Chapter 1 The Pure Land World, Beneath the Shivering Aspen

Beneath the falling shade, a pitch-black space was utterly sealed off.

For five years, no one had set foot in this space.

At this moment, a gentle breeze swept past, and the branches of the shivering aspen swayed. The pitch-black space shattered, and a figure fell heavily out—

The shadow lay on the ground, uttering not a word.

He had been imprisoned in the pitch-black space, enduring the searing heat of the blazing fire for a full five years.

There was no torment in the world more painful than this.

The Pure Land World was under Gu Shen's control. The souls who came here were people who had "died once" already. As long as Gu Shen didn't kill them, their souls would be resurrected again and again under the radiance of the shivering aspen… In the previous duel with the devil, those souls had died dozens of times, and they were still alive and well.

Although each "resurrection" would consume the spirit of the soul itself.

But Gu Shen's torment of the shadow was controlled just right. The blazing fire of these five years would not take his life…

For five years, the shivering aspen hadn't even consumed a sliver of its power to resurrect the shadow!

Gu Shen stood in front of the shadow. He squatted down and asked with a smile, "Have you thought about the matter of the 'Holy Book' now?"

The shadow's spirit was fragile to the extreme.

He had begun to regret it in the first month of his imprisonment.

Even the strongest will had its limits.

This degree of torment had almost destroyed all of his fighting spirit.

After being imprisoned for a year, if he was told that he could be freed as long as he insulted the Guang Ming Shen Zuo (Light God Seat)!

Then he would start cursing without hesitation, using the most ornate language!

And after being imprisoned for five years…

"You want to know what, I'll tell you everything!"

At this moment, the shadow almost begged as he spoke, proactively spilling out the secret.

He no longer cared about what was happening in the outside world.

So much time had passed.

He had originally hoped that someone would come to save him… but now he had completely given up this foolish idea.

He now only sought death!

The shadow proactively unlocked all the heart-locks in his spiritual sea. He opened the doors to everything—

Gu Shen did not force the shadow to do anything else.

The blazing fire invaded his heart sea.

After he extracted the information he needed, he gave this guy a quick death—

He waved his hand to extinguish the shadow's soulfire, erased all consciousness, and then let him return to the Pure Land, to become a member of the Pure Land.

Back then, when he locked the shadow in the Pure Land Black Room, he himself had not expected that so many changes would occur behind the Mulberry Continent Cave… What he didn't expect even more was that the shadow had actually stubbornly endured for five years without a mental breakdown.

Before opening the Black Room.

Gu Shen had anticipated the shadow's most likely ending…

A full five years of burning spiritual fire.

The shadow might die again and again, resurrect again and again, until his spirit was exhausted.

It was also possible that his heart sea would collapse in the long torment, and no useful information could be extracted.

As for surviving, and with his consciousness intact, this was an extremely small probability event, yet it had happened… It could be seen how vicious Guang Ming Cheng (City of Light) was in its eye for selecting death warriors.

Guang Ming Cheng's choice was very good.

Now… he belonged to the Pure Land.

After dealing with the shadow, Gu Shen took out the page of the Holy Book that had been tempered and burned by his blazing fire for a full five years.

A full five years.

This page of tattered paper hadn't changed in the slightest!

The blazing fire could not destroy it…

"The Holy Book was accidentally obtained by the Guang Ming Shen Zuo (Light God Seat). It only needs to be activated with pure faith power to modify the target's faith to a certain extent… The greater the difference in spiritual power between the two, the higher the success rate of the modification, and it can be activated more than once."

Gu Shen recalled the information extracted from the shadow's spiritual sea.

"This thing… is ineffective against those without faith."

The existence of these two pages of the Holy Book was really a bit scary.

Gu Shen did not yet know why the [Old World] would have conceived such forbidden objects, but one thing was certain.

This Holy Book seemed to exist for the Guang Ming Church (Church of Light)—

No, it couldn't be said that way.

If the Storm Church got the Holy Book, it would also be terrible.

