Chapter 1 Tanyao

The mountain wind of Tanyao blew past as Gu Shen stood at the mouth of the volcano, looking down.

It was scorching hot here, but Gu Shen vaguely felt a chill in his heart.

"Suzaku...is down there?"

He frowned, feeling that something was amiss.

Due to the accumulation of too much volcanic ash, his mental strength could no longer spread out. No matter how hard he tried to look, the scene at the bottom of Tanyao Mountain was a blur of chaos.

As for the blazing fire, it was constantly blocked by the volcanic ash.

It seemed impossible to "see" the scene below while standing at the crater.

"Suzaku is one of the Four Divine Envoys, after all. Although he acts rashly, he wouldn't do pointless things." Gu Shen thought to himself, "He came here to meet with the Red Dragon. If he didn't meet the Red Dragon, he should have waited in place or left... Did he jump into the crater because he discovered some important information?"

Gu Shen recalled the "Eye of Fate" that Adam had found. According to Adam, it was picked up before the Sangzhou Cave awakening experiment officially began.

Three years ago, the environment of Tanyao was not as harsh as it is now.

If the "Eye of Fate" could be nurtured...then it was possible that other divine objects could be nurtured as well!

In the current situation, it could not be ruled out that Suzaku had some kind of adventure at the bottom of Tanyao Mountain.

Gu Shen felt a faint guidance in his heart, urging him to jump down!

Just as he took a deep breath, preparing to jump down from the crater, a sound of tearing through the air, against the fiery waves, broke through layers of volcanic ash!

"Boom!"

The blazing fire wind rushed straight into the sky, brushing past Gu Shen's cheek—

Gu Shen retreated instantly.

A scarlet figure, riding a huge firebird, swept out of the Tanyao crevice, and the majestic fire waves swept and rolled, impacting the earth, blowing dust and sand in all directions!

"Suzaku!"

Gu Shen locked onto the target instantly, and at the same time, he was locked onto by the bird rider who had rushed into the volcanic clouds.

The scarlet bird, condensed from elementalization, circled in the air, then swooped down. Suzaku's eyes were bloodshot, and his voice was extremely hoarse, sounding somewhat unfamiliar.

"Kill!"

At this moment, Gu Shen wore the ghost mask and the Guang Ming Bi Lei blessed robe, recreating the appearance of the previous battle in the E0 district North Ridge.

He originally wanted to meet Suzaku in his previous identity.

But he didn't expect that Suzaku seemed to "not recognize him."

Judging from Suzaku's performance, this divine envoy was filled with murderous intent at the moment, but Gu Shen's spirit did not feel too much anger...

Was his perception wrong?

There was no time for more thinking!

The scarlet bird had already swooped down from a hundred meters in the air. The elementalized bird spread its wings, and the sky-filled Li fire completely ignited the already flickering Tanyao Mountain ridge!

"Clang!"

Gu Shen blocked with one arm, and the other hand made a gesture of drawing a knife.

Countless iron scales were drawn out by him, turning into a narrow war blade. He did not retreat, but began to run towards the firebird. The sky above Sangzhou Cave was pouring with thousands of rain threads, and this boiling land of fire ignited a majestic mist. One person and one bird collided in this way—

In an instant, the ground cracked, and the firebird, which had fallen from a high altitude, was cut into the left wing by Gu Shen's knife, and then countless iron scales cut the Li fire.

Gu Shen brushed past the giant firebird, and the iron scale long knife directly cut off a Li fire wing!

With a loud bang, the giant bird lost its balance. This false beast spirit, condensed by the Li fire domain's elementalization, let out a painful roar. Countless flames were extinguished, and the Suzaku Divine Envoy riding on the back of the giant bird was thrown down by the huge impact force, leaning over and pressing one hand on the ground, stabilizing his figure by inertia.

"Weaker than I thought...very little source power."

Gu Shen immediately made an assessment after drawing his knife.

