Zhao Xing narrowed his eyes at the question Bowe threw at him.
Then, without saying a word, he began sticking needles into himself.
Bowe looked a bit surprised, not sure what Zhao Xing was doing.
But he quickly realized Zhao Xing was using the Hou Transformation Technique.
"You trying to scan me?" Bowe guessed Zhao Xing's intent.
Zhao Xing didn't reply. In the blink of an eye, he transformed into a descendant of the Nine Marsh God.
He turned into a humanoid monster covered in dense purple-black fur, with a pair of blazing red eyes locked onto Bowe.
"Useless," Bowe said. "The gap between us is too wide. You won't see anything clearly."
And it was true. The level gap was massive. Even with his interface observation, Zhao Xing could only see Bowe's name.
So he didn't hesitate. He started eating.
Bowe's eye muscles twitched slightly. He was confused.
'What the hell? Now he's eating?'
"Boom~~"
The monster's face twisted in pain—Zhao Xing had just swallowed a Divine Law Pill left behind by Wei Tianchen.
Even when fighting Ai Yisuo, Zhao Xing hadn't gone all out. But just to get a look at Bowe, he not only stabbed himself with needles but also popped a Divine Law Pill.
Now, Zhao Xing's surface-level combat power had skyrocketed to a terrifying fourteenth stage!
This time, when he looked at Bowe again, something finally changed.
[Name: Bowe]
[Realm: Divine General Scholar (Sealed, Polluted)]
[Universal Divine Art: Third Tier (12/10000）]
Only two extra lines of info appeared, but Zhao Xing still smiled with satisfaction.
"Where did Old Qing go? Who am I? Why did the avatar of that Divine King show up… I honestly don't care that much."
A hoarse voice came from the monster's throat. Zhao Xing shrugged and turned to leave.
'Totally upside down. I'm usually the one using information gaps to bluff others—how could I let Bowe pull one on me?'
Now that he'd checked Bowe's info and watched his every move, Zhao Xing definitely felt something was off about him.
If Bowe claimed to be a Divine King, Zhao Xing might believe it.
But his Universal Divine Art wasn't even maxed out. He was just a Divine General!
More importantly, Bowe clearly hadn't anticipated Zhao Xing's actions. His surprise was obvious.
That meant some of the "facts" he knew might be flat-out wrong.
Once Zhao Xing stripped away the aura of "first-ever Divine Scholar in history," Bowe's words didn't carry much weight anymore.
And that title itself deserved a big fat question mark.
"Being sealed, I get it. He was locked up in the Reincarnation Tomb."
"But 'polluted'? What does that mean? Could he be corrupted by information?" Zhao Xing walked back, deep in thought.
"Scholars have universal methods and anti-universal countermeasures. Was he polluted by that present-day Divine King?"
But Zhao Xing soon lost interest. If Bowe wanted to talk, fine. If not, that was for the big shots to worry about.
'Do your job when you're in your post.' He was just a ninth-rank half-god—no need to stress over cosmic-level stuff. If the sky fell, someone taller would hold it up.
Granting Bowe parole? Zhao Xing didn't think he had that kind of influence. The Reincarnation Temple and Origin Heaven Palace weren't just decorations. They'd never allow it.
As long as he reached the divine realm one day, he'd eventually learn the truth. No need to let someone lead him by the nose.
"Boom~"
The bronze door shut behind him. When Zhao Xing came out, Gu Luohe was already waiting at the gate.
"Well?" Gu Luohe asked.
"Bowe wants freedom. He hopes the Reincarnation Temple will release him," Zhao Xing replied.
"After Senior Gu left, he only said one guess."
"Bowe thinks that the independent space is built from the soil of the Extreme Land, created by someone stronger than the Five Generations of Divine Emperors."
"He also said you could see the Extreme Star at the Five Emperors' Sealing Site."
Gu Luohe nodded. "If all five emperors once held sealing rites there, only the legendary site where the Extreme Land and Extreme Star appear together could make sense."
Honestly, he didn't need Bowe to say it. As a Shennong of the Self School and someone who had personally visited the White Bone Divine Domain, Gu Luohe already had that suspicion.
So Bowe's theory wasn't particularly shocking.
"He only told me because he thinks I might still be able to enter that space," Zhao Xing repeated Bowe's words nearly word for word.
