Cold wind swept through.
Within the River of Time, the monsters that watches over time and history had reappeared.
There were numerous of them, all with strange appearances and extremely powerful presences.
Above the River.
A conversation could be heard from inside a hovering sphere of light.
âThis sphere of light seems to be getting a bit unstableâ
âHm, your feelings arenât wrong, the teleportation power of the six Sealing Tokens is about to be used upâ
âThen are we going to jump?â
âThatâs right, we need to jumpâ
Mentioning this, both of their voices became a bit more cautiousââ-
âBoss, I remember you saying that these monsters who watch over the River of Time were very powerful, some even more powerful than you?â
âThatâs right, theyâre unique entities manifested by the three Great Laws of Reality, itâs best to not arbitrarily bother them, or you wonât die in one pieceâ
âAh... I know what you mean...â
A sense of danger appeared in both of their minds.
âHey, Boss, we only made sure that history would follow its original course, so these monsters shouldnât try to eat usâ
âAbout that... that should be the caseâ
âShould be?â
âAh, if youâre not assured, weâll just make a bit of preparationsâ
â...Then we definitely need to make a bit of preparations, since this is related to our livesâ
âTrueâ
âThen...â
âThatâs right, prepare your measuresâ
âYou tooâ
The sphere of light flickered like it was about to break.
It was only a little bit away from being broken!
A cat appeared near the outer edge of the sphere.
The cat had used [Ghostly Shadow of Night] and stuck close to the outer edge, preparing to jump down.
A dog sat next to the cat with a serious expression while a book hovered above his head, also prepared to use its ability at any moment.
The cat was orange, very impressive.
The dog was black, very ferocious.
One cat and one dog had both readied themselves.
ââthey were prepared!
Suddenly, the orange cat commented: âSpeaking of which, before you transported me to the Age of Immemorial, I and some of my comrades also used a teleportation technique to avoid Reneedolâs detectionâ
âHm? What was the situation like?â the black dog asked.
The orange cat then explained what happened to Fei Yue, Xiao Die, and Crow.
âTheyâre currently riding a heavenly ark, escaping Reneedolâs pursuit through mystic teleportationâ the orange cat explained.
âThen thereâs no issue. Although, since we returned from the Age of Immemorial, a little bit of time should have passed since that pointâ the black dog replied.
The orange cat froze.
Thatâs right.
The âpresentâ would only continue to move forward along the flow, and anyone who returned to the future from the past would not be able to arrive at the exact moment they left.
They would only arrive at a future slightly further than when they left on the timeline.
âWhat point in the timeline would we return to?â the orange cat asked.
âIâm not sure either, since we stayed for quite a bit of time during the Age of Immemorialâ the black dog shook his head.
âI guess so, let us go find my comrades firstâ the orange cat suggested.
The black dogâs eyes suddenly lit up, then went silent.
âWhatâs the matter?â the orange cat looked at him and asked.
âThe heavenly ark was a Samsara artifact, right?â the black dog suddenly asked.
âThatâs rightâ the orange cat admitted.
âAnd youâve changed my world jurisdiction, so now Iâm also a Samsara beingâ the black dog commented again.
âThatâs right, what are you trying to say?â the orange cat asked.
âNow that I look like this, if we meet up with your comrades, you canât tell them that Iâm the Lord of Infinite Originsââ- such a grand entity being reduced to looking like a dog, that really lowers my dignityâ the black dog worriedly said.
The orange cat sighed in relief.
ââand here I thought he was worried about something actually important, so it was just his reputation.
âSure, just tell them whatever you likeâ the orange cat replied.
The black dog appeared delighted: âIâll need a new name, a different one from beforeâ
âHave you thought of one?â the orange cat hesitantly asked.
âI haveâ the black dog replied.
âWhatâs that?â the orange cat casually asked.
The black dog puffed his chest out: âIf Iâm now a Samsara being, and I look like a flaming black dog, Iâve decided to take a reference from the Samsaraâs legend and call myselfââ Tenguâ
âTian Gou?â the orange cat asked.
âTenguâ the black dog corrected him.
âSheeshâ- I thought youâve already let go of the past, why are you still calling yourself Tian Gou[1]?â the orange cat asked with a strange expression.
âNo, I said Tenguâ the black dog corrected him again.
âAh, so you meant Tengu, got itâ
Pop!
The sound of a balloon bursting was heard.
The sphere that hovered above the River of Time vanished.
âââGo!â the black fog shouted.
The six Sealing Tokens circled once around the orange cat before they were put into his body.
A second laterââ-
The cat and dog both moved in a special pattern of their own as they descended into the River of Time.
However, this descent had proven one thing.
The two of them had needlessly worriedâââ
The monsters within the River of Time didnât want to even look at them and just ignored them as they entered a certain point in the timeline.
...
The sun was shining gloomily, radiating a dim glow.
The world itself was silent.
There wasnât a single person in any of the buildings, other than the sound of wind, not a single sound could be heard within the entire city.
The orange cat and black dog both sat on top of a tall building.
âWhere are we now?â the black dog asked.
âMost likely the world that my comrades transported to in the pastââ but I canât find them right nowâ the orange cat replied.
Dispelling [Ghostly Shadow of Night], the orange cat silently observed the city.
Very strangely, all the buildings in this city appeared a bit grey and would crumble away at a careless light touch. The crumbled portions appeared as fine sand but looked more like matter that had been turned to dust after being completely destroyed.