Having its own foundation of faith, and being in dire need of incense, it could use the tattered paper to convert believers who had been painstakingly cultivated by others, and it would hardly need to pay a price…

How could there be such a good thing in this world?

Gu Shen subconsciously felt that something was wrong.

This was a surefire way to make a profit.

But upon careful consideration, the effect of this Holy Book seemed to be reasonable again, because it was not giving someone faith out of thin air…

The effect of this page of tattered paper was like "deception" being carried out on the target.

Perhaps in the eyes of those original Storm-worshipping believers, nothing had changed in their world, only that all the information of "Storm" and "Light" had been switched.

Rather than calling this the Holy Book.

Gu Shen preferred to call it the "Book of Deception."

He unceremoniously took both pages of tattered paper into his Pure Land World.

If he guessed correctly, Guang Ming Cheng (City of Light) had more Holy Book fragments…

Such an important object was actually brought out by Long Qi with a page.

Guang Ming Cheng (City of Light) must still have stock!

"I wonder if these souls adopted in the 'Pure Land'… count as my believers?"

Such a thought emerged in Gu Shen's mind.

He didn't know.

Whether he could use the Holy Book to convert the believers of the two churches of Guang Ming (Light) or Storm, this idea had actually been around for five years, but he had never had the opportunity to use it.

Gu Shen's consciousness separated from the spiritual world. He looked at the shattered ice shards all over the ground and couldn't help but shake his head and sigh softly.

The transcendents brought by Guang Ming Cheng (City of Light) had all died in Long Qi's hands.

All wiped out.

Not even a single survivor could be found…

"The Storm Church came the earliest, perhaps we'll run into them ahead."

Gu Shen took a breath and shook the distracting thoughts out of his mind.

He looked ahead.

Compared to the Storm Church, what he cared about more was actually that little guy who had gone on his own journey.

Long Qi's "Child of Blazing Fire" had already captured Gu Xiaoman's trail. Gu Shen knew that Xiaoman was not far away.

It wouldn't be long before they met.

……

……

The fluctuation of Long Qi's "Spirit Summoning" shook the entire snowfield.

Whether it was Xuan Gui (Dark Tortoise) and the giant deer hiding in the mountain caves to break through and heal their injuries, or Wei Cheng and Zhong Fan driving the source energy艇 (ting) to find the exit of the ruins.

They all felt that terrifying transcendent aura fluctuation!

"This is the aura of Guang Ming Cheng (City of Light)……"

In the mountain cave.

Xuan Gui's breakthrough was proceeding exceptionally smoothly. He tried to merge the two domains of [Iron Stomach] and [Xuan Water Embryo]. He thought this would be an incredibly difficult thing, but under the pressure of the crisis of life and death, the two domains had begun to merge, and he encountered almost no major resistance.

Now all he needed was time.

And the injuries of the Giant Deer Saint were also recovering quickly.

That blood-stained black shirt, under the urging of [Tide], had already washed away the blood stains, and the blue waves completely enveloped the Giant Deer Saint's burly body…

Both of them opened their hearts and allowed a wisp of the other's spirit to reside within.

These two powerhouses, who should have been mortal enemies, had reached a groundbreaking cooperation under the pursuit of the transcendent life in the Ice Sea Ruins.

It was just that the battle aura of the Saint Arbiter Corps was too fierce, so much so that the two, who were in a state of closed-door cultivation, opened their eyes one after another.

"Did they encounter an Ice Sea transcendent life?"

Xuan Gui's expression was pale. The red shadow had left him with a huge psychological shadow.

"The anomaly just now should be Long Qi using the 'Incense Master' domain." The Giant Deer Saint's expression was solemn: "Don't think that this guy looks weak, but once the 'Incense Master' is invited, even if the two of us join forces, we can only escape."

"Is this Long Qi really that powerful?"

A hint of shock flashed in Xuan Gui's eyes, but more of it was disbelief.

