Chapter 449: Kunlun Peak
Three days later, the Wind Song officially set sail from Hot Pepper Village, heading towards the legendary Kunlun Peak.
The spaceship stored enough food and water for half a year. Besides Honglian, Lin Qing, and Liu Shuyue, Chen Xuan also brought along Little Angel Elorie, Xu Xuanling, and Liuli, making it essentially an all-hands-on-deck operation.
Since the road ahead was uncertain, the idea of bringing everyone along seemed like a prudent choice.
The reason for not departing immediately was primarily that Liu Shuyue had sustained significant injuries and needed some time to recover. After all, she was going to meet the Sect’s elders, and it wouldn’t do to wheel her in.
During those three days, Chen Xuan was not idle.
He flew the spaceship around Qing State, helping to advertise Hot Pepper Village and solidify the rumors of the Immortal Master’s divine miracles. The sudden invasion by the Luo Kingdom’s army did indeed frighten many citizens... At that time, the spaceship would land, deploy a few members of the Hunting Team, and easily raise a massive migration force without much effort.
To prepare for the imminent population boom, he specifically reached out to Beitian Academy, requesting them to stockpile additional daily necessities for him... Whether food or medicine, everything was stored in the academy’s warehouse. When the time came, Chen Xuan only needed to activate the remote sub-store to directly transport massive quantities of supplies to Hot Pepper Village.
If not for the urgent situation elsewhere, he could have stayed longer in Qing State.
However, the condition of the Celestial Patrol was far from optimistic.
The agency’s lunar attacks occurred almost daily, and during the time Chen Xuan was assisting with Hot Pepper Village’s relocation, the Celestial Patrol was hit twice by thousand-ton mass projectiles, setting the domed city ablaze, making it seem as if the entire sky was on fire.
Moreover, its altitude had sunk by more than ten meters, collapsing two buildings in the city center, an unsettling sight.
Wang Baihu and Jiang Siqi were tasked with guarding the subway dormitories, keeping the back door open as much as possible to minimize the time discrepancy between the two sides, though this only bought a little more time.
Therefore, once Liu Shuyue recovered sufficiently to move around, Chen Xuan set out eagerly.
As the engine roared, the spaceship ascended rapidly, the crowd and village below shrinking quickly, soon blending into the crisscrossed ravines of the Wanshan Wilderness. To the west, the endless mountain range stretched to the horizon, while to the east lay a boundless gray-blue sea. The green continent in the middle was the area of the Six Kingdoms, which, compared to the Wanshan Wilderness and Abyss Sea, didn’t seem large.
"If only you could have borrowed it earlier." In the cockpit, Liu Shuyue stared at the screen in a daze. "I always had a wish to see places beyond the Abyss Sea. It seems I’m not alone in that thought."
Chen Xuan couldn’t help but recall the remnants of Liu Zhidong’s memories.
He had traveled across the continent for so long, likely experiencing a similar shift in mindset as Liu Shuyue.
"Overseas, huh..." Chen Xuan nodded, "Once this matter is settled, let’s go straight there."
To be honest, he was quite curious about the outside world too. If the Gemini indeed established the Lotus Cloud Sect, then the sect should be near Europe. The issue of race wouldn’t be surprising, given that over a long enough time, the descendants of cultivators could indeed become the predominant race.
Yet, Europe should be contiguous with the Asian continent to the east, not surrounded by the sea as it is now.
"Speaking of which, I’d like to ask... where exactly are the Six Kingdoms located on Earth?" Honglian gazed at the distant, unreachable snowy peaks, furrowing her brow. "Are there mountains like this on Earth?"
"Why not ask the spaceship system?" Lin Qing raised her head, "Hey, can you scan the continent’s outline for us and match it with the map database? We want to know where we are right now."
"Sorry, you do not have permission to access terrain information." The AI replied thoughtfully, "According to confidentiality regulations—"
"That’s also my requirement," Chen Xuan interjected.
The AI did not reject this time.
After a moment of silence from the speaker, its voice returned.
"No matching terrain found."
"Are you sure there’s nothing?" Honglian asked with a heavy tone.
"All terrain data has been compared, factoring in potential tectonic drift, yet the conclusion remains the same, none found." The AI insisted.
"What do you mean?" Elorie exclaimed in surprise, "Are we not on Earth?"
Chen Xuan shook his head, "No, we should be on Earth, otherwise it wouldn’t explain why the races and languages are so similar."
If this was an alien planet, then Liu Shuyue and the Lotus Cloud Sect’s origin would be even more inexplicable.
"Agreed," the AI echoed solemnly, "Calculations of gravitational acceleration, air density, and air composition all indicate this place matches Earth’s characteristics."
"Then why doesn’t the terrain match?" Elorie was puzzled.
"Insufficient information to answer."
"I have a hypothesis." Honglian pressed her lips together, "But it’s not good news."
"What hypothesis?" Everyone looked at her.
"Global catastrophe," she slowly said.
"Global catastrophe?" Lin Qing’s face tightened, "Do you mean a disaster capable of altering landforms?"
"Indeed, the agency sometimes discovers strange worlds through Erosion Zones: places entirely unsuitable for human life, either with alarmingly high radiation or extreme heat or cold. One example was particularly peculiar; the other end of the invasion point was empty space." Honglian recalled, "According to the agency, these are worlds destroyed by erosion, which is why restraint is so crucial. Regardless of whether this theory holds, certain calamities indeed can leave Earth unrecognizable."
"You mean this world has been destroyed?" Chen Xuan raised an eyebrow.
"I’m just speculating," she hesitated, "but... those worlds that faced global catastrophes existed for only a short time, with invasion points quickly becoming inaccessible, yet here it still thrives."
Compared to the extinction of life, the Six Kingdoms still had the energy to engage each other, indeed quite vibrant.
"Perhaps the destruction happened a long time ago, long enough for the world to be reborn?"
If you stretch the time scale long enough, everything can start anew, life included. Chen Xuan had heard tales of the Dinosaur Empire as a child... the dragons once created a glorious civilization, but in scales of a billion years, their cities sank into the deep abyss underground. Although tinged with fantasy, the time human existence on Earth pales in comparison to the planet’s birth.
"That’s possible, but..." Honglian looked at the half-hidden Divine Mountain in the sky, "I can’t imagine what kind of catastrophe could cause such dramatic changes to the surface."
In other words, if it was indeed created by a global catastrophe, then the source must have been truly terrifying.
"Anyway, let’s get there first," said Chen Xuan, "the violet smoke is getting thicker."
He ordered the Wind Song to first ascend to ten thousand meters, then accelerate toward the mountain peak.
The journey was smooth.
Within the atmosphere, the Wind Song cruised at Mach 2, crossing Eurasia would only take half a day, and given that the Six Kingdoms combined were not even the size of Europe, he estimated it would only take two to three hours to reach the destination.
Chen Xuan was most concerned that Kunlun Peak might actually be a mirage, visible yet intangible, requiring special methods to enter, which would be troublesome.
After all, Liu Shuyue had never truly returned.
Fortunately, this did not happen. As time passed, the peak became more prominent, and the majestic and grand Kunlun Mountain range below gradually appeared through the dense clouds.