"Is this the damage caused by Jia Wei before?"

He was a little puzzled.

Was the pursuit in the West Cave that intense? Did Jia Wei use up all the transcendent source power in Suzaku's body?

No, that's not right.

If it really came to this point, would the Guang Ming Bi Lei Great Knight let go of the opportunity to kill Suzaku?

He stood still and glanced at the Tanyao volcano behind him. At this moment, the crater of the volcano was located behind him...

At this moment, the guidance of the Goddess of Fate transmitted an ominous signal!

This time, the signal was no longer a random warning, but came from behind!

The volcano might erupt... Gu Shen turned his position imperceptibly. As the volcanic crater was located on the side of his "field of vision" that he could detect, the mental warning of the pendant finally subsided, indicating that he had made the correct response!

"Suzaku...we meet again."

After Gu Shen shattered the firebird, he held the knife in one hand and met the Suzaku Divine Envoy with a false face.

"..."

What he got in return was silence.

Suzaku slowly stood up expressionlessly, and the strong wind blew his divine official robe. From this moment on, the dried-up source power in his body began to rise rapidly.

"These source powers were consumed inside the volcano? Now that he has come to the outside world, he is starting to accumulate source powers again?"

Gu Shen observed all of this.

Following the guidance of his heart, he made a decision.

The red light surrounding Gu Shen's face slowly changed, and after a few seconds, it completely disappeared, revealing his true face.

Now that they had met face to face, it was impossible for him to let Suzaku leave.

Showing his true face meant a fight to the death!

However, what Gu Shen didn't expect was that...

When the true culprit in the E0 district North Ridge overlapped with the face of his greatest enemy...

A trace of change finally appeared on Suzaku's face, but not much.

His eyebrows raised, and his eyes were full of fierce killing intent.

Suzaku casually pulled out a battle blade of the same specification as the one in Gu Shen's palm from the surrounding sea of fire, and said in a hoarse voice: "So you just broke through... No wonder you dare to show up here."

"This guy is not right."

Gu Shen narrowed his eyes.

In his impression, the Suzaku Divine Envoy didn't seem like the kind of person who would say such a thing.

Suzaku hated him to the core. Once he revealed his true face and revealed his identity...he would definitely be furious at this moment. Some things cannot be changed. The Suzaku Divine Envoy has cultivated all the way to the top level of the fourth rank, and his style of acting has been like this for the past ten years. He is decisive in killing, but the "man" at this moment gives him a sinister feeling of softness hiding murder!

"Boom—"

The wind rose again on the top of Tanyao Mountain, and clusters of Li fire surged out from the cracks in the ground, surrounding and forming one large circle after another.

Nan Li Lian Yu! (Southern Fire Purgatory)

This was the Suzaku Divine Envoy's "arena"!

Once trapped, one must engage in a one-on-one duel...until a winner is decided, and life and death are determined!

Last time in North Ridge, Gu Shen was no match.

Fortunately, he had buried the hidden danger of the beast tide in advance, and used the crisis of the source tower barrier breaking to force the Suzaku Divine Envoy to actively lift the Nan Li Lian Yu. Even so, he still suffered a lot. Li fire could whip the spirit and body, and if Suzaku had stubbornly refused to lift the domain at that time, Gu Shen might have returned with serious injuries—

But now, it's different.

"I've been waiting for your Nan Li Lian Yu."

Gu Shen coldly shook his blade.

The battle blade shattered, and the Tie Wang Zuo (Iron Throne) drove countless iron scales to re-condense in the air, and the arc of Zhen Li (Truth) emerged from his cuff.

After being promoted, his mental strength had greatly increased!

These iron scales lined up in the air, turning into one miniature flying sword after another. After being mixed with the arc of Zhen Li, these flying swords flickered with an unusual and dazzling luster.

