Chapter 1 Gu Shi Zong Tang

Changye, Gu Clan Ancestral Hall.

The afterglow of the long night faded, and the dawn swept in with a warm breeze.

The warm wind traveled through the streets and alleys, swirling fallen leaves, like fireflies, making it difficult to trace their path.

"Old Zhou, today is a good day."

Du Wei pushed the wheelchair, a faint smile on his face.

The soft morning light fell on him, accompanied by the breeze, making him feel refreshed and warm all over.

"Yes..."

Zhou Wei returned to Changye to recuperate after retiring from the Northern Continent battlefield.

The Safety Committee has now been handed over to Du Wei to manage. The "successor" he chose is excellent. Since the advent of the extraordinary era, the difficulty of the Safety Committee's regulatory tasks has increased dozens of times, but Du Wei has united the three institutes and managed the entire Jiangbei area in an orderly manner.

Zhou Wei had to admit that he was getting old. Now, the tide of the extraordinary era is washing over everything, and the speed of institutional change is too fast.

He knew that even if he returned to his thirties, he couldn't do what Du Wei was doing.

Old Master Zhou Wei had a faint smile on his face.

Today is indeed a good day.

Warm wind and sunshine.

Most importantly... that old fellow who had been reluctant to leave the Northern Continent battlefield and stubbornly refused to come home has finally returned.

In fact, Zhou Wei had wanted to see Gu Qilin for a long time.

However, he had broken several bones on the Northern Continent battlefield and needed to rest quietly for a hundred days to recover. Du Wei was watching his every move. Even getting out of bed required special assistance, let alone sneaking out.

He had finally recovered from his injuries in the past few days, and accompanied by Du Wei himself, he went to the Gu Clan Ancestral Hall to visit his old friend.

The Gu Clan Ancestral Hall used to be lively, but now it is different.

Now, the young geniuses and mainstays of the Gu Clan have almost all gone to the two major battlefields.

As for the "Night Watchers" famous throughout the five continents, more than 90% are participating in the Battle of Gu Fort on the Northern Continent battlefield...

So the alley leading to the ancestral hall became a little deserted.

After Old Master Gu returned from the Northern Continent, the ancestral hall became even more deserted.

Because the old master likes to be alone, Gu Nanfeng ordered the Night Watchers to wait at the entrance of the ancestral hall. Without important matters, no idlers were allowed to enter the ancestral hall to disturb the old master's rest.

"Morning."

Old Zhou greeted the two Night Watchers at the door with a smile.

Of course, he was not an "idler."

The Night Watchers all knew that Old Master Gu didn't like to see anyone, but this old friend was someone he missed and wanted to see every time.

"Old Zhou!"

"Old Zhou, Mr. Du Wei!"

The two Night Watchers bowed and saluted.

Du Wei was pushing the wheelchair forward with a smile, but when he inadvertently glanced at the banyan tree at the door, he frowned and said, "I remember that this banyan tree was still lush a while ago. How did it start to wither after only a few days?"

This sentence attracted Zhou Wei's attention, and also aroused the curiosity of the two Night Watchers.

"It is indeed a bit strange..."

One of the Night Watchers murmured in a low voice, "It seems to have happened in the past few days."

They remembered that when they escorted the old master back to the ancestral hall a few days ago, the banyan tree was not like this.

Another Night Watcher had joined the Gu Clan for many years.

He said absentmindedly, "I remember that a similar scene seemed to have happened many years ago..."

Overnight, the banyan tree in the Gu Clan Ancestral Hall shed its leaves, scattering them all over the ground.

The Gu Clan has always had the saying that "banyan trees ward off evil." That time, when the banyan tree shed all its leaves, everyone believed that the banyan tree had blocked a disaster for the Gu Clan.

Zhou Wei's eyes suddenly turned gloomy.

"Go. Take me to see Gu Qilin."

He slapped the back of the chair hard, his voice extremely agitated.

The seal enchantment in the Gu Clan Ancestral Hall is very powerful, and it prohibits mental power from spreading around.

As soon as he said this.

The Night Watchers and Du Wei all realized that something was wrong, and everyone hurried to the artificial lake where Gu Qilin often fished.

……

……

The long night burned out, and the sunlight was soft.

The warm wind blew, and the surface of the artificial lake rippled with light.

The old man curled up in the chair, still holding a long fishing rod.

The waves were sparkling, and the fishing line was swaying, but no one was pulling the line.

The old fellow closed his eyes and fell asleep peacefully. His white hair, thin clothes, and comfortable wooden chair all swayed with the warm wind.

"Creak."

"Creak."

The warm wind made people feel cold.

