Chapter 1 Another Snowy Night

After sunrise, the eaves of Snow Forbidden City were glazed with ice, and the suspended icicles, swept by the wind, fell to the ground.

Bai Clan Ancestral Hall.

The decorative style here was very elegant. The centuries-old wooden houses were arranged in an orderly manner, uncorroded by time. After each frozen snowfall, the ancient red wood instead radiated new life.

In the courtyard grew an ancient ginkgo tree.

Under the ginkgo tree, a rattan chair swayed gently. A woman leaned back in the chair, dozing. Her long hair was scattered around her, and she held a book, reading silently. The wind rustled through her black hair, also stirring the pages of the book, creating a soft, rustling sound.

Just looking at this scene, it was hard to believe.

This woman, sitting quietly reading in the Bai Clan Ancestral Hall, was the Bai family's eldest daughter, Bai Lu, known as the "Witch."

"Miss... are you not going out today either?"

A servant came with water, and she asked curiously.

For the past few days, she had always seen the young lady reading under the tree in the ancestral hall, which was not in line with... the young lady's usual personality.

"...No."

Bai Lu shook her head.

She concentrated on her book, saying softly, "I'll be cultivating in the ancestral hall for the next few days, not going anywhere... just leave the water here."

After the servant put down the water glass, she slowly left.

"This is... unprecedented."

Not far away.

Two elders who had come to the ancestral hall on business couldn't help whispering and sighing when they saw this scene.

Since Bai Lu, this little witch, could walk, she had caused no shortage of trouble outside. Days like today, when she was quietly staying in the courtyard reading... were rare.

Or rather, unheard of!

Anyway, they had never seen it before.

"The 'ginkgo' in the ancestral hall has the effect of warding off evil and bestowing blessings. It was planted by the Bai clan's ancestors and has lived for hundreds of years."

Bai Lu closed her book and exhaled with resentment.

"Hiding here... I shouldn't encounter the so-called 'ominous disaster,' right?"

No one would have thought.

The reason why the Bai family's witch, who had once disturbed the peace of Snow Forbidden City, was willing to "turn over a new leaf" and hide in the old house to read in seclusion was just because of a short prophecy of just over ten characters.

["Miss Bai, you are surrounded by ominous omens these days. It's best not to go out, or a disaster may befall you."]

But the person who said this was a disciple of Grandmaster Qianye's divination arts, a gravekeeper!

This made it impossible for Bai Lu not to believe it.

If Bai Lu knew now... that the phrase "ominous omen" was just something Gu Shen said casually to scare her.

She would probably be angry enough to storm over to his place again.

However, these few days of quiet cultivation had not been without rewards. She felt that her state of mind had become much calmer... but she always saw flashbacks of the scenes she had seen in the "Thorn Dream" in her mind.

Black flowers bloomed, and Ning River was burned to ashes.

Standing on the dry riverbed was a white-skirted girl who seemed like a goddess.

This picture was imprinted in her mind.

Bai Lu wanted to forget it, but she couldn't... She had a naturally keen intuition. When she left that dream, she subconsciously felt that this memory image seemed to have a very important meaning for her.

Now she probably knew that this "mysterious girl" who appeared in her memory was the second inheritor of the Pure Grave divination arts.

This was also the reason why she was willing to read and cultivate quietly in the Bai Clan Ancestral Hall.

She didn't quite trust Gu Shen.

But she was willing to believe... the mysterious girl in that dream.

So, a sense of guidance in the dark led her to the ancestral hall, immersing herself in a world of her own.

She tried to find the "answer" in her heart silently and alone with her own power.

It's just that the "answer" was not so easy to find... Reading, eating vegetarian food, quiet cultivation, and meditation, although they could calm her mind and return to the end point of the Ning River memory, there had been no harvest after that.

This only proved one thing.

Gu Shen was telling the truth.

This mysterious "second inheritor of divination arts" must have a very powerful mental force, capable of entering her dream silently and erasing all traces...

Unfortunately, Gu Shen was unwilling to say more.

Regarding that mysterious girl... Bai Lu didn't even know her name.

If she wanted to find someone with a portrait, what she saw in the "Ning River" memory was actually just a blurred face with a snowy white glow, which could not be printed out at all.

…

…

The ginkgo tree rustled.

A fallen leaf fluttered down slowly.

It landed on Bai Lu's book page, and at the same time, a gentle voice came from her ear.

"You've been out of character these past few days."

The speaker was several miles away from the ancestral hall, but his mental force was so strong that it could gather into a line, crossing thousands of meters to reach the ginkgo tree in the ancestral hall.

Bai Lu smiled helplessly.

She closed her book, stretched, and said, "I'm tired from all the trouble... just taking a break."

