Chapter 1 Majestic Statue

The towering statue stretched a hundred meters high.

Gu Shen stood beneath it, choosing to trust his intuition, refraining from hasty action.

The black gem, inlaid on the statue’s forehead, was too conspicuous, flashing with an eerie light, drawing all eyes; in the depths of this dark hall, it was almost the only source of light.

Mu Wanqiu stared at it for a moment, then said, "This gem... it looks like it can be taken down?"

As soon as she said that, she shook her head, quickly dismissing her idea, muttering to herself, "This underworld palace is strange in every way. Maybe this gem hides some mechanism... It's better not to move it rashly."

The memory of that knife strike in the maze served as a lesson.

"When I pushed the door open just now, I felt like there was a path behind this huge rock wall."

Mu Wanqiu suddenly remembered something and said seriously, "Wind was blowing from behind the rock wall."

"Another exit behind the rock wall?"

Gu Shen was slightly startled upon hearing this, and only then did he notice that there was indeed a constant, chilling wind seeping out from the cracks in the huge rock wall.

It was just too dark there, a deep abyss.

Making it easy to overlook.

The entire underground underworld palace was a linking point, but this place was an exception.

This statue was one that could truly be pushed open.

Then where would it lead?

Gu Shen slowly took two steps forward.

The pendant was completely calm... The unfailing karmic weapon seemed to have lost its power of "sensing" here.

He had to be prepared to face the ominous.

In the darkness, the wind blew continuously, eerie and cold.

Gu Shen lit a blazing fire, barely illuminating a small area. Mu Wanqiu, following closely behind, also tried to light a fire, but ordinary flames could not sustain combustion and extinguished immediately upon ignition.

As the judge raised the flame, the surroundings of the two gradually became brighter and clearer.

Two giant walls nearly a hundred meters high sandwiched the two in a boundless, long "corridor." Lighting it up at this moment only made one feel more suffocated and oppressed.

"There are words here."

Mu Wanqiu exclaimed in surprise.

The judge held up the flame, illuminating the black rock wall on one side.

Engraved on the rock wall were incomprehensible "ancient characters"... The history of this rock wall seemed to be very long. These carved ancient characters had endured years of wind, vaguely giving off a sense of dryness, cracking, and decay.

Seeing these ancient characters, Mu Wanqiu's eyes showed disappointment.

She knew that the more these characters appeared, the higher the research value of this underground ruin.

She also knew that no matter how high the value of these characters, it would be meaningless if she couldn't understand a single word.

"Wait a minute..."

The next moment.

Mu Wanqiu's voice became surprised, "There are annotations below these ancient characters?!"

The rock wall was too large, and there were large gaps when each ancient character was carved... And what was incredible was that someone had written next to these gaps.

Gu Shen came behind Mu Wanqiu, looked at the rock wall, and fell silent.

Throughout history, the greatest characteristic of ancient characters... was that they could only be understood intuitively, not conveyed through words. But... if someone recorded an event in ancient characters, those who understood it could of course convert it into words and write it down.

"Did a second person really come to this ghostly place...?"

Mu Wanqiu stared blankly at the annotations on the rock wall, reaching out to touch them with her fingertips. These annotations were clearly added later.

She really couldn't figure it out.

What kind of deity had the ability to come to this place, the ability to understand these characters... and also had the leisure to leave their "annotations" on the rock wall?

...

...

"Let me state in advance, I didn't loot this place."

This was the first sentence at the beginning of the rock wall.

It was also the first sentence that the "mysterious translator" left for those who came later.

Gu Shen and Mu Wanqiu exchanged glances and fell silent.

After discovering the "annotations," the two of them did subconsciously assume that emptying the hall was the work of this translator.

Seeing this sentence, they had the feeling of being seen through.

"When I arrived, it was already like this... I imagine there won't be more things when you arrive."

The second sentence was still the truth.

However, Gu Shen vaguely felt that something was strange.

He noticed a word.

"You..."

How did this mysterious translator know that there wasn't just one person coming here?

Mu Wanqiu also noticed this.

"This word isn't too much of a problem..." She thought seriously, "Perhaps when this person came to the rock wall to make annotations... they believed that this passage would be seen by many people in the future."

Gu Shen nodded.

He continued to look behind.

"Attention before starting the main text."

"The following text may carry mental fluctuations... When reading, there may be visual scenes appearing, please do not resist, and feel it slowly."

"Finally..."

"I am not the producer of ancient texts, I am just a translator responsible for transporting them."

...

...

Thick smoke billowed in the high sky.

Dark flames flickered, and the light of the sky was lost.

A layer of gloom covered the gray dome. A sun-遮天蔽日的 (zhē tiān bì rì - sun-obscuring) battleship was broken in half at the waist, one end inserted into the earth, and the other end pointed straight to the sky like a broken sword. Countless broken electronic arcs connected the two ends, crackling.

It was not only the "battleship," an inanimate object, that was broken in two.

In this huge, fractured gully, there were also countless fractured bodies dancing with the sand.

These had all been "living things."