Du Wei stood there in a daze, and the faces of the two Night Watchers were pale to the extreme.

Gu Qilin's spiritual aura had dissipated...

The warm wind carrying the temperature of the sunlight blew across his face, but it could not wake this cold body.

He eventually drowned in the dim starlight of the night, without seeing the brilliance of the dawn.

Gu Qilin... is dead?

Du Wei's mind was spinning. He wanted to speak, but he couldn't say a word.

He subconsciously looked down at Old Master Zhou Wei, but the old man in the wheelchair was as still as a statue. At this moment, he was pushing the wheelchair forward slowly by himself.

Du Wei could only see a desolate and lonely figure...

He reached out to stop the two Night Watchers who were about to go forward to check, and looked at each other. Du Wei shook his head, his eyes full of sadness and determination.

The three silently took a few steps back, leaving the pier of the artificial lake.

The old fellow looked at the old fellow, and the artificial lake was eerily quiet.

No one knew what Zhou Wei was thinking.

……

……

Gu Nanfeng was awakened by the sunlight. At this moment, he was sitting on the tower of the Tundra Prison, and Mr. Xue was silently guarding him.

He hadn't "slept" in a long time.

Just last night, he had a very cold dream, feeling as if he had fallen into an ice cellar.

After opening his eyes.

The first thing Gu Nanfeng did was to look at the "Sky Sheath Core Area." Last night, he escorted Bai Xiu and Zhong Gui into the [Snow Cage], and then waited quietly on the tower. The Sky Sheath Core Area was covered by endless fog, and no one knew what was happening... The fog lasted all night and had not yet dissipated.

"What happened last night?"

Gu Nanfeng tightened the Mist Cloak given to him by Mr. Xiu Gu, his face full of fatigue.

"Master, last night there was a very strong wind, a lot of thunder, and a lot of rain."

Mr. Xue said softly, "Other than that, nothing unusual."

"Is that so?"

Hearing Mr. Xue's answer, Gu Nanfeng felt a little relieved. He was worried that he had missed something... thinking that he was probably too tired.

The tundra is very cold, which is probably why he had a nightmare last night.

"Are Bai Xiu and Zhong Gui still in the 'core area'?"

Gu Nanfeng stood up, feeling sore all over, a feeling he hadn't felt in a long time.

More importantly...

The cold feeling left over from that nightmare hadn't dissipated yet.

He felt that his mind was surrounded by bone-chilling coldness, which he couldn't get rid of even by circulating his breathing technique.

"Yes." Mr. Xue's voice was interrupted by the sharp ringing of the communicator.

"Wait a moment..."

Gu Nanfeng gave an apologetic look and connected to the communicator.

The communicator only conveyed simple words.

Gu Nanfeng's figure suddenly turned into a statue.

The man standing on the tower silently looked at the fog in the core area.

Mr. Xue felt "unease" in this silence.

For more than ten years, since Gu Nanfeng took over as the young master, he had never lost his composure.

"Crack..."

And after the communication just ended.

The communicator in Gu Nanfeng's hand was clenched until it cracked, and the next moment it exploded directly.

"Bang!"

Gu Nanfeng silently lowered the hand that was tightly clenching the communicator.

The cold wind blew on the tower.

Electronic components were scattered all over the ground.

"I... I'm going back to Changye."

Gu Nanfeng's voice was very hoarse. He only felt that the real world at this moment was much colder than the nightmare last night.

"You... aren't you going to wait?"

Mr. Xue was a little surprised.

Escorting Bai Xiu and Zhong Gui was a task of extremely high importance.

As the guardian of the Tundra Prison, he naturally knew Gu Nanfeng's arrangements.

If everything goes well tonight.

Then, the general offensive against the Source Tower will begin soon! At such an important moment, what happened in Changye that made the family head rush back?

Gu Nanfeng looked pale, and staggered slightly as he left the tower.

One word in Mr. Xue's words hit him.

"I... I'm not going to wait."

Gu Nanfeng shook his head, and then muttered to himself in a voice that only he could hear, "This time, I'm really not going to wait."

……

……

The Gu Clan Ancestral Hall, which had been deserted all along, hadn't seen so many people in a long time.

The sun was high in the sky, and the hot wind was blowing.

The crowd was huge, and the silence was deafening.

Although many people came, it was not "lively" at all.

Gu Nanfeng, who had taken off his Mist Cloak and put on a black mourning suit, stood silently in front of the lake. Behind him were the Night Watchers of the Gu Clan who were stationed in Changye, and beside him was Old Master Zhou Wei, whose face was full of vicissitudes.

"...My condolences."

