Light Fortress
Chapter 393 - 72 Feed (1st Update)_2

Chapter 393: Chapter 72 Feed (1st Update)_2

Those eyes without emotion, that never rest.

They only serve to capture everything that happens on the ground.

"For the five major families that are closely monitoring your movements, your actions are not hard to predict. It’s just that these matters have moved from above the table to beneath the ground," Chu Ling seemed to understand something and sighed, "The purpose of Li Qingsui’s actions..."

"Is to divert attention."

Gu Shen said slowly, "She’s helping me to attract the attention of the five major families."

The Li Family Master erased part of the trail.

What Gu Shen had done in half a day became a secret... But for the five families, as long as something had happened, it was not a secret. They would guess what kind of deal Gu Shen and the Li Family had made.

"When a magician misleads the audience, they always deceive the audience’s ’eyes’ and divert their gaze from what’s truly important," Gu Shen’s voice was complex as he said, "That little girl Li Qingsui is quite remarkable..."

Especially since she did all these things without informing me beforehand.

Doing good deeds anonymously.

She wants to silently owe me a favor.

"Data deletion is complete... Those guys in the real-time surveillance room must be dumbfounded right now," Chu Ling found it somewhat amusing, "They can’t track your movements, nor can they be sure whether ’Qingzhong’ is the final stop or just a decoy. Without ’eyes,’ whatever happens next can only be guessed."

The most unreliable thing in this world is guesswork.

Gu Shen lifted his head.

He looked up at the clouds and suddenly understood why Li Qingsui always had Uncle Gao release his domain when she traveled, shielding her from the "Wind Eye."

"Because she doesn’t like those eyes watching her... so she blinded them?"

In public, every action, every word under the "Wind Eye" was a performance by the Li Family Master.

But once Uncle Gao activated his domain,

She was the innocent Li Qingsui.

Gu Shen said thoughtfully, "She really is a feisty little girl."

"You owe her a favor."

Chu Ling said seriously, "I’ll remember it for you."

"Then I’ll leave it to you, dear Miss Chu."

Gu Shen smiled, gave a bow to the air, and said, "Coming up... I’ll be entering the Qing Tomb Inner Mausoleum, and the Spiritual Link will be severed. Do you have any last instructions?"

The girl in the carriage blushed slightly.

Dear? How mushy!

She spat in disdain and said, "Nothing further, you may withdraw."

A faint sound of electricity fizzed inside her skull.

Chu Ling didn’t wait for Gu Shen to enter the mausoleum; she disconnected the link herself.

...

...

Master Qianye slowly opened her eyes.

It was as if two distinctly different colors flowed across the cat mask on her face.

One black, one white.

One life, one death.

As she opened her eyes, the two streaks on the mask melded together once again.

"You’re faster than I expected."

The Tomb Guardian spoke softly as she looked at Gu Shen carrying a suitcase, "Collecting these materials must have been challenging... And to deliver them silently into Qingzhong, even more so."

As far as she knew, some of the materials on the list could only be mobilized by the North Continent.

"It’s all been taken care of,"

Gu Shen approached the tree and slowly placed the suitcase down, "But indeed, it’s not easy to bring these materials into Qingzhong; the suitcase only contains a portion of them... The rest of the materials, a whole cartload, might need to be delivered several times before they can all be brought in."

"Repairing Qingzhong is no small matter, and it won’t be accomplished in a single day,"

The Tomb Guardian said earnestly, "In the coming days, it might trouble you to visit a few more times..."

Gu Shen massaged his brow, "Visiting is the lesser issue, but deceiving that bunch on the outside... That’s tough."

He had to have a reason for coming to Qingzhong time and time again.

The Tomb Guardian simply smiled.

She quietly watched Gu Shen.

Having only met him once, she knew Gu Shen too well... When he spoke like this, he clearly had a request to make.

"Master Qianye, please don’t look at me with such eyes,"

Gu Shen managed a wry smile.

That cat mask was making him uncomfortable.

He said earnestly, "You don’t know how many eyes are watching me outside... This time, I was lucky to come in because of the trace records that Li Qingsui erased with her privilege. Otherwise, I’d have been exposed. Frequent visits will eventually raise suspicions."