"Can you still get in?" Gu Luohe asked.
"No," Zhao Xing shook his head. At least not right now. The sealing site was gray in color, and he didn't know what conditions had to be met to enter.
Gu Luohe nodded. This matched what the Great Emperor had guessed—that Zhao Xing, Wei Tianchen, and Bamboo Sword were caught in the space-time turbulence and pulled in. When the turbulence naturally smoothed out, they were released. None of the three likely had the power to enter or leave that place on their own.
Gu Luohe didn't actually trust Bowe either. He only made the trip because the Great Emperor said Bowe might have absorbed some information from endless space-time and could possibly know something useful.
"Bowe probably only said that to you because you were born in the Xuanhuang Realm," Gu Luohe said. "If the Xuanhuang Realm really holds part of the Extreme Land, then someone born here having certain special traits wouldn't be strange at all."
Zhao Xing looked puzzled. "Senior, since you've been there before, and your memories of space-time have returned, shouldn't you understand that place?"
Gu Luohe had been there himself, so it made sense he'd know more than Bowe.
Gu Luohe thought for a moment. "Even if I tell you, you might not remember in the future."
"But now that you're a half-god, you're qualified to hear it."
Zhao Xing listened silently.
"Before this, the Empire already knew a bit about the Xuanhuang Realm," Gu Luohe said as they walked out of the Reincarnation Temple passage and slowly made their way through the Dao-Ancient Layer.
"Back then, the Dongyan Ancient Clan's sacrifice destroyed the Yuanhai Ancient Kingdom and awakened an ancient god—that is, a naturally born divine spirit."
"At the time, the Dongyan Ancient Clan exploited internal conflict within the three factions of the Reincarnation Temple and stole a piece of the Derivation of the Divine Spirit Tablet."
"The Eighth King of Tianyou before the Desolate Era, after stepping down from the throne, entered the temple as a stone-watcher—Qing Yuzi. He also secretly moved one away during the internal chaos."
Hearing this, Zhao Xing suddenly understood. No wonder he had seen Qing Yuzi inside the Tianyou Ancient Kingdom's palace in the Realm Transmission Tower. No wonder Wei Tianchen had said Qing Yuzi was just a lantern-holder and tablet-watcher.
"The disaster caused by the Dongyan Ancient Clan was actually due to the power of the Divine Spirit Tablet. They used it to break the seal on space-time between past and present, reviving an ancient god into the current era."
"It's pretty amusing, actually," Gu Luohe smiled. "That Dongyan Ancient God didn't even want to come to the Desolate Era. But because of the natural flow of space-time laws, he was meant to live that long and be alive in this era… And with the ritual being incomplete, he was forcefully pulled into the present."
"Your Time Page worked especially well back then, also because of the laws of space-time in the universe," he added.
"Huh?" Zhao Xing was a little stunned.
Pulled into the present against his will?
Zhao Xing's expression turned strange.
A bunch of juniors had worked hard to gather materials and assemble divine artifacts, finally reversing the river of time just to bring that Dongyan Ancient God into the modern era.
But in the end, the guy didn't even want to come back.
Thinking about it, maybe those angry roars from the ancient god back then had meant, 'I don't want to return! You bastards, stop reviving me!'
It was kind of hilarious.
"Later, the Great Emperor, the Moon Palace Lord of Origin Heaven Palace, a palace lord from the Reincarnation Temple, and a divine realm expert from the Primordial Hill showed up."
"They didn't even use much effort before sending the ancient god away again," Gu Luohe said. "Because that Dongyan Ancient God also didn't want to live in the Desolate Era."
"But after that incident, the top human leaders realized that the Ritual Dao, when combined with divine artifacts, was extremely dangerous. It could destroy the built space-time barriers and open breaches."
"So, the Palace Lord of Origin Heaven Palace temporarily gathered the various sects' Xuanling historical books and weakened the Ritual Dao secret techniques again and again."
"And they erased all lower-level cultivators' memories related to the Yuanhai Ancient Kingdom and the Ritual Dao."
"To prevent it from happening again, the names of many gods once involved in rituals were also hidden."
"My father and Lanchuan's father were among them. One was the Heavenly God 'Gu Xiao', and the other the Earth God 'Yao Jun'."
"Even though they didn't practice the Ritual Dao, their rituals to heaven and earth naturally gave them similar powers. So their honorific titles were hidden for a while too."
