There are hundreds of seals on the seventh floor of the Huazhi Building.

Gu Shen directly ignored the seals of grade D and E.

In the matter of selecting seals, he had no experience, but in comparison, selecting higher-rated ones would definitely not go wrong.

First choose the expensive ones, then choose the right ones.

"I already have the Measure of Truth... a spear and a shield combined. What type of seal should I choose for this seal?" Gu Shen silently analyzed in his mind.

The Measure of Truth can convert his spiritual power into material combat power!

Gu Shen was not clear about the rating standards of the seals... but he guessed that this was at least a seal of grade A strength, and it was quite perfect. The only drawback was that the burden of using it was too great. With his current spiritual power, using the Measure of Truth once would paralyze him for half a day.

The drawback was not with the seal, but with himself.

"The assassination by the Longevity Foundation has not been completely resolved... compared to an attacking seal, I may need a strong defensive armor for self-protection." After careful consideration, Gu Shen ruled out several unsuitable grade C seals.

Finally, his gaze stopped on the two bronze altars in front.

On one of the altars, there was an extremely thin silver silk vest, shining brightly under the white light.

This grade C seal was called the Snowy Cocoon, and it looked like a simple silver silk vest.

But in reality, this vest contained the extraordinary Arche with the "Frost" attribute... If the host was a Transcendent with a similar attribute, it could enhance the range of frost. Even if not, this vest had excellent defensive properties. By using spiritual power, it could summon a very sturdy small wind and snow shield armor. It was extremely difficult for non-Transcendent powers to leave any scars on the shield armor.

Based on the description in the file, Gu Shen vaguely simulated it in his mind. If he had encountered a high-explosive bomb at the Whisperer, this seal should have been able to easily resist the frontal explosion...

This was a very good self-defense equipment.

On the other altar, there was a small bead, a string of eleven beads, but nine of them were dim in color, and only two emitted a faint blue fluorescence.

"The Six Fortunes Bead... a damaged grade A seal, consumable. Each bead contains incredible blessing power. Each time the blessing power is consumed, it can offset the impact of either material or spiritual attacks. Currently, there are 2 uses remaining."

Both the Snowy Cocoon and the Six Fortunes Bead were good choices...

But the grade of the Six Fortunes Bead was obviously better than that vest. Even if it encountered a spiritual impact, it could still resist. After all, it used to be a grade A seal, but it fell in rank due to severe consumption.

"I choose... the Six Fortunes Bead."

After a moment of thought, Gu Shen made his choice.

Cui Zhongcheng, who was watching on the side, looked at Gu Shen's hesitant selection with a calm expression. When he refused Zhao Qi, he used an impeccable reason. The Golden Mountain had a lock, and he was just the one holding the key. But in fact, as the one holding the key, his authority was terrifying.

At least in this Huazhi Building, he had absolute power of speech.

Giving away seals was just a small matter.

There were hundreds of seals in the underground seventh floor collection hall, but no matter how Gu Shen chose, even if he picked the best, they would only be grade C at best.

In fact, he also wanted to see Gu Shen's eye for selecting seals.

"Are you sure?" Cui Zhongcheng opened the red-silver protective shield, took out the bead, and praised without any fluctuations in his tone, "Your eye is good. Although it is a grade C seal, it actually has the strength of grade A. However... this string of beads only has two uses of blessing power left."

"Two uses are enough."

Gu Shen directly put the bead on his wrist. If it weren't for the fact that Shi Li's mission was full of unknown dangers, he would prefer to choose a seal with a huge amount of Arche and then swallow it to enhance his own strength.

Choosing this string of beads was not for anything else, just for safety.

Being able to save his life at a critical moment was enough.

"Thanks!"

After putting on the bead, Gu Shen casually said thanks, then without stopping for even a second, he extended his palm like collecting a debt and said seriously, "There is also a breathing technique."

"...,"

Cui Zhongcheng looked at Gu Shen with a complicated expression.

Zhou JiRen taking Gu Shen as his student was definitely not a coincidence... this little guy had the potential to become an old hooligan.

"What kind of breathing technique do you want?"