Some had already died, their faces withered and gray, their blood drained, never to speak another word. Some still had consciousness, struggling desperately, trying to squeeze out of the bodies trapped in the gaps of the battleship. Little did they know that the other half of their bodies had been completely severed... The destination of these people was the same.

Death.

In the distance of the gray dome, at the end of the horizon, the roaring sound of a howling storm came.

However, this unbearable "purgatory scene" was interrupted at this moment. A plain white palm appeared above the gray dome.

With a gentle flick of the five fingers, the dark light of the sky was dusted away.

Then, the owner of the plain white palm said softly, "As you can see... this storm is dozens, even hundreds of times more terrifying than the one that Gu Fort just encountered."

Queen's Castle, second floor of the attic.

Meng Xizhou stood in the snow-flying, churning Furnace Divine Realm, her whole body surrounded by a holy "radiance." Her fingertips fluttered, and the scene she had created with her mind was pinched into ashes, shattering and dissipating...

She knew that it was enough for this scene to play out to this point.

"According to the danger rating of the North Continent Fortress, what level should this storm be?" Meng Xizhou asked softly, genuinely, "I'm afraid even S-level... wouldn't be enough to describe the true horror of this storm, right?"

The Queen on the throne stretched out two fingers.

She gently pinched a speck of light that scattered and fluttered from Meng Xizhou's body. This formless, ethereal light solidified into substance at this moment, pinched between the Queen's fingertips.

"This is a scene that actually happened six hundred years ago." Meng Xizhou continued, "These dead and dying people are all human ancestors from six hundred years ago. They came from a distant journey, and during their migration, they encountered an unprecedented source energy storm. I don't know how many people sacrificed themselves for this... Like the fallen battleship in the scene just now, there was more than just one."

She couldn't see the face of the Empress of the North Continent on the throne.

But she knew that the North Continent Empress would not be without reaction.

After a moment of silence, the Queen spoke.

"Where did you get this scene?"

"The forbidden area of ​​Light City, a sealed 'Forbidden Book Tower'." Meng Xizhou said calmly, "These scenes should not appear in the official history six hundred years later, so Light City hid them, using the most primitive and ancient methods... Presumably these 'secrets' are not secrets in your eyes."

The Queen played with the speck of light, gently humming in agreement.

Writing is the most primitive and ancient carrier of the spirit.

Sometimes, ancient does not mean obsolete.

So far, this carrier is the best to use.

For this fragmented history, Light City used "ancient spiritual texts" to completely seal it, ensuring that it would not be detected, while also preserving valuable image data.

"For the Highest Seat, this is not a secret."

The Queen said gently, "Every God Seat who refines the Fire Seed has personally been there, and has reached the farthest point... You can only learn about this part of history from the forbidden book texts, but I have personally seen those broken battleships and the weathered bones of ancient human ancestors."

When she said this, the Queen's voice was still gentle, with a hint of a smile.

If Meng Xizhou came to Central City specifically to report this matter to her.

Then she would probably be disappointed.

"Yes, I know."

Meng Xizhou said softly, "Every God Seat has been there. A great existence like you naturally knows what kind of unbearable and fragmented history existed six hundred years ago... But I am here today not to show off my knowledge, but to offer you my accidental gain, the true history of the Traveler clan recorded in the Forbidden Book Tower, which has been covered up."

The moment the word "Traveler" was uttered—

The smile on the Queen's face slowly disappeared.

Linking the five continents, in theory, the information, technology, and knowledge of mankind for the past six hundred years are stored there... But there are always some things that the Highest Seat does not want to know.

These things have nothing to do with permissions.

And the history symbolized by the word "Traveler" is the past that cannot be found in the database, no matter what.

"Traveler, the owner of the eighth Fire Seed."

Meng Xizhou no longer raised her eyes.

She looked at her nose with her eyes, and said slowly, word by word, "Throughout the five continents, there has always been a rumor that there is an 'eighth God Seat' in this world... Most people think this is nonsense, but you should know that the rumor of the eighth God Seat is very likely to be true."

The seven Fire Seeds are the power that humans separated from the "Gospel Box" after the establishment of the Great Wall.

This is the "official history" recorded in the history books.

"The image just now is a scene from the 'Great Migration' six hundred years ago. I think the Council sealed this history because six hundred years ago, we had a very high level of technology."

This news is not good news for the current human society.

After the Great Migration, although humans found a new home, they also suffered heavy blows.

The data, technology, and the most core part of the data from the past were destroyed along with the giant battleship...

And what is silent is that those vehicles from the Great Migration cannot be replicated with the current technology of North Continent. After such a long period of technological development and the leap, the current technology of the five continents is still inferior to that of ancient humans.

This is a cruel and ruthless reality.

Now the speed of order collapse is getting faster and faster...

But the overall technological level of human society is not as high as before the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty.

Even the ancient humans who developed the giant battleships are dead... Can the current five continents really resist the increasingly powerful order tide?

Sealing the history of six hundred years ago is to stabilize people's hearts.

Otherwise, the entire transcendent order of the five continents will be greatly impacted.

