Chapter 168 Half a Shaman

A deathly wind drifted through the cemetery.

Gu Shen walked towards the inner mausoleum.

His mood became increasingly tense… When entering the cemetery, he hadn't felt fear because of "life and death."

But at this moment.

His heart held more complex emotions.

It should be called "fear."

But not fear for himself… but for others.

Everything here was "frozen." He hadn't seen a single living person on the way, and of course, not a single dead one either. Yet, that was what was most frightening.

What exactly happened in the cemetery?

What kind of power could cause the entire Qingzhong to descend into such a state of deathly silence…

Gu Shen feared that after entering the inner mausoleum… the tomb keeper he would meet would be like this as well.

In the distance, a small hill was shrouded in thick fog.

Every wisp of mist repeatedly solidified into smoke in an oil painting. Gu Shen crossed the small hill and arrived at the entrance to the Colossus Mausoleum.

He stood silently at the entrance.

Since entering the cemetery, the boulder suspended in his heart had finally fallen… but the feeling after it landed wasn't relief.

Instead, it was the blankness of "dreadful things" having settled.

In a sense, Gu Shen had already completed the purpose of this trip.

He had seen the "tomb keeper."

Only half of the… tomb keeper.

…

…

On the stone gate of the mausoleum, rustling dust fell.

The dust landed on the black robe embroidered with cloud patterns and gold trim, making the robe dirty…

The upper half of the tomb keeper's body was leaning against the position of the mausoleum's stone gate. The stone gate was closed, and intense light seeped out from the cracks, looking like the golden lacquered edge of this bloodstained robe, dazzling and eye-catching, making it difficult for people not to notice.

"You've arrived faster than I expected."

A crack appeared on the Chino's cat mask.

But it hadn't completely fallen off yet.

The mask only had a crack, no longer able to fit snugly, but it still covered her entire face.

Her voice was still as gentle, steady, and calm as ever.

But Gu Shen had already heard something amiss.

As the master of divination… Master Chino wouldn't say such a thing.

Whether or not he would come to the mausoleum, and when he would arrive, had always been within her expectations. There had never been an accident in the past year, but this time, she used the word "expected."

It was because she no longer had the strength to use divination.

Gu Shen saw the empty lower half of the robe on the ground.

Beneath that half of the robe, only shattered, pulverized bones remained.

Countless golden threads were being drawn out from Master Chino's body at this moment. She leaned against the huge mausoleum, and on the outline of the mausoleum, there were faintly visible circles of continuous golden threads restraining it.

These golden threads seemed to bind the mausoleum, tightly suppressing the anomaly in the cracks of the stone gate.

"Teacher…"

Gu Shen squatted in front of Master Chino, wanting to hold her hand with some heartache, but he held a light, hollowed-out hand bone. At this moment, the tomb keeper was as light as catkins.

That's right.

Only "golden threads" remained in her whole body.

This body seemed to dissipate at any moment.

Gu Shen didn't even dare to use force.

Master Chino smiled.

She said softly, "My situation isn't as bad as you think… but Qingzhong's situation may be worse than anyone imagined."

Gu Shen took a deep breath.

He discarded all useless emotions and listened carefully to the tomb keeper's words.

"The anomaly in Qingzhong is because of… Bacchus."

Chino said word by word, "His main body came to the cemetery, which caused this anomaly."

Gu Shen's expression became solemn. He looked at the golden light constantly overflowing from the stone cracks of the mausoleum.

Bacchus… was inside the mausoleum?

Then, the injury Master Chino suffered was also because of Bacchus…

That's right.

Even Gu Lushen couldn't do anything to Chino in the cemetery, so the only one who could seriously injure her was the God Seat.

"Don't worry, he's trapped in the inner mausoleum now."

The tomb keeper chuckled softly, "Although I don't know what's going on inside… if he could come out, he would have come out already…"

"What happened in the inner mausoleum?"

Gu Shen asked the question everyone wanted to ask.

"When Bacchus stepped into the cemetery… I tried to activate the array patterns, but I failed."

This was also the reason why all the array patterns seen on the road were annihilated.

A more powerful force descended and extinguished these array patterns.

That force… came from Bacchus!

"So… I released the array patterns, allowing all the transcendent source matter to pour into the inner mausoleum."

Master Chino looked back at the mountain wall and murmured, "I didn't expect that the fire seed… would instantly absorb a large amount of source matter in the sky above Qingzhong, eventually producing a 'qualitative change.'"

