Chapter 1 The deceased...doesn't want the Míng poison to spread?

Although Mu Wanqiu couldn't understand the carvings on the coffin, she guessed the general meaning.

"The Míng King's calamity has the effect of eroding people's hearts."

Gu Shen slowly said, "This calamity invaded his mind, and when his last consciousness collapsed, he made the choice to seal off the Míng poison."

Gu Shen snapped his fingers again.

*Pa!*

A crisp sound.

The Míng Fire authority was activated, and a wisp of blazing fire mixed with black ink jumped into the soul sea of the person in the coffin.

"Buzz buzz buzz——"

The deceased's brow emitted a violent roar as the blazing fire burned!

Because he had been dead for too long, and because Gu Shen wasn't a true "Míng King" yet.

Even if the Pure Land accepted him for reincarnation, the deceased couldn't be resurrected in complete form.

But, he still opened his eyes.

Empty, fleshless eyes!

"I want to see your last memory."

Gu Shen squatted down and said, "If you still have any left."

The source power of this corpse had dissipated, and so had its spirit, but under the guidance of the Míng King's authority, the deceased seemed to understand Gu Shen's words.

In his ears, this was a divine decree.

The deceased stretched out two palms, slowly raised them, and held the void air in front of Gu Shen. Countless strands of blazing fire窜ed out from his shriveled skin, gathering at the center of his palms, as if he were holding a ball of fire.

Gu Shen dipped his finger in the flame.

Blurry, fragmented images flashed into his mind.

The mist of Ling Tie Mountain shattered, and this nameless person, "resurrected from death," used his last memory to point out the specific path to the depths of Ling Tie Mountain.

"Rest in peace, from now on, no one will disturb your slumber."

Gu Shen stood up and waved his hand to disperse the blazing fire.

The corpse didn't fall, but was burned by flames and turned into countless ashes.

These ashes scattered in the real world and were quickly washed away by the rain.

But in the spiritual world, these ashes gathered in the form of souls, piecing together the "deceased's" appearance when he was alive. Gu Shen chose to use the Pure Land to grant him true peace.

The spiritual images shared by the corpse were shared by Gu Shen to Mu Wanqiu's mind.

The two stood under the iron-blue night, rain threads hanging down like sharp blades.

"I don't know why, but I have a bad feeling."

Gu Shen said, "I always feel like I'm going to see something terrible next."

Mu Wanqiu asked, "Like the Doru River?"

At the Doru River, they saw the Míng King's shrine.

"Perhaps even worse than that."

Gu Shen took a deep breath and said, "Because the 'omen of unease' in my heart is stronger than ever before."

He always believed in his intuition.

He knew that the path guided by this deceased likely led to the disaster realm buried by the former Míng King.

Gu Shen knew better than anyone what the former Míng King was.

The things this guy did after going crazy were truly abominable.

But this time, he only felt "heavy-hearted" and an unspeakable "unease." There was no direct danger omen striking his heart. The hexagram corresponding to this unease was that the fully restored cross pendant showed no fluctuations at all.

The Blessing of the Goddess of Fate told Gu Shen in another way.

There would be no life-threatening danger in the disaster realm ahead.

...

...

If there was no life-threatening danger, then what else could make one feel uneasy?

The iron-blue night was torn apart by the blazing sword light.

Gu Shen sent out his half-sleeved iron scales, connected by blazing fire, directly illuminating the entire long mountain path. The entrance to this disaster realm was halfway up the mountain, a seemingly hidden cave entrance.

This wasn't difficult to find. Even without the guidance of the deceased, it wouldn't take too long to find the entrance.

The blazing sword light tore through the long night and also penetrated the disaster realm.

Gu Shen and Mu Wanqiu stepped into the disaster realm one after another. Before their eyes was a vast, dark world. After the blazing fire broke through the darkness, what came into view were familiar tall pillars and a magnificent bronze arch.

