Light Fortress
Chapter 117 - 105: The End

Chapter 117: Chapter 105: The End

Gu Shen stood silently in the thick fog.

After Hu Danian made his move, he maintained this posture, motionless, like a wooden stake.

And then Shi Li’s voice appeared.

The light of the Truth Ruler slowly bloomed, and a long bow appeared in front of Gu Shen. He drew an imaginary string and slowly pulled the bow to its full extent, the arrow aimed at Shi Li in the fog...

He patiently waited.

He waited for Hu Danian to create an opportunity for himself.

Because he could see nothing and couldn’t fully unleash the power of Chi Huo, he maintained the pose of drawing the bow and arrow, capturing every whisper of sound nearby... The fight started, and then it ended.

Hu Danian’s voice sounded very weak.

As expected, direct confrontation... He indeed was no match for Shi Li.

The two exchanged questions and answers.

Eventually, Shi Li’s voice revealed a moment of astonishment.

Opportunity!

Gu Shen aimed at the last location of the sound, released his hand, and the great bow erupted with a thunderous rumble, dispersing the fog in a radius of ten meters!

An ethereal arrow traversed space, creating a long circular trajectory.

With that shot, the walls on one side of the factory, one after another, collapsed under the tremendous impact; debris flew everywhere.

Gu Shen started to move the moment he released the string.

He began running towards Shi Li.

The great bow in his hand, in an instant, transformed into a long saber.

Gu Shen knew that his long-accumulated shot... had not ended Shi Li’s life, for he heard no sound of spilling blood. In a brief 0.1 second, it seemed a very smooth "click" echoed.

As he burst through the fog and saw Shi Li, Gu Shen knew his judgment was correct... The man had raised his arm to protect his head, the outer skin of the arm breached by countless bones erupting from within, assembling into a shield of bone armor, extremely smooth, with a deep white mark evidently left from deflecting the arrowhead.

He raised his hand again with a slash!

...

...

Shi Li looked terrified and angry.

As the Red Silver Fortress tripped him, his extremely reliable intuition emerged once again.

Hu Danian had another teammate!

That person had been waiting for him all along...

So, in the flash of the cold light of the arrowhead that filled his vision before he could anticipate it... Shi Li took preemptive "defensive" measures, forcing out the bones of his entire arm to form a shield smooth as possible.

The heavy arrow shot out!

It was like being hit hard by a cannon.

Even with the bone armor as a buffer, Shi Li still felt like half of his head would be blown off.

But fortunately, he deflected that heavy arrow!

It was terrifying... With the lethal force of that arrow, if his reaction had been a bit slower, his entire head might have evaporated!

And Shi Li still hadn’t recovered.

The mastermind who shot the arrow had already dashed up to him, the first thing he saw was a cold, ruthless youthful face... and what he held was not the bow, but the saber.

"Buzz!"

A magnificent blade light, hanging upside down!

Shi Li watched in horror as the sudden flash of blade light appeared in front of him!

How could someone be so treacherous?

At the critical moment, the bone armor blocked the blade light, and was instantly marked with a long white scratch.

"Wait a moment..."

Shi Li felt the vibration from the bone armor. He vaguely felt that the strength of the youth was quite weak... not worthy of his fear.

...

...

Seeing the white mark on the bone armor... Gu Shen furrowed his brows, dissatisfied with the power of his strike.

Previously.

On the river bank, he had killed Qu Shui with just one strike!

But now this strike... could not even break through Shi Li’s bone armor.

He had exerted his full strength, but from the outcome... the power of the Truth Ruler must be directly linked to his spirit power.

This strike had killed Qu Shui.

But it couldn’t break Shi Li’s defense.

This was an enemy at least two major levels higher than him in the Extraordinary Trial.

Gu Shen took a deep breath.

The blade fell and rose again!

He slashed out a second time with all his might!

This time, Shi Li didn’t dodge; instead, he struck back. The seemingly powerful blade light shattered upon contact with the bone armor, still exhibiting a "quality" difference between them.

"This kid’s strength... is at most Deep Sea Third Level!"

Shi Li had made up his mind with just one touch.

Indignation surged in his heart.

Just Deep Sea Third Level, and yet daring to assassinate him...

Watching Gu Shen being bounced off by the bone armor yet still stubbornly swinging to deliver a third strike, Shi Li withdrew the bone armor entirely, his clothes shredded by the protruding bone spikes. Massive spikes like spider legs enveloped Gu Shen, forming a large net!

He saw through the opponent’s strength and attack intent!

He no longer defended but decided to tear this youngster apart in an instant!

However, the next moment—

Gu Shen’s third strike did not fall; instead, it dissolved into thin air, countless silvery radiance shattered by the wind, leaving only a charging figure.

The two men clashed within the bone net.

Like two rigid worms embracing in a large cocoon.

And at that moment, all Shi Li could see was a swath of red.

A vivid, almost scorching, red flame appeared at the young man’s brow.

...

...

From the beginning, Gu Shen’s planned "assassination" had nothing to do with the Truth Ruler.

No matter how perfect the timing was.

