Chapter 1 The Pure Land World

In the Pure Land world.

Tie Wu, who was directing the spirits to carry out construction, looked back in the direction of the Susu Hanging Tree.

His mind was inexplicably uneasy, and he felt a burst of fear.

Tie Wu stood on his hoe, motionless for a long time, his gaze fixed on that spot.

"What's wrong?"

Li Qingci slowly landed beside him.

"Nothing..."

Tie Wu murmured softly. This feeling of unease didn't last long, disappearing in a moment, but the lingering fear in his heart dissipated very slowly... He thought of some past events he didn't want to recall.

"Miss Qingci, I don't know if it's just my imagination..."

After hesitating for a long time, Tie Wu finally spoke, "Just now, did someone from the 'Pure Land' come?"

Li Qingci was taken aback.

With Gu Shen absent, she had the highest authority in this divine domain world. Gu Shen hadn't hidden any secrets of the Pure Land from Li Qingci, so she could sense every descent.

"...Yes."

She looked at Tie Wu and asked, "Is something wrong?"

"Just now, I sensed a familiar 'aura'."

Tie Wu raised his head.

He took a deep breath and slowly spoke towards the dome.

This sentence was for Gu Shen to hear.

"It's... the aura of the Fire Seed of Wine."

...

...

Inside the testing room, there was dead silence.

Shen Li, who had fallen to the ground, was drenched in cold sweat, his clothes soaked through.

"What... is going on?"

His voice was hoarse.

In Gu Xiaoman's spiritual sea visualization... a "Fire Seed" had actually appeared?!

And the Annihilation Wind just now...

Could a newly awakened transcendent cause such a bizarre and terrifying phenomenon?

If Gu Shen hadn't intervened, the "Annihilation" phenomenon would have spread!

As for himself.

He was a Deep Sea Tier 9 transcendent, so naturally he wouldn't be severely injured... but if he had made contact rashly, he probably would have been hurt!

"Quasi-S-class ability... \[Annihilation Dream]..."

Gu Shen spoke word by word.

His palm was pressed on Xiaoman's forehead.

Gu Shen stared at the "blazing fire" covering his palm, swaying and spreading.

Xiaoman raised her head blankly.

The mental detection helmet she was wearing was already shattered. The powerful force of nothingness had torn apart everything within a two-meter radius. This was the anomaly she had created at the beginning of her awakening.

"Annihilation Dream?"

Shen Li was stunned. He knew this ability. In the currently known federal ability chart, [Annihilation Dream] was listed between A-class and S-class... Many years ago, in the Capital District, there was a genius transcendent named Zhou Yu who awakened [Annihilation Dream].

The Safety Committee at the time assessed and found that Zhou Yu's [Annihilation Dream] power could pull objects from the real world into dreams and destroy them!

This was something that an A-class ability could not do...

If Zhou Yu hadn't died so early, after he had further developed his ability, [Annihilation Dream] might have received a higher rating, thereby solidifying its "S-class" evaluation!

The ability chart ratings are revised every year.

For example, many years ago, [Eater of Iron] was not an A-class ability. Many transcendents who possessed this ability died early due to the side effects of "gluttony," making it difficult to cultivate to the later stages.

Until a great general nicknamed "Rust Bone" appeared in the Northern Continent, and step by step, cultivated [Eater of Iron] to the peak in the War of Cutting Red, constantly breaking through boundaries, and finally revealed an extremely high ability ceiling!

After that year, the Safety Committee re-evaluated the transcendent rating of [Eater of Iron]!

"Gu Xiaoman's ability is [Annihilation Dream]?"

Shen Li swallowed. He asked nervously, "But what about the mental visualization just now?"

"..."

Gu Shen frowned in silence. He couldn't answer this question.

Xiaoman's awakened ability was very similar to the manifestation of [Annihilation Dream]!

Gu Shen had seen the near-completion of [Annihilation Dream] in the Capital District. If there were a sufficiently powerful spiritual seal to provide amplification and diffusion, then this ability could cause devastating damage to an entire city... It was just that Zhou Yu, the genius adjudicator of that year, had died too early, and the danger rating of [Annihilation Dream] had only remained at the quasi-S-class level.

"Are you all right?!"

Qi Mo rushed to the scene. He first asked with concern and breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Gu Xiaoman was safe and sound.

The next moment, he saw the remaining debris of the instrument on the ground, and his eyes were filled with heartache... This mental detection instrument brought from the Eastern Continent was too precious. There were many awakening youths in the Southern Cave who could use this instrument to assess their spirits and upload data.

But it had just been put into use.

And it was already damaged!

"Gu Shen, I... I seem to have had a dream..."

Gu Xiaoman murmured softly, "I saw a deep sea, an boundless ocean... with a very small flame floating in it."

Everyone held their breath.

"What... did the flame look like?"

Xiao Tie Ren asked cautiously, "Think carefully, did it have any characteristics..."

"That flame was purple."

Gu Xiaoman thought for a moment, then raised her small face and said seriously to Gu Shen, "It emitted a faint fragrance, very intoxicating... I just glanced at it and felt an unprecedented 'warmth.' The seawater enveloped me, and I felt very comfortable."

"And then, I..."

Xiaoman was about to say "Pure Land" in the next moment, but she paused for a second. She cleverly avoided the matter of Gu Shen taking her to another spiritual world, "And then I woke up."

The world Gu Shen took her to was also very warm, with towering trees and lush greenery.

