Chapter 119 The First "Kill" Under Sober Consciousness

Strictly speaking, this wasn't Gu Shen's first time "killing" a transcendent.

But this time, the Truth Ruler's influence on his decisions was greatly reduced.

From beginning to end, every second of every minute, Gu Shen was in a state of absolute rationality.

This was the first "kill" under a clear consciousness.

The girl and her shadow embraced each other, falling into the dirty mud. The color gradually faded from her pretty face, and a small, narrow hole opened between her pale eyebrows. Warm liquid trickled out, like a sleeping, hibernating bird.

Only after confirming the disappearance of her life force did Gu Shen withdraw from the "Truth Ruler" state. The feeling of weightlessness from falling from his peak instantly surged into his heart. He slowly squatted down, the whole world spinning, and only with his powerful willpower could he hold onto the last trace of clarity in his heart.

The first thing Gu Shen did was to check the silver scissors. The silver scissors in the pool of blood were no longer shining, but had become dim. His previous guess was correct. This was not a sealed item, but only attached with Qu Shui's ability, so it could cut shadows. After Qu Shui died, the scissors became ordinary.

Then, he silently stared at the eternally sleeping girl and dialed Hu Danian's number.

"...Hello, who is this?"

Hu Danian, who hadn't slept soundly for a week, was currently in a deep sleep, and being woken up by the phone clearly put him in a bad mood.

"It's me. Gu Shen."

"The Sumu stone statue's insomnia and the Jiangtan's serial murder case are two separate cases," Gu Shen said calmly. "That serial killer... is here with me."

"What???" Hu Danian woke up instantly.

It took him another five seconds to react.

Struggling to digest the massive amount of information in Gu Shen's short sentence, Hu Danian quickly asked, "Are you... alright?"

"Yeah... still alive." Gu Shen glanced at the scene and said, "But my situation is not good. I can't hold on for too long. I need you to handle the scene... I'm in kiln 97 under Jiangtan..."

Although this place was remote, it was only because no one would pass by in the middle of the night.

Once dawn broke, it would be hard to say.

He had used the Truth Ruler twice, and his mental strength was already on the verge of collapse... If he continued to hold on, he could last for ten minutes at most, maybe half an hour?

After a brief exchange of information, Hu Danian said anxiously, "Hang in there, I'll be right there!"

He hung up the phone.

Gu Shen took another deep breath. The feeling of overdrafting his spirit for the second time was terrible... It was like a black hole had opened in the top of his head, and his will and spirit were being sucked into it. He had a dizzying illusion of being drunk. Gu Shen felt like he could lose consciousness at any moment.

No!

He couldn't fall asleep!

Gritting his teeth, he summoned the Blazing Fire again. As the warm fire dispelled the darkness, he felt much warmer all over.

To keep his mind clear, Gu Shen forced himself to think.

"Transcendent Source Quality..."

The term jumped into his mind.

When solving the mass insomnia case, Gu Shen felt for the first time the transcendent source quality that Chu Ling had mentioned.

His Blazing Fire was a highly adaptable transcendent ability, but it was still small and needed to absorb source quality to strengthen itself... However, the Sumu stone statue's transcendent source quality was very limited. The benefits of repeatedly hypnotizing to remove the mental brand were too small.

After all, it was just a brand differentiated from a D-grade sealed item.

And out of consideration for completing the mission, Gu Shen was not prepared to risk extracting the stone statue's own transcendent source quality... The sealed item would likely be carefully checked, and he didn't want to expose his transcendent ability to outsiders yet.

At this moment, under the blessing of the Blazing Fire, the color of his vision changed.

The world on the Jiangtan shore was no longer dark, but divided into clusters of color, and the most conspicuous of them... was Qu Shui.

As the world faded from the darkness, the girl became the only black spot.

A small black spot lay in the midst of the colorful world, as if it had absorbed all the darkness in the world.

"Is this, the transcendent's... source quality?"

Gu Shen looked at the dead girl in the Blazing Fire world.

In the real world, after Qu Shui died, blood flowed from her eyebrows, forming a pool of blood. But in the vision covered by the Blazing Fire, strands of shadows converged towards her like swimming snakes. Those shadows were the result of her ability autonomously dissipating and attracting... But now that she was dead, the shadows washed back and forth over the pool of blood, unable to be contained.

Some shadows had already begun to dissipate.

Judging from this sign, it wouldn't be long before all these transcendent source qualities dissipated and no longer gathered on her body.

"The transcendent's source quality... will dissipate into this world after they die."

He summarized silently.

"No... dissipate is not an accurate word."

