Chapter 1 Black Flowers Cover the Mountains

The shrine mountain was covered in black flowers.

A sea of fire slowly burned across the mountains and fields. This sea of fire did not ignite the mountain, nor did it exude a destructive aura... on the contrary, the black flowers enveloped by the flames gradually shed their aura of寂灭 (ji mie, desolate extinction) and coldness.

After a long time.

The "破灭之气 (po mie zhi qi, aura of destruction)" on the black flower petals was removed.

Overlooking from high altitude, this area surrounded by a sea of fire was full of vitality.

"In these two months of cultivation... the amount of my '生机之火 (sheng ji zhi huo, fire of vitality)' has doubled compared to before, but it's still not enough."

Gu Shen stretched out his palm.

A vigorous flame rolled in his palm.

In the past, the炽火 (chi huo, blazing fire) was only a wisp, gradually becoming a smear. Now, it finally had a certain scale and looked quite impressive.

But Gu Shen was clear.

To advance to the ninth layer of the Deep Sea... this blazing fire was still not enough.

As for the fourth rank.

After the ninth layer, his spiritual sea would expand again.

"The more you transcend realms, the stronger you become when breaking through," Gu Shen murmured. "To advance to the fourth rank, it is several times more difficult for me than for other transcendents, but once I break through... the combat power I possess will also be several times theirs!"

He extinguished the blazing fire with a backhand.

His divine sense immersed into the Pure Land, and a vast wind and snow greeted him.

Gu Shen stood on the main trunk of the Su Xuan tree. He had not informed anyone of his "arrival." During this period of secluded cultivation, he would occasionally spare some mental energy to observe the "construction progress" of the Pure Land.

Li Qingci was directing Tie Wu and Hong Zhong to carry out unified planning for the southern part of the Su Xuan tree, currently dividing the sown seeds into different areas.

Due to years of practicing the prayer technique in the shrine mountain.

Her mental strength was particularly strong.

Those souls whose consciousness he had erased could "understand" simple instructions, but these instructions needed to be issued through mental energy... Gu Shen watched for a while, and these people seemed to be building flower beds.

Near the Su Xuan tree, Li Qingci had built several wooden houses, slightly off the ground, with neat foundations. The appearance and style of these small houses were exactly the same as the shrine.

In addition, she also created a simple "residence" for those亡魂 (wang hun, deceased souls). The weather in the Pure Land world was changeable. As the god of this new world, Gu Shen's grasp of the "weather" was not precise enough... especially during the season of great cold, with constant snowfall and extreme cold day and night.

Souls can actually feel "coldness."

Moreover, all the consumption in this world was maintained by Gu Shen.

Rain, snow, wind, fog.

Sunrise, sunset, moonrise, star movement.

Every soul here, to survive in the "Pure Land," needed Gu Shen to burn source matter for them... Originally, there were only Tie Wu and Hong Zhong. When these two felt cold, they built a thatched hut on the spot and huddled inside at night, which was slightly better. They had managed to get by for a while, but now there were more than a hundred souls.

The "coldness" of these people required Gu Shen to spend extra.

Qingci built these houses to shelter from the wind and cold, so that the亡魂 (wang hun, deceased souls) who served as laborers would not be frozen and shivering... Because of these wooden houses, the source matter consumption of Gu Shen's Pure Land was reduced by 20% overall.

The Pure Land was an unparalleled creation.

This was a complete and independent world... Becoming the god of this world was certainly wonderful, but bearing all the expenses of the entire world was not a pleasant thing.

This place needed a "careful," "calculating" manager.

Gu Shen had no time and no ability to do this.

Li Qingci had seen the future Pure Land and knew all the details. It was most appropriate for her to handle this task.

"Now, the amount of source matter needed for the 'Pure Land' has already been simplified once."

Gu Shen sighed softly, "But it's still not enough."

If he stayed in the shrine mountain all the time, there would naturally be no need to worry.

Here, black flowers covered the mountains, and the entire disaster zone had accumulated six hundred years of disordered source matter, enough for Gu Shen to take at will.

However, there would always be times when he was away—

The "source matter" that the炽火 (chi huo, blazing fire) could swallow was always limited. Part of it had to be used to transform into the fire of vitality, and another part had to be used to maintain the operation of the "Pure Land"... Over time, it would be difficult to balance both.

Did he have to keep burying himself in the shrine mountain for secluded cultivation?

"Whoosh!"

He stepped forward and slightly shifted his body, falling from the Su Xuan tree in an instant.

"Divine Seat, Your Excellency."

"Mr. Gu."

The wind surged, and Tie Wu was the first to realize that someone had arrived. Li Qingci was busy "mustering troops," in a state of焦头烂额 (jiao tou lan e, frazzled and overwhelmed), and only turned her head hastily to give a simple greeting.

"Don't mind me."