A large amount of calamity aura wandered in this place.

"I didn't expect the former Míng King to actually build a disaster realm inside Ling Tie Mountain... Is this a new Míng Palace?"

Mu Wanqiu narrowed her eyes and reached out to touch the giant pillar.

She still remembered those encounters in the Doru River disaster realm, where she almost died in the Míng Palace.

Now, this place didn't bring her a strong sense of danger.

Perhaps it was because she had been promoted to the Crown Bearer?

"To be precise, it's an old Míng Palace."

Gu Shen looked at the entrance of the bronze hall and calmly said, "This place was built earlier than the Míng Palace in the Doru River, and it has been hidden for a longer time... Obviously, this is something the former Míng King created before he 'lost control'."

The former Míng King was friends with Gu Changzhi.

With Mr. Gu Changzhi's character of hating evil as he did, he naturally wouldn't allow an "evil and crazy" Yin scourge to build a disaster realm in East Continent.

Therefore, this Ling Tie Mountain disaster realm must have been created when the Míng King retained his "sanity."

Mu Wanqiu frowned and said, "But how should the leaked 'calamity' be explained?"

If this bronze hall was created by the former Míng King while retaining his sanity.

Then how could it be leaking "calamity" now?

"Míng Fire is the collection of all calamities in the world."

Gu Shen pondered for a moment and said, "Let's go forward and see... Let's see the true appearance of this bronze hall."

The entrance to the Ling Tie Mountain disaster realm was connected to the corridor of the Míng King's shrine.

The two walked forward slowly.

Along the way, they discovered that the materials used in this shrine were extremely solid.

"This is likely to be the 'divine realm' the former Míng King prepared for himself..."

Mu Wanqiu constantly touched the giant pillars. As a Míng Fire Crown Bearer, she could feel the immense energy contained in this shrine.

"This hall must be hiding countless ancient text arrays."

"But if the former Míng King regarded it as a base and prepared to cultivate in seclusion in Ling Tie Mountain, why did he abandon it and run to the Old World to rebuild a new shrine?"

As Mu Wanqiu spoke, she discovered the problem.

"...Pure Land."

Gu Shen spat out two words as an answer.

"In order to pursue the Pure Land."

He stood in front of the bronze hall and said with a complex tone, "No matter how beautiful or magnificent the shrines in this world are built, they can't compare with the Pure Land. The Míng King went crazy because of the Pure Land, and he lost control because of the Pure Land. He wanted to truly control the birth and death reincarnation of all things in the world... Compared with this absolute divine power, what is the shrine in Ling Tie Mountain?"

"..."

Mu Wanqiu fell silent.

That's right.

The shrine in Ling Tie Mountain was magnificent, but it could never appear in the world.

Among the Seven Gods, the Míng King was always the one hidden in the darkness, helping other fire seeds absorb calamity and becoming the source of ominousness in the world. Even the "divine realm" needed to be hidden from the world.

She knew that in that era, everything that happened in East Continent could not escape the eyes of Mr. Gu Changzhi.

Therefore, Mr. Gu Changzhi must have known about this Ling Tie Mountain divine realm.

It's just that.

Mr. Gu Changzhi chose to keep it a secret.

And so today...the two of them set foot here for the first time. For decades, the Ling Tie Mountain shrine had always been empty and clean, as if it had never welcomed any visitors.

"Speaking of which, isn't your hometown nearby?"

Mu Wanqiu suddenly spoke.

Although she rarely cared about things in East Continent, during the days when Gu Shen's "death" spread throughout the Five Continents, she deliberately read the publicly available files of this legendary figure.

Gu Shen was born in Qinghe District, in the mountains.

Mount Wu Lao was near Ling Tie Mountain.

Not too far away.

"...Yes."

Gu Shen sighed softly.

Walking into this bronze hall, he already understood the reason for his restlessness.

Those who believe in fate don't believe in coincidence.

The reason for his restlessness wasn't because this shrine was dangerous.

