Chapter 1 The Shattered Shrine

The shrine shattered in the air, countless fragments of light scattering beneath the sky.

Two extinguished candles, one on the ground, one in the sky.

The devil, standing on the dark throne, narrowed his eyes. Gu Shen's reappearance was a bit too quick, exceeding his expectations.

"You care about her?"

The devil said with a smile, "Sorry, I just like destroying things like that."

Li Qingci's expression faltered.

The next moment.

The devil released the string, and the pitch-black extinguished candle erupted with a crisp sound!

At the same time, Gu Shen also released his hand, but his target was not the devil, but the extinguished candle in the devil's hand!

The pitch-black arrow shot down from the sky, and the snow-white arrow also shot out from Gu Shen's fingertips. The former arrow aimed at Li Qingci, and the latter aimed at the former. Two slender silver threads collided in the sky and earth, without erupting into a terrifying scene of destruction. These two extinguished candle arrows, containing pure destructive power, annihilated each other the moment they collided!

This arrow collision was small, even the point where they collided only left a pitch-black void spot.

Extinguished candle arrows were never meant to create grand scenes.

Piercing weaknesses is always silent; why shake the heavens and earth?

But both of them drew their bows extremely fast.

This arrow was just the beginning!

After Gu Shen shattered the arrow that the devil shot at Li Qingci, he immediately drew his bow again without hesitation. After his advancement, the size of his spiritual sea had undergone an unprecedented qualitative change!

When he originally shot Xiao, he only fired two arrows and had almost exhausted all his mental power.

He even needed to recover for some time before he was confident enough to draw his bow again for the third arrow!

Now.

He fired three arrows in a row, each aimed at the devil's weak point!

And the same was true on the heavenly curtain.

The devil stood on the cloud peak, and after shooting at Li Qingci, he unhesitatingly chose to shift his bow position and launch a fierce attack on Gu Shen... For a time, countless tiny, light explosions erupted in the sky. This sound was extremely light and small, but the power that radiated out made all the souls in the Pure Land feel fear!

These were arrows of certain death. Any soul that stood in their path would only face the fate of instantaneous disintegration!

And... there would be no possibility of resurrection!

Gu Shen glanced at Tie Wu while drawing his bow.

"Miss Qingci, quickly leave with me!"

Tie Wu immediately understood and put away the Iron Throne.

He knew that with the arrival of the Divine Seat, this battlefield no longer needed him, so he grabbed Li Qingci and called out to the combat-ineffective Adam and Hong Zhong. Those souls who had been resurrected and were preparing to re-enter the darkness of the heavenly battlefield also received the will transmitted by Gu Shen. They no longer needed to die in vain.

Gu Shen took over this war!

So countless souls ran across the wilderness...

The Su Xuan Tree lowered countless flowing firefly branches and leaves, enveloping them.

Gu Shen reopened an area in the core region wrapped by the Su Xuan Tree, and isolated these souls from viewing the outside world.

This was his divine domain.

And the devil... used [Truth] to replicate the layout of the Pure Land. The darkness on the heavenly curtain could be considered its divine domain.

In a sense, what was now taking place was a divine war!

So whether it was Li Qingci or Tie Wu, they would not be of any substantial help if they stayed here.

The same was true for those souls who were sacrificing themselves.

The reason why they were able to hinder and delay earlier was only because the world will of the "Su Xuan Tree" had bestowed a gift. The origin of the Pure Land world was using their souls to resist.

……

……

After sending everyone away, the Pure Land world became extremely empty, extremely silent.

At the same time, extremely oppressive.

The dark clouds in the sky were almost pressing down on the ground!

Gu Shen slowly rose to the only remaining void peak of light. He saw millions of shattered fragments of the [Shrine], densely floating between the dark clouds.

The origin of the Su Xuan Tree in the Pure Land world resisted with all its might...

But it still failed.

This meant that if there was no external intervention, then the devil had already won this war.

Five years later, Gu Shen and the devil met again, not in the Ruler Space, but in the real Pure Land.

Gu Shen looked at the throne not far away, and himself leisurely sitting on the throne.

He slowly said, "If I'm not mistaken, the 'mental breakdown' of the previous Underworld King was because of your plunder... The means you prepared should be the same as now."

No transcender in this world can escape "misfortune"...

It's just that the master of the [Ruler of Truth] attracts far more disasters than other transcenders.

On the surface, this is the price to pay for using [Truth].

But in reality.

The price of using [Truth] is not just attracting misfortune.

In the deepest part of the Ruler Space, lives a devil waiting for an opportunity. This devil is extremely patient. It will keep waiting until the Ruler's master is at his weakest and most powerless moment, gather all the inauspicious disasters, launch a fierce attack from both inside and outside, and then complete the "body snatching"!

“……”

The devil just supported his jaw with one hand, kept smiling, and did not answer.

No answer is the answer.

"It's a pity, you still failed." Gu Shen said, "Otherwise, you wouldn't have been trapped in the Ruler all the time... Right?"

"Let me guess the reason for your failure..."

Gu Shen said, "You must have made a lot of plans, a lot of sacrifices. You paid a lot to gain his trust. That's why when I talked to you about the previous Underworld King, you were so familiar, so knowledgeable... Because you once gave everything for him."

