Chapter 1 Winter Snows of the Pure Land

The Pure Land world, the first snows of winter were melting.

The seasons, running in reverse, had now arrived at the third season, autumn.

A bleak, cold wind blew.

Golden wheat ears danced in the air.

"Hoo... another batch of newcomers at last."

Tie Wu circled the hundred-odd bewildered souls standing before him, pacing around them once. He discovered that the quality of these souls was quite good, and a satisfied smile appeared on his face.

These souls only looked dull-witted.

But each one was full of "spirit."

This meant that their extraordinary aptitudes in life were not bad, and they would be easy to tame later.

"Qing Ci, I'll leave these souls to you."

Gu Shen had delivered all one hundred-plus transcendents from the Source Tower on the cloud ship.

For no other reason.

Mercy to the enemy is cruelty to oneself.

The realm and strength of these transcendents weren't that high. Some of the younger god envoy candidates were only around Tier 3... but who knew what might happen in the future if they were allowed to leave here alive?

For example.

Before Jia Wei became the popular Great Knight of Guang Ming City, he was just an inconspicuous soldier in the Holy Judicators Legion.

Back then, when the Guang Ming Temple attacked the River of the Underworld.

Jia Wei survived by luck.

Probably no one at that time thought... that he could climb all the way to eventually become the [Guang Ming Bi Lei]!

Even if Gu Shen became the King of the Underworld in the future, he didn't want another Jia Wei to appear among his enemies.

So these people had to die.

Gu Shen destroyed Yun Hu's soul will on the spot.

This guy was a Source Tower god envoy!

The Sky God Seat was extremely adept at surveillance, so a genius of this level had to be killed cleanly and neatly, without leaving a trace of suspense... just like killing Meng Xiao, Gu Shen wouldn't give anyone a chance to find out the truth.

As for the soul wills of Hiddell and Toze Tsuki, Gu Shen didn't leave them either.

Hiddell was a decent genius, but that was all... Pity for talent was just self-torture when applied to enemies. The greatest respect Gu Shen gave to Hiddell was allowing him to deliver his final sword; otherwise, with the strength of this young Tier 3, he wouldn't even have seen Gu Shen's face before being incinerated by the blazing hellfire.

Toze Tsuki was even more unnecessary.

Betraying East洲 (East Continent) and colluding with the Source Tower, this case was not yet over.

Gu Shen planned to personally deal with the Toze family of the Yinghai District after he returned to the Five Continents.

……

……

After doing all this, Gu Shen waved his hand to disperse the blazing fire and frost. He looked at the cloud ship, which was damaged beyond repair, and felt a bit of pity.

He had only shattered the cloud ship's protective shield.

As for the power system where the source energy core was located, he hadn't deliberately destroyed it.

Gu Shen was the absolute master of this battle.

The reason he did this was to leave this big guy behind, perhaps it would be useful later.

However, Chu Ling couldn't establish a mental link, and he wasn't a technical talent, so this cloud ship could only be left here for now.

"After everything is over, see if we can get East 洲 (East Continent) to dismantle the 'cloud ship' wreckage and take it away."

Gu Shen murmured, "Perhaps the mound ghoul is interested in these things?"

He stood on top of the cloud ship and looked into the distance.

After reading the memories of Yun Hu, Hiddell, and Toze Tsuki, Gu Shen was no longer ignorant as he was when he first entered the ruins.

He now had a lot of information.

The Storm Church arrived at the [Ruins] first and had been slaughtered clean.

There was an extremely powerful red shadow life form in the [Ruins], suspected to be an extraordinary life form nurtured by an ancient civilization.

Yun Hu stabbed Xuan Turtle in the back and fled with the cloud ship's transcendents.

From Yun Hu's memory, Gu Shen vaguely deduced that the strength of that red shadow extraordinary life form should be firmly above Tier 4. Although it was very fast and its saber attacks were very fierce, it might not be invincible...

Of course.

This was only with regard to him, not invincible.

If this red shadow was encountered by other people in the [Ruins], it would be a disaster!

Even the "Giant Deer Saint" had fled with injuries.

Combining these pieces of information, Gu Shen wasn't optimistic.

Because in the image he had seen in his previous [Profiling], Xiao Man had ultimately advanced southward, and the place where the Storm Church was slaughtered was the extreme south.

"I need to set off quickly."

Gu Shen took a deep breath and said solemnly, "It would be terrible if Xiao Man encountered that thing."

……

……

"Have we arrived?"

Gu Xiaoman stopped, she looked at the towering snow-capped mountain in front of her, and felt a little strange in her heart.

There should have just been an avalanche in this place. After the snow tide subsided, all traces on the ground were erased, leaving only the forest trees that had been swept away by the snow tide, lying scattered and in disarray.

But this wasn't the reason why Gu Xiaoman felt strange.