Cui Zhongcheng sighed lightly and, seeing Gu Shen's somewhat confused expression, patiently explained, "The better the breathing technique, the more difficult it is to replicate. Only by observing the original and completing the dream interpretation can one comprehend the artistic conception... Some breathing techniques are engraved on paper, and some are branded into seals. From what I know, those who have achieved great success in the spiritual system and continued to practice the second volume of the Awakening Breath in the Judgment Hall often choose to observe the Valley Rain volume left by Gu Changzhi."

"Wait... Valley Rain volume?"

Gu Shen was stunned.

"You mean, Gu Changzhi left behind multiple volumes of breathing techniques... not just one?"

"Awakening, Valley Rain, Grain in Ear." Cui Zhongcheng said, "These three volumes are the guiding methods left by Gu Changzhi to the young people of the East Continents Council before he fell into a deep sleep. They are respectively left in the Judgment Hall, the Prison Hall, and the Command Hall. The artistic conception of the three volumes of breathing techniques is different, and the order of observation does not affect each other. When these three volumes are combined... they form the famous 'Breath of Spring'."

Only then did Gu Shen realize... the scenes he saw in the Awakening dream were just residual fragments of the spirit.

Awakening was the beginning of the four seasons and the beginning of the breathing techniques.

Search bit.ly/3iBfjkV for the original.

"Valley Rain is in the Prison Hall, Grain in Ear is in the Command Hall..." Gu Shen's eyes burned, and he said, "Are there no replicas of these two volumes that can be observed?"

"Is Gu Changzhi's breathing technique so easy to replicate? It has been so many years, and there has only been one 'Heaven's Eye'!" Cui Zhongcheng shook his head, "If you want other breathing techniques, I can think of a way, but these two volumes are not in the capital. If you want to see them, you need to apply yourself. The prerequisite for the Council's default approval is that the applicant must have the strength of the Deep Sea Sixth Layer."

"Deep Sea Sixth Layer?" Gu Shen smiled bitterly and said, "The requirements are so high?""Still, as the saying goes, greediness leads to no good. Before reaching the pinnacle of the Breath of Awakening cultivation, it may not be a good idea to touch the other two volumes," Cui Zhongcheng said calmly. "For ordinary people, it is already a great fortune to comprehend one volume of the Spring Breath. Therefore, the rule set by the council is that Transcendents below the sixth level of the Deep Sea are not allowed to apply for access to the second volume. This is both a restriction and a protection."

"Indeed..." Gu Shen sighed helplessly.

Suddenly, Cui Zhongcheng asked, "How long did it take for you to comprehend the Breath of Awakening?"

"Ahaha..." Gu Shen quickly laughed it off. "It's not worth mentioning, not worth mentioning."

This guy is still hiding something at this critical moment?

Cui Zhongcheng didn't say anything. Since Gu Shen didn't want to talk about it, he didn't bother asking further.

After a moment, Gu Shen walked around the bronze altar.

He slowly stopped at the most secluded altar.

"Hmm..." Gu Shen slightly lowered his body, trying to get a clearer view. Inside the red-silver cover of this bronze altar, there lay a slender pointer.

"What is this?" he pointed at the red-silver cover.

"It's an unidentified clock pointer," Cui Zhongcheng said. "As you can see, the seventh floor of the Flower Banner Building's underground is a treasury specially used by the Zhao family to store low-level seal objects. Many untraceable and unidentifiable seal objects are collected and managed here... I remember this pointer was sent here many years ago. Due to its age, it no longer has active abilities, but it contains a strong Transcendent Arche. Anything that touches this pointer, whether it's human skin or objects, time will be frozen."

"Frozen in time?"

Gu Shen immediately thought of Zhou Yexin's broken pocket watch.

"Yes... only a small part that is in contact with the pointer, a very small part. It can be completely ignored," Cui Zhongcheng said, rubbing his chin with two fingers. "So its rating is only E, an object that is on the edge of the rating system and not considered a seal object."

"Interesting..." Gu Shen smiled. "I don't want the Breath of Awakening anymore. Give me this pointer."

"Are you sure?" Cui Zhongcheng frowned.

This kid is really cunning, doesn't seem like someone who would make a loss.

"I feel like I'm losing out... exchanging the Breath of Awakening for an unidentified pointer. How about compensating me with another seal object?" Gu Shen turned around and rubbed his chin. "I want that silver vest."

Cui Zhongcheng: "???"

