Chapter 149 Unclean Things

*Buzz!*

A storm raged in the void!

The majestic spirit was like a tsunami, layer upon layer, rumbling incessantly.

No matter how much it shook, it couldn't break free from the unremarkable jade thumb ring. After a few seconds, the tsunami subsided… the spirit of the Storm Throne was entirely captured by the jade ring, and the void returned to silence.

Gu Shen, with a complicated expression, stared at the ring floating in front of him.

He carefully took it.

What… exactly was this thing?!

It could even directly confiscate the "spiritual power" of a Throne?

Although it was only a small wisp, it was a weight that mortals couldn't bear. This jade ring was definitely not an ordinary object. The tomb owner who could use such a ring as a "burial object" was even less so!

Gu Shen slowly descended.

After the spirit of the Throne dissipated, the blizzard on Daxue Mountain was no longer as fierce.

Gu Shen dialed the Old Master's phone.

He briefly explained the situation on the snow mountain. After learning that the Southern Continent Church was preaching in the tundra… the Old Master's reaction was very decisive. He would set off immediately and personally head there. At the same time, the Gu family's nearest base would seal off the Snow Valley.

In at most an hour, this place would be protected.

…

…

It would still take some time for the Old Master to arrive.

Gu Shen simply treated his wounds and headed towards the Evening Bell Church's base.

He wanted to investigate the "secrets" of this base alone.

The base's security system had been destroyed, and the alloy door no longer required password verification. Gu Shen placed his palm on the door. The Iron Throne shattered the heavy door, but after the door shattered, heaps of red-silver and blood surged out… Gu Shen frowned, watching the scarlet that submerged the snow.

A few minutes later.

The Ruler of Truth transformed into a small longsword, flying slowly about a meter above the ground.

Gu Shen stood on the Ruler of Truth, flying on the sword like the previous Mr. Zhuo. He released Blazing Fire, and the bright radiance suspended itself on the mountain belly's cave ceiling, illuminating the entire dark base.

After the great battle.

The Evening Bell Church's base was completely destroyed. Here lay corpse after corpse… the Storm Throne's silver foil shimmered in the red-silver blood river. Gu Shen didn't let go of these wandering transcendent source materials.

Blazing Fire enjoyed a hearty meal.

"I found information about the stone tablet in the base's database…"

Chu Ling connected to the Evening Bell Church's closed-loop system and performed the final information disassembly. A clear image of the ancient text stone tablet was transmitted to Gu Shen's mind.

"It seems Xiao didn't lie about this… the Evening Bell Church really did excavate such a stone tablet."

Gu Shen arrived before the empty mausoleum.

After the giant wall shattered.

The mausoleum's surface was submerged in red-silver. Gu Shen wanted to find traces of the "tomb owner's" life, as well as related information… He didn't understand why there was no corpse after the coffin was opened?

Where did the tomb owner go?

In the flickering Blazing Fire.

Gu Shen activated profiling… he sat on the small sword, trying to rewind the years. Everything in the tomb became light and shadow, the red-silver receded, the giant wall recovered, the ancient coffin returned to its place, and figures came and went, eventually returning to silence.

This mausoleum was empty and quiet.

A coffin, a wall, and nothing else.

The rewind of the profiling fell into stagnation.

But Gu Shen knew that it wasn't that the profiling had stopped.

It was… that for so many years, this mausoleum had remained silent.

He didn't know how long he had rewound.

Gu Shen's mind was filled with bursts of tearing pain. His spiritual power had reached its limit and could no longer rewind. Just as the profiling was about to end—

The light and shadow in the mausoleum changed.

He saw a figure!

In the Blazing Fire profiling of time rewind, rewind, rewind… finally returning to the coffin!

"This is…"

Gu Shen endured the tearing pain in his spirit.

He played this scene according to the normal flow of time—

The ancient tomb was silent!

But that coffin suddenly moved!

The coffin lid, which was difficult to open, opened by itself… and a "black and shriveled" figure walked out from inside.

The tomb owner, wasn't dead?

Seeing this scene, Gu Shen felt a chill rise in his back.

That "black figure" pushed open the door from inside the vertical coffin and fell to the ground… it wasn't dead, it was still alive, hunched over, walking slowly, and just like that, it walked out of the mausoleum. And just as it was about to leave the end of the profiling's field of vision, this black figure suddenly paused.

He slowly turned his head.

