The profound depth within the core of the “Eye of Wishes” vanished, offering no further response to Gu Liang’s questions. He had no choice but to accept that the extraordinary power he had obtained was indeed the Virgoan Cosmo.
“Cosmo? What use is this thing?” Gu Liang sat on the edge of his bed, closed his eyes, and recalled the unique sensations he had experienced moments ago. His body and mind gradually calmed, and his Virgoan Cosmo naturally began to circulate.
Around him, it seemed both empty and not empty, silent yet not silent. It was as if a thick veil had been lifted, making everything clear. Sounds came from each room in the apartment—snoring, the sliding of a record needle, soft weeping, and the gnawing of rats. Chaotic and disordered, yet they made the night feel unusually tranquil.
From high above, an inexplicable sensation descended. The stars forming the Virgo constellation radiated brilliant yet illusory light, cascading down onto him and conjuring an illusory image of the Virgo constellation, as if it were a vast universe unto itself.
Power flowed through him. Star particles seemed to appear in Gu Liang’s hands, converging into a miniature Milky Way brimming with explosive might.
Gu Liang opened his eyes, no longer harboring any doubts about the Cosmo, the Virgo constellation, or the idea of rapid mastery.
This was authentic supernatural power!
Even the tiny portion he had cultivated so far seemed to rival many members of the Special Operations Division!
Just a dozen minutes ago, he had been an ordinary person who had never encountered true supernatural power. Divine grace was boundless, and the transformation had been instantaneous.
What is a true god?
This is a true god!
Previously holding only a faint belief and not believing in spirits, ghosts, or supernatural powers at all, Gu Liang stood up, knelt devoutly before the “Eye of Wishes,” placed his right hand over his chest, and sincerely said, “You are the Lord of Storms, the embodiment of calamity, the omnipotent supreme deity!”
As soon as he finished speaking, he seemed to glimpse the deepest, darkest, and most terrifying place in the universe. There sat an indescribable existence, without distinctions of up or down, front or back, past or future—everything’s source, the very beginning.
From this being’s hand, a bolt of lightning erupted, transforming into a giant. The giant’s golden hair flew wildly, wings of thunder and lightning behind him. He wielded a terrifying hammer, creating storms and embodying calamity.
“Could it be that the god of storms and calamity is merely an avatar of some great existence?” Gu Liang was startled at first, then delighted.
He put on the Eye of Wishes, tidied up the room, stepped out of the apartment, and stood beneath a streetlamp bathed in light, waiting for the air carriage.
As the most prosperous city in the Far East, even at night carriages still traversed the streets, connecting the nightlife districts with other parts of the city.
After a long wait, Gu Liang finally saw an unoccupied carriage. In the past, he would have been impatient and anxious, but now, with the Virgoan Cosmo, he found himself especially enjoying this rare moment of leisure.
Clippity-clop, the carriage rolled through the no longer crowded streets and soon arrived near New Scotland Yard. As he paid the fare, he noticed an antique cross hanging from the driver’s chest.
“Do you believe in God?” he raised an eyebrow and asked.
Since God’s fall, countless clergy had descended into madness and slaughter, and His church had rapidly crumbled. It had become difficult to find any believers, and even if there were any left, they were bloodthirsty fanatics who worshipped the fallen God.
The driver nodded blankly, “Yes, our family has believed for three generations.”
“But there are no more clergy,” Gu Liang frowned.
The driver gave him a strange look, “So what? We just pray at home.”
He scratched his head, slightly embarrassed, “It’s just for peace of mind.”
Gu Liang nodded. This had been his own attitude towards faith in the past. But times had changed. He now genuinely believed in the existence of a true god, the supreme god of storms and calamity.
Returning to the Special Operations Division’s meeting room, many members were still resting, making the room sparse. Gu Liang said nothing more, grabbed new documents, and focused on studying them.
As time passed, he learned about the Buddhist organization, the Taoist organization, the common Buddhist title “Namo Amitabha Buddha,” the Buddhist emphasis on the mysteries of the mind, their constructed Six Realms of Reincarnation system, the Sixth Sense, Seventh Sense, and Eighth Sense, and the corresponding concept of “consciousness”…
As his understanding of the Buddhist organization deepened, he found his Cosmo becoming clearer and stronger, as if having a reference point. He gained many of the “wisdom seeds” described by the Buddhists. Once sprouted, they would manifest as different supernatural powers.
Was there a deep connection between the Virgoan Cosmo and the Buddhist organization? Gu Liang felt a chill but also immense excitement.
No wonder the god of storms and calamity wanted to investigate the Anti-Buddhists!
“How’s it going?” Lin Tong, now wearing a female police officer’s black coat, approached.
Gu Liang honestly replied, “I haven’t found any clues, but I’ve developed a relatively clear understanding of the Buddhist and Taoist organizations from the lost history.”
“Good. To find the Anti-Buddhists, this knowledge is essential.” Lin Tong nodded, then her lips curved into a half-smile, “But there’s one question.”
“What question?” Gu Liang asked.
Lin Tong’s gaze shifted slightly, “Why have you been keeping your eyes closed? Can you even read the documents like that?”
Me? I’ve been closing my eyes? It wasn’t until now that Gu Liang realized he had been keeping his eyes shut like a blind man. He didn’t know when he had started, but he could “see” every detail—Lin Tong’s every expression, his colleagues around him, and the documents on the table.
This is seeing with the mind’s eye… Gu Liang suddenly understood. The Virgoan Cosmo indeed originated from the Buddhist organization!