"You're dreaming. Take this pointer and get lost," Cui Zhongcheng made a decisive decision and gave his final word.

He used special tweezers to take out the pointer and put it into a thin bag with a red-silver coating.

"Alright... we'll forget about what happened at the riverbank last night."

After completing the transaction, Cui Zhongcheng breathed a sigh of relief. However, he looked visibly tired. He really didn't want to see Gu Shen anymore, so he personally escorted him out of the Flower Banner Building and repeatedly warned, "Don't let that old man cause trouble in the building!"

Gu Shen nodded and promised to keep it a secret. Then, he hurriedly ran to a secluded alley with the two seal objects.

After confirming that there was no one around and no one was following, he let out a long breath.

"Buzz!"

A bright and fiery light burst uncontrollably from his brow, instantly colliding with the surface of the red-silver bag, splashing into flowing and burning liquid flames that covered every inch of the bag without leaving any gaps.

If it weren't for the red-silver coating blocking it, the "pointer" would probably have been swallowed by now.

"You really are a Glutton... never satisfied with what's in front of you, always thinking about what's in the pot," Gu Shen realized the meaning of the Deep Sea Trial.

He gradually understood the purpose of the advancement path for Transcendents, which was to continuously develop and control their own abilities... Not every Transcendent could perfectly control their own abilities.

After feeling the Transcendent Arche contained within the pointer through the red-silver coating in the underground of the Flower Banner Building, Gu Shen's fiery brow immediately burst with a strong spiritual fluctuation, guiding him forward. He even ignored the digesting Arche and conveyed a resolute will.

If the fiery brow could speak, it would probably say...

"Hahaha, I want to devour it!"

Gu Shen realized it now.

The seemingly weak and harmless flame in his brow was actually an insatiable Glutton.

In the dream of the pocket watch, he saw the unidentified blood-red flame... and the fiery brow also conveyed a strong desire to devour.

"You're quite good at eating..." Gu Shen observed the pointer through the red-silver bag. After the awakening of the fiery brow, the world in Gu Shen's eyes changed colors. The blue sky was no longer clear and azure, and the white clouds were no longer pure white like snow. If he truly opened his "mind's eye," he would see that the flow of the entire world was chaotic. The Transcendent Arche that redefined order for the material world was like scattered and elusive wind.

Inside this thin bag, there was a considerable amount of pure and immense Transcendent Arche.

No wonder the fiery brow had such a strong desire to devour it... solely from the perspective of devouring Arche, the exchange he made with Cui Zhongcheng was definitely not a loss.

But if he just devoured it like this, wouldn't it be a waste?

After thinking it over, Gu Shen decided to preserve the pointer properly.

"I can't eat it!"

He used his spiritual power to convey his will to the fiery brow.

"Wuwuwu..."

The flame, with its wide-open mouth, trembled in the wind, sounding like a sob. It pitifully retracted, like a puddle of mud, gradually detaching from the red-silver bag, and finally recondensing into a flame. It sadly returned to Gu Shen's fiery brow.

This strand of fiery brow was connected to his own will. This feeling was very unique... as if he had acquired a second soul.

Joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness all became twofold.

Feeling a bit wronged, Gu Shen felt somewhat helpless.

"Good, be obedient... there will be even more delicious things in the future."He felt like he was coaxing a child.

However, this child was quite easy to appease. After Gu Shen comforted it, the tiny flame in his brow nodded like a pecking chick, settling down obediently.

"If we say that the blazing fire is still a baby now... then its final form is closely related to every choice I make." Gu Shen recalled the scene of the Ghost Cage, his expression gradually becoming serious.

In the dream, his malicious thoughts were almost overwhelming!

And after awakening as a Transcendent, he and the blazing fire had formed a symbiotic relationship.

The emotions it gave birth to would directly affect him... In fact, Gu Shen had several times felt a strong desire to open the red silver bag, manipulate the blazing fire to directly swallow the pointer... but all were suppressed by a strong willpower.

He must not let the spontaneous emotions of the Transcendent Arche dominate his actions.

"I am the master of this body... If I can't suppress my own Transcendent, then I'm not far from losing control."

After suppressing his restlessness, Gu Shen let out a sigh of relief.

He gently stroked his brow, whispering, "Little guy, you have to remember... those who follow the path of the Glutton will not end well."