This situation seems very familiar...
If this is what I think it is, itâs very dangerous.
The orange cat put his paw forward and recited: âFei Yue, Xiao Die, Crowâ
A thin strand of black thread appeared out of thin air and wrapped around his paw, but didnât fly away.
âThey donât seem to be in the current worldââ- and from what I can see, something seemed to have happened hereâ the black dog commented.
The dog and cat were both silent.
â-this is quite difficult.
The orange cat pondered: âIt seems we first need to determine how long it has been since we first travelled back in timeâ
âThatâs true, we need to take a look and see if there were any remaining survivors hereâ
The black dog flipped through the Book of Prophesized Destinies and put his paw on one of the pages.
The empty page then displayed a large one-horned serpent.
The serpent appears quite extraordinary at a glance, with a look of cautiousness and wariness in its eyes.
âItâs to the East, letâs goâ
âAlrightâ
The dog and cat leapt into the air and flew towards the distance.
Half an hour later.
The desert.
Above the vast desert, the orange cat and black dog both appeared.
âCanât see itâ the orange cat commented.
âItâs hidden deep underground, seems like itâs sleepingâ the black dog replied with the Book of Prophesized Destinies in his paws.
A sword with an ancient design appeared next to the orange cat.
The sword turned into a streak of light and violently struck the ground.
Bamâââ
The earth trembled, kicking up a massive amount of sand and dirt that obscured the light of the sun.
ă Who? Who is outside? ă
A fearful voice was heard underground.
The black dog and orange cat exchanged glances.
âNo need to worry, weâre just here to ask you a few thingsâ the orange cat spoke to it using his boundless inner sight.
The voice hesitantly asked: ă Who are you? ă
The black dog lightly clear his throat and replied: âI am the great Lord of Infinite Oriââ not, Iâm the Samsara Tenguâ
ă The Samsara Tian Gou? ă the voice doubtfully asked.
âSamsara Tengu!â the black dog bared his fangs.
ă Ah, that sounds impressive. Itâs been a really long time since there have been any people in this world, can you save me? ăthe voice hurriedly asked.
âThatâs no problem at all, as long as you tell us what happened to this world, we can take you with usâ the black dog lifted his head and spoke.
âThatâs right, tell us what time period it is currently and weâll take you away from this worldâ the orange cat also loudly sent his voice.
ă Is that really it? Thank you two very much... ă
The desert began to rumble as boundless sand parted ways like two tidal waves.
A gigantic monster about a thousand meters tall appeared.
It was a one-horned serpent!
It shook the sand off its body and looked around: ă The two... great entities, where are you? ă
âUp here, look upâ the black dog replied.
The one-horned serpent looked up and focused its gaze.
In the gloomy grey sky, a dog and a cat silently hovered.
ă Pfftâ- ă
The one-horned snake suddenly coughed up some fluid and painfully smashed its head on the ground.
âHey, what happened to you?â the orange cat hurriedly put his hands together, about to form a hand seal.
âWere you inflicted by some sort of curse?â the black dog also took out the Book of Prophesized Destinies and began flipping through it.
The one-horned serpent howled sorrowfully:
ă I, the sovereign of 1700 years, the legendary Guardian Serpent of the world, had fallen so low that Iâm being deceived by a dog and cat, how deplorable! ă
The orange cat and black dog both stopped.
The cat stopped forming his hand seal, the dog also stopped flipping through his book.
They both narrowed their eyes.
âThis guyâs head isnât quite right; do we look like a normal dog and cat?â the orange cat complained.
âThatâs right, it only judges a book by its coverâ the black dog also commented.
âEarth sword, knock it outâ the orange cat shouted.
The same sword from before abruptly appeared above the one-horned serpent and lightly swung down.
Bam!!!
The one-horned serpent crashed directly to the ground, forming a crater that was several hundred meters in radius.
It had fallen unconscious.
The drifting sand began to pour down, about to bury it.
The orange cat lightly wagged his tail.
The entire one-horned serpent flew up with its head in front of the orange catâs paw.
The orange cat put his paw over it.
[Soul Reading], activate!
One breath.
Two breaths.
Three breaths.
âHow was it?â the black dog asked.
The orange cat pulled his paw back and answered with a complicated expression: âWeâve wasted a bit too much time, the circumstances had completely changed nowâ
âWhatâs the situation like?â the black dog asked.
The orange cat looked at him and carefully explained: âAccording to what this guy had sensed and known; Iâve largely understood the circumstancesâââ
âThe Eternal Abyss had just been defeated, and everything we see right now was a result of the first layer of the Eternal Abyssâ seal being undoneâ
âAh... if thatâs the case... the situation had turned incredibly dangerous because of my absenceâ the black dog pondered.
The orange cat sincerely replied: âThatâs right, the giant eyeball had only just escaped its seal. The fluctuations caused by its appearance had radiated throughout the entire Space Vortexâ
âThe civilization of the world weâre currently in was completely destroyed by an insignificant bit of radiation from that eventâ
âOnly this Guardian Snake, fortunately, managed to surviveâ
[1] This is a play on words, â怩çâ is pronounced TiÄngÇu, which refers to the Japanese Tengu, literally translated as âheavenly dogâ; while âèçâ is pronounced TiÇn GÇu, which is literally translated as âlicking dogâ, a Chinese slang for âsimpâ