What faced him seemed like an infinite brightness.

But the radiance contained within that fierce light was too dazzling, too blinding; Ji Jue couldn't see anything clearly, and in that instant, he could only feel the unique aura emanating from the Superior Eternal Gate.

So pure, without any flaws.

It was as if he had leaped into the torrent of time, letting it carry him to an unknown and distant past.

Until the infinite light scattered before his eyes.

A breeze blew from afar.

The sound of a bell echoed across the square, alarming birds into flight, and as they landed, those who perched curiously tilted their heads to gaze at the visitor who didn't belong here.

Ji Jue looked around in bewilderment, only to find that he seemed to be back on the ground once again.

But the ground wasn't supposed to look like this. The ruins were gone, the collapsed skyscrapers vanished without a trace, leaving only somewhat mottled buildings standing along the streets.

Passersby were numerous, laughing and talking as they walked through him, leaving behind only faint ripples.

In the distance, the sound of the Holy Hall's bell rang out, as if in celebration.

"What is this...?"

Ji Jue stretched out his hands in confusion, subconsciously trying to touch the things around him, but his palms passed right through them without resistance, leaving only ripples like those in water.

"Have we traveled through time?" he wondered, unable to hold back his skepticism, and at the same time, he was the first to dismiss the notion.

This wasn't the real world; it was more like a reflection in time, so fragmented... upon closer observation, some of the flowerpots by the roadside were continuously flickering, the flowers changing, their colors unsettled.

The willow branches dipped down also twitched incessantly, unable to maintain a fixed shape.

The faces of most passersby were blurred, their voices so distant. And in many other places, buildings and scenery didn't even possess color, their positions constantly shifting.

At the end of the sky, that towering, majestic Heavenly Origin Tower shone brilliantly — yet cracks continuously appeared on its surface, splitting open and just as quickly, recovering.

It was like a game full of glitches.

"What in the world is this?"

"Fragments of time, just reflections of bygone days, nothing more," the Prophet gazed at everything before him and said: "These are the events collected by Mercury... the accomplishments of the workshop over the years—

——The appearance of her homeland before it was destroyed."

[Damn it!!]

Inside Ji Jue's arms, the Ghost Work Ball trembled violently as if finally coming online: [I get it now, I finally understand why Mercury, that damn thing, would put so much effort into something so thankless, spreading her workshop across the entire Crack Realm!]

That was the most perplexing issue for a Heavenly Artisan.

To control the Crack Realm, to manipulate everything.

It sounds indeed exaggerated and terrifying.

But in reality, there is no cost-effectiveness to speak of.

To achieve the same effect, who knows how many Secret Rituals are available within the Heavenly Origin System, even several Crack Realms could be stitched together.

If you want wind, let there be wind, if you want rain, let there rain.

The workshop could have controlled everything from the center; there was really no need to transform the entire Crack Realm into a part of the workshop, the enormous amount of work and luxury it took was astronomical.

Even if Mercury were mad, she wouldn't be so crazy as to not be able to solve a simple math problem.

Besides, the workshop isn't necessarily better the larger it is. Ensuring the effects of alchemy to the greatest extent is what the workshop must first ensure, not the scope of its influence.

With Mercury's abilities, if the workshop's coverage could be halved, no, even reduced to one-third, it would not have fallen to the uncontrollable state it is in now.

[It's not Mercury wants to cover the Crack Realm with her workshop; it should be the other way around. She needs this Crack Realm to become her workshop.]

The Ghost Work Ball realized: [The entire Crack Realm has been transformed by her into a piece centered around the workshop, a collector specifically made for the Superior Eternal Gate!

She has spent so many blessings and materials, and decades, even centuries, just to complete the collection of time!]

Just as in the remote areas of Cliff City or the small communities outside the cities where the signal is poor, someone might hoist up a huge dish to receive the signal.

The entire Crack Realm has been transformed by Mercury into an unprecedentedly huge receiver!

Such an exaggerated scale, even a Saint would have to bankrupt themselves and even go into boundless debt...

Over the long course of time, it stood independently outside the present world, floating among the stars, tirelessly chasing the sun, trying to capture those dissipated pasts in the darkness.

Day after day, year after year.

For four hundred years, it kept collecting relevant time, tirelessly piecing together and repeating the past.

Everything on the ground was nothing more than a manifestation of this result.

The records and events hidden in this deep well are the treasures she truly wished to obtain!

"What exactly does she want to do?"

Ji Jue walked among those once-recorded events and couldn't help but ask again.

"Haven't you seen it already?"

The Prophet looked at the old times and sighed softly: "Nothing more than to return to the old days, that's all."

To reclaim everything once lost.

To reclaim the homeland, relatives, and their future, from death, and the destined end... from the disaster she had brought upon herself!

The towns endlessly recurring day by day, the Heavenly Origin Tower above the sky continually collapsing.

