Chapter 1 Gu Shen Ascends Against the Dark Storm

Gu Shen stepped on the wings of the Empress Birdwing Butterflies, moving against the dark storm.

Blades swirled with frost.

Ripples of extreme cold emanated outward.

"Netherworld" released!

Wherever his toes touched, a layer of extreme frost immediately formed. Then, the iron blade twisted, the tip aimed at the frozen spot, and with a single slash... the area frozen by the "Great Cold" frost would become extremely fragile.

Crack, crack, crack—

Within the storm, countless light-hating butterflies surged forth. They first became Gu Shen's stepping stones, then were slain by the Iron Throne amidst the frost. Gu Shen's target was not them.

It was the "Butterfly King" at the highest point of the storm!

"Rumble—"

The storm swept, the butterfly swarm danced wildly. Gu Shen's slaughter of the Empress Birdwing Butterflies was captured in the "eyes" of the Butterfly King.

An extremely powerful mental impact was unleashed instantly.

It was a pity.

Gu Shen's mind was the most solid barrier on his entire body.

He braved the mental tide, stepping on the black butterfly storm, and ascended to the highest point. The giant Butterfly King also launched an attack on him... In the raging wind, sixty-meter-long steel butterfly wings slashed down.

The iron blade blocked.

"Clang!"

Gu Shen's expression sank. The moment he raised his blade to parry, he felt an incredibly heavy feedback...

This sixty-meter-long moth was incredibly strong!

That strike made him feel as if he had been hit by a miniature source energy speedboat!

In the storm, Gu Shen continuously retreated to alleviate the force of the impact. Blazing flames appeared beneath his feet in the high sky, serving as a buffer for each step. He changed his grip on the blade, from a forehand to a backhand. After the initial impact, the Empress Birdwing Butterfly King did not give Gu Shen much time to react. The greatest advantage of natural creatures that had awakened extraordinary power lay in their brutal and overbearing physical strength—

This kind of power could completely crush even a strong attack-type transcendent of equal strength!

After one strike.

It only paused for a moment before continuing its fierce attack.

"Clang, clang, clang, clang!"

In just ten seconds, the two figures exchanged nearly a hundred blows.

Gu Shen's expression was icy. He released "Netherworld" and "Blazing Fire," the former to counter the Empress Birdwing Butterfly King's wing slashes, and the latter to help him dissipate the intense recoil force...

Although the Federal Government classified him as a "mental-type transcendent."

Gu Shen's close combat had always been able to compete with the fiercest "strong attack-type" of the same level.

Ten seconds later.

Gu Shen had adapted to the pressure of the Empress Birdwing Butterfly King's attacks.

The hand holding his blade no longer trembled.

"Shriek!"

With the final impact, Gu Shen perfectly parried, using the back of the blade to deflect the force. He retreated nearly a hundred meters, then continuously stepped on flames, using this recoil to soar upwards, breaking out of the highest point of the storm—

Gu Shen looked down at the Butterfly King below.

After a hundred consecutive slashes, his iron blade was unharmed, but the Butterfly King's steel wings had been cut with dozens of pitted and uneven gaps... But that was not the most fatal thing.

What was truly fatal was that its back had been covered by his "Netherworld."

Frost densely covered it, "freezing" it.

After being frozen by the "Great Cold," no matter how solid the defense, it would become fragile and easily shattered.

Gu Shen raised his battle blade high without expression.

The Iron Throne pulsed silently—

Tens of thousands of steel fragments spread out in the air, mixing and condensing with Netherworld ice shards, forming an even larger and sharper battle axe!

"Chi!"

He slashed down.

A snow-white arc of light fell from the high sky.

Descending straight to the hills on the ground.

The storm was cleaved open from its highest point, split in two, and countless moths shattered, scattered, and fell...

Gu Shen shook his hand and retracted countless "iron pieces." One by one, the iron scales slipped into his forearm through the cuffs of his black windbreaker. After the encirclement and suppression in the Frozen Cage Snow Mountain, his control over the Iron Throne became more and more familiar. When there was no battle, these iron pieces served as his "skin," and in terms of physical defense alone, this layer of "iron scale skin" was equivalent to an "A-rank" sealed item.

The sixth-order source armor that North Continent gifted him, he had returned.

It was not because the gift was too valuable.

But because deep in Frozen Lake, this sixth-order source armor had helped him withstand most of the impact from the Child... It was already broken and tattered. The design of the external armor was destined to have extremely strong damage resistance in the "unbroken" state, but once it was penetrated and shattered, it could no longer serve as "protection," so this source armor had been declared scrap.

The Central City gave each young leader of Nagano a source armor battle suit that matched their current strength.

However, they generally did not repair them.

But Gu Shen was an exception... because he had made a real "contribution" to North Continent. The damage to the source armor in Frozen Lake was war damage, and then he had revived the "S-rank" of the North Continent Investigation Corps.