Gu Shen was thoughtful.

This scene… corresponded to the so-called "big bang"!

The reason why this light enchantment was so powerful was… because these transcendent source matter had been swallowed by Mr. Gu Changzhi's "fire seed"!

"Gu Lushen… and Zhu Wang… perhaps even more people, they have all joined the Bacchus faction!"

Master Chino's eyes were bright as she looked at Gu Shen.

This was very important news!

At this moment, Gu Shen finally understood why Han Dang's expression was different from others when the Qingzhong Cemetery big bang occurred…

In some people's eyes.

All of this… was simply a planned event.

Perhaps they didn't expect the Qingzhong Cemetery to cause such a commotion.

But obviously!

The explosion in the cemetery… was the signal for the action to begin!

After Gu Changzhi's death, small cracks appeared in the five major families of Nagano, and after twenty years of operation, these cracks finally began to burst and expand…

At this moment, Gu Shen remembered what Grandpa Zhou Wei had told him about Gu Lushen's proposal at the mental conference.

A large number of transcendent beings would enter the cemetery next.

This also corresponded to… the strength of the five major families' stationed forces left in Nagano would be greatly reduced.

Gu Shen didn't know how many people were standing in the shadows of Bacchus's faction in the Source Tower, but he knew that Nagano was probably about to usher in an unprecedented storm.

He quickly took out the [Ten Million Miles] that Zhou Wei had given him and began to write these messages on the paper…

"It's useless."

The tomb keeper coughed dully.

Because of the sacrificial divination, most of the flesh and blood of her body had been lost, and at this moment, even a violent cough still splattered blood…

This was a very cruel thing.

No matter how learned, how prophetic, or how well she knew the world, she was still just a mortal.

And mortals were bound to die.

"Everything in this cemetery… has been frozen, it is the power of the fire seed." Chino said softly, "Whether it is [Deep Sea] or mental link… or other means, it is impossible to establish contact with the outside world. This is an independent world, and it is about to usher in the final closure."

Gu Shen was stunned.

"The final… closure?"

"I have never seen such a huge mental power in my life…" Chino lowered her eyebrows and said slowly, "The power of Bacchus in the mausoleum is completely suppressed, and this mental power is constantly overflowing outwards. Next, it will be mixed with transcendent source matter and spread to the entire cemetery. At that time, Qingzhong will become a 'super-large Mystic Realm.'"

Gu Shen narrowed his eyes.

Grandpa Zhou Wei and the entire federal high-level had assessed the internal situation of Qingzhong… Many people believed that the cemetery had already formed a Mystic Realm.

But that was not the case.

At least, the path that Gu Shen had taken since entering the mausoleum did not sense the source matter aura that a Mystic Realm should have. It was just a little bleak and silent.

And on closer thought.

This kind of aura… seemed a little familiar.

He comprehended the "Spring Breath" and felt the rebirth of all things in the Four Seasons Wilderness.

And before he began to comprehend the Awakening of Insects scroll… the whole world was silent and bleak.

That feeling was somewhat similar to the previous cemetery.

"You should know… Gu Changzhi created an unprecedented powerful breathing technique."

Chino had waited twenty years.

Until now, the fire seed had revived.

Chino still hadn't seen Gu Changzhi… but that didn't stop a faint smile from appearing on her lips when she mentioned this name.

"Awakening of Insects, Grain Rain, Grain in Ear, Great Heat, White Dew, Frost's Descent, Minor Snow…"

Her voice was very slow, reciting word by word.

Gu Shen had only heard the first two names of these breathing techniques.

Awakening of Insects and Grain Rain, collectively known as "Spring Breath."

And the latter ones were not difficult to guess.

Every two solar terms combined to correspond to an entire scroll of breathing techniques.

Grain in Ear and Great Heat were "Summer", White Dew and Frost's Descent were "Autumn", but the last "Winter" only had a single "Minor Snow".

"He once told me that the perfect breathing technique was still missing the last step."

Chino murmured, "The last scroll, 'Winter Breath', symbolizes the final end of mortals from life to death. He created it to the last stage and fell into a bottleneck…"

"Great Cold."

After Minor Snow, it was Great Cold!

The vast golden light from the crack in the stone gate seemed to be plated with a layer of silver.

Gu Shen noticed that Master Chino's robe began to form dense ice crystals.

