"You should have seen what Central City looks like."
Aunt Wen went upstairs ahead, with Gu Shen following closely behind.
This ancient castle was enormous. After reaching the second floor, several long corridors crisscrossed in all directions. Gu Shen finally saw the scene at the end of the light... As he had expected, the second floor held nothing but light. Perhaps to retain historical traces, old-fashioned oil lamps were hung everywhere, but strangely, these lamps emitted an incredibly stable light source.
The oil lamps’ reservoirs were ancient, appearing to be at least a hundred years old. Even though they were wiped free of dust, the rust stains still revealed their long lifespan.
However, there was no kerosene in the oil lamps... that dry wick was burning softly, resembling a fountain of flame, as if it would never go out.
"Lin Lin took me for a spin above Central City, here it’s very..." Gu Shen thought for a moment and said, "colossal."
The giant floating buildings stood densely like a forest.
Central City was like a "colossal" giant.
"An interesting adjective." Aunt Wen didn’t walk fast. She gently brushed the wall with two fingers, and the flames of the oil lamp beside the wall flickered immediately.
This action was quite unusual.
Gu Shen found the reason for these oil lamps was that "Essence" was overflowing.
The reason for not using kerosene was that there was a higher level "energy" here.
"Long ago, Central City was vastly different from now; it was a withered city. Only because of the ’Furnace’ did it have a phoenix-like resurgence." Aunt Wen said slowly, "As you described, this giant city is indeed colossal, but the larger the entity, the more massive energy it demands. Thus, we forged a ’Furnace’, making it burn again, driving away the cold from the surface and turning this place into an Eternal Flame City defying the seasons."
The tundra near the North of East Continent was frigid.
Yet, Central City was a "warm" place.
"So, what exactly is the Furnace?" Gu Shen asked curiously.
"If you search online, you would get a standard answer open to the public: the Furnace is a welfare project expanded on a certain reactor technology by the North Continent Army." Aunt Wen stopped, gently rubbed her two fingers together.
Flames rose from her fingertips.
"Clearly... that’s not the truth."
She looked back at Gu Shen, "For most people in this world, the word ’truth’ simply doesn’t exist... From the moment they’re born, they are destined never to know the truth."
Gu Shen had been curious about the essence of the "Furnace" before, but even Chu Ling couldn’t uncover the "truth." The explanations within the deep water area about the Furnace were very vague; most amounted to the North Continent people praising the greatness of the Empress.
Transcendents from the North Continent knew that the Furnace was related to the Empress.
Yet they didn’t know.
What exactly the Furnace was.
"The Furnace is a ’Divine Miracle’."
The Legion Leader’s voice turned frosty as she stared at the flame flickering on her fingertip. The surrounding light suddenly fluctuated, and the pale fire that blossomed there filled the narrow corridor, casting her gentle face in an iron-like hardness.
"Just like ’Qingzhong’ in East Continent, it is the ultimate display of Flame Power."
She stopped beating around the bush and gently snapped her fingers.
The pale fire on her fingertips scattered instantly like fireflies circling around Gu Shen, surrounding him.
"If you ask... what is the Furnace?"
The Legion Leader said sternly: "Beneath Central City, there’s a copper furnace responsible each day for sending Essence fuel to the surface, melting the snow, providing heat to the Floating Building, supplying energy to the Frontier Fortress... It’s the Furnace offered publicly by the North Continent, known to everyone. It’s publicized as such because people prefer to believe the Furnace should be a giant furnace."
"Every single flame you see now is the Furnace... it isn’t the reactor copper furnace buried a thousand meters under Central City."
The true Furnace was on the second floor of the Queen’s Castle.
Gu Shen suddenly understood a bit; so-called Furnace was actually... Divine Domain!
Just like the Snow Forbidden City.
The place where the Divine Throne descended, the realm where the Divine Domain expanded, naturally merged with the Flame Power, creating incredible power. The "Afterlife Power" accumulating at Qingzhong Cemetery of the deceased’s Extraordinary Essence was actually the Netherworld King’s Spark’s Divine Miracle.
After Bai Shu refined and battled, the Divine Domain of the Cemetery overlapped with Reverse Flow three times!
Different Divine Thrones evolved different Divine Miracles...
The "Divine Miracle" evolved by the Empress was the Furnace!
Gu Shen’s expression gradually grew solemn.
If so, why were there so many sealed objects on the second floor?
If this was the Empress Divine Domain’s expanding realm, why would the Divine Throne need to rely on mundane power?
After Aunt Wen struck out that flame, the corridor suddenly became dim.
The flickering brilliance stabilized once again.
The lamps around burned with the smallest light source.
"Before entering the door, I suggest you close your eyes."
The Legion Leader stretched out her slender arm and effortlessly opened the massive red door at the far end of the corridor for Gu Shen.
Lin Lin, sitting and drinking tea on the first floor, suddenly looked up.
A fierce blinding light erupted from the end of the corridor.
He held his teacup, quietly gazing at the second floor.
Despite countless sealed objects blocking the way, weakening the intense light by dozens of times when it reached where Lin Lin was, it was still formidable, a wondrous sight. From outside, the castle suddenly erupted with a massive burst of light, shining like a "sun."
Lin Lin’s forehead seeped with hot sweat.
Aluer clutched the owl emblem, looking tense, unable to sit still.
As an Angel Envoy, she was the one who could feel the Divine Power the most clearly.
"It’s starting again..." Lin Lin put down his teacup, looking down as he asked, "When did it start?"
"I... I don’t know..."
Aluer’s voice was helpless. As an Angel Envoy, failing to notice the Divine Throne’s anomaly was a dereliction of duty.
But it wasn’t her fault either.
She was merely the downstream of Divine Power.
Aluer clutched her sleeves in guilt, muttering, "Perhaps a year ago? Or longer? Her Majesty the Empress hasn’t left here in a long time."
A lot happened a year ago...
The handling of Moon City Fortress, the Third Legion’s garrison...
It wasn’t until this moment that Lin Lin realized another reason why Zhu Xue asked him to return to the city... The days spent in Gu Castle were indeed quiet, news from the inland didn’t reach the fortress, and many messages were unconsciously ignored by him.
"This year, Her Majesty the Empress hasn’t seen anyone."
Aluer whispered, "Even I haven’t had the chance to have an audience."
Lin Lin fell into thought.
In this situation... Sister specially met with Gu Shen?
Gu Shen heeded the Legion Leader’s advice.
At the moment the door opened, he closed his eyes.
The sudden bright light surged, Chi Huo leaped out, the "warmth comfort" he felt in the first-floor hall was magnified by dozens, or even hundreds of times... transforming into "intense heat"!
The fire wind roared!
The Legion Leader, who opened the door for Gu Shen, spread her cape, the flames and a sky full of Essence fuel running through the corridor swarmed toward her, absorbed by her.
This was the reason other people were forbidden from entering the second floor of the castle.
Every "opening of the door" would result in massive leakage of "Furnace" power... The only reason it was publicized as such was that these flames caused her no harm, the woman bathing in the sea of fire stood as majestically as a War God.
No one who witnessed this scene would associate her with weakness or gentleness.
The Legion Leader extended her arm slightly and made an inviting gesture.