"Your brother is very gratified."

Only Bai Chen could use this form of address.

Bai Chen said with a smile, "You should have sensed it, right? Starting today, there are more people in the ancestral hall?"

Bai Lu nodded. It was still early, but people were already going in and out.

Although they were all some distance away from the ginkgo tree.

But the sounds were inevitably a bit noisy.

"The elders will be busy these days, and it's almost time for ancestor worship, so the ancestral hall won't be so quiet. There will be many more people coming and going... If you think the ancestral hall is too noisy, I can take you to a different environment," Bai Chen transmitted. "How about it?"

"This place is fine."

Bai Lu raised her head, looked at the ginkgo tree, and murmured, "Safe."

Safe?

Bai Chen was slightly stunned.

"Gu Shen gave me a divination, saying that I'm surrounded by ominous omens these days, and I should try to reduce my outings." The Bai family's eldest daughter stretched her body simply, loosened her muscles and bones, took a sip of water, then sat down again and opened her book.

Hearing this... Bai Chen's expression became a little strange.

He couldn't help but want to laugh.

Although Gu Shen was a disciple of Grandmaster Qianye.

But this... sounded like he was just saying it casually?

In any case, it was a good thing that his sister believed it.

He had been extremely busy in the prison these days. Without this witch causing trouble, he could relax a lot.

"So... you're determined to stay in the ancestral hall? You don't want to go outside and take a look?"

Bai Chen sighed with emotion and asked tentatively.

"Mm..."

Bai Lu said indifferently, "Changye has been the same for the past ten years. There's nothing to see."

"Is that so..."

Bai Chen smiled brightly and said casually, "Xiao Xiu Zi is coming back today. Are you sure you're not going to take a look?"

After saying this, he withdrew his mental force.

A wind blew.

The ginkgo leaves fell.

Bai Lu's eyes were full of surprise...

Xiao Xiu Zi, is back?

This news was so quiet! No one was prepared for it!

Even she had just found out!

…

…

"I don't really know how to dismantle these two sets of array patterns..."

In the courtyard of Submerged Dragon Temple, on the stone table, was covered with papers.

Tomb Ghost squatted on the stone bench, scratching his head at the papers.

The papers were covered with "ghostly symbols."

These were the "ancient characters" that Gu Shen had transcribed from his memory. After returning to the villa area, he had deliberately called Tomb Ghost over. This guy was responsible for the construction of the Pure Grave array patterns and had successfully comprehended all 2,650 ancient character array patterns!

"You don't know?"

Gu Shen didn't believe it at all and spat, "If you said you didn't know one or two of them... that would be possible... How did you build 'Pure Grave' if you didn't know any of them?"

In fact.

Tomb Ghost's success rate was very high!

In a sense, his dismantling of the Pure Grave array patterns had a 100% success rate. Every array pattern could run... even every array pattern was precisely inverted.

If there was a test paper filled with correct answers written backward.

Could that guy... not understand anything?

In Gu Shen's view, this answer seemed like a provocation.

"It's strange... When I see those blueprints, I get immersed in them on my own..." Tomb Ghost's face was full of worry. He hugged his knees and said seriously, "As for why this happens, I don't know either."

Gu Shen, on the other hand, fell into deep thought.

It shouldn't be like this... According to Grandmaster Qianye, these ancient characters in the Pure Grave array patterns should be passive.

Or rather, there was no such thing as active or passive.

If the mental force or triggering conditions were sufficient, then anyone could trigger "visualization"!

If that was the case, then it had to be admitted that Tomb Ghost was more talented than him in comprehending [Ancient Characters]... Gu Shen still needed to look carefully to complete the first step of dream interpretation.

And Tomb Ghost had quickly completed the dismantling.

Although... it was inverted.

"Don't worry... I can't lie."

Tomb Ghost looked at Gu Shen's eyes and spread his hands helplessly. "Do you think you're the only one who has this question? The Gu family and Huazhi took the lead ten years ago. They have all researched me, but they haven't gained anything."

Speaking of this, a proud smile appeared on someone's face: "If you must have an explanation... then it's only possible that there's an incredible bloodline hidden in my body, and after touching these words, my bloodline suddenly awakened."

Gu Shen stroked his chin, looking at Tomb Ghost meaningfully.

Tomb Ghost was startled and shrank back: "You wouldn't take it seriously, would you... I don't have any bloodline, I'm just saying it casually, please don't bleed me again."

"Again..."

Gu Shen couldn't help but laugh, "Listening to your tone, it seems like you've been bled a lot?"

The Gu family and Huazhi were not benevolent masters.

Naturally, they would not easily let go of Tomb Ghost if they caught him.

