“This is the legendary…”

“S-class?”

Outside the Fourth Arbiter's dojo in Snow Forbidden City.

Across the street, on the rooftop of a certain building, were two young men, one fat and one thin, one sitting and one standing.

They did not join the "spectacle" outside the dojo.

The fat man had a pair of goggles strapped to his forehead, not lowered. His body was round like a mountain of flesh, and his eyes were narrowed into slits. He sat obediently with his hands on his knees on the edge of the rooftop. The wind was biting, mixed with fine snow, blowing his red checkered scarf around his neck like a fluttering tassel.

He sat with a beaming smile, like a Maitreya Buddha, motionless, silent.

In front of him, the scattered snowflakes seemed to be controlled by invisible mental power, gradually blurring into a hazy scene.

A square arena.

A meditating youth.

An ancient sheepskin scroll.

The scene looked very similar to Gu Nanfeng's Storm Cut imitation inside the dojo, but in fact, they were two completely different displays… Storm Cut required immense control to construct the flowing wind, while the scene before them was a mental "projection" obtained through spiritual theft, simply using the scattered snow as a medium.

The skinny man frowned, staring at the projected scene inside the dojo. He called out the fat man’s nickname, asking, "Pumpkin… Shen Li was defeated by this kid?"

Pumpkin nodded slowly.

The skinny man frowned, "He doesn't seem very strong."

"…He is very weak."

Pumpkin finally spoke, admitting frankly, "Probably only… Deep Sea Fourth Layer?"

"I've fought Shen Li before… Once the Glutton state of the Eater of Iron is released, his combat power increases exponentially." The skinny man recalled the scene of the battle inside the dojo earlier, Shen Li being beaten miserably. Even now, he still couldn't figure out what power Gu Shen had used.

Was it that wisp of burning fire?

"However, more than defeating Shen Li… what I care about more is that this kid has only been practicing for half a year, yet he already wants to fuse the second Breathing Technique." His expression turned serious. "If I remember correctly, among the younger generation in Nagano, the only one who can fuse two Breathing Techniques is that 'Invincible Bai'."

The fat man's smiling face gradually lost its cheerfulness.

A face flashed through his memory.

The thought of that face… made it hard for him to smile.

"Those two… are different."

Pumpkin thought for a long time, speaking earnestly, "Lao Gong, I don't like Bai Xiu, but I don't dislike Gu Shen."

"I don't like Bai Xiu either. Who would like Bai Xiu?" Lao Gong sneered, disgusted. "Everyone from the Bai family likes to claim they're invincible. Just pick anyone with the surname Bai in Nagano and they'll say they're invincible. How can there be so many invincible people in this world… Also, how many times have I told you, don't call me Lao Gong, call me by my full name, Gong Zi!"

Pumpkin was silent for a moment, then said honestly, "Okay, Lao Gong."

…

…

"Many people are watching you."

Inside the stagnant Grain Rain Scroll's spiritual world.

The myriad slender raindrops no longer reflected just one person… countless wisps of light gathered around Gu Shen, and Chu Ling materialized, arriving in the wilderness.

"Not just the Prison, the Command, the Tribunal, but also the hidden families behind Nagano, the Gu family, the Bai family, and some other… unseen forces, big and small, from the moment you opened the Grain Rain Scroll, they haven't shifted their gaze."

Gu Shen asked with a smile, "Are they timing me?"

"That's right." Chu Ling said with some emotion.

Those outside were waiting… waiting to see if Gu Shen could comprehend the Grain Rain Scroll, and how long it would take him.

Compared to the first time he comprehended a scroll, Gu Shen had improved tremendously… This improvement wasn't reflected in the speed of dream interpretation, but in his attitude toward "dreams."

He could remain calm and composed even when countless eyes were focused on him.

"You don't seem to be in a hurry."

Chu Ling stood quietly with Gu Shen in the Grain Rain world. As the [Source Code], her information database contained numerous dream seal object dream interpretation programs, but she couldn't directly decipher the Awakening of Insects and Grain Rain, which were visualization scrolls engraved with ancient text.

All she could do was accompany him.

"Dream interpretation requires a peaceful state of mind. Being anxious is useless." Gu Shen smiled.

"Besides, it's really beautiful here… A different scenery from the Seasons Wilderness in my spiritual domain." Gu Shen admitted, "So I want to take a closer look."

The small flame between his brows had already sprung out, struggling in Gu Shen's palm to escape, but it was loosely held by five fingers, like a wronged cub, anxiously waiting for its time to be released.

Gu Shen and Chu Ling strolled through the "time-stilled" Grain Rain wilderness.

"Mr. Gu Changzhi told me… he expected me to find the scattered Breathing Techniques and cultivate the complete 'Seasons Wilderness'."

Looking at this incredibly familiar scene, Gu Shen couldn't help but recall his conversation with Mr. Gu Changzhi in the Golden Divine Domain.

"After comprehending the Awakening of Insects, and then comprehending Grain Rain… it should be the complete Spring Breathing."

He raised his head and whispered, "And if I'm not mistaken, this is just one season out of the four."

"There's spring, there's summer, there's autumn, there's winter…"

Gu Shen stopped walking.

He gently reached out, trying to grasp a drop of water.

However, the moment he touched the water droplet in the Grain Rain Scroll world, a desire to immerse himself in it arose from the depths of his soul. Gu Shen quickly withdrew his hand and took a deep breath.

This feeling was very familiar.

For others, the difficult-to-comprehend "Awakening of Insects Scroll"… was just a spring rain to Gu Shen.

Comprehending the Awakening of Insects was as natural as breathing, a natural progression.

Similarly… his intuition told him that comprehending the Grain Rain Scroll would be the same!

But a deeper intuition was reminding him.

This scroll's comprehension had something deeper, something even deeper.

"If… the secret of visualization techniques is engraved in ancient characters, and later generations need to touch the characters, following the spiritual guidance of their predecessors, to immerse themselves in the visualization world."

"Then how did the first person visualize?"

It was like a road.

There was no road in this world… but as more people walked, it became a road.

Chu Ling pondered briefly and whispered, "Perhaps the first person… never thought that this would become a road?"

"Yes… perhaps the first person never thought that this would become a road."

A flash of inspiration went through Gu Shen's mind.

He slowly sat down, raised his head to look at the sky, and murmured, "Mr. Gu Changzhi is a genius, but is the path he took when he touched the Grain Rain Scroll… necessarily the correct one?"

Chu Ling was somewhat bewildered.

She didn't quite understand what Gu Shen meant, but she knew… that what she needed to do now was to remain silent.

The vast wilderness was silent.

Time had stopped.

Time was also passing.

Gu Shen, lost in thought, didn't touch a single drop of water, nor did he begin the comprehension of the Grain Rain Scroll… He simply maintained the posture of looking up at the sky, his gaze gradually becoming dull, then becoming long and profound, as if he had become an old tree connected to the wilderness.

No one besides Gu Changzhi had considered this question…

The question of whether the "road" was correct.

To the world, a "dead end" that was originally impossible to pass through had suddenly been opened up, and it could lead to the light, which seemed to be "correct" already.

But thinking about it from another perspective… perhaps there was another wide road on this sheepskin scroll, leading to an even more vast light?

A long time passed.

Gu Shen's voice slowly squeezed out of his throat.

He murmured, "I feel like something is missing here… the Seasons Wilderness shouldn't be like this."

…

…

(Continuing to ask for votes~ There will be a large chapter tonight~)