Through Tian Shu's account, Feng Qi gained a deeper understanding of why he had chosen to seal himself within an underground prison.
At the time, Tian Shu, in a state of loss of control, had pursued domain creatures back to the human world but lacked the ability, like Mu Yan, to return to Path of Ascension.
At that moment, he was essentially a ticking time bomb.
He could lose control at any moment, and during those episodes, he had no ability to restrain himself.
What made it worse was that the duration of his uncontrolled state was unpredictable.
It could last for a few hours, or it could stretch for several days. No place was truly safe.
There was even a possibility that he would rampage into human cities while in that state.
For the newly established cultivation system within human cities at the time, this would have been a catastrophe.
With no way to find Mu Yan, and unable to resolve his instability, Tian Shu had no choice but to seal himself away.
Only this way could he prevent his existence from becoming a threat to human civilization.
After hearing his reasoning, Feng Qi couldn't help but ask:
"Tian Shu-dàshū, I understand why you chose to seal yourself, but do you really believe that the metal used in this prison could withstand your strength when you're out of control? Did humanity already have the ability to create such special materials back then?"
As he spoke, Feng Qi cast his gaze toward the metal bars.
"This special metal isn't ordinary—it's one of the valuable treasures I obtained while guarding Path of Ascension. Not only can it absorb force, but it also has the ability to seal power."
Saying this, Tian Shu looked at Feng Qi and said:
"You can try touching it, and you'll understand what I mean."
Hearing this, Feng Qi didn't hesitate. He stepped forward, reached out, and pressed his hand against the metal bars.
Immediately, he felt an icy sensation seep into his bones, and the Purple Soul imprint on his skeleton instinctively activated, resisting the suppressive force attempting to invade him.
"In addition to these bars, which suppress the activity of spiritual energy, the shackles on my hands and feet are made from Primordial Black Iron, which possesses immense durability and toughness."
As he spoke, Tian Shu extended his hands, revealing the black metallic cuffs around his wrists.
As he studied them, Feng Qi was surprised to find the material looked strikingly familiar.
Thinking carefully, he realized it seemed to be the same type of metal used in the massive stele outside Star City Shelter.
With that thought in mind, he immediately asked:
"Tian Shu-dàshū, I understand that you gathered many precious relics while defending Path of Ascension, including these special metals. But I'm curious—how exactly did you bring them back to the human world? You were in a state of uncontrolled rampage at the time, so you couldn't have consciously carried them with you, right?"
Upon hearing the question, Tian Shu smirked and turned around, revealing the Divine Mark on his back.
As the pattern on his body shimmered, a spatial vortex slowly appeared.
From within it, a black iron block the size of a human head dropped to the ground, landing with a heavy thud.
"The Divine Mark that the Old Woman—Mu Yan—gave me has another special ability. It allows me to create a personal storage space where I can keep various items. The size of this space grows as the Divine Mark strengthens. After returning to the human world, I handed over a large portion of the treasures I brought back to Star City's Military Department."
"Hiss…"
Understanding now, Feng Qi couldn't hide his shock.
A space-type ability—he had only heard about it in passing, but he had never actually seen it.
Yet Tian Shu possessed such an ability.
This explained why, even in an uncontrolled state, he was able to bring these rare metals back.
It was highly likely that when Star City constructed the Shelter, they had used the special metals that Tian Shu had provided.
The strength of these metals was undeniable.
They might be ineffective against Little Black, but their ability to resist other domain creatures was exceptional.
One type of metal suppressed power, while another restrained the body—this prison was clearly built as a personal sealing chamber for Tian Shu, almost like a coffin.
He had been waiting for Mu Yan.
If she never appeared, he would likely have spent the rest of his life sealed in this place.
From a historical perspective, this seemed to be Tian Shu's ultimate fate.
As they continued chatting, Tian Shu began sharing more details about Path of Ascension.
To him, Path of Ascension's warriors were like frontline border soldiers, guarding the main routes leading to the human world, blocking the vast majority of domain forces attempting to invade.
On a previous timeline, Old Mist had mentioned in his accounts that before leading his tribe to break through into the human world, he had encountered the Path of Ascension warriors trying to stop him. In the end, only he survived.
However, based on the timeline, the Path of Ascension warrior Old Mist encountered was clearly not Tian Shu.
After all, Tian Shu had been sealed away for more than 400 years. He hadn't returned to Path of Ascension, nor had he had any contact with the outside world.
This proved that there were still many powerful humans guarding Path of Ascension.
But how many human powerhouses remained there, Tian Shu himself couldn't say.
