Light Fortress
Chapter 684 - 191: From the Old World

Chapter 684: Chapter 191: From the Old World

Under the Suxuan Tree, fallen petals were scattered like a vibrant mosaic.

Gu Changzhi removed Master Qianye’s mask.

Beneath the quiet and docile flower cat mask was a face smeared with fresh blood and tears, its features crumbled.

Master Qianye never removed her mask.

It was because the "Divination Skill" had extracted most of her physical body.

One half of her cheek had collapsed, turning into golden threads... Even so, it was still apparent that she was a woman of extreme beauty, her brows and eyes exuding an otherworldly and cold temperament.

Gu Changzhi reached out his hand and gently wiped across her cheek.

The feeble "Battle Flame," radiating its last twilights, enveloped her, and that half-destroyed face was repaired by Divine Power, pieced back together like shattered porcelain.

Gu Shen stood afar, his heart could not bear the sight.

He could feel the aura of death drifting all around under the Suxuan Tree.

Therefore, Gu Shen tried his best to operate "Spring Breathing" in an attempt to retain as much of Master Qianye’s life force as possible, to keep it in this wilderness... but this time, he failed.

That aura of death transformed into wind, scattering with the slightest blow.

Yes.

He was not the true "Netherworld King," and even if the true "Netherworld King" was here, he could not defy the most supreme law between heaven and earth.

Once dead, you cannot be revived.

This Pure Land could at most retain a wisp of spirit.

And this, in itself, was a miracle.

"Xiao Gu... no need to waste your strength anymore," Master Qianye sensed the oncoming spring breeze, seeing through Gu Shen’s intention. He wanted to use special powers to hold onto her rapidly dissipating soul.

She softly laughed and said, "I have made up my mind."

The Pure Land could never retain the "deceased" who are determined to leave.

For Master Qianye, her greatest wish had already been fulfilled.

If Gu Changzhi could not live long in this world.

Why should she continue to live alone?

Obsession is a terrifying thing; it can carry you through million miles, but once you reach the end... there is no more drive to continue.

Now.

She was tired.

She didn’t want to go on anymore.

Gu Changzhi had found Bai Shu to inherit the "Battle Fire."

And she had also found the perfect successor to inherit Divination Skill and the Tomb Array Patterns... Grasping the divinatory gold threads for so long, to receive such a gift from fate, was a most splendid ending.

All of this was as Master Qianye had said before.

She was content.

"Teacher..."

Gu Shen heard her inner voice, felt Master Qianye’s resolve, and without a word, he silently dispersed the thread of spring that surrounded the Suxuan Tree.

For him.

This year, accompanied by Master Qianye day and night, she had become his mentor who taught him his craft.

Though he had not mastered Divination Skill, he had comprehensively grasped the ancient scripts of the cemetery.

Master Qianye withheld nothing from him.

This kindness, he had not yet had the chance to repay.

"Cough..."

Master Qianye coughed deeply as the Battle Divine Fire temporarily mended her shattered body, she slowly sat up from Gu Changzhi’s arms and then leaned on the old tree, trying her best to stand steady, albeit with difficulty.

But at this moment, she was able to move.

Locking eyes with Gu Changzhi.

Master Qianye softly said, "I think... I would like to see Miss Chu."

She had words to say to Chu Ling.

...

...

Soon, Chu Ling arrived in the Pure Land.

She had visited Gu Shen’s "Vast Wilderness" more than once.

She had seen the expansive grassland and experienced all its ruins turning into desolation, but... she had never imagined that the Pure Land would one day become this magnificent, the towering Suxuan Tree being truly astonishing.

Now, with only one giant tree, it still seemed a bit empty.

But she was sure.

In the future, the Pure Land would definitely be beautiful!

Underneath the giant tree stood the woman whose life was withering away, appearing youthful again due to the burning of Battle Divine Power. Even with a gentle smile on her face and the ethereal air between her brows and eyes, one could easily feel wistful.

She truly did not seem like a mortal woman.

But... compared to Chu Ling, she still fell short.

After all, Chu Ling really wasn’t a mortal woman.

This was Chu Ling’s first time seeing the Tomb Guardian’s true face. Having guarded Changye for twenty years, no one knew what lay beneath that flower cat mask.

[Deep Sea] had certainly tried to capture this important information.

Unfortunately.

All attempts had failed.

Since Master Qianye arrived in the human world, entered Qingzhong, she had never removed her mask.

This was an incredibly mysterious woman, her origins unknown, her mentorship a mystery, arriving at Qingzhong Cemetery with the world’s most arcane "Divination Skill," standing strong against wind and rain ever since.

In the hearts of millions in Changye, Master Qianye was the irreplaceable "Guardian" during the slumber of the Divine Throne.

Often, her word was taken as "Divine Oracle!"

The trials of these twenty years had forged a unique and profound authority.

Now... she was leaving.

This immense grace would naturally fall upon the "Disciple".