"So that's why," Zhao Xing finally understood what had caused the giant mess at the Yuanhai Ancient Kingdom, and why he had no memory of the Heavenly God Gu Xiao and Earth God Yao Jun.
As they spoke, Gu Luohe led Zhao Xing out of the Dao-Ancient Layer and back into the Tianyou Ancient Kingdom's embassy.
Then they quickly traveled across the physical world of the Dao-Manifestation Layer, moving through most of the Tianyou Ancient Kingdom.
Along the way, both Gu Luohe and Zhao Xing saw statues of Qing Yuzi from when he was still a mortal king, before becoming a god.
Gu Luohe slowed his pace and pointed down. "Qing Yuzi quietly becoming a god actually broke some rules among the superpowers. Do you know why?"
Zhao Xing thought for a moment. "Because of the difference between a Free God and a True God of Calamity?"
"That's one reason," Gu Luohe nodded. "Free Gods and True Gods of Calamity are naturally opposed due to their methods of ascension, historical backgrounds, and the larger environmental context."
"Becoming a Free God means stealing the universe's source and using it for oneself."
"On the other hand, repairing heaven and earth and achieving the Dao through nature follows the universe's laws and borrows from the source, but doesn't damage it."
"You've just heard about that historical and environmental context."
"Because Free Gods often go through divine calamities, and the worse the environment is, the harder it is to steal the source. So eventually, they all head toward one path—'escaping into the past.'"
"That's why becoming a Free God in today's era is extremely difficult. The key resources are tightly controlled by the superpowers of the human race."
Hearing this, Zhao Xing couldn't help but admire Qing Yuzi's guts.
Not only did he take a shortcut to godhood, he even danced on the edge of the rules.
The Dongyan Ancient Clan had broken the rules and damaged the current space-time people lived in. But that wasn't Qing Yuzi's doing. He might've even tried to stop them. So the real culprits weren't him.
But the fact remained—he became a god through that method. It was bound to make others want to follow.
So in the end, what happened to Qing Yuzi?
"The Reincarnation Temple was clearly in the wrong on this one."
"Originally, all the materials and Dao origin the Dongyan Ancient Clan used were supposed to return to heaven and earth. But Qing Yuzi took a portion for himself. And now they can't exactly kill him."
"So most of the reincarnated souls were handed over to the Empire. A smaller part went to the Primordial Hill and Origin Heaven Palace, and the Reincarnation Realm also had to give up some of their quotas."
Gu Luohe said, "They had to deal with internal disputes first. This kind of compromise was necessary."
"One part of the deal was sending the now-divine Qing Yuzi back through different time periods to complete a task."
"That's why he made me promise to pass something on to you. He really isn't in this era anymore."
Zhao Xing finally understood why Old Qing never showed up again. Turns out, after becoming a god, the guy still had to go work.
As for what kind of job—it wasn't hard to guess.
Gu Luohe had just said Qing Yuzi had taken Dao origin, which had originally been stolen by the Dongyan Ancient Clan using the Derivation of the Divine Spirit Tablet.
If you treated that stuff like money, then it was stolen goods—used for 'illegally becoming a god.'
But Qing Yuzi wasn't some nobody. He was a member of the Reincarnation Temple. They couldn't just sacrifice him.
And what was the core belief of the Reincarnation Temple?
Balance.
So the lost resources—just have Qing Yuzi go retrieve them.
Zhao Xing figured the Temple's task for Qing Yuzi was basically to steal back resources from the past and restore balance to the Dao.
Thinking of this, Zhao Xing suddenly had a thought. "Senior, if that's the case, does it mean people from the Desolate Era also send people into the past?"
"Yes." Gu Luohe nodded. "Where there are those who run, there are also those who try to save."
"The divine realm experts who stayed in the Desolate Era were the ones who believed the universe still had a future. They wanted to fix the problems themselves."
"That's the moral path they insisted on."
"Bowe says all divine beings should die. Wei Tianchen sees them as parasites. They're not exactly wrong—but they're too extreme. They only represent one part of the divine realm, not everyone."
"As long as someone believes in that path, even if they don't follow the Dao of Heaven and Earth, they still have a chance to become divine in the Desolate Era."
"The Reincarnation Temple, the Primordial Hill, Origin Heaven Palace, and the Empire—they all offer the most outstanding genius of each era a chance to become a god."
