Light Fortress
Chapter 198 - 185 The Hero Arrives

Chapter 198: Chapter 185 The Hero Arrives

In the dream, Chi Huo was no longer a tiny flame.

A light that extended as far as the eye could see, forming an endless sea of fire.

Perhaps now Gu Shen was still a weakling in direct combat... After all, Chi Huo had only absorbed the Extraordinary Essence of Qu Shui and hadn’t fully digested it yet.

Back at Yuan Dan Street, defeating Shi Li of the Fifth Layer of Deep Sea relied entirely on intricate planning and the surprise attacks of the Truth Ruler and the Time Stop Second Hand.

But in this dream...

He was the undisputed "King"!

"If... you really mastered [Dissolving Dream], then interpreting this dream would indeed be stressful."

Gu Shen stared intently at the data sandstorm within the sea of fire and said coldly, "But... now, I don’t need to save anyone."

"I only need to... kill!"

He swiped two fingers viciously across "Xiao’s" body!

With a tearing sound!

Chi Huo transformed into a longsword of shattered order, and a brilliant flash of the sword cut through, splitting the vast data sandstorm in half. No blood spilled, but flames more dazzling than blood erupted from the shattered grains of sand.

This was the spiritual world.

In other words... the "Xiao" who had always been hiding behind the scenes was meeting Gu Shen with a strand of his spirit. This was a spiritual link and a battle of souls.

An angry growl echoed throughout the dream—

"Boom!"

A violent rumble.

From the high heavens, it sounded like a drum was struck severely.

Gu Shen looked up.

He heard music playing in the real-world hall—

The second movement of the funeral march was coming to an end...

The mood of the third movement was no longer somber, gradually becoming high-pitched, with skipping bow strokes and soft plucking, while bursts of intertwined fire blazed in the dream, like fireworks breaking the illusion.

The distant villa, shattered and collapsing, was once again ignited by blood-red flames, and the data split in half headed towards the villa, merging into a towering giant within the blood-red fire.

"After taking your compass, I’ve been wondering what you were trying to do."

Gu Shen silently watched the blood fire giant rise from the distance, its menacing aura spreading—a massive black shadow slowly grew larger and larger, rising above the villa—

He said softly, "From the fire assassination at the beginning, to the subsequent explosion of the solemn-eyed stone statue, to the thick fog of Yuan Dan Street... you weren’t just ’assassinating’, you were also ’selecting’. I survived, so I got this compass."

The black shadow grew bigger and bigger, overshadowing the villa, and appeared over the entire street, shrouding everything in the dream.

The road they walked on, the lawns, all were overshadowed by the figure of the blood fire giant—

As if... a towering mountain suddenly emerged, slowly rising.

"She" blocked all the light.

Thus, day turned into night.

In the dead silence of darkness, a pair of eyes burning with blood fire stared down at the boy nearby.

"You want to kill me the way you killed Zhou Yu."

Gu Shen looked up.

He softly remarked, "Truly frightening..."

"Unfortunately, I’ve seen things scarier than this."

A deafening roar echoed from the dome of the dream, like thunder.

The giant formed of blood fire raised a palm and pressed it down towards Gu Shen.

Gu Shen watched as the palm "slowly" descended, and the powerful wind pressure around him overturned buildings, crushed speeding vehicles, and steel twisted like a torrent. The planted trees plunged directly into the ground.

The earth fractured.

But the palm collided with the blazing protective barrier, unable to advance any further... The blood fire giant’s pupils contracted, but despite applying more force, the enormous spiritual power couldn’t penetrate this firm "Light Fortress."

Blood-red flames began to shatter from the palm.

For every inch his palm pressed down, it disintegrated an inch.

The giant looked down at the boy in shock... for a moment, he felt as if he were hallucinating.

Amid the fierce burning flames, a vision of a pure white lady appeared, like an angel hovering above Gu Shen, with countless rays of blazing light forming soft white wings behind her.

...

...

"Could you... disconnect the link a little sooner next time?"

Gu Shen smiled softly.

He didn’t turn back.

As a familiar warmth enveloped him from above, he knew that Chu Ling had returned.

"Sorry."

The girl floating in the air seemed a bit apologetic, "The spiritual link was interrupted... we’ll talk about it later."

Chu Ling raised her head to look at the enormous and towering giant.

"How’s it going? Surprised? Each time we reconnect... there’s always a surprise." Gu Shen sighed, "This guy could rival the evil ghosts in Ghost Cage. Do I have a way to shatter it?"

"Currently... it’s difficult."

Chu Ling quickly scanned the surroundings, "This dream is not entirely under his control. You’re both just ’visitors’... Even in a battle of spiritual power, with him only using a strand of his spirit, our chances of winning are slim."

Yes.

This street now... was a world constructed by Zhou Yu using [Dissolving Dream], existing between dream and reality.

A sort of utopia.

Xiao had successfully taken over Zhou Yu’s physical body, but for ten years had been unable to truly master [Dissolving Dream]. This fundamental flaw boiled down to an iron-clad law: the Extraordinary Essence of non-homogeneous Transcendents could not be shared...

Now he sought to take over his own spirit within the [Dissolving Dream] to attempt achieving perfection.

With the attribute of Chi Huo devouring Extraordinary Essence for assistance... it might actually enable him to master [Dissolving Dream]!

"Xiao’s physical body wasn’t singular... His spirit had been split into countless strands... Everyone in the hundred-member orchestra at Freedom Hall received a strand of his spirit."

The more Gu Shen thought about it, the more familiar this ability seemed...

"...Somewhat like ’Deep Sea’?"

"Yes." Chu Ling said calmly, "Your analogy is not wrong. He is like the main brain of Deep Sea, and everyone receiving spiritual gifting is his terminal. The main brain is now collecting excess spiritual power, making our pressure increasingly greater. This dream will soon collapse entirely, and we’ll be crushed before that happens."

"At this rate... by the time the fourth movement outside is completed, we’ll be swallowed."

Chu Ling offered a mechanical conclusion.

"Clearly, everything is within his calculations."

This was indeed a game.

But the stakes... were not the lives of those in the hall.

It was Gu Shen’s life.

"But... he overlooked one thing, and that’s my presence."

Chu Ling spoke calmly, "There is a way to break this stalemate. Only you can save yourself."