had experienced some kind of dream earlier!

But everything in the dream seemed to have been deleted.

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't remember it clearly.

The only remaining image.

Seemed to be… that he was directly torn apart by a beam of light?

Blasted into pieces so that not even a trace of flesh and blood remained!

There was no time to continue thinking.

Yuan Yuan heard a muffled rumbling sound above his head. He drew his long saber, leaped up, and unleashed his saber domain… The feeling of helplessness and pain in the nightmare vanished at the moment he drew his saber!

"Boom!"

A huge rock rolled down from above the canyon!

With a single slash, Yuan Yuan shattered it!

But… the entire canyon trembled, and the rocks in all directions cracked!

"Go!"

Yuan Yuan opened his saber domain, suppressing the previous palpitations and confusion… He didn't know what was wrong with this maze, but it was shaking and cracking from the inside, and it looked like it was impossible to move forward!

Since the source quality instrument's alarm was false…

Then the top priority was to return!

"All members, evacuate the maze!"

At that moment, the formation quickly switched, and Su He, who was responsible for the rear guard, became the vanguard. All members maintained excellent order and quickly evacuated towards the outside of the snow mountain.

Due to the previous exploration, everyone was familiar with the return route.

In addition to the pressure of "life-and-death crisis."

The entire team's speed had greatly increased!

The Investigation Corps' most powerful ability… was actually "evacuation"! Every transcendent, after entering the corps, would remember the corps' first iron rule.

"No matter what, you must survive."

Gu Shen, in the middle of the team, looked back slightly.

Under the gaze of the "blazing fire."

He saw that in the snow color of surging rocks, there was a faint golden light mixed in.

Those were actually pieces of "serpent scales," like golden tassels, shuttling through the heavy snow.

This was a spectacle that only he could see.

So in the real world… there really was such a behemoth.

Swinging its long tail could split mountains and rocks.

The snow mountain collapsed, rolling into a tide.

In this critical moment, the transcendents of the Second Team didn't have time to evacuate with their comrades' bodies. They had to increase their speed to the extreme to have a chance to escape this sudden avalanche.

"Rumble rumble…"

Under the pursuit of the snow tide, everyone successfully escaped the maze.

The giant ridge, as if carved by the heavens, the previously open "narrow sky," shook out countless tons of crushed snow, and at this moment, seemed to close again…

The team, almost exhausted, rested not far from the maze.

Li Chen, with his hands on his knees, looked at the shocking scene of the "maze" being submerged by heavy snow and rubble. ノ亅丶說壹2З

Large beads of sweat rolled down from his forehead and smashed onto the transparent mask of his Source Armor.

He said with lingering fear, "If we had run any slower…"

Su He's voice, even at this moment, remained calm, "We would have been buried there with Lao Yao and Yuanzi."

However, this sentence was terrifying to think about.

This was a race against "death."

"I've never encountered such a situation…"

Mo Hongyi escaped from the clutches of death, and recalling everything that had happened before, he felt it was all very dreamlike.

At the moment the source quality instrument's alarm sounded.

The "dream" in the maze should have enveloped them…

What exactly happened in the dream?

He murmured, "I have a feeling that perhaps… we have already died once?"

Zhu Xiao felt that these words hit the nail on the head. He subconsciously wanted to agree, but when he saw the captain's gloomy face, he quickly cursed in a low voice, "What a damn jinx… hurry up and shut your crow's mouth."

The word jinx.

Touched Gu Shen's inspiration.

He fell into a brief period of thought.

He had to admit… that this investigation team's encounter in the maze was indeed a nightmare.

And this nightmare was indeed caused by him.

After inheriting the power of the "Underworld King Fire Seed"… he seemed to be stained with an ominous aura, but from the perspective of results, these guys were spared from "death" precisely because they were with him.

If it weren't for him.

They would have been killed by the great serpent, leaving no one behind.

So… was this a jinx or good luck?

"Xiao Gu…"

A hoarse voice rang out in Gu Shen's private channel.

He looked back.

After the evacuation, at the rear of the team, Yuan Yuan stood alone, holding his double sabers.

On the final evacuation route, Yuan Yuan unleashed his fourth-order "saber domain," slashing crushed rocks and surging snow tides… Several times, the team was almost crushed by the snow tide, but his "saber domain" stopped it!

The others didn't know.

That this "thrilling" escape was destined to succeed.

For Jin Suihua, this was just a game. All it had to do was follow Gu Shen's will and create enough "urgency" to force the explorers in front of it to leave the maze quickly.

It was just… that this game had to be realistic.

In the current situation, Jin Suihua had a talent for doing this.

The effect was good.

Everyone was currently in the joy of escaping death, unable to deeply ponder the previous "dream" and other details.

But there was one exception.

That was Yuan Yuan.

This man, holding his double sabers and looking back at the collapsing maze, slowly sheathed his sabers and said meaningfully in the private channel.

"Thanks."

Gu Shen's expression remained unchanged, "Why thank me?"

"Some things cannot be explained… and I have never been one to get to the bottom of things."

Yuan Yuan said softly, "Those who cultivate the saber act in accordance with their hearts… Upholding a pure heart when drawing the saber, sometimes, you will receive guidance from the will of heaven."

A very interesting statement.

Gu Shen shook his head, "I don't understand what you're talking about."

"This time, the entire team escaped, and it looked thrilling and exceptionally lucky, but I know very well that this matter cannot be explained by the simple word 'lucky'." Yuan Yuan lowered his eyes and smiled self-deprecatingly, "It just so happened that everyone woke up, it just so happened that the maze collapsed, it just so happened that I could withstand the final snow tides… This is too coincidental. After thinking about it, the most coincidental thing is that you temporarily joined the team."

"…"

Gu Shen had nothing to say.

To Yuan Yuan, who didn't care about logic or evidence and only cared about intuition, there was indeed nothing to say.

"Don't misunderstand… I just want to follow my heart and say thank you, not to explore the things behind these 'coincidences'."

Yuan Yuan leisurely let out a long breath.

On this escape, he seemed to be the most calm and composed person.

But in reality… he also felt unsure in his heart.

But he was the captain, and he had to be calm in times of crisis.

Now, he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Lord A'liou'er said that you were chosen by Her Majesty the Empress."

He looked at the silent Gu Shen and said seriously, word by word, "I didn't believe it before… Now, I believe it."

…

…

(ps: I'm sorry, my condition is not very good. I wrote for a long time, revising and revising, and the amount of content that can guarantee quality is only so much. I want to rest a little for the next three days and revise the outline, so the number of words updated every day is about four thousand. When my condition improves, I will resume updating more and welcome the climax. I hope you all understand.)