Chapter 1 The Underworld of Tanyao, Swirling Flames

A gaunt figure sat cross-legged amidst the fiery waves, swallowed and covered by countless flames and ash.

The jet-black robe, symbolizing the Arbiter's identity, began to burn in the fire, indicating that the "Blazing Fire" domain could no longer contend with the ash of Mount Tanyao and was gradually retracting.

Gu Shen stood up, stirring up a sky full of floating sparks.

"Iron Scale Skin" covered his body in a thin layer.

He slowly exhaled a long breath. At this moment, the countless fiery waves churning in the depths of Tanyao had already lost their original blood-red color, indicating that more than 90% of the "blood fire" wandering outside had been devoured by Gu Shen.

The remaining ones inevitably dissipated during the process of being devoured.

The departed are gone.

"I used too much mental power this time...a bit of an overdraft..."

Gu Shen reached out and rubbed his brow.

He switched his breathing technique to the Spring Breathing state, trying to quickly recover his spirit.

But the effect was poor.

At this moment, Gu Shen's mental recovery speed was far inferior to before.

One reason was that he was currently located at the bottom of Tanyao, where the mountain ash density was too high, which had a "binding" effect on him. The other reason was due to successive battles and mental exhaustion.

Moreover, Gu Shen felt some unease.

Was it because the Sangzhou Grotto was about to be destroyed?

Staying here to devour "blood fire" was an extremely risky behavior.

But after calming his breath, he realized that the real unease in the depths of his heart did not come from this.

"Bai Xiu, Chen Li, and the others should have evacuated safely..."

Gu Shen murmured in his heart.

According to the plan he had arranged before his departure, Mu Wanqiu, who arrived in the S12 area, would complete the connection with Fischer. After the North Continent's source-energy艇 landed safely, the local residents of the South Grotto could leave, and the Enforcers of the Chengxin Society could also leave.

If the main force could evacuate safely, the stone in his heart could be considered to have fallen to the ground.

With this thought, Gu Shen took out the pendant again.

"..."

But strangely, although the pendant was still vibrating at this moment, it no longer had any prompts.

There were no hints such as "Don't go" or "Leave quickly."

This was the first time Gu Shen had encountered this situation!

The [Blessing of the Goddess of Fate] often provided the user with a correct and reliable "instruction plan." For example, the previous owner, Hong Zhong, the pendant, in order to save Hong Zhong's life, guided Hong Zhong to escape from the maze and escape back to Gu Fort.

Because only by escaping back to Gu Fort could Hong Zhong meet himself and save his life.

"So, the fluctuation disappeared...did the pendant think I was 'beyond salvation'? Did the pendant think I had entered a dead end?"

Gu Shen narrowed his eyes.

He was not in a hurry to leave.

After calmly thinking, Gu Shen felt... since the pendant no longer gave instructions, then there was no point in leaving in a hurry at this moment.

Amidst the earth-shattering collapse, Gu Shen decided to stay a little longer. The ancient texts of the "Chang Sheng Shu" (Longevity Technique) were still carved in this mountain wall. He had no time to look at them before, but now... at least before leaving, he would see what mysteries the legendary "Chang Sheng Shu" formation patterns held.

Gu Shen came to the high-hanging heart and looked at the obscure patterns that formed a tree.

After the three arrows were shot, Xiao died and vanished.

The heart had also withered.

The "blood fire" that made up the heart was completely devoured by Gu Shen, and the surrounding ancient characters also dimmed.

"The ancient characters near this heart seem to have formed a small array."

Gu Shen carefully observed, while reaching out and stroking these ancient characters.

The flames were scorching, and the rock walls were cracking.

Due to the effect of [Tide], the bottom of the island had begun to shatter, and a large amount of seawater seeped into it. The bottom of Tanyao was filled with churning heat waves... But the area near the ancient characters of the Chang Sheng Shu was still stable. This seemed to be an independent space, self-contained, and would not be affected even if the island collapsed.

"As expected of the 'Chang Sheng Shu', the surrounding space is extremely solid. Even if the Sangzhou Grotto breaks apart and Tanyao collapses, this small space should still be able to maintain stability..."

"Unfortunately... I can't take any of this with me."

Gu Shen just glanced at it for a moment before shaking his head regretfully.

This rock wall was too large, and due to the ancient characters, it formed a whole. Even if Gu Shen used the [Pure Land] domain and summoned a large amount of wind and snow, it only slightly shook the brilliance of the formation patterns.

It was impossible to take it away.

He also knew that it was impossible to comprehend these ancient characters in a short period of time.

"It seems I have no fate with it... There's no point in staying any longer."

Gu Shen was a little unwilling, but there was nothing else he could do.

He eventually stayed at the bottom of the mountain for a while, until his mental power recovered slightly, and then clenched the pendant in his hand, looking up at the Tanyao crack above, where countless mountain ash swept through, revealing a dark ceiling.

It was time to leave.

...

...

"You're abandoning your mission?"

