Light Fortress
Chapter 260 - 236: Astral Travel

Chapter 260: Chapter 236: Astral Travel

"Countdown to consciousness freezing... 5 seconds,"

"4 seconds."

The moment the purple radiance dispersed, Gu Shen heard Chu Ling’s voice from the Spiritual Link in his mind.

Consciousness freeze...

Gu Shen looked up and, amidst the countless hazy and flickering purple lights, he saw Tie Wu, who had been sitting on the Iron Throne, his body emanating a massive amount of Extraordinary Essence. His entire face began to warp and change... transforming into another teenager with a divine aura.

Was that... the Divine Throne?

"1 second..."

The countdown ended.

Consciousness was truly frozen... It was a very peculiar sensation, Gu Shen felt his hands and feet as if they had plunged into an ice cellar. He tried to move his head, clench his fists, but none of his movements could respond to his brain’s commands anymore.

However.

The world in front of him, bit by bit, became pitch black.

His spirit was like a computer, and what operated the spirit were strings and strings of code... and now the code was telling him that it was time to shut down.

He couldn’t resist this command.

After consciousness was frozen, Gu Shen didn’t hear any alert sounds in his mind.

"Emergency withdrawal of spiritual power program, activated."

...

...

He didn’t know how long it had been.

Perhaps a second, perhaps a hundred years.

The moment consciousness freezing occurred, time lost its meaning.

"Shasha shasha."

Until a faint noise began to sound inside his skull.

["Is this... what it feels like to have consciousness frozen?"]

Gu Shen’s pitch-black view gradually returned. He looked at his freely moving hands and his complete, movable body. The familiar scene before him, the warm light of the train compartment shining on his face, the girl opposite him barefoot, holding a thick book and sitting cross-legged on the seat, her long hair scattered around.

’001’ was moving smoothly.

It was only then that he realized... that the freezing of thought was not a terrible thing. One stops thinking during the missing moments of life and might even consider it a stroke of luck, for you wouldn’t feel the pain, and the length of life is just linked up again from the second you resumed thinking.

If there really was a "God."

Perhaps He would occasionally halt the time in the human world, and no one would notice.

"You’re awake?"

Chu Ling propped her chin in her hands, her eyes brimming with smiles as she looked at Gu Shen.

Gu Shen was stunned... when had he arrived at ’001,’ and how long had it taken him to awaken?

Had she been watching him like this the whole time he was asleep?

Perhaps it was a side effect of consciousness freezing, or perhaps the girl in front of him was too captivating... Gu Shen felt somewhat dazed.

He was, in fact, long accustomed to Chu Ling’s presence.

It would be less accurate to say that this girl lived in the deepest network of Deep Sea than to say she lived in his own mind. Gu Shen shared with her his world’s sunrises, sunsets, mornings, dusks... In the world of the Spiritual Link, he and Chu Ling talked about everything.

But meeting in person in ’001’... he always felt a bit constrained.

It felt like... "meeting up in real life after an online romance."

"Uh... what exactly is consciousness freezing?" Gu Shen hastily stretched out a hand, covering his forehead; he actually felt a slight fever there.

"It’s ’Divine Descension’—"

"Wine God from the Source Tower, using the body of an Angel Envoy, allows their consciousness to descend briefly."

Gu Shen looked somewhat astonished, murmuring, "Divine Descension...?"

He hadn’t anticipated such a maneuver.

"You can consider it a ’Divine Miracle,’ a technique of miracles that greatly consumes the Angel Envoy’s body." Chu Ling paused for a moment, then said, "The moment of descent, he unleashed the power contained within the ember to create a ’Divine Domain,’ freezing everyone’s spirit."

"You’re lucky. Just before the full power of the Divine Domain descended... perhaps only 0.1 second," Chu Ling said, "the ’spirit extraction program’ from the source code successfully activated, which is why you can sit here now."

Gu Shen suddenly understood and let out a wry laugh.

"I knew..."

If his consciousness was frozen, how could he actually see Chu Ling?

"If your consciousness were frozen, you wouldn’t see anything. After thought solidifies, all you’d see is nothingness," Chu Ling spoke softly. "I used to borrow your Spirit Space, but now... you can borrow mine."

She stretched out her hand and lightly swiped, and several screens appeared within the carriage, which were the recording ports that could be activated by Deep Sea authority... However, the view was extremely poor. Drones were shaking unstably in the air, disturbed by the air currents, and taking blurred images from thousands of kilometers away.

"Because this involves actions of the Angel Envoy, these images would normally be detected by Deep Sea’s programs and directly erased." Chu Ling said, "The source code chose to preserve them before deletion... this is already the highest quality available."

"It’s basically unintelligible..."

In Chi Huo’s vision, the Divine Domain of the Wine God appeared as a purple Heavenly Curtain, and even standing near it outside the domain did not allow for a clear view... let alone through these blurred recordings.

"There’s no need to see clearly."

Gu Shen’s thoughts became clear, and he slowly said, "The Angel Envoy from Central Continent came here to assassinate Lu Nanzhi... They wanted to use the simplest method to resolve the dispute over the legislation. And such matters do not warrant the Divine Domain’s personal descent."

"It’s a token."

Chu Ling flipped through the book pages, saying in a low voice, "What can attract the attention of a god... is only another god."

"The Wine God wanted to see for himself if Gu Changzhi was still alive."

Gu Shen continued his train of thought, saying slowly, "So, the token has appeared, and the Angel Envoy has awakened... Should this affair be coming to an end?"

Speaking to this point, he noticed that Chu Ling’s expression was not at all relaxed.

If Gu Changzhi was still alive...

Then the Divine Descension of the Wine God wasn’t something to be dreaded.

The Wine God wanted to see Gu Changzhi alive... well, then let him see.

"Just 24 hours ago, a special existence appeared in Dadu District."

The image of Gu Nanfeng appeared on the screen.

"This is Gu Nanfeng, officially next in line to be the Family Head of the Changye Gu Family."

"Because of Gu Changzhi, Changye underwent severe factional strife, which erupted in a fierce struggle eight years ago... The result ended with the conservative faction escorting the young master, Gu Nanfeng, out of East Continent and disappearing into obscurity. Many have tried to find this Young Master Changye but failed because, at the time of departure, his identity code was altered by extremely high authority, something that only the highest seat could do." Chu Ling spoke softly, "This has also been considered evidence over the past eight years that Gu Changzhi is still alive within Qingzhong."

"Why it’s possible to trigger the highest seat’s command, the truth behind that is untraceable..."

"But I’ve discovered a very important message."

...

...

(PS: The following Chapters are still being revised, and will be delayed. It’s not that I want to slow the pace, but some information must be explained here. I will write more tonight.)