Chapter 121 The Emperor's Land

The Empress of the Northern Continent…

And she has a younger brother?

That was Gu Shen's first reaction upon hearing this. The Northern Continent's intelligence security was so good that probably very few people knew about this.

However, he didn't show much surprise.

Anyone who wasn't blind could see that Lin Lin's identity was unusual, very unusual… When he directly confronted Grand Duke Zhenyue, Gu Shen had already thought deeper, towards the "Empress," but he really hadn't expected that these two had such a relationship.

Everything made sense now.

Even more interesting… the Meng family's confusing marriage had also become clear.

The other person involved in Meng Xizhou's broken engagement should be this Mr. Lin beside him.

……

……

The heavy doors of the Empress's Castle slowly opened.

Two tall figures stood on either side.

"A'liuer, Aunt Wen, I'm back."

Lin Lin said with a smile, looking towards the door with a hint of tenderness in his eyes.

He transmitted his voice to Gu Shen, "The one beside A'liuer is the current commander of the Investigation Legion… nicknamed Purple Rain, Wen Di. Outsiders call her Purple Rain, but we call her 'Aunt Wen.'"

Gu Shen looked at the woman Lin Lin called "Aunt Wen."

She had a gentle and soft oval face, making it hard to associate that face with the sharp and decisive "Legion Commander." However, Aunt Wen was wearing a black velvet cloak, which was quite domineering.

"This must be Little Gu?"

Aunt Wen raised her eyebrows and smiled, "He's quite handsome, much better looking than those roughnecks in the Northern Continent."

"Legion Commander…"

Gu Shen smiled and said helplessly, "Are you saying I'm too weak?"

In fact, the Legion Commander was telling the truth.

Practicing the "Spring Breath" could temper the spirit and body, changing a person's temperament.

Coupled with the transformation of the "Spectator's Mindset," Gu Shen's temperament had undergone earth-shattering changes in the past year compared to before his supernatural awakening. He didn't have the sturdy physique of a Northern Continent strongman, but he didn't look weak either.

But in the Northern Continent, the word "handsome" wasn't exactly a compliment.

"Don't worry, it's not sarcasm."

Aunt Wen explained seriously, "You're a mental-type transcendent, so it doesn't matter if you don't look like you can fight."

Sure enough… he still looked too "weak."

"Come in."

Aunt Wen waved her hand and said casually, "You certainly picked your time. Zhu Xue said you wouldn't be here until tomorrow at the earliest."

Lin Lin chuckled and said, "He can't figure me out. Tomorrow I might have already flown back to Gubao."

"……"

The Legion Commander didn't say much, leading the two into the castle's main hall.

Lin Lin stretched lazily, feeling a long-lost sense of comfort like he was finally home.

The lights in the hall, the gentle breeze passing through, and the moonlight streaming in through the French windows all felt warm and inviting.

He and Zhu Xue had grown up here.

They had made mud pies together in the nearby garden, fought under the fountain sculpture. This place was the framework that held his few childhood memories. After he became a little more sensible, he went to Gubao. He never saw the magnificent castle or the corridors filled with murals again, facing only the heavy snow on the borders of the Northern Continent and the homesickness that weighed down the branches.

Gu Shen quietly watched all of this.

For some reason, his heart was… surprisingly calm.

This castle was not simple.

Even immersed in the "Spectator's Mindset," Gu Shen had never experienced such a strange sense of comfort, as if the night wind was surrounding him and gentle music was playing…

Unconsciously, he turned his gaze to the second floor.

That was Her Majesty the Empress's residence.

At the end of the corridor on the second floor was a bright glow, piercing through the darkness, but Gu Shen's vision stopped there.

Beyond that, he couldn't see anything.

Light.

Only light.

Gu Shen was certain that even if he summoned the Blazing Fire, his gaze would still not be able to penetrate the veil on the second floor… There might be more than one sealed artifact there, but he couldn't understand why.

This was Her Majesty the Empress's residence, did she need sealed artifacts?

The place where the gods resided was the safest place in the world.

Sealed artifacts?

Even the most powerful sealed artifact couldn't compare to a Seed!

The Legion Commander sat opposite the two, and A'liuer returned with tea, placing it on the coffee table in the hall.

Aunt Wen took a sip and said softly, "There are sealed artifacts shrouding the second floor. For some reason, I can only take one person up at a time, so… you'll have to wait here for a while."

Lin Lin stretched after finishing his stretch and nodded.

