Chapter 1573: Re-entering the Era Archive

Good news: Jinghong Pavilion has returned to the world.

Bad news: I missed the performance date on the invitation.

Chen Ling felt a bit helpless. He hadn't expected that the time he spent lingering in the Embers of Civilization would cause him to miss something that seemed quite important... He wondered if it was still too late to go now?

Even if the performance he was invited to see had ended, the Jinghong Pavilion should still be there, right? Kong Baosheng should still be there, right?

"You guys continue to look for Ying Fu’s whereabouts... I’m going to the Cang-yun Realm to take a look," Chen Ling said.

"Understood."

Chen Ling’s consciousness dissipated from the Prostitution Path Ancient Treasury, and when he opened his eyes again, he had returned to the Gray Realm.

He was currently sitting on Wu Yi’s back, speeding across the land of the Gray Realm, followed by a massive, swarming horde of Calamities that kicked up clouds of dust and smoke. If the human realms were to see this spectacle, they would likely think the Abyss of Ghost Mockery was launching a fierce attack.

"You all return to the Abyss of Ghost Mockery and stand by; Wu Yi can just follow me."

Chen Ling waved his hand, letting the Ghost Mockery army return for now. This terrifying team racing across the Gray Realm immediately split into two, with the main force returning to the Abyss of Ghost Mockery, while Chen Ling and Wu Yi headed straight for the Cang-yun Realm.

The location of the Embers of Civilization was in the deepest part of the Gray Realm, quite far from the Cang-yun Realm in the south. Chen Ling looked at the monotonous lead-gray clouds and barren land before him, hesitated for a moment, and took a USB drive from his robes.

Ever since recovering the corpses of Tian-shu Jun and Xuan-yu Jun, the power of the Era Archive had improved by more than one level. The original restriction of entering only once a month for 12 hours had been relaxed to once a week, and the duration had increased to 24 hours... This frequency of entry and exit was already quite free.

But after learning the truth about the Era Archive and the restart, Chen Ling hadn't entered it frequently. After all, the situation within the Era Archive was relatively stable now, and all Nine Juns had gathered and unified their front. Compared to the Era Archive, what was happening in the current real world was more important.

Anyway, no matter when Chen Ling entered the archive, it would continue from the timeline of his last entry, so he wasn't in a hurry.

However, the journey to the Cang-yun Realm was long, and entering the Era Archive seemed like a good choice... More importantly, Chen Ling wanted to make more preparations.

These preparations weren't for the Red Star or anything else; his target was Wu Tongyuan.

From the intelligence currently collected by the Twilight Society, Ling-xu Jun had already displayed methods bordering on those of a tyrant. If there were obstacles to the Twilight Society restarting the world, Ling-xu Jun was likely one of them... But the current Ling-xu Jun was simply too strong; even if Chen Ling unleashed the Calamity of Mockery regardless of the cost, he wasn't sure he could win for certain.

To be safe, Chen Ling needed to start thinking about how to deal with Ling-xu Jun if he truly became his enemy...

Chen Ling didn't believe anyone could be invincible; even the other Nine Juns had limitations and weaknesses in their abilities, even mathematics was no exception... And to find those weaknesses, asking Ling-xu Jun to his face was definitely unrealistic, so the best way was to start with the relatively weak and naive Wu Tongyuan in the Era Archive.

Chen Ling patted Wu Yi’s head:

"Steady on the road; I need to sleep for a while."

Wu Yi nodded repeatedly, simultaneously slowing down a bit to make its crawling smoother.

Chen Ling sat cross-legged and slowly inserted the USB drive into Wu Yi’s scarlet carapace...

Lines of text immediately appeared before his eyes:

【Number 129439】

【Reading...】

【Read Complete】

……

Woo—woo—woo—

When Chen Ling opened his eyes again, he had returned to that precarious tent.

The evening wind in the Shennongjia mountains sounded like ghosts wailing, and the curtain at the tent entrance flapped in the wind. Through the curtain, one could see raindrops falling under the pale exploration lights outside, and the edge of the meteorite crater in the darkness in the distance...

In the last Era Archive entry, Chen Ling had gathered all the Nine Juns through Yang Xiao and Lu Xun, returning to this place where it all began.

Although there were some twists and unpleasantness along the way, in the end, the Nine Juns had unified their goals and were willing to give everything for the continuation of human civilization... And just as this meeting was about to conclude successfully, Xuan-yu Jun, who had traveled back through time, arrived here while chasing Wu-ji Jun, who had also entered through the Era Archive.

"...Where is Lou Yu??"

Chen Ling looked at the empty space in front of him, only then realizing!

That’s right, where is Lou Yu?

He also returned through the Era Archive. Since that was the case, no matter when he returned, he should have started from the node where he was last time... So why didn't he return like he did??

"Yeah, where is he?" Qi Muyun rubbed his eyes, looking as if he’d seen a ghost.

"How did he disappear in the blink of an eye?"

Lu Xun pondered for a moment. "Perhaps it’s his ability?"

"Teleportation? Would Material Science normally have such an ability?" Wu Tongyuan was skeptical.

Chen Ling stared blankly at the void before him, as if realizing something, his brow furrowing slightly...

Lou Yu not appearing meant that he hadn't opened the Era Archive again at any point in the future... Either he didn't want to get involved at all, or... he was dead.

In Chen Ling’s mind, the last words Lou Yu said when the previous archive session ended surfaced again:

"Humanity doesn't need a Wu-ji Jun, nor should a Wu-ji Jun exist..."

"Chen Ling..."

"From here on, it’s up to you."

At the time, Chen Ling had only thought these were the words of a man disheartened by a failed plan, but now it seemed... this sounded more like a last will and testament.

What exactly happened to him?

Just as Chen Ling was deep in thought, Xuan-yu Jun, seeing Lou Yu vanish into thin air, slowly withdrew the long sword in his hand.

He didn't look at the stunned Chen Ling, but walked straight toward Ji Xuan.

Two "Ji Xuans" stood facing each other.

This scene left the surrounding future Nine Juns dumbfounded... Even Chen Ling returned from his contemplation, his gaze falling on the figure surging with Nine Jun-level power.

"Xuan-yu Jun..."

Chen Ling suddenly realized a problem.

Xuan-yu Jun’s God Particle could travel through time... But what if it were different worlds?

If Xuan-yu Jun could travel between different worlds, couldn't he go from the Fifth Generation world to the Fourth, or even the Third? Couldn't he see all possibilities with his own eyes and know the ending of all things?

This... isn't that too exaggerated??

But if he couldn't travel between different worlds and could only travel through different timelines of the same world, it meant that the Xuan-yu Jun before him wasn't from the Fifth Generation world Chen Ling was in... He came from the Sixth Generation world, the "future" of this Era Archive world.