Light Fortress

"Tick-tock."

"Tick-tock."

Blood fell.

Gu Shen held the Ruler in one hand and wiped his cheek with the other as a surge of fire roared around him. The only door leading to the rooftop had been smashed to pieces, and the person responsible for smashing it … was now scattered in all directions, northeast, southwest on the rooftop.

Time began to slow down.

One second, for Gu Shen, felt as long as an hour.

He could clearly see the angle of every fluttering bedsheet on the rooftop, the form of each sweep of the flames, everything within his sight, sensing all living beings around him.

With the Truth Ruler in hand, his thoughts became clear, yet numb.

This power, rather than a divine gift, was more like a deal struck with the devil … you grasp power, but as you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes back into you.

The orange cat quieted down, saying nothing, perched delicately on Gu Shen's shoulder like a sparrow. Its eyes flickered with rapidly changing luminescence, observing Gu Shen at that moment.

["This person is dead."]

Gu Shen looked at the mess of a door lying before him, and the chunks of blood, and such a thought crossed his mind.

["It was me who did it …"]

What followed was prolonged confusion.

["Really?"]

In the lengthy span of time, countless thoughts were dissected and repeatedly questioned, all yielding the same answer.

["He did it to himself."]

Gu Shen sighed deeply, feeling as if all his strength was being drained … as if he had endured a century, yet in the real world, only 20 seconds had passed.

20 seconds later.

Gu Shen wiped the blood off his cheek and silently watched the second "pursuer," shocked by the bloody scene at the end of his vision.

There were two people trying to kill him.

The guy he had just killed possessed powers likely enhancing his physical body... evident from the way he had broken the door.

That was a brute.

And now, the one he currently saw was the complete opposite, thin and not tall.

The one who had tried to break down his door before must be this guy.

At that time, Gu Shen had heard the sound of the door panel corroding... The power he wielded must be similar, so he must be the instigator of this arson.

Gu Shen looked slowly around.

At the end of the hallway, the thin man who saw his companion reduced to a puddle of broken corpses, his face pale and voice trembling.

"What kind of… joke is this?"

He doubted what his eyes were seeing.

Was all this real?

On the rooftop, behind the boy who held the Ruler with thousands of sword edges floating, his cold gaze pierced through him, a mere look brought an overwhelming sense of oppression …

How could this be a mere mortal?!

["He is afraid."]

Gu Shen read it in his eyes.

Was it fear... of him or, this Ruler?

He slowly looked at the silver Ruler, and through its clear, water-like silver body, he saw his own reflection, his familiar face now strange to him because his eyes were filled with an immense killing intent.

["Killed so many people …"]

["You… deserve to die…"]

Gu Shen heard his voice squeeze out bit by bit from his chest.

This time, the image he envisions was the one he saw while looking down from above the rooftop … because of that explosion, innocents trapped in the surge of fire, turned to charcoal.

The voice settled.

"Whoosh!!!"

The silver light of the Truth Ruler suddenly burst forth, the dazzling glow struck towards the darkness at the end of the hallway in an instant.

The night turned into day!

Under the power of the Truth Ruler, even the Transcendent with unimaginable powers seemed like an ant.

The frightened man suddenly caught fire, screaming, frantically slapping himself, even rolling on the ground, trying to extinguish the flames, but the fire burst in an instant, engulfing him like a tide.

This was a fierce yet gentle fire that devoured a man, burning solely on him—even when the man crashed into the stacked wooden planks in the corner, only a few dim sparks splashed out, extinguishing in an instant.

The flames did not spread.

They scorched only him.

Until, moments later, the arsonist who screamed wildly was turned to ashes by the flame he had lit himself.

Only then did this fire, which defied all norms and understanding, gradually extinguish.

A Divine Miracle.

In some sense, this was a Divine Miracle.

Gu Shen gazed at this scene, watching the flames surge violently within the dark corridor, slowly extinguishing, eventually turning to ash… With every second that passed, his thoughts, too, burned away.

It was something ethereal, yet undeniably real.

The man was being burned.

His "thoughts" were also being burned.

Supporting the unfolding of this Divine Miracle was he himself, holding the Ruler... In the unseen realms, his spirit was being used as fuel.

After the burning ended, only exhaustion remained.

Gu Shen breathed out deeply.

The fingers clutching the Ruler began to tremble violently, the pain rushing in like stabbing needles, overwhelming like the tide, as he gasped for air, trying to breathe in fresh oxygen. Perhaps because of the intense fiery tide, his chest felt too tight to breathe.

"A bit of a side effect," the orange cat repeated the words "a bit" three times, calmly saying, "Summoning storms and rains like a god always comes at a cost, doesn't it?"

"...Yes."

Gu Shen rasped a laugh, "Thank you for reminding me."

The overdrawn spirit constantly reminded Gu Shen that it was time to let go.

But he did not release the Ruler. Instead, he continued to grip it tightly while slowly lifting his head, looking up at the sky.

The spirit power that should have dispersed was reconcentrating.

The orange cat looked up along with Gu Shen's movements.

Over the rooftop, the dome enveloped by the fiery smog inexplicably saw the emergence of cloud after cloud. These clouds rapidly assembled, thickening within moments, eventually shrouding the old building, followed quickly by descending threads of rain that soon turned into a curtain.

This scene, although absurd, was still within the capabilities of the Truth Ruler.

"You truly are... a madman," Chu Ling murmured softly.

Gu Shen smiled, "Can I take that as a compliment?"

He was like a dried-up potted plant, long parched for sweet rain, or perhaps a downpour.

Raindrops pattered down.

Gu Shen felt a headache coming on, a real headache, both internally and externally.

The final downpour had squeezed out all his spirit, and by now, Gu Shen was no longer capable of manipulating the rain's intensity as precisely as when he initially formed the Sword Domain... But judging by the thundering momentum of the heavy rain, extinguishing the fire tide would be no problem.

After accomplishing all this, Gu Shen was at a point where even closing his eyes caused intense brain pain.

Indeed, it had been a deal with the Devil.

After the deal was over, not only would he revert to his original state, but he would also plummet into Hell.

"Meow..."

The orange cat called out softly.

Gu Shen's gaze was confused; he could hardly hold the Ruler anymore, and Chu Ling's voice in his ears had turned back into a cat's meow... As the rain fell, he leaned against the wall, slumped, as his consciousness gradually drifted away.

The orange cat sighed, its small head burrowing into his embrace, then picked out a mobile phone with its mouth.

Gu Shen's lips were dry, and he no longer had the energy to be surprised, resignedly watching as the orange cat dialed a number for him.

"Beep—"

"Beep."

The second tone connected the call.

"Hello..." Gu Shen mustered his last bit of strength and asked laboriously, "It's me..."

Laughter came from the other end of the call.

"Ran into some trouble... Can you handle it?"

"Of course!" The other end laughed heartily, "I can handle even the biggest troubles!"

"Really..." Gu Shen also laughed, "Two terrifying guys wanted to kill me, but I ended up killing them instead, that's self-defense, right... Can you sort it out?"

The laughter from the other end vanished.