Chapter 1 The Rain Ceases

The heavy rains of the past few days had stopped.

A layer of haze still shrouded the sky. Dense volcanic ash floated above the clouds. In the world captured by the [Heaven's Eye], the isolated island looked like a polluted crystal ball, making it impossible to clearly see every inch of land.

Fortunately.

News from Holy City finally arrived—

The Storm Church had decided to dispatch sixteen hundred low-level transcendents as reinforcements to the Sangzhou Abyss in the south, allocating four hundred to each of the four continents... Of course, these transcendents would each be led by a fourth-order archbishop and several third-order bishops.

In addition, a top-tier fourth-order "Saint" would also come south.

Balance is the way of all things.

The Grand Hunt of Sangzhou Abyss was about to begin. No matter how much Holy City indulged transcendents from other continents in plundering resources, it still needed to control the situation... It was said that this fourth-order Saint who was heading south was the youngest follower personally taken in by the Storm God.

Tian Shui was not involved, and no outer continent Envoys intervened, so the rules on the surface had been established.

Therefore, Holy City could only dispatch fourth-order transcendents at most.

"That youngest 'Saint,' named 'Jia Di,' is likely a fourth-order transcendent on the same level as 'Lu Zhe.'"

Gu Shen sat on the city wall of the S12 district.

The Holy City team had already set out and would arrive soon.

"Speaking of the youngest Saint, Jia Di is actually already in his thirties... The Saints of Holy City are generally twenty or thirty years older than him," Chu Ling said. "Five years ago, Jia Di was already a top-tier powerhouse among the fourth-order transcendents. The East Continent database collected his information, and at that time, he had already comprehended two Domains. Logically speaking, he should have completed his 'Envoy' advancement in recent years."

"But he hasn't."

Gu Shen said calmly, "So he's suppressing his realm to make it easier for the Church to come forward and solve some problems that are difficult to solve... like now."

"Yes."

Chu Ling said, "When resolving disputes across continents, the identity of an Envoy is actually an obstacle. Transcendent of this level often represent a large family or a major force. Once they represent the will of a continent, it's impossible to be 'unscrupulous.' But fourth-order transcendents are not affected. Everyone knows this and silently abides by this agreement."

Under the constraints of this rule, fourth-order boundary-breaking transcendents are often more valuable than Envoys!

They are strong enough!

Under the rules, the combat power of fourth-order boundary-breaking transcendents is basically invincible... That's why Meng Xiao fell, and Guang Ming City sent Jia Wei north, because Central City had to abide by the rules.

And among the fourth-order transcendents, even Lu Zhe could only have a fifty-fifty chance against Jia Wei.

No one could keep him!

"The appearance of Jia Di is actually to tell the four continents... not to go too far."

Chu Ling continued, "The existence of Lu Zhe and Jia Wei needs to be balanced. In addition, the red dragon in the Tower of Origin is also suspected of possessing the strength of a 'fourth-order transcendent'..."

"So, East Continent is the weakest?"

Gu Shen smiled wryly.

"If you want to say that..."

Chu Ling paused.

"Then yes, indeed."

On paper, East Continent was indeed inferior to the other three continents.

Bai Xiu, Chen Mei, Gu Shen—

Shen Li, who had not yet broken through, could be ignored at the moment.

In the battle of high-level transcendents, at most, Su Cha could be added. This was what East Continent possessed in terms of "fourth-order" transcendents.

The quality was good, and the quantity was not bad.

But the top strength was not as good as the other three continents.

"It's a pity that Song Ci is still in seclusion," Gu Shen said with emotion. "If he came, he should have already stepped on Zhu Que's face."

"It is indeed a pity."

Chu Ling said, "With Song Ci's strength, if he successfully finishes his training with Mr. Bai Shu, East Continent should have one more 'fourth-order transcendent.'"

"Maybe even an 'Envoy'?"

