“Damn it… the volcanic ash density is too high.”

“This damn island is too outrageous.”

Ten source energy crafts advanced steadily through the storm, but their speed was decreasing. It wasn't that the energy core's propulsion was insufficient, but that Fisher's mental domain was being compressed.

Even someone as strong as Live Fish found it difficult to navigate in such terrible weather.

"Boom!"

Just then, a thunderbolt exploded above the cloud-covered dome!

In an instant, the volcanic ash shattered.

The isolated island briefly revealed its complete form. Though it was only for a moment, the appearance of this thunderbolt invigorated all the North Continent transcendents on the source energy crafts.

["If Mr. Fisher arrives at the Sang Zhou Grotto, let him see the lightning above the dome."]

These were the words Bai Xiu said to Mu Wanqiu.

Mu Wanqiu relayed these words verbatim to the fleet.

"This is…"

"Bai Xiu of East Continent?!"

Several branch captains wore astonished expressions. After the first thunderbolt, a continuous series of explosions followed. The lightning seemed to lock onto the fleet's path, constantly bursting in front of Fisher's airship, clearing away the volcanic ash.

Live Fish narrowed his eyes.

His mental domain immediately became much lighter.

Black droplets enveloped and surrounded the fleet.

He looked at the faint phantom in the lightning, a virtual, god-like anthropomorphic illusion… He knew this was the legendary Lei Jie Xing Zhe (Thunder Realm Walker).

"Is this the S-rank who is on par with Gu Shen?"

Fisher, immersed in the special liquid, couldn't help but narrow his eyes as he saw the young figure bathed in lightning.

"These young people are truly awe-inspiring…"

The gills on his cheeks slowly opened and closed.

Fisher revealed a smile, then said in a deep voice, "Everyone, increase speed and follow me!"

…

…

The battlefield in the S12 district was a scene of chaos. Even with two S-ranks taking action, the beast spirits here were still on the verge of breaking through the barrier defense line.

Bai Xiu's Lei Jie Xing Zhe and Mu Wanqiu's Pan Guan (Judge) were powerful, but they also had their limits.

A beast tide of this scale couldn't be stopped by a single person, even by a titled powerhouse.

As Chen Mei left the city, a large number of Chengxin Society transcendents also entered the battlefield.

However, the power of these enforcers, when added to the battlefield, couldn't completely change the situation. At most, they could only barely defeat the remnants of the beast tide!

"Thirty minutes…"

"Haven't the North Continent source energy crafts arrived yet?"

Chen Li waited anxiously, holding the Divine Infant. It was already the agreed-upon arrival time.

Boom!

A sound of cloud-piercing exploded in the sky.

Lightning flashed continuously, followed by the shattering of volcanic ash. The source energy crafts shattered the dust that filled the sky. Fisher led the temporary fleet of source energy crafts, which had arrived above the S12 district of the South Grotto. Under the watchful eyes of thousands of transcendents, they launched the first round of artillery bombardment. Source energy weapons descended from the sky, directly cleaving through the beast tide on the ground—

After the first round ended, there was a second round.

Then a third round.

After three consecutive rounds of frenzied bombardment, the entire world seemed to quiet down.

"Descend, descend…"

"Craft One is descending."

"Craft Three has completed its descent."

"Open the hatch, begin rescue operations, open the hatch, begin rescue operations."

The source energy crafts finally landed inside the main urban area. Ten temporary rescue teams, nearly two hundred "volunteers," immediately began rescue operations. At the same time, under the organization of the neutrals, the local transcendents of Sang Zhou Grotto began boarding the crafts.

The beast tide would soon launch a second counterattack.

The evacuation mission needed to be completed as soon as possible.

"Board the crafts, board the crafts!"

Jiang Du roared in the pouring rain, waving his arms vigorously. He was responsible for the neutral's command tasks. In the rain, he saw a familiar figure running from the research institute, clutching a small mainframe.

"Mr. Qi!"

Jiang Du's face showed surprise, and he breathed a long sigh of relief. He was planning to take some time to visit the research institute.

Fortunately, Mr. Qi Mo had appeared at this moment!

"Am I late?"

Qi Mo held an instrument in his arms. The evacuation mission was urgent, and he couldn't take the heavy instruments from the research institute, but taking a mainframe was no problem.

In fact, this instrument wasn't that precious. He would have better ones in Changye.

However, after spending so many years in Sang Zhou Grotto and getting used to a poor life, Qi Mo regarded these research instruments as his own children. He had even taken off his only coat and covered the instrument to protect it from the rain.

Jiang Du noticed that Mr. Qi seemed different than he had been half an hour ago.

If he remembered correctly, Mr. Qi had seemed to be waiting for some experimental data at that time, his face filled with anxiety.