"But of course, reaching that height comes with responsibility. If you used resources to ascend, then you also have to think about your people's future. You must go back and reclaim resources."
Zhao Xing nodded. He could imagine it now.
Two groups of gods with different philosophies. Using the Desolate Era as the dividing line, they built massive walls through space-time.
Gods from downstream wouldn't get hunted by those upstream. But the walls weren't completely sealed—there were still passages. You could travel to the past, and the past could send people to the present.
Maybe those five divine wars during the Five Emperors Era started like this. The scale was just much smaller now.
And as for Bowe's question—"Where did Qing Yuzi go?"—Zhao Xing got his answer from Gu Luohe.
Old Qing became a god, but it wasn't exactly through proper means. Now he had to 'return the Dao,' which pretty much meant paying off his debt by collecting survival resources for this timeline.
"Then what about those gods upstream in the time river—why do they even come back?" Zhao Xing asked.
"First, for self-preservation," Gu Luohe said. "Picture this: the eras build layers of space-time walls. If the moment you became a god is inside one of them, and you sneak off with resources to escape into the past..."
"If you get found out, then the faction maintaining balance will try everything to kill you—by striking you in the era before you grew powerful."
"Time and causality are one. Both can be threatened."
"Second, reversing the flow of time has a price. The laws of the universe's space-time aren't free."
"Weaker Free Gods need the protection of Divine Generals or Divine Kings just to survive in the past."
"And to get that protection, they often end up working for those evil god overlords."
Zhao Xing was speechless. So going back wasn't exactly a dream. If you were weak, you still ended up as someone's tool.
'Damn, might as well live it up in the Desolate Era. Why go back and wash dishes in the past? Got tricked by that 'ancient dream,' huh?'
From Gu Luohe's words, Zhao Xing learned that some arrivals were voluntary, others forced.
"The one Bowe released was already a Divine King. What's he doing in the Desolate Era?"
A weak god had to bounce around to survive, sure. But a Divine King? Someone like that probably already moved their entire foundation out of every timeline. Who could even chase them?
So why bother sending an avatar?
Gu Luohe thought for a bit. "To seize resources. To spread their teachings. Maybe out of hatred… too many reasons, I can't say for sure."
"I only know that this Divine King is called the Master of Cold Food."
Master of Cold Food? Zhao Xing muttered the name to himself, eyes growing sharper.
The Desolate Era's third epoch was supposed to bring a glacial age. Could that have been caused by the Master of Cold Food?
"Sounds like a god of heavenly timing…" Zhao Xing guessed.
The name really stood out—Cold Food Festival. It naturally sparked associations.
"Let's drop that for now. The Palace Lord is tracking him. He won't be able to stir up much," Gu Luohe said. "Let's get back to the main point."
"After the Yuanhai incident, Qing Yuzi became divine and paid the price. His method of ascension is now being studied by all sides."
Zhao Xing remembered Wei Tianchen. He had tried to retrace Qing Yuzi's steps to godhood and ended up in the Shenluo Barren Domain—but still hadn't found the Xuanhuang Realm's exact location.
Gu Luohe said thoughtfully, "There are many investigators. The obvious ones—Empire, Primordial Hill, Origin Heaven Palace. And the ones in the shadows—Shadow Sanctuary, the demon race…"
"But we all came up empty-handed."
Zhao Xing froze. So the Empire had already started investigating the Xuanhuang Realm that early? No wonder Old Qing warned him not to return too soon.
But... nothing found?
Could the Xuanhuang Realm's illusion concealment really have fooled all the major powers?
Zhao Xing decided to be more open. "Senior, my homeland isn't broken. I can still contact old friends there."
Gu Luohe seemed pleased with that answer. "I never said the Xuanhuang Realm was destroyed. Just because it can't be found doesn't mean it doesn't exist."
"If what Bowe said is true—that it's founded on the Extreme Land and watches over the Extreme Star, the Five Emperors' sealing site—then even if the Five Emperors Era ended and the Desolate Era affected it, a sacred place like that shouldn't disappear entirely."
Zhao Xing let out a breath. Good thing he was honest. Not that he planned to hide it anyway. After all, Ji Si had contacted Wang Tianzhi several times—it probably hadn't escaped the Celestial Master Manor's notice.
