Chapter 1 Ended?

"…Is it over?"

Adam raised his head, still somewhat in shock.

He subconsciously reached out a hand, grasping at the air beside him.

During the most intense moment of the great battle, even the air had been dyed a dark gray!

The dark kingdom had almost achieved victory, taking over the Pure Land entirely!

"It's over."

Li Qingci said with a solemn expression, letting out a long sigh of relief.

"As expected of Lord Shenzuo, the final move was truly awe-inspiring."

Tie Wu also expressed his admiration, but in truth, he hadn't even seen what happened in the final battle of gods.

Gu Shen urged the Sushen tree to protect them, while also setting up a small barrier to avoid accidental injuries during the duel with the devils.

Although the great battle had ended, the Pure Land had suffered considerable damage.

At this moment, under the Sushen tree, many souls gathered, and the bodies of many souls had become so ethereal that they were almost transparent.

"I remember seeing a large hand appear in the sky at the end…"

Tie Wu stroked his chin, muttering, "Looking at that hand, it didn't seem like Lord Shenzuo's?"

"It was Lady Shennv, Lady Shennv also took action."

Li Qingci smiled. Others might not know who it was, but she knew very well.

Having stayed in the Pure Land for so long, she had told Tie Wu a lot about the outside world.

This number one apostle of the Pure Land already knew that "Chu Ling" was the Lady Shennv Li Qingci spoke of.

After hearing this, Tie Wu was stunned for a moment, and then a look of relief appeared on his face as he nodded repeatedly, "So that's how it is, no wonder the scene at the zenith is a bit blurry now… I was wondering why it looked like there were two figures…"

……

……

At this moment, the zenith was clear and cloudless, all the darkness having been swallowed by the jade thumb ring.

The array box spiritual sea had also been withdrawn.

Gu Shen and Chu Ling looked at each other, their gazes lingering for a long time, the silence at this moment speaking louder than a thousand words.

After a long time.

Gu Shen spoke first.

He sincerely looked at the woman whose snow-white dress swayed in the wind, and said softly, "I'm sorry."

Chu Ling smiled.

Her face hadn't changed. Mortals would age, but she wouldn't.

So her smile was as clean as snow, just like it had been back then.

"Silly."

Chu Ling's voice was very soft, "No matter how long it takes, I'll wait for you."

The Sushen tree in the Pure Land swayed in the wind, countless branches fluttering, making rustling sounds like silver bells, as if echoing, or perhaps just watching the fun.

Also watching the fun were the souls on the ground of the Pure Land.

"Is that Miss Chu Ling?" Adam squinted his eyes, trying to see into the distance, but he couldn't see clearly, only a blurry figure in the distant sky.

"Call her Lady Shennv!"

Tie Wu said unhappily.

"I can't really see what Lady Shennv looks like…"

Adam sighed, his face full of sorrow.

"Haven't seen her, have you? I saw her before… Lady Shennv is as beautiful as the moon and as lovely as a flower…" Tie Wu shook his head and nodded, describing her in a serious manner.

Actually, he couldn't quite remember either. After all, back when the Pure Land was being developed, he could only stare blankly at Gu Shen and Chu Ling's backs as they courted each other. So many years had passed, and he only remembered a vague outline of Miss Chu Ling's face.

But one thing was certain.

Miss Chu Ling was very, very beautiful.

"Don't believe me? Ask Hong Zhong."

Tie Wu poked Hong Zhong, who was giggling foolishly beside him. After being poked, he quickly nodded like a chick pecking at rice.

"Huha, huha, huha."

Those low-level souls with little consciousness also chimed in, making the scene slightly comical.

Gu Shen glanced at the ground of the Pure Land, and couldn't help but smile and shake his head when he saw this scene.

These guys…

"Let's talk somewhere else."

Since the mental link had already been established, the two's mind could return to the original state.

After Chu Ling nodded, she extended her hand to Gu Shen.

The moment their fingers intertwined, the clouds at the zenith turned into seawater, a cloud of steam spreading and filling the air, instantly enveloping the two.

Gu Shen's consciousness plummeted at this moment.

The next moment, he was sitting in the dry and comfortable 001 train carriage, the girl beside him still holding his fingers intertwined with hers.

"What happened during the years I was gone?"

Although Gu Shen had been keeping time with the Blazing Fire, he had been unconscious for a while in the depths of the Ice Sea after all.

These five years plus.

He had completely lost his "link" with the outside world.

"These are the materials I prepared, the things that happened after the Sangzhou Cave mission ended… They're all here."

Chu Ling didn't release the hand intertwined with Gu Shen's.

She slowly waved her sleeve, a breeze blowing past, and fragments of glowing images overlapped and slid over, large and small, all sorted and compiled.

Gu Shen was stunned.

He didn't immediately browse these materials, but instead stared intently at Chu Ling, subconsciously gripping her hand even tighter.

"Don't worry… I won't leave."

Chu Ling smiled and said, "You can take your time, don't rush, I'll be here with you always."

Hearing these words, Gu Shen felt slightly relieved.

He took a light breath and began to browse these materials.

Chu Ling's records were very detailed: the Changye investigation team, the merging of the two continents, the Guang Ming Bi Lei sending a delegation to visit Zhongzhou, Gu Xiaoman going north to train, the end of the Storm Church's internal strife… The major and minor events that had occurred over the past five years had all been captured by [Source Code] without any omissions.

Soon, Gu Shen was immersed in them.

