Night falls.

On the second-floor rooftop of a small alley, the air is filled with the steam from hot pot. Tripe and beef roll in the red oil.

"Cheers!"

"Clank!"

The wine glasses collide, making a crisp sound.

Gu Shen slowly finishes a whole glass of wine.

He feels like everything is like a dream... When he left the welfare institute, he had thought about what his future life would be like. No matter what he did, it would probably be lonely. So every time he passed by the small alley late at night and saw people toasting and drinking in the shops on the street corner, he never imagined himself in such a role.

Perhaps he is not that lonely after all.

It's just that no one has ever raised a glass to him.

But now, someone has.

"Three consecutive dream interpretations... These auditors are really despicable!"

After listening to the daytime audit process, Zhong Wei slams the table heavily and angrily says, "If something happens to Little Gu, can they take responsibility?"

"That's right!" Mr. Shu puffs on his cigar and leans back slightly, speaking righteously, "They have gone too far!"

"So..." Zhong Wei continues, "Teacher, can you tolerate this? They haven't left Qinghe yet, so there's still time to take action!"

"Cough cough!" Mr. Shu takes a big puff of smoke.

"Alright."

Luo Er sees through Zhong Wei's "sinister intentions" and quickly helps the teacher defuse the situation, smiling and saying, "Let's just drink and curse behind their backs. Those Dukes have done their duty, and besides... Little Gu tore up the 'Cage of Ghosts.' It's fortunate that Tang Judge hasn't come looking for trouble."

Saying this, Gu Shen scratches his head awkwardly.

"Cage of Ghosts..."

Nan Jin sips her wine gently and whispers, "I can understand the interpretation of the Green Dice and Sands of Time as... your talent is good enough. But how did you manage to kill the ghost within a minute in the Cage of Ghosts?"

The Cage of Ghosts requires time for evil thoughts to manifest.

But it only took one minute for the third dream interpretation.

Basically, it can be understood as... the evil thought had just manifested, and Gu Shen instantly killed it!

"It's related to my transcendent ability..."

Gu Shen thinks for a moment and says, "My transcendent power... seems to have been unexpectedly released in that dream."

"It cannot be controlled at will in reality, but it can be fully displayed in specific dreams." Mr. Shu lazily leans back, "The key words used by the audit team to evaluate Little Gu's ability are 'radiance' and 'tear.' This is a power that is probably not recorded in the current spectrum of transcendent abilities."

"Radiance and tear..." Nan Jin murmurs, "It fits."

The two transcendent beings in the fire accident died in this way.

"His ability still needs to be explored slowly." Senior Luo says, "But now that he has passed the audit, Gu Shen has the permission to enter the 'Deep Water Zone' and participate in the transcendent trial."

"The Deep Water Zone... transcendent trial?"

"Now that you already know about the existence of 'transcendents,' it's not difficult to guess... the Deep Sea connects the five continents, and it is not just a simple connection for all citizens." Luo Er says softly, "In addition to the virtual network that you normally use, the Deep Sea has also established a huge spiritual network, where humans with transcendent spiritual power can be deeply connected through chips and network technology."

"The 'Deep Sea' that we normally use is the network located in the 'Shallow Water Zone,' which covers the daily lives, entertainment, and leisure activities of five billion people."

"But beneath the Shallow Water Zone... the Deep Sea has vast unexplored spiritual territories. This is called the 'Deep Water Zone,' or some people call it the 'Transcendent Sea.'" Zhong Wei takes over Luo Er's words, looking serious and raising a finger, "Entering the Transcendent Sea requires powerful spiritual power, which is a place that ordinary people cannot explore."

"After the development of the Deep Sea computer, it has created many miracles. As for its own potential... the council is also studying it." Luo Er says, "Although it has no life, it seems to have acquired intelligence and autonomously established this spiritual network with the transcendent beings. Every transcendent being connected to the Deep Sea provides computing power for it through spiritual cultivation in the sea, and in return, it grants us different permissions."

"This..." Gu Shen never expected that the familiar Deep Sea is actually such a machine. "It seems like... it wants the help of 'transcendents'?"

"You're right, it is indeed help, and it's mutual help." Mr. Shu finally speaks, shaking off the ashes of his cigar and saying softly, "Transcendents and the Deep Sea have formed a subtle balance. It needs the powerful spiritual assistance of the transcendents for computing, and the transcendents need the Deep Sea to provide connections to stabilize themselves."

Search tinyurl.com/2p9emv8w for the original.

"Among the transcendent beings in the council, there are obvious differences in strength based on the depth of their spiritual arrival in the Transcendent Sea... Currently, the Deep Water Zone has been mostly explored, with a total of twelve sea territories."

"So, this is the transcendent trial?" Gu Shen digests the information from his senior sister and furrows his brows, "According to this, wouldn't spiritual-type transcendent beings have an advantage in exploring the Transcendent Sea?"

"Yes and no." Senior Luo smiles, "You have comprehended the Awakening of Insects, so you should understand that in transcendent cultivation, the physical body and the spirit progress synchronously. Once the balance is disrupted, there is a possibility of 'losing control.' In the transcendent trial of the Deep Water Zone in the Deep Sea, spiritual-type transcendent beings may explore faster, but it will take relatively longer for them to digest and advance after completion. This is because the 'physical body' of spiritual-type transcendent beings has not caught up with the development of their 'spirit.'"

Gu Shen understands a bit.

If a transcendent being has extremely strong spiritual power and completes the trial of a certain sea territory but their physical body is not strong enough, then exploring the next transcendent sea territory... may lead to their own loss of control."When the Deep Sea first connected with the Transcendents, and the Transcendent lineage chart was only in its infancy, many people with Transcendent powers only displayed fragmented characteristics of their abilities... But as the exploration of the twelve layers of the Deep Sea progressed, they gradually understood their Transcendent traits and eventually mastered them," Luo Er said slowly. "Of course... these twelve layers are not as simple as you might think. Once you complete the exploration of the first three layers, you can understand the essence of your Transcendent power. But just these three layers... have stumped 90% of the Transcendents."

The first three layers stumped ninety percent of the Transcendents?

What about his senior sister and teacher...

Gu Shen glanced at Sister Luo, then at Mr. Shu. His curiosity made him want to ask, but his rationality told him... there was no need to ask this question.

Their faces... were filled with invincibility.

"If you can complete all twelve layers of the Transcendent trials, then the East Continents Council will grant a specific title and treat you as a distinguished guest. Such Transcendents are too rare, enough to dominate the five continents." Brother Zhong Wei suddenly laughed. He leaned forward and said meaningfully, "By the way, the reason why our teacher is called 'Mr. Shu'... is because his title is, the Towering Tree!"

As expected. There was no need to ask, Mr. Shu was a powerful figure who had cleared the twelve-layer trial.

However, Gu Shen sighed deeply.

He found it hard to associate the old man beside him with the Towering Tree.

"Little Gu, it's time to think about your title. I have high hopes for you," Brother Zhong laughed. "In the future, when I can't beat someone and need to run away, I'll just mention your name."