He opened his eyes. The dim surroundings seemed to brighten instantly. Lin Tong felt as if his eyes held a slowly rotating Milky Way, captivating her mind.
“Not bad. Besides your precise shooting skills, you have other spiritual cultivation talents. No wonder Commissioner Zhang specially recruited you,” Lin Tong withdrew her gaze, secretly astonished.
A few days later, when the intelligence gathered by Gu Liang caused the core of the “Eye of Wishes” to become profound once more, the留守 team and the operation team swapped roles, initiating the actual investigation of previously identified suspects. As senior members, Gu Liang and Lin Tong were assigned to investigate several targets in the Xu’an District.
In the alley, the road was narrow, with laundry lines crisscrossing overhead, dripping water occasionally. Walking along, Lin Tong felt disappointed and casually asked the team members, “What did you find with the previous target?”
“Nothing unusual,” Li Feng, a spiritual cultivation inspector, shook his head.
Gu Liang also felt there was nothing wrong. Just as he was about to respond, he suddenly froze, sensing something resonating with his Cosmo!
It was pure and wise, exuding Buddhist serenity—it was a Buddhist relic, a Sarira!
Gu Liang turned his head toward the dilapidated old apartment nearby, pointing to the third floor, and said, “That room has a problem!”
“What problem?” Lin Tong asked in surprise.
“There’s the aura of a Buddhist holy relic, possibly related to the Anti-Buddhists,” Gu Liang stated firmly.
He suddenly understood why the Lord of Storms and Calamity had given him the Virgoan Cosmo instead of the Capricorn one.
“You can sense it?” Li Feng expressed doubt.
If it weren’t for the numerous precedents in the Special Operations Division of people possessing extraordinary perception abilities, he would have wanted to leave in frustration.
What abilities could a new recruit possibly have?
“Confirmed,” Gu Liang insisted.
After thinking for a moment, Lin Tong immediately gave orders, “Senior Inspector Lin Feng, return to New Scotland Yard and request backup. Inspector Wang Yan, you and the remaining team members spread out and block all exits and entrances to this apartment. I and Inspector Gu Liang will go upstairs to check, just in case of any unexpected situations.”
She was cautious, not wanting to rush in and risk alerting them or being unable to handle the consequences.
The apartment stairs creaked noisily, perhaps built in the last century, having endured countless hardships. As they passed the first two floors and approached the third, Lin Tong suddenly sniffed the air and said gravely, “Smell of blood. There really is something wrong. Retreat downstairs.”
Before her words had fully faded, arms suddenly emerged from both walls—arms without skin, covered only in flesh. The steps themselves grew bloody intestines that tried to entangle their bodies.
Lin Tong pressed her right hand, and a cleansing light immediately shone from her body, like morning sunlight, causing the arms and intestines to sizzle and smoke upon contact.
She was a priestess of the Sun God.
Witnessing this scene, Gu Liang was first startled, then suddenly inspired. His expression turned solemn, and he opened his mouth, uttering a solemn and sacred sound:
“Namo!”
As soon as the Buddhist chant rang out, golden rays of light radiated from his body, as if he were forged from gold, exuding an indelible aura. Whether arms or intestines, none could approach him; any that struck him shattered into pieces.
Lin Tong looked at Gu Liang in astonishment. Just as she was about to pull him back, she heard thudding footsteps and saw a group of strangers ascending from below. They wore distinctive clothing and bore cheerful smiles, but some were missing arms, others had hollow eye sockets, and some had open chests and abdomens, their intestines gone!
Were the skinless arms and bloody intestines from them?
It was extremely dangerous behind them. Lin Tong immediately pulled Gu Liang upward, shouting, “To the third floor! Jump to another building rooftop and wait for backup!”
Clatter-clatter-clatter, they ran quickly, but just then, the door on the third floor suddenly opened. A tall, thin man in a red and black oddly-shaped robe stepped out. His bronze-colored skin and cold gaze exuded menace. He stretched out his right hand, and an invisible wall instantly blocked Lin Tong and Gu Liang’s path.
His voice seemed to come from hell. He spread his arms wide and intoned gravely, “Buddha seeks to save all beings, but Anti-Buddha brings annihilation!”
With both palms pushed forward, red and black inverted swastikas transformed into radiant sunlight surging toward Lin Tong and Gu Liang.
In Gu Liang’s mind, only one thought flashed:
The Anti-Buddha Palm of the Tathagata!
Under the red and black waves, the dead were unaffected, but anyone with a Far Eastern aura would certainly be unable to resist.
Lin Tong held the Sun God’s medallion, transforming it into a blazing sun, but it was gradually dissolving. It seemed she would soon be unable to hold on.
“Bad luck. We ran into a high-level member of the Anti-Buddhists,” Lin Tong said bitterly.
Gu Liang’s hair stood on end. He could no longer afford to accumulate power. Rubbing the “Eye of Wishes,” he shouted, “O omnipotent one! Aid me in passing this trial!”
A momentary flash of depth appeared in his mind, and suddenly, a golden armor emerged within Gu Liang’s consciousness. It radiated immense, boundless power, exuding a sense of purity and transcendence.
“Virgo Golden Cloth, lending time limit: one minute. Usage restriction: insufficient Cosmo, can only wear the hand portion.” The thunderous voice of the god of storms and calamity rang out.
“Golden Cloth? What kind of thing is this?” Gu Liang was stunned.
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