Looking towards a certain direction in the mausoleum.

Gu Shen's hair stood on end.

The direction that this undead "tomb owner" was looking at… wasn't anywhere else, but precisely at himself at this moment!

*Chi!*

Blazing Fire suddenly lit up.

Spiritual power had reached its limit.

Gu Shen forcibly extinguished the "profiling". At the last moment, he had already felt an ominous feeling… across the long years, that "black shadow" was actually staring at him?

Gu Shen had a premonition that if he didn't withdraw his spiritual power… some kind of strange transcendent phenomenon would probably occur.

"What… what's wrong?"

Chu Ling's concerned voice sounded, "Your mental state was very unstable just now."

"Just now I used profiling… and saw the scene of the mausoleum many years ago."

Gu Shen calmed his breathing and slowly said, "The corpse in this ancient coffin wasn't dug away by someone… but left on its own."

"What?"

Even Chu Ling was shocked.

"I saw him open the coffin with my own eyes and then leave."

Gu Shen had lingering fears, "Before he left, he even glanced at me."

"...This is something I can't understand." Chu Ling felt shocked, and she said in a solemn tone, "Your mental state was very unstable just now. If it had continued any longer, there might have been a risk of losing control."

Was this seeing something that shouldn't have been seen?

The thought was terrifying, and Gu Shen felt that this mausoleum was not a place to stay for long.

He flew away on his sword and came to the foot of the snow mountain, digging out the coffin he had dug out.

Looking at the burial objects in the coffin again… Gu Shen confirmed a very important thing.

Although these objects slept with the "tomb owner", they weren't tainted with an ominous aura.

After looking at them repeatedly, and even weighing them in his hand, he didn't feel uncomfortable.

These were just old objects without a soul.

Because of this, he dared to activate profiling and rewind time.

He even dared to wear the iron armor and keep the ring on his hand.

If he had first made eye contact with the "tomb owner", Gu Shen probably wouldn't have touched any of the objects in this mausoleum.

Not long after, the Gu family's tundra garrison arrived at Snow Valley, and they sealed off the snow mountain at the first opportunity… the tundra's no-man's land was very chaotic. Many transcendent forces, large and small, that depended on the Five Great Families were mixed up, and conflicts often broke out.

But the Gu family was the undisputed overlord of the entire Jiangbei!

If the Gu family sealed off Snow Valley, no one else would dare to enter.

Before long, the heavy helicopter's rotors cut through the wind and snow in the distance. A powerful domain tore apart the storm above Snow Valley. Gu Qilin came personally from Nagano. He also brought Luo Yu, Fatty Luo, and a team of well-qualified and excellent doctors.

"According to incomplete statistics… three hundred and twenty-six people died…"

"One person was injured…"

The person in charge of the Gu family's tundra garrison briefly reported.

Fatty Luo's expression was somewhat complicated.

Three hundred and twenty-six people, all dead?

These… were all done by Gu Shen alone?

The report mentioned that there were several Deep Sea Zone Layer 6 transcendents among them… The group attack ability of a mental-type transcendent was certainly powerful, but to be powerful to this extent was really a bit incredible.

Most importantly… there was also the corpse of a Deep Sea Zone Layer 7 transcendent.

Layer 6 and Layer 7 were separated by a chasm.

Gu Shen crossed a large realm and defeated a power user with a "domain"… was this the strength of an "S-rank"?

Luo Yu carefully looked at the Old Master beside him, wanting to see the other party's reaction.

The Old Master of the Gu family stood with his hands behind his back, standing in front of the Evening Bell Church's base mountain belly, looking at the mountain gate from which blood flowed, with a calm expression.

"Luo Yu, find out how these people came here… Southern Continent Church power users being able to sneak into Jiangbei means that someone must have been negligent. I give you the power to hold them accountable. In three days, submit the case file to me."

"…Yes!"

Luo Yu's expression was solemn.

Evening Bell Church?

An unknown small sect!

It was such a group that had been stationed in the tundra for half a year… developing believers so presumptuously, excavating mausoleums, and smuggling treasures from Dongzhou. If Gu Shen hadn't uprooted them, who knew how long it would have taken for the Five Great Families to discover them!

The Old Master came to the open space of Snow Valley.

Gu Shen closed his eyes, sat cross-legged on the snow, and fell into a deep sleep.

The Gu family brought a "sealed object" to treat injuries on this trip, a pure bottle that emitted a snow-white glow, enveloping him.

