Chapter 1 Wind and Waves, Rustling Sand

"Elder Mu, no need to see me off any further. I can manage from here."

Wu Tuo smiled and spoke to the white-robed elder before him.

He and Yao Jin had known each other since childhood. At that time, they were both just shadows of the Temple. After being selected by the Grand Elder, they were sent to study under Mu Xin, the adjudicator elder.

Although addressed as "Elder," Mu Xin didn't actually hold much status or influence within the Temple. He had no seat at the main table and could only teach some young seedlings in the Adjudicator Legion.

"Yao Jin instructed me to ensure your safe arrival at Xi Hai Du (West Sea Crossing)."

Mu Xin said softly, "These next few days, stay hidden in your room to avoid attention. It is said that the Gu Nanfeng delegation has already arrived in the port and will enter the city soon... Even if Chang Ye doesn't bring up your defection from Dongzhou publicly, he won't easily swallow this loss. Leaving the city last night was already very risky."

"If you want to lure out the Dongzhou assassins, how can you not pay a price?"

Wu Tuo smiled. "Leaving the city last night was worth it. I believe the person who tried to kill me has already been captured by Yao Jin."

"Regardless, I will be guarding Xi Hai Du these next few days."

Mu Xin said, "Only when Yao Jin returns and confirms you are safe can you regain your 'Temple identity.'"

"Then I will have to trouble you, Elder."

Wu Tuo subconsciously gave a bow, then realized it was a Chang Ye etiquette. A complicated look flashed in his eyes.

"It's no trouble."

Mu Xin smiled and left.

Xi Hai Du was the hiding place Yao Jin had prepared for Wu Tuo. The Adjudicators controlled the westernmost coast of Xizhou, dividing it into hundreds of areas. It was heavily guarded, and no one could go out to sea without the Temple's permission.

Wu Tuo returned to his residence and was stunned the moment he opened the door.

He wondered if it was just his imagination.

The world was eerily quiet...

The giant tree in the courtyard cast a patch of shade, and beneath that shade, a figure had appeared, unnoticed.

"You're back?"

The person was lying on a chair, seemingly dozing off. He spoke lazily, his voice tinged with a smile.

"Who are you?!"

Wu Tuo's expression changed drastically. He hadn't sensed this person's presence at all within his mental perception range.

He subconsciously wanted to retreat, but a cyan array of runes rose, enveloping the entire courtyard!

"In order to control 'power,' the Xizhou Temple set up Xi Hai Du outside Guang Ming Cheng (City of Light). It is close to the Source Sea and has abundant resources, but it has one drawback... it is not within the coverage of the Divine Realm."

The man on the deck chair slowly sat up and stretched. "So the Temple has deployed heavy troops and sent a large number of Adjudicators to guard the long line of the West Sea. Perhaps I should have realized long ago that you were hidden here."

Wu Tuo looked at the man in the shadows, his eyes like those of someone who had seen a ghost!

That oni mask... that familiar oni mask, it appeared again!

The person who assassinated him last night wore this mask. He would never mistake it!

After the assassination failed, he shot the person with an arrow. They should have been seriously injured and already captured by Yao Jin!

How could this be?

"No, you're not him..."

In just an instant, Wu Tuo understood many things. The oni before him was definitely not the oni who had assassinated him last night. This guy's mental aura was many times stronger than the one last night!

"Let's make a deal, shall we?"

Gu Shen sat up straight, looking seriously at the traitor before him. "If you are willing to answer one question, I can let you leave peacefully... without so much pain."

"???"

Wu Tuo stared intently at Gu Shen.

He wanted to see through the face beneath the oni mask, but the more he looked, the more uneasy he felt.

Since he had believed in the light,

He had never had such an absurd, such a bizarre feeling... the eyes beneath the mask were like an abyss. If he looked at them any longer, his entire soul seemed to be extinguished!

An unspeakable terror spread in his heart.

"You fled before the Dongse family was exposed. Even if Yao Jin had great abilities, he couldn't have predicted that the 'No. 1 hidden line' would be leaked later."

Gu Shen asked with a light smile, "I'm very curious, how did he manage to 'foresee' it?"

"..."

Wu Tuo didn't answer. Cold sweat kept seeping from his forehead.

Right now, all he could think about was how to escape.

From the moment he opened the door, he had felt that something was wrong. Thinking carefully, he felt that he had made a very serious mistake.

That was underestimating Dongzhou...

Having worked for the Tribunal for so long, he prided himself on knowing most of the secrets of the Dongzhou high-level, but he never imagined that Dongzhou still had such a powerful transcendent hidden, someone he had never met and never heard of.

Some people, you know at a glance that you can't beat them.

The oni before him was that kind of person.

"Not going to answer?"

Gu Shen sighed lightly and stood up. He stretched out an arm, his five fingers opening in the void.

Clang clang clang clang!

A crisp, scale-brushing sound splashed in the void, and countless iron scales swept before Gu Shen's palm, eventually condensing into a simple, unadorned three-foot iron sword.

At that moment, Wu Tuo discarded all the complicated thoughts in his mind.

He made up his mind and suddenly bit the tip of his tongue to focus his mind.

Boom!

Wu Tuo suddenly raised his arm.

The Chi Huang Nu (Crimson Phoenix Crossbow) burst out a golden light in the air!

After a night of rest, his mental strength had recovered a lot. He didn't hold back at all with this arrow. An extremely fierce golden arrow shot directly at Gu Shen's brow!

