"Next time you return to the Shrine, remember to bring back a portion of the true understanding of the Longevity Chart."

The moment he left the Shrine, Chu Ling's voice echoed in Gu Shen's mind.

Gu Shen paused, slightly surprised.

"The true understanding of the Longevity Art?"

Such a thing, only a fragment of it, seemed to have little significance.

"She is dying."

Chu Ling spoke these words with utter calmness, without a hint of emotional fluctuation.

But in reality, her tone was low and rapid. A careful listener would perceive that this was not a sound that a soulless AI could produce.

Chu Ling did not want these words to sound mournful.

"She... Li Qingci?"

Only then did Gu Shen belatedly realize what Qingci had meant by her hesitant words before he left the Shrine.

66a99 people three.

Chu Ling said, "No one can obtain the complete understanding of the Longevity Art... Even what Ian acquired was merely a fragment. But even a single splinter, a wedge, is better than nothing. In the past, Ian could live to be one hundred and twenty years old with a portion of the 'true understanding,' so perhaps obtaining a portion of the true understanding can extend Li Qingci's lifespan... somewhat."

A pause.

A long pause.

At this moment, Gu Shen was seated in the private plane arranged by the Gu family.

He did not speak, nor did Chu Ling. The two of them maintained their silence. Looking back, the silhouette of the Shrine Mountain had already vanished into the thick fog of Highway 447.

Sometimes, silence can give rise to feelings of sorrow.

Therefore, Gu Shen took the initiative to break the stillness of the lake in his heart.

"Are you guessing, or did you see something?"

"Among billions of 'visions,' I have consistently maintained my focus on 'Shrine Mountain.' In recent days, Li Qingci has been coughing more frequently, her breathing has become weaker, and her life force is diminishing. These details have caught my attention."

Chu Ling said, "The Dao protectors of the Li family can utilize the Art of Prayer. The difference between them and other practitioners lies in... due to the bloodline power passed down through generations, and their identity as 'Dao protectors,' they can sense when their lives will come to an end."

"This perception is a 'gift' flowing in their blood. They know how many chips they have left at the 'Scales of Fate,' how many more transactions they can make." Chu Ling said softly, "So... she really doesn't have much time left. This is not a guess, but a truth that I have 'seen' with my own eyes."

"But Li Qingci is only in her twenties."

Gu Shen's voice was somewhat hoarse as he said, "Even if she has to pay the price for the Art of Prayer, this is far too early."

"Don't forget that she paid ten years to forge a positive connection between the Li family and you, and to introduce you to the Shrine."

Chu Ling reminded him, "When Li Qingci paid the price back then, you had not yet become famous, but in the Scales of Fate of the Art of Prayer, it was likely already known that you were connected to the Fire Seed. Ten years to forge a positive connection is a very significant transaction."

Without Li Qingci's ten years, there would be no such positive connection.

Nor would there have been the four bronze lamps later, and the successful descent of Chu Ling.

This is cause and effect, a positive connection, a cyclical circle.

Now, it was time for him, this "King of the Underworld," to return the favor.

Gu Shen looked at the clouds and snow outside the window, and said softly, "Qingci should not die so early."

After Mu Wanqiu and Mu Qingyang's team lost contact.

All search missions in the tundra's interior ended.

Everyone was on standby at the base.

It had already been determined... that the target was in the Frozen Lake area, but the Frozen Lake was too large, and rashly searching again would only add chips to Han Dang's hand.

The entire base was awaiting Gu Shen's news.

Of course.

They were also waiting for news of the Heaven-Sheath weapon.

"Beep."

A coordinate was sent to the base's main control computer.

"It's a message from Little Gu."

"Is this the coordinate of the Azure King's Authority Domain?"

"According to the 'Patrol Log,' no anomalies were found in this target area during the initial search."

"The depth of the Azure King's Authority Domain is at least five hundred meters underground, and the depth of the mental sensor is only three hundred meters... Not finding any anomalies does not mean anything."

"Yes, Commander! Coordinate locked! Do we need to take action now?"

"Don't rush, continue to stand by. How much longer will that thing of Nanfeng's take?"

The entire base began to bustle with activity.

The enforcers from the Northern Continent and the Eastern Continent were resting at the base.

Although the search mission in the interior had been suspended.

But outside the Frozen Lake, the "cleansing and encirclement" of the peripheral areas continued... A division had emerged within this group of snowfield criminals, and many unlucky ones were being hunted by "their own people."

