Chapter 792: Chapter 792
Among two points, the straight line is the shortest.
However, the route from Gu Castle to the "Labyrinth" was winding and tortuous—not because the Investigation Corps didn’t want to take a straight path, but because the exploration of roads in the Old World was extremely tedious and complex!
A straight line, is it so easy to traverse?
If magnified tens or even hundreds of times, one would discover dense red crosses marked all over the "foggy area" on the electronic map, indicating places where predecessors had encountered danger!
Choosing to take a straight line... seemed to be the only theoretical option to return to Gu Castle. If the combustion efficiency of the Source Armor was maximized, even including stored energy, it still wouldn’t be enough to support the energy consumption of the original route back.
It was definitely not a good choice.
But now... was there another option?
Yuan Yuan remained silent for a second before speaking again, "What about these things?"
He extended two fingers and lightly pinched.
A piece of stone chipping, held in mid-air, was directly pinched to burst. Such small things were not lethal, but their numerous and complicated nature meant that as they all headed southward, the Source Armor was very likely to be perforated by the debris!
"My spiritual detection range is wide, capable of covering every single ’object’ within a thousand meters radius."
Gu Shen looked around and said, "If I remember correctly, the Source Eyes can set up a spiritual link for twelve people. Through this Spiritual Link, I can transmit the imagery captured by Chi Huo to everyone’s Spirit Sea."
This was a not-so-bad resolution.
Yuan Yuan could deploy his own domain. However, given his current strength, it was still a bit forced to cover all team members. If he had powerful spiritual ability assistance... then he’d only need to slice through the debris, which would greatly reduce the difficulty!
Upon hearing this, without further hesitation, Yuan Yuan immediately issued an order.
"All team members, increase the burning efficiency of Source Armor to 150%!"
This command echoed within the command channel, and every team member’s face showed expressions of astonishment and shock as they looked towards their leader.
Even the usually calm Su He couldn’t help but speak up at this moment.
This burning efficiency.
It wasn’t capable of supporting the return voyage, right?
And... these debris, they would become extremely dangerous!
"Li Chen, activate the Spiritual Link of the Source Eyes, I want the Spirit Seas of twelve people to be coordinated as one... Next, we will receive the imagery sent back by Gu Shen’s ’Chi Huo’!"
The elite team reacted quickly.
No one questioned the leader’s order and adjusted the burning efficiency immediately.
The Source Armor emitted a deep roar, its core embedded in the chest area burst into a crimson, blood-like glow!
Twelve figures broke the sound barrier at that moment!
Seconds later, under the connection of Li Chen’s Source Eyes, all the Spiritual Links were adjusted, and Yuan Yuan unfolded his domain, covering only half of the team’s Transcendents.
The team members at the back, such as Su He, Mo Hongyi, Jiang Yu, and others, silently deployed their Domain Embryos.
Third-Order Transcendents, though they hadn’t coalesced a usable "Extraordinary Domain".
Yet with the power of Embryos, they were still enough to protect themselves.
Under the linkage of the Source Eyes, amidst the drifting snow, Chi Huo sent back stable mental messages, and every Transcendent received their own Spiritual Sense!
Even speeding to the point of breaking the sound barrier, with the elite team’s strength and foreknowledge of the debris’ trajectories, they could still easily clear the obstructions!
Only when the team entered a relatively "smooth" state did Yuan Yuan provide an explanation.
"This storm, it’s bigger than we imagined... The original route can’t be used for returning, we need to change our course."
Li Chen was astonished, "Change the course?"
Only then did he realize.
The path the leader was taking had already differed from their way here...
This seemed to be a direct route heading south, aiming straight for Gu Castle?
Only a madman could come up with such a route!
And what was more terrifying, as the return route changed, Li Chen’s Source Eyes detected an area previously beyond his sense range. His complexion instantly turned pale. On this travel path, there were at least two more wind pressure points!
"How big is this storm?"
Mo Hongyi frowned and asked the question many wanted to know: "Changing the course is a big taboo... What kind of storm necessitates us to massively avoid our planned route?"
This really wasn’t a good question.
To answer Mo Hongyi, it wasn’t Yuan Yuan, nor Gu Shen.
Instead, it was the thunderous roar from the distant sky!
Above the dim clouds of the Old World, it seemed as if a faint golden layer had been coated, as if a magnificent deity sat remotely above the clouds, overlooking the desolate and crumbling land beneath his feet. This thunderous sound was like the deity moving his arms...
Miles of clouds churned.
Golden lightning poured forth.