He had only ever guarded Route 32, along with its surrounding sub-routes, and had minimal contact with warriors from other routes.
For over 30 years, he had fought alone without encountering any other humans.
So, Tian Shu was not entirely sure about the subsequent developments of Path of Ascension.
As for why the Path of Ascension warriors, stationed at the boundary between two worlds, did not choose to return and help rebuild human civilization, Feng Qi now had a clear answer after Tian Shu's explanation.
First reason: The Path of Ascension warriors were likely unaware of the grave crises humanity was facing.
For example, in Tian Shu's view, the challenges facing human civilization were gradually diminishing, and the reconstruction of major cities had already entered a stable phase. As long as they held out a little longer and weathered the most difficult period, humanity would gradually regain the upper hand in its struggle against the domain forces.
Clearly, the other Path of Ascension warriors shared Tian Shu's perspective.
Fighting at the first defensive line of humanity, they were unaware that the reality behind the scenes was far worse than they had imagined.
They believed that as long as they guarded Path of Ascension, humanity's advantage would continue to grow.
Second reason: If the Path of Ascension warriors returned to the human world, the disaster level faced by humanity would escalate dramatically.
This issue was quite straightforward.
While stationed at the first defensive line, all the Path of Ascension warriors had to do was hunt down the domain forces attempting to pass through.
But if they chose to return to the human world and participate in rebuilding civilization alongside the rest of humanity, the challenges they faced would multiply.
A massive increase in domain creatures would be an absolute catastrophe for ordinary people.
The human world was much larger than Path of Ascension, and the workload of the Path of Ascension warriors would increase exponentially. Beyond just repelling domain fields, they would also have to defend cities from sudden domain creature attacks.
The duty of "protection" might sound simple, but the actual price was far from easy to bear.
The number of Path of Ascension warriors was ultimately limited. Choosing to shift their battlefield into the human world would undoubtedly bring catastrophe to all of humanity.
By stationing themselves at Path of Ascension, they were still able to block most of the invading forces.
Some forces, like the Mist Lord, even if they managed to break through, would be severely weakened, with most of their tribe annihilated.
Others, like Little Cripple, were merely lucky enough to find an obscure, hidden route and successfully lead their entire tribe across.
But such successful domain forces were always a minority.
From the Path of Ascension warriors' perspective, these domain creatures that managed to break through were formidable challenges for humanity, but they believed the human warriors in the rear would handle them.
To alleviate this pressure, children raised in Path of Ascension were sent back to the human world. They would join the supply zone frontlines, gain combat experience, and eventually return to Path of Ascension.
These children were not only being trained in battle but also serving as information gatherers for the Path of Ascension warriors, helping to collect intelligence from the human world.
For instance, Lü Yue.
As a descendant of the Lü family swordsmanship lineage, he had clearly been taken to Path of Ascension by Mu Yan in the past.
Upon reaching adulthood, he was then sent back to the human world.
According to Lü Yue's original growth trajectory, he would have eventually joined the front-line forces in the supply zones, becoming a warrior on the battlefield. Then, after completing his training, he would return to Path of Ascension.
During this period, he would have provided valuable intelligence about the human world.
However, this intelligence did not include information about the hidden domain infiltrators.
After all, ordinary frontline warriors had no access to such information.
Had the Path of Ascension warriors been aware that the major cities had long since been infiltrated and corrupted by domain forces, they would have undoubtedly withdrawn some of their forces rather than continuing to fight on the frontlines.
In conclusion, the various factions of humanity were unaware of the existence of Path of Ascension.
At the same time, the Path of Ascension warriors could only see the surface-level progress of human civilization, unable to perceive the turbulent undercurrents hiding in the shadows.
In fact, if not for his ability to traverse different timelines, Feng Qi would never have realized just how much darkness was hidden beneath the seemingly stable progress of human civilization.
So, he could understand why the Path of Ascension warriors did not choose to retreat back to the human world.
Thinking about this, Feng Qi raised his head and looked at Tian Shu, who was still bound in chains inside the prison, and curiously asked:
"Tian Shu-dashu, how much do you know about Mu Yan?"
Hearing this question, Tian Shu shook his head helplessly.
"Honestly, I don't know much about that old woman. I've asked her more than once about her background, but every time, she'd just ruffle my hair and laugh, then tell me she was a 'super invincible beautiful girl!'"
"For someone who has lived for who knows how many years, she always gave me the feeling of an overgrown chūnibyō girl!"
Mu Qing, who had been quietly listening, suddenly spoke up.