But there were also some "fish that slipped through the net."

This time, they had to ensure that not a single escapee could escape.

The final annihilation had actually begun the moment Gu Shen identified the target... This time, the annihilation target was only three people.

Zhu Wang, Jing Shanyan, and Han Dang.

"Mr. Zhu Xue, I apologize for coming unannounced, but I would like to borrow something from you."

Gu Nanfeng arrived at the main ship of the Northern Continent's Operations Department.

Zhu Xue had just finished an online meeting in Central City.

He expressed a warm welcome to the former "Cn021," the future head of the Gu family.

He personally pulled out a chair for Gu Nanfeng and said with a smile, "If there's anything you need help with, just say the word."

Gu Nanfeng did not directly state his intention, but instead opened the projection interface. A holographic image was constructed on the desk, and the entire Operations Department was enveloped by Gu Nanfeng's mental power within his "domain."

Zhu Xue was slightly surprised.

Enveloping himself with a domain, such a grand gesture, what kind of scene was he trying to display? Was the content of the scene very large?

The next moment.

The smile on his face became somewhat stiff.

Snow and wind howled in the scene, indicating that the filming location of this holographic image was a base deep in the tundra. On the smooth steel foundation that had been cleared, dozens of Gu family night watchers carefully pushed out a fully loaded brown giant warhead. Two heavy machines were responsible for hauling it, but after barely taking off and circling once, they landed again.

"Is this a Heaven-Sheath weapon?"

Zhu Xue's expression became very complex.

Many years ago, he knew that Changye was researching this forbidden weapon, but he was not optimistic about it at the time. The reason why the Snow Cage prison was built was because the Heaven-Sheath was indestructible.

Where would the raw materials come from to build a Heaven-Sheath weapon?

And he was still not optimistic about this "Heaven-Sheath detachment" incident.

This kind of technology could not be developed overnight.

Among the five continents, the Central Continent had the highest level of development in extraordinary weapons, followed closely by the Northern Continent... The "Underground Research Institute" in Central City gathered the world's most cutting-edge elites and geniuses. After this prison break, the appearance of Heaven-Sheath weapons became possible.

But they believed that mature Heaven-Sheath weapons would still need to wait at least a few more years before they could be successfully developed.

On the one hand, the problem of extracting fragment activity could not be solved.

On the other hand.

The specific equation simulation for "storm release" was too difficult, and could only be optimized through continuous iteration, using the most clumsy experimental exhaustion.

But now.

No need for a few years.

Not even a few months.

In just a few days, Changye's tundra base had already handed in the "answer sheet"!

What a terrifying level of scientific research this was! Could it be that the Gu family's blueprint back then was so perfect that it could be mass-produced as long as they had the materials?

"Yes."

Gu Nanfeng said sincerely, "Although it has been successfully developed, it is only the first generation after all... All we can guarantee is that it can be put into use. The old man's intention is that this tundra operation can正好see if the 'ultimate weapon' that the Gu family has been looking forward to for so many years is worthy of the name."

"No one knows what the power of the Heaven-Sheath weapon is like."

As the Northern Continent's largest "warlord," Zhu Xue straightened his body and asked with great interest, "You have solved the storm release equation and stabilized the fragment activity to more than 60%? How did you do it?"

"It's a long story."

Gu Nanfeng coughed with some embarrassment.

He did not tell the man in front of him that, because of the Grave Ghoul, the Heaven-Sheath activity was now at 75%. According to the original blueprint plan, this level of activity of the "first generation" Heaven-Sheath warhead was probably the third or even fourth generation product after the research was successful.

"Sorry, I was a little失态just now. Congratulations to you."

Zhu Xue realized his slip of the tongue and quickly smiled, lit a cigarette, and asked with confusion, "Since you have successfully developed the 'Heaven-Sheath weapon,' just put it into use. Is there anything else that the Northern Continent needs to help with? y."

"The 'heavy machines' of the Eastern Continent have limited activation efficiency."

Gu Nanfeng said frankly, "Looking at the five continents, it seems that only you have the carriers that can withstand this kind of strike power."

"You're here to borrow a source energy boat?"

Zhu Xue immediately understood when he heard this, and he couldn't help but shake his head with a smile, "The people of the Eastern Continent are so interesting. It's clear that the research and development difficulty of Heaven-Sheath weapons is much higher than that of load-bearing carriers, so how can you only have weapons and no carriers? Didn't the previous blueprint have corresponding plans?"

