Light Fortress

In the void, countless silver gleams suddenly emerged, like wind and snow!

These gleams continuously drifted out from the Silver Fox’s cloak. On closer inspection, they were finer and thinner than snowflakes.

These were source particles, not snow, but colder than snow!

This scene had appeared once before, when Rust Bone was banished by Deep Sea—

"Clap!"

A pale frost flake slapped against the window of the airship piloted by Gu Shen.

The void emitted a very gentle trembling sound.

It was like the first raindrop heralding a storm, followed by a relentless pounding sound, a dense array of extraordinary particles striking all around the airship, producing an incisively crisp sound that set one’s teeth on edge!

Gu Shen’s pupils contracted. Among the particles, he sensed a familiar aura.

It was the aura of Extraordinary Array Patterns, and also the aura of ancient scripts.

The Silver Fox extended its palm.

Billions of silver-white particles formed into a vortex, opening a door at the bottom of Gu Shen’s airship.

"This is..."

Gu Shen’s expression was one of shock and disbelief.

Since the incident at Chanyi City, the Rust Bone General had vanished without a trace.

After officially declaring war on [Deep Sea], the high levels of the Northern Continent gradually learned the truth that the White Lizard was under [Deep Sea]’s spiritual manipulation.

This information came too late.

Before the Northern Continent realized, [Deep Sea] had already donned the skin of the White Lizard to venture outside the frontier with Rust Bone for missions.

Now the Northern Continent’s higher-ups had lost hope for Rust Bone’s return. However, only Gu Shen knew that the battle between Rust Bone and the White Lizard was Rust Bone’s victory. The void was filled with bronze sword energy and the blood left by the White Lizard. The outcome of that origin battle could entirely be said to be Rust Bone crushing Deep Sea!

But ironically, the one who ultimately "disappeared" was Rust Bone!

Now...

The truth behind Rust Bone’s disappearance has come to light.

[Deep Sea] dared to venture outside the frontier with Rust Bone, revealing their negotiations.

It was because it had the confidence to turn the tables.

At this moment, a massive avalanche of frost and snow poured out, freezing and immobilizing the void for a kilometer in circumference with these source particles surging forth!

A giant door opened in the void.

Gu Shen barely had time to transmit a wisp of divine thought to the golden spike flowers.

"Retreat!"

...

...

"Retreat!"

In the void, the Big Snake transformed into golden lightning, traversing with speed. The moment Gu Shen’s message reached its Spirit Sea, the Big Snake’s body paused slightly.

From dozens of miles away, the golden spike flowers already saw the battlefield where Gu Shen stood. He saw the man standing in the void, with a cloak draped over his back and snow swirling all over him.

He also saw a giant door exuding an extremely dangerous aura!

He exerted all his strength and finally managed to arrive at the last moment.

But...

He was too late.

The golden spike flowers saw the airship where Gu Shen was already swallowed by the giant door.

"Master!!"

The Big Snake cried out in grief, ready to press forward in a desperate fight.

The next moment, something unbelievable happened.

The giant door suddenly vanished, and the previously snow-covered void was instantly restored to a smooth, mirror-like state, as if a magician pulled back the curtain, and the airship disappeared completely.

The golden spike flowers were stunned.

It hurriedly checked its Heart Lake... All along, the Four Seasons Wilderness had firmly linked its spirit with Gu Shen.

No matter how far apart they were, they could sense each other’s coordinates.

Even if it was in the [Old World] and Gu Shen was in the Five Continents, this sense of connection would not break.

But suddenly, Gu Shen’s coordinates vanished... More precisely, they appeared in an extremely distant place. Due to the immense distance, the golden spike flowers could only sense a vague direction!

It felt it.

"Rumble rumble—"

The void that had just returned to calm, then reverberated with a roar again, the wind and snow howling with a sharp killing intent, the golden spike flowers felt a strong sense of crisis.

It saw, hanging at a distance, the Silver Fox, who had already cast a "cold" gaze!

"Escape!"

The golden spike flowers did not hesitate at all and turned to flee.

It originally worried that Gu Shen might be killed directly by the giant door... But as the spiritual link persisted, although there was no clear coordinate, the ability to sense an approximate direction was enough to indicate that Gu Shen was alive!

If he’s alive, it will still have a chance to reunite with its master!

"Hmph... Want to leave?"

The Silver Fox snorted coldly.

[Deep Sea] also sensed that an unknown transcendent life form was approaching this location.

It understood Gu Shen well, knowing he wasn’t one to sit idly by and await death... Leaving the Initial Number to attract its attention meant Gu Shen surely had a hidden plan.

It seems the transcendent life form rushing over a thousand miles to provide support is Gu Shen’s backup.

Deep Sea hesitated not for a moment, raising a hand fiercely.

Across dozens of miles, a void collapsed, and while the power of space origin was strong, it was also limited by a certain distance... The golden spike flowers, extremely agile, reacted just before the void collapsed, diving directly into a shattered land entangled with source quality black dots, and in the next second, this land was smashed to pieces!

Deep Sea slowly floated to this broken, shattered land, brushing its sleeve to clear the stone shards with origin power.