This sentence, however, was spoken from the bottom of his heart.

"Only with a proper title can one’s words flow smoothly," Gu Shen said slowly.

"What title do you want?" the Tomb Guardian asked directly.

Gu Shen coughed softly.

He said with a shy smile, "I wish to learn... Divination Skill from you."

What followed was silence.

A long silence.

The wind rolled clouds and scattered grass leaves over the vast wilderness of the Inner Mausoleum, and the Tomb Guardian, hanging upside down in a seated position, seemed to turn into a stone sculpture, becoming lifeless, neither speaking nor moving, just silent.

It was as if... his soul had left his body.

Gu Shen scratched his head and said, "If I can’t learn the true essence, I would be content to learn just a little of the basics..."

Another silence that lasted for tens of seconds.

"It’s not that I won’t teach you."

The Tomb Guardian finally spoke again, the eyes beneath the floral cat mask regaining their liveliness. She shook her head and said, "I have just ’seen’ your aptitude... You are unable to cultivate my Divination Skill."

It turned out that the silence just now was not hesitation but a special way of "viewing" himself.

Gu Shen noticed Master Qianye’s choice of words.

It wasn’t unsuitable.

It was... unable to cultivate.

"What does that mean?" he asked, somewhat puzzled.

"If Divination Skill were so easy... then would only two people in all of the Five Continents be able to use it?" the Tomb Guardian said, extending a finger and slowly shaking it. "You should know, this world is always fair. The more you get, the more you give... The two sides of the scale are always equivalent. This applies to me, as well as to the ’Prophet’ of the Central Continent Origin Tower."

She paused slightly.

"... The same is true for those of the Li Family guarding the Divine Mountain."

Gu Shen’s pupils constricted.

"Divination requires the abandonment of many... " The Tomb Guardian hesitated before choosing her words carefully, "many ’precious belongings’ that we are supposed to have. The more you sacrifice, the more you see."

"For example? What needs to be sacrificed?" Gu Shen inquired cautiously.

The Tomb Guardian did not hide the truth.

"This is a ’foreseeing skill’ that belongs to the wise. To become an absolute ’wise one,’ you must preserve the spirit to the maximum extent possible and forsake the flesh," she said, slowly lifting a corner of her black-embroidered cloud robe, her voice very low, as she asked word by word, "Are you willing to abandon your own flesh? In the truest sense... abandon the flesh."

A chilling scene occurred.

A corner of the black robe was lifted.

The wind then caused it to billow.

The Tomb Guardian revealed an arm.

It was a desiccated arm, reduced to white bone with some remaining flesh, tendons, and the marks from the scraping of blades.

"???"

Gu Shen was utterly shocked.

"This is the bait I put on the ’scale,’ and the price of the Divination Skill," Master Qianye slowly retracted her robe. The wind blew again, sculpting the curves of the body underneath the black robe, making the sight somewhat skin-crawling.

The price of Divination Skill was... abandoning the flesh!

Flaying!

That arm just now may not be the most harrowing part.

How much of Master Qianye’s body... was still intact?

Or perhaps... this was just a skeleton?

"Do you still want to learn?" The Tomb Guardian spoke indifferently, "If you want to learn... I can teach you. But first, you have to cut off a part of your flesh. If you sever a finger, perhaps you will be able to see what will happen tomorrow."

"No... better not..."

Gu Shen’s expression turned somewhat pale.

He was indeed somewhat shocked.

To flay himself in order to cultivate Divination Skill, how long could he live? Even if he survived... never mind encountering Bai Xiu, if he fought with Shen Li again, his whole skeleton would probably be shattered.

This magical art was indeed not suitable for him.

"Alright... let’s go back to the previous matter," said the Tomb Guardian.

She was quite satisfied to see Gu Shen’s current expression.

"About entering Qingzhong, I have an idea."

She said with a smile, "You want a ’title’... I can give you one, a perfectly legitimate title."

...

...

(1500 monthly tickets reached, there will be another update tonight for those who can’t wait, or you can go to sleep first.)