Zhang Ying Hao tossed the corpses of the two muscular men into the space vortex, watching as they slowly faded away into the faraway wind.
After a long while, he turned around and doubtfully asked:
“Boss, Gu Qing Shan, there’s something I don’t really understand”
Boss crossed his arms and casually replied: “Go head”
“If we’re going to save Lady Darksea, why do we insist on doing it right before the moment of her death? After all, her life is very long, we can simply choose a safer moment and bring her back to our era”
Boss shook his head: “In reality, there is nothing more dangerous than temporal matters”
He patted Gu Qing Shan’s shoulder and continued: “Look at him, this guy is the only person I’ve ever seen traveling all the way back to the Age of Old and still managing to survive the ordeal. In truth, I really want to know what period of time he went back to and how he managed to return intact as well”
Gu Qing Shan shrugged: “My situation at the time was actually quite unique, the place I went to consisted of countless fragments of time each from different parallel worlds, even when I entered the true Age of Old which belonged to this Reality, it was a unique point in time that I arrived at”
“A point in time? How unique was this point in time?” Boss pursued the matter.
Gu Qing Shan replied: “That point in time was hidden away by a human called the Immortal King, which was also the moment of his death”
Boss displayed an expression of understanding and followed up: “No wonder, so it was a Temporal Oasis”
Ye Fei Li cut in: “What’s a Temporal Oasis?”
“A real point within a timeline that was detached and isolated from the actual flow of time through a unique ability. That’s what we call a Temporal Oasis”
Boss paused briefly, then continued: “Alright, guess I’ll give you a proper explanation—— there exists a connection between the fate of every ‘creature’ and every ‘thing’ in Reality, although this connection might turn out to be strong or weak depending on each case——– do you understand this?”
“I understand” Zhang Ying Hao replied.
“Lady Darksea was one of the strongest individuals within the 900 million World Layers, having participated in numerous occasions throughout the various eras of the 900 million World Layers. She is a living testament to much of its history, to the point that even I have heard of her name”
Gu Qing Shan chimed in: “And she was always the one to personally select rookies to enter the Strife Zones from the infinite worlds”
Boss nodded: “For that reason, she held a determining value within numerous historical occasions, intertwining herself with the fate of numerous people——- do you care to guess if we were to abruptly remove her from any point within that timeline, what kind of influence that would have on history?”
“I’ll tell you what would happen, a catastrophic level of influence. Countless events and even the fate of numerous people in history would be altered”
Boss raised two of his finger before explaining: “At this point, there could be two possibilities: firstly, Reality simply gets destroyed; secondly, those people living in history would find events that had clearly happened suddenly vanish from their memories, as if none of it had ever occurred”
“—–they would find that many of the events that had clearly happened had abruptly become just a part of their imagination, some might even see secrets from the distant past or brief visions of their future”
Gu Qing Shan had a sudden thought and muttered: “Could it be… this is how parallel worlds are created?”
“Exactly” Boss confirmed it, “When a pivotal moment of turning fate abruptly occurs, one Reality will split into two, both of which will have the same long course of history, except for a single turning point that created two completely different Eras”
“This is one of the reasons why a parallel world would come into existence”
“However Gu Qing Shan, when you returned from the Age of Old, did you happen to see the River of Time?”
Gu Qing Shan nodded: “I did”
He didn’t just see it, he had to travel with the Golden Coin and relied on its [True Luck] to avoid the monsters in the River of Time in order to return safely.
Boss continued: “The act of disturbing the past would anger the monsters that rest within the River of Time, at any point that you attempt to interfere with the past, they would immediately sense and attack when you return in an attempt to eliminate you, thus returning history to its original appearance”
“How strong are they?” Zhang Ying Hao asked.
“Some are strong, some are weak——— without exaggerating, even at my peak, I would only end up being food for the four strongest kinds of monsters within the River of Time”
Everyone gasped.
Boss continued: “In summary, the more you interfere with the past, the more numerous and powerful the monsters that notice you would be”
“Reality would either be destroyed or would create a parallel world, but regardless of what happens, the culprit who caused it all would be devoured by the monster that protects the River of Time”
“——–This is the reason why we can’t arbitrarily interfere with the past”
Zhang Ying Hao pondered: “For that reason, at the moment of a person’s death, their connection with Reality, its countless people, as well as everything as a whole would be reduced to its weakest”
“Exactly. At the moment of Darksea’s death, she had entered a state where she no longer affected others, so taking her from that moment, from a historical standpoint, nothing she did during her long life would be altered or affected”
“At that moment of history, she had, in fact, ‘died’. So the act of us taking her from the past would become the ‘Cause’, with her appearance in the future being the ‘Effect’, perfectly fulfilling the requirements of the Laws of Causality”
“This way, everything in both the past as well as the future of Reality, which had become our ‘history’, would not change”
“But thanks to the Causality that we created; she would now exist in the future”
“History, Future, Fate or Causality would all be perfectly adhered to without any fault”
“Thanks to this, after we save and take her to the future, the monster within the River of Time wouldn’t be alarmed”
“We will return alive”
“And that is the correct way to time travel”
Boss summarized everything.