But now…

That anxious look seemed to be gone.

But now wasn't the time to talk. Jiang Du quickly pointed in one direction: "You've come at the right time… Hurry up and board the craft. There's a place reserved for you."

Qi Mo hurried through the rain, carrying the instrument. A staff member who had come down from the airship spoke.

"Hello, this is the direction for boarding…"

Qi Mo raised his eyes to look at the other person.

This was a young man with a gloomy face, whose temperament was completely different from the North Continent warriors he remembered. The voice that came from his throat was also hoarse and low, and didn't sound very energetic.

And that face made Qi Mo feel somewhat familiar, as if he had seen it before.

He was momentarily stunned.

Qi Mo boarded the craft under the guidance, thinking silently about the past along the way.

He had been in Sang Zhou Grotto for twenty years.

Before that, he had also studied at the East Continent laboratory. Before the massacre against the Guwen Society began, there was a very famous "guy" in East Continent…

He remembered why this face made him feel familiar.

This young man looked very similar to Zhao Xilai, the assistant to the councilor of the Great Capital District, but their temperaments were completely different.

The young man now looked very颓废(tuí fèi – dispirited, dejected) and not very energetic.

Qi Mo carried the instrument and entered a special cabin under the guidance of this rescue worker. Source energy crafts reserved special single rooms for high-value rescued individuals.

As they parted, Qi Mo suddenly spoke, "Excuse me… I have a question."

The young man leading the way silently turned back.

"Is your surname Zhao?"

"…"

The young man, who had no vitality in his face, didn't answer the question. He just paused for a second, then re-examined the person in front of him with some bewilderment.

Instead, a volunteer who was passing by smiled and said for him, "Mr. Qi Mo, right? You can rest here. Zhao Qi is a quiet person who isn't good at talking, but he's a good person."

"…"

The young man didn't say anything about this, just nodded as an apology, then turned and left, continuing to work in the rain.

Qi Mo stared blankly at the young man's retreating back.

His surname was Zhao, and his name was… Zhao Qi.

If he remembered correctly, Zhao Xilai's son was born when he left East Continent.

His name was Zhao Qi.

…

…

"Whoosh, whoosh…"

The wind howled.

Gu Shen opened his eyes, and what came into view were streams of volcanic debris constantly spewing from the crack in Tan Yao, like an inverted waterfall.

Time was limited, and he had only managed to recover some of his mental power.

But because he had the experience of condensing Zhen Li. Xi Zhu (Truth. Extinguish Candle) once before, this mental manifestation would be easier. Now, this mental power was enough to release the fourth Xi Zhu.

He stood up.

The Pure Land and Scorching Fire swirled around him, enveloping his body.

"Thump… thump…"

At this moment, the low, rhythmic drumming sound still echoed in the depths of Tan Yao.

However, after the continuous firing of Achilles Heel, this heartbeat-like sound had become much weaker.

Gu Shen didn't hesitate and jumped down.

During the fall, his Scorching Fire flames scattered, capturing the aura of this unknown realm in all directions.

He "saw" many carcasses engulfed by the lava flames.

Those transcendent lives who came here one after another had been melted and turned into part of the mountain.

Scorching Fire also captured the remnants of Lihuo (Separation Fire).

It seemed that… the Vermilion Bird Envoy was also part of the "engulfed."

A few seconds later, Gu Shen landed at the bottom. He stepped heavily on the muddy lava, and the Pure Land snow and ice instantly melted. This was the extremely hot interior of the volcano, and maintaining the snow and ice required a large amount of source energy.

Although Gu Shen had the most source energy in his body…

But he had "Scorching Fire."

Gu Shen simply removed the snow and ice domain, wrapped himself in flames, and used flames to fight flames.

Immediately… the pressure was reduced a lot.

He knew the moment he stepped on the core of Tan Yao that Owl wasn't the master here. At most, it could only be regarded as a parasite in Tan Yao. The vast power contained in this volcano could never be controlled by humans.

In other words, the current eruption of Tan Yao was at most catalyzed by Owl's various actions.

The "volcanic ash" here was also naturally formed.

Unless there really was a creator in this world.

Otherwise, no one could produce such a large amount of special material that could block the "divine throne authority"!

"Heh…"

A hoarse laugh rang in his ear.

Gu Shen looked in the direction of the laughter. Heat waves rolled, and he walked forward slowly. The density of volcanic ash here was very high, and it was also mixed with some strange power. Once one's mind was unstable, it was easy to fall into a dream.

However, mental attacks were ineffective against Gu Shen.

His will was extremely firm.

Any external thoughts that tried to invade the sea of consciousness would trigger the Pure Land and the jade thumb ring.