Gu Shen thought for a moment and then said, "But with this guy's personality... he probably won't break through. Getting the title conferred by the Federation, apart from being a bit more prestigious, doesn't have many other benefits. On the contrary, it restricts him in everything he does."

Song Ci went to Qingqiu to cultivate so that he could return to Da Du and better help Lu Nan Zhi solve her problems.

In this case, not breaking through is actually better than breaking through.

While talking and laughing, Gu Shen's spiritual sea received a message.

...

...

The high walls of the S12 district were tightly closed.

Gu Shen, Bai Xiu, Chen Mei, and Shen Li, the four leaders representing East Continent in carrying out this mission, came to the outside of the district to welcome the arrivals.

The Storm Church's source energy boat streaked across the sky—

This was something that Holy City had spent a huge price to buy from North Continent back then.

"Yuan Shuocheng, one of the eighteen archbishops of the Storm Church in Holy City."

"He was born in the Jiuning district of East Continent. When he was young, he came into contact with the Storm faith in the Tundra region. After awakening as a transcendent, he followed the Church south, cultivated all the way, and rose step by step, eventually becoming a loyal follower of the Storm Church."

"In addition to a believer, you can also understand him with another word—"

"Lackey."

Gu Shen smiled and sent a mental message to the three people beside him.

"How can I not find this information..." Little Iron Man muttered, "Is this also the result of divination?"

"No, it's just that my investigation level is higher than yours."

Gu Shen teased with a smile, "What level are you? Can you have the same investigation permissions as me?"

"This person is not simple."

Chen Mei had also done some simple investigations.

He squinted his eyes and looked at the slowly descending source energy boat. "The internal struggle in Holy City is very fierce, otherwise, there wouldn't have been so many churches rampaging around here in the past... An outer continent person born in East Continent wants to sit in the position of 'Archbishop' in the Storm Church in Holy City. It can't be as simple as being strong. It is said that Yuan Shuocheng was the one who promoted the transaction that allowed Holy City to buy these 'source energy boats.'"

"Oh?"

Gu Shen's mind immediately moved, and he used Netherfire to send this message to Mu Wanqiu.

Before long, Mu Wanqiu replied: "I just asked, Central City is too big, and Team Lu doesn't know what happened to the 'source energy boat' transaction back then..."

The Investigation Corps was busy year-round outside the Great Wall.

This kind of thing might be clearer to Zhu Xue.

So Gu Shen sent the message to Lin Lin, but Lin Lin should be busy, and this guy's information response speed has always been very slow.

While the few people were talking, the source energy boat had completed its landing.

A middle-aged man with a bloated figure, wearing a deep blue holy robe and a face full of smiles, was jogging awkwardly towards Gu Shen, while opening his arms and striking a very enthusiastic hug.

"What's going on with this guy..."

"Is he going to hug? Are we very familiar with him?"

Shen Li and Chen Mei both had complex expressions.

Bai Xiu silently took a step back.

"Mr. Gu!"

Yuan Shuocheng opened his arms, obviously coming for Gu Shen... The three people behind him retreated without leaving a trace, and Gu Shen had to bite the bullet and step forward. He stretched out a hand and made a handshake gesture.

But it was useless.

Yuan Shuocheng gave Gu Shen a "warm" hug.

"The disciple of Master Qian Ye, the high apprentice of the Great Arbiter, the only 'S-Class' in East Continent, I have admired your name for a long time, I have admired your name for a long time..."

The first words of the meeting let Gu Shen know that this guy was not a good bird.

Yuan Shuocheng's opening remarks were obviously meaningful.

Especially the word "unique"...

A transcendent who has investigated East Continent and understands it deeply will definitely know Gu Shen and will also know Bai Xiu.

These two "S-Class" were both very outstanding.

It's just that they often made a mistake... believing that when two stars are in the sky, there must be contention.