The micro source-energy艇 sped through the air above the ice sea, its altitude very low, skimming the surface, the burning energy core in the tail stirring up large white waves.

Bai Xiu turned to look at the woman beside him.

Mu Wanqiu, dressed in red armor, had a calm expression, sitting in the co-pilot's seat without fastening her seat belt.

"After leaving the Sangzhou Grotto, I linked with [Deep Sea]... The remaining task is to drive back to Dongzhou Dadu."

Mu Wanqiu said indifferently, "Any dog can complete this kind of task. What's the point of me staying on the main艇? Don't forget that it was my suggestion to go back and save people."

"Since you want to go together... why aren't you driving?"

Bai Xiu was silent for two seconds, then spoke again.

"Simple, I want to see you make a fool of yourself."

Mu Wanqiu placed one hand on the outside of the source-energy艇, watching the micro艇 almost fall to the sea level, her expression somewhat disappointed, because Bai Xiu's performance had disappointed her.

This guy was indeed a genius.

The operation of the micro source-energy艇 was indeed not complicated, but beginners who came into contact with it for the first time had to face at least a dozen unknown buttons... Generally speaking, even those with high talent would experience "unstable driving" during the initial learning stage.

But Bai Xiu did not.

After stirring up hundreds of meters of low-altitude waves, the micro艇 began to climb, and its speed increased linearly.

"Sorry to disappoint you."

Bai Xiu said calmly, "Although it's my first time driving a source-energy艇, I will never crash."

This sentence sounded very conceited.

But as the micro艇 climbed... this conceited statement was extremely appropriate.

"Is it because his mental power is strong enough? The speed of reading information is also fast enough, and the speed of absorption is also very fast..."

Before leaving, Fischer mentally transmitted the operation manual of the micro艇 to Bai Xiu.

This was the only explanation Mu Wanqiu could think of at the moment—this guy was indeed a genius, a genius in every sense of the word.

But this was too fast.

The speed of the micro艇 had exceeded the sound barrier, and it was still increasing.

"Wait, something seems wrong?"

Mu Wanqiu frowned.

She noticed that Bai Xiu's pupils had turned into a pure azure color, and subtle, almost imperceptible crackling sounds were激荡 from his sleeves!

This meant that he had used the power of [Thunder Realm Walker].

After realizing this, Mu Wanqiu, sitting in the co-pilot's seat, dispersed her mental power, and her expression became strange.

She sensed that there was another special "existence" under the bottom of the micro艇.

A humanoid creature composed of lightning had both hands raised, in a posture of carrying a tripod, moving forward at high speed with the micro艇.

"...Is this what you mean by 'will never crash'?"

After her shock, she spoke with a complicated tone, somewhat resentful.

"What, is there a problem?"

Bai Xiu asked seriously.

Mu Wanqiu didn't know how to answer for a moment... Of course there was no problem, sending a [Thunder Realm Walker] to lift the micro艇 to fly meant that even an idiot could drive without crashing.

But what was the difference between this and cheating?

"We're about to enter the 'dense mountain ash area'."

Bai Xiu said in a low voice, "I will directly drive into the core area of [Tanyao]... Can you sense Gu Shen's specific location?"

The always sensitive Mu Wanqiu, hearing this question, subconsciously tightened her heart.

At this moment, the Sky Eyes of the Sangzhou Grotto had been completely destroyed.

Mental sensing was also ineffective.

The only thing that might work... was the [Authority] connection.

Bai Xiu asked himself this question, did he realize something?

"Not too sure."

Mu Wanqiu hesitated.

"If you're not too sure, then you should still be a little sure, right?"

Mu Wanqiu was speechless, then frowned and said, "Why did you suddenly ask me this question?"

"If you didn't have a bit of certainty, why would you have jumped on this micro艇?" Bai Xiu said indifferently, "I think you should always have some trump cards. Use them when you should, and don't worry too much about my existence. If it's inconvenient for me to be here, I can hand over the driving rights to you and be responsible for the reception on the top of the Sangzhou Grotto."

"..."

Mu Wanqiu opened her mouth slightly, not knowing what to say.

She looked at the white clothes and white sleeves, and for the first time felt that this guy was a bit "scary". Even though Bai Xiu was "focusing on driving" at this moment, she still had a feeling that she had been seen through.

Because of this feeling.

She had an extremely real thought in her heart at this moment.

She hoped that she would never be enemies with a guy like Bai Xiu.

"Don't misunderstand, I'm not saying these words to extract information from you, nor to test you... It's just because I have no way to connect with Gu Shen and get in touch with him. After the last separation, a strong sense of ominousness welled up in my heart. For some reason, I always feel that the evolution of the Sangzhou Grotto incident is developing in a bad direction, and the core hub connecting all of this is none other than Gu Shen."

Bai Xiu slowly opened his mouth and said, "So I'm returning, just to see if the fastest 'rescue' can dispel the ominous feeling in my heart."

"What do you mean?"

Mu Wanqiu was stunned.

"Perhaps Gu Shen has encountered a problem that he can't solve."