Several tens of minutes later, Gu Shen raised his head again, exhaling a long breath of turbid air.

"These messages are not solely my credit." Chu Ling said slowly, "Lin Lin, Hong Long, Lu Nanzhi, the three of them also put in a lot of effort… After all, my permissions are gradually being compressed, and the Deep Sea Mainframe has been further upgraded and iterated over the past five years, so there are many things that I can no longer know about immediately."

"I can see that."

Gu Shen smiled, "Every promotion of Gu Xiaoman has been recorded in detail, this is information that only Hong Long could obtain… I'm afraid the files inside the Source Tower aren't as detailed as yours."

"That child is also the future hope of the human world."

Chu Ling lowered her eyes, "If I never get to wait for you, I will eventually hand over the files on Gu Xiaoman to Bai Xiu, as well as Chen Li, and Chen Mei."

"That's what should happen." Gu Shen nodded.

Chu Ling suddenly asked, "Having lived to see these files, what are your thoughts?"

This question made Gu Shen unsure how to answer for a moment.

His emotions were very complicated at this moment.

Being suppressed at the bottom of the Ice Sea, and still not having escaped… For a long time, he had been prepared to "die here."

Don't talk about being the Chosen One, the key, or the Hades!

If he couldn't break through this tribulation.

He would only die!

Now that he had successfully ignited the Flame of Life, he hadn't even had time to rejoice… After all, he was still being suppressed under the Ice Sea.

"I…"

Gu Shen thought for a while, and smiled in a hoarse voice, "I want to live and go back, see them, and give them a surprise."

When he saw Bai Xiaochi leading Chen Li and the others to run around for his case, his heart, which had been calm after surviving so many tribulations, was deeply touched.

After his death.

Those partners in Dongzhou hadn't forgotten him.

It was just that… Sangzhou Cave had already been destroyed, and no matter how much they investigated his case, there would be no results.

"Surprise? If you go back like this, it's likely to be a shock."

Chu Ling made a rare joke.

Speaking of this, she thought of a serious matter, "In these five years, I have been investigating the truth of the Sangzhou Cave incident. The Changye investigation team can't find out, but I am different from them."

The resources, intelligence, and information she could mobilize were incomparable to those of the Changye investigation team.

Moreover, she didn't need to rest.

In these five years, [Source Code] had constantly simulated the scene before the Tanyao eruption, conducting countless experiments.

But she still hadn't found the answer.

Chu Ling sat upright, looking at Gu Shen seriously, and asked word by word, "I want to know, what exactly happened in Sangzhou Cave back then?"

As soon as these words came out, the smile on Gu Shen's face gradually disappeared.

A strand of firelight was reflected in the depths of his pupils again.

It was the firelight of the Tanyao eruption.

It was also the fiery shadow of the Light Spear scraping through the long sky.

Gu Shen lowered his eyes and smiled. He calmly and slowly uttered a name, "… Jia Wei."

"Jia Wei?"

Chu Ling was stunned.

This was a person completely unrelated to the case. Guang Ming Bi Lei chose to retreat completely in the final explosion, and no related blood factors were detected in the final residual soil source quality test.

"Actually, the truth isn't that complicated."

"Just as I was about to leave Tanyao, Jia Wei appeared…"

"He stabbed me, and I couldn't withstand it."

Gu Shen's tone was very restrained, "Jia Wei didn't leave any traces, just like I killed Meng Xiao back then… This is the reason why you can't find the murderer, this was originally a coincidence."

"…"

After hearing the truth, Chu Ling was silent.

"Please promise me, don't spread this news."

Gu Shen extended his second palm, stacking it on the back of Chu Ling's hand. He said softly, "This is a personal feud between me and Jia Wei… When I return to the Five Continents, I want to personally end the regrets of that year."

"You…"

Chu Ling hesitated a bit, "Do you know that Jia Wei has already been promoted to a Sealing Title?" (封号)

"Mm."

Gu Shen nodded, it was recorded in the previous files.

During that diplomatic visit to Upper City by Guang Ming Bi Lei, a sensational event occurred.

The former Fourth-Order Super-Realm Adept, Great Knight Jia Wei, successfully advanced to a Sealing Title during this visit.

The Temple deliberately created the position of "Sacred Adjudicator" for Jia Wei, and incidentally posthumously granted him the titles of "Red Tower Guardian" and "Shield of the West Continent," and even exceptionally gifted him the S-Class Sealed Artifact, Ming Guang Armor, permanently.

Soon after, the Federal Council presented him with the Sealing Title of "Guang Ming Bi Lei".

A Fourth-Order Super-Realm Adept advancing to a Sealing Title was a major event, meaning that the strongest batch of combat power in the human world had gained another member.

But there was another layer of interpretation to this news.

The Temple had found a new "Fourth-Order Super-Realm Adept," which was why they allowed Jia Wei to advance.

"Are you sure you want to seek revenge on Jia Wei alone after you return?"

Chu Ling still asked in an uncertain tone.

"I'm very sure."

Gu Shen smiled softly, "Are you doubting my strength?"

Chu Ling didn't know how to answer for a moment.

She looked at Gu Shen curiously.

Having been immersed in the depths of the Ice Sea for five years, and successfully comprehending the Flame of Life Domain, from this perspective, Gu Shen should be considered to have advanced to the Fourth Order…

Based on her understanding of Gu Shen.

If that were all there was to it, Gu Shen wouldn't have such strong confidence.

Gu Shen always acted meticulously and never took things lightly.

"What level… have you actually reached now?"