Chapter 1 Dim Light

The great moon hung high, and the cool wind rustled through the trees.

On the summit of Wu Dai Island, a brilliant flame flickered to life.

"Who?!"

Two Guang Ming Bi Lei secret agents abruptly turned around, but before they could react, the demon before them reached out with both hands.

*Boom! Boom!*

Gu Shen pressed his hands against the two agents' faces, exerting heavy force.

These two agents were not strong, not even having comprehended a Domain Embryo. Clearly, they were sent by Guang Ming Bi Lei to scout the situation.

To deal with transcendents of this level, there was no need to use a fully formed Domain like Pure Land Blazing Fire!

After two muffled thuds, the two agents were knocked unconscious on the spot.

...

...

"These are 'newcomers' recruited by the Dadu Tribunal three years ago, Hong Xi and Chen Lin. Their mental examination reports have passed the [Deep Sea] review, and there are no problems."

Chu Ling came to Gu Shen's side and said, "I didn't expect these two to be Guang Ming Bi Lei secret agents."

"Guang Ming Bi Lei has been planning for many years, long ago setting up hidden pieces for the sake of 'faith.'"

Gu Shen said calmly, "It's reasonable to send out two expendable pawns for the Jiankou Islands matter."

"These two... their strength is very ordinary, Deep Sea Fifth Layer, Deep Sea Sixth Layer."

Chen Li squatted down, checked their breathing, and said with regret, "They're not the big fish we're trying to catch at all."

"The Temple is vigilant, and big fish are hard to catch."

Gu Shen said indifferently, "It's normal for them not to take the bait before they understand the specific situation of the Dongse family."

"Do we need to check the mental sea of these two?"

"No need."

Gu Shen smiled slightly and said, "Guang Ming Bi Lei agents must have a mental lock. Touching it means death. These two are probably hoping we'll check their mental sea."

"So what do we do now, keep waiting?"

Chen Li was a little puzzled, "You set up this game, but only these two insignificant little characters have come. Isn't it a bit of a pity?"

"Not a pity."

Gu Shen shook his head and said calmly, "As long as I catch a fish, no matter how small, I win this round."

He grabbed the two men and dragged them into a nearby wooden house.

Gu Shen knew that while the Western Continent coveted the power of faith in the Jiankou Islands, they had been patient enough to plan for more than a decade and would not act rashly at this juncture.

He had laid out the bait.

The other side sent out suicide soldiers.

This was a normal game of back and forth.

But in this round, Guang Ming Bi Lei lost because of the "information gap." They simply didn't know who was behind the thorough investigation of the Dongse family.

They didn't know that Gu Shen had two pages of the [Holy Book]!

Gu Shen spread out his Domain, slapped them left and right, two not-too-heavy ear slaps, forcibly waking the two unconscious agents.

Hong Xi and Chen Lin looked dazed. Before they could react, they found themselves in a dark and unknown place… and the faint firelight illuminated that familiar demon mask.

"Who are you?!"

The two cried out in horror.

They wanted to continue sending information, but the mental link had been severed.

Gu Shen didn't bother with these two small characters at all. He took out the [Holy Book], poured mental power into it, and then released it towards the two Guang Ming Bi Lei agents.

*Boom!*

The dilapidated and dark little wooden house burst into light.

A few seconds later, the light faded.

The gazes of Hong Xi and Chen Lin gradually changed from muddled to clear. The faith in their minds was cleansed by the [Holy Book].

The demon replaced the infinitely tall Guang Ming Bi Lei throne in their minds...

The dark and gloomy environment around them became incomparably holy and sacred.

An indescribable feeling of excitement flowed through their bodies as they were able to see the Lord of Faith. The two hurriedly knelt down, kowtowing like pounding garlic.

"Lord!"

"Lord!"

Gu Shen frowned.

He waved his hand, lifted the two up, and said coldly, "Alright, stop kowtowing. I want to know about the Guang Ming Bi Lei spy network lurking in Eastern Continent."

The fact that Guang Ming Bi Lei wanted to use the power of faith to infiltrate the Five Continents was actually already known to the high-level officials of the Five Continents' councils.

The Western Continent's Guang Ming Bi Lei doctrine had a huge number of believers in the Five Continents.

Their influence spanned both the transcendent and mortal worlds, and it could be said that they were now the number one church in the Five Continents.

Apart from the "Storm Church" of Southern Continent, it was difficult for other regions to establish defenses to prevent this kind of cultural and ideological invasion, because the "Guang Ming Bi Lei Church's" philosophy was flexible. For mortals, the Guang Ming Bi Lei Church advocated helping the world and saving people. For most transcendents, believing in the Guang Ming Bi Lei Church's doctrine could also redeem them.

The softer it was, the harder it was to resist.

Because it also had a hard-as-iron side.

Those believers of the Saint Arbiter Corps could abandon their lives for the Temple at any time, regardless of right or wrong.

Only the Storm Church could compare to this level of cohesion.

The Guang Ming Bi Lei Church twisted the thoughts of the "core members" into a piece of iron, and their flexible infiltration of other continents was ultimately aimed at turning the whole world into this piece of iron.

After the "Li Bing," the garrison of Dongning City, was exposed, Northern Continent began to deploy and pull out Guang Ming Bi Lei's secret agents one by one.

But the progress in Eastern Continent was very slow.

