Chapter 1 The Eye of Fate is False

The Eye of Fate was a lie.

But that scene from the false prophecy played out in reality.

The man with open arms stood at the volcano's mouth, behind him the erupting ash spewed forth, and countless beast spirits galloped across the earth, the rolling tremors like thunder, threatening to tear the land apart.

Sand and dust swirled.

"This is the day of destruction for the Sang Continent Caverns."

Owl's eyes held both pity and mockery. "Since the Five Continents Government doesn't care about the lives here...then it shouldn't matter if it's destroyed. What do you think?"

"I think you're the one who deserves to be destroyed."

Amidst the roaring tide of countless outbreaks, Gu Shen's mind sank into an unprecedented calm.

He raised the ruler.

Countless silver rays intertwined.

The ash from [Tanyao] Mountain formed circle after circle of giant ripples.

During his trip to Central Continent, he had already learned of "Owl's" origins. It was an error born in Mr. Turing's laboratory, an error likely closely related to himself later on...Gu Shen believed what Owl said about the connection between "blood fire" and "fiery fire."

That was why he had made up his mind at this moment.

At any cost.

Kill Owl.

At this moment, time seemed to slow down on the [Tanyao] Mountain ridge. For Gu Shen, it was an extremely familiar feeling.

Someone was using a special privilege to interfere with this real world where time flowed normally.

Countless silver lights, in the ash and dust, wrapped into a circle.

[Truth] spread, enveloping Gu Shen.

...

...

High above, flowing clouds cast silhouettes.

Light and darkness cut through the iron dome, illuminating the earth. This was a false space, a one-to-one simulation of the real world. The throne in the darkness appeared particularly dazzling under the reflection of countless fiery lights. This was the first time the "Devil" had come so close to the light. It sat at the very front of the myriad shadows, its body seemingly about to break through the thick black mist, exuding ominous baleful energy.

This was also the closest Gu Shen had ever been to the Devil.

The two were almost face-to-face, but the Devil's throne was too high. When it leaned down, it was like a giant staring at an ant.

Gu Shen raised his head, his tone calm. "I thought you would remain silent forever."

"..."

The Devil didn't answer.

It said expressionlessly, "Let's skip the meaningless chatter. It's better for both of us."

Gu Shen nodded.

"So, you're here for another transaction..."

Gu Shen chuckled softly, mocking himself. "You can't sit still anymore. You're afraid I'll die here, and that the guy on the other side, entangled with blood fire, will just throw away the ruler."

Owl looked down on the Seeds of Fire.

In Owl's heart, blood fire and fiery fire were nobler than the Seven Divine Seeds of Fire...

Regardless of whether blood fire and fiery fire were more precious than the Seeds of Fire.

Just considering Owl's style of doing things, one would know: he could really do something like throw away the ruler directly or destroy it!

This was a complete madman. It wouldn't be surprising if he did anything.

"Yes, so you must win."

The Devil didn't bother to conceal its intentions. After the Duolun River incident, there was no longer any trust between it and Gu Shen.

It was looking for an opportunity to destroy Gu Shen.

Gu Shen was also looking for an opportunity to destroy it.

However, these two mortal enemies... now had a reason to join forces.

"Very good, I think so too... I must win."

"If I lose, I will die, and you won't survive either."

Gu Shen stared at the darkness before him, saying each word clearly. "The guy in front of us controls ninety percent of the transcendent beast spirits in the Sang Continent Caverns, as well as unknown forbidden powers, and strange methods... I can't kill him, and it's probably impossible to escape now, so there's only one path left."

His tone was extremely indifferent, unbelievably calm, as if he were talking about something completely unrelated to himself.

What life or death, it was no longer important.

After a brief pause, Gu Shen held out a hand.

He said, "I need all of the [Truth], all of it."

All of the [Truth] meant all the permissions hidden within this ruler.

Not only that.

It also meant... the secrets hidden in the ruler.

For example, the real blueprints for [Extinguished Candle], and the specific way to materialize it with thought.

[Truth], a divine weapon of this level, had extremely high limits. It could continuously be developed to a higher level as the user's realm improved –

And what Gu Shen meant was to have the Devil hand over these high-level usage methods, as well as the [Truth] thought pathways accumulated over many years.

The Devil in the throne was silent for a second, then coldly refused, "Killing him doesn't require that much."

Even now, the two were still playing games.

