The Divine Temple Mountain is covered with black flowers, swaying with the wind.

Gu Shen reached out to pinch a black flower, rubbing it between his fingers. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

"Hiss!"

Under the scorching of Chi Huo, the black flower was burned to ashes, transformed into Essence, completely absorbed by Chi Huo.

If not for the black flowers left by Mr. Gu Changzhi, he wouldn’t have been able to quickly accumulate so much Extraordinary Essence in the early stages of Extraordinary Cultivation.

This Divine Temple Mountain is a disaster for others.

Yet, for Gu Shen, it is a blessing.

If Mr. Gu Changzhi had removed them back then... how would I be now?

"Did Mr. Gu Changzhi foresee the future?"

Chu Ling found this speculation quite incredible.

However, those three letters’ operation...

It can be called a Divine Miracle!

If he hadn’t seen the future, how could he have laid it out like this?

"So Mr. Gu Changzhi knew back then that there was a ’Divine Embryo’ in the Divine Temple Mountain?"

"I guess he knew."

Gu Shen sighed: "Don’t forget, Master Qianye, who was skilled in Divination, came from the [Old World]. So it’s very likely Mr. Gu Changzhi really saw some fragment of the future... Things back then were indifferent, but now looking back, they’re all causality."

"Perhaps I’ve overthought."

"But I want to see if there’s any other ’foreshadowing’ left by Mr. Gu Changzhi in this Divine Temple Mountain."

All coincidences in this world are predestined.

The third letter left to me is so.

These black flowers on the Divine Temple Mountain are also so.

Gu Shen spread his spiritual power, but due to the obstruction of these Order Ruined Flowers, he couldn’t envelop the entire Divine Temple Mountain Territory at once.

He simply walked among the mountain and fields.

"Sss, sss..."

The wind blew fiercely, and the black flowers scattered.

The petals that flew onto Gu Shen were burned into ashes by Chi Huo, absorbing all Essence.

After walking around briefly, Gu Shen didn’t find anything.

This was expected.

He was way too familiar with the Divine Temple Mountain itself, if Mr. Gu Changzhi did leave some foreshadowing, it wouldn’t be buried directly in the mountains and fields...

"If Mr. Gu Changzhi really left something in the temple, what would it be?"

Chu Ling curiously spoke: "My will has always enveloped this territory, and over the years, I haven’t found any abnormalities."

"Not even you."

Gu Shen said: "If Mr. Gu Changzhi decided to bury something, even a former Protector might not notice it."

Chu Ling laughed: "Do you trust your intuition that much?"

"Up until now, Chi Huo’s intuition hasn’t been wrong."

Gu Shen shook his head and said: "But this time, I can’t be sure either..."

If it’s a blessing or an opportunity, why would Mr. Gu Changzhi hide it?

He could have just said it in the cemetery.

The three letters have additional mysteries because Mr. Gu Changzhi didn’t want me to discover the power within them too early.

Also... during the six years of silence in the [Ice Sea Ruins], the power in the envelope never appeared, from this, it can be inferred that the third letter left for the Light God’s Seat wasn’t entirely to keep me alive.

This third letter most likely has some "special" condition for activation.

Similarly.

If Mr. Gu Changzhi buried a "Divine Miracle" at the Divine Temple Mountain.

Then it should also have special conditions for activation?

Gu Shen returned to the mountain top.

He didn’t disturb Li Qingsui and her sister’s spiritual meeting, instead continued to walk around the small temple alone, checking the four lanterns of joy, anger, sadness, and happiness, finding no problems.

After confirming that every part, inside and out, of this Divine Temple Mountain had been inspected.

Gu Shen ultimately gave up "searching."

He trusts his intuition about Chi Huo... but some things truly can’t be answered in a short time.

If Mr. Gu Changzhi buried something at the Divine Temple Mountain.

Then what could it be?

"This matter doesn’t need to be hurried, now that I’ve returned to Changye, I can completely resume the previous divine temple cultivation and slowly explore."

Gu Shen deeply exhaled a turbid breath.

His state of mind quickly returned to calm.

He wouldn’t forget the promise he made to Li Qingci.

Back then his abilities struggled to clear the black flowers, yet now that the scale of [Pure Land] expanded nearly tenfold... the speed of absorbing Essence has greatly increased!

Even without melting the Netherworld King’s Spark, clearing these Order Ruined Black Flowers in the Divine Temple Mountain Territory wouldn’t take too long.

A year? Two years? Perhaps not even that long!

In summary... my efficiency in clearing the black flowers now is greatly increased compared to before!

Upon these thoughts settling, Gu Shen glanced back at Li Qingsui still in the Pure Land Dream.

From the looks of it, these sisters will need quite some time to finish their conversation.

...

...

"Uncle Gao, I may need to trouble you to wait a bit longer."

Gu Shen descended the Divine Temple Mountain, coming to Gao Tian’s side.

On the highway leading outward from the Divine Temple Mountain Territory, numerous black tassel leaves rooted themselves, these plants aren’t transformations of "black spots"... their vitality is strong enough to survive in this Disaster Realm, but the pollution of Essence here is way too severe, Order Ruined air wandering in the mountains and wilds, causing these plants to mutate, growing pitch-black stems and leaves.

Gao Tian was crouching in front of the black tassel leaf cluster.

Gu Shen remembered clearly, Uncle Gao used to not smoke.

"Hmm?"

Gao Tian squinted his eyes, looked back towards the mountain top, his gaze slightly puzzled.

