Chapter 1 The Old World Swept by Storms

A team was rapidly advancing.

This team maintained an extremely high "coordination rate." The twelve individuals weaved through the debris storm, each as nimble as a butterfly, with a small "flame" floating before them.

After all members relinquished resistance, the hypnosis met no obstacle. Gu Shen's "Blazing Fire" had permeated the minds of everyone in the team.

His hypnosis was gentler and faster than that of other mental-系 (xi).

After ensuring everyone on the team was in a "hypnotic" state, Gu Shen raised his palm. A strand of silver-white light emerged from his palm, slowly solidifying.

It was a silver-white ruler.

The Ruler of Truth!

Before this earth-shattering "Source Mass Storm," perhaps only the power of a god could contend with it... Even if the source armor's energy was burned to its limit, it would inevitably be caught by the "Source Mass Storm."

But with the "Ruler of Truth," it was different!

Gu Shen took a deep breath.

His gaze at the ruler turned cold.

At first, when he obtained the ruler, he thought it was an "omnipotent" artifact. As long as his mental power was strong enough, he could do anything he wanted!

Later...

He slowly realized that this ruler was not as "gentle" as it seemed.

Within the silver-white ruler dwelled an unfathomable abyss.

The price of dominating everything was being tainted by the ominous.

The stronger, the more chaotic.

Even the previous Hades could not resist its temptation, eventually falling into mental disarray.

Since learning this, Gu Shen had become extremely cautious in using the ruler.

He held an abyss in his hand.

If he indulged in the great power the abyss offered and used it recklessly.

Then one day... he would drown in his own desires, just like the previous Hades.

But this time, it was different.

Faced with this "unsolvable" disaster, only an "unsolvable" artifact could find a glimmer of hope.

Gu Shen slowly raised his palm, using his mind to drive the Ruler of Truth, transforming it into a vast domain encompassing all twelve individuals.

Silver-white radiance swept out.

As Gu Shen expected.

The Ruler of Truth transformed into a "void domain" that just encompassed everyone. After the radiance expanded, the debris was all deflected, but the terrifying pressure of the storm behind them still remained!

Gu Shen did not know the extent of the Ruler of Truth's power... Perhaps a peak Hades who had fully refined the Fire Seed could forcefully shatter the Source Mass Storm behind them.

But at this moment, he could only do this much.

In this moment.

Gu Shen's mental power began to "deplete rapidly." Relying solely on the Breathing of Spring was no longer enough to restore his mental state to perfection.

Gu Shen calmly spoke.

"Limit breakthrough... source energy burning efficiency 160%."

He tried to use the power of the Ruler of Truth to drive the source armor.

This was a wild idea.

Source armor required burning source mass.

And the power source of the Ruler of Truth was mental power.

Theoretically, the Ruler of Truth could do anything its host imagined, as long as they could pay the price of "mental power"...

Gu Shen sensed the external armor on his body.

He held his breath.

After the will was transmitted, it was the first time the Ruler of Truth did not act directly but made him wait.

Several seconds later.

With a "boom!"

Gu Shen heard a deep rumble coming from his chest... That was a power that a fourth-order source armor simply could not bear. The Northern Continent military's technology could only allow the source energy core to burn at a maximum of 150%, but at this moment, the "Ruler of Truth" directly achieved the ultimate breakthrough that Gu Shen had in mind.

No.

For the Investigation Corps, a burning efficiency of 160% was the ultimate breakthrough.

But for Gu Shen, who wielded the "Ruler of Truth," a burning efficiency of 160% was just the beginning.

The things the Ruler of Truth did still conformed to the operating laws of this world.

Outside the silver-white domain, a vast amount of "source mass" surged in, an unordered source mass from the [Old World]. Under the attraction of the "Ruler of Truth," it rolled into the domain and transformed into fuel for another limit breakthrough!

Facts proved.

As long as one possessed the Ruler of Truth, then mental power, in a sense, could also be used as fuel.

Perhaps because the "Ruler of Truth" was plundering source mass, the storm behind them suddenly roared!

Gu Shen turned his head, his expression somewhat gloomy... In just those few tens of seconds, the storm that pierced the sky and earth behind them had caught up at an extremely fast speed, and a terrifying suction force was constantly pulling at the Domain of Truth.

He took a deep breath.

Releasing his mental power.

At this moment, in this desolate world, he was the only traveler.

The silver-white radiance of the Ruler of Truth split into twelve strands, falling evenly on the twelve individuals, interweaving with the golden Blazing Fire, transforming into the only tranquil and peaceful faint candlelight in the [Old World] swept by the storm.

Gu Shen's voice became extremely majestic.

"Breakthrough again..."

"Burning efficiency 180%!"

At this moment, the members of the investigation team were all immersed in dreams, their expressions slowly becoming solemn, as if they also felt this sacred and inviolable will.