Even though he was extremely tired, Gu Shen's mind was still working quickly.

"Transcendent source quality... should always exist in this world, like air. Most transcendents cannot see it, but it is real. When the transcendent breathing technique is running, they are absorbed and contained. When the transcendent dies, they are released."

"When a transcendent dies, the source quality does not dissipate, but returns to the invisible 'void', and then goes through some kind of cycle to another place that can contain it... So even inanimate sealed items can possess transcendent source quality as long as they meet the conditions for containing it."

"If I want to strengthen the Blazing Fire... I need to absorb various source qualities. My own breathing technique's source quality, the sealed item's source quality, the transcendent's source quality, can all become the Blazing Fire's 'food'."

As soon as this idea appeared, Gu Shen's eyes fell on Qu Shui.

"According to this situation, the Blazing Fire... should be a mental-type transcendent ability. But how do I take her source quality?"

Gu Shen thought for a while, and it seemed that he only had one way left.

Immerse the Blazing Fire in Qu Shui's spirit.

Logically speaking, the girl was already dead, and her consciousness had dissipated, so naturally there was no spirit.

But the previous few times of removing the stone statue's brand allowed Gu Shen to become familiar with his Blazing Fire ability.

Unlike ordinary mental-type transcendents, the Blazing Fire seemed to possess an incredible power of perception. He could sense the spiritual fluctuations carried by objects and life forms... These spiritual fluctuations could establish order under the blessing of the Blazing Fire, and then build a dream with mapping significance.

In Zhou Yexin's body... the Blazing Fire saw a dream that had remained for more than ten years.

"The shadows on her body retain very strong mental fluctuations... If I want to absorb source quality, I can only try this." Gu Shen rubbed his face vigorously, cheered up, and decided to try it before he lost consciousness.

"Buzz!"

Under Gu Shen's will, the small flame attached to his brow slowly detached and landed on Qu Shui's brow, the wound where the blood hole had been opened. Under the burning of the Blazing Fire, a faint burnt smell emerged.

Although the Blazing Fire only showed the hypnotic power of the mental system, it was still a flame with a physical presence and a very high temperature.

Except for the owner, Gu Shen, all other contactors would be burned by the Blazing Fire.

Since it had temperature, it could burn physical objects.

This meant that... if this small flame could one day grow into the raging tide that would destroy all ghosts in the "Cage of the Netherworld", then burning down a city would be just a blink of an eye.

In just two seconds.

The blood hole in Qu Shui's forehead no longer flowed with blood. With the descent of the Blazing Fire, the extremely high temperature directly evaporated the flowing blood.

On the colorful Jiangtan shore, the small black shadow finally came into contact with the blazing flame.

The world returned to darkness again.

The Jiang River roared and surged.

Gu Shen sat back against the muddy stone wall of kiln 97, lowered his head slightly, and fell into "slumber."

...

...

He was very tired.

Very, very tired.

So tired that he didn't want to open his eyes... He wanted to sleep like this forever.

His body was like a piece of seaweed, hit by a wave weighing ten thousand pounds in the sea, repeatedly crushed by the invisible undertow.

Falling.

Falling.

With a loud "bang", a thunderous sound exploded.

Gu Shen woke up abruptly.

He was lifted out of the bathtub by a big hand, his left cheek was burning with pain. Before he could react, another slap landed on his right cheek.

"You pig!"

The one holding his body was a thin man. His face was full of ferocity, even though his refined round-rimmed glasses were filled with water vapor. After the two slaps, Gu Shen regained consciousness... The Blazing Fire had immersed itself in Qu Shui's remaining dream.

Although the original owner was dead.

But Gu Shen still couldn't move his body freely.

The feeling was exceptionally real.

He could feel his limbs, as if they were filled with lead. Similarly, his spirit was extremely tired, which was completely different from the overdraft feeling of overusing the Truth Ruler -- what was constantly surging in his mind was a kind of almost despair, a spiritual consciousness that could give up on itself at any time.

This was... Qu Shui's father?

He felt that the man's face at this moment vaguely overlapped with the silhouette he had seen in the profiling world... It was very similar.

As soon as this thought emerged.

"Pa!"

The third slap came fiercely, hitting Gu Shen so hard that he felt dizzy and wanted to vomit... He was immersed in Qu Shui's perspective.

The girl was knocked backwards, half of her body flipped out of the bathtub. At this moment, Gu Shen saw "himself" in the mirror, a small, unsightly body, covered with scars. There were several scarlet cut marks on her wrist, which looked shocking after being soaked in cold water.

These scabbed wounds on Qu Shui's wrist... were left at this time?