So he didn't care about the little tricks Owl had set up here.

He just walked straight ahead and came to the weak point he had seen in the Achilles Heel field, a scarlet mountain wall with countless flames wrapped around it and ancient characters flashing.

These lines were crisscrossed and climbed toward the high point of the stone wall, and finally all the lines converged together.

Becoming a… heart.

The "thump thump" sound came from here.

There really was a heart here, and this heart really belonged to Owl.

The position where the heart condensed was like a canopy, and the countless scarlet blood threads converging downward formed a withered tree trunk. A closer look for a few seconds would reveal that… this wasn't a tree trunk, but a body embedded in the stone wall.

The heart was above.

The body was below.

This was actually a metaphor, and a very vivid and appropriate metaphor.

"The spirit is higher than the flesh."

At this moment, as Gu Shen stopped, the figure inside the stone wall slowly emerged. The human-shaped creature embedded in the wall slowly opened its mouth, its laughter hoarse: "Gu Shen… you always give people surprises…"

There were two obvious cracks in the huge scarlet heart above.

This was the damage caused by Zhen Li. Xi Zhu, but the silver lost (arrow) condensed by mental power had broken and dissipated.

With each beat.

A large amount of blood would flow out of the heart, spreading down the stone wall and pouring onto the head of the human-shaped creature.

This scene looked bizarre and disturbing.

"Since you can still laugh."

Gu Shen said indifferently, "It seems that the two arrows just now weren't ruthless enough."

He raised his hand to condense the silver great bow—

"…Wait!"

The human-shaped creature in the mountain wall couldn't help it and roared, "Are you really not going to say a word? Don't you want to know the connection between 'blood fire' and 'scorching fire'? Don't you want to know what these ancient characters mean?!"

Of course Owl knew why Gu Shen had come down after so long—

He was restoring his mental power on the mountain!

Now that he had come down, it meant that… Gu Shen could at least use that kind of attack again!

The previous two attacks had almost caused his soul to leave his body!

Another one, and he might really lose his life!

"Oh, are you scared now?" Gu Shen sneered coldly, "It seems your mouth isn't as tough as I thought."

"…"

Owl's expression was between anger and grievance. He used the blood fire spirit to stir up trouble in the outside world, and even had no reverence for the seven gods in the mortal world!

But his biggest weakness was his true body hidden in the Tan Yao volcano—

He could be infinitely arrogant in the outside world.

But now, in front of Gu Shen, he didn't dare to be.

Owl knew that Gu Shen was a guy who was just as crazy as himself at heart. Once he crossed the line of this kind of person, then the other party could do anything.

So… if he was as presumptuous and arrogant as he was in the outside world, Gu Shen would probably turn around and send him a Zhen Li. Xi Zhu, teaching him how to be a man.

In the truest sense… teaching him how to be a man.

Under such circumstances, Owl could only restrain himself and swallow the anger back into his stomach.

"I know what you're thinking now—you want to stall for time, wait for the beast tide outside to catch up, or wait for some opportunities to 'survive'."

Gu Shen took two steps back and looked at the man on the stone wall, and the unfamiliar ancient characters that were arranged in a ring around Owl.

"I never like to give dead people opportunities, but this time, I can make an exception and give you this opportunity."

He said indifferently, "I know your sea of consciousness must be locked. If I kill you, I won't get anything… So you can spit out information now. Once you say some old, rotten, trivial things that I find boring, I will shoot you with an arrow. If the information you spit out is interesting enough, maybe you still have a chance to survive?"

Owl stared at Gu Shen.

He knew what kind of person Gu Shen was… ruthless in killing, never merciful.

The person who inherited the Pluto fire seed never missed a cut!

The reason why he could say such a thing at this time was because Gu Shen completely controlled the situation, and he wanted "useful" information from his mouth…

This arrow could be shot at any time.

And he had no choice.

Living for another second was still living… For Owl, the current desperate situation meant that there was a chance to welcome life if he lived for another second.

And whether all this could be carried out smoothly depended on the first sentence he said next.

The bottom of Tan Yao fell into a brief silence.

And Gu Shen obviously didn't like this silence, the silver light in his palm had already begun to surge.

He had an invisible countdown in his heart.

If Owl didn't speak again, he would shoot the arrow!

"Gu Shen, do you know the meaning of these ancient characters…"

After thinking for a few seconds, Owl took a deep breath and decided to reveal a big secret.

He stared at the young man's eyes and said word by word.

"These ancient texts you see before you… are the most precious forbidden technique in the world, the 'Longevity Technique'."

"You only know that I want to obtain 'longevity'."

"But you don't know that in this world, someone has already obtained 'longevity'."