124: The Hidden Realm of the Eastern Sea Ruins!

The ice crystal Throne erupted with ten thousand rays of radiant glow, and the phantom of a Twelve-Winged Angel descended from that light.

The corpse's eyes gazed emptily at this scene. "Do you believe me now?"

Lu Chen's golden sword pierced the angel phantom and picked out a bronze hexagram slip—it was exactly the missing half from the ancient alley: "Xu Fu, have you grown addicted to playing the old man?"

The sword tip suddenly turned, flicking open the collar of Northern Abyss's corpse to reveal a complete Heavenly Dao Prison Mark on his chest!

The waves suddenly came to a standstill, and the old man shed his disguise, revealing Xu Fu's true face!

Though it was not his true body from a hundred thousand years ago.

It was only a wisp of a remnant soul and a remnant body.

But it was still him!

"Brother Lu, for these hundred thousand years, all you have slain were but the Puppets of 'Heaven.' Fortunately, you have remembered everything!"

Xu Fu smiled indifferently and pointed beyond the nine heavens. "The true Heavenly Dao is only now waking up!"

The golden compass assembled itself in mid-air into an armillary sphere.

Lu Chen's skeletal palm pressed against Northern Abyss's heart, and memories from a hundred thousand years ago surged like a tide: on the Arctic ice field, Northern Abyss's final whisper before shattering his Primordial Spirit—"In the land of Guixu, there is a key to break the deadlock!"

"So you refined yourself into a key—old friend!" Lu Chen sighed heavily, ice-blue blood droplets dripping from the tip of his sword!

He looked at the old man and commanded, "Xu Fu, open Guixu!"

Xu Fu played the zither and laughed loudly: "Oh, Brother Lu, Brother Lu, do you not know what the day the gates of Guixu open signifies?"

He suddenly snapped the zither strings, and the twelve bronze giant gates collapsed at the sound. "That is the true—Twilight of the Gods!"

As the sea and sky inverted, Lu Chen pushed the girls into the ice crystal Throne: "Sit tight—"

Lu Chen held his golden sword and slashed open a Void Realm rift. "In this game of chess, I shall play against Heaven until the end of the Star River!"

As the throne plunged toward the Guixu abyss, Ignis's lava ignited the entire sea, Ning Xiwei's nether butterflies wove a star map shield, and the ice light and Holy Flame of Shelley and Morning Dew merged into a Taiji symbol.

Accompanied by the sound of a poem:

"One sword once faced a million-strong army, treading through the nine heavens and laughing at the folly of Heaven. Today, re-enacting the events of the Primordial Era, I shall not fail the Star River when we share wine!"

The figure vanished into the abyss, plunging into the darkness!

There was no light in the depths of Guixu; the Soul Fire in Lu Chen's palm was the only light source, illuminating the winding bronze stairs beneath their feet.

Every step was engraved with star maps; Ning Xiwei's Nether Butterfly landed on the Xun position constellation, its wings stained with bronze rust.

"Be careful with these steps, I've noticed something is wrong!"

Ignis's lava twin blades slashed through the cobwebs—those were not spider silk, but the traces of solidified spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

"There are ice cracks at the Kan position." Shelley's fingertips condensed an ice crystal lens, and she looked closely at the inscriptions on the steps. "This is a fragment of the 'Longhan Calendar'."

Lu Chen was somewhat surprised.

He hadn't expected Shelley to actually recognize this thing.

Wasn't this something from the Eastern Huaxia?

Lu Chen asked curiously:

"Shelley, how do you know this? From your features to your appearance, you don't look like a Huaxia person at all! —My bright and clever little Shelley!"

Shelley's cheeks actually flushed slightly, seemingly feeling joyful and happy because of Lu Chen's praise.

She opened her cherry-red lips and explained: "Much of our magic in the North Realm originates from ancient Huaxia. In fact, most magic in the world stems from ancient Huaxia, so it's quite normal for us to study ancient Huaxia texts."

"Everyone, come look at this!"

Suddenly, Morning Dew's voice rang out.

Everyone followed the sound and looked over.

They saw Morning Dew holding her Divine Staff to illuminate the mottled handwriting on a wall.