He also caught a glimpse of a body... dismembered and scattered in pieces, her beautiful long hair was wet with scarlet blood.

At this moment, a strong sense of discomfort surged from all over his body.

Finally squeezed into his stomach.

The girl couldn't help but "wah" and wanted to throw up something... But her throat was full of acid. Perhaps because she hadn't eaten for too long, she dry heaved and only vomited some scattered sour water.

"Dad..."

A broken cry came laboriously from the girl's throat, she curled up and tried to beg for mercy: "Don't..."

Except for Gu Shen, no one saw it.

In the bathtub, a dark shadow was getting bigger and bigger, like a shark that could jump out of the sea at any time.

This was not a dream... but a reality truly recorded by the transcendent source quality... This was the scene when Qu Shui awakened her transcendence.

A man who had lost his mind.

And a girl who was struggling to hold on.

This broken and painful dream bloomed completely the moment the black shadow in the bathtub propped up and broke through the water.

The man's surprised and panicked face was instantly submerged by the black shadow. Countless black shadows entered from his eyes, nose, and lips, almost bursting the body open. He was hit against the wall by the huge impact and slid down weakly, while the girl still maintained her curled-up posture... There were always pitiful people in this world who were fooled by fate. At the moment of awakening their transcendence, they became out of control due to the intense mental stimulation.

She was one in a thousand lucky ones, and also one in ten thousand sufferers.

At this moment, Gu Shen felt that he had suddenly regained his freedom... After enduring intense pain, he was no longer imprisoned in the girl's small body, but slowly stood up, his illusory consciousness transforming into a ball of Blazing Fire.

He came to this real dream as a third party.

The Blazing Fire swirled, condensing into a solid form.

Gu Shen silently looked at the girl curled up in the corner of the bathroom, and glanced at the unconscious man.

The Blazing Fire guided him... to watch this dream, which was the purest spirit remaining in Qu Shui's transcendent source quality.

Once out of control, transcendents had no reason. Their actions were guided entirely by the source quality.

And in this source quality, what Gu Shen felt... was only suffering, only torment.

That was why her style was so perverse and crazy.

Her father killed her mother and was about to kill herself... Under this despair, even without transcendent awakening, Qu Shui would have a mental breakdown.

The Blazing Fire appeared in front of Gu Shen again.

It swayed slowly, transmitting a clear mental fluctuation.

Gu Shen looked at the curled-up girl. In this dream, the "transcendent source quality" he wanted to absorb should be here.

Did he have to kill her again to get the source quality?

Gu Shen was silent.

After a long silence, he stepped forward.

...

...

"Cold... cold..."

The girl shivered, hiding at the very edge, hugging her arms.

She dared not look at anyone, every pore on her body was trembling... Thousands of shadows wrapped around her, wanting to form a big cocoon.

The whole world turned dark.

All the light disappeared, all the darkness swept over.

Until a clean, huge bath towel was draped over her body.

Qu Shui's body stiffened for a moment.

She struggled to raise her head, only to see a blurred silhouette. The person was covered in black code, with a very small but warm flame floating between his eyebrows.

"Put it on... It'll be better."

The voice of that figure fell into the trembling girl's ears, as if a ray of fire had suddenly appeared, illuminating the dark world. Thousands of converging shadows were blocked by a tiny flame, preventing them from forming a cocoon.

Looking at the trembling girl, Gu Shen sighed softly and said to the Blazing Fire, "If I have to kill her again... to get the source quality, I can't do that."

Killing Qu Shui was because she was already out of control.

Tonight on the Jiangtan, it was either you die or I live.

But the pitiful girl in this dream was a sufferer wandering in a void dream.

He would never be merciful to enemies... But Gu Shen couldn't bring himself to act against such a person.

Even in a dream, he couldn't deceive himself and do things that violated his principles.

The Blazing Fire seemed to understand Gu Shen's words, swayed, and slowly pulsed.

After Gu Shen made his choice... the surroundings of this dream began to collapse, the color faded again, and the transcendent source quality attached to Qu Shui began to dissipate autonomously due to her death.

"That's it."

Gu Shen said calmly, "There will be opportunities to absorb source quality in the future."

He looked back again... preparing to leave this dream completely.

Suddenly a voice stopped him.

"Big brother..."

In the collapsing dream, the voice of the tearful girl bloomed slowly as the mirror shattered, "Thank you..."

The transcendent source quality, which symbolized madness, rage, and venting, suddenly calmed down.

"The fire on your brow... is so beautiful... I liked it the moment I saw it..."

The dream collapsed.

The girl smiled softly and stretched out her palm.

In her pale palm lay a small black cocoon.