Gu Nanfeng stood silently. He and Old Zhou were speechless for a long time, but he finally broke the silence.

"..."

Zhou Wei didn't speak, and silently shook his head.

Where should the word condolences be said to Gu Nanfeng?

This little guy has been so kind all his life.

Even when losing the most important person, he does not forget to say condolences to others.

"I should have come earlier."

Zhou Wei looked at the lake in front of him and said with endless regret and sorrow.

His voice was very slow, and he even smiled as he spoke, "We agreed to go fishing together, and watch old movies from sixty years ago together, but who would really watch movies when two big men get together? I hid a lot of embarrassing photos of him. If I had come earlier, I would have taken his photo of being half-dead by a bomb and mocked him..."

"Then he would definitely jump up in anger."

Gu Nanfeng lowered his eyes and said softly, "The Battle of South Ladder Fortress is the embarrassing thing he never wants to mention in his life."

That war almost killed Gu Qilin.

"I met him when I was fourteen years old. We were both young and full of vigor, fighting against each other, and were enemies for half our lives."

Zhou Wei sat in the wheelchair and murmured, "I never thought in the first half of my life that I would become friends with such a person in the decades to come..."

Gu Qilin was domineering, barbaric, and dictatorial in his youth!

Back then, as the leader of the Safety Committee, he couldn't stand such a troublemaker who violated rules and regulations everywhere!

That era was very turbulent. The Northern Continent's imperial power was changing, and the Eastern Continent was also involved. The Five Great Families naturally could not escape...

Of those people back then, only Gu Qilin survived and lived to this day.

Facts have proved.

Gu Qilin's way of doing things was correct. In troubled times, only people like him could survive to the end and have the last laugh.

And the person who survives to the end... will naturally become a friend.

Zhou Wei chuckled mockingly, his ten fingers deeply embedded in the flesh of his palms.

He raised his head and laughed in a hoarse voice, "I didn't expect that the death of this old fellow would make me so sad... He really deserves to die... It would be better to live a few more days? It wouldn't be too late for me to leave after I mocked him, or wait a little longer and go on the road together. Maybe we can continue to be friends down there."

Gu Nanfeng couldn't bear to continue listening.

He took a deep breath and turned to leave.

"Wait, Nanfeng!"

Zhou Wei suddenly called his name, "That day... is coming soon, right?"

Gu Nanfeng's body froze.

He looked back with a complicated expression, looking at the old man in the wheelchair.

Of course, he knew which day Zhou Wei was referring to.

Zhou Wei and Gu Qilin were sworn brothers and close friends.

Their positions, ideas, and principles were basically the same. They both looked forward to the final battle when the Three Continents Alliance launched a general offensive against the Source Tower!

Bang bang bang!

Zhou Wei smiled and turned the wheelchair, facing Gu Nanfeng, he straightened his chest, then stretched out his palm, clenched it into a fist, and hammered his chest hard. This action was extremely childish, like a young man in his early twenties showing off his strength.

"Look, my body is almost recovered! You should understand what I mean, right? Look, I can go to the battlefield again!"

Gu Nanfeng's nose tingled.

He shook his head and turned to Du Wei, who was not far away, and transmitted his voice, "Mr. Du Wei... Please take Old Zhou away and let him have a good rest."

Du Wei, who had been watching Zhou Wei, sighed at this moment.

He quickly came behind Zhou Wei, pushed the wheelchair, and was about to step away.

"Du Wei, I don't need you!"

Zhou Wei frowned and scolded. Du Wei had no choice but to step back.

Just like that, Zhou Wei pushed the wheelchair, laboriously making a big circle, and came to Gu Nanfeng again.

This time, he no longer straightened his chest, nor did he pretend to be high-spirited.

He was old.

Old is old, even the most gifted person has to admit that they are old...

"Nanfeng... In this life, people always have to live for some obsession."

Zhou Wei squeezed out a smile again.

"If I can choose my own ending, I hope I die in battle. I don't want to fall in the cold night before sunrise. That ending is too cold. Gu Qilin... that old fellow, always laughed at me for being a deserter... But now he is the deserter."

"Do you understand what I mean?"

Gu Nanfeng couldn't bear to and dared not look at Zhou Wei again.

He wanted to escape and leave this sad place.

But at this moment, news from the [Snow Cage], which he had been waiting for all night, came from his spiritual sea.

So Gu Nanfeng took a deep breath.

He made a great decision before slowly squatting down and looking at Zhou Wei.

"If you... are really ready, then please come with me."

Zhou Wei was stunned.

Gu Nanfeng's next words made the blood in his chest boil.

"Because that day has already come."