Light Fortress
Chapter 350 - 41 The Five Major Families

Chapter 350: Chapter 41 The Five Major Families

"Me?"

Gu Shen felt somewhat helpless.

He had only been cultivating for a little over half a year.

Why had these young warriors of Changye begun to see him as a new formidable enemy?

"To be honest, at first, no one cared about you," Gong Zi admitted frankly. "Even I didn’t think you would be a noteworthy opponent in the rookie battle... After all, your cultivation time is too short. But now, you’re like Bai Xiu, a monster. Just half a year of cultivation, and you can defeat Shen Li."

The Iron Eater is universally recognized as a dangerous individual!

Shen Li’s strength in the Deep Water Area Fifth Layer is already late in the second phase.

If Gu Shen were to be given another year, what would he become?

After today’s fight was over, those geniuses planning to compete in next year’s rookie battle felt somewhat uncertain about their chances.

With Bai Xiu ahead and Gu Shen behind.

It was truly an unfortunate time for them.

However, those who chase the Flame Dream, if they harbor fear, are already destined to have no chance with the Divine Throne.

Beneath the great tide.

Only those who stand at the peak of the wave are qualified to catch a glimpse of the afterglow above the Divine Throne.

"I’m not interested in the rookie battle,"

said Gu Shen calmly. "I won’t participate this year, and I won’t next year either."

This left Gong Zi in surprise.

He looked at Gu Shen, utterly silent.

Gong Zi’s expression was odd, feeling that the person before him was someone completely unfathomable... Are there Transcendents in this world who can resist the temptation of the Flame Dream?

Who wouldn’t want to become the one on the Divine Throne?

Who wouldn’t want to try... to make themselves the one on the Divine Throne?

In fact, Gu Shen had only said half of what he wanted to.

He was not interested in the "rookie battle," but he was very interested in the "Flame Dream."

But thinking it over, Gu Shen didn’t think he needed to participate in this "rookie battle."

The tasks he had to do next were far more "grandiose" than what these young geniuses in the Changye Snow Forbidden City could imagine—repairing the Qingzhong Array Patterns, exploring the "dormant truth" behind Gu Changzhi’s Divine Throne.

Most importantly... regarding the acquisition of the Flame Dream, Gu Shen had a more direct and effective channel than the prodigies of the five major families.

He could have a direct conversation with the Tomb Guardian.

Given the relationship between the Tomb Guardian and Gu Changzhi... it seemed that obtaining a strand of the Flame Dream wouldn’t be too difficult, right?

...

...

"They are eating."

"Anything else?"

"No... just eating."

In the howling wind and snow, a mechanical pupil flickering with electrical arcs slowly turned above the layer of rainclouds, magnifying the scene in an old alley of the Snow Forbidden City bit by bit, until the moisture-blurred window was dissected by thermal sensing into clear human figures.

The woman shrouded in a Black Feather cloak was sitting in the back seat of the car, feigning sleep.

The car was parked at the exit of the old alley. She did not get out but waited patiently inside, resting with her eyes closed.

Rather than say she was resting with her eyes closed.

It’s more like... in her mind, she was repeatedly recalling the scenes of Thorny Dreams.

In Bai Lu’s mind, the memories kept flowing backward, pausing, and she pressed the rewind and pause buttons over and over, trying to capture in her memories the "third person" who appeared out of nowhere in the Spiritual World, that stunning girl in a white dress who was like a deity.

But.

That second seemed to have been deleted.

She clearly remembered seeing it... yet there was no related image in the memory saved by her spiritual power.

It was like a frame that had been taken out.

Just like the feeling when looking directly at that girl.

All of this was dreamlike, insubstantial, and unreal.

"Wind Eye" was continuously monitoring the images from the old alley.

Bai Chen had loaned a part of his authority in the prison to his sister.

As Gong Zi said, there were no secrets in Changye.

In fact, from the day Deep Sea connected the five continents, humans had no more secrets to speak of, there were always ears behind walls, and eyes forever hung in the sky, pairs of eyes suspended high above, pairs of ears pressed against the ground below.

When the deep water area was formed, what determined whether secrets existed or not was just the cold and merciless "authority level."

Bai Lu sneered, "All this fuss just for a meal? Who would believe such nonsense if it were to spread?"

An urgent voice said, "Miss... The one from the Gong Family is reaching out."

The woman still had her eyes closed, her eyelids buzzing slightly.

As expected.

This meal could never be just an ordinary one.

"But... Gu Shen didn’t go to meet."

A voice of regret came from her subordinates, "It’s a pity that ’Wind Eye’ cannot capture sound, which requires higher authority... Maybe Mr. Shan could borrow the recording."

"No need."

Bai Lu slowly opened her eyes, watching the thermal imaging of the rising steam from the hot pot, shaking her head at the restored face-to-face scene through Deep Sea’s computations: "Gu Shen’s refusal to shake hands means... he won’t be joining forces with the Gong Family for the time being."

Her feelings were somewhat complex.

The original irritation and grievances had slowly fermented over the waiting time, but in the end, they didn’t brew into anger; instead, they evolved into... Schadenfreude.

Gong Zi, who had followed her, trying to pick up a bargain, must be disappointed.

"He is an honest and clever fellow after all."

Bai Lu smiled, rubbing her forehead, and said to herself, "Gu Shen wants to ’stand aloof from worldly affairs’... But does he not realize that by offending no one, he is effectively offending everyone?"

"Living in Changye and facing the olive branches cast by the five great families one after another, he refuses them all. Does he want to ascend to heaven alone?"

However... Gu Shen didn’t exactly refuse all the five families.

At least, the Li Family hadn’t shown up yet.

At this thought, she was preparing to get out of the car.

Suddenly, a report came through "Wind Eye."

"Someone is rushing towards the alley..."

"Miss, it’s someone from the Li Family."

Bai Lu’s motion to exit the car suddenly halted, she sat back down and quickly started the car in reverse, steering clear of the alley to avoid meeting the newcomer face to face.

How interesting.

Speak of the Li Family, and here they come.

She watched with interest through "Wind Eye" as the clear images from the streets magnified to the alley – it seemed the Li Family sent only two people, one tall and one short, a man and a woman, walking into the wind and snow of the alley.

Before "Wind Eye" could fully lock onto the view—

The tall man, trailing slightly behind, looked up at the howling wind and snow in the sky before stepping into the alley.

He opened a simple and unadorned thick cloth umbrella, using it to shield from the wind and the snow.

And from things beyond the wind and snow.

The next moment.

Bai Lu frowned.

The image in "Wind Eye" turned into a mass of garbled code, mixed with the sound of electrical decay... as if an invisible force was interfering with the capturing of images by electronic components, and only by moving the monitoring sight away, did it return to normal.

She thought of the Li Family, whose abilities even her brother was wary of, and she had a rough guess about the identity of the person coming.

Miss Bai chuckled to herself, "Today really is... a gathering of gods and immortals, isn’t it?"

She held her forehead, surprised, but also puzzled.

Her own presence was one thing.

But Gong Zi came, Mu Nan came, and now even the Li Family showed up.

Everyone’s here!

What kind of magic power does Gu Shen, who seems so ordinary at first glance, possess... that on just his second day in Changye, he has met with important figures from the younger generation of all five major families?