This sixth-order source armor was specially sent back by the Corps Commander through Mu Wanqiu.

The meaning was very simple.

North Continent would repair it and send it back again.

Once the sixth-order source armor was in hand, Gu Shen could remove his iron scale skin. The former's defensive strength was a stable level higher than the iron scale skin.

……

……

On the other side, Bai Su's battle also came to an end.

Little Su's "Thunder Realm Walker" was massacring the butterfly swarm, which was basically a one-sided crush.

The whole process did not exceed ten minutes.

He also took the time to look at the center of the storm where Gu Shen was, in case there were any accidents in Gu Shen's duel with the Butterfly King... He was always holding a wisp of falling thunder, ready to provide support.

But fortunately, Gu Shen did not disappoint him.

A third-realm transcendent had killed the Butterfly King above his level.

"Only the final 'cleanup' remains."

After sheathing his blade, Gu Shen glanced at the outer wall in the distance. Shen Li and Vias, as well as a group of repair team members, should all be watching here. They all had expressions of relief on their faces at this moment.

But in reality, the crisis had not been completely resolved.

The appearance of this group of Empress Birdwing Butterflies... was just the surface.

Bai Su's gaze fell on the hills beneath his feet: "The cleanup... leave it to me."

If one were to trace the origin of this group of moths...

Then one had to consider a question.

How did they grow so big? Did they first undergo transcendent awakening, and then dive into the hills?

The natural environment outside the Sangzhou Cave was very harsh. The north bank was a "no man's land" that the natives hardly ever set foot in. Perhaps this group of moths had never even come to Area F before. They had migrated over a long period of time before arriving here...

Then there must have been reproduction during the migration process.

"Together."

Gu Shen said lightly, "I'm also curious what kind of 'eggs' those guys lay, whether they'll be surprisingly large..."

……

……

"Is the battle... over?"

On the high outer wall.

A transcendent in the repair team was still feeling lingering fear.

They had just witnessed two young transcendents launching a massacre against this butterfly swarm.

A transcendent crisis that the Holy City Research Institute could not resist at all.

Only two fourth-realm transcendents had completely taken care of it.

Vias had been clenching his fists tightly. At this moment, he let out a long sigh of relief. The patrol captain's forehead was covered with sweat, and he wiped it hard. "It should be over."

All the butterfly swarms had been felled.

The largest one... had also been shattered by Gu Shen!

The current task should be to continue repairing the outer wall, and collect samples of the Empress Birdwing Butterfly group from the battle just now. This was part of the awakening experiment investigation. In the past three years, some "transcendent creatures" had been discovered from time to time, but this was the first time they had encountered such a fierce one.

"It's not over yet."

Just as the repair team was about to go out, a voice stopped them.

Adam said calmly, "Think carefully, where did these guys come from?"

"Where? Underground..."

Vias was stunned for a moment.

"They have an entire tribe." Adam put his hands in his pockets, looking at the scarlet scene in front of him that was filled with the stench of blood. "So don't think that what's on the ground is all there is... Underground, there should still be their eggs."

As soon as these words came out.

Everyone on the high wall fell silent.

"Let's wait a little longer. Since those two are so good at fighting... it's safer to go out after they clean up the underground. Maybe there are still some lurking monsters underground."

Shen Li also nodded. He agreed with Adam's statement. "Vias, let them wait a little longer."

……

……

Although the Blazing Fire and Thunder Realm Walker, two S-rank abilities, did not have the characteristic of "melting earth."

But as long as the ability was strong enough.

It was not difficult to sink into the ground.

The two violently cleared the way, directly diving into the ground from the spot. A burst of fire and lightning forcefully dug out a descending tunnel leading to the underground of Area F... At a depth of about two hundred meters underground, the soil was hollowed out, and the upper layer was attached with a "slippery" liquid.

Visually, it was the Empress Birdwing Butterfly's secretion.

This liquid isolated the detection of transcendent aura and greatly strengthened the thickness of the soil...

This tribe had almost hollowed out half of the underground of Area F, turning it into a complex nest.

It was just that Gu Shen and Bai Su's mental power were strong enough.

They did not get lost.

"There really are 'butterfly eggs'..."

Gu Shen looked up at the top of the dark cave. In the slippery liquid, there was a throbbing meat cocoon. This meat cocoon was about two meters in size, and looked like a living heart.

Bai Su frowned and said, "And there are many of them. Within the range of my mental perception, there are at least two thousand..."

"I sensed three thousand... and judging by the size of this underground labyrinth, my mental perception only covers one-tenth of it."

Gu Shen said faintly, "So there are thirty thousand butterfly eggs in the entire underground of Area F?"

Looking at the living, throbbing heart, he felt a strong contrast.