What the Truth Ruler could achieve was merely a physical level assault.

Shi Li’s real strength was significantly higher than his own, making frontal attack the worst choice.

Using one’s own spear to attack the enemy’s weakness was indeed the correct tactic.

However, in this dense fog, getting close would lead to detection. His strongest skill "Mental Hypnosis" had greatly reduced success rates. Only by causing Shi Li to misjudge could he stand a slim chance of success.

Gu Shen was waiting for the moment Shi Li would remove his Bone Armor and set his heart on killing him.

"Enter my dream!"

Chi Huo trembled!

As their gazes met, the murderous intent in Shi Li’s pupils instantly dissipated, turning into confusion.

But he did not directly enter the dream.

Instead, it was Gu Shen who felt very strained. Facing Shi Li, his spiritual power drained away at an unimaginable speed!

All Transcendents, regardless of their type, needed to cultivate both spirit and body... Shi Li’s realm was at least two levels higher than Gu Shen’s. Even as a power-based Transcendent, his spiritual power wouldn’t be weaker than Gu Shen’s.

To hypnotize him, he could only rely on Chi Huo’s "trait".

"Enter the dream!"

Gu Shen roared again, his forehead vein throbbing. In that moment, he poured all his mental effort into fiercely infusing it into Shi Li’s Spirit Ocean.

Shi Li’s face turned pale as he frantically resisted Gu Shen’s mental invasion.

"Crack..."

In just a dozen seconds or so, Gu Shen’s spirit reached its limit.

The six-blessings bracelet on his wrist cracked open a bead, seemingly infusing an invisible Power of Destiny into Gu Shen’s mind, flowing like a spring of water and replenishing his dried spirit!

Their wills entangled.

Leaning against the wall, Hu Danian, breathing laboriously, lifted his hand. The red silver flowing on the ground rolled again, transforming into a sharp blade that stabbed towards Shi Li’s foot.

Intense pain invaded his mind suddenly.

Shi Li’s eyes became vacant.

This mental contest had reached the final critical moments; a moment’s distraction by either party could determine the outcome.

"Boom..."

It was as though Shi Li heard something explode within his mind.

Blood spurted from his nose and mouth, his consciousness felt as though it was struck by a heavy hammer, forcibly chiseling it out from within.

When the explosion echoed in his mind, Shi Li knew—

All of this.

Had ended.

...

...

Hu Danian gritted his teeth trying to rise... Inside the Changjiu Foundation, to prevent leaks through Mental Hypnosis, something akin to a "self-destruct" program was implanted in the minds of all Transcendents.

If Gu Shen had won.

Then what followed... Shi Li would blow up!

The gigantic bone web, silent in the thick fog, Hu Danian’s heart raced as he struggled for a few seconds, ultimately waiting for nothing. Yuan Dan Street remained filled only with the howling wind and the unyielding fog.

"..."

The self-destruction did not occur.

Loss of control did not occur either.

He slowly moved his body, arriving in the midst of that web of bone spikes, amidst thousands of thorns, he saw the young man who had saved his life.

The bone spikes, sharper than knives, had come close but not yet pierced into the flesh.

Gu Shen was unharmed but his clothing was drenched in sweat.

Between his two fingers, he seemed to hold something incredibly delicate... It was a second hand from a stopwatch, its tip piercing into the center of Shi Li’s forehead.

The skin was broken, which should have bled.

But... it didn’t.

The tiny second hand seemed to freeze everything at Shi Li’s wound in his forehead – pain, blood, and... an "explosion" on the mental level that had been triggered.

Hu Danian held his breath, seeing a thin flame slowly pulsating in Shi Li’s forehead, burning.

Eventually, the flame pulled out a long thread... and burned it into nothingness.

Invisible smoke spread into the fog.

Having done all this, Gu Shen slowly exhaled a long breath, his expression one of immense relief. He pulled out the feather-light second hand of the stopwatch as if using all his strength, so much so that his fingers trembled non-stop.

The bone spikes... gradually retracted.

Shi Li had not died but was trapped in a state of sunken consciousness.

He was hypnotized.

Hu Danian stared blankly at Gu Shen, as if observing a freak that didn’t belong to this world.

In his understanding... All Transcendents of the Changjiu Foundation were incurably insane; these people cared neither for their lives nor for winning or losing... They were extreme menaces the council desired to eliminate by all means, but nobody had a good solution.

Because no one could stop someone bent on dying from detonating their spirit.

But... Gu Shen had done it.

After a long, long silence.

Hu Danian’s voice, hoarse, asked, "Is all this... over?"

"Hmm..."

Gu Shen replied tiredly.

He squatted down and used the Truth Ruler to simply treat Hu Danian’s wounds. White radiance flowed, stopping the blood, but that was it... Hu Danian watched the silver light in astonishment, from the arrow just now to the two slashes, and now this treatment, seemed to all come from a sealed object?

He looked up, seeing a flicker of bright red flame.

A gentle voice sounded by Hu Danian’s ear, carrying an irresistible force.

"It’s over. Forget the pain, have a good sleep."