What kind of "technique" is the Wishing Art, exactly?

The scene Li Qingci saw in her dream… Gu Shen found it both familiar and strange.

From that description, it should be his "Four Seasons Wilderness," but now the wilderness was empty and desolate. Where were the golden-eared flowers and rivers?

Was this… in many years to come?

"Can the Wishing Art foresee the future?" Gu Shen asked softly.

"No…"

Li Qingci said softly, "It's not that it can't, but… it's unknown. It's a technique of 'believe and it exists.' For me, it was just a misty dream. I believed we would meet, and now, we have."

Gu Shen was silent.

"Mr. Gu… I can tell that this dream is not unfamiliar to you." Li Qingci smiled, sensing something from Gu Shen's expression, but she didn't press further, stopping there.

She was always a person of great discretion.

"Alright… this is the summit of Shenci Mountain."

Li Qingci came before the ancient house and raised the lantern.

Countless dark black flowers rustled under the light of the flame.

The scene was somewhat chilling.

A tranquil and silent world at the summit.

Actually, if one didn't know that these black flowers carried the power of "decay" and "extinction," standing on the summit and looking into the distance, the scenery would have a kind of serene beauty.

"A house can actually be built here…"

Gu Shen frowned. He crouched down, observing the wooden foundations supporting the ancient house.

He didn't know what material it was, but it was unharmed under the wrapping of the "black flowers," only appearing slightly decayed. Perhaps it had experienced decades of time?

"This is the 'residence' of the first guardian of the Li Clan."

Li Qingci paused and said, "It is also known as… the Divine Shrine."

This was the origin of the name Shenci Mountain!

Gu Shen's expression immediately became serious.

In that case, this residence had been built for six hundred years. Time seemed to have solidified here. The "slight decay" of these wooden materials seemed insignificant in comparison to six hundred years.

"Huh…"

Because the Shenci Mountain boundary shielded all mental connections.

So Gu Shen couldn't connect to the Deep Sea Zone.

He crouched down, and a line of light shone from the fire between his eyebrows. He slowly came near the residence. The black flowers parted a path, and he saw that the foundation beams of the house were covered with talismans, on which were written obscure "ancient texts"!

Ancient texts!

"Miss Qingci… what are these ancient texts?"

Gu Shen tried hard to remember the words on these talismans, preparing to connect to Chu Ling for inquiry after leaving Shenci Mountain.

If he remembered correctly.

The Red Gate in Lu Nanzhi's mind was also covered with similar ancient texts.

The purpose of the Ancient Text Society was to study these symbols.

"I'm not sure either." Li Qingci shook her head. "These talismans are things left behind by the ancestors. Apart from him, I'm afraid no one else can interpret them."

She said in a low voice, "All the guardians of the past know that the Divine Shrine cannot be destroyed. Because of these talismans, even the 'black flowers' cannot erode the ancient house. This is the final resting place of the Li Clan's guardians, a place of purity, and the Wishing Art to incubate the Divine Embryo must also be performed in this place."

Gu Shen's heart stirred.

Although the Wishing Art had various conditions, it was still powerful beyond his understanding. But listening to Li Qingci's words… even the location of activation was particular?

"Only wishing within the 'Divine Shrine' can be effective?" Gu Shen asked, puzzled.

"If it is a grand wish… it must be made within the 'Divine Shrine.'" Li Qingci said, "If it is just some small, fragmented wishes, then it can be performed without being in the Divine Shrine."

"Can I go in and take a look?"

Gu Shen asked carefully.

"Yes… please come with me."

Li Qingci slowly stepped on the wooden steps and pushed open the door of the Divine Shrine for Gu Shen. This ancient house had indeed experienced a very long time… the wooden door creaked, sounding a little eerie.

The house was even darker inside.

After entering the door, Li Qingci gently raised her hand, and the wisp of fire in the core of the lantern divided into four, sweeping towards the four directions of the southeast, northwest. In an instant, the house became bright.

Inside the Divine Shrine, in the four corners, there were four bronze lamps.

The image of the bronze lamps was four miniature ancient people, with their hands folded in their sleeves, bowing to the ground, holding a fire core. At this moment, the faint candlelight shone on their swaying sleeves, as if they had come to life.

The four ancient people were all faceless.

"They are sealed objects…"

Gu Shen stared at the bronze lamps for a long time. "Very strong sealed objects."

