Chapter 1 The Wind Rises?

"Is that the wind?"

"Is it?"

Su Ye pushed the wheelchair. Yao Jin turned back to look in the direction they had come from in the secret prison. The barrier and mechanisms had already been opened, and all that could be seen was a dark, deep abyss.

Yao Jin deliberately didn't close them again.

He was waiting for Gu Nanfeng to arrive... but the gust of wind he had been expecting didn't appear.

A very faint breeze came from the depths of the secret prison. Yao Jin's eyes were puzzled; he couldn't understand why there would be wind there.

But he understood very quickly.

This was the wind caused by someone running. The Heavy Armor Guards in the secret prison rarely moved, and the sound of these footsteps was very hurried.

What was happening inside?

A few seconds later, a Heavy Armor Guard indeed came running over, looking flustered. The Heavy Armor Guard was stunned when he saw the holy son, Su Ye.

This was the secret prison, not the temple.

The Heavy Armor Guard's direct superior was Yao Jin, not Su Ye.

So he paused for a second, then turned his gaze back to Yao Jin. The Heavy Armor Guard stood silently, nervously transmitting a wisp of divine thought, telling him everything that was happening inside the secret prison.

"..."

Yao Jin sat silently in his wheelchair. After hearing the news, he sighed softly.

At this moment, the atmosphere inside the secret prison was eerily quiet.

"Hmm?"

Su Ye noticed the Heavy Armor Guard's strange behavior, but he was more interested in Yao Jin's sudden silence. The two of them must have had a mental exchange just now.

Since they had deliberately avoided him...

Then there was no point in asking.

He would know what had happened inside just by looking.

Su Ye quickened his pace.

The Heavy Armor Guard wanted to stop him, but Yao Jin stopped him with a look. This last part of the secret prison path was long and short. Su Ye walked quickly in the darkness, and flames constantly ignited on both sides, illuminating the dark, gloomy secret road.

A sense of unease also welled up in his heart.

Finally.

The last heavy door of the secret prison opened.

Two black and silver locked prison cells, leaning against each other. One cell was tightly closed, and the other had its door open...

Su Ye stared blankly at the unlocked cell.

There, he could vaguely see a withered, decaying figure, slumped on the ground, no longer breathing.

Crimson blood flowed out along the ground.

The whole world seemed to be swallowed by darkness.

...

...

Jia Wei, who was sitting in meditation by the Red Lake, suddenly opened his eyes.

He had been waiting for news from the secret prison all day.

Now, he had received it.

But it wasn't "someone has invaded," but... Second Elder Yuan Yang had committed suicide in the black and silver secret prison.

Yuan Yang held a high position in the temple.

He was the Great Elder's junior brother, serving the divine seat in Guang Ming City for more than seventy years, experiencing the changes of most of a century. Although he was old now, he was still in a high position.

He was dead.

The entire Guang Ming City would be shaken!

The person responsible for guarding Yuan Yang was Yao Jin. According to the initial plan... Yuan Yang entered the secret prison to use a "bitter scheme" to gain Meng Xizhou's trust and extract the whereabouts of the Holy Book as much as possible. Even if the mission failed, he shouldn't have suffered any harm.

But only a few days had passed, and he was already dead?!

The news of Yuan Yang's death spread from the secret prison, instantly reaching all directions of the entire Guang Ming City.

Every elder and adjudicator in the temple knew about this news...

Including the Great Elder.

...

...

This trial of the Washing Heart Pool had reached its most important moment.

Song Ci had finally entered the Guang Ming Dream.

The Great Elder was drawing on the disasters at the bottom of the Washing Heart Pool, preparing to condense a body and test Song Ci's depth in this empty dreamscape.

But at the moment his mind was focused...

Shen Hai transmitted what had happened in the secret prison to his mind.

At this moment.

The Great Elder's mind trembled violently.

He could no longer concentrate his spirit, and he withdrew from the barrier, looking in the direction of the secret prison.

"Yuan Yang... is dead?"

On the other side.

Song Ci, who was standing on the Guang Ming Golden Bridge, was preparing to fight the shadows in the black mist... but suddenly, a gust of yin wind blew past, and the dark shadow shrouded in mist instantly dissipated cleanly.

"What's going on? The ominous... has disappeared?"

Song Ci was a little confused.

His expression was extremely solemn. He didn't act rashly, and he remained in this dreamscape, preventing the ominous from invading at any time.

But he waited for a long time, and there was no movement.

Only after confirming that the uneasy "aura of disaster" had completely disappeared did Song Ci dare to continue forward. He never expected that this dream trial would be so simple. He walked along the golden bridge all the way and soon reached the end.

At the end of the golden bridge, there was nothing.

This Washing Heart Pool dream was not a complete Guang Ming Dream.

Because this place was not the real Red Lake.

This was just a simple, artificial Red Lake... The so-called "Washing Heart Pool Trial" was just to determine whether the mind of the transcendent was pure and upright.

The Washing Heart Pool Trial came to an end. Song Ci opened his eyes and looked at the transcendents around him who were getting up and moving.

He had completed the Washing Heart Pool Trial very slowly.

When he looked up, many people had already left.

Those who had passed the trial were following the adjudicators who were waiting to serve, and they were going to receive the Dream of the Fire Seed together.

"Young Master Yi."

Song Ci reached out and stopped the closest transcendent.

Young Master Yi from the Red Grape Corporation saw that Song Ci had woken up, and he quickly wanted to leave, but it was too late.