"You’ve come."

Master Qianye looked at Chu Ling with a smile in her eyes. The more she looked at this second disciple taken in by Gu Shen for her, the more she liked her... Anyone who looked at Chu Ling would feel the same.

The red ribbons of the sacrificial attire fluttered with the wind.

Chu Ling approached Master Qianye, noticing that the Tomb Guardian’s spiritual state was a bit off... Despite the smile on her face, her soul was slowly dissipating.

All of this was but a final glimmer of light before the end.

Chu Ling’s voice was somewhat hoarse and perplexed, "Do you... have something to tell me?"

This was the final moment.

Master Qianye had finally waited for Gu Changzhi, and Chu Ling had thought that they would spend these last moments entirely with each other.

Saying this, she looked towards the other side of the giant tree.

Gu Changzhi and Gu Shen were nearby, also talking about something.

"There’s something important... I need to tell you."

Master Qianye let out a soft laugh.

She gazed longingly at the wilderness and spoke of a staggering revelation in a gentle voice.

"Actually... I’m not from this world."

"...?!"

Even Chu Ling, who was usually unflappable, now wore a look of astonishment.

She stared at Master Qianye in shock.

Not from this world?

"I came from... there."

Master Qianye stretched out a hand, pointing towards a distant direction. She was pointing beyond the Pure Land, beyond the world outside of the Qingzhong Mausoleum...

It was the north.

In the far north of the Five Continents World lay countless, immeasurable giant walls, Fortresses.

There were Source Energy Airships and heavily guarded troops because, beyond the giant walls, lay fragmented Order Collapse Black Spots... More accurately, swathes of collapsing Black Holes, which had already spread and engulfed the Old World entirely.

This was indeed a bombshell.

Master Qianye was from a place even further north of North Continent...

The Old World.

No wonder, her information was always kept secret. The Federation Government could never find her past records, not because she had evaded Deep Sea’s scrutiny but because she had never lived under the watchful eye of Deep Sea.

And no wonder she always wore a mask.

The face beneath the mask did not match the fundamental features of the Five Continent Region. If people were to look at it for too long, doubts would arise.

Chu Ling spoke in a complex tone, murmuring, "So there really are people... from there."

Always, both Deep Sea and the Transcendents who knew the true nature of the world held a pessimistic view about the so-called rumors of the Old World. The giant wall defenses of North Continent were so dire that every year they had to exert all their strength just to ensure the defensive walls weren’t breached. In such conditions, how could there be "survivors"?

Let alone the so-called "oasis"!

Master Qianye smiled and said, "I hope, too, that there are people there."

Chu Ling was taken aback again... What did this mean?

"Over twenty years ago, I woke up from a hibernation pod with fragmented memories, having lost so much... The only things I clearly remember are some scattered ancient characters and the ’Divination Skill’ linked to fate."

"The world outside was filled with Black Holes brought about by the Order’s Collapse. In the distance lay a broken and vast mothership, eroded almost completely. My hibernation pod was located in a tiny crevice where I fortunately survived."

Master Qianye waved her sleeve, gathering her remaining spiritual power to conjure the scene she had witnessed then.

It was a vision of destruction from many years ago.

A massive ship of staggering proportions, being consumed by Black Holes, riddled with gaping wounds.

The current technology of the Five Continents... seemed unable to create the "mothership" that Master Qianye described. From the remnants of that vision alone, Chu Ling tentatively deduced that the mothership could easily accommodate two hundred Source Energy Airships of North Continent.

That amounted to the entire airborne combat power of three major Fortresses.

Master Qianye said casually, "I used my Divination Skill to seek a glimmer of hope, but the result was despairing... I had no chance even to open the pod door. Any slight vibration of the pod’s hull, and I would be instantly devoured by the Black Hole and die."

Chu Ling could imagine the desperation of that moment.

She murmured a question, "That mothership... was it the oasis?"

"I don’t know."

Master Qianye shook her head. "I still haven’t recovered the lost memories... To this day, I don’t know what I’ve been through or what that ruined scene signifies."

"How were you... rescued?" Chu Ling asked again.

The mothership had been sunk.

Beneath the countless Black Holes, how could one seek survival?

She could not think of the slightest way out.

But upon voicing the question... she suddenly realized, the answer to this query was actually quite simple.

Master Qianye smiled, gazing not far off towards the Suxuan Tree, her eyes filled with tenderness, "I encountered Gu Changzhi."

Every year, the North Continent Fortress sent out "Investigation Corps" to scour the fog of the Old World, attempting to find a path to the bright oasis.

But these people could only travel a limited distance.

Same with the Divine Throne, it too would travel beyond the Five Continents.

Master Qianye had not shared the environment she depicted with the Federation Government.

Clearly, this was a profound secret.

Only the Divine Throne could venture so far into the depths of the Old World!

...

...

(PS: This Chapter is a supplementary update. Making up for last night’s Chapter.)

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