He reached out and patted Gu Shen on the shoulder, smiling as he said, "Have some tea here and wait for me, I'll be right back."

With that, he was about to get up.

The Legion Commander didn't budge, "The one who needs to wait isn't him, it's you."

Lin Lin, who was halfway up, looked slightly embarrassed.

"Sit down. This cup of tea was specially brewed for you. You haven't been home in years. You should be content with this cup of tea."

Aunt Wen said lightly, "We have a guest from afar, so Her Majesty will naturally see him first. Speaking of which… you should know your place, right? You'll have to wait a little longer to see her."

"……"

Lin Lin was silent for a moment.

It seemed that this guy's "family status" was so-so… Gu Shen stood up, patted Lin Lin on the shoulder, and said seriously, "Have some tea here and wait for me, I'll be right back."

That sentence sounded familiar.

Lin Lin pretended not to hear, acting as if nothing had happened, silently picking up the tea and drinking it all in one gulp… At the same time, he sighed softly in his heart, thinking that his and Meng Xizhou's affair must have made his sister unhappy.

……

……

"You should have seen the appearance of Central City."

Aunt Wen went upstairs in front, with Gu Shen following closely behind.

This castle was extremely large. After entering the second floor, several corridors crisscrossed each other. Gu Shen finally saw the scene at the end of the light… Just as he had expected, the second floor had nothing but light. Perhaps to preserve historical traces, old-fashioned kerosene lamps were hung everywhere, but strangely, these lamps emitted an extremely stable light source.

The kerosene lamp holders were old, looking at least a hundred years old. Even though they were wiped clean of dust, their long lifespan could still be seen from the rust.

However, there was no kerosene in the kerosene lamps… That strand of dry wick was burning quietly, looking like a fountain that gave birth to flames, as if it would never go out.

"Lin Lin flew me around Central City, it's very…" Gu Shen thought for a moment and said, "Sturdy."

The huge floating buildings stood densely like a forest.

Central City was like a "sturdy" giant.

"An interesting adjective." Aunt Wen didn't walk quickly. She gently brushed two fingers across the wall, and the flames of a kerosene lamp immediately flickered.

That action was unusual.

Gu Shen realized that the reason for these kerosene lamps was the overflow of "Source Quality."

The reason why kerosene wasn't used was because there was a higher level of "energy" here.

"A long time ago, Central City looked very different from its current appearance. It was a withered city, and it only regained its second spring because of the 'Furnace.'" Aunt Wen said slowly, "As you said, this giant city is very sturdy, but the larger something is, the more energy it needs. So we built the 'Furnace' to rekindle it, drive away the cold on the ground, and make it a city that burns forever against the seasons."

The tundra north of Eastern Continent was freezing cold.

But Central City was a "warm" place.

"The Furnace… what exactly is it?" Gu Shen asked curiously, murmuring.

"If you search online, you'll get a standard answer that's been made public: the Furnace is a civil engineering project spread by the Northern Continent military based on some kind of reactor technology."

Aunt Wen stopped and slowly rubbed two fingers together.

Flames actually began to burn at her fingertips.

"Obviously… that's not the truth."

She looked back at Gu Shen, "The word 'truth' doesn't exist for most people in this world… They're destined from the moment they're born to never know the truth."

A very cruel fact.

This wasn't the first time Gu Shen had been curious about the essence of the "Furnace," but even Chu Ling couldn't find out the "truth." The explanations for the Furnace in the Deep Water Zone were very vague, mostly words of praise for the Empress from the people of the Northern Continent.

The transendents of the Northern Continent knew that the Furnace was related to the Empress.

But they didn't know.

What exactly the Furnace was.

"The Furnace is a 'miracle.'"

The Legion Commander's voice became cold, and she stared at the flames burning at her fingertips. The surrounding lights suddenly flickered, and the pale fire blooming at her fingertips filled the narrow corridor at that moment, making her soft face look as hard as iron.

"Like the 'Pure Tomb' of the Eastern Continent, this is the ultimate manifestation of the power of the Seed."

She stopped beating around the bush and tapped her finger lightly.

"Chī!"

The pale fire at her fingertips suddenly spread out, like fireflies, surrounding Gu Shen.

Gu Shen was stunned.

"If you ask… what is the Furnace?"

The Legion Commander said solemnly, "Underground in Central City, there's a bronze furnace that's responsible for sending Source Quality fuel to the surface every day, baking the snow and providing heat to the suspended buildings, as well as transporting energy to the border fortresses… That's the 'Furnace' that the Northern Continent has announced to the public, the one that everyone recognizes. The reason for this announcement is simply because people are more willing to believe that a furnace should be a huge stove."