"This place is a little too quiet."

Earlier, when she saw the Central Continent cloud ship returning, she had vaguely sensed something was wrong.

An avalanche of this magnitude shouldn't have forced the cloud ship back.

At most, it would ascend and circle, waiting for the avalanche to end.

"..."

Gu Xiaoman took a deep breath, she looked into the depths of the snow-capped mountain, and was just about to continue forward.

When a roar resounded from the top of the sky.

Gu Xiaoman quickly took shelter, found a stone cave, and two source energy boats stopped near the snow-capped mountain in the roar, the air waves gradually subsided, and a large number of transcendents walked off the airboat.

These transcendents were all wearing red and black exoskeletal armor.

Gu Xiaoman wasn't unfamiliar with this thing!

Source Armor!

The secret defensive armor that North洲 (North Continent) never passed on to outsiders, she was wearing an extremely precious Tier 5 source armor, which Sister Mu Wanqiu had given her back then!

Seeing the source armor, she knew that the enforcers from East洲 (East Continent) and North洲 (North Continent) had come.

Gu Xiaoman's heart relaxed slightly.

If the cloud ship had returned to this place, that would have been terrible. Who knew if Yun Hu and Xuan Turtle had any way to capture and locate her?

No matter who came, it was better than the Source Tower!

She decided to hide her tracks first, don't rush out, she actually had a good relationship with Mu Wanqiu, Chen Li, Chen Mei, and others. Although she hadn't seen them for five years, these people knew about the things that happened in the Mulberry Continent cave, and the inside story of her going to the Source Tower. If the comers were these few people in this Ice Sea mission, perhaps she could recognize them.

But if it was someone else.

Then it would be inconvenient for her to go out.

The news of deliberately releasing the "Lord of Wine" was a top secret of Mulberry Island.

Mu Wanqiu, Chen Li, and Chen Mei wouldn't reveal it to the outside world after returning.

So, no one would know the secret of her being in Central Continent, but her heart belonging to East 洲 (East Continent).

In the eyes of the North洲 (North Continent) and East洲 (East Continent) enforcers, she was the Red Dragon heir, their enemy!

……

……

"Team Zhong, Guard Team."

The enforcers from the two continents got off the airboat, each dividing up their work, dividing half of the area, and starting to check the surrounding environment.

Not long after.

Zhong Fan and Li Shici came to the two North洲 (North Continent) team leaders and said seriously, "Someone should have been here before, we captured 'transcendent aura' here... and there seem to be traces of fighting."

They took out what the East洲 (East Continent) enforcers had found in the area during their inspection.

There were broken arrowheads, shattered limbs covered in frost and snow, and some broken priest robes.

"Hmm..."

Wei Cheng nodded, "This should be the remnants of the Source Tower, we also found some here."

"The Source Tower's losses are most likely due to the Storm Church ambushing them. Because the pattern on this arrowhead is the inscription of the Holy City."

Zhong Yuan said calmly, "By the way, on the eastern mountain ridge, we found a large number of corpses from the Storm Church... the deaths were tragic."

"Oh? So the scene here is actually a clash between the Storm Church and the Source Tower?"

Zhong Fan's eyes lit up.

"It would be good if that were the case."

Zhong Yuan chuckled and shook his head, "It's not that simple, the corpses on the eastern mountain ridge all died at the hands of one person, who moved with swift precision, disemboweling the believers of the Storm Church. Even the Holy City bishop at the Tier 4 realm only withstood two more slashes..."

"???"

Zhong Fan and Li Shici were shocked.

The two exchanged a glance, their voices trembling slightly, "Was this done by the god envoy of the Source Tower?"

"No."

Wei Cheng said faintly, "If it was really a clash between the Source Tower and the Storm Church, the Giant Deer Saint wouldn't have watched his subordinates be slaughtered like this. If they really fought, it wouldn't have been so tragic... The Source Tower's cloud ship must be nearby, but obviously the corpses on the mountain ridge weren't from a clash. If I'm not mistaken, the Storm Church ambushed the Source Tower before the avalanche, carrying out a wave of attacks, and not long after the cloud ship left, they were slaughtered."

"Who is this person, who can slaughter the Storm Church with their own strength?!"

"Not clear. But it's not hard to guess."

Zhong Yuan said in a low voice, "There are only Five Continents forces in total. Excluding Central City and Nagano, and excluding the Source Tower... the Guang Ming City was ambushed by us before entering the sea, and it's impossible for them to arrive here faster than us."

Zhong Fan murmured, "So... is it the transcendent life in the [Ice Sea Ruins]?"

"Yes. If there is one, it can only be it."

Zhong Yuan said, "Judging from the battle on the eastern mountain ridge, this transcendent life is very ferocious. If we encounter it, it's best to retreat directly and not confront it."

The mission for them to go south to sea this time was to first explore the situation of the [Ice Sea Ruins].