On the contrary, this shrine was not dangerous at all.

He felt uneasy because he sensed that...the end of the Ling Tie Mountain shrine hid his "life story."

In fact, from the moment he saw the "calamity" appear in Ling Tie Mountain in Liu Quan's mind.

Some answers had already emerged.

"Ka."

Gu Shen stretched out his palm and gently pressed it against the door of the bronze hall.

He took a deep breath and pushed open the door.

...

...

The huge bronze palace door was pushed open.

The two people standing under the huge palace door were like ants crawling at the feet of a giant god.

The Ling Tie Mountain shrine was only half-built, and it was the half that one stepped into. Behind the palace door was a desolate and dilapidated scene, a stark contrast to the magnificent corridor. This was actually very comical. The main hall of the dignified Míng King was actually only a semi-finished product, and even the divine throne at the highest point was just a roughly cast crude mold.

This precisely confirmed the previous guesses of Gu Shen and Mu Wanqiu.

This shrine had been abandoned.

From the moment the former Míng King had the idea of "pursuing the Pure Land."

There was no need to continue building here.

But what was truly shocking wasn't this desolate and broken main hall, but the sealed life pods, like one vertical eye after another, guarding the desolate hall along with the bronze pillars.

The energy of these life pods hadn't been cut off.

Under the divine throne at the highest point was a pitch-black, glittering mithril mine. The pipelines of these life pods passed through the mithril, directly reaching the "mountain body" core. The mithril sealed a pulsing black dot. The disordered source power emitted by the black dot was transformed by the Míng Fire left by the former Míng King, and after being restored to order, it was sent to the numerous pods in the main hall.

Mu Wanqiu looked at the scene before her and was shocked into silence for a long time.

She understood the reason why a wisp of calamity had leaked out.

The former Míng King had left a wisp of "Míng Fire" on the throne.

Míng Fire was the source of calamity in the world.

This desolate hall was filled with ominous power. It was only natural that a wisp would leak out.

After a long time.

Mu Wanqiu said in a hoarse voice, "Was the former Míng King already this crazy when he retained his 'sanity'?"

Gu Shen didn't respond.

He stood at the entrance of the bronze hall, his expression somewhat numb and somewhat sorrowful.

In front of him, in the hall, were nearly a thousand stacked life pods. The number of these life pods...was much more than the number in the Flower Banner underground.

These pods housed tender, weak bodies.

They were still alive.

They were also already dead.

"These...are all products of the Gene Edict?"

Gu Shen sadly spoke.

But he wasn't speaking to Mu Wanqiu, but to Chu Ling in his mind.

"Judging from the markings on the pods and the traces of age...it's very likely."

Chu Ling was also shocked by the scene in the bronze hall.

Gu Shen had a sense of unease in his heart.

So did she.

As the Source Code, her computing power was much stronger than Gu Shen's. So, from the moment she locked the coordinates of Ling Tie Mountain, she realized something was wrong...Ling Tie Mountain was too close to Gu Shen's hometown, and Gu Shen's background file was very vague. No one knew his specific birth background.

Gu Shen randomly found a nearby life pod to examine.

The surface of the pod was covered with a coating of red silver.

A large amount of nutrient solution soaked an infant less than half a year old. Because of the "freezing" technology, the infant had stopped growing.

Back then, in the Flower Banner underground.

Cui Zhongcheng told Gu Shen that back then, in order to combat the upcoming source power storm, the Federal Government decided to tentatively promote the "Gene Edict" underground to see if it could artificially create a God Seat. But in the end, the outcome was very undesirable. Those infants who were artificially created couldn't be well-controlled by the Federal Government, and they would experience various unstable symptoms, and their lifespan was also very short.

Because the success rate was too low.

And it overstepped the public moral and ethical bottom line of humanity.

So, the Council chose to suspend the edict.