It was written: On a certain day a hundred thousand years ago, Heaven wept and rained blood; Northern Abyss left a monument by his boat at this moment.

Lu Chen's skeletal knuckles brushed over the inscription, and blue blood seeped from beneath the ice layer of the stone tablet.

Gradually, in the void, a complete remnant poem appeared:

"Mooring at night in Guixu to listen to the tide,"

"The lonely boat once carried the Star Shepherd."

"If the Lord of Heaven would rouse his spirit once more,"

"He would not let the Silver River fall into the mortal dust."

As Lu Chen looked at this poem, he understood some things about the ancient past in his heart.

The ancient memories of the past in his mind became increasingly clear.

At this moment, Ignis used her lava to melt the ice layer in front of her, revealing a bronze box at the base of the monument.

Inside was Xu Fu's zither string, wrapped around a half-roll of the Hetu.

"The old man leaves back-up plans everywhere," Lu Chen couldn't help but complain.

Ning Xiwei's nether moon pendant suddenly grew burning hot, and a phantom of Northern Abyss floated out from the box.

The phantom of Northern Abyss raised a hand and touched the center of Lu Chen's brow, and memories from a hundred thousand years ago surged like a tide—!

On the Arctic ice field, the remains of Twelve-Winged Angels were piled into an altar.

Northern Abyss cut his wrist and drew a formation with Ice Emperor blood;

Lu Chen's sword was thrust into the formation eye, and they stepped upon the skull of the first Heavenly Dao.

Xu Fu was recording star maps in the distance, suddenly looking up with a sinister smile.

When the formation was completed, Northern Abyss dissipated into ice crystals, and Lu Chen's sword also pierced through his own chest!

With bloodshot eyes, Lu Chen gazed at the sky, staring at the unreachable and deep Heavenly Eye vortex, laughing coldly: "In this round, I'm betting against you—you damned Heaven! My life for yours!"

The illusion shattered in an instant, and Lu Chen staggered slightly.

He panted heavily!

"Lu Chen!!!" the girls cried out in unison.

The eyes of the girls were filled with looks of extreme worry.

Lu Chen staggered and leaned against the monument, waving his hand to signal: "I'm fine! So a hundred thousand years ago, I had already died once? Heh, this is getting more and more interesting!"

The star chart in Shelley's hand began to spin wildly at this moment!

Then, an old, long chant came from the depths of Guixu:

"A scheme within a scheme to deceive the heavens, a move outside the board to return a soul in a borrowed body. Today, laying out the Star River Array once more, I laugh as the ants unravel the profound mystery!"

Lu Chen glanced at the girls and took the lead in bringing them into the depths.

Whether it was a blessing or a curse, what was meant to be could not be avoided.

Lu Chen had completely decided to uncover the truth.

No matter who the enemy was, whether they were man, ghost, god, or monster, he would face them!

Even if it was the so-called "Heaven"!

Lu Chen was fully prepared.

Was Heaven also a physical thing?

Lu Chen's heart was full of questions about a hundred thousand years ago.

Along with a resolute determination!

At the end of the stairs, a bronze giant tree appeared before everyone, its branches hanging with three hundred ice coffins.

Such a scene, which could be called "spectacular" yet eerie, even stunned Lu Chen for a moment!

As for the girls, they all felt a hint of fear in unison.

Everything here had a kind of chilling beauty.

Ning Xiwei cast necromancy, summoning nether butterflies that directly struck an invisible barrier!

Lu Chen leaned in to take a closer look and checked them one by one.

Suddenly, he was shocked to find that the corpses inside these ice coffins were all himself!

—Those coffins were all filled with his face!

—They were all Lu Chen!

"It's an illusion!"

Morning Dew was the quickest to react.

She immediately activated her Holy Light Staff with exorcism magic to dispel these illusions.

Under the light of Morning Dew's Divine Staff, the truth was gradually revealed:

—Sealed within the ice coffins were actually Northern Abyss's bodies at different ages.

"Bang!" Ignis directly blasted open the nearest ice coffin with lava!

She had a look of displeasure on her face.

Especially after seeing Lu Chen's appearance in those ice coffin illusions.

This had further enraged the fiery-tempered girl.