And all of this that could not be repaired...

Last, before Ji Jue's eyes, what appeared among the countless events was a fleeting illusion.

The lonely figure wandering among the ruins.

With her hands, she frantically dug and moved the rubble, only to discover piles of skeletons.

She bent down, holding the bloodstained half of a wedding dress, silently shedding tears.

No cries of grief could be heard.

This was the price that Mercury had brought upon herself.

In an instant, it was as if lightning crossed her mind, and everything she had seen before entering the Crack Realm, all that ancient history and the past, seemed to finally connect together.

"The disaster that occurred in the town, it was caused by Mercury, wasn't it?!" Ji Jue suddenly turned around and asked, "Is it because of the collapse of the Heavenly Origin Tower?"

Boom!

The earth-shattering scene, from the reflections of time, reappeared once more.

In the midst of the high tower's anguished collapse, calamities reemerged from the vault of heaven; subterranean fires spread, devouring everything.

The moans and wails echoed in the wind.

Swallowing everything.

All the blessings bestowed by Tian Yuan dissipated, leaving behind only endless mutants. The prosperity and splendor established thereby vanished with the wind, and what remained were only those fractures that seemed eternally etched into time.

Tian Yuan had lost its position!

"To execute the eternal sovereign, to sever the Heavenly Origin Tower, to break the stagnant world that had persisted for thousands of years, to end all the vile deeds accumulated by the Eternal Empire — the longstanding wish that had lasted for twelve hundred years was accomplished by the hands of the Mo Zhe, and Mercury was the critical key."

The Prophet said, "The edge of transformation that severed Tian Yuan was sharpened once again by her... but what was the price? What was the price again?"

She said, "The price is the loss of everything."

Just like everything that was revealed before her eyes.

In the moment when the Heavenly Origin Tower shattered, all those involved would suffer the backlash of collapsing order — regardless of their original intentions, once the fall of the Eternal Empire began, endless calamities spread across the earth.

This was the wicked fruit of her own making.

She knew that she would lose everything; she should have understood this long ago.

But she loved too much, too many things she couldn't bear to part with.

Even if she sought help from the Saints of Ether, permanently erased her own name, and altered the history of her past. But destiny isn't something that can be deceived so easily.

She thought that after the fall of the Empire, she could retire in glory and return to her homeland. But after everything ended, besides the ruins, there was nowhere else to go.

Everything she cherished had been completely annihilated with the collapse of the Empire.

First the calamities, then the earthquakes, followed by the mutants triggered by the loss of Tian Yuan, and the insurrections amidst the chaos... Everything she cared about was utterly destroyed in the span of seven days.

Daughter, elder brother, sister, mother, friends... even every commoner who recognized her name, were all demolished by the disaster.

Only the solitary Saint remained, wandering amidst the ruins and the desert, accepting both honor and curse.

"How ironic, she had personally put an end to the rule of the Eternal Empire, hoping to create the ideal realm, yet she brought about disaster, spreading poison without end...

Therefore, she became the first-ever Cursed to survive a disaster in history."

The Prophet looked around the illusory yesterdays before her, sighing softly, "Even if you spend a lifetime dedicated to the effort, trying to return everything to the state before the disaster, trying to reclaim what was lost.

But what's lost is lost; even falsehoods can't return.

All that remains is this false dream and the never-ending torment of cycles."

In the brief silence, Ji Jue was stunned, for a long while, "Is it not possible?"

"Not possible."

The Prophet responded, decisively.

And so, Ji Jue fell silent.

Stiff as if petrified, she stared blankly into the air, as if she could hear the distant sound of a train's whistle and faint, far-off singing.

How could it not be possible?

Though the Saint transcends the mundane world, though the Embers create without end!

This world is simply too vast, too splendid.

The Twelve Superior, the nine great evil fools, Federation, Empire, Central Earth, Security Bureau, Desert Market, Taiyi Ring... so many blessings, so many abilities, and so much power that she could never reach.

He had once, no, still now, harbored illusions.

Perhaps when he became strong enough one day, had enough power, he could retrieve everything that was lost, perhaps even — prevent that disaster from occurring.

"I thought there would be a chance."

He muttered to himself, yet didn't know to whom he should speak.

"She thought so too; what you see is the result of that belief," the Prophet scoffed, "People cannot change their own past, nor can they choose upon what they are accomplished...

What's gone will be gone, no matter how reluctant, no matter the regrets.

That's why the present is more precious than the future."

First she was indifferent, unable to suppress her scorn, but in the end, she couldn't help but pause, and merely sighed, "Why must a Puppet like me, who doesn't even have control over their own life, teach you such lessons, Ji Jue?"

"Who knows?"

Ji Jue whispered softly to himself, "Who would be content with that?"

When facing destiny, is it submission and bowing one's head, silent endurance, or futile rebellion?

What lay before him was the pitiful outcome left by the trailblazers.

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