Just like this time, when the Tower of Origin dispatched four god envoys to the south to carry out their mission, many people could guess that this was actually a Fire Seed Trial involving "internal competition." The four god envoys were all very powerful, but only one would be the ultimate winner.

This kind of thinking often misinterprets the situation in East Continent—

Today's East Continent is more united than ever before.

"..."

Yuan Shuocheng enthusiastically hugged Gu Shen, and then glanced at Bai Xiu.

This white-clothed youth, who also had "S-Class" strength, was calmer than he imagined.

To be precise, he was indifferent!

Did he not hear the meaning in his words, or was he... pretending not to care?

"Your Excellency..."

After the hug, Yuan Shuocheng wanted to shake hands with Gu Shen, but at this time, Gu Shen withdrew his hand.

He dusted off his clothes and said coldly, "Don't get so close next time."

"Mr. Gu, you are so famous, please forgive my rudeness just now."

Yuan Shuocheng laughed, not caring at all. "I haven't seen a living person from East Continent in a long time... I'm so sorry, I was so excited for a moment, don't mind, don't mind."

"Heh... it's nothing."

Gu Shen also smiled, "Maybe Archbishop Yuan hasn't seen enough of the world, or maybe the customs of Holy City and Nagano are different, with no etiquette. After all... this is also the first time I've seen a living 'Holy City Archbishop.'"

Yuan Shuocheng's face twitched.

What kind of words were those?

Could a person say that?

"Mr. Gu, today is not a good day to talk more. The Grand Hunt is approaching. My subordinates have traveled all the way from Holy City to here, and they are tired now. We need to enter the city to rest."

Yuan Shuocheng swallowed the previous breath with difficulty, barely maintaining the smile on his face, and changed the subject.

After arriving in the S12 district, the posture he adopted was to only talk to Gu Shen.

He ignored Chen Mei and Bai Xiu.

As for Shen Li, needless to say... Yuan Shuocheng, who saw Shen Li's third-order realm at first glance, didn't even give this guy a second look.

After he finished speaking, he prepared to step forward.

But the next moment—

"Kacha!"

A very crisp sound of frost cracking rang out under Yuan Shuocheng's feet. When the corpulent archbishop lowered his head to check, a moment of gloom flashed in his eyes, but when he looked up, he immediately recovered as before, leaving only a harmless smile: "Mr. Gu, what does this mean?"

Gu Shen's [Pure Land] cyan frost had frozen half of his calf.

"It doesn't mean anything."

Gu Shen smiled and said, "Mr. Yuan, there's no need to enter the city to rest... You can rest outside the city. Tomorrow is the Grand Hunt. Instead of being tired from entering the city, it's better to stay here outside the city. It's much more convenient to rest inside the source energy boat than to enter the city."

Shen Li immediately took over the conversation and said with emotion, "Brother Gu is so considerate. Mr. Yuan must be very moved, right?"

"???"

Veins vaguely appeared on Yuan Shuocheng's forehead.

What was the reasoning behind this?

He brought four hundred transcendents all the way to the Sangzhou Abyss, but he couldn't even enter the gate of the district?

The reason why Holy City had not sent a stationed team was not because they couldn't gather low-level transcendents... On the contrary, there were countless low-level transcendents willing to go south. The main reason was that no archbishop within Holy City was willing to go.

The four continents were mixed, and the situation was chaotic!

Everyone could see that this trip to the south was by no means easy... In addition to hunting spirit beasts, they also had to complete the extra tasks assigned by the Saint while being caught between the unruly geniuses of the four continents.

Yuan Shuocheng knew that his mission was not easy, but he did not know that he would be stuck at the first level!

Why was this East Continent, which had the weakest strength on paper, speaking so toughly!

"I'm quite touched..."

Yuan Shuocheng swallowed a breath and gave a step down with a smile: "I really didn't expect that Mr. Gu would deliberately prepare a joke for me."

"Joke..."

However, Gu Shen did not follow the steps down.

He gradually restrained his smile and asked seriously, "Do you think it's funny?"

