Chapter 1916: The Hidden Thread Emerges

Li Laide walked across the desolate land of the Gray Realm.

His British-style coat fluttered in the wind; he was like a silent ghost, moving alone through the dim world, head bowed in deep thought.

He believed that among Ying Fu’s subordinates, there must be someone who possessed the [Heart Python], or some other method to erase memories. With that emperor’s intellect and strength, it could certainly be done well... but Ying Fu had to guard the Chengtian Realm. This meant that, excluding Chengtian, the memories in seven other realms still needed to be erased.

The problem was, even though Li Laide had become this powerful and possessed the strongest [Heart Python] in history, he still couldn't swallow the memories of tens of millions of people regarding the Red Star and Chen Ling. The total volume was simply too vast; even Li Laide couldn't withstand the consumption. The [Heart Python] would surely be burst from within.

To swallow everyone’s memories, he had to become even stronger...

"I need more Red Star wish power."

Li Laide muttered to himself.

But now, all the Jiangtian Cults on Earth had been drained by him. In that battle not long ago, excluding the parts ignited by the Seven Monarchs, the remaining fragments had been reorganized by the core...

Where was he supposed to find more Red Star wish power?

Li Laide’s brow furrowed tighter and tighter.

"Just as his thoughts reached a dead end,"

"In the void not far away, space-time rippled layer upon layer, and a figure in a white lab coat stumbled out from within!"

"'Holy crap...'"

"'It actually worked... tampering with mass via the Higgs boson really can open a wormhole for time travel?!'"

"'I actually made it to the future?!'"

"'Hahahahahaha!!!'"

"'I'm a damn genius!'"

"A youthful figure cheered and jumped for joy in the Gray Realm, excited like a child."

"Li Laide stared blankly at the figure, frozen in place like a statue."

"For the first time, he felt the world was so magical and absurd."

"At this moment,"

"Li Qingshan’s final words echoed in his ears:"

"'The scales of victory will eventually tilt in our favor.'"

……

"What did you say?"

Sun Bumian turned to look at Liu Qingyan in surprise. "Other than the four [K] cards of the Twilight Society... the first person to ascend to the Eighth Rank has appeared?"

"...Yes," Liu Qingyan nodded. "I was surprised too."

"Is it the Queen of Hearts?"

"No."

"Then who is it?"

"...[Eight of Diamonds]."

Sun Bumian was stunned.

It took him a long while to remember who the Eight of Diamonds actually was... he spoke in disbelief:

"How could it be him?"

"He received the true teachings of an Eighth Rank Book God path. After coming out of seclusion, he ascended to the Eighth Rank."

"???" Sun Bumian was baffled. "How have I never heard of a divine path where the rank can be 'passed down'?"

"It's my first time hearing of it too," Liu Qingyan said, pulling a book from somewhere.

"But I went to check the records later and found that similar cases occurred during the Song Dynasty... so it's not unprecedented, just a very low probability that we happened to run into."

Sun Bumian took the book and looked; among the dense historical records, there was indeed a line:

"In the autumn of the third year of Qingli, a certain Mr. Huang of the Eighth Rank Book Path passed away at home; his son received the heart-blood transmission and entered the Eighth Rank overnight."

"...It's actually possible?"

Sun Bumian muttered to himself, "How have I never heard of this... but then again, there are so many people in this world, it's normal for there to be things I don't know..."

Just as the two were talking, Li Qingshan, who was sitting in a chair resting with his eyes closed, suddenly felt something and slowly opened his eyes.

He rubbed his chin with one hand, as if pondering something.

"Mr. Chen, what do you think?"

He looked back behind him.

"Something is wrong," the Red-Clad Actor replied without hesitation. "The Bookman shouldn't have ascended to the Eighth Rank at this time, and the method is too bizarre..."

"Is it a bad thing?"

"No..."

The Red-Clad Actor pondered for a moment. "Perhaps it's because of something I did on the Red Star; otherwise, this is all too coincidental."

The "Chen Ling" in Li Qingshan’s [True Self Performance] only had memories up to the moment Chen Ling released the audience and shot himself with the revolver, but he possessed the same way of thinking as Chen Ling, and his perspective on things was identical.

He could feel that behind the Bookman’s inexplicable ascension to the Eighth Rank, there must be an invisible hand at work.

He calculated carefully in his heart and suddenly realized something.

"Invite the Eight of Diamonds over; I need him to help me deliver a letter."

……

The invisible Heart Python slowly crawled down from Ji Xuan.

This naive Ji Xuan from the past stood stunned for a long time before coming back to his senses:

"You mean... you want me to go back to the past and help you collect the Red Star fragments that were knocked into space by nuclear missiles?"

"That’s right, Lord Xuanyu," Li Laide said, placing a hand on his chest like a gentleman who had admired Ji Xuan for a long time, speaking respectfully. "This era is the worst of eras. We are trying everything we can to fight the Red Star... but here, there are no more Red Star fragments left."

"Now, only you, who can open wormholes and travel through time, can reverse the past and save the humans of this era."

"Hmm... I suppose I can, but can Red Star fragments really be collected?"

"Yes."

Li Laide took off his top hat and handed it to Ji Xuan. "This hat can steal anything; it can also contain Red Star fragments."

Ji Xuan took the hat, examined it carefully for a while, and nodded slightly:

"Alright, I understand."

"One more thing, you need to be careful of the man named Lou Yu among you," Li Laide said solemnly. "I encountered him in the archives of my era. Personally, I think his style of doing things is extremely radical, and he will kill innocent people in the future... If possible, don't let him grow too fast."

Li Laide had swallowed the memories of five generations of Twilight Society members with the [Heart Python] and knew what Wuji Jun had done. Li Laide himself had also been active in the era archives with [Primordial] for a long time and had dealt with this Wuji Jun... He knew how uncontrollable this guy was. If he were to restart the world as the Seventh Generation Red King in the future, Wuji Jun would definitely become an obstacle.

"Kill innocent people??" Ji Xuan’s brows locked together. "In my impression, Dr. Lou doesn't seem like that kind of person..."

The Heart Python coiled on Ji Xuan’s shoulder and bit him hard again.

"I understand," Ji Xuan nodded. "In that case, I will keep an eye on him."

"One more thing..."

Li Laide paused for a moment. "If you meet Chen Ling in the past, try not to interact with him. As I just told you, he doesn't know the future direction himself. Rashly communicating with him might change history..."

"However, you can help me bring him a message..."

"What?"

The corners of Li Laide’s mouth curled up slightly:

"The Seventh Generation Red King... sends his regards."