"But in reality…"

"Every wisp of fire you see now is the Furnace… It's not the reactor bronze furnace located thousands of meters below Central City."

The real Furnace was on the second floor of the Empress's Castle.

Gu Shen suddenly understood that the so-called Furnace was actually… a Divine Domain!

Like Snowfall Forbidden City.

The place where the divine seat descended, the realm where the Divine Domain spread, would naturally merge with the Seed to give birth to incredible power. The "Power of Rebirth" of the Pure Tomb Cemetery, which gathered the transcendent Source Quality of the dead, was actually a miracle of the Underworld Seed.

And after Bai Shu refined the Fighting Saint, the Cemetery's Divine Domain was [reversed] and overlapped three layers!

Different divine seats had different miracle evolutions…

The "miracle" evolved by the Empress was the Furnace!

Gu Shen's expression gradually became serious.

If that was the case, why were there so many sealed artifacts on the second floor?

If this was the spreading place of the Empress's Divine Domain, why would the divine seat need to rely on the power of mortals?

After Aunt Wen tapped out that wisp of fire, the corridor suddenly became dim.

The flickering light regained its stability.

The surrounding lamps burned with the smallest light source.

"I suggest you close your eyes before entering."

The Legion Commander stretched out her slender arm and effortlessly opened the red giant door at the end of the corridor for Gu Shen.

……

……

Lin Lin, who was drinking tea on the first floor, suddenly looked up.

A fierce, blazing light shot out from the end of the corridor.

Holding his teacup, he looked at the second floor in shock.

Even though countless sealed artifacts blocked the light, reducing the intensity of the blazing light by dozens of times when it reached Lin Lin's location, it was still a magnificent sight. From the outside, the castle burst out with a large amount of light in an instant, as dazzling as the "sun."

Hot sweat seeped from Lin Lin's forehead.

A'liuer clenched the owl emblem, looking nervous and restless.

As an Apostle, she was the one who felt the power of God most clearly.

"It's starting again…" Lin Lin put down his teacup, lowered his eyes, and asked, "When did it start?"

"I… I don't know…"

A'liuer's voice was a little helpless. As an Apostle, not noticing the abnormality of the divine seat was a dereliction of duty.

But she couldn't be blamed.

She was an Apostle, but only an Apostle.

She could only use a wisp of divine power. As the executor of the divine seat's will, if the divine seat didn't want her to know something, then she would definitely not know.

A'liuer clenched her sleeves, looking ashamed, and muttered to herself, "Perhaps it was a year ago? Perhaps it was longer? Her Majesty the Empress hasn't left here for a long time."

A year?

Many things had happened a year ago…

The handling of the Pīyuè City Fortress, the garrison of the Third Legion…

Lin Lin realized at this moment another reason why Zhu Xue had called him back to the city… The days spent in Gubao were indeed very quiet. News from the mainland couldn't reach the fortress, and many messages were subconsciously ignored by him.

"Her Majesty the Empress hasn't seen anyone this year." A'liuer said softly, "Even I don't have the opportunity to meet her."

Lin Lin fell into thought.

In this situation… his sister had specially met Gu Shen?

……

……

Gu Shen took the Legion Commander's advice.

He closed his eyes the moment the door opened.

A sudden, bright light came crashing down, and the Blazing Fire suddenly leaped out. The "warmth and comfort" felt in the first-floor hall was magnified dozens of times, hundreds of times… turning into "heat"!

"Boom—"

Fire winds howled!

The Legion Commander, who had opened the door for Gu Shen, was instantly covered in "Furnace Fire." She didn't close her eyes, and her pair of firm pupils were the only black in the flames.

The Legion Commander's cloak fluttered, and the flames that ran through the corridor, as well as the Source Quality fuel in the sky, all moved closer to her and were absorbed by her.

This was the reason why the second floor of the castle was forbidden to others.

Every time the "door" was opened, it would cause a large outflow of the "Furnace" power… Not many people could withstand this fierce burning. Only the Legion Commander was an exception. Her ability could perfectly adapt to the "Furnace." These flames couldn't harm her. At this moment, the woman bathing in the sea of fire was truly as tall and straight as a war god.

Anyone who saw this scene wouldn't associate her with words like gentle, weak, or powerless.

The Legion Commander reached out her arm, making an inviting gesture.

This time, she only said one word.

"Please."