Chapter 31 Lull

More than a dozen dark figures swarmed forward.

Gu Shen gripped the Ruler of Truth tightly, staring intently at the pitch-black world before him. The strength of the Ruler of Truth depended on the host's mental power, and whether his current state and the domain he had created could withstand this level of impact... remained unknown.

These shadows, having landed, seemed to possess a heavier mass than ordinary people... The ground trembled as they ran, mud and dust flew, and Gu Shen, leaning against the stone wall, felt a distinct vibration.

He stared nervously at the silver threads.

Could they hold?

With a "buzz!"

It was no longer silent cutting, but a slight rumble. The moment more than a dozen shadows poured into the Silver Thread Domain, Gu Shen felt the mental power in his mind drain rapidly, and the pain in the back of his head felt as if an iron skewer had been thrust deep inside.

One taut silver thread snapped.

Then came a continuous series of cracking sounds as the endless silver threads were shattered by the impact. Under the fiery light, the broken silver threads reflected a cool, snow-white gleam, like tearing silk.

At the same time, the seven or eight tall shadows at the front of the charge were also cut open by the invisible sharpness—

They paid the price for breaking through the Silver Thread Domain.

"This is… Silver Threads!"

This time, Qu Shui saw Gu Shen's methods clearly.

Inside the narrow cave, countless silver threads hung densely. These threads were finer than hair, but as taut as blades. Touching them would cause a cut, let alone crashing into them at full speed…

The girl's expression turned grim.

She hadn't expected this little Doctor Gu, who usually seemed gentle and refined, to be so vicious when he started fighting.

First, he attacked her with silver needles, and then he set up strangling threads. If she had gotten close at the first moment… she would probably have been beheaded.

"Capture him, I want him alive."

After regaining her composure, Qu Shui coldly uttered these words and slowly retreated. She stood outside the cave, distancing herself from the battle, coldly watching the situation inside… Now that she had figured out Gu Shen's methods, there was nothing to worry about. This was just a war of attrition.

She had collected enough shadows with great effort!

It was a pity that once these shadows solidified and were then shattered, they could not be resurrected.

However… this consumption was nothing.

If only she could cut off Gu Shen's shadow… Gu Shen's shadow was more valuable than all of them combined. Perhaps she could even cut off that wisp of beautiful flame between Gu Shen's eyebrows and take it for herself.

……

……

"She's calmed down… Now she wants to wage a war of attrition with me."

Seeing Qu Shui slowly retreat from the cave, Gu Shen's expression didn't change much.

This was what he had expected.

Enraging the other party was to kill as many shadows as possible while the Silver Thread Domain still existed!

What he had been most worried about was that the Ruler of Truth wouldn't withstand the impact… But the situation was better than he had anticipated. The Silver Thread Domain had been half destroyed by the shadows' impact, but it had also killed eight of them.

These shadows themselves didn't possess any additional attributes. They seemed to only retain the "strength" of their original hosts, without any scorching, corrosive, or other similar traits.

In that case… they were just tall wooden puppets that could move.

Gu Shen closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

"Silver Threads… Retract!"

The Ruler of Truth vibrated again with an enraged roar. The silver threads shattered into flying fragments, but these fragments of light, which symbolized mental power, didn't dissipate in the air. Instead, they gathered like a tornado, rapidly converging towards the tiger's mouth of Gu Shen's empty, raised hands—

Gu Shen imagined in his mind the way Nan Jin had handed him that knife on the rooftop.

He needed a knife.

A very sharp, very sharp knife, sharp enough to cut through everything.

"Rumble, rumble—"

Wind swept in. Gu Shen opened his eyes. There was no fear or trepidation in those pupils, only extreme calmness. At this moment, Gu Shen's vision was filled with only one thing.

It was a tall shadow nearly two meters high, more robust and powerful than the other shadows. It bent over, smashed a piece of gravel, lowered its body, and crashed towards Gu Shen with irresistible force, like a wild beast, carrying a gale, like a silent roar.

It occupied Gu Shen's entire field of vision.

And the next moment, his vision was occupied by a blade of light that was so clear it was almost blinding.

The Ruler of Truth, which Gu Shen held in his empty hands, was filled with snow-white light, solidifying into a slender Tang Dao (a type of Chinese straight sword), with a narrow and straight blade, a small handguard, and a long handle. The blade exuded a faint, cold aura.

He stepped forward and unleashed the strike he had painstakingly practiced for fifteen days under Nan Jin's guidance at the underground venue.

Thousands upon thousands of times of arduous practice every day.

Just for this one strike.

It hadn't been used in the final assessment, but it was being used today.

The moment the light blade touched the air, it seemed to pierce into a lake. As the blade pressed down each degree, the air shattered like a lake, forced to stir up thousands of shimmering silver lights. The space in front of the blade's tip collapsed like a water tornado. suduxs.com

In an instant.

The head of the shadow at the front of the charge collapsed, as if it had crashed into a meat grinder. The next moment, the entire pitch-black head was twisted into pieces by the water tornado shrouded by the blade's sharpness. The tearing sound was like cloth exploding. This was only the sharpness of Gu Shen's swing halfway through the strike. He half-knelt, exerting all his strength to deliver this strike completely!

And so, this ray of sharpness illuminated the entire dark cave in a silvery-white brilliance.

The powerful blade tornado howled as it crashed forward. In the confined terrain, this strike unleashed its power to the fullest extent, displaying twelve times its killing force. The other shadows scattered on both sides were caught in the rolling tornado and were also instantly shredded without exception.

"Boom!"

Late at night on the river beach, it sounded as if a water dragon was roaring.

The surging river water burst out, blasting a huge column of water.

It quickly returned to silence.

Scattered water splashed down.

The long night remained dark and tranquil.

Qu Shui stood blankly outside the cave, trying hard to see the scene inside, but in reality, she couldn't see anything. Her vision was already blurred with blood, and she had been blinded by the white light just now, and was now in a state of complete darkness.

A buzzing sound echoed in her ears.

"Don't move."

A calm voice, tinged with a hint of exhaustion, sounded in front of her.

She trembled subconsciously, and a sharp pain came from her neck.

Her vision slowly recovered somewhat, and she saw the scene before her… A slender silver blade was pressed against her neck.

The person holding the blade was none other than Gu Shen.

Qu Shui had not yet awakened from the shock of that previous strike, and her expression was dazed.

Gu Shen held the silver blade tightly, expressionless, staring fixedly at the girl. He could understand the shock in her expression. Even he had been amazed by the effect of that strike.

The transformative power of the Ruler of Truth seemed to be even stronger than he had imagined.

However, the consumption of that strike was also enormous.

After delivering that strike, he was already exhausted. If he had used his trump card from the beginning without killing all these shadows, then he… would probably have been finished.

It took Qu Shui a long time to come back to her senses. She laughed self-deprecatingly, her voice hoarse as she asked, "You… are you a sword practitioner?"

Gu Shen shook his head and told the truth: "I practiced for fifteen days and learned a little bit."