The Empress Birdwing Butterflies on the ground, apart from the danger of their mental attacks, were actually quite "beautiful" and "gorgeous."

It was just that these butterfly eggs underground gave people a feeling of filth, dirt, and disgust.

"Regretting coming down?"

Bai Su glanced at Gu Shen and said lightly, "This work can be left to me. If you don't want to get your hands dirty, you can go up first."

"It's okay."

Gu Shen shook his head and smiled, "These little things are quick to kill... Two people working together, it's not tiring."

He snapped his fingers.

"Boom!"

Instantly, Blazing Fire ignited on the butterfly eggs...

The living, throbbing heart burst into flames in an instant. It seemed that life had already been bred inside, and even before it had broken out of the cocoon, it already possessed the attribute of "light hatred." Sharp, weeping sounds of hatred rang out, but unfortunately Gu Shen did not give this sound a chance to spread.

The sea of fire swallowed it.

"Alright, we'll each take one side. We'll meet at the end."

Gu Shen walked towards one direction of the underground palace fork...

Bai Su did not refuse.

He quietly stayed in place, silently watching the butterfly eggs above his head. After Gu Shen walked away, the Thunder Realm Walker appeared behind him. This majestic general with a solemn face stretched out his palm, the palm facing the ashes that had already been burned to nothingness.

A very light wind swept through the underground palace.

Source energy surged.

The "Empress Birdwing Butterflies" that had not yet broken out of their cocoons were already considered transcendent life. They naturally carried transcendent source energy on their bodies... Following the transcendent iron law, after they died, the source energy had to return to the void.

But at this moment...

The Thunder Realm Walker gently stretched out his palm, grasped this wisp of source energy, and confined it into Bai Su's body.

After doing all this, he walked in the opposite direction to Gu Shen. At the same time, countless thunderbolts swept across the front of the underground palace, directly penetrating the butterfly eggs, not giving these transcendent lives even a bit of time to react... The tall general floated in the underground labyrinth, constantly absorbing the scattered source energy.

On the other side.

Gu Shen was doing the exact same thing as Bai Su.

He made sure that he had come to a safe area, and then began to plunder the "source energy" carried by these butterfly eggs themselves. So many people were watching the battle on the ground, he had no way to make a move...

It was a pity about those dead Empress Birdwing Butterflies.

The source energy carried by those guys was all great nourishing food for Blazing Fire!

Now, this underground palace was a treasure trove.

It would be a bit of a waste to let Little Su handle it all.

Although the source energy carried by these butterfly eggs was very little, it could not withstand the large number of the tribe... Although this work was a bit dirty, tiring, and disgusting, it was acceptable compared to the benefits.

The sea of fire was滔天 (tao tian - overwhelming).

While burning these butterfly eggs, the Blazing Fire devoured the source energy within these white cocoons.

As he walked, he supplemented the map of the underground of Area F in his mind, but he vaguely felt that something was wrong...

"Are there a bit too many butterfly eggs here?"

Chu Ling's voice came from within his mind: "Empress Birdwing Butterflies can form three hundred butterfly eggs in one mating. Of course... these are the data before the transcendent mutation."

After the transcendent mutation.

These data no longer had any meaning.

These big moths... had all潛入 (qian ru - sneaked into) the ground.

"Three hundred butterfly eggs in one mating, the entire tribe has about one hundred members..." Gu Shen suddenly asked, "The largest one I just killed... was it a male or a female butterfly?"

"If their mating organs have not changed after the transcendent mutation... then the one you killed was a male butterfly."

Chu Ling was silent for a second after saying this.

She realized what Gu Shen really wanted to ask.

It was just that she could not retrieve data from the Holy City Research Institute.

The main system had tight control over the Sangzhou Cave.

She could only review and investigate from Gu Shen's mental images just now.

And a second later, the results of the investigation seemed a little chilling: "Including those that appeared on the ground... they were all male butterflies."

They were all male butterflies!

Gu Shen's expression suddenly turned gloomy. He stared intently at the end of the underground palace. Behind him was a raging sea of fire, illuminating the entire cave, leading to an unknown distance—

Countless butterfly eggs were shaking in the sea of fire.

Each and every one of them did not have time to struggle, and could only beat out the sound of their hearts at the moment of death.

This sound was very weak, but it added up.

"Thump..."

"Thump..."

At this moment, the entire underground was like a drumming.

Gu Shen walked towards the end of the underground palace.

The sound beside his ears became clearer and clearer. This was not the echo from those butterfly eggs dying.

At the end of the darkness.

It became incredibly bright in an instant.

Nearly a million compound eyes opened in front of Gu Shen.

With a "buzz" sound.

Gu Shen's mind suddenly went blank. The iron scale skin instantly stood up. He realized... that he might have encountered something dirty.