Light Fortress
Chapter 85 - 83 Cocoon Dream (Combined)

Chapter 85: Chapter 83 Cocoon Dream (Combined)

In a strict sense, this was not the first time Gu Shen had "killed" a Transcendent.

But this time, the influence of the Truth Ruler on his decisions had greatly diminished.

From beginning to end, every minute and every second, Gu Shen remained in an absolute state of reason.

This was the first time he had carried out a "killing" with full consciousness.

The girl and her shadow embraced each other, falling into the filthy mud, her pretty face gradually losing color, a slender hole opening in her pale forehead from which warm liquid trickled, like a bird that had fallen asleep, gone into hibernation.

Only after confirming the disappearance of the breath of life did Gu Shen exit the state of the "Truth Ruler", the sense of weightlessness from falling from the pinnacle assailed him in an instant, and he slowly squatted down, the world spinning around him, relying solely on his strong will, he was still able to maintain the last shred of clarity at the bottom of his heart.

The first thing Gu Shen did was to check the silver scissors; in the pool of blood, the silver scissors no longer glinted but had become dull. His prior conjecture was not wrong; it was not a sealed item but merely had Qu Shui’s ability attached to it, which was why it could cut shadows. After Qu Shui’s death, the scissors had become an ordinary object.

Then, he silently gazed at the eternal resting girl, and dialed Hu Danian’s number.

"...Hello, who is this?"

Hu Danian, who hadn’t slept well for a week, was in deep sleep when the phone woke him, and his mood was obviously not very good.

"It’s me. Gu Shen."

"The insomnia case of the ’Sober-eyed Stone Sculpture’ and the serial killings on the river bank are two separate cases," Gu Shen stated calmly. "The serial killer... is with me."

"What???" Hu Danian became instantly alert.

It took another five seconds for him to process this.

Struggling to digest the enormous amount of information in Gu Shen’s brief statement, Hu Danian quickly asked, "Are you... alright?"

"Mmm... still alive," Gu Shen glanced at the scene and said, "But my condition is not good; I can’t hold on much longer. I need you to take care of the scene... I am now under the river bank, in cave number 97..."

Although this place was remote, it was still unlikely that anyone would pass by deep in the middle of the night.

But that might change as soon as it became light.

Using the Truth Ruler twice had brought his spiritual power to the brink of collapse... If he forced himself to continue, at most, he could last another ten minutes, half an hour?

After a brief exchange of information, Hu Danian said anxiously, "Hold on, I’m on my way!"

The call ended.

Gu Shen took another deep breath, the second time he had overdrawn on his spiritual power, and the feeling was awful... It was like opening a black hole on top of his head, his will and spirit being sucked into it, creating a dizzying, drunken illusion. Gu Shen felt he could black out at any moment.

No!

He couldn’t fall asleep!

Biting down on his teeth, he summoned Chi Huo again; as the warm light of the fire dispersed the darkness, his body also felt much warmer.

To keep his consciousness clear, Gu Shen began forcibly making himself think.

"Extraordinary Essence..."

The term leapt into his mind.

In the case of the group insomnia, Gu Shen felt for the first time the Extraordinary Essence that Chu Ling had spoken of.

His Chi Huo was an Extraordinary Ability with a strong potential for growth, but at this moment, still in its infancy, it needed to absorb Essence to strengthen itself... However, the Extraordinary Essence in the ’Sober-eyed Stone Sculpture’ was indeed limited, and the benefits from repeatedly removing the Spiritual Imprints through hypnosis were far too small.

After all, it was only a D-grade sealed item that had produced the imprint.

And considering the task at hand, Gu Shen was unwilling to risk extracting the Essence from the sculpture itself... The sealed item was likely to be closely examined, and for the time being, he did not want to expose his Extraordinary Ability in front of others.

At this moment, with the power of Chi Huo, the world in his vision had changed color.

The world on the river bank was no longer pitch black but divided into clusters of colors, and the most conspicuous among them... was Qu Shui.

As the world stripped away its colors from the night, the girl became the only black.

Within the kaleidoscope lay a tiny inkblot, as if it had absorbed all the darkness of the world.

"This is the... Essence of a Transcendent?"

Gu Shen looked at the deceased girl within the world illuminated by Chi Huo.

In the real world, following Qu Shui’s death, blood flowed from her forehead, forming a pool of blood, while in the view covered by Chi Huo, shadows snaked towards her, the result of her abilities’ passive diffusion... except now she was dead, and as the shadows washed back and forth across the pool of blood, they could no longer be assimilated.

Some of the shadows had already begun to dissipate.

Based on this sign, it would not be long before all the Extraordinary Essence dissipated and no longer gathered towards her.

"The Essence of Transcendents... dissipates into this world after they die."

He concluded silently.

"No... Dissipate is not the right word."

Even at the height of exhaustion, Gu Shen’s thoughts still moved rapidly.

"Extraordinary Essence... should always exist in this world, like air, invisible to most Transcendents, but nonetheless real. When the Extraordinary Breathing Skill is operated, it is absorbed, contained, and when a Transcendent dies, it is released."

"When a Transcendent dies, the Essence does not dissipate, it simply returns to an invisible ’void’, and through some cycle, goes to another place that can contain it... That is why even lifeless sealed items, if they meet the conditions for containing Essence, can also possess Extraordinary Essence."