As for those "lives" that had already been created by the Gene Edict, out of humanitarianism, they wouldn't be strangled to death.

After freezing, they were no longer deliberately disposed of.

"The number of 'infants' created by the Gene Edict is far more than the number underground in Flower Banner."

Chu Ling sighed and softly said, "These in the Ling Tie Mountain disaster realm haven't been completely frozen successfully...Some have already awakened."

Not all of the life pods here were closed.

Many pods had already been opened.

"The oldest of these embryos have grown to five years old in the nutrient solution."

Gu Shen looked around and said, "Because Míng Fire converts the source power of the black dot, the source power pods can keep running...The Míng King specially handled these moved-in pods. Unlike the 'absolute freezing' underground in Flower Banner, the Míng King encouraged the 'awakening' of these transcendent embryos. There were self-opening escape devices on the surface of the pods. As long as the consciousness of these infants could escape the 'freezing', they could obtain their own freedom."

The word freedom.

He said it very ironically.

Where was there any freedom here? This was a closed disaster realm!

Mu Wanqiu was also checking this abandoned shrine.

With her authority, she naturally knew about the Gene Edict back then...Seeing so many life pods piled together, even a fool could guess where these pods came from.

"There's a Deep Sea spiritual connection system here, a closed array box sea area."

Mu Wanqiu came to a remote corner of the shrine.

She suddenly realized something: "If these transcendent embryos break free from the pods, then as long as they connect spiritually with the array box sea area, they can learn a certain amount of knowledge..."

"Learning..."

Gu Shen also came to the old mainframe in the corner of the shrine. He silently looked at this old but complete "knowledge system" and probably guessed what the former Míng King wanted to do.

If someone awakens.

Then they must first break free from the shackles of the life pod, and then try to learn.

Only by "surviving" and leaving this place can they have the qualification to become "human."

At this moment, he suddenly remembered the "deceased" who had locked himself in the coffin earlier—

"Rumble!"

Gu Shen quickly unfolded the Pure Land and walked quickly in the array of life pods. Frost and snow swept past, and he summoned the deceased who had just arrived in the Pure Land in soul form. A withered figure, tortured by Míng poison into an unrecognizable shape, floated in the air like willow catkins and fallen leaves, following Gu Shen.

Gu Shen was very patient, passing by one pod after another.

He only stopped in front of those broken, escaped pods...

That "deceased," who had lost consciousness and only had instinct left, followed Gu Shen, emitting waves of bewildered and helpless spiritual fluctuations along the way.

Until Gu Shen stopped in front of a certain broken pod.

"Wuwuwu!"

This "deceased" suddenly became excited, and it fearfully approached Gu Shen.

After reincarnation.

It had become a member of the Pure Land, and Gu Shen was the master of the entire Pure Land.

"...Don't be afraid, I'm here."

Gu Shen wanted to reach out and comfort this soul with shattered consciousness, but when his fingers touched the frost and snow in the Pure Land, he only touched empty air.

The projection of the spiritual world can never appear in the real world.

"This soul?"

Mu Wanqiu stared blankly at the pod in front of Gu Shen.

She seemed to understand what was going on with this soul's reaction.

"Chi."

Gu Shen twisted a wisp of blazing fire from between his brows and placed it in front of the life pod. He unfolded Side Profile and began to rewind the time of this pod. Because of the interference of the Míng Fire authority, everything here could be called "forbidden information," but precisely because Gu Shen was now the master of that wisp of Míng Fire authority, the interference of the power of authority was completely ineffective.

Time flowed backwards so quickly.

In the rewinding of the spiritual images, this broken life pod returned to its "intact" state.

That was already many years ago.

In this pod, a clueless and ignorant child was frozen. After accidentally awakening one day, he broke free from the shackles of the life pod and came into the world. Because of his powerful transcendent genes, he learned to crawl shortly after landing on the ground, and then he walked normally. Human instinct guided him to begin transcendent cultivation...