Gu Shen could feel the Chihuo's rejection of the lampstands. Approaching them would cause an uncontrollable thought of "going further away" to arise in his heart.

Obviously… the Divine Shrine could resist the erosion of black spots, which was also related to these bronze lamps!

The four bronze lamps each suppressed a direction, forming an invisible domain.

Connecting a small mystic realm within a grand mystic realm.

This ancient house was actually a world of its own, with its own "rules," so it could resist the "collapse of order" outside!

However, this sealed object didn't seem to be complete.

Gu Shen intuitively felt… these four bronze lamps should have their true faces. When they found their faces, this set of sealed objects would be completely restored to perfection!

"The only way to use these bronze lamps is to light them?" Gu Shen frowned.

"These are boundary objects and cannot be moved." Li Qingci shook her head. "The black flowers are wrapped around the ancient house. Once the 'Copper Man Lamps' are moved, the 'balance' in the house may be broken."

She looked at Gu Shen and asked with a smile, "Have you seen anything unusual?"

"These people… have lost their faces."

Gu Shen pointed to the bronze lamps and said seriously, "Copper Man Lamps… were they like this when they were brought back?"

"I'm not sure about that." Li Qingci also stared at the bronze lamps for a while, feeling a little dizzy. She withdrew her gaze and said softly, "If one day, the 'black flowers' in the house can be cleaned up, then perhaps these bronze lamps can be brought to the outside world."

At that time, this mystery might be solved.

"By the way."

Li Qingci came to the center of the ancient house.

She slowly sat down cross-legged and raised her head and said seriously, "I usually 'make wishes' here… I don't know why, but using the Wishing Art in the center of the four directions does have a 'multiplier effect'. I always feel like I'm blessed by luck."

Was it the effect of the Copper Man Lamps?

Gu Shen saw that Li Qingci was sitting in the position where the four Copper Men were kowtowing.

Because of the talisman ancient texts and the Copper Man boundary, the disordered source materials outside the ancient house could not enter this house. And even if Gu Shen released the Chihuo and tried to sense it, he couldn't feel anything unusual in the central area…

Perhaps it was really the ethereal "luck" at play.

Or perhaps.

The Li Clan's ancestor was omnipotent.

"If there really is a 'Divine Embryo', where should it be incubated?"

Gu Shen suddenly thought of a question.

The grand wish that the Li Clan had been wishing for six hundred years, taking so much effort to incubate, what would the "Divine Embryo" look like?

Li Qingci shook her head, unable to answer this question.

Divine Embryo…

Did such a thing really exist?

"Perhaps it will fall from the sky, or perhaps it will grow out of the flowerbed." She sighed softly and said, "The mountaintop is only so big. If that day really comes… where else could the Divine Embryo come from?"

"If there really is a Divine Embryo, it can't possibly burst out of a stone."

Gu Shen rubbed his eyebrows, a little helpless, and said, "Besides, I just looked, and there aren't any such stones on the top of Shenci Mountain…"

Li Qingci couldn't help but smile.

"People cannot be created out of thin air."

She stood up, pushed open the door of the ancient house, looked at the dark clouds in the distance, and said softly, "No matter how powerful the Wishing Art is, Mr. Gu, you were born eighteen years ago… cause and effect, how could a 'Divine Embryo' be conjured out of thin air in this world?"

"It was in this position… that Mr. Gu Changzhi stood for a night."

Li Qingci came to the flowerbed.

This was the most open area on the top of Shenci Mountain, with a clear view of the entire "mountain realm." Wisps of dark clouds lingered in the distance, making the entire Shenci Mountain dark and gloomy, like the underworld.

"He picked a black flower."

Li Qingci squatted down and said with a smile, "Then I used the 'Wishing Art' to prune the remaining flowers into this flowerbed. These flowers look very neat, right?"

Gu Shen nodded.

It was already an amazing thing that these disordered source materials could be guided by the "Wishing Art."

But forming a flowerbed was a bit too unbelievable.

"They are a bit unusual."

Li Qingci thought for a while and said, "When I was using the Wishing Art to guide the flowers of the entire Shenci Mountain… I felt that in this area, the place where Mr. Gu Changzhi had stood, there was something different."

"Something different?"

"I felt overflowing emotions from these black flowers…" Li Qingci lowered her voice and said, "It seems to be… fear."

Fear?

Did these black spots fear Gu Changzhi?