Gu Shen knew that, with both sides knowing each other so well, it was no longer possible to threaten him with his life.

His killing intent was firm at this moment, and the other side was very clear about that.

Negotiation and bargaining were also meaningless at this time.

"I will give you the complete visualization blueprints for [Extinguished Candle], and an incomplete [Achilles' Heel]."

The Devil uttered something Gu Shen had never heard of before.

Achilles' Heel?

With the link to Chu Ling disconnected, Gu Shen couldn't access the database to look up related information... but he vaguely remembered what "Achilles" was.

The ancient secret texts of Nagano recorded a portion of ancient myths written by the old humans six hundred years ago.

Achilles, this was a mythical figure who only existed in legends.

"What is [Achilles' Heel]?"

Gu Shen frowned.

"You will know the moment you grasp [Truth Extinguished Candle]."

The Devil didn't explain, but changed the subject. "The ruler, as a bridge, can bear our mental meeting, and it has now reached its limit... You should be clear that the scales of fate require the maintenance of equality with each exchange."

"I can only give you these two things. If you can't kill him, and you want to use a higher level of [Truth]..."

"Then I'll have to take over."

The Devil no longer hid its intentions.

All along, it had been planning this... using the transaction to gradually take over Gu Shen's body.

This unprecedented triple transcendent possessed unparalleled top-tier talent!

Once it "plundered" it.

Then it would possess a perfect body that surpassed its previous one!

"This is the prerequisite for me giving you these two items – if you don't agree, we will die here together."

The truth was revealed.

After the Devil finished speaking, it stopped moving.

Two spiritual tides of darkness and light confronted each other in the ruler space.

Gu Shen raised his eyes, a half-smile on his face, looking at the dark throne before him.

He asked softly, "How about I just give you this body? What do you think?"

"..."

The Devil was silent.

Darkness concealed its face.

Actually, it was frowning at this moment, because it couldn't tell if Gu Shen's words were serious or sarcastic.

Just as it hesitated.

"Too bad, you missed a good opportunity."

Gu Shen sighed softly, saying calmly, "Actually, I was serious just now, but now I've changed my mind again. I accept this transaction. Now I want to take the [Extinguished Candle] visualization blueprints and [Achilles' Heel]!"

Still because of the darkness concealing everything, Gu Shen couldn't see the Devil's expression on the throne.

His little trick just now couldn't hold up.

He hoped to see some anger on the face of the guy opposite, or perhaps an expression of disdain for this cheap trick.

Unfortunately.

Darkness was eternal.

He couldn't see anything.

All that reached his ears was the cold reply.

"...As you wish."

The Devil on the dark throne waved its hand, releasing a dark ball of light. This ball of light flew out of the shadows, instantly illuminated by the bright sunlight, and crashed into Gu Shen's forehead. Like fireworks, it exploded, turning into countless streamers, and with a bang, instantly illuminated the entire ruler space –

The light and darkness entangled in the ruler space instantly separated.

The transaction was completed, and a storm swept through.

Gu Shen's consciousness instantly returned to the real world. On the other side of the dust, Owl's action of raising his arms hadn't even finished!

A large amount of information flooded his mind.

This was the first time he had truly tasted the sweet taste of a "soul transaction"... Before this, he had abandoned the ruler, and he had sealed the Devil.

But in the end, fate had pushed him to this point.

Gu Shen had signed an agreement with the existence in the ruler. He had paid the price to obtain even greater power.

Every time before this had just been a small bait thrown out by the dark throne.

This time, however, it was different.

[Truth. Extinguished Candle: A sealed object that was once stained with the blood of the Seven Gods. The original power was directly proportional to the user's source energy storage, but after modification, it is directly proportional to the user's mental power.]

The ruler gave a complete visualization pathway in his mind.

Gu Shen could use his past experiences to simulate fake sealed objects, but this level of simulation had no way to restore the striking feel and true power of a top-tier divine weapon.

At this moment, the complete visualization pathway was imprinted in his mind.

Gu Shen felt an unprecedented sense of guidance –

In an instant, he saw the internal structure of [Extinguished Candle].

Even those forbidden structures involving the causal level were completely understood and comprehended by him in a short moment.

Silver light surged, and the blurred bow shape of [Truth. Extinguished Candle] was already condensing in his palm.

Immediately following that was the second item from the transaction:

[Achilles' Heel: This is an unexplainable 'conceptual power'. If you are the destined wielder of 'Extinguished Candle', then when you grasp it, you will experience the specific meaning of 'Achilles' Heel'.]