If they encountered irresistible danger, they would protect the team and retreat directly.

If there was any trouble.

They could just go back and get reinforcements!

If Tier 4 couldn't solve it, then they would call in a titled expert! If a titled expert couldn't solve it, then they would invite an [Apostle], a General!

The power of authority was prohibited in the periphery of this [Ice Sea Ruins]...

But the transcendent technology of the Five Continents world had developed to this day, so even without authority, there were other means!

If they were really pushed into a corner, North洲 (North Continent) would just use a Heavenly Sheath weapon.

As the four were talking, Wei Cheng suddenly frowned.

He glanced at the snowfield not far away out of the corner of his eye...

"By the way, there's another important discovery on the eastern mountain ridge... there's a 'black silver mine' with astonishing output."

As Wei Cheng spoke, he extended his palm, signaling the three not to make a sound, and to cooperate with the conversation.

Zhong Yuan was an old comrade, and immediately understood.

Zhong Fan and Li Shici reacted quickly as well.

"A black silver mine? How much output?" Zhong Fan asked with a smile, his finger already on the handle of the source energy gun at his waist.

"About ten times the annual output of North洲 (North Continent)."

Wei Cheng said gently, "You know, what's even more amazing is the purity of this black silver mine, which has actually reached..."

His voice gradually lowered.

Gu Xiaoman, hiding behind the giant rock, held her breath and listened carefully, but suddenly the sound disappeared.

She felt a sense of foreboding.

The next moment, she quickly rolled out, and the giant rock behind her was shattered by Zhong Fan with a single shot. The next moment, four shadows disappeared at the same time, blocking the four directions for Gu Xiaoman to retreat.

"Kacha!"

Zhong Fan cocked his gun and pointed it at Gu Xiaoman's forehead.

Zhong Yuan also drew his saber and pressed it against Xiaoman's shoulder.

The expressions of the four were a little strange. No one expected that the figure hiding behind the giant rock would be such a small girl.

"Is this the Red Dragon heir of the Source Tower?"

Wei Cheng said with a smile, "At such a young age, you've cultivated the method of mental concealment quite well, it's just a pity that you met me."

"..."

Gu Xiaoman's face was a little pale, her left hand was still trembling slightly, it was the injury left by Hiddell, which hadn't healed yet.

She didn't even have time to draw her saber.

The speed of these four powerhouses was much faster than hers!

"I don't know who gave you the courage to come and eavesdrop on intelligence alone..."

"North洲 (North Continent) has never been soft-hearted when it comes to this kind of thing. The future new Red Dragon has unlimited potential, but is also an endless threat."

Wei Cheng looked at the two young people from Central Continent and smiled, "We two are old, why don't we leave it to you... you two, who will do it?"

Zhong Fan and Li Shici exchanged glances again, their expressions had been somewhat complicated since they saw Gu Xiaoman.

Just as they were about to say something.

A rustling sound came from the depths of the forest.

"Dang!"

A shattering sound, like jade breaking, shot out from the depths of the forest. Wei Cheng's expression changed abruptly, he was the fastest to react among the four, and also the closest to the source of the sound!

Wei Cheng suddenly turned around and struck out with both palms!

His hands, in an instant, became as white as unpolished jade, and collided with the long saber that was flying through the air without any skill.

A piercing collision sound exploded out of thin air.

The long saber was thrown away.

Wei Cheng staggered back a dozen steps.

As a capable assistant under General Silver Fox of the Second Legion, his strength could rank among the top in the entire Second Legion. Although he hadn't achieved the title, he had never been defeated in battle!

The scene of the collision just now also shocked Zhong Yuan.

He knew the true realm of his old friend very well. Objectively speaking, judging from this one blow alone, Wei Cheng was actually at a disadvantage.

What kind of strength did the saber thrower have?!

"Buzz buzz buzz—"

The long saber seemed to be controlled by someone, cutting and tumbling out dozens of circles in the air, and returning to the saber owner's hand at an extremely fast speed.

"Swish, swish, swish..."

Snow dust floated, withered leaves fell, and a thin, long-haired figure wearing bamboo armor slowly walked out from the depths of the forest, extending five fingers to catch the long saber that had been thrown back.

His saber was still stained with fresh blood.

From the Giant Deer.

From Xuan Turtle.

The red shadow in bamboo armor stood with his saber, the tip of the saber pointing at the four who were closing in, his eyes fixed on Gu Xiaoman.

……

……

(ps: Three updates completed today! Hui Shuai Jiao De Xiong Mao is really happy today, I just mentioned it at the end of the chapter, I didn’t expect so many readers to be diving! I’m serious about the chapter comments adding more updates, but I haven’t figured out exactly how to add them. I hope everyone can give reasonable suggestions. I really hope that the chapter comments can be as lively as today in the future.)