The lady and Gu Shen were talking, how did, while talking, Gu Shen come down alone?

What surprised him even more was.

Gu Shen now appeared beside him... he actually didn’t notice it first.

"Qing Sui has been very busy, hasn’t she? She looked too exhausted, I gave her a good dream."

Gu Shen smiled faintly, simply explained.

This explanation had no issues.

Gao Tian’s spiritual power swept past, sensing Qing Sui’s mental state was stable, he nodded.

"Kid... I saw the footage of you killing Jia Wei, you’ve gotten strong."

Gao Tian lightly pinched the cigarette butt with two fingers, gently tapped in front of the tassel grass, the ashes scattered in the wind...

He looked at Gu Shen with quite a complicated expression.

Last time they met, this little guy only had slightly above fourth-tier strength.

Now, he was already stronger than himself.

Over six years had passed since they last met... looking at it like this, it isn’t some strange phenomenon after all, especially when Bai Xiu next door only took a short time to surpass himself.

Gu Shen laughed softly, saying: "Uncle Gao, you’re flattering me."

For Gu Shen, the greatest benefit of the fight at Red Lake wasn’t defeating Jia Wei, but...

Showing the whole world his victory!

The more titles Jia Wei had, the more impressive the positive effects that stacked onto him after winning that fight on himself, these years the temple tried to elevate Jia Wei to the divine altar.

What "Shield of Western Continent", what "Red Lake Guardian", what "Barrier"—

All bullshit!

Gu Shen proved his talent to the world.

Only realized talent is called talent... a genius dying young is meaningless.

This time returning to Changye, every "acquaintance" Gu Shen met, would mention this battle at Red Lake to him.

Mr. Bai Shu, Old Man Gu Qilin, including Uncle Gao.

They knew how strong Jia Wei was.

So they knew better... what Gu Shen’s victory meant!

"Congratulations, Gu Shen. This is your era."

Gao Tian said seriously: "Perhaps because I haven’t left East Continent much, in my perspective, among the younger generation and mid-generation, there is no one who can compete with you... Bai Xiu should be the only one who might have a chance. If he were here at this moment, I would say this is an era belonging to ’you both’."

This was a sincere congratulation.

"Though I don’t care about all this... I still have to say thank you."

Gu Shen sincerely said: "Uncle Gao, Little Xiuzi and I are different. My cultivation isn’t just for pursuing ’supreme’."

Bai Xiu, single-minded and fearless on this path, is entirely because he wants to touch the pinnacle of the mundane, to reach the supreme peak.

And Gu Shen... in fact, most of the time, the situation he faces is one of helplessness.

On his shoulders, he carries responsibilities of the [Key] and [Netherworld King].

So he must reach the highest point, to ensure he can carry these burdens stably.

"Though you don’t care... this is very important for East Continent."

Uncle Gao smiled: "Seeing you with such strength now, my heart feels a bit more at ease."

Over these years, Gao Tian has single-handedly protected the Li Family.

He was repaying Li Quhu’s favor back then.

Later, Gu Shen promised to protect the Li Family, only then he slightly relaxed a bit... because he was convinced Gu Shen would definitely become a character at the pinnacle.

It’s a pity the Sangzhou Cave incident happened too quickly.

Before reaching the pinnacle, he fell.

Gu Shen noticed the gray shade intertwined within Gao Tian’s hair, the aging speed of a top-tier title is very, very slow.

These years, Uncle Gao must have sacrificed a lot for the Li Family, a lot.

"Li Quhu was a very visionary person, short-lived people often have special strengths."

Gao Tian said lightly: "Back then, Li Quhu had a high opinion of you when you entered Changye... but I didn’t think so, I thought you had talent, but not much, at first glance and upon closer look, the result was the same, old Zhou Jiren was probably blind to have given an ’S-level’ evaluation."

Gu Shen couldn’t help but laugh hearing this.

Back then, indeed many did not have a high opinion of him.

Just didn’t expect even Uncle Gao to think so back then.

"You wouldn’t have expected, my evaluation of you was so low back then..."

Gao Tian couldn’t help but laugh himself, covering his forehead with one hand, helplessly saying: "Though I didn’t think highly of you, I still respected the Family Head and the Lady’s wishes. I soon realized I was wrong, your growth rate was too fast, after coming to Changye it was like you became a different person, from that moment on I knew, there were also gaps between titles."

Gu Shen was startled: "Gaps between titles?"

"Though I’m a spiritual title, compared to Zhou Jiren’s vision for people, I’m far behind, far behind."

Gao Tian brushed off the cigarette ash, smiling self-deprecatingly: "No wonder the ’Sky-reaching Tree’ noticed a sapling like you early on."

This praise made Gu Shen feel somewhat embarrassed.

"There’s something I might as well tell you in advance."

Gao Tian extinguished the last bit of cigarette on the ground, he said gently: "These years, Changye Three Prisons have developed well. The Judgement Institute over there has plenty of talent, the always vacant ’Grand Judge’ position has been much disputed... before the Wutuo defection incident, the Judgement Institute internally was already unsettled, several judges banded together to submit an application to the council."

Gu Shen raised his eyebrow, smilingly asked: "Oh, what application did they submit?"

"The Judgement Institute hopes the East Continent Council can re-elect a new ’Grand Judge’."

Gao Tian looked at Gu Shen, asked: "Are you interested?"

...

...

(Brothers, can’t stand staying up all night every day, I’m exhausted, tonight this is all, can’t guarantee quality for more.)