But she subconsciously felt that it was not a secret that could be made public.

Gu Shen didn't ask her to keep it a secret, but she did it anyway.

Gu Shen's eyes showed a little more warmth as he looked at the little girl. He squatted down, wiped the helmet debris from her shoulders, and gently asked, "Xiaoman, is the flame you saw... like this?"

The "spiritual images" projected on the instrument were actually very blurred.

They could have clearly seen Xiaoman's spiritual sea.

But as soon as that flame appeared, the screen was immediately cut off—

As a result, everyone only vaguely saw a shadow of the flame, and couldn't see exactly what it looked like.

Gu Shen raised his palm, and he began to evolve the flame in the deep sea with his spiritual power...

He had heard Tie Wu's message from within the Pure Land.

Gu Xiaoman's description also provided sufficient information about the "flame."

He had witnessed that battle of gods in the cemetery.

Although Di Jiu was killed by Gu Changzhi with two punches... he was still the Lord of the Fire Seed after all.

The [Purple Sea] of the Wine God Seat was burned to ashes by Gu Changzhi's Fighting God Domain in that battle, but Gu Shen clearly remembered the "burning appearance" of this Fire Seed. He simply simulated it with blazing fire—

"Chi."

A very small flame appeared in his palm.

The aura was completely different.

But the color and core gradually began to evolve—

"Yes."

When Gu Xiaoman saw this purple flame, her eyes lit up. She murmured, "That flame looks like this... but the inner 'spirit' seems to be a little different..."

Gu Shen extinguished the flame with his backhand.

"Fire Seed of Wine."

He said in a low voice, "The flame image that appeared in the \[Deep Sea] just now is the spiritual manifestation of the 'Fire Seed of Wine'..."

This news was enough to shock the entire world outside.

"It's really a Fire Seed... and it's the 'Fire Seed of Wine'!"

Shen Li was shocked beyond words. "Why would the 'aura' of the Fire Seed of Wine appear in Xiaoman's spiritual sea?"

"There are two explanations."

Gu Shen calmed down and said slowly, "First, Gu Xiaoman was chosen by the 'Fire Seed of Wine' long ago... A relic similar to 'authority' has appeared in her spiritual sea."

"Has this kind of thing ever happened in the Five Continents?" Shen Li couldn't understand.

"...Yes."

Gu Shen nodded somewhat perfunctorily.

This kind of thing had happened in the Five Continents... and that was himself!

The Underworld Fire Seed had chosen him long ago. The Ruler of Truth, the Susu Hanging Tree, and the Pure Land, these creations that the Underworld God had scavenged for a long time, had already taken root in his spiritual sea... It was just that this kind of "miracle" couldn't descend from the sky. Gu Shen was able to gradually grasp the authority and touch the truth because of the "God Descent" battle in the Capital District, where he obtained the "Wilderness of the Four Seasons" bestowed by Mr. Gu Changzhi.

Gu Xiaoman was favored by the "Fire Seed of Wine"... It always needed a medium!

Three years on Closed Cave Island in Sanzhou.

The start of the awakening experiment... coincided perfectly with the fall of the previous Wine God Seat...

All of this was a coincidence that couldn't be described as a coincidence.

The usually confused Xiao Tie Ren was uncharacteristically clever for a moment. He didn't follow Gu Shen's line of thought and instead asked in confusion, "That's not right, Brother Gu, how do you know about the 'Fire Seed' and 'authority'?"

Being chosen by the Fire Seed in advance...

Even the heads of the Five Great Families might not be able to access this kind of file. This was a top-secret at the "Highest Seat" level.

"..."

Gu Shen looked at Shen Li with a somewhat complicated expression.

This guy wasn't smart when he should be, but he was quite smart when he shouldn't be...

"This is the result of divination."

He said irritably, "Put your brain where it needs to be."

Shen Li was at a loss for words and smiled awkwardly.

He then asked, "What about the second explanation?"

"When I went to Zone E0 to find Xiaoman, the Source Tower was searching for 'genius youths'... The garrison in Zone E0 at the time was He Chan. The Four Divine Envoys were stationed in five districts, each doing their best to find 'gifted people'."

Gu Shen slowly said, "I ransacked the spiritual sea of a Source Tower enforcer and learned that they were searching for these 'gifted people' as part of the 'Cloud Mirror Mission' issued by the Sky God Seat."

Shen Li asked in confusion, "That seems normal..."

All transcendents who arrived at Closed Cave Island in Sanzhou would do this.

"No..."

Gu Shen moved his head and asked, "You've already seen the spiritual manifestation of the 'Fire Seed of Wine,' so would you still think it's normal? The transcendents of the Source Tower aren't just searching for 'geniuses'... They're searching for a new master for the 'Fire Seed of Wine'!"

"It's just..."

Gu Shen narrowed his eyes. He recalled the scene when Zhu Que fought him.

"These Divine Envoys may not know what they're doing..."

"The Source Tower enforcers think they're just completing a mission..."

Shen Li suddenly understood.

He murmured, "You mean, the Source Tower is using its Divine Envoys to find the 'Lord of Wine'..."

"That's right."

Gu Shen lowered his eyebrows and couldn't help but smile. "So... Zhu Que and Yun Hu are working so hard just because the temptation is strong enough. Mr. Tianshui of the Source Tower must have told them that completing this 'Cloud Mirror Mission' would give them the chance to become the future 'Lord of Wine'."