Chapter 1 Icefield Snow

The ice field was filled with drifting snow.

Gu Shen fiddled with his saber, his mind linked to the combat pod... all sensations were incredibly realistic, leaning towards the real world.

He really felt like he was operating in the real world.

"Whoosh!"

A whistling sound tore through the air in the distance—

The source armor opponent, generated by the AI, raised its hand and fired a shot!

The bullet pierced through the wind and snow, heading straight for Gu Shen's head!

It had begun... Gu Shen instantly focused his mind. Instead of drawing his saber, he ducked the moment he sensed the bullet's sound. A long line streaked through the falling snow – the bullet had grazed his nape!

Keeping himself extremely low, Gu Shen exploded forward!

He was faster than the bullet.

In an instant, he crashed into the opponent's arms. Before the two source armors could collide, Gu Shen drew his saber and slashed, the movement as smooth as flowing water—

"Shred!"

One strike!

Directly slicing the opponent in half!

He sheathed his saber and stood, shaking his head as he looked back at the shattered source armor fragments scattered on the ground.

"The Northern Continent military's simulated opponents... are still too weak."

The reason combat pods couldn't be popularized was that the current AI opponents simply couldn't compare to transcendents.

Third-order transcendents possessed more than just extraordinary agility and strength.

They also had wisdom!

They controlled sealed items, embryonic domains, their own abilities, and numerous other methods... In the virtual network simulated by the combat pod, killing same-level source armor intelligences was far too easy.

To put it bluntly, the [Deep Sea] in its closed network state couldn't simulate an opponent with transcendent abilities.

Gu Shen's battle against this AI was like bullying an unawakened child.

Gu Shen raised his head and spoke loudly to the snowfield sky.

"Increase the number of opponents... I want to fight ten!"

Sitting on a large rock, Chu Ling watched this scene with her arms around her knees, her interest piqued.

The voice echoed.

[Deep Sea] received the message!

Rays of light descended from the distant snow mountains. Several seconds later, ten virtual AI source armors slowly emerged from the light pillars. Armed with guns and sabers, they launched an attack on Gu Shen the moment they stepped out of the pillars!

"Bang bang bang!"

Gunfire echoed continuously. These source armor AIs weren't stupid. They didn't engage in close-quarters combat immediately. Instead, they created distance, maintaining a level line, supporting each other, faintly forming a unified formation that pulled Gu Shen back and forth!

Bullets wove into a net!

If this were a battle in the real world, Gu Shen wouldn't have chosen to confront them head-on. He would have let these guys taste the bombardment of the "Cannon of Truth." However, in a virtual network battle, he wanted to hone his source armor's close-combat skills.

"Buzz!"

The long saber vibrated, like a dragon's roar.

Gu Shen flicked his wrist, lowered his body, and charged towards the nearest source armor AI!

Under the rapid swings of the saber, it was like an iron whip, deflecting every bullet and forcefully cutting a narrow path through the rain of fire...

Chu Ling watched quietly.

Snow swirled in the distance.

Amidst the fireworks of exploding bullets, there was a slender figure, wielding an ancient saber, traversing the snow like a flying goose. It was truly a beautiful scene. But what was even more beautiful than the scene was the "fighting style" constructed in Gu Shen's mind.

Fighting many with few.

Fighting close with far.

Such a choice was like that scene of falling from Gu Fort, dancing around the source energy shell... This was the behavior of a dancer on a tightrope over a cliff. Only by completing every movement could they safely reach the other side.

A slight carelessness, a mistake, would lead to a fall.

Logically speaking.

Gu Shen couldn't have completed the charge. He would have been suppressed by the firepower...

But he was too fast!

And the bullets that came close were all deflected by the saber in a bizarre manner!

In three seconds, he had closed the distance to the nearest source armor AI. With a simple horizontal slash, the AI hadn't even reacted before its gun barrel and chest were sliced in half.

Gu Shen didn't stop.

He suddenly accelerated, using his shoulder to slam into the opponent's chest, continuing to charge forward... Bullets rained down, but these AIs had no concept of "comrades." Their gunfire was mercilessly poured towards Gu Shen's location, all blocked by the "human shield" in front. A series of crackling sounds echoed, making one feel a pang of pain!

The back of the "shield" that Gu Shen was holding up had already exploded with dozens of bloody craters!

It felt no pain, and as long as its life wasn't ended, it could still move. The AI "struggled" to reach for the saber hilt at its waist... But before it could draw the weapon, a flash of intense light burst forth!

"Boom!"