The red source armor became scorching hot at this moment.

The surface temperature of the source armor exceeded 200 degrees Celsius.

Scorching hot mist floated out of the Domain of Truth, falling into the cold [Old World], and freezing into thin, cold snow flakes the moment it combined with the air.

This was no longer a burden that "they" could bear.

Each order of source armor had its highest bearing range, and breaking through the 150% burning efficiency actually meant self-destruction... The source energy core would crack and could not be repaired.

A large amount of source mass would spill out.

After 100% burning efficiency, the utilization rate of source mass became extremely low.

But at this moment.

An abnormal phenomenon that did not conform to the rules appeared. After the burning efficiency was increased to 180%, the source energy core shattered and cracked, but the "source energy" required for combustion did not spill out, but instead became incredibly condensed.

Even source armor with 100% burning efficiency did not have such a high utilization rate.

And those armors that were already on the verge of breaking, under the blessing of the "Ruler of Truth's" will, became indestructible. Hot mist rolled out, but the skin covered by the source armor still maintained a normal body temperature.

The operation of all this was due to the "Ruler of Truth"!

Even more so because of Gu Shen's powerful spirit!

As long as his mental power was sufficient...

Letting these source armors "break through" like this did not seem to be difficult. 180%, 200%, as long as he could afford the price, then these were nothing.

It was just that Gu Shen could clearly feel that the "price" of using the Ruler of Truth this time was different from before.

Previously.

He only used the "Ruler of Truth" to assist in attacks when fighting against others.

He had never used the ruler so frantically.

At this moment, a trace of disorder appeared in his extremely stable "spirit"... It was like a stroke of black ink smeared on a blank sheet of white paper. At the beginning, there was only a faint trace of ink, but as the time of the "Domain of Truth" lengthened.

This trace of ink slowly spread out.

The originally silver-white "Great Domain" also had a little more black.

Seeing this scene, Gu Shen narrowed his eyes. He still remembered that in the Great Capital District, when he fought against "Dionysus" with the help of the Ruler of Truth, the ruler at that time was completely black!

Black... very likely meant "ominous."

The more the ruler was used, the more one's own consciousness fell into depravity, and the more the color of "Truth" tended towards black!

Perhaps, the black of mental radiance was also the same principle?

It was just that now was not the time to consider the color of mental radiance... Gu Shen burned his spirit, raising the twelve sets of source armor to the perfect limit breakthrough state of 200%.

This was the limit that his mental power could currently maintain!

The earth crumbled and the sky split.

The storm swept through.

In the constantly collapsing sky above the land, there were twelve figures as small as ants, running wildly with this vast storm... However, the speed of these "ants" was vaguely faster than the storm by a thread!

……

……

Gu Fort, northern giant wall.

The firmament, pieced together from tens of millions of floating boards, began to tremble slowly.

"Buzz buzz buzz ~~~"

The giant umbrella supporting the entire Gu Fort began to tremble.

And the sentry performing patrol duty on the giant wall head immediately discovered the abnormality. The humidity and temperature in the air had undergone subtle changes... For transcendents, these subtle changes were enough to attract attention.

Most importantly.

The gathering of a large amount of transcendent source mass would bring mental pressure to transcendents.

This point was equally effective even for low-order transcendents!

Almost every sentry standing on the giant wall felt a strong sense of unease in their hearts. That was the instinct that living beings had evolved over thousands of years. When facing danger, they would subconsciously avoid it.

"...The storm is coming!"

A voice exploded on the giant wall.

Outside the umbrella, in that chaotic world where order was broken, a rare "unified color" appeared. It was a gray color that made people feel despair. Countless tornadoes were like pillars reaching the sky, almost filling the distant horizon.

In the world outside the giant wall, light and darkness seemed to no longer exist.

The influence brought by sunrise and sunset was very weak under the fog of vast transcendent source mass.

But in the world inside the giant wall.

There was light, and there was also darkness.

The sentries guarding the giant wall finally waited for the end of the long night.

However, today's dawn did not bring hope.

But an unprecedented catastrophe.

Due to the early warning of the "Umbrella Defense Line," the entire Gu Fort had made preparations to deal with this storm in advance.

This was a "great storm" that occurred once every twenty years!

This "source mass tide," which was very likely to break through the Umbrella Defense Line, came earlier than expected!

At this moment, in the monitoring room.

Countless [Sky Eyes] reflected scenes from the outermost edge of the "Umbrella Defense Line."

This would be the last precious picture that Gu Fort and the entire Northern Continent military could possess.

Once the "storm" came and the source mass tide arrived.

Then these [Sky Eyes] would be destroyed...

Suddenly, a voice sounded.

"Hey, look..."

"Is there someone over there in the great storm?"

……

……

(ps: There will be another chapter before 12 noon tomorrow! Asking for monthly tickets!!)