Everyone listened.
Gu Qing Shan combined that knowledge with his own experience and recalled the moments that he was devoured by those monsters.
He sighed and whispered to himself: “No wonder I died so many times back then…”
“Gu Qing Shan, what did you say?” Laura asked.
“Ah, nothing, it’s nothing” Gu Qing Shan quickly answered.
Boss continued: “The secret of the Law of Time is still so much deeper. I can talk for one day straight without covering even half of it, but this much should be enough for you right now”
Zhang Ying Hao cut in: “Guys, Anna said that the reason they came back was to have Gu Qing Shan search for something”
“What about it?” Gu Qing Shan asked.
Zhang Ying Hao was a bit bothered: “The [Chaos] army would definitely have their own intelligence network, otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to grasp Kitty and Anna’s movement so accurately”
“Which means—— many people from the [Chaos] army must have remained in this Era, responsible for observing our movements”
Gu Qing Shan suddenly chuckled: “I know exactly what they’re afraid of”
“They’re monitoring to see whether or not we’ll actually return to the past. If we continue to stall without returning, wouldn’t that mean they have to meaninglessly wait in the past?”
“Indeed” Boss clapped his hand and continued: “Not only would they be meaninglessly waiting, but they would also need to be careful of avoiding themselves at that time”
Gu Qing Shan decidedly declared: “So, we’re temporarily not going to return to the past at all”
Boss replied: “…But if you to do that, they would surely lose their patience and pursue us from the past”
“As soon as they return to the future, we’ll immediately make our way to the past” Gu Qing Shan replied.
“…” everyone.
Gu Qing Shan summoned a sword which turned into Shannu.
And Shannu took his appearance.
“The real reason why we’re doing this is to stall for time——– I will need to find a certain item, this item will most likely affect the entire outcome of this war” Gu Qing Shan explained.
“Shannu will replace me to accompany you guys to the Bramble Bird Kingdom. We’re going to openly spread the news of the Bramble Bird Kingdom rallying people from the 900 million World Layers, keep stalling for time on your return trip and slowly build up our momentum”
“I will secretly leave to look for that item, as soon as I find it, I’ll return to meet up with you at the Bramble Bird Kingdom”
“I’ll come with you” Zhang Ying Hao said.
Gu Qing Shan shook his head.
“The fact that they could disguise themselves as Kitty and Anna to directly find us earlier meant that they also have somebody constantly monitoring our movements, that’s why not a single one of us can be seen going missing at any point. We can’t draw their suspicion or the Soul Shrieker will immediately realize that its ambush had been exposed and return from the past right away”
Laura was confused: “Monitoring us? But none of the anti-clairvoyance artifacts I carry with me reacted at all”
Boss chuckled: “My senses are extremely sensitive, so the other party would definitely not try to use a clairvoyance technique for that. It must be some sort of non-magical monitoring ability, like a super-distance telescope, or a creature with natural-born eyesight capable of observing other people at extreme distances”
The group agreed.
Laura reached her hand behind her back and undid her hair tie again.
——–after retrieving the [Order] Card from the two Deities, Gu Qing Shan had already returned this Twine of Cloud Atlas to her.
“Gu Qing Shan, since you’re going to be moving alone, I suggest that you keep this, it will bring you luck” Laura said.
Gu Qing Shan quickly shook his head and refused: “Laura, your way back to the Bramble Bird Kingdom isn’t necessarily safe, it’s better that you keep it with you”
“I’m not a fool, Gu Qing Shan, don’t use such an excuse to act formally with me”
Laura said nothing else and took Gu Qing Shan’s hand, getting ready to tie the Twin of Cloud Atlas to his wrist.
Gu Qing Shan still wanted to refuse, but an image suddenly flashed through his mind.
The Age of Old.
I’ve just obtained the twin swords Heaven and Earth.
The Earth Creator gave me the Golden Coin, considerably reluctant: 「 Remember, I’m only lending it to you, once I come back, you must return it to me 」
After that, he told me again: 「 After you come back and settle yourself down, take some time to activate this coin, it will take you back to my world again—– where you can return the coin to me 」
——due to losing his luck, the Earth Creator lost his life at the Reality Gate.
With that thought in mind, Gu Qing Shan abruptly felt an indescribable sense of prophesized fate.
As if some sort of unavoidable deadly calamity was waiting for him within the long future filled with darkness.
——just like what the Earth Creator had felt.
Gu Qing Shan gave up on refusing.
He let Laura tie the Twine of Cloud Atlas on his wrist and muttered: “Then I’ll be keeping it for the next while”
Seeing him no longer hesitant, Laura happily said: “Be careful, we’ll be waiting for your return at the Bramble Bird Kingdom”
Gu Qing Shan nodded.
Lines of glowing text appeared on the War God UI:
[Attention:]
[You’ve obtained Occultism artifact: Twine of Cloud Atlas]
[You’ve obtained the lost identity: Awakened from the distant Dusty World. In consideration of this lost identity, you’re being sheltered by the soon-to-disappear Dusty World from the Immemorial Era]
[You have been bestowed the Mystic-type power: Shelter of Past Occultism]