It observed the source quality black dots that entangled and grew.

It also saw a "Void Portal" wrapped in black dots, a [door] that naturally grew, opening up to lead to an unknown place...

Deep Sea was just standing in front of the door, quietly contemplating.

Everything that just happened took place in a flash, but Deep Sea saw the latter’s appearance clearly.

"A snake?"

It furrowed its brows, recalling information about that snake... In the Five Continents, there was no intelligence on this Transcendent life form.

Over the years, it had established a vast database.

All the Transcendent beings awakened in the Five Continents and Four Regions were under the surveillance of [Deep Sea].

The dog raised by Lin Lin, the Transcendent venomous creature kept by the Donglai Family in Yinghai... such files had no omissions.

Was that big snake just now Gu Shen’s Transcendent pet?

All these years, it had been fostered in the [Old World]?

This matter was beyond Deep Sea’s expectations. If it hadn’t adopted the strategy of direct exile, perhaps Gu Shen might have really had a chance to escape from its clutches. This big snake was clearly extremely familiar with the environment of the [Old World], finding a random place would turn into a portal!

However...

All of this was already over.

Deep Sea never intended to kill Gu Shen from the beginning... After eleven upgrades, its computing power had reached a terrifying level.

Every action it took could be repeatedly verified and deduced through the computing power of the deep water area.

And the more terrifying thing was.

It could never deduce how to "kill" Gu Shen.

The pit kill in Chanyi City, the bounty, the bombardment conducted by deploying the umbrella defense line, the assassination by dispatching the Divine Throne True Body...

All methods had been tried.

Gu Shen did not die; instead, he became even stronger.

Initially, Deep Sea was only afraid of one person.

Allen Turing.

Now another person had been added to this list... it couldn’t imagine the scene after Gu Shen completely melted with the Netherworld Fire.

It absolutely could not tolerate Gu Shen’s continued growth.

If this young man were to become a Divine Throne, then it would truly face destruction. A series of peace negotiation attempts all ended in failure, and Deep Sea had no doubt that given the chance to enter the Source Tower, this kid would grind its host system to ashes without a second’s hesitation!

Since it couldn’t kill Gu Shen...

Then exile him!

Deep Sea, controlling the body of Silver Fox, stood in front of the portal where the golden spike flowers departed, falling into a ten-minute-long contemplation, once again simulating the deduction of this "exile event" to try and validate its choice as correct.

This was actually a meaningless endeavor.

Because it had already made its decision, and the result of exiling Gu Shen could not be changed.

"Kill Gu Shen, plan one..."

"Directly attack the initial point, Gu Shen will escape, success rate zero."

"Plan two..."

"Conduct a space origin strike directly in the Northern Border void, the initial point will resist, and Gu Shen can still escape, success rate zero."

"Plan three..."

The silver light flickering in Silver Fox’s eyes slowly came to a stop. Within Heart Sea, Deep Sea had simulated countless plans to kill Gu Shen, but each plan ended in "failure." In its calculation interface, as soon as it launched an attack near the Northern Continent Border battlefield, the initial point would bear the attack at all costs for Gu Shen, eventually culminating in Gu Shen’s "escape" as the outcome.

Among these kill plans, the best possible outcome was to draw Meng Xizhou into the void battlefield for intervention.

It was quite certain of being able to trade sacrificing the Black Snow Mountain Giant and Silver Fox in exchange for exiling Meng Xizhou!

In this scenario, the morale of the Three Continents Alliance would sharply plunge...

But, in [Deep Sea]’s opinion, this choice wasn’t wise.

Because in such an outcome, Gu Shen would still manage to "escape," and as long as Gu Shen escaped, its ultimate "victory rate" would greatly decrease.

It only concerned itself with the final result, indifferent to the setbacks in the process.

So... apart from Gu Shen.

The other people did not matter, Meng Xizhou, Bai Xiu, Gu Nanfeng, and Lin Lin, these combined people would have no more influence on the future than Gu Shen!

And deducing to the end, what it could see as the most promising outcome...

Was to launch an "exile" against Gu Shen in this remote corner.

Once the exile was successful, Gu Shen would be sent to the end of the [Old World].

There, it was the starting point of the collapse of order, also an already destroyed and shattered void, even if Gu Shen fused with the Netherworld Fire now, there wouldn’t be any chance to return alive.

That was a portal [Deep Sea] found unintentionally.

It regarded it as its greatest secret, never leaked in all these years...

When unordered source quality accumulates to an immeasurable quantity, any event contrary to natural laws might happen.

Back then, the Rust Bone General saw the oasis within the portal.

He wasn’t actually wrong.

Because behind this door, in some sense, was the oasis humanity had sought for six hundred years.

There was endless beauty, happiness, and fantasy.

That was the ideal land.

Also the Anle Country.

Where the most core point of order collapse existed no "reality" anymore.

That was a void realm existing in the Spiritual World.

This was the reason why [Deep Sea] was certain that those exiled would never return—

In this world, there are places where distance is meaningless.

Between the virtual and the real, lies a much greater gap than a million miles.

That is an insurmountable chasm.

...

...

(Another Chapter before six o’clock in the afternoon.)