Chapter 1574: An Unexpected "Greeting"

Thinking of this, Chen Ling couldn't help but ask:

"Which world and which timeline are you from, Xuan-yu Jun??"

As soon as these words were spoken, everyone present looked at him blankly, seemingly unable to understand the meaning of the question... What did he mean by "which world"?

Chen Ling didn't have time to explain; he just looked at Xuan-yu Jun’s back, waiting for his reply.

Xuan-yu Jun was silent for a moment, then looked back at Chen Ling:

"The Red King won't let me talk to you."

“……？”

Chen Ling’s thoughts stalled for half a second; the statement sounded inexplicably absurd... But he quickly grasped the logic behind it and immediately pressed:

"The Red King? Which Red King?"

Xuan-yu Jun didn't answer again.

His gaze returned to the Ji Xuan before him, looking at this version of himself who had no power fluctuations and still possessed the naivety of a youth. A flash of nostalgia passed deep in his eyes...

Ji Xuan also stared blankly at this incredibly handsome version of himself, his eyes shining like two lightbulbs:

"Old Lu... Old Lu! Did you see that? The future me... is a bit too handsome..."

Hearing this, Xuan-yu Jun’s mouth curled up slightly for an instant, but he tried hard to keep a straight face and asked coldly:

"...Is that so?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah," Ji Xuan nodded like a chick pecking at rice.

Xuan-yu Jun finally couldn't help but laugh. "Do you want to become as handsome as me?"

"Of course!"

Xuan-yu Jun pulled something that looked like a blue-black top hat from somewhere and gently placed it on Ji Xuan’s head...

Hum—!!

A terrifying shockwave erupted from Ji Xuan’s body, overturning the surrounding tables and chairs. Even the Nine Juns’ expressions changed, and they stumbled back a few steps!

At the same time, Ji Xuan spat out a mouthful of blood, his eyes rolled back, and he fell straight down like a zombie!

Seeing this, Lu Xun and Yang Xiao’s expressions changed!

"Ji Xuan!!"

A dazzling starlight and a sharp thunder blade whistled through the air, bypassing the fallen Ji Xuan and rushing toward Xuan-yu Jun’s face!

Xuan-yu Jun lifted his eyelids slightly and curled his fingers...

Clang—clang—

With two crisp explosions, the starlight and thunder blade shattered simultaneously. Lu Xun and Yang Xiao were also hit in the chest by some massive force, groaning as they fell backward.

Among the Juns who hadn't yet grown into their full power, Yang Xiao and Lu Xun were arguably the strongest, but even they couldn't withstand a single move from Xuan-yu Jun. At this moment, everyone else’s expression turned ugly.

Almost simultaneously, a figure draped in a red-bottomed, black-patterned opera robe appeared like a ghost behind the retreating Lu Xun and Yang Xiao.

He raised his hands, gently neutralizing the residual force on the two. The force only looked fierce but actually had no offensive intent; otherwise, Lu Xun and Yang Xiao would have been dead already.

Chen Ling released the two and walked slowly forward. As the hem of his opera robe fluttered without wind, a terrifying aura of world-destruction collided directly with Xuan-yu Jun’s Nine Jun-level aura. The two forces tore and surged within the narrow space!!

His ruby-like eyes narrowed slightly. He looked at this Xuan-yu Jun from the future, whose allegiance was unclear, and said in a deep voice:

"What... exactly do you want to do?"

A hurricane roared inside the tent, even uprooting the tent’s support frame. As the entire tent was blown into the sky by the clash of their auras, the other Juns felt their hearts tremble...

Is this... Chen Ling’s true strength?

For most of them, this was the first time they had seen Chen Ling truly make a move. That suffocating, world-destroying pressure was like an insurmountable mountain pressing down on everyone’s hearts... At this moment, they could be certain that even the strongest God Path practitioner on Earth in this era could not be Chen Ling’s match.

"I’m not like that madman who would kill his past self with his own hands..." Xuan-yu Jun said slowly.

"I am just returning what already belonged to him."

Chen Ling was slightly stunned.

Something that already belonged to Ji Xuan?

Chen Ling seemed to realize something and looked down again at the unconscious Ji Xuan... Ji Xuan’s life force hadn't diminished in the slightest, but a unique power was currently brewing and surging within his body.

That aura, Chen Ling was very familiar with...

The Red Star?

Xuan-yu Jun returned the Red Star’s wish power to Ji Xuan?

Chen Ling had suspected before that the "Ji Xuan" who came when the Nine Juns were exploring wasn't the real Ji Xuan, but "Xuan-yu Jun" who had traveled back in time from the future. It was precisely because of this that the real Ji Xuan hadn't gone to the exploration site and naturally wouldn't possess the power of a Nine Jun.

But ever since he went to the Embers of Civilization and talked to Shen Qingzhu, Chen Ling knew that a person couldn't bear two portions of Red Star wish power. Since that was the case, how did Xuan-yu Jun, who already had one portion, absorb another identical portion at the exploration site?

Now it seemed that the Xuan-yu Jun at that time hadn't absorbed the Red Star wish power at all, but had stored it in some way...

Only just now did he return that wish power, which originally belonged to Ji Xuan, to him.

"You can actually store Red Star wish power??" Chen Ling looked at the Ji Xuan before him in surprise. "How did you do it?"

Red Star wish power was mysterious and profound... Chen Ling couldn't even pick it up easily, yet the Ji Xuan before him had a way to store it for so long? And could return it to Ji Xuan just like that?

Xuan-yu Jun smiled slightly.

He held his sword, his gaze slowly sweeping over Chen Ling and the old friends behind him. No one knew what he was thinking at this moment. As the tip of his sword tapped lightly behind him, space-time collapsed violently in the void. Under the stirring of the sword edge, a visible time channel emerged behind him...

At this moment, Chen Ling felt the flow of time around him become chaotic, very much like when he was in the Embers of Civilization. But the chaos of the Embers of Civilization was more like a sea with undercurrents, while the Ji Xuan before him had pierced a vortex channel leading to the bottom of the deep sea with a single sword strike!

No one knew where this time channel led; perhaps it was the space-time where Xuan-yu Jun was supposed to exist.

Xuan-yu Jun’s clothes fluttered in front of the time channel. He took one last deep look at Chen Ling...

Then he said leisurely:

"Chen Ling..."

"I bring you greetings from the Seventh Generation Red King."

The moment he heard this, Chen Ling’s pupils contracted sharply!

After saying this, Xuan-yu Jun seemed to have completed his final task and turned to step into the time channel... As his figure disappeared, the chaotic time gradually returned to normal, and the void returned to calm, as if nothing had ever happened.

The light, drizzling rain continued to fall in the Shennongjia mountains, and the figure draped in the red-bottomed, black-patterned opera robe stood like a statue.