"Very well."

The Chief Justice was taken aback. He did not expect Gu Shen's answer to be so straightforward.

Since entering the scene, this young man had been extremely stable... completely different from the description in the file. He had thought that Gu Shen was a shy and weak boy, but in fact, it was the complete opposite. Underneath his youthful appearance, there hid a strong and courageous heart, with meticulous thinking and a calm demeanor.

"Then... let's continue."

Tang Qingquan slowly extended his palm and pushed the Ghost Cage towards Gu Shen, making a gesture of invitation.

He did not intend to make things difficult for Gu Shen.

In the past decade in the Yinghai District, he had single-handedly dealt with countless difficult cases and encountered numerous uncontrollable individuals in the Transcendent Court. Among them were extremely wicked criminals who claimed their innocence and perfect victims who disguised themselves flawlessly... Over the years, sometimes when he looked at himself in the mirror, he felt like a stranger.

It was as if he no longer possessed emotions such as "mercy" or "sympathy". As a Chief Justice, he had to maintain the utmost calmness and rationality in the courtroom, while everyone else could be emotional. Since the moment he received Gu Shen's file, he vaguely sensed that something was not right... It was a perplexing question that he couldn't find an answer to no matter how much he thought about it. It was intuition, an instinctual feedback telling him that this young man was definitely not as simple as described in the file.

This assessment was not only about Gu Shen's potential.

That was why he insisted on having Gu Shen complete the test for the third seal.

He wanted to use his Ghost Cage to see the dark side deep within this young man's heart, to see what it was like.

The trait of the Ghost Cage was very simple.

The dreamer would see their darkest emotions inside this lantern. The greater the evil thoughts, the more ghosts would appear inside the lantern, and the stronger their power would be... At the moment of awakening, the dreamer would be overwhelmed by the ghosts in the cage, and the only thing they could do was to use their willpower to fight against their own "evil thoughts".

In other words... slay the ghosts!

Although this trait sounded simple, it was actually extremely intense.

The ghosts formed by evil thoughts inside this lantern were not something ordinary people could resist.

Those who could slay their own evil thoughts in the "Ghost Cage" were people with great determination, true Transcendents.

...

...

Underneath the oil-paper skin of the lantern, a faint flame burned, as if there was a living person inside, breathing slowly.

From the first glance, the pressure this lantern gave him was much stronger than the other two seals!

He reached out and grabbed the slender handle connected to the top of the lantern.

With a "chirp" sound.

At the moment of contact with the lantern, the flame inside seemed to burst out of the oil-paper skin, almost filling Gu Shen's field of vision.

This time's dream was more terrifying than the previous two.

And Gu Shen's awakening was faster than the previous two as well.

The flames that surged out of the cage seemed like an illusion or a magic performance. After the fireworks dissipated, Gu Shen found himself standing in an endless darkness, feeling the ebb and flow of the tide beneath his feet.

He held the lantern, the only source of light in this world.

And the flame inside the lantern was gradually extinguishing... The tide beneath his feet surged back and forth, showing a rising trend.

After unraveling the Green Die and the Sands of Time, Gu Shen's spirit was already quite exhausted.

He looked at the pitch-black world and a strong sense of crisis surged in his heart...

He subconsciously shouted, "Chu Ling—"

Before Gu Shen could finish speaking, Chu Ling appeared before him.

Countless black codes spread like wings, as if they were born in this dream and showed no signs of disorder or inconsistency because the world was dark.

Chu Ling floated in the air, her hands lightly resting on Gu Shen's shoulders as she responded to his call, "I'm here."

The flame in the lantern flickered intensely.

Gu Shen's expression became solemn as he lowered his head and looked at his chest, murmuring, "I feel... something in my chest being pulled out. Is it just an illusion?"

...

Chu Ling did not directly answer. She spoke softly, "After unraveling two dreams, do you still have the strength now?"

Gu Shen shook his head, not trying to act strong, "I'm afraid it's difficult for me alone. I have a premonition that this dream is more dangerous than the previous two."

"The Ghost Cage... once an S-class seal, is now severely damaged."

Chu Ling's voice was unusually serious, "But even so, it is still more dangerous than the previous two dreams combined with the Green Die and the Sands of Time!"

An S-class seal?

Gu Shen's expression tensed... According to the level of danger, the tall woman he encountered on the light rail was only an A-class.

A seal that could reach an S-class level of danger?

Between their conversation, the flame in the lantern had almost completely extinguished.The tide beneath his feet was rising higher and higher. Gu Shen felt himself being swallowed by the boundless darkness, his calves were icy cold as the tide had already submerged them and was still rising... At the same time, the feeling of being torn away from within his chest was getting stronger and stronger. It was as if a hand was clutching his heart, with each wave of the tide, it exerted force, trying to pull his soul out of his body!

"When the lantern goes out, the evil spirits pour out."

The girl's voice echoed in the darkness, "The stronger a person's evil thoughts, the stronger the ghost in the cage..."

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Gu Shen took a deep breath, adjusting his state, while also using this to counter the force pulling at his soul in the darkness.

He asked himself, he didn't steal or rob, at most he was just a little cunning.

The ghost in the cage shouldn't be too powerful, right?

"Gu Shen, haven't you always been curious about what your Transcendent ability is?" Chu Ling slowly spoke, "Soon, you will see."

What followed was...

The last sound in the silent world was:

"Hisss..."

The wick of the lantern weakly extinguished.

The entire world plunged into darkness, and at the same time, the extremely dark world lit up in another way.

In front of Gu Shen, a giant...

Vertical pupil slowly opened.

This vertical pupil was like a crimson sun, burning an endless sea of blood-red fire. The moment it opened, a strong shockwave spread out, instantly causing the lantern in Gu Shen's hand to burn to ashes.

The bright light shone.

Gu Shen finally saw clearly what the evil spirit in front of him looked like...

One vertical pupil after another lit up in the distance.

The endless tide was actually flowing out of a wide-open giant mouth. Gu Shen stood in front of the giant mouth, the entire world seemed to be swallowed by the evil spirit... At this moment, from within the giant mouth, soul bodies the size of babies were rushing out like locusts.

The dream world began to shake violently, teetering on the brink of collapse.

Gu Shen's face was pale.

Was this his... evil thoughts?

This was simply, a human hell.

...

...

The review team fell into absolute silence.

Including the Chief Justice.

Everyone was staring at the young man holding the lantern in the dream with a ghost-seeing gaze.

In the real world, the "Cage of Ghosts", the flame in its core was burning extremely vigorously, even making a boiling water-like wailing sound. The flames splashed out in waves, casting on the oil-paper skin... reflecting one vertical pupil after another.

The vertical pupils were as red as blood.

Each one was shocking.

And they kept appearing, appearing, and appearing again, finally stacking up... densely packed.

Countless evil spirits had painted a thick layer on the outside of the lantern.

The Cage of Ghosts could reflect the true nature of the evil spirits in the dream on its skin.

And this phenomenon... was the first time.

How strong were these evil thoughts?

Boundless! Almost swallowing the entire dream world!