The Seventh Elder of the Temple, in terms of strength, should be about the same as the Giant Deer…

A super genius like himself could defeat him as long as he broke through and advanced!

"You don't understand……"

The Giant Deer shook his head and said, "Places of faith like Guang Ming Cheng (City of Light) and the Holy City have rich foundations, and there are many wonderful tricks that your Source Tower cannot imagine. The reason why this 'Incense Master' domain is so powerful is not Long Qi, but the two hundred Saint Arbiters that Long Qi carries with him. The spirits of those people gathering together are too terrifying."

The difference in age was too great.

The Giant Deer Saint could see through Xuan Gui's thoughts at a glance.

This kind of young, top-notch fourth-order transcendent has always looked down on those transcendents who are promoted by pressing the limits of the title.

They prided themselves on being chosen ones, advancing all the way, and being superior at every level.

But little did they know that in the life-and-death duels between titles, there were many other factors that determined victory or defeat.

The higher up you go, the fewer "mediocre people" there are.

Which of those who could achieve a title had not been praised as geniuses when they were young?

Countless fourth-orders cultivated to death, without cultivating a second domain, let alone "uniting"…

The more Giant Deer Saints who were "mediocre in aptitude," the more cunning they were, and if their strength was a little worse, they needed other things to make up for it.

"So Long Qi is also in contact with the Ice Sea transcendent?"

Xuan Gui was a little dazed.

"Most likely."

The Giant Deer Saint said indifferently, "Listening to the follow-up of this voice, it should be over. I don't know what the final outcome will be… But no matter what the outcome is, it has nothing to do with you and me. The top priorities for you and me are to break through and heal."

Hearing this, Xuan Gui immediately restrained his mind.

That's right…

If Long Qi successfully killed the Ice Sea transcendent, it would be a good thing for him instead!

Whether that terrifying red shadow was still alive or not, he didn't want to stay in this damn place… He had to hurry up and grab a source energy艇 (ting) and run away! This was the right thing to do!

"Hoo……"

Xuan Gui took a deep breath, and [Iron Stomach] and [Xuan Water Embryo] began to carry out this final step of interweaving.

Two layers of domains were completely superimposed on him.

A layer of pitch-black water formed a thin, delicate armor.

He looked at the Giant Deer Saint who was cultivating with his eyes closed and breathing evenly… The latter was using his authority to heal his injuries, and the power of the water waves drawn by [Tide] was repairing the broken antlers. The intelligence showed that the ability level of this Giant Deer Saint was very average, and the domain he had comprehended was also very average. He belonged to the kind of title that was for the sake of breaking through.

Some geniuses pursue the ultimate in the domain.

If there was no powerful enough second domain, it would not be able to play a complementary role.

They would rather stay in the fourth-order for the rest of their lives.

But some people were more realistic… They seized every opportunity to comprehend the domain, and they didn't pick and choose. After advancing to the fourth-order, as long as it was possible, they would smelt the second domain.

It seemed that they were one step ahead.

But this was not the case, because with a casual attitude, comprehending a domain that did not increase combat effectiveness much would not greatly increase their current strength!

In other words, even with two domains, they might not be able to defeat some single-domain geniuses.

And the subsequent "unification," if it failed.

Then they would only be very weak fourth-orders for the rest of their lives.

Of course… success was another matter. The "dual domain" after unification could crush most single domains. This was the weakest level of title!

The Giant Deer Saint was actually this weakest level of title.

Staring at the tall figure in front of him.

Xuan Gui's eyes flickered.

Although he had not yet succeeded in breaking through at this moment, he was already considering whether to kill the injured Giant Deer Saint directly after he successfully advanced later.

With his talent, after breaking through, [Iron Stomach] plus [Xuan Water Embryo], the two superior domains would be unified, completely crushing the Giant Deer Saint!

As for authority…

The other party had [Tide], and he had [Cloud Mirror]!

If they really fought, he would win steadily.

……

……

(Fourth update! Six hundred votes short! There's one more chapter tonight! Meeting with Xiaoman!)