Her voice trembled slightly as she smiled, "If I'm not wrong… his dormancy in these years has been to comprehend the final stage of 'Great Cold'…"

Across a stone gate.

Gu Shen had already felt the cold.

The palm of his hand holding Master Chino's also grew ice crystals.

Now that things had come to this, Gu Shen roughly guessed what would happen next… If there were no accidents, Mr. Gu Changzhi's mental power would sweep through the entire cemetery, and once this super-large Mystic Realm took shape, it would mean that this place would be dragged into the dream of "Great Cold."

This was the last scroll in the Four Seasons Breathing Technique.

It was also a scroll symbolizing "silence" and "decay"!

And he also vaguely guessed… why Bacchus had been silent in the inner mausoleum all along.

If.

The moment the fire seed barrier opened.

Bacchus was the first to greet the "explosion".

Then… without a doubt, he was also the one who directly carried all of Gu Changzhi's "Great Cold" mental power.

"Bacchus is withdrawing his spirit… to fight against 'Great Cold' in the inner mausoleum."

Chino's body was still constantly drawing out golden threads.

She had been using divination to predict what would happen next… Those taboo matters involving the "God Seat" could not be glimpsed by divination. No matter how much the price was paid, one could only see a haze.

So she turned her attention to the cemetery.

"According to the current situation, perhaps after a while, the array patterns can be restarted… but… now I… no longer have the strength to control the great array."

The tomb keeper slowly raised her head and looked meaningfully into Gu Shen's eyes.

Gu Shen understood what she meant.

He couldn't transmit messages to the outside world, which meant… that next, a large number of transcendents from the three major organizations and five major families in Nagano would pour into the cemetery… and at that time, they would directly face the formed "super-large Great Cold Disaster Realm".

This was almost a disaster that could not be resisted by human power.

Gu Shen had seen the images circulating from the Piercing Moon City Fortress… The super-large disaster realm had finally opened a door, and almost all the transcendents who entered it had died.

If the "Great Cold Disaster Realm" of Qingzhong took shape, it would be far more than that.

The most terrifying thing was.

The survivors who entered the Piercing Moon City Fortress disaster realm, after waking up, recalling everything they had experienced… The frightening thing about that disaster realm was that it would not directly kill transcendents, but trap them forever.

If there was no door, no one could leave.

The transcendent's mental power and physical strength would be gradually exhausted… and finally, they would be tortured to death by the endless snow.

Some transcendents lost control, and some transcendents chose to commit suicide.

"These are the remaining array pattern blueprints… and my disassembly ideas…"

Circles of golden threads rotated and flew in front of Gu Shen.

"I know… this is very difficult…"

Master Chino smiled softly and said, "But you need to enter the previous state of mind again. Time is running out… The more array patterns you can comprehend, the more you can grasp Qingzhong. When the 'Great Cold Disaster Realm' descends, you will become the new tomb keeper."

After saying this, Chino let out a long breath.

This was like some kind of "last words" being交代.

It was more like… the completion of a kind of inheritance.

The expression under the cat mask was somewhat self-deprecating and somewhat regretful.

She had guarded Qingzhong for twenty years.

She thought… she was iron-hearted, cold and ruthless. She stayed in Qingzhong, not because she cared about Nagano, but because she only cared about Gu Changzhi.

But now it seemed that this was not the case.

She didn't want Qingzhong to lose its peace, and she didn't want the innocent people of Nagano to wither in the cemetery. Apart from Gu Changzhi, she had other things she was reluctant to give up and cared about.

"What are you saying…"

Gu Shen took a deep breath.

He looked at Master Chino and said angrily, "It's as if everyone is going to die here. You haven't seen Mr. Gu Changzhi yet, and I haven't seen my wife yet… How can we die?!"

The tomb keeper was stunned.

The next moment.

Gu Shen stopped speaking. His mental power slowly converged, and the blazing fire gathered into a small vertical pupil, swaying back and forth.

He immersed himself in the array pattern blueprints displayed by the circles of golden threads.

This was Master Chino's "lifelong study".

And Gu Shen had returned to the "onlooker" state of mind where he couldn't ask for it.

No.

In the garden, the sky is about to collapse, I am the spine, how can I be an onlooker again?

At this moment, Gu Shen's spirit was more focused than ever, even… surpassing the "onlooker" state of being as still as water!