He intended to stand with the righteous Dao of Heaven and Earth. Hiding things wouldn't help.
He had already passed a trial once when he brought back the Void Ancestor Secret Method. This counted as his second.
"Senior, then why can't my homeland be found?" Zhao Xing asked, puzzled.
"I'm not sure either. My guess is that the Reincarnation Temple sealed it off," Gu Luohe replied.
Zhao Xing recalled something from one of Wang Tianzhi's descriptions in Xuanhuang Past Events.
After Martial Emperor Ji Che ascended, he passed the human emperor throne of the Great Zhou to Ji Chen.
Before the Xuanhuang Realm had fully transformed into the 'New Xuanhuang Realm' and kept expanding, the bottleneck for ascension from the Dao Establishment Realm still capped the human emperor's lifespan—no more than one thousand years.
Ji Chen died, then passed the throne to Ji Ze. Ji Ze also died.
Wang Tianzhi said: "After three generations, the current Central Great Zhou ruler is Human Emperor Ji Hong."
"After Ji Hong took the throne, the Book of Destiny, Human Emperor Sword, and Kun Yuan Hoe all appeared one after another."
That's when the Xuanhuang Realm began to change.
At the same time, Ji Hong attempted ascension. But as soon as he took off, he was shattered by black raindrops.
Assuming each emperor lived no more than one thousand years, three generations equaled roughly three thousand years.
That lined up with the timeline since Zhao Xing entered the cosmic version and went through the Yuanhai Ancient Kingdom incident.
So it made sense—the Reincarnation Temple likely sealed off the Xuanhuang Realm's location.
Everything checked out... Old Qing's warning not to return probably came from knowing about this seal. But was the seal only there to stop others from copying Qing Yuzi?
Zhao Xing fell into deep thought.
...
The rest of the journey was silent. Gu Luohe said nothing more, and Zhao Xing didn't ask any questions.
Only half a year later, when they returned to the Empire's territory, did Gu Luohe speak again.
"Zhao Xing, there's one thing you must remember."
"Please, go ahead," Zhao Xing said respectfully.
"You opened up the Ancient Path of Annihilated Stars, contributed to the Haitong Ancient Path, solved the Intersecting Realm Mountain problem, discovered the mysteries of the Lingxu Origin Realm, and now even helped me break a space-time seal by accident… You've done great things for the Empire."
"I've told you these secrets because you have a real chance at receiving resources to become divine. With your achievements, your future as a divine being in the Empire is full of promise."
Zhao Xing waited calmly, sensing the 'but' coming.
"But!" Gu Luohe's tone sharpened. "Whether you choose the path of Origin or the Dao of Heaven and Earth, if you ever betray this era and escape into the past, you'll be my enemy—and the Great Emperor's."
"No matter which time period you flee to, we will hunt you down and ensure your total annihilation."
Zhao Xing didn't offer any grand words of loyalty. He simply bowed and nodded to show he understood.
This was about choosing sides. No one could guarantee that the divine-level beings they nurtured wouldn't turn on them—especially after being sent to past eras for missions. It was far too easy to defect.
Right now, Zhao Xing was unstoppable. He had merit, technique, talent... Even if the Red Star Empire didn't offer divine resources, the Primordial Hill certainly would.
Worst case, if he left the Empire and joined Origin Heaven Palace or the Reincarnation Temple, he'd still be treated just as well. That was his personal fortune.
...
"Gu Luohe saw that, which is why he said so much and revealed all those secrets."
In the Coral City's Huailiu Courtyard, in the Origin Realm of the Empire, on his first day back, Zhao Xing was reviewing intelligence from the past two thousand years. He was also deeply merging memories from his soul clones, not missing a single detail.
"But there's always some idiot who doesn't know what's good for them and still wants to block my rise."
Zhao Xing's eyes landed on a classified file.
Sparks Confidential File · Desolate Era Second Epoch · 1198 · Eighty-Seven
Great Zhou Confidential File · Desolate Era Second Epoch · 1198 · One Four Five Three
Two different documents, written in different formats, but both described the same event: a sudden, unexplained attack on the Annihilated Star Path project one thousand four hundred fifty-three years ago, and a coordinated economic strike against the Great Zhou Chamber of Commerce.
Both investigations pointed in the same direction.
"Carlos Family." Zhao Xing's gaze turned cold.