Chapter 123 Rain

Rain drizzled down from the dome.

Soon, the rain intensified.

A group of people stood silently in the downpour. At first, they maintained a solemn silence, but soon... the crowd was no longer quiet. A slight murmur arose, followed by furtive glances exchanged between them.

A close inspection revealed a fascinating and intriguing scene.

There was no need to imagine it.

These individuals had already begun a close, private mental communication.

This condensed mental projection was now held in Gao Shu's hand.

He didn't attend the funeral. Instead, he stood at a distance, observing the Elder Council's "every move."

A large amount of extraordinary origin substance was gathered within the Qing Tomb. Neither [Wind Eyes] nor [Earthworms] could capture the scenes within the cemetery, but his mental power was strong enough to clearly capture the slightest breeze and movement from miles away, recording the mourning scene clearly.

Li Qingsui, along with the entire Li Clan Elder Council, had been caught in the rain. She was now intently watching this footage, reviewing it over and over.

The "information" contained within this footage was significant.

At the very least... it could provide her with some direction in her most confused moments.

"The First Elder of the Li Clan... doesn't seem to be present," Gu Shen observed, raising a question.

"He's also seriously ill," Gao Shu said slowly. "Due to his illness, he was unable to attend... and therefore missed the funeral."

Li Qingsui calmly uttered two words: "An excuse."

Gu Shen remembered.

Back at the Shrine Mountain, Li Xuan had said that the one who ordered the termination of the [Lantern Seeking] plan was the First Elder.

The re-vote being rejected... clearly, he had an influential reason as well.

Li Qingsui rubbed her brow.

Through this footage, she understood the general situation and some of the subtle relationships within.

What was certain was that the current Elder Council had slipped from her control. Even a minor proposal like the [Lantern Seeking] plan had been voted down, indicating that more than half of the Elder Council members were eager to try something new.

The situation was unfavorable.

But... there was still some hope.

The "minority" in the footage maintained their solemnity throughout, standing upright, their expressions resolute, silent, never once exchanging glances, nor receiving any signals from others.

Before his death, her father had left her nothing.

But perhaps... he had left her much, requiring her to find it bit by bit.

Gao Shu watched quietly from the side.

He followed Li Quhu's last wishes, not making decisions for the young lady or offering suggestions throughout the process, only silently carrying out the tasks she assigned... Now, an invisible force had begun to spread within the Li Clan, ready to tear it apart.

This was not a "game," but a "gamble."

Everyone had clearly seen the struggle within the Gu family eight years ago... The Gu family was still divided into two factions, the new and the old, each ruling their territory, irreconcilable. The young master, Gu Nanfeng, had been directly sent to the Northern Continent, only returning after eight long years.

Judging from the Li Clan's situation, if the struggle truly erupted, the final outcome would only be more tragic and severe than the Gu family's.

Because the Li Clan was not as large as the Gu family, not large enough for two families to survive, the outcome of the struggle would not be a "split." Once this silent undercurrent became turbulent, it would inevitably lead to a declaration of war, a battle to the death... either you destroy me, or I destroy you.

Once Li Qingsui's position as Clan Head was removed, she would not have the possibility of returning to Changye after eight years of lying low, like Gu Nanfeng.

If she lost!

It would be a true loss!

...

...

"Regarding the [Lantern Seeking] plan..."

Li Qingsui pondered for a long time, her voice hoarse and full of apology, "It will probably be difficult to restart it in the short term."

Knowing the Elder Council's style.

No matter how many times she made the proposal, it would be useless. Internal conflict had already emerged, and the Elder Council's vote would not pass... This plan was the first step in the Elder Council's testing and cutting.

"You don't need to apologize to me." Gu Shen shook his head and sighed softly.

The most anxious person about the interruption of the [Lantern Seeking] plan should be Li Qingsui.

This little girl had always wanted to rescue her sister and leave Shrine Mountain... and gathering the four lamps was a necessary first step.