"It's just that you underestimated the vigilance of the previous Underworld King."

"When he realized that misfortune might break out, he chose to leave the Five Continents, and... chose to leave the Ruler in the inland."

"So your plans all failed, and you missed the opportunity to 'snatch the body'."

Speaking of this, there was a hint of teasing in Gu Shen's voice: "So when I went to the Sang Continent cave, when I decided to fight Xiao to the death, you didn't hesitate to reveal the production method of [Extinguished Candle]. You were not only afraid of my death... but also afraid of the same thing happening again. If I choose to throw away the Ruler, or seal it. Then the things of twenty years ago will be staged again."

"Yes, you are right."

The devil said lightly: "But what's the use of saying this now?"

Its will is about to occupy the Pure Land, and the final war is about to witness the outcome.

"It's nothing, I just want to confirm your identity at the last moment..."

Gu Shen looked directly at the devil and asked curiously: "So what should I call you? A predecessor who mastered 'Netherfire' earlier than me, an ancient Underworld King drowned in the tide of history, or... are you the one before the previous one?"

Among the Seven Gods, only the Underworld King will not be remembered by humans.

Nor will it be recorded in the monument.

The Underworld King is a special seat used by the Seven Gods to adjudicate and balance the balance of the Five Continents.

The Underworld King Fire Seed is also the least favored in the Gospel Box, specially used to carry dark and ominous disaster fire seeds.

As a Divine Seat, the Underworld King himself cannot be directly viewed by divination or prayer.

Living in the dark also destined him not to be recorded in the history books.

The devil in front of him may have been a powerful Underworld King in charge of life and death many years ago, but at this moment, he is just a remnant of his soul.

“……”

The biggest secret is nothing to hide anymore.

The devil said calmly: "Those who hold the fire seed will eventually become ashes. Even if I once held the 'Netherfire', it is meaningless. Now I am just a wisp of spiritual thought..."

This answer is equivalent to admitting Gu Shen's guess.

Combining it with the era in which the [Extinguished Candle] appeared, which was close to a hundred years ago in the last century, the identity of this previous Underworld King... can basically be confirmed.

"From now on, I will have one more name."

The devil's eyes also fell on Gu Shen.

In the darkness, whether it was his body outline or his long hair that had been scattered for five years, he was exactly the same as Gu Shen!

"Gu Shen."

When this divine war ends, he will complete the spiritual plunder and become Gu Shen.

All of Gu Shen's memories will be fully accepted by him.

"I'm sorry."

Gu Shen suddenly said: "There is only one Gu Shen. It was me in the past, and... it can only be me in the future."

The next moment—

The Su Xuan Tree trembled, and the jade thumb ring, which was suppressed by countless branches, flew out of the earth and into Gu Shen's palm.

"Is this your final means?"

The devil chuckled dumbly.

"I should have told you long ago that I know everything you carry on your body. It's useless even if you bury the objects deep in the ground."

He smiled leisurely: "This jade thumb ring of unknown origin is indeed very powerful. It can restrain people's souls and is a natural weapon to restrain me, but just relying on this, you want to defeat the great success of [Truth]... it's not enough. For this battle, I have moved all the spirits of the entire Ruler over."

"In your understanding, I have no chance of winning at all, because you know everything about me."

Gu Shen's expression did not change. He said softly, "You know I have a 'jade thumb ring', and you also know I have Chu Ling... but it's a pity, you only know me, but you don't know her. Do you know what kind of person she is, what kind of trump cards she has, and what she can do?"

"Then do you know what will happen when these two pieces of information you already know are superimposed together?"

The devil was stunned.

His expression was gloomy, and he said coldly: "You want to connect with Chu Ling, but this is 10,000 meters at the bottom of the Ice Sea!"

"Idiot."

Gu Shen mocked expressionlessly: "Nothing is eternally unchanging. As time changes, the information you think you know will also change..."

In the real world.

That wisp of blazing fire he sent out, after pulling back the deep-sea octopus, did not immediately withdraw it, but continued to plunder towards the top of the Ice Sea.

Five years ago, Gu Shen's spirit was not enough to explore the entire complete Ice Sea.

Five years later…

This wisp of blazing fire was infinitely diluted, constantly becoming thinner, and finally only a slender thread as thin as hair remained.

Whoosh!

At this moment, this wisp of fire finally penetrated the Ice Sea and came to the human world.

At the same time, the white-skirted girl sitting withered in the 001 carriage suddenly opened her eyes.

A slender, trembling fire shadow was reflected in Chu Ling's eyes.

That wisp of fire appeared out of thin air in the carriage.

She did not hesitate at all and chose to hold it tightly in her hand within 0.1 seconds of the blazing fire appearing.

So the two powerful spirits, separated by countless miles, completed the link again after being disconnected for five years.

The entire Pure Land began to tremble.

"The times have changed. Who is still playing one-on-one with you?"

Gu Shen looked at the devil expressionlessly and said indifferently: "Do you know what the consequences of moving all your belongings to the Pure Land are? Senior, I, as the latest generation of Underworld King, invite you to change to a new home."

……

……

(Ten updates completed, good night everyone!)