Gu Shen gave Tie Wu a look that said, "Continue with your work." He looked at the re-cultivated soil and those timid souls who were obviously afraid of him.

Gu Shen didn't disturb Qingci. He paced alone in this "new garden."

This place was previously a desolate land.

After Tie Wu came, he sowed seeds, and seedlings grew, but these seedlings were crooked and not very attractive.

Gu Shen didn't care much about these.

Now that Li Qingci had come, she turned over the old soil and transplanted the seedlings.

The entire operating rules of this world were defined by Gu Shen. Transplanting seedlings, felling trees, and re-growing only required "source matter." He gave Li Qingci extremely high authority. After all, to be a hands-off shopkeeper, one had to have the awareness of a hands-off shopkeeper.

"Summoning wind and rain," "chasing the moon and calling the sun"—these miracles.

Li Qingci could implement them on his behalf.

However, she didn't use them much, only borrowing a part of the "divine edict power" to re-plow the wasteland previously reclaimed by Tie Wu. After reasonable close planting, the area of dozens of acres looked much cleaner and fresher.

This was a major project because the Pure Land was so vast that there were countless areas of dozens of acres.

Before long, Li Qingci's voice rang out from behind.

"Mr. Gu, in my memory... this is a 'golden spike flower garden.' Perhaps because of the great cold season, these seedlings have not yet sprouted and are growing slowly."

"Slowly?" Gu Shen asked with a smile, "Are you sure they aren't unable to grow?"

"... It's really not."

Li Qingci hesitated for a moment and took out a frozen spike covered with ice dregs from her sleeve.

"This was just recently grown... one, well, although it's very small, it still grew."

Gu Shen took the small, stubborn spike flower.

Now, in the Pure Land, one can actually see golden spike flowers fluttering in the wind.

But those were all结 (jie, formed) during the "spring rain season."

He had thought that.

In winter, all things would be寂灭 (ji mie, desolate extinction).

These plants would not be able to grow.

"Eh..."

Gu Shen's pupils contracted slightly. He examined the spike flower, his eyes becoming surprised.

"What's wrong?"

Seeing this, Li Qingci asked curiously, "Is there something different about this spike flower?"

Gu Shen's fingertips gently rubbed it.

The golden spike flower was crushed by him, the ice dregs melted, and the shattered golden dust scattered after the wind blew.

"This spike flower, although small... contains source matter."

A look of surprise appeared on Gu Shen's face, and he murmured, "So, although the Pure Land has wind and rain in all seasons, consuming source matter, as long as it is carefully cultivated, waiting for it to bloom and bear fruit is a feedback."

Li Qingci paused briefly, quickly understanding what Gu Shen was saying.

She now held the "divine edict" in her hand and could command wind and rain within the Pure Land, but she had never used it because she knew that each "divine edict" required source matter as the price.

Gu Shen was in seclusion in the shrine, so there was no need to worry about source matter for the time being.

But the shrine was not an inexhaustible source.

The reason why the prayer technique back then pointed her future to Gu Shen was probably because... with the growth rate of the "Pure Land," the shrine mountain would soon be emptied.

The Li family's six-hundred-year curse was indeed huge.

But if it was used to supply such a boundless world, it would seem insignificant.

"Then... you only need to let enough golden spikes 'bloom' to be 'self-sufficient'?"

Li Qingci realized.

"If there are no accidents, that's how it is."

Gu Shen's eyes were complicated.

No wonder the Lord of the Underworld was eager to get the "Pure Land." Such a perfect world with self-generated cause and effect was more real than any of the seven gods' divine domains.

The more you put in, the more you gain.

Once the "Pure Land" was completed and achieved initial operation.

Then its master would obtain a steady stream of transcendent source matter!

Use these source matter again to expand the undead army.

Part of the undead would then be put into the Pure Land... the snowball would get bigger and bigger.

The prerequisite was that the Pure Land needed a soul commander who could hold the line, as well as a smart planting planner. Now there were only a hundred or so souls. If there were more, more... I'm afraid the situation would be different from now.

"This flower garden will take about ten days to be initially built."

Li Qingci used her divine edict to float in the air, reaching a height of about a hundred meters above the ground. Gu Shen rose to the same height as her.

Qingci stretched out her finger and moved it slowly.

This entire flower garden was in the shape of a square贴 (tie, plaque).

"To wait for the first batch of golden spike flowers to sprout, it will probably take another month, plus the consumption of a round of 'reserve source matter'." She said seriously, "But after that, the source matter consumption of these one hundred and thirty-four souls can be reduced by half. To wait for complete 'self-sufficiency,' it will probably take another two months."

It was like this in the beginning.

Few people, little land, few flowers, and little source matter.

But later on, the consumption of source matter would become larger and larger, and the output would also become larger and larger.

"Understood... If I leave the shrine, the 'source matter' I have stored will first ensure the consumption of the Pure Land."