The Old Master asked softly, "Are the injuries serious?"

The "doctor" in charge of treatment spoke honestly, "These are flesh wounds… no need to worry. He'll be fine after a period of rest. However… his spiritual power seems to be somewhat shaken."

"Spiritual power shaken?" Gu Qilin narrowed his eyes.

"It doesn't seem like the damage from the battle… it's more like… his own problem…"

The doctor thought for a while and said cautiously, "It's somewhat like a harbinger of loss of control."

"…I see."

The Old Master was silent for a moment, and said meaningfully, "Don't say too much about what shouldn't be said."

He waved his hand to dismiss the idlers and sat alone in the empty valley of the snow mountain, waiting for Gu Shen to wake up.

The glow emitted by the pure bottle quickly healed the pierced "flesh and blood".

Plus the Breath of Spring…

At dawn, Gu Shen opened his eyes. He saw an unexpected face and felt the surrounding air being solidified by a powerful spiritual force.

He was sitting in the snow, or rather, in the domain of the Gu family's Old Master.

Gu Shen was a little surprised.

The Old Master… had been waiting for him to wake up?

And he had opened his domain. There were important things he wanted to say to him!

"There are unclean things in that mausoleum…"

Gu Qilin's expression was calm, as if he was saying a trivial matter, "You may have been tainted with 'misfortune'."

"Misfortune?"

Gu Shen was slightly stunned.

"You came to Nagano with the Tomb Ghoul… you must not be unfamiliar with this thing." Gu Qilin said slowly, "His 'misfortune' is innate, while most people's 'misfortune' is acquired. You can stand up and look back."

Gu Shen was a little bewildered.

As the Old Master said, he slowly stood up and looked back… the dawn shone, and he cast a shadow on the snow. After looking back, the shadow didn't make the "looking back" action, but just looked at him calmly on the snow.

This gaze… was somewhat familiar!

Gu Shen instantly felt "eerie" and "terrifying"!

"Did you see that wisp of shadow? This is the so-called 'misfortune'." Gu Qilin said calmly, "This is my 'domain'… Immeasurable Scale, which can illuminate the void power of the spiritual world. After leaving the domain, you will not notice any abnormality… but in fact, this 'misfortune' will always follow you, unless you die, completely annihilate, and both matter and spirit are eliminated… otherwise, this wisp of misfortune will not be extinguished."

Gu Shen could feel that at the moment of staring at the "shadow", fear appeared uncontrollably in his heart.

"Circulate the Breathing Technique."

Gu Qilin said lightly, "Didn't you comprehend the complete 'Breath of Spring'?"

Hearing this, Gu Shen took a deep breath.

The Breath of Spring unfolded, and spiritual power flowed like a mountain spring.

That fear was instantly washed away.

The eerie and terrifying feeling… dissipated a lot.

"Don't be nervous. Everything in the world has a balance, measuring each other." Gu Qilin said, "Because of the emergence of 'transcendent power', the balance of this world is already unbalanced. The laws of the material world cannot explain transcendent phenomena… and similarly, the chaos of the spiritual world has led to the so-called 'misfortune'. In ancient books, those who were completely 'out of control' were called 'unlucky ones'."

Why was the Old Master so calm…

Gu Shen breathed a sigh of relief and murmured, "Misfortune… is the harbinger of mental loss of control?"

"You can understand it that way."

The Old Master seemed to see through Gu Shen's doubts and explained, "My 'Immeasurable Scale' can measure fate. Because of the entanglement of cause and effect, no one can perfectly maintain the balance of the scales of fate… just like walking, you always need to step out with one foot, either the left foot or the right foot, and at that moment, the balance will be broken."

"So in my opinion, unless you're dead, everyone will have 'misfortune'."

He slowly raised his arms.

Wisp after wisp of black gas rose from the Old Master's back.

The shadow behind him suddenly became distorted…

Gu Shen looked astonished, watching the "ghosts" that surged out, like a hellish mural, baring their fangs and claws behind Gu Qilin, ready to swallow him at any time.

"In the war sixty years ago, every time I killed someone, I could clearly see the shadow in the Immeasurable Scale fall by one point, adding one point of misfortune. And in the end… these misfortunes piled up into a hell."

Gu Qilin said quietly, "But I'm still alive and well, aren't I?"

"As long as you are strong enough, no misfortune can kill you!"