Light Fortress Chapter 1887 - 465: Tens of Millions and One Person (End of This Volume)

["Hey..."]

["Wake up."]

A familiar voice sounded in his mind after an unknown period of silence.

Accompanied by a faint stab of pain.

Gu Shen recalled the memory from seconds ago. At the moment when the Lion Awakening code was released, he tightly clenched the "Dead Sea Authority Stone" in his palm, channeling all the blazing fire into it.

The entire Spiritual Sea Water in the Dead Sea Zone boiled over instantly.

Then, he plunged into extreme darkness.

In the real world, closing your eyes means sleep.

In the Spiritual World, does closing your eyes also count as sleep?

Gu Shen opened his eyes.

There was no light in the world before him, only pitch-black darkness.

But he knew this was not the Dead Sea Zone.

Nor was it the array box.

It was...

his own Spiritual World.

With a soft "swish," a brilliant and radiant flame ignited at the center of his forehead, illuminating the entire dark world.

This was the first time Gu Shen saw his inner self so meticulously and clearly.

It was so dark here.

Even with the blazing fire shining, vast patches of persistent and unyielding shadows still shrouded the area.

And most importantly...

Sitting before him was a jet-black figure, dark as ink, that sat not far away, staring at him motionlessly.

Could the voice from earlier have come from this figure?

Gu Shen was momentarily stunned.

The voice was very familiar, and he quickly understood why. Many years ago, when he held the [Truth Ruler] and retaliated against those two Transcendents on the burning rooftop, this voice appeared in his mind. Later, whenever he used the [Truth] to the point of exhaustion, similar voices would arise in his mind.

The Judgement Institute explained that this phenomenon was a hallucination caused by mental instability.

At first, Gu Shen believed this explanation.

Later, he preferred to think it was the enticing voice of the Devil residing within [Truth].

Now he knew.

It was none of those things.

["It’s me."]

The ink-black figure lifted its head, looking directly at Gu Shen, its voice coming from all directions, like waves or cicada chirps, impossible to pinpoint the exact source.

But Gu Shen knew.

The speaker was himself.

Gu Shen frowned and asked slowly, "Who are you?"

The Mo Ren, shrouded in darkness, seemed to smirk.

["Can’t you see?"]

The Mo Ren replied softly: ["I... am you."]

The forms in the Spiritual World are not valuable references, but this Mo Ren indeed looked exactly like him.

["There is light and darkness in this world."]

["Everywhere, it’s like this... A human heart is no exception."]

The Mo Ren stretched out his palm, pressing it against his own chest, in this world of ultimate silence and darkness, his heartbeats were audible... Gu Shen instinctively mirrored the action, pressing his own hand against his chest.

Thump.

Thump.

The two synchronized heartbeats slowly echoed in the void woven with light and shadow.

"I think I understand what you are now."

Gu Shen lowered his gaze slightly.

He recalled Mr. Gu’s words to him on the snowy mountain, that the stronger a Transcendent becomes, the more likely they are to be enveloped by calamity and misfortune. Fate fixes upon each mortal in the mundane world, even if one refines the fire seed and achieves the Divine Throne, escape from fate’s judgement is impossible...

Not to mention, the fire seed he was now refining contained countless calamities, known as the Netherworld King’s fire.

The great ill-omened fire seed.

The Mo Ren before him was the "negative emotion" within his Spiritual World.

Or rather, the ill-omened version of himself.

Once his spirit becomes unstable, negative emotions will invade the Spirit Sea...

The previous Netherworld King’s "loss of control" was due to being unable to overcome negative emotions, resulting in being consumed by calamity and misfortune.

For the Divine Throne, what is the greatest enemy?

Is it the Old World’s Source Material Storm?

Is it the Divine Throne of the Outer Continent?

None of these.

For the Divine Throne, the greatest enemy is always oneself, even someone as powerful as Gu Changzhi must confront the "Heart Demon" deep within his inner self.

The ink-black shadow before him was his Heart Demon.

"You’re here to kill me."

Gu Shen smiled slightly and asked, "Am I right?"

The Heart Demon shook its head.

["Since I am you, why would I kill you? Killing you... would be the same as killing myself."]

Gu Shen quietly observed the black shadow.

Indeed, he did not sense any killing intent from the opposite side... only a surge of murderous intent rising within himself.

He doesn’t want to kill himself.

But he wants to kill him!

["By the same logic, you can’t kill me either."]

The Heart Demon smiled while looking at Gu Shen.

He is Gu Shen, and Gu Shen is him.

Since the two are one, the voices in this Spiritual World can naturally not be traced to their source...

Because this voice always comes from within Gu Shen’s heart.

This conversation, from beginning to end, has been his own "monologue."

"So, what are you trying to say?"

Gu Shen looked at the black shadow before him expressionlessly.

The Heart Demon retained its posture of a monk deep in meditation, earnestly observing Gu Shen. On the side where darkness and light meet, the gathered luminance forms a giant mirror, reflecting identical twin figures, except one is shrouded in blazing light, and the other is soaked in the depths of darkness.

The Heart Demon gazed intently at Gu Shen and gently asked.

["For those people, you released the Lion Awakening code... that’s not something a Netherworld King would do. I want to ask you, is it worth it?"]