Gu Shen nodded. He could still calculate this account clearly. Once the Pure Land became self-sufficient, the next step would be to expand it, and the source matter obtained would be feedback to himself.

And at that time, he alone would be a mobile "disaster zone"!

The blazing fire would never be hungry again.

How much source matter he needed could be taken from the Pure Land. The Pure Land would become a portable "shrine"!

……

……

Just as he withdrew from the Pure Land world and had not yet returned to reality.

Gu Shen's spirit was pulled into Zero-Zero-One under the Deep Sea.

He sat in the carriage seat, and Chu Ling projected scene after scene of spiritual projections in front of him.

"Something happened in the Southern Continent."

Chu Ling's tone was calm, "Look at the picture first."

Gu Shen frowned.

The picture was of a butterfly with open wings... its body seemed to be wrapped in layers of electric nets. Obviously, this was a pattern captured by [Heaven's Eye]. It was deep at night, and the brightness of the picture was reduced to the extreme, very dim.

"What is this dark thing? A moth?"

"Its scientific name is Queen Alexandra's birdwing butterfly... You can call it a moth if you have to." Chu Ling was silent for a second and said, "This is a picture taken last night on the north bank of 'Sangzhou Cave.' Let me provide a real-world comparison."

Next.

Chu Ling zoomed in on the view.

After [Heaven's Eye] was magnified several times, you could see small hills with ups and downs. Although they were not large, the body of the Queen Alexandra's birdwing butterfly almost covered a small mountain...

Gu Shen realized that something was wrong: "How big is this thing?"

"A wingspan of fifty-nine meters."

"???"

Gu Shen's expression was somewhat astonished. His first reaction was, could this thing be made by the Lord of the Underworld?

The size of the golden spike flower was only a hundred meters.

How could this moth grow so big?

"Three years ago, the Highest Council passed the experimental application for the Awakening Act and chose Sangzhou Cave as the experimental site..." Chu Ling said slowly, "The day the application was passed, Sangzhou Cave was completely closed."

She pulled up a map of the Southern Continent.

The southern shore of the Southern Continent was surrounded by the ice sea. Sangzhou Cave was an isolated island on the southernmost shore, just like Gubu Fortress was a protruding place on the edge of the Northern Continent. Sangzhou Cave was probably the bottom of the Five Continents.

Further south was the sea of source matter destruction, which was marked as extremely dangerous in the transcendent map.

"Sangzhou Cave..."

Gu Shen's face suddenly became serious.

He remembered those things that Mr. Bai Shu had told him...

A relic appeared in the depths of the ice sea.

After the seven divine apostles investigated for a year, they all returned without success. Finally, the Storm God personally went south.

"Sangzhou Cave has been completely closed for three years and has never been announced to the public. The progress of the awakening experiment has reached what level... According to the provisions of the Act, the Holy City researchers have carried out absolute 'sealing' of Sangzhou Cave, and [Deep Sea] is responsible for monitoring and reporting to the Five Continents Council in the form of a log on a regular basis."

Chu Ling said calmly, "But just last night, the Holy City Research Institute applied to the Five Continents Council for help."

"Help..."

Gu Shen frowned: "What is the content of the Holy City Research Institute's request for help?"

"F area has been breached. They need reinforcements... A transcendent creature has broken through the 'cage.'" Chu Ling said, "It is worth mentioning that the Queen Alexandra's birdwing butterfly just now was covered with a million-volt electric net. According to my prediction, the 'transcendent power' it has awakened is [Light Chaser]. The high heat emitted by the voltage was instantly absorbed by it. The person who witnessed all this was called Jipta. He was a D-level containment personnel at the Research Institute. He is currently missing and is estimated to be dead."

Gu Shen said angrily: "How could the Sangzhou Cave experiment be so rough? Using an electric net as a 'cage,' how could this possibly trap a transcendent creature with awakened abilities?"

"Maybe they didn't expect that the awakening experiment would cultivate such a monster..."

Chu Ling said lightly: "However, the Sangzhou Cave experiment is not rough. These ten layers of electric nets are not the real 'cage.' There are two layers of 'world barriers' made of strong logical materials outside the island. The Research Institute has made quite sufficient preparations to wrap this isolated island into an independent ecosystem... It's just that the reason for their request for help this time is very simple, that is, the 'barriers' of Sangzhou Cave also seem to have been broken through."

"Seems?"

Gu Shen had a headache. Why did he think the guys in the Southern Continent were so unreliable?

"Last night was the eleventh upgrade of [Deep Sea]. The Sangzhou Cave base was disconnected for a minute. When the barrier was severely damaged, the Research Institute's source matter supply was interrupted. The high-level transcendents did not notice it in time... All in all, many coincidences were superimposed together to create this accident."

After a pause, Chu Ling said meaningfully: "I think the most fundamental reason why these accidents occurred is... the god that the Holy City relies on has already set off for the ice sea and is no longer in the Southern Continent."