The other three of East Continent were no longer smiling.

Of course, Bai Xiu had never smiled from beginning to end.

"..."

The scene fell into a stalemate. Cold sweat oozed from Yuan Shuocheng's forehead. He didn't know whether to laugh or not, and his expression was extremely ugly at the moment.

"Not funny?"

"I think it's quite funny."

Gu Shen suddenly smiled again.

He stretched out his palm and patted Yuan Shuocheng's shoulder little by little, and said with a smile: "Archbishop Yuan, don't mind it, I'm just worried that getting too close to me is not good for you, the Church may misunderstand."

"This time, I am responsible for supporting the Southern Abyss... This is a task personally assigned by the 'Jia Di' Saint."

Yuan Shuocheng quickly stretched out his finger and pointed to the top of the sky, with a sincere face: "Saint Jia Di knows my character, he will not misunderstand... By the way, I forgot to remind you that Saint Jia Di came with the 'Tide' authority, and at this moment, all the sounds of the Sangzhou Abyss are in his cranial sea."

The Storm God's authority [Tide]... can listen to the sounds of the blue sea and the sounds of all living beings in the sea.

The shape of this authority is said to be a curved conch, which corresponds to the Sky God's [Cloud Mirror].

Gu Shen heard the implication in Yuan Shuocheng's words.

Everything that happened here was under the control of Saint "Jia Di".

His meeting with Gu Shen.

Was equivalent to Jia Di meeting with Gu Shen.

This was clearly showing off his backing to put pressure on people—

It's a pity that East Continent doesn't buy into it.

"Since Saint Jia Di can hear it, then that's even better."

Gu Shen said indifferently, "If I had known earlier, I wouldn't have come out of the city to greet you. Anyway, the sounds inside the island can enter your ears... East Continent's Gu Shen is here. I came with the will of the Fighting God, and I hope that this cooperation with Holy City can go smoothly."

This sentence was naturally spoken for Yuan Shuocheng to hear.

He brought out Jia Di and the Storm behind him—

Gu Shen would definitely bring out the Fighting God!

The reason why Sangzhou Abyss has become a chessboard... the essential reason is that the Storm God is going to the Ice Sea!

Whether it was a greeting or cooperation, it was just to put on a show.

This was something everyone knew long ago.

After saying these words, the scene was a bit quiet again.

"The previous joke was quite funny."

Yuan Shuocheng laughed, taking the initiative to break the silence. He reached out and wiped the sweat from his forehead, and asked with a smile: "Mr. Gu, now that we've said hello, should you let me into the city?"

The smile on Gu Shen's face disappeared again.

He looked at Yuan Shuocheng seriously.

The meaning in his eyes... couldn't be clearer.

At this moment, the wind was blowing across the wilderness.

The faint sound of the tide, accompanied by the [Tide] authority, rang in everyone's ears.

This was Jia Di's voice.

"Little Mr. Gu, I heard your voice and greetings."

The Saint's voice was peaceful, neither angry nor irritable.

Obviously, he already knew everything that had happened here.

"There is no need for tedious etiquette. It is most important for you and I to work together to quickly solve the spirit beasts of the Southern Abyss."

After saying that... there was no more sound in the wilderness.

This was a good, all-purpose answer.

Not offending anyone.

And throwing the problem to Yuan Shuocheng below.

Gu Shen didn't feel anything in his heart, and even felt a bit sarcastic. Of course, he wouldn't remember Saint Jia Di's kindness. This was all just acting.

Yuan Shuocheng played the black face, and Jia Di would naturally play the red face.

But the play had come to this point.

Gu Shen was too lazy to continue acting.

He looked at Yuan Shuocheng and said indifferently: "Archbishop Yuan, since Saint 'Jia Di' has already said to simplify everything, it is better for you to camp outside. If the beast tide is not eliminated, I think you should also have no face to hide in the high walls, right?"