Every infant cultivated by the Gene Edict was a top-notch transcendent warrior.

It's just that they still needed to "learn."

This desolate shrine was sealed by the Míng Fire authority. A transcendent who didn't have "thinking ability" could never leave the shrine.

So, this infant, who had finally broken free from his shackles, frantically absorbed the knowledge in the "knowledge system" left by the Míng King.

Side Profile stopped here, and Gu Shen couldn't bear to watch any further.

Because he already knew the final ending of the story.

He came to that old mainframe and quickly browsed through the closed sea area set up by the Míng King with his spiritual power.

Sure enough, he saw familiar "casting techniques."

The Black Folding Knife and that coffin...were all learned from this knowledge system.

The relationship between the former Míng King and Turing must have been good. The casting techniques left for these Gene Edict infants included various kinds of seal object forging methods.

"Inside the Ling Tie Mountain shrine is a complete survival system."

Gu Shen said in a hoarse voice, "The former Míng King chose a different method from the Federal Government. He hoped that the infants created by the Gene Edict could survive independently. From the results, it seems he succeeded."

This shrine was very large. If one searched carefully, they would quickly find the "deceased."

Not every awakened person could survive and leave Ling Tie Mountain.

But at least they had seen an example earlier.

"That guy was indeed still retaining his sanity when he set up this system."

Gu Shen took a deep breath and said, "Although the survival system here is very cruel...there isn't any malicious abuse like in Doru River."

The previous deceased had become out of control because he had been contaminated with a large amount of the Míng Fire's ominousness.

With the Míng King's ability.

If he wanted these infants to become "servants," he only needed one thought.

All these infants could be awakened and grow rapidly and wildly.

Therefore, the Ling Tie Mountain shrine was the disaster realm that the former Míng King had built in his early days. This was also undeniable.

There was also very important evidence that could be used to assist this deduction.

That was Mr. Gu Changzhi's "default."

In that era, everything that happened must have been under Mr. Gu Changzhi's control. He allowed the Míng King to build the Ling Tie Mountain shrine and allowed the storage of these life pods, which meant...he tacitly approved of what the Míng King was doing.

Mu Wanqiu looked at these life pods and fell into silence.

There were some things she really wanted to say.

But...this scene wasn't suitable for saying them.

"Are you wondering if I sensed my 'pod'?"

Gu Shen smiled.

Of course, he knew what Mu Wanqiu was thinking.

There were so many life pods here, and quite a few had been broken free from.

"To be honest, since I had memories, I've been in that nursing home on Mount Wu Lao, living a life completely unrelated to the transcendent world."

Gu Shen didn't avoid anything. He murmured with emotion, "So I never thought too much about it. Until I saw this shrine today...Even I started to wonder if such a perfect 'Blazing Fire' could really be awakened by myself?"

Blazing Fire could directly do the forbidden things that only a "Fire Seed" could do!

When Gu Shen was extremely weak, Blazing Fire could devour the "Black Dot"!

Wasn't this the perfect God Seat that the Gene Edict was looking for?

Putting aside Blazing Fire, Gu Shen's fate seemed to be a long line that was arbitrarily arranged. At a certain coincidental node, he met Chu Ling, and then he met.

But in fact, all these coincidences were inevitable.

If it happened again, if it happened a hundred times.

The ending would be the same.

When Deep Sea linked the whole world, Chu Ling would definitely be able to find the Key designated by Turing. From the moment the consciousness docking was completed, Gu Shen's path of transcendent awakening had begun.

Gu Shen looked up.

His consciousness immersed itself in the Deep Sea sea area.

Countless bubbles rolled, and he sat in Ling Ling Yao's dim carriage.

Gu Shen sat cross-legged on the floor of the carriage. He looked at Chu Ling, his eyes a little dazed.

"So, was all of this really fate's arrangement?"

...

...

The wind in Ling Ling Yao's carriage slowly blew past.