"Compared to other black flowers, these flowers are unusually well-behaved and obedient. They formed this flowerbed with a simple pruning using the Wishing Art." Li Qingci said with emotion, "I guess… the flower that Mr. Gu Changzhi picked was a kind of 'warning' to them?"

And they really understood.

"Mr. Gu… I hope that one day, you can become an existence like Mr. Gu Changzhi."

Li Qingci suddenly said this.

Gu Shen was caught off guard.

He was stunned for a moment, and then said sincerely, "If Mr. Gu Changzhi is a high mountain, then I… am now just a grain of sand."

"People don't recognize soaring trees until they start to rise high in the sky."

Li Qingci gestured and said seriously, "Mr. Gu Changzhi also started from a small grain of sand a long time ago."

After a slight pause.

She said something that Gu Shen didn't expect: "For the guardians of the Li Clan… Shenci Mountain is already very big, so big that you can't see the edge."

How many years, how many guards, how many sacrifices…

"For Mr. Gu Changzhi, perhaps Shenci Mountain is just a mountain."

Gu Shen took a deep breath.

Of course, he understood what Li Qingci meant…

No matter how big Shenci Mountain was, it was still just a mystic realm.

Outside Shenci Mountain, there were even higher mountains.

For the Divine Seats who controlled the "Fire Seed," what they wanted to see was not a mountain, but a more distant place.

However, the road must be taken step by step.

For Gu Shen.

The mountain in front of him was already high enough.

"From now on… I will come about once a week."

Gu Shen said seriously, "I want to start with the summit and clear these black flowers first…"

Li Qingci thought for a while: "You want to ensure the safety of the Divine Shrine first?"

"That's right."

Gu Shen nodded and said, "The Divine Shrine is the most important thing. This is the place that the Li Clan's ancestors protected with all their strength six hundred years ago. Perhaps after clearing the black flowers on the summit, we can find some of the truth from six hundred years ago on the Copper Man Lamps."

"I agree."

This was indeed the most correct approach.

Li Qingci slowly bowed and said in a deep voice, "Qingci… thanks Mr. Gu again."

……

……

Beneath Shenci Mountain.

Li Qingsui crossed her arms, sitting in the back seat of the car, closing her eyes to rest, dozing off slightly, her little head swaying back and forth, like a chick pecking at rice.

With a "bang."

The muffled sound of the car door startled her awake.

Li Qingsui rubbed her eyes and muttered, "Why did it take so long…"

This time climbing Shenci Mountain, including catching up and climbing the mountain, took two or three hours in total.

It was indeed long enough.

It should be almost dusk outside Shenci Mountain.

Uncle Gao drove silently.

"Is it bad that it took a long time… we're paid to do things, the longer we work, the more effort we put in!"

Gu Shen coughed and said with a serious face, "Actually, I climbed to the top of the mountain and took a look at your family's ancestral residence."

"You went to the Divine Shrine?"

Li Qingsui immediately became nervous: "How could my sister take you to such a place?"

"How rare."

Gu Shen curled his lips and said, "The house is bare, I wouldn't want to go in again."

Li Qingsui was unhappy when she heard this.

"Bah! You're the one with the bare house!"

"Do you know how precious the Copper Man Lamps are? Can you afford to pay if you break them?!"

She pounced over ferociously, baring her teeth and claws, but Gu Shen turned his head and held her forehead with two fingers.

"Is this what the future head of the Li Clan is like?"

Gu Shen had a headache and said, "Look at your sister, and then look at you!"

This sentence was very familiar.

Li Qingsui had heard it countless times since she was a child.

Later, after her sister went to Shenci Mountain, she never heard it again… and after that day, she stood in the light and became the future heir of the Li Clan.

From then on.

She began to learn to restrain her true self and play the role of a qualified Li Clan head.

So when she first saw Gu Shen in Snow Forbidden City, in front of Gong Zi and Mu Nan, she showed a very "polite" and "elegant" demeanor…

Because Uncle Gao accompanied her.

Gong Zi and Mu Nan were respectful to her, after all, the girl in front of them was the young master of the Li Clan.

In fact, she was just a sixteen-year-old girl.

"This is what I am like! You don't like it?!"

Li Qingsui was still baring her teeth and claws, "Be careful I use the Wishing Art to curse your next…"

Gu Shen said lightly, "I have a way to free the Copper Man Lamps from the Divine Shrine."

Uncle Gao: "???"

Li Qingsui: "I wish you a life of abundance, smooth sailing, great wealth, and a meteoric rise to success in your next life!"