Bai Xiu was silent for a few seconds, and said, "With his strength, not returning to the S12 area at this time, or even having a bit of news, isn't that enough to explain it?"

...

...

"Bang!"

A large cloud of mountain ash exploded from the crater of [Tanyao].

The ash that had accumulated here for hundreds of years had been hollowed out to almost nothing with one eruption after another.

At this moment, 90% of the ash in the [Tanyao] mountain was floating on the ceiling of the Sangzhou Grotto, moving south toward the ice sea along with the [Tide] movement.

Above the mountain ridge, heat waves swirled.

The space here was distorted by the heat waves.

The black clouds and mountain ash on the ceiling were shattered by countless large-winged雀...

A figure clad in heavy armor stopped near the top of the mountain.

He raised his head.

In this dead world, not a trace of life could be seen. [Tide] cut off the last line of life from the isolated island of Sangzhou Grotto. A large amount of seawater was pushing it into the ice sea. Even the creatures on the island could clearly feel the crustal movement at this moment.

So countless beast spirits rushed there.

The mountain was undergoing unprecedented violent tremors. This was the last "carnival" before these transcendent beings died. They had broken through most of the urban areas, and the transcendents who should have evacuated from Sangzhou Grotto had all completed their evacuation.

In the heat wave, the tall man wearing armor reached out his fingertip and gently touched a speck of light floating in front of him.

This very small light instantly opened up after being touched, turning into a circular ball of flame, like a sun.

Su Ye's face appeared in the light sphere.

The pupils of this Blessing Saint Child were golden at the moment, and his hair was also golden. He stared at the armored figure in the heat wave, his voice somewhat hoarse: "Mr. Jia Wei, no matter where you are... Now is the time to leave, this is the Temple's order."

With only these words, the flame light sphere slowly dissipated, re-collecting into a small speck of light, and then annihilating in the burning waves of the mountain ridge.

"..."

Jia Wei silently looked at the world of cracks in front of him. The revival of [Tanyao] had reached the last step. The crack that might have been only the size of several people embracing had expanded to nearly a hundred meters in radius after several days of ash spewing.

He stood on the edge of the crack, like standing in front of a sinkhole.

Following the instinctual feeling in his heart, he left West Grotto and climbed all the way up the mountain, finally arriving here.

Jia Wei, who believed in the guidance of light, felt that the intuition that suddenly surged in his heart had led him here, perhaps something was happening... but for now, he might be overthinking it.

Only one thing would happen here.

That was the eruption of [Tanyao], with lava spewing out.

Su Ye was right, it was indeed time to withdraw.

Once [Tanyao] erupted, at such a close distance... even he himself, wearing S-level protective gear, might not be able to withstand this level of disaster.

"Crack."

Just as Jia Wei turned around, the volcano behind him once again spewed out blazing breath.

His pupils suddenly shrank.

This top-tier fourth-level's reaction speed was extremely fast. In this eruption of flames, he almost sensed an extremely familiar aura at the first moment...

So Jia Wei stretched out his palm.

The Guang Po Zhi Qiang (Light-Piercing Spear) instantly condensed.

He grabbed the Guang Po Zhi Qiang, turned around again, his toes stomping a deep pit in the ground. Along with the roaring sound of the flame eruption, countless lights condensed into a three-meter-long spear in his palm. This spear heavily pierced through layers of flames and countless mountain ash.

With just this one spear, he pierced through the chest of the black robe.

"...?!"

Gu Shen's expression was stunned, and blood gushed from the corner of his lips.

The speed of this spear was too fast, so fast that he simply didn't have time to react.

Because this spear was originally a coincidence.

As the strongest among the fourth-level, Jia Wei, under the arrangement of timing, location, and harmony, seized a moment of gap and thrust out this spear, which was completely guided by instinct.

He was very sensitive to Gu Shen's aura, and had always been bothered by not having the opportunity to secretly resolve this Blessing Saint Child murder case "number one suspect".

And at this moment, Gu Shen's aura appeared.

Jia Wei made a decision in an instant.

There were countless mountain ashes covering here, and mental power and authority had lost their effect. There was no better "assassination" environment than now.

So he decisively shot and thrust out this spear—

Time seemed to freeze.

"Ugh..."

Gu Shen reacted from the assassination, but it was already a little late. The killing intent of the Guang Po Zhi Qiang poured into his body. He grabbed the spear with both hands, trying to break it apart, but could not shake it in the slightest.

"Gu Shen, we meet again."

The eyes under the bright light armor were hot and cold.

There was no emotion in Jia Wei's voice: "It must be the will of light that arranged for you and me to meet again in this place... Although I have no evidence, I have always believed that Meng Xiao was killed by you."

After a brief pause.

Jia Wei turned the gun barrel and said coldly: "The truth of that year is probably... the same as now."

The spear was pulled out from Gu Shen's chest.

Blood spurted wildly.

Gu Shen fell towards the bottom of Mount Tanyao.

This scene was not seen, not heard, and not noticed by anyone.