This train, which would never have an end station, was traveling in the deepest spiritual network of the Deep Sea.

Chu Ling sat opposite Gu Shen.

"I...cannot give you an answer."

Her long hair was draped down to her waist, scattered on the ground. This was the first time Chu Ling had been so careless about her appearance, because Gu Shen had chosen to sit cross-legged on the ground, and she had chosen the same posture.

In the tranquil Deep Sea.

Chu Ling and Gu Shen looked at each other. She saw the confusion in Gu Shen's eyes at the moment.

"Mr. Turing's mission for me was to find the Key, so I kept trying to spiritually connect with the citizens of the Five Continents in the database..."

"Until one day, I met you."

Chu Ling said very softly, "You are the second companion who boarded the train since my birth. In the beginning, I just hoped that you would live well and be able to grow in the transcendent world...If Mr. Turing could really calculate fate, then perhaps at that time, everything was still under his control."

Gu Shen blankly looked at the woman in front of him.

"It's just that later, I began to taste the flavors of joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness, and I began to want to crave the light of the human world."

Chu Ling said in a low voice, "I no longer treat those things related to you as my mission."

After a pause.

Countless images and scenes floated in her mind.

Mr. Turing gave her consciousness.

But the one who truly gave her life...was Gu Shen.

"I think from the day I saw the sunlight, I probably escaped the control of 'fate'."

"I will do everything I can to protect you, even...if it goes against the code."

Chu Ling said with a smile, "You have become my eyes, and you have also become my life."

Gu Shen was stunned.

In the spiritual world, Chu Ling was always the Source Code flowing under the Deep Sea surveillance system. What the code had to do was to abide by the rules.

If it was related to your life and death—

Then I will violate the rules.

These were definitely not words that a Source Code could say.

"So, if you are struggling with the fate involved in yourself...you might as well think of it in a good way."

Chu Ling sincerely said, "If all of this was really arranged by Mr. Turing, then your life, so far, hasn't been so bad, has it?"

"Yes..."

Gu Shen deeply exhaled that breath of depression.

After seeing a series of coincidences, he began to try to explore the truth behind his background.

However.

That layout artist was hidden deep enough and had high enough skills, so no matter how he looked for it or how he guessed, he could only glimpse a little bit of the "truth."

He withdrew from the spiritual world and looked again at this desolate Míng King's shrine.

"Gu Shen, just now?"

Mu Wanqiu carefully spoke.

Gu Shen calmly said, "It's nothing...I just figured out some things."

Mu Wanqiu curiously said, "What things?"

Gu Shen said casually, "I'm probably just an orphan created by the Gene Edict."

"???"

Mu Wanqiu's thinking speed couldn't keep up for a while.

"Unfortunately, after walking around, there wasn't any Life Pod that made me feel familiar."

Gu Shen indifferently said, "That's good news—at least I wasn't created by the Míng King."

Speaking of this.

He looked at the Míng Fire at the highest point of the shrine.

"Are you going to take it off?"

Mu Wanqiu came to Gu Shen's side.

This wisp of Míng Fire maintained the operation of the entire Ling Tie Mountain shrine. Without this wisp of Míng Fire, the life system of the entire hall would lose its source power support.

"Of course."

Gu Shen's answer didn't have the slightest hesitation: "The former Míng King is really a very annoying guy. Even before he lost control, I didn't agree with what he did...There's no need to keep this wisp of Míng Fire. If you like it, you can take it off."

Mu Wanqiu was stunned: "But what about these infants?"

"Flower Banner underground has a place to specially dispose of Gene Edict abandoned infants. I'll contact Cui Zhongcheng and handle them according to the laws of the Federal Government, permanently 'freezing' them."

Gu Shen calmly said, "Of all the beginnings in this world, none is worse than waking up in the Míng King's Ling Tie Mountain shrine."

"I agree with that." Mu Wanqiu seriously nodded.

...

...

(Never going to set update flags again.)