I'm afraid that over the years, the experimental investigation on this unlucky egg would be restarted every now and then.

"If I bleed again, I'll be gone!"

Tomb Ghost said angrily, "Cui Zhongcheng, that bastard, always lied to me, saying that he wanted to do a physical examination, and then drew 400cc of blood! Who draws it like that! Huazhi are all vampires! Not a single one is good!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he lowered his voice guiltily, "That... the crazy woman next door won't be able to hear, will she?"

"I will tell her the truth."

Gu Shen had just spoken.

Tomb Ghost's expression changed drastically, and before he had time to beg for mercy.

A wisp of azure wind gang rose from the Wind Pavilion and fell from the sky.

The wooden knife was surrounded by wind and mist. After landing, it suddenly became extremely slow, aimed at Tomb Ghost's face, and came with two crisp slaps, left and right.

*Pa!*

*Pa!*

The wooden knife flew back again.

All this happened very quickly... in just three or four seconds.

Tomb Ghost was still stunned. These two scabbard slaps didn't hurt, but they were extremely loud.

Very insulting.

This time he learned to be smart and gave the swaying wooden knife a middle finger with gritted teeth.

The next moment.

The wooden knife returned, and with a strike of the divine dragon wagging its tail, it gave him a heavy brain-twister, knocking Xing Yun off the stone bench, face up to the sky.

"Well done!"

Gu Shen sighed with emotion, immediately echoed, raised a thumb, and praised his senior sister in silence.

Well done my ass!

Tomb Ghost silently shed tears.

Isn't this woman's ability Wind Cut, listening to the voice of the wind? He just made a gesture, how could it be captured?

"You underestimate her."

Someone hurried in from the door.

It was Gu Nanfeng and Luo Yu. These two had returned from outside and looked dusty, obviously after a busy period.

The young master of the Gu family glanced at the wooden knife in the air of the Wind Pavilion and said calmly, "Lu Nanjin's Blade Intent Domain is almost complete. The entire Gu family's villa area, even the slightest breeze, is within her sight. If you want to say something unpleasant in the future, it's best to keep it in your heart. But my biggest suggestion is that you get used to being beaten every day."

Tomb Ghost carried ominousness, which could not be eliminated, let alone dissipated.

Carrying such a "burden" with him, even if Gu Nanfeng was a titled expert, over time... it would be inevitable to encounter some annoying little troubles.

And he gradually figured out a solution.

If you want to live well.

Then don't let Tomb Ghost live well.

Occasional "knocking and beating" was a timely solution to the ominousness for Tomb Ghost... because being beaten was equivalent to encountering misfortune.

You're good, I'm good.

"Little Gu, this is the information you wanted."

Fatty Luo took out a file bag, threw it in front of Gu Shen, and said, "The old man personally used his authority to get it... I saw him going to the command center in person to extract the file from the database..."

Fatty Luo looked at Gu Shen with a very strange look.

What exactly happened after Gu Shen and the young master went to the Jiangbei Hotel for dinner together last time?

Someone like the old man would actually personally come forward to extract files for Gu Shen.

A rare sight... this was simply something he couldn't imagine!

He heard that... after dinner that night, the old man pulled Gu Shen up to the rooftop of the Jiangbei Hotel and lit a [Lantern]. No one knew what the two of them talked about on the rooftop.

Only after the banquet was over.

The old man deliberately told Fatty Luo that any requests Gu Shen had should be granted!

Fatty Luo rubbed his eyebrows and asked curiously, "Speaking of which, since you're not planning to participate in the Newcomer Battle... why do you need to investigate Bai Xiu Zi's information?"

"Are the two related?"

Gu Shen smiled. "I'm just purely... curious."

He opened the file.

[Name: Bai Xiu Zi.]

[Age: 19.]

[Rating: Did not participate in the three institutes' rating, unable to estimate.]

[Ability: Thunder Realm Walker.]

The file did not record Bai Xiu Zi's birth or other related information.

Instead, it directly started recording from when he began to cultivate.

Dense and dazzling, the record of battles was awe-inspiring.

Various victories over opponents above his level.

After Bai Xiu Zi's cultivation reached the second stage of the Deep Water Zone, he began to go out and perform tasks, recovering sealed objects, and killing out-of-control individuals. The task success rate was 100%, and the mental stability was 99.9%.

This also meant that... Bai Xiu Zi was not only extremely strong, but also a monstrous figure with perfect coordination of mind and body, with almost no risk of going out of control.

The bottom of the file had a line written.

["Although he did not participate in the three institutes' rating, Deep Sea suggests that this person's rating should be set as..."]

["S level."]

…

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(There will be a big chapter tonight! Asking for monthly tickets!!!)