Gu Nanfeng sighed helplessly.

Of course there were.

In the original blueprint, once the Heaven-Sheath weapon was successfully built, a heavy airship with a source energy core "as the main driving energy, specially responsible for launching Heaven-Sheath warheads" would be built immediately on the other side of the base.

Because the blueprint plan had been shelved for so many years... this so-called dedicated airship would naturally not be built.

And no one would have thought that the Heaven-Sheath weapon had already been built in just a few days.

The heavy airship was still in the state of material collection.

"These are the source energy boats of the nearest fortress..." Zhu Xue also opened the projection and said with a smile, "Which one do you like? I'll transfer it over now."

"I'm afraid these won't do."

Gu Nanfeng didn't even look at those projections. He looked at Zhu Xue and said seriously, "I want to borrow your main ship."

"The main ship is an exclusive carrier personally conferred by Her Majesty the Queen. In theory, I don't have the right to borrow it."

Zhu Xue said with some embarrassment. He slowly leaned back and squinted at Gu Nanfeng.

"You can personally witness the explosion of the first Heaven-Sheath weapon on the main ship."

Gu Nanfeng said lightly, "Do you think there is anything more interesting than this?"

A long silence.

The entire main ship was so quiet that a pin could be heard dropping.

"Tsk, that's really tempting! Deal!"

Zhu Xue, who had always been refined, suddenly laughed.

He only looked refined, but he wasn't really refined... Every Northern Continent's person's blood flowed with the genes of warmongering, and he, the Northern Continent's highest duke, was no exception.

In fact, the entire Central City's military expenditure was managed by him. Every year, he had to review the latest weapon development of each fortress. Gu Nanfeng was right. Compared with the "Heaven-Sheath weapon," those made by the Northern Continent were really weak.

Gu Nanfeng also smiled.

He had stayed in the Northern Continent, so he knew the Northern Continent's people's way of doing things too well. That was why he had taken the initiative to ask the old man to hand over this negotiation to him.

"What's this thing called?"

Zhu Xue tapped the projection with his finger. He looked at the warhead in the image, and his gaze swept over the information displayed by Gu Nanfeng... Some of them were the impact experimental data from the Qingyin Laboratory of the Gu family's base.

The details of the "storm release" equation were hidden.

But the entire glass curtain wall was shattered from the inside by fragments... This scene was not hidden. Just a few fragments could create such a terrifying killing power.

It was hard to imagine what it would look like when an entire warhead exploded.

The high pressure at the moment of "storm release" would completely launch all the Heaven-Sheath fragments before they became inactive, and at the same time completely crush them into powder, carrying out a devastating coverage strike on the target strike area.

The curse from the fragments would instantly invade the skin of every living being.

No "one" could survive this dual blow of physical and mental attacks!

"It?"

Gu Nanfeng said softly, "Its name is Child."

"Child?" Zhu Xue was a little puzzled and asked, "Why is it called this name?"

"This is the name given by the old man." Gu Nanfeng said seriously, "Perhaps it has a very special meaning?"

"Is that so?"

Lin Chou rubbed his brow.

"Since you agree, then I will send someone to install and connect the power source."

Gu Nanfeng no longer said anything more, but prepared to turn around and leave.

He stood up, "Thank you very much, Duke."

"Wait."

Lin Chou took a deep breath and then forcefully extinguished the cigarette butt.

He recalled the words Gu Nanfeng used when he mentioned the warhead just now, and suddenly felt that something was wrong.

This youngest grand duke in the history of Central City also stood up at this moment.

Zhu Xue put one hand on Gu Nanfeng's shoulder and asked with a complex voice, "You wouldn't have created two of these things in one go, would you?"

"I couldn't hide it from you after all."

Gu Nanfeng sighed deeply. He was not good at lying, so after mentioning "Child," he wanted to end the conversation quickly.

Unexpectedly.

Zhu Xue still noticed.

"Currently, two have been produced in total."

Gu Nanfeng said with a smile, "In addition to this 'Child,' there is another one named 'Meat Mountain.' 9 'Meat Mountain' is still in the base. This warhead is being packaged."

"Packaging?" Zhu Xue was slightly stunned.

"Yes. This will be a special gift that we will return to the Northern Continent."

Gu Nanfeng stretched out his hand and smiled, "Thank you to Major General Lin Lin for providing the 'Miracle Silver.' Mr. Zhu Xue, I hope that in the future, the Eastern Continent and the Northern Continent can become the most loyal allies."