A cross-shaped blade of light pierced through the armor. Gu Shen sliced through the source armor AI, broke free of the shell. In just ten seconds, he had broken through the front... arriving in the midst of the formation formed by the ten source armor AIs.

Next.

It was a massacre.

A wolf entering a flock of sheep, without suspense.

Gu Shen danced among the AIs, snow swirling, source armor flying. He wielded his long saber like he was chopping melons and vegetables. A minute later, all the AIs had fallen to the ground.

Gu Shen slowly plunged his long saber into the ground.

Extremely powerful mental strength... allowed him to control this source armor with unparalleled stability in the virtual network.

These AIs simply had no way to stop him for even a second in close combat.

This wasn't a problem that could be solved by quantity.

This was a leap in "quality."

On the other side of the snowfield, Chu Ling's applause rang out.

"Wonderful."

She smiled and said, "It's a pity the opponents are a little too weak."

Gu Shen shook his head helplessly, "With the military's current technology, being able to do this... is already quite amazing. These AIs have already shown a certain amount of combat intelligence, knowing to unite to fight against me."

If these AIs had chosen to fight on their own after appearing, instead of forming a united front.

Then the battle would have been resolved even faster!

This combat pod could still have a certain training effect for ordinary third-order transcendents.

For most transcendents, wanting to take down ten AI opponents in one breath wasn't an easy task.

"It's just a pity... for me, they're still too weak." Gu Shen murmured in his heart.

A'Lier was right.

This thing could only be used as a toy.

To familiarize himself with source armor operation, and to hone his "spirit."

The combat pod did have a warm-up effect. After this battle, Gu Shen felt that he was in good shape... It was just a pity that there wasn't much left to fight. It seemed that this instrument could only summon up to ten AI opponents at the moment.

The most difficult difficulty had already been cleared.

Just as he was about to exit.

A system prompt suddenly popped up in the snowfield sky.

"Someone has issued a challenge, do you accept the [Challenge]?"

Gu Shen was stunned.

What the hell... someone issued a challenge to him?

He subconsciously turned his head and looked towards Chu Ling's location.

Chu Ling stood up, crossed her arms, and looked towards the end of the snowfield, smiling and saying, "Don't look at me, this prompt box has nothing to do with me... There's a second transcendent who has linked into this combat pod."

"Who?"

Gu Shen frowned.

In the wind and snow, Chu Ling's figure gradually faded, she exited the combat pod's local area network link, leaving the entire complete snowfield to Gu Shen, but the mental link remained.

Chu Ling kept it a secret and said, "Don't worry, it's not Meng Xiao. You can fight her, you'll know after the fight, won't you?"

The system didn't receive Gu Shen's reply and began the final countdown.

"10, 9, 8, 7..."

Gu Shen smiled.

He raised his long saber again and said calmly, "I accept the [Challenge]."

Those who could enter the building were all extremely strong "exemption holders," squad-leader-level geniuses from the Doluo River mission.

If it were a battle in the real world, he wouldn't dare to guarantee that he would win for sure.

After all, the strength difference was a bit too great.

These "exemption holders" were all fourth-order transcendents, Fisher, Zhong Yuan, and a team leader, should all be at the eleventh level of completion, only a step away from being titled... No matter how talented Gu Shen was, he couldn't cross so many major realms and fight against this level of powerhouse on the seventh floor.

But in the "spiritual world," it was different!

In the spiritual world, he had nothing to fear.

In the "virtual network" duel, the difference in transcendent strength wasn't that important!

He just felt that these AIs were too weak!

"Kaka kaka..."

The snowfield was silent for a few seconds. After the local area network of the two combat pods completed a stable link, Gu Shen felt a pillar of light envelop him... Then, frozen snow swirled, he walked out of the light pillar. Two hundred meters away, there was a red source armor figure, equally slender and thin, walking out.

Was this his opponent?

"Hey..."

Gu Shen's voice had just started when it was interrupted!

The opponent raised her hand and fired a shot!

The same sidearm, the same bullet... but the power of this guy's shot was far stronger than the previous AI!

"Dong!!!"

Gu Shen's pupils contracted, he quickly raised his saber. The sharp blade that originally cut bullets like flowing water was now struck with a muffled thunderous sound, shaking wildly from side to side... Gu Shen had to plunge the long saber into the snow to release the force, while his whole body was pushed backward by the bullet.

And after firing the shot to interrupt Gu Shen's speech, the red phantom began to move.

She swept towards Gu Shen's rear side.