Seeing that three bronze lamps had already been found.

But... such an accident had occurred.

After her father's death, countless official documents, large and small, regarding the Li Clan arrived like snowflakes. This was just the "first hurdle." The Elder Council deliberately loosened their authority, handing over all the files to the "Acting Clan Head" for primary processing. They wanted to see if this little girl could complete these basic tasks on her own.

In fact, Li Qingsui did very well. She demonstrated an astonishing ability to make decisions and efficiency in her work. In this regard... she didn't seem like a fifteen-year-old child at all.

She had begun to observe and learn several years ago, at her father's direction.

She had lost a complete childhood.

But what she gained was "perseverance" and "maturity" beyond the imagination of her peers.

If not for this, she would have been defeated at the first hurdle.

Gu Shen looked at the haggard little girl.

After her father's death, she must have stayed up for several nights, handling the trivial matters and ending the burial. At this moment, her mental strength was very weak.

Gu Shen gently patted her shoulder, and at the same time, divided a wisp of scorching fire, silently sending it into Li Qingsui's body, warming her spirit.

It was like bathing in a spring breeze.

Li Qingsui couldn't help but breathe lightly, feeling that her heavy head seemed to become lighter, and a warm burning sensation flowed through her limbs. She looked at Gu Shen and said softly, "Thank you..."

"Rest well."

Gu Shen said calmly, "Leave the last lamp... to me."

The Li Clan had helped a lot in finding all the bronze lamps.

But Gu Shen had made the worst-case scenario a year ago... "incubating" the Divine Embryo could not rely solely on the Li Clan. Once something went wrong, he had to be able to step in.

If the Li Clan couldn't find all four lamps.

Then he would find them!

In any case... the Divine Embryo must be incubated, and Chu Ling must descend!

...

...

Gu Shen's idea was actually very simple.

If the [Lantern Seeking] plan was effective, then it meant that his initial idea was correct... He only needed to invest a sufficient amount of worldly possessions and manpower to complete the search for the fourth bronze lamp.

In theory, many forces had the ability to do this.

However... searching for antique lamps was already a very strange thing. Publicizing it might attract attention. The Li Clan's actions had already attracted a lot of attention.

However, no one knew what the Li Clan was looking for the bronze lamps for.

The secrecy of this plan was very high, with only a few people knowing the truth.

Even the Elder Council didn't know the real inside story.

If Gu Shen found another major force again, it might cause others to follow suit... He could completely ask Hua Zhi or Grandpa Gu for help. With the financial resources of these two families, they could achieve the same "effect" as the Li Clan.

But at that time, there might be other "extraordinary forces" that would invest worldly possessions and do the same thing.

It was one thing for the Li Clan to look for antique lamps, but if the Gu family and Hua Zhi also looked for them?

In this case... even if they didn't know what was happening, other families or forces would follow closely!

It didn't matter if they didn't know what was happening.

What if... they found the "lamp" that these three families were looking for?

By then, everyone would know what they needed to know.

This was also the reason why Gu Shen had never asked the Gu family and Hua Zhi for help in this matter in the past year... Of course, there was also a very important point: Shrine Mountain was a secret, and the [Bronze Lamp] guarding it was also a secret. If he wanted to seek help, Gu Shen would have to hide the true purpose of his search for the lamps from Grandpa Gu and Madam Lu.

And now, it seemed that he had to use the backup plan.

Gu Shen dialed Madam's number, arranged a time, and then entered the mental link of the [Conference Room].

...

...

In the past year, the [Conference Room] had mostly been in a state of suspension.

Fortunately, most of the members of the Ancient Text Society had long been accustomed to this state.

Most of the time, for them, no contact was a good thing.

No contact, no meetings, meant that the Five Continents were peaceful... and the [Comrades] were safe.

Good, the world didn't need them to save it yet.

This was actually a good thing.