Because of the existence of the "mental lock," it was difficult for Eastern Continent to find believers who truly touched the core interests of the Guang Ming Bi Lei high-level…

And this time, Gu Shen's layout was to find such "core believers"!

Regardless of status, as long as they could come into contact with the [Temple] and directly listen to the orders of the [Temple], it was enough!

As for the mental lock, it was not a problem.

Gu Shen held the [Holy Book] in his hand. As long as the conversion was successful, the core believers of Guang Ming Bi Lei would take the initiative to reveal these secrets.

"This time our action... was under the order of the Third Arbiter of the Tribunal, 'Uto.'"

Hong Xi began to confess everything he knew.

There was indeed more than just the "Dongse family" in Eastern Continent that was controlled by Guang Ming Bi Lei -

According to Gu Shen's guess, the Three Tribunals and Five Great Families had all been infiltrated to varying degrees. However, the higher the level, the lower the chance of being controlled. As for those living in Nagano, not to mention that Mr. Baizhu's Divine Domain now shrouded Snowseal City, even if Guang Ming Bi Lei agents had ten lives, they would not dare to walk into the Divine Domain.

After his "death," the Tribunal ushered in a new reshuffle.

Because of the [Sky Tree]'s contribution to Nagano, the position of Grand Arbiter has been reserved, and this position was actually left for Gu Shen to inherit.

After Gu Shen fell in Sang Continent Cave.

Out of respect for this S-rank, the Tribunal has kept this position vacant.

Because of this, the Tribunal lacked a truly influential "leader," which led to many loopholes within a large Tribunal. Guang Ming Bi Lei arranged for more than a dozen secret agents. The cultivation realms of these people varied. The most powerful was a Fourth Order Arbiter. It was hard to imagine that such a high-ranking authority would be willing to act as Guang Ming Bi Lei's secret agent.

If a god war broke out one day.

The Tribunal, this knife, would probably strike Nagano first!

After listening to Hong Xi and Chen Lin's reports, Gu Shen's expression was gloomy, because these two were only considered mid-level, not truly "high-level" in the real sense. Guang Ming Bi Lei's spy network would only be larger, not smaller…

"Who ordered this mission?"

He threw out the second question.

"Lord, this is not something we can know."

Hong Xi said everything he knew, "The [Temple] will deliver a dream through the 'Law of Light.' We will know the purpose of this mission in the dream. The purpose of coming to the Jiankou Islands to test the truth of the Dongse family and the survival of the [Serpent God Believers] is tonight's action. If we are discovered, we will commit suicide on the spot."

The Temple's attitude was unusually cautious.

The fact that they sent out secret agents of Hong Xi and Chen Lin's level made it clear that they didn't care about sacrifice.

If they died, they died.

In any case, it would not involve more people.

"I want you to send back intelligence... tell your superiors that there is a large amount of faith power on 'Wu Dai Island.'"

"Lord, do you want to wait for the next batch of people to land on the island?"

"Yes... is there a problem?"

"There will be no next batch of people landing on the island."

Hong Xi paused and said respectfully, "The [Temple] will not only deliver dreams, but also extract dreams. Every piece of intelligence we provide will be verified through dreams. If our faith in Guang Ming Bi Lei is not pure enough, it will lead to the failure of the dream extraction. The intelligence about 'Wu Dai Island' will naturally be considered false intelligence."

"In other words... the so-called 'Light Dream' will not descend after tonight."

"..." Gu Shen was a little surprised.

He knew that the methods in the Land of Faith were complicated, but he didn't expect that Guang Ming Bi Lei could play so many tricks with a dream.

"Lord! We have now found a new direction!"

Chen Lin also raised his head and said with excitement, "The Guang Ming Bi Lei Church is hypocritical and dirty. Believing in you is the right path... what the hell is a Light Dream, it's better if it doesn't come. If it dares to descend, I will definitely scold the Guang Ming Bi Lei throne for its petty schemes!"

"Alright."

Gu Shen quickly waved his sleeve to interrupt him.

Although the believers converted by this [Holy Book] had changed their faith, their personality and behavior had not changed.

These two believers repeatedly said they believed in him.

But it could be seen from the behavior they showed... how successfully the Guang Ming Bi Lei Church had cultivated them.

The layout of Wu Dai Island had really only caught two small fish.

Although he had pulled out a part of the spy network lurking in Eastern Continent along with Hong Xi and Chen Lin, Gu Shen always felt that something was wrong.

He had originally planned to let Hong Xi and Chen Lin go back, but now it seemed that there was no need.

Dream extraction failed.

Guang Ming Bi Lei would know that there was a problem with the secret agents.

In this case, it would be better to just kill them, so as not to expose the [Holy Book]?

"By the way..."

Just as Gu Shen was hesitating, Hong Xi spoke again.

"Lord, I have another very important piece of intelligence here!"

"Hmm?"

"Just last night, the [Temple] delivered a dream, and I saw a very dim scene. In the past dreams, there were countless lights blooming, unprecedentedly bright..."

Hong Xi lowered his voice and said slowly, "But this time, the dream sent by the [Temple] was dark and lightless. I saw a picture of the sky being dim above Hong Lake."

"Lord, I saw it too."

Chen Lin said in a low voice, "I saw... Guang Ming Bi Lei, the sun has set."

...

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(I had writer's block today, sorry for the long wait. There are two more chapters tonight.)