Anna wiped her tears away.
Weâve finally reunited after such a long time, but he has to leave again right away.
âCanât you stay for a while? Even a single day is enoughâ she asked him in an extremely rare begging tone.
Gu Qing Shan consoled her: âItâll be ok, what Iâm going to do isnât travelling through time, but to use [Distortion]â
âIs there a difference?â Anna asked.
âThat time when I left from the Temporal Oasis was an outlier. In reality, after activating [Distortion], I would begin to exist at a certain moment in the past and continue existing until the very moment I leaveâ- which was this exact momentâ
âThen... the next time you show up would be at this exact time?â Anna asked.
âThatâs right. You will see me leave, then reappear in front of you right awayâ Gu Qing Shan explained.
Anna was a bit surprised but understood what he meant.
Hohââ
She softly sighed, then held back her tears and said: âSeriously, making me so sad for a brief moment like thatâ- then Iâll wait right here for youâ
Gu Qing Shan nodded.
Shroud spoke with a serious tone: âWe canât delay anymore, the Apocalypse wonât wait for anyone, we need to leave right away before the situation changes again!â
âWait a minuteâ Anna said.
She took a ring off her finger and put it on a certain finger on Gu Qing Shanâs left hand.
âThat contains my entire collection of good liquorâ Anna said.
Gu Qing Shan nodded and happily told her: âThen Iâll graciously acceptâ
Kitty was standing on the side, slowly commenting: âRight, and she put it on his ring fingerâââ
Laura replied: âItâs for assuranceâ
Everyone nodded like it was obvious.
Everything was ready
Shroud turned back into black flames and entered Gu Qing Shanâs Thought Sea.
The three coins were thrown into the air, where they motionlessly hovered while radiating a miraculous fluctuation.
ââGu Qing Shan was the Angel of Condemnation as well as the Demon King of [Order], and with the branch of the Bramble Tree that Laura gave him, it was easy for him to activate the three coins.
Instantly, a glowing river appeared behind him, after which he retreated one step and vanished from everyoneâs sight.
The three coins danced in mid-air, moving against the surging flow of the River of Time, bringing Gu Qing Shan upstream in the river.
His Soul Points were rapidly being depleted.
âââjust like the previous time, since [Distortion] was an ultimate Space-Time ability, he needed to expend the corresponding amount of Soul Points in order to activate it.
Gu Qing Shan turned to the War God UI.
âWe wonât be able to travel too far backâ he told Shroud.
Shroud replied: âThatâs not important, we just need to pay attention to avoid both your and my past selvesâ
Gu Qing Shan nodded.
The three Great Laws of Reality doesnât allow someone to meet their past selves within the same timeline.
If that happened, the three Great Laws of Reality would erase one of the two in order to ensure that there werenât any historical paradoxes.
Only an entity at Lady Unextinguishing Sandâs level, or Shroud at his peak, would possess enough power to resist the three Great Laws of Reality.
âThis is a bit of a headache, I canât head back to the 900 million World Layers, since my past self was there; and I canât go back to the Tomb of Myriad Beasts or the Wraith realm, since the version of me who used [Distortion] the previous time was thereâ
Gu Qing Shan told him.
Shroud thought briefly and said: âThen letâs choose a location that we havenât been to yetâ
Gu Qing Shan suggested: âLetâs go to the island that we arrived at earlierââ- if Su Xue Er had brought me there, I assume there must be a special reason for itâ
âSince weâve chosen a location, what about the time? How far can you go back?â Shroud asked.
Gu Qing Shan turned to the War God UI and checked the rapidly decreasing Soul Points value.
He smiled wryly: âAt most, Iâd only be able to return to the period when I was about to leave the Tomb of Myriad Beastsâ
âThatâs enoughâ Shroud nodded.
The two of them turned towards the River of Time.
âGet ready, Iâm heading downâ
Gu Qing Shan said.
âLetâs go, we have a lot of things to do, so the faster, the better!â Shroud replied.
Gu Qing Shan shifted his body and dived down.
He crashed straight into a vision of the past.
Oong oong oong!
The three coins began vibrating while giving off a rapid loud noise.
From the darkness, space rapidly became distorted to form a huge gap.
Gu Qing Shan immediately rushed through!
Everything then returned to normal, as if nothing had happened at all.
...
Space was distorted for a brief moment.
Gu Qing Shan instantly reappeared.
Shroud also flew out and manifested into human form, cautiously observing their surroundings.
The same place.
âââthe two of them were at the same place they had left earlier.
But the scenery was much different compared to beforeââ
Numerous airships could be seen moving in and out of the island just a bit further away, clearly a prosperous location.
Even after they had returned to the past the island was still covered in a layer of light.
âThe barrier...â
Gu Qing Shan muttered.
âThatâs right, this place seems to be quite crucialâ Shroud replied.
Every time an airship wanted to enter, the faintly glowing barrier would open a gap.
Of course, there were also the sporadic Professionist moving in and out.
They had to show their certificates or hand over a certain amount of cargo money before the mercenaries guarding the barrier would let them through.
âTwo youngsters, you seem to be strangers hereâ
A voice called out.