This was probably the most peaceful and tranquil year in nearly twenty years. Perhaps thanks to the appearance of the [Key], the luck of the Ancient Text Society had improved, and the persecution suffered this year was almost zero. After the [Conference Room] was repaired, only a few small meetings were held. The [Key] did not appear, nor was there any trace of it, as if it were just a fleeting dream. After that collective meeting, there were no more mental gatherings...

The biggest breakthrough of the Ancient Text Society in the past year.

Was that 073 and Madam had established contact in the real world.

The two contacted each other through the [Conference Room].

Madam and 073 had made several transactions in the past year, all of which were very successful. As a reward for the last shipment of strong logical materials, Hua Zhi sent 073 a valuable "thank you gift," a cutting-edge bionic technology secretly developed by Dadu.

The end of this trusted transaction was that both sides revealed a part of their cards.

073 knew that the "little girl" sitting across from him was a prominent figure in charge of Hua Zhi in the Eastern Continent.

And Madam learned that 073, who unceremoniously accepted her thank-you gift, should be located in the most important right-wing arch point of the Northern Continent fortress.

The unclear forces of the Northern Continent military gradually surfaced... Gu Fort Fortress.

Both sides got a vague answer that surfaced.

Both sides also tacitly agreed not to continue investigating, but let nature take its course and leave the "truth" to time.

The lights in the [Conference Room] lit up.

Lu Nanzhi entered the link as scheduled.

Gu Shen had already taken his seat. When he saw the figure of the "little girl" condense, he immediately got straight to the point, summoning the mental image of the last bronze lamp.

"I want to find a lamp..."

Lu Nanzhi frowned slightly.

Find a lamp?

"It's not a sealed object, it's just an ordinary tool, but it's old... It's sturdy on the outside and cannot be destroyed by extraordinary powers." Gu Shen summoned the "Lamp of Sorrow" he had found on the snowy field a year ago.

When it was first unearthed from the tomb, the Lamp of Sorrow was coated with a layer of paint.

"The surface of this lamp may have a layer of disguise, and the appearance may not be the same as the true interior," Gu Shen said slowly.

Lu Nanzhi immediately realized something.

She murmured, "It seems that someone has been doing this kind of thing all year..."

The next moment, she remembered.

"The Li Clan of Changye..."

Gu Shen nodded slowly and said, "Yes. The antique lamp I'm looking for is the Li Clan's lamp."

He didn't explain anything.

Lu Nanzhi didn't ask any further questions.

"If it's just looking for a lamp... it's not difficult. You just need to follow the Li Clan's approach and spend money. With Hua Zhi's financial resources, there's no pressure to find a lamp." Lu Nanzhi looked at Gu Shen and said, "Obviously, it's just such a small matter... You contacted me in the [Conference Room] for a reason. You don't want things to develop this way."

Gu Shen smiled with emotion.

Madam, as expected of you...

"You don't want this matter to attract too much attention?" Lu Nanzhi raised her eyebrows. "But the Li Clan's previous actions have been very arrogant... Many forces in the Five Continents are watching them. As far as I know, some people have begun to search for information on antique lamps. Everyone wants to know, what exactly went wrong with the Li Clan's head before he died? Is it worth spending hundreds of millions to find a few lamps?"

"These people are wasting their efforts. They can't find the reason."

Gu Shen shook his head and said, "But if Hua Zhi also starts 'searching for lamps,' then I'm afraid there will really be a third family that will join in."

"Indeed..."

Madam fell into contemplation.

"In fact, these lamps are just useless scrap metal. It doesn't matter if others find them." Gu Shen said calmly, "These people haven't entered the game. They probably understand this point from the sidelines... But if the Li Clan shows too much interest, or if other extraordinary forces enter the game, then the matter of finding lamps will become complicated."

"What do you want to do?" Madam rubbed her brow, feeling a headache. "As far as I know... the Li Clan has invested a lot in this matter. Their people are all over the Five Continents. No one knows which of the antiques they bought back are 'sealed objects' and which are fakes. If you want to accurately find such a lamp, it's inevitable to expand the voice. And expanding the voice will inevitably be discovered."