At that time, a large number of regressionists and surrenderists will be bred... The Council is not very united in the first place, and with the promotion of these pessimists, it will only be more difficult to move forward.

"Of course... the main point I want to say is not this."

Meng Xizhou paused slightly, she raised her palm, and the forbidden image was replayed again.

Wind and snow were flying in the furnace.

The broken ships that died six hundred years ago were constantly zoomed in and enlarged.

Above the gray dome, a "figure" was faintly floating.

In the endless lead cloud.

That figure floated faintly like this.

The ancient humans in the battleship needed to wear special masks to resist source erosion.

But "he" didn't need it... "He" had a pair of full wings growing on his back. Under the rendering of the gray dome floating with dust, the pair of wings were also particularly gray.

This is not a human.

But... another kind of creature.

"During the Great Migration, in order to ensure the progress of the overall ethnic group, sacrifices must be made sometimes."

Meng Xizhou lowered her eyebrows and said softly, "Many 'people' died because of this. They did not die under the crushing of the storm, but in the 'righteousness' of sacrificing for the ethnic group."

"The Traveler is a wave that was sacrificed in the historical tide. This is a race that has been erased from the official history. They once kept a fragment of the Gospel Box... Theoretically speaking, this is the predecessor of the eighth Fire Seed, but before the catastrophe, they were discarded, and the 'Gospel Box fragment' in their hands was also lost in the endless dust."

The Queen silently watched the Goddess of Light in front of her.

After Meng Xizhou said the word "Traveler," she strengthened the spirit of the Furnace Divine Realm to ensure that this conversation would not be heard by anyone.

"Where... did you know this from?"

The Forbidden Book Tower of Light City hides many secrets, and secrets are also divided into levels... This level of history should not be seen by the current Meng Xizhou.

Before she officially took over the "Fire Seed," no matter how many divine scrolls she obtained, she was still just a mortal.

The most important thing is that this happened in Light City.

If Meng Xizhou knew.

Then it is probably equivalent to... the God Seat of Light knowing that Meng Xizhou knows.

"You don't have to worry, 'He' doesn't know about this."

Meng Xizhou smiled mockingly.

"The scene just now is the spiritual memory left by the first God Seat of Light. In those years, this ancestor was one of the first 'pioneers' to arrive in the Five Continents. He created Light City and left this secret in the Forbidden Book Tower before he died... The light of the Light Originator covers the book tower, which can erase all external detection."

"Logically speaking, only those who inherit the position of God of Light are qualified to read that book." Speaking of this, Meng Xizhou paused again and murmured, "But... I just opened it so easily, without any hindrance, maybe this is the arrangement of fate, or maybe this is the ancestor's approval."

The Queen looked directly at the Goddess: "Continue."

The history of the Traveler clan is shocking enough.

But... not enough.

She is respected as the Seven Gods, fuses the Fire Seed, and after stepping onto the Highest Seat, most of the secrets in this world are clear to her.

"Do you think... the Travelers who were abandoned back then are dead now?"

Meng Xizhou was silent for a moment, but instead, she raised this question.

She looked up at the throne surrounded by furnace wind and snow.

The wind and snow were too heavy.

She couldn't see what kind of face the Empress of the North Continent, who controlled the entire North Continent, had at this moment.

But she could hear the Queen's fingertips slowly tapping on the armrest of the throne.

After a few seconds, a calm response came from the throne: "But that's..."

"Not all creatures that fall into die."

"'Survival of the fittest.'" Meng Xizhou bowed her head and said in a drawn-out voice: "...just like the King of the Underworld."

Twenty years ago.

The King of the Underworld disappeared into.

Twenty years later... he is back.

Seeing that the throne had returned to silence, Meng Xizhou spoke again, "The Travelers are not dead, they are still alive... living in the cracks of chaotic order, but lost their way. Over the years, we have been looking for the oasis, while the Travelers have been looking for us."

The sound of the Queen tapping on the throne stopped abruptly.

"Interesting..."

The Queen asked softly, "How did you know about this?"

This is not a secret that would be recorded in the Forbidden Book Tower.

"If I said it was a 'dream'... would you believe it?"

Meng Xizhou's expression was sincere. There were actually two meanings to believe here.

One is to believe that there is really such a dream.

The second is to believe that the guidance information given by this dream is true.

"Twenty years ago, Light attacked the Underworld Palace because of a 'dream'." The Queen chuckled softly, "The current you seems to be more favored by the rules than Light was back then... But I can't understand why the person chosen by the Light Fire Seed has always only been guided by the rules about the 'King of the Underworld'. Why would you dream about the 'Traveler'?"

Meng Xizhou raised her head.

"This is a dream about the 'King of the Underworld'."

She said word by word: "I dreamed that the King of the Underworld and the Traveler were standing together, and they wanted to open the door to 'Hell' together... Twenty years ago, they were old acquaintances."

...

...

(ps: Recently, it's an important plot that runs through the entire volume and even the entire world view. Although there is an outline, it's still difficult to write. After revising and rewriting for a whole day, I'll stop here first, take a break, and there will be a big chapter at night!)