People of this level couldn't be beaten, and they couldn't be offended.

Since he had been called, he could only obediently respond.

Young Master Yi quickly put on a smile and said, "Brother Song."

"In the dream, did you see anything strange?" Song Ci frowned, looked at the Washing Heart Pool water, and asked seriously.

"Strange things?" Young Master Yi was stunned and shook his head. "I saw a golden bridge, and walking to the end was considered completing the trial."

Good... this was the prelude to the Guang Ming Dream.

Song Ci continued to ask, "After stepping on the golden bridge, did you see any strange figures?"

As soon as he said this.

Young Master Yi's expression was a little strange. "Figures? You didn't happen to encounter the 'disaster' that the Great Elder mentioned, did you?"

"..."

Song Ci didn't say anything more.

He sat alone in front of the Washing Heart Pool. At the beginning of this dream, he thought that these disasters were emerging from himself, but now it seemed that this was not the case.

Once the disaster on a transcendent broke out, there was no room for reversal.

According to the situation just now, encountering the black shadow should have led to a battle.

But in the end, the disaster came, nothing happened, and it dissipated.

"It looks like the 'disaster' contained in the Washing Heart Pool."

He recalled what the Great Elder had said earlier, but there was one thing he still couldn't understand. If the disaster in the Washing Heart Pool water had locked onto him, then why would it suddenly dissipate?

Once this disaster was locked, would it retreat on its own?

"Why do I feel like this 'disaster' is being controlled by someone?"

Song Ci narrowed his eyes.

He remembered Gu Shen's reminder that the temple had been looking for the Undying for the past few years, and the Great Elder might attack him during this Washing Heart Pool Trial.

So... the disaster just now was probably controlled by the Great Elder?

Thinking of this, Song Ci began to look for the Great Elder's whereabouts.

He looked around, but to no avail.

He found an adjudicator and got straight to the point: "I want to see the Great Elder of the temple."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Song, the Great Elder has already left."

The adjudicator replied very coldly, because Song Ci had soaked in the Washing Heart Pool before, and the adjudicators here didn't want to pay attention to him. Now that the trial was over, no one was even willing to take the initiative to take him to receive the Dream of the Fire Seed.

But Song Ci didn't care about the Dream of the Fire Seed.

He came to participate in the Xizhou Fire Seed Trial just to see what tricks the temple was playing.

"Left? Shouldn't he preside over the entire Washing Heart Pool Trial, such an important ritual? Does your Great Elder have any basic morals? Why can't he be found at a critical moment?"

Song Ci frowned and asked, "When did he leave?"

"..."

Naturally, there was no response to this question.

The adjudicator just stared coldly at Song Ci.

The news of the Second Elder's death had already spread inside the temple...

Many people were immersed in grief, but this news was not yet ready to be made public.

Everyone knew.

The Great Elder and the Second Elder had a very good relationship. They were sworn brothers who had known each other for most of their lives. They had experienced so many years of ups and downs, fighting the King of the Underworld and the Red Emperor in the north together.

Now Elder Yuan Yang was dead.

How could the Great Elder continue to preside over the Washing Heart Trial?

Song Ci looked at the angry gaze that the adjudicator cast at him and couldn't figure it out. Finally, an elder came in person and took him away to receive the Dream of the Fire Seed. This trial was finally over.

...

...

The wind stopped.

The silent world became noisy instead.

The deep alleys of the secret prison were usually deserted.

Now, there were many more figures.

The Guang Ming City was still holding the incredibly lively Holy Parade. Those believers didn't know what was happening yet. Some observant people noticed that several blocks around here had been blocked, and a large number of Heavy Armor Guards had appeared. As for the deep alley leading to the entrance of the secret prison, it was now completely surrounded.

The elders who had a seat in the temple had all come here.

They stood silently in the holy light barrier, looking at the dark entrance of the secret prison, waiting for the final conclusion.

And outside the crowd, in the darkness that the light couldn't reach.

There was a weak remnant wind, sweeping the fallen leaves and swirling them on the ground.

Gu Nanfeng silently watched this scene.

He looked back with a complex expression at the hand resting on his shoulder.

Behind him was a deeper darkness.

There was actually another figure standing there.

As Gu Nanfeng reached out, the person standing in the darkness further back also reached out and pressed his shoulder steadily and forcefully.

"If you choose to force your way into the secret prison, you might have a chance to successfully see Meng Xizhou... but you will definitely not be able to bring him out."

A devilish face slowly emerged from the dark shadows.

The devil's face was very hideous, but his tone was incredibly gentle. "Look at how many people the secret prison has welcomed in the past few minutes."

After a slight pause.

The devil smiled and said, "Yao Jin has been waiting for you. As long as you take one step forward... you will be doomed."

"..."

Gu Nanfeng could only remain silent.

Because what the devil said was all true.

"I thought you saw through his intentions." The devil continued to speak.

"I know he's waiting for me."

Gu Nanfeng said softly, "But I still want to try... I can hold hostages."

"You want to kidnap Su Ye and Yao Jin? It's useless. Even if you kidnap them, you won't be able to leave the secret prison."

The devil shook his head and said, "Because they are shadows themselves. Even if they stand in the light, it still doesn't change this fact. The meaning of the existence of shadows is to be able to contribute to the light one day."

Gu Nanfeng turned to look at the dark, deep devil mask.

"Why... why are you helping me?"

He asked seriously, word by word, "Who are you?"