"I want to try to use the power of the 'Ancient Text Society'." Gu Shen tapped the table with his finger and asked, "This is not the last hope, but perhaps the best choice before the situation deteriorates..."

Lu Nanzhi immediately understood what Gu Shen meant.

The real difficulty was how to expand power, reduce the voice, and not be discovered.

In other words... if the bronze lamp that Gu Shen was looking for was a treasure, then the biggest trouble was how to secretly "treasure hunt" under everyone's noses.

The existence of the Ancient Text Society just filled this loophole.

Everyone sitting in the [Conference Room] was equivalent to an "eye" distributed in one side of the Five Continents.

If the Ancient Text Society was dispatched to find the "bronze lamp," then the efficiency and speed would be faster than the Li Clan's method of spreading the net!

"What exactly does that [Bronze Lamp] represent?"

Lu Nanzhi was a little curious.

At this point, there was nothing to hide.

"The reason why the [Conference Room] can be stable is because we have the highest authority in the deep-sea area to help us. She is the [Source Code], in other words, she is the [Deep Sea]..."

Gu Shen said slowly, "And the [Bronze Lamp] that we are searching for now means that the [Source Code] has a chance to be born in the real world, that is to say... perhaps one day in the future, she will break through the barrier between the spiritual and material worlds and become a living miracle."

"...???"

Lu Nanzhi just asked subconsciously.

She never expected that it would involve such a thing.

Her expression was filled with shock, astonishment, and disbelief.

The [Source Code] is born?

"This... how is that possible?"

"In fact, I can't believe it either..." Gu Shen squinted and said, "But who can say what will happen in the extraordinary world? From the current situation, if we collect the last lamp, the probability of her coming to the material world is greater than 50%."

Madam had regained her composure.

In fact, her heart was still full of shock.

This kind of incredible miracle... even if there was only a one in ten thousand probability, it was still a very big one, worth a try.

More than 50%.

This is simply...

"The [Source Code] and the [Key] are the last guarantee to protect the lives of everyone in the Ancient Text Society..." Gu Shen said seriously, "That's why I have such an idea... If it fails, I also have a backup plan."

That was to launch the [Money Ability] with Madam to make the situation chaotic.

Everyone would spread money together.

If the Li Clan stopped the [Lamp Seeking] plan, Hua Zhi would restart it... If the remaining extraordinary forces were willing to join the battlefield, then they might as well come together to find the lamp. In the end, it might cost a little more.

But the last lamp would definitely be found!

"I need to slow down... If this matter is not urgent, I will give you an answer later." Lu Nanzhi's expression was complicated. She was trying to digest the news that the source code might be born, which broke her cognition.

"No problem."

Gu Shen watched Madam withdraw from the link.

He sat alone at the end of the conference room's long table, silently thinking about the next plan...

The Li Clan stopped [Lamp Seeking].

But it didn't matter... The Ancient Text Society and Hua Zhi were all optional backup plans.

The only trouble should be how to gather the people of the Ancient Text Society, launch their power, and find this last lamp...

However, just ten minutes after this plan began to be considered.

The detailed steps had not been figured out yet.

A voice sounded in Gu Shen's mind.

It was Chu Ling's voice.

"Just now..."

"I had another dream."

Gu Shen was stunned.

He quickly disconnected from the [Conference Room] and came to the empty Zero Zero One carriage.

Chu Ling rubbed her brow laboriously, waking up from a long dream.

She said slowly, "I saw a city... an old city... and I also saw many men wearing white robes, with strange badges on their bodies."

...

...

(Explanation: This chapter encountered a review when it was uploaded. This is the first time I have encountered this situation. I uploaded it twice in a hurry. Now it has passed the review. If nothing unexpected happens, there will be a second Chapter 123 next. I will replace the content around 12 o'clock, and then change the chapter name tomorrow.)