"Ah Qi, if the timeline follows its natural course, would I meet Mu Yan in the future?" she asked with curiosity.
Feng Qi nodded without hesitation.
"According to the original timeline, in the future, you will establish the Dawn Battle Group, which will later develop into the Dawn Army. During this period, Mu Yan will join the Dawn Army and assist in its development."
"After your death, Mu Yan will become the second leader of the Dawn Army, continuing to command the resistance against various forces. Eventually, when the Dawn Army is on the verge of collapse, she will completely disappear, becoming a historical mystery."
Hearing this, Mu Qing nodded in thought.
At this moment, Tian Shu added:
"That sounds exactly like something the old woman would do. I can say for sure that when she left, she must have been filled with reluctance, but she would not have hesitated. She always thinks from the perspective of all humanity. She would never choose to fight to the death just because of a single failure."
"To her, failure is the norm. It does not shake her resolve in the slightest. She would still go searching for the next miracle, continuing her fight for the survival of human civilization."
Hearing Tian Shu's explanation, Feng Qi nodded.
"She really is a strange person… By the way, Tian Shu-dashu, you seem to know something about the rune crystal that Mu Qing has?"
The origins of the Crimson Rune Crystal had always been a mystery.
But Feng Qi had a general guess—the original owner of the Crimson Rune Crystal must have been an extremely powerful and terrifying being.
Every time Mu Qing entered battle mode, the shadowy figure that would momentarily appear seemed to be the previous master of the Crimson Rune Crystal.
Hearing his question, Tian Shu turned his gaze to Mu Qing, a look of recollection flashing in his eyes.
After a brief silence, he slowly spoke.
"I don't know much about this Crimson Origin, but I do know that Mu Yan valued it very highly. During the time I spent with her, I often saw her holding it, playing with it, and researching it."
"During this period, she attempted to implant the Crimson Origin into domain creatures. The results were horrifying. The creatures would instantly become incredibly powerful, their strength increasing a hundredfold. But in the end, none of them could control its power. They all exploded and died."
"I was still young at the time, and I once asked the old woman if she could give me this beautiful gem as a gift."
"She told me that this gem was not something I could handle. Even if she gave it to me, I wouldn't be able to use it. If I forcibly tried to integrate with it, I would die instantly. Its rightful owner had not yet appeared."
"After that, I started feeling a little afraid of the Crimson Origin. Until one day, I suddenly noticed it had disappeared."
"That really confused me. Normally, the old woman was inseparable from the Crimson Origin, but suddenly, for several days in a row, she didn't take it out to examine it. That was completely unlike her."
"When I asked her about it, she told me this—
'The power within the Crimson Origin is something no human at this stage can control. There is only one way to use it—to dismantle its power structure, leaving behind only its growth trait.'
'In other words, it means giving up the power that the Crimson Origin provides and keeping only its ability to help someone grow. This is the only way a human can bear it, using its properties to rapidly strengthen themselves.'
'I don't have the time to analyze the structure of the Crimson Origin myself, so I've been looking for a miracle that could solve this problem. And I think I've found one. I funded his research and helped him establish a laboratory. Now, all that's left is to wait for the miracle to bloom.'
"So in the end, the old woman must have found someone capable of unraveling the Crimson Origin's secrets and left the task in his hands. Whether he succeeded or not, I don't know… But judging by the current situation, it seems he did."
As he spoke, Tian Shu turned to look at Mu Qing again.
Hearing this, Feng Qi shook his head.
"Actually, he failed. But he trained an even better successor. Her name was Wei Wei. She was the one who successfully deciphered the Crimson Origin's power, allowing it to be implanted into Mu Qing."
"I see." Tian Shu nodded, then continued.
"I may not know the true origins of the Crimson Origin, but I can guess that it must have come from an incredibly powerful domain creature—perhaps even a Pillar God. Otherwise, Mu Yan wouldn't have valued it so much."
"From what you've described, in the future, Mu Yan will personally guide Mu Qing's growth. That means she had always been keeping an eye on the Crimson Origin. Clearly, Mu Qing is the miracle she had been waiting for—one of the most important miracles."
Hearing this, Mu Qing sighed.
"Too bad, in the end, I still failed." she said regretfully.
"Mu Qing-jie, this timeline is just beginning." Feng Qi reminded her.
Hearing Feng Qi's words, Mu Qing immediately stuck out her tongue and said:
"Oops, sorry! I guess I said something unlucky."
At that moment, Feng Qi turned back to Tian Shu and continued asking:
"Tian Shu-dashu, I have another question. Do you know of a type of small, blue-skinned domain creature?"