Not far away, Suzaku raised the Li fire battle blade in both hands. His expression was cold, and the Li fire gushing out from the cracks in the ground flew towards his location one by one, turning into "scarlet lotus petals" in the air, and attaching to his body piece by piece, like armor, but also like skin, harmonious.

Elementalized armor!

In a sense, this is the second layer of skin for transcendents, which can be both "light" and "tough" at the same time, and can even change the transcendent's own life characteristics...

After fourth-rank transcendents comprehend the elementalization domain, they can undergo different degrees of alienation.

Water-type transcendents can perfectly integrate into a lake.

Elementalization allows his body to completely merge with water... If the battlefield is in a lake or ocean, water-type elementalized transcendents will have an absolute advantage.

Similarly.

The battlefield at this moment is Tanyao, a dormant volcano that may revive at any time.

This is the duel holy land for fire-type transcendents, with a large number of "fire elements" that can be absorbed... This is also the reason why the transcendent source power in Suzaku's body is exhausted, but the recovery speed is extremely fast. As long as he breaks away from the shackles of volcanic ash and comes to the surface of the volcano, he will have an endless supply of "same-type elements" to swallow.

And in a duel between the same ranks, as long as the elementalized armor remains covered, he will basically be invincible!

With only half of the armor covered, the Suzaku Divine Envoy "couldn't wait" to make a move. He clenched the battle blade, made a heavy chopping motion from top to bottom, and at the same time stepped on the ground, directly crashing into Gu Shen with fierce killing intent.

Because of the small amount of source power in his body, the Nan Li Lian Yu could only be condensed with the help of ground fire, and the current range covered a full kilometer.

Gu Shen's reaction speed was extremely fast.

The moment Suzaku's toes touched the ground, he began to retreat, and at the same time, his mind activated, and the iron scale flying swords suspended in front of him shot out in an instant, turning into a rain of swords covering the sky.

"Buzzing!"

After being promoted to the fourth rank, he could now control one hundred and sixty-eight iron scale weapons at the same time.

One hundred and sixty-eight iron scale flying swords were all released!

Suzaku, who was rushing forward, trembled, and a crackling sound burst out. His expression was gloomy, and the rushing speed was not affected at all. The elementalized armor bounced the iron scales away. These flying swords seemed to hit the target, but in fact they were bounced away just a fraction of an inch from the target's surface.

Suzaku slashed down with his blade. This powerful blow missed, and the place where it was cut, Gu Shen's robe was shattered, turning into a phantom.

He looked coldly at the hundred meters away.

Gu Shen, who was controlling the "iron scale flying swords" with his mental strength, had already dodged far away...

Gu Shen was determined to avoid Suzaku's strong point of frontal fighting.

This fight was almost the same as the scene in the North Ridge of E0 district!

The only difference from before was that Suzaku had broken through, and Gu Shen had also broken through!

The second domain that Suzaku comprehended, "elementalization," could easily withstand the rapid impact of a single "iron scale flying sword."

But he couldn't stand the large number, the fast frequency, and he didn't have to worry about damage at all!

These flying swords were extremely strong in quality and could not be crushed at all—

This level of attack could be said to be painless, but extremely disgusting.

In Suzaku's view, the impact of the iron scale flying swords was almost equivalent to "tickling," but if he wanted to break through, if he wanted to dodge, no matter what he wanted to do, these flying swords would hit him from different angles, causing his movements to be somewhat "stagnant."

A duel between top fourth ranks.

A moment of slowness will determine life and death!

"Dong!"

The Suzaku Divine Envoy's expression was gloomy, and he slammed his foot on the ground!

Three scarlet lotus flowers the size of infant heads were shaken out of the sea of fire. These three fire lotus flowers rotated rapidly around the elementalized armor, replacing the armor and colliding with the iron scale flying swords. For a time, golden light shattered, and a series of explosions continued to be heard. This was the wonderful use of the first domain!

And in the few seconds that Suzaku was dealing with the iron scale flying swords, Gu Shen, who had retreated a hundred meters, was not idle.

