Chapter 880: Chapter 76: Calamity Encounter (Part 3)
Gu Shen sheathed his blade and stood still.
He let out a long exhale of turbid air and gazed toward the far mountain wall.
Only two people left.
The blonde man stood before his “self”… the black snow as dense as tidal waves, nearly engulfing him, but he seemed indifferent, calmly watching everything unfold, unconcerned for his “companions.”
It was evident he was just like the counterfeit version of himself. A “high-level existence” in this Mirror Dream.
“I am really… quite curious.”
The black snow fluttered, this deadly silent ominous matter covering the earth.
The corpses lying on the mountain path, covered in black snow, appeared even more eerie.
But Gu Shen felt no oppression.
He rested both hands on his blade, with no intent to act immediately, simply looking at the two “living people” before him, and sighed earnestly, “Since this is the Broken Chain Zone, a disaster Dream, what I say now shouldn’t be heard by anyone outside… If you two can speak, how about chatting with me before you die? I’d like to know where this Black Mountain came from. Could it also be something planted by some unscrupulous fella twenty years ago?”
Naturally referring to the Netherworld King.
Planting a mountain over the Black River, it had the spirit of “This mountain was raised by me, this road was paved by me, if you pass by, leave some money.” This truly seemed like the work of the Netherworld King.
The most suspicious to Gu Shen was the black snow blanketing him, instilling inexplicable joy.
Others grew wearier with the fight.
But he was the opposite.
This Black Mountain harmonized with his destiny, granting him vigor as the battle raged on.
Waiting silently for ten seconds, Gu Shen was unsurprised by their silence.
“Alright then, I didn’t expect you to answer my questions.”
Gu Shen smiled and looked toward Zhong Yuan, “Any last words before you go?”
The blonde man raised his hand, clenching it into a fist.
A faint phoenix cry echoed amidst the black snow as a ghostly flame ignited where his ring was, vaguely coalescing into a phoenix…
Gu Shen squinted his eyes.
This was a scene he had never witnessed…
According to his previous hypothesis, the Mirror Dream on this Black Mountain was mimicking scenes witnessed by “it.”
All battle scenes had traces to follow.
Thus, the form-taking of the Phoenix Ring’s flame evidently happened elsewhere…
Zhong Yuan had also entered the Mirror Dream.
“Though no last words, thank you for the information.”
He raised his iron blade.
The Phoenix Fire surged toward him—
The fiery light spreading sky-wide, grand beyond measure, the black snow on the Black Mountain trembled thunderously, shattering the snow tide. A massive fire phoenix trampled the heavens, its grand form burning the black snow… Gu Shen’s figure was engulfed in the fire tide, yet he did not retreat at all. At this final moment, he donned the Ghost Veil, squeezing out a bit more of the “Blazing Flame.”
This was a “battle without soldiers.”
From beginning to end, the Blazing Flame he used for attack was but a small wisp.
Even now, it was no exception.
Utilizing the Blazing Flame extracted by the Ghost Veil, Gu Shen merely held up an Immaculate Barrier before himself. Both being “flames,” the Mirror Dream’s duplicated “imperfect Phoenix Fire” could not contend against the “Blazing Flame” on Gu Shen’s brow, so this seemingly grand attack could be neutralized with just a wisp of Blazing Flame… When there is a substantial gap in quality between Transcendents, quantity alone cannot compensate.
The fire tide roiled.
Gu Shen’s iron blade from his palm flew against the tide, splitting into two, then four, swiftly forming slender blades imbued with Blazing Flame, piercing through the blonde man—
He raised his palm again, the sound of countless layers of profound iron clashing emanating from beneath it, and the iron peaks that had split reassembled into a long blade, plunging into the snow, the blazing Phoenix Fire quickly extinguished.
Half the night sky was burnt red, large masses of fiery clouds blazing in the dark sky, resembling opened scarlet eyes, looking quite sinister…
Gu Shen slowly approached the counterfeit self.
“Mental links, spiritual sense, tactical command…”
He spoke slowly, “Let me think, what else can you do now?”
All was Silent Annihilation, the snowy mountain returned to true silence.
The “duplicates” in the Mirror Dream had been thoroughly slain by Gu Shen, leaving only one “self.”
Gu Shen, wearing the Ghost Veil, stepped forward, compressing the space of the counterfeit Gu Shen, finally cornering him to a dead end by the rock wall, coldly watching his own pale counterpart.
The counterfeit had nowhere to retreat, simply closing his eyes, surrendering to Gu Shen’s will… Gu Shen knew this fellow could at any moment draw a similar “predatory mask” from his chest to wear on his face, but unfortunately, the abilities of the Ghost Veil, like the earlier iron shard, were artifacts “the Mirror Dream” could not discern on the surface.
His spiritual power, aligned with the Battle Golden Hoop, formed a subtle balance.
Perhaps it was an arrangement Bai Shu had set far away in Changye, or perhaps this balance needed just a bit of external force to break… Once he donned this mask, just a little more or less Blazing Flame would be squeezed out.
The Mirror Dream saw that once he put on the Ghost Veil, his spiritual power became even stronger.