A soft chuckle.

Gu Shen gripped the Iron Throne Sword and swung it backhand in a simple, unadorned chop. Sword light splattered, like a blacksmith forging, and for a moment, silver light filled the courtyard!

He directly shattered the "sneak attack" of this quasi-S-grade sealed item!

Even if it was a replica, this Temple-copied Chi Huang Nu still had extremely powerful destructive force.

But... this was just a sealed item after all. How much power it could truly exert depended on the strength of its master.

With Wu Tuo's mental strength, this Chi Huang Nu could at most kill a fourth-order, but as for a powerhouse like Gu Shen who dominated the title domain, this arrow was far from enough!

The Chi Huang Nu was strong.

But Gu Shen... was stronger!

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Wu Tuo's expression changed from pale to flushed in an instant. After raising his arm and shooting an arrow at Gu Shen, he immediately turned around and pressed his palm on the rune-covered cyan wall. From the very beginning, he had never thought that he could fight this oni. This arrow was just to buy time, even if it was only a brief second, it was a hope for escape.

He tried his best, using all the strength in his body.

A violent impact pierced through the wall in an instant, and a gap was broken through in the protective barrier of the entire courtyard.

Wu Tuo broke free at this moment. He rushed out a hundred meters in an instant and shouted loudly towards the departing figures of Mu Xin and the Adjudicators.

"Elder Mu! Save me!"

At this moment, he seemed to see hope.

But...

The departing figures of Mu Xin and the Adjudicators at Xi Hai Du did not stop at all.

Wu Tuo was stunned.

The next moment, the oni figure also swept out of the courtyard in an instant and slapped Wu Tuo's head, smashing him onto the sand.

Boom!

After a loud bang, Wu Tuo seemed to understand something.

He no longer resisted and just let Gu Shen press him on the sand.

He stared blankly at the blurred shadows of Xi Hai Du in the distance.

The tide washed the shore, and his consciousness became blurred. A burst of pain hit him.

"Answer me."

Gu Shen's tone was still extremely calm. "How did Yao Jin know that the 'Dongse family' would be investigated?"

"I..."

Wu Tuo closed his eyes, struggled painfully for a long time, and said hoarsely, "I don't know!"

He felt a violent pain in his mind, and the tides rising and falling with the waves seemed to pour into his skull.

Finally, a long sigh.

His world turned black.

......

......

In the quiet courtyard, this long sigh still lingered, slowly dissipating after a long time.

The flowers and plants in this small courtyard swayed in the wind, stretching their bodies.

The walls were not broken, and the bricks and tiles were not damaged.

Everything here was preserved intact, because there had never been a fight at all.

Wu Tuo maintained the posture of pushing the door open, his gaze was dull, staring fixedly into the shadows... From beginning to end, he had never truly entered this small courtyard.

But the scenes he saw were all real.

There was indeed a figure wearing an oni mask in the shade of the tree.

It was just that those after were just illusions.

Calling for help? Breaking the wall? Running away?

Gu Shen would never give Wu Tuo these opportunities... The true despair was not setting up array barriers in the material world to trap people inside.

The true despair was creating a prison of the heart.

From the moment he felt that the world was eerily quiet, Wu Tuo had already stepped into the dream woven by Gu Shen.

Yao Jin chased Zhong Fan.

Gu Shen chased Wu Tuo.

If Zhong Fan hadn't appeared wearing an oni mask last night, Gu Shen wouldn't have used the plan to set up this game... But killing "Wu Tuo" here was better than making a move last night. Guang Ming Cheng had no Divine Realm support in Xi Hai Du, and they would never find out how Wu Tuo died.

Most importantly.

Wu Tuo died in Xi Hai Du, largely due to Yao Jin's dereliction of duty.

Presumably, the progress of the Gu family delegation on the other side should also be very smooth.

"The only pity is that you really don't know the answer..."

Gu Shen stood up, and this last sigh of regret came from the failure of the interrogation in the dream.

Wu Tuo's spirit had collapsed.

Forcibly plundering the mind of a transcendent of this level had a high probability of failure.

Gu Shen said softly, "Alright, it's time to set off on your journey."

He came to Wu Tuo, helped him into the courtyard, and sent him to the chair.

Wu Tuo's expression was extremely pale.

His eyes still held horror and fear...

Gu Shen smiled, reached out two fingers, and tapped lightly on his forehead.

"Dong."

Wu Tuo's pupils cracked, and the black color spread like ink.

This gentle tap, transmitted into the sea of ​​spirit, was a complete collapse. The violent shock turned into a tsunami.

"This Chi Huang Nu, although a replica, can also be considered a good thing."

Gu Shen looked at Wu Tuo and said indifferently, "Come to think of it, many of the treasures of your Guang Ming Cheng are with me. You really are my benefactors."

Light-Blessed Robe, Disaster Bracelet.

Now add this quasi-S-grade Chi Huang Nu...

Each of these items was of great value. Even Su Ye, the current Holy Son, probably didn't have so many precious things!

Gu Shen knew that the things of the Guang Ming Church were hard to take and hard to use, and each one was marked, but it didn't matter, he just liked to take them and didn't like to use them. After taking the Chi Huang Nu, Gu Shen directly suppressed it in the deepest part of the Pure Land domain.

After doing all this, Gu Shen left the Xi Hai Du courtyard, not forgetting to close the courtyard door for the defector Third Adjudicator before leaving.