Gu Qing Shan regained his senses and saw that a mercenary was approaching him.
From the other side of the barrier, he tightly wielded his weapon and observed the two of them.
âWhat kind of currency do you accept?â Gu Qing Shan asked.
âIs this your first time here? I canât let first-timers in arbitrarilyââ it isnât an issue of money, itâs about whether or not you can be trustedâ the mercenary cautiously explained.
He then signaled to someone behind him.
A few moments later.
A female mercenary arrived.
Gu Qing Shan opened his eyes wide at the female mercenary, his gaze turning a bit cold.
âWhy her again?â Shroud sent his voice, seemingly irritated.
âI also feel like weâre a bit unlucky this timeâ Gu Qing Shan replied.
In the futureââ-
It was this female mercenary who refused to let me through.
The reasoning she used was extremely prude.
The female mercenary flew towards the barrier and glanced at Gu Qing Shan, then at Shroud.
She displayed an amused expression without smiling and patted the other mercenaryâs shoulder, telling him: âTake their money and let them inâ
The male mercenary was surprised: âBut big sis, theyâre first-timers, why are you letting them in without thoroughly checking them?â
âWhat is there to be afraid of about a couple of young birdies? Have them pay the fee and let them inâ the female mercenary said just that and immediately left.
The male mercenary was stunned.
Gu Qing Shan was also stunned.
They faced each otherâs direction.
The male mercenary explained: âNormal currency wonât be accepted, you need to use hard currencyââ like Origin Gems, Superior Metal alloys, magic items, perfect-grade spirit stones, ancient totems, doomsday beads, etc., things of the same natureâ
âI have Origin Gems, how many?â
âOneâ
â...I just have the one here, itâs a real shame to hand it overâ
Gu Qing Shan took out an Origin Gem from his chest pocket with an extremely stingy expression.
The male mercenary shook his head: âI can tell that you arenât the wealthy kind, otherwise, you wouldnât beââ- alright brother, since youâve come here, youâre trying to make a fortune for yourself. Just head to the mercenary guild and accept a mission, after a few adventures, as long as you donât die, youâd still have a chance to leave yourââ behind. Got it?â
âGot itâ Gu Qing Shan amicably replied.
The male mercenary took out a Card and opened a gap in the barrier.
âCome inâ
âAlrightâ
Gu Qing Shan and Shroud both entered the barrier.
âThere you go, thereâs a lot of opportunities on the island, so donât try to take on anything too dangerous right awayââ- youâll have to figure out the rest yourselfâ the male mercenary was very friendly and even advised him.
Gu Qing Shan clasped his fist and flew towards the island.
On the way, neither of them said anything.
ââwhile they were let in without issues, they werenât pleased about it.
After a while.
The two of them found an inn, booked a room, then sealed it tightly.
They were both Combatants who had been through many worlds, but neither of them could tell what was so unique about this island.
âNow that thereâs some time, I need to begin communicating with the sword spiritâ
Gu Qing Shan took out a long rectangular box and opened it in front of Shroud.
ââthe box contained the fragments of the Delimitation Divine Sword together with the artifact spirit.
Shroud glanced at it and judged: âI think you need to expend Soul Points in order to communicate with the sword spiritâ
âYouâre rightâ Gu Qing Shan was impressed.
The War God UI also said the same thing.
But Shroud only needed to glance at it once to draw to that conclusion.
âYouâve used up your Soul Points to activate [Distortion], while Iâm about to use my Soul Points for something else, so I think you should wait until youâve recovered some Soul Points before you think about waking the sword spiritâ Shroud suggested.
Gu Qing Shan was surprised and asked: âWas there something more important to deal with right now?â
âOf course, hand me the six Sealing Tokensâ Shroud said.
Gu Qing Shan handed the Sealing Tokens to Shroud just as he asked.
Shroudâs expression slowly became serious.
âGu Qing Shan, I carry with me a certain secret related to the frozen corpse, and Iâm going to hand it over to youâ
âWhy?â Gu Qing Shan asked.
âBecause after this, I want to regain my power and would have to make a dangerous gamble, thus unable to protect this secretâ
As they spoke, the six Sealing Tokens gave off a faint glow as they began to circle around Shroud.
Shroud began chanting something in a whisper.
A mass of translucent light emerged from his chest and hovered in front of Gu Qing Shan.
Gu Qing Shan looked at the mass of light and mused: âThis is...â
âIâm not sure what it is either, apparently it was something that the frozen corpse found within the Reality Gate before it was sealed awayââ Iâve tried everything I could but still couldnât open it, but I can sense crucial portions of the frozen corpseâs memoryââ this object is extremely important, even more so than any other treasuresâ Shroud replied.
Gu Qing Shan hesitated a bit before reaching his hand out to receive the mass of light.
Instantly, lines of glowing text appeared on the War God UI:
[Youâve received a secret]
[Because you carry with you a fragment of the Travelerâs Proof (Key of the Past), youâre qualified to come into contact with this secret]
[When you find the second fragment of the Travelerâs Proof, you will be able to trigger this secret]
[Special note: The most precious secret within the Reality Gate]