He was surrounded by wind and snow, and with a wave of his hand, he grabbed an old snuff bottle from the void of the Pure Land domain!

So far, no one in the Five Continents knows how the "poisonous miasma" outside the S12 district boundary in the South Cave was arranged... These fourth-rank leaders have all observed it from a distance and came to a conclusion that the power in the poisonous miasma may be some kind of mental toxin related to "Hades."

Gu Shen shielded the exploration of the Tian Yan (Eye of Heaven) when arranging the poisonous miasma!

So no matter how these people observe and summarize... all the final inferences can only be guesses!

At this moment.

The snuff bottle filled with the "Poison of the Underworld River" was poured out by Gu Shen, and a drop of black ink-like black water slowly spread out after falling to the ground.

Before breaking through, Gu Shen had thought about how to deal with Suzaku's Nan Li Lian Yu.

A closed, almost perfect suppression domain.

If you want to win.

Either, rely on crushing strength.

For example, Jia Wei, who could shatter half of Suzaku's life with two shots.

Or...

We must use the characteristics of this domain to reverse the "restraint" relationship.

Isn't this Nan Li Lian Yu absolutely closed?

Alright!

Then I'll use poison!

"Crash..."

The Poison of the Underworld River fell on Tanyao Volcano and spread quickly!

The moment the poison fell from the mouth of the snuff bottle, the expression of the Suzaku Divine Envoy in the distance suddenly changed.

Gu Shen used his mental strength to drive the "Poison of the Underworld River" to quickly rotate around the outer fire circle of the Nan Li Lian Yu, attaching it to the inner wall of the fire circle, forming a second perfect closed domain.

"Since I can't escape, then don't even think about escaping."

Gu Shen smiled playfully. Before he could put away the snuff bottle, a large amount of poisonous miasma had already spread in the Li fire domain!

"Yin seed!"

Suzaku's angry voice echoed in the poisonous miasma.

Black and purple mist and scarlet firelight overlapped, and a large amount of volcanic ash was spreading to obscure the view.

The environment of this battle was extremely harsh for both sides.

Gu Shen dismissed this scolding, but this scolding was in line with his understanding of Suzaku...

He closed his eyes and focused on using his spirit to perceive everything in the poisonous miasma.

The mental toxin of the Underworld River was ineffective against him.

But once it invades Suzaku's mental sea, his heart sea will be quickly eroded, unless there is a special sealed object bestowed by the sky!

What elementalization or non-elementalization...

None of it works!

This is the most unsolvable ultimate move to encircle and single out Suzaku!

After closing his eyes, Gu Shen perceived this silent and slightly undulating world. The surface of Tanyao was shaking, and there seemed to be the sound of drums. A creature seemed to live in this volcano.

And the only noise in this world came from the volcano's breathing.

"Boom!"

A sharp sound of breaking through the air broke Gu Shen's perception.

"Here it comes—"

A loud noise!

The poisonous miasma in front of Gu Shen was broken through by the sea of fire. Suzaku's armored body was almost parallel to the ground. Three Li fire guardian lotus flowers shattered the iron scale flying swords that filled the sky along the way, splashing out silver light as continuous and dense as rain. The moment the poisonous miasma spread, he made a decision to quickly kill Gu Shen and break the miasma.

However, at the end of the poisonous miasma, there was not a weak and powerless lamb waiting to be slaughtered.

There are thousands of mental transcendent in the world.

Only Gu Shen is the best at close combat.

"Shila!"

Gu Shen suddenly opened his eyes, and two short daggers slid out of his sleeves.

Tear, break the source.

The double knives were held in reverse grip, presenting a cross-shaped slash.

Clang!

In the poisonous miasma fire sea, a burst of metal collision sound burst out—

The two passed by each other.

The duel between top fourth ranks is often only a moment.

This moment determines victory or defeat, and also determines life and death.