This was an opponent with an extremely strong calculation ability, taking over the entire battle from the moment she took action... When Gu Shen's hind foot stepped into the snow, and his hands braced the saber to complete the release of force, the second bullet came out diagonally.

This was an extremely bizarre and tricky angle.

Gu Shen took a deep breath, his mind focused to the extreme.

He suddenly drew his saber, no longer retreating, but accurately found the position of the second bullet, trying to cut it in the air.

"Clang!"

An explosion, the third bullet, attached with the master's mental power, accelerated and burst out, hitting the tail of the previous bullet, igniting like a firework... The raging flames engulfed Gu Shen.

Gunfire was just the prelude.

The red phantom, circling around a large arc, smoothly cut into Gu Shen's rear position, revealing her true intention without hesitation.

Completely different from those who kept their distance, only knowing to surround and attack from afar!

Everything she did was to get close, and then kill!

"Bang bang bang bang bang bang!"

In an instant, she emptied the magazine, several bullets shattering the fire mist.

Then, she kicked off the ground, counter-attacking!

The source armor's tail wing burst into a roar... Using the huge arc of the side cut to buffer and accelerate, she even caught up with the bullet she fired!

Flames and snow mist burned each other.

Vaguely visible was the blurry figure of the fighter in the snow, who hadn't had time to complete the turn.

"Is it over..."

She silently recited this sentence in her heart, then drew her saber, and unsheathed it!

At this moment, time in her eyes became very slow.

Six bullets shattered the flames in the air, shattered the snow mist, and should have embedded themselves in the back of the opponent's head... but the target suddenly moved. In Mu Wanqiu's eyes, the blurry figure quickly trembled.

[Complete Flash]?

No... this trembling frequency hadn't reached the level of [Complete Flash]!

Looking at it this way.

The opponent could dodge these six bullets, but had no way to dodge the final slash that she was delivering.

The next second.

Mu Wanqiu's thinking completely changed.

That figure trembled and retreated... Yes, she hadn't guessed wrong, this wasn't [Complete Flash] at all, the frequency wasn't enough, so there was no way to dodge all the attacks in place.

So Gu Shen chose to retreat.

The moment he retreated, he raised his sidearm.

"Bang—"

He only fired one shot!

This shot, under the control of mental power, collided with the one directly above the six bullets with unparalleled accuracy, then both deviated. The second time, two collided with two... and then the third time.

After the third collision, the six bullets exploded.

Mu Wanqiu snorted coldly, this was just basic trajectory calculation, not some great skill.

It was just that the opponent's unexpected choice of combat... interrupted her perfect plan!

The fiery heat mist exploded between the two, her saber had already been unsheathed. If she gave up the slash at this moment, she would miss the opportunity, but if she continued to charge forward, she might fall into a passive position.

Before she could hesitate.

"Shred!"

A sound tearing through the air rang out from the other end of the fire mist!

That guy, didn't make any adjustments at all, drew his saber and launched a counterattack?

A figure, as black as a ghost, crashed out from the fire mist!

Gu Shen raised his saber and smashed down—

"Bang!!!"

This strike was extremely heavy.

Mu Wanqiu hastily drew her saber to meet it, almost being smashed into the snow. This pure close-quarters combat, there was no layout or planning to speak of. The guy on top of her used the simplest, most brutal way to interrupt all the tactical changes!

One strike, then another strike, then another strike!

Gu Shen's expression was gloomy... Ever since that guy fired his gun, he had been led by the nose. Now that he had finally broken the situation, he didn't want to give the opponent a chance to breathe!

Mental power, head-on collision!

See who couldn't take it first!

The red source armor parried again and again. After dozens of strikes, the lower half of its body had been smashed into the snow.

Finally.

The two long sabers, pressed together.

One above and one below, forming a stalemate.

Gu Shen's face was ugly, this battle wasn't as simple as he had imagined. The opponent's mental strength was extremely powerful... After continuous hacking, the red source armor could actually perfectly parry every strike. But he was ultimately at a disadvantage. Even he himself was feeling "tired" now, that guy must be consuming even more energy!

The snow mist dissipated.

Gu Shen frowned, staring fixedly.

He looked at the scene in front of him in disbelief. Behind the red source armor's mask was actually a pretty face, containing both beauty and anger.

His opponent was the Northern Continent's "S-rank," Mu Wanqiu?

……

……

(ps: 1, Sorry everyone, because I had something to do during the day, so I only started coding at night, the update is a bit late. 2, If I say there will be an update, there will definitely be an update. I will stay up late to write another chapter, those who can't wait can go to sleep first.)