This second reminder sounded in his mind, and Gu Shen still felt some confusion.

In the ruler space, he had asked the Devil what "Achilles' Heel" was.

The Devil didn't answer.

It only told him that he would understand when he grasped [Extinguished Candle].

At this moment, this reminder still didn't explain... it only said that it was a "conceptual power"?

Gu Shen didn't hesitate. He took a deep breath, injecting his vast mental power into the ruler. Countless ashes were blown away by the wind, and silver light lit up layer by layer. The dark and dim [Tanyao] Mountain seemed to have a round of silver and white moon burning, that was Gu Shen materializing [Truth. Extinguished Candle].

The use of [Truth] required the consumption of a great amount of mental power.

But Gu Shen had never imagined that the real manifestation of [Extinguished Candle] would require so much mental power!

He had just been promoted, and his mental sea was now at the same level as Zhongyuan Fisher... Among the fourth rank, apart from those monster transcendents, no one was stronger than him!

But just allowing [Extinguished Candle] to take shape had already consumed sixty percent of it!

"Rumble..."

In the void, a silver vortex was born. It was the collapse caused by the space being unable to bear the concentration of too much mental power.

Gu Shen's expression was slightly pale. He tightly gripped the materialized white-scaled bow of Truth, pulling it out from the vortex of collapsing void. The moment he grasped [Extinguished Candle] in the real world –

Gu Shen understood the meaning of [Achilles' Heel].

The legendary "Achilles" was a brave and skilled god general, whose only weakness was his heel, and he ultimately died after being shot in that vital spot.

The original meaning of Achilles' Heel meant "fatal weakness."

The moment Gu Shen held [Extinguished Candle], he saw the true structure of all things in the world.

Every floating grain of dust.

And Adam, wrapped in countless grains of dust.

He wanted to use [Extinguished Candle] to shatter anything, whether living or dead, and [Achilles' Heel] would provide him with a clear and accurate point of impact. Everything in the world, as long as it had a structure, would have a "point of disintegration"...

This was [Achilles' Heel].

A concept field that came free with [Extinguished Candle] for its destined master.

After being materialized by [Truth], this divine weapon underwent some changes... [Achilles' Heel] required the consumption of mental power. Each time he looked at something, each time he understood a weakness, it would consume a bit of mental power. The stronger the opponent, the more concentrated the arrow shot, the more mental power it would consume.

Gu Shen took a deep breath, raising the bow and looking at the golden-haired man.

His gaze pierced through the countless sands –

Directly locking onto that wisp of blood fire.

...

...

"…?"

The smile on Adam's face froze in an instant.

Clearly, only a few short seconds had passed in the real world. The volcano was erupting, the earth was shaking, and he seemed to hear the strong and powerful beating of his own heart.

Everything was so wonderful.

But suddenly, an extremely strong sense of unease rose in his heart.

His raised arms hadn't had time to come down yet.

In the ash, Gu Shen pulled out a "great bow" out of thin air, and then that great bow was pointed at him –

Owl couldn't smile anymore.

His intuition was extremely sharp. Since his birth, he had been able to sense any danger descending upon him in advance.

And the last time he encountered this strong sense of danger was in the capital!

His countless avatars were shattered one by one by Bai Shu, who had not yet become the Fighting God Throne, following the sea of his mind...

This extremely strong crisis was often accompanied by the immediate descent of destruction!

The one giving him this sense of crisis now was not Bai Shu.

It was Gu Shen.

A mere third rank!

"That bow... what is that bow?!"

"Damn it!"

"Damn it!"

This was the last shred of consciousness remaining in Adam's mind.

When he saw a silver and white light gathering at Gu Shen's fingertips, everything was already over.

The positions of the two seemed to form a long line.

Owl had never imagined that the death of his body would come so quickly.

Gu Shen released his fingers, and the silver light instantly pierced through "his" head. Although this was not his body, an unprecedented piercing pain vibrated in Owl's mind –

He didn't have time to roar or scream in anger.

A wisp of blood fire was pierced and shot through by the silver light, carrying out the golden-haired man's head.

[Truth. Extinguished Candle], coupled with [Achilles' Heel], directly shattered Adam's weakness.

This arrow of Gu Shen's didn't kill Adam's physical body.

But the real weakness, that wisp of "blood fire" that controlled Adam's soul!