Massive amounts of essential source burst forth, cascading down like a waterfall, and upon touching the ground, they quickly spread out, converging into a sky-piercing tornado storm, ravaging and scouring the land, leaving collapsing mountains and shattered ridges in its wake.
This was a "wind pressure point" being brewed!
This terrifying power, is it really something humans can resist?
It’s impossible for anyone to oppose such power... As soon as one is caught in it, death is certain!
Even for a Titled Transcendent, the survival rate is close to zero.
Luckily, the storm did not sweep toward the location of the team; instead, it spread slowly and erratically, consuming the already fragmented, crimson red soil.
Mo Hongyi’s complexion suddenly became extremely pale.
He obediently closed his mouth... Now he understood what kind of storm it was.
And Li Chen’s voice made all the team members look even worse.
"As I sense it, there is not just one pressure point in this wind..."
At that moment, Gu Shen spoke up.
"To my knowledge, there are ten such pressure points in total, and there might be more. Heading directly south is the only choice."
Li Chen’s expression complicated as he looked at Brother Gu. Using all the abilities of his Source Eyes, he had only seen three; was Gu Shen’s spiritual power so much stronger than his own?
If there are indeed ten pressure points...the situation is even worse than I imagined!
With storms so densely surrounding us, no matter which route we choose, it will be hard to avoid encounters... and once we’re caught up, it’s one word, death!
The team experienced a moment of silence.
Every member was trying hard to digest this sudden news.
"I support heading south."
Su He was the first to speak up; he looked back towards the terrifying storm swirling in the distance and said calmly, "Returning the same way, death is certain. If we want to live and return to Gu Castle, we can only take a gamble."
"I agree," Mo Hongyi took a deep breath and quickly said, "These storms, it seems they’re heading towards Gu Castle... If we can’t reach the giant wall before the storm lands, then even if we were to flee to the Umbrella Defense Line, we would not get the chance to be let in."
Now it’s a race against time!
A race against death!
In the team’s command channel, exchanges kept sounding off.
The elite team, having undergone specialized training for extreme situations, started to apply protective measures against the storm and decoded the information on the map of the Old World at this critical moment...
The digital map contained a large amount of information.
Even if we choose a direct route, we still need to circumvent some extremely dangerous "regular points"!
Under the Spiritual Link of the Source Eyes, the team made a quick division of labor, with Gu Shen and Li Chen handling complex spiritual detection, while the two captains expanded their domains to escort the drive at 150% of the limit.
The remaining eight members were responsible for deriving the correct paths from the digital map and organizing the archives of this return mission, recording the special road conditions!
"Spiritual Detection" is a task that requires full concentration to maintain accuracy—it’s a highly demanding skill.
At least... it is for Li Chen.
He controlled the Source Eyes, speeding up the rotation of his pupils, and while ensuring the connection of all twelve people, he assisted with the Blazing Fire Sense of the surroundings... just in case Gu Shen’s spiritual power overlooked something, allowing something through the net.
But in fact, this was an unnecessary precaution.
For the Source Eyes, this extensive scanning was quite strenuous, but for Gu Shen, it was a piece of cake.
While he manipulated the dispersed, roaming "Blazing Fire," he also used his spiritual power in his Spirit Sea to touch and sense the tiny soul fire plucked from the forehead of the golden spike flowers.
Handling these two tasks simultaneously did not affect the accuracy of the Fire’s sense.
This was the first time Gu Shen tried to use the special authority of the "Netherworld King."
So far, he had only received the spiritual approval of the "fire seed"; he had not truly merged with it, nor had he actually obtained the terrifying and vast power of the Divine Throne.
The Big Snake had submitted because of the "Pure Land essence" branded into its soul.
The Master of Pure Land was its master!
The most impressive thing Gu Shen could currently showcase was the "Pure Land" he had painstakingly cultivated over a year using a large amount of source material.
By using the soul call of the Pure Land, he tried to summon the soul of the golden spike flowers for a spiritual exchange!
In the Old World, where order was shattered and even the Deep Sea couldn’t achieve long-distance Spiritual Links... An ability like the Source Eyes, no matter how much it was developed, could only establish links within a few dozen meters.
Now, Gu Shen had left the labyrinth far behind.
To establish a spiritual link over hundreds of miles, for others, it would be impossible...
But in the hands of the "Netherworld King."
Such a "Divine Miracle" could indeed be born.
Gu Shen silently meditated on the image of the golden spike flowers; seconds later, in his mind, the dark soul fire slowly bloomed, cracking open petal by petal.
At that moment, a familiar soul fluctuation rippled in his Spirit Sea.
The deep and dark voice of the golden spike flowers slowly resounded.