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"Chen Xuan, do you have a way to save this city?" Lin Qing asked in a lowered voice, "...I don’t want to see the Mechanism succeed."

Her fists were clenched tightly, and anger flickered clearly in her eyes.

No matter the excuses the Mechanism used, their methods were just like the past: as long as they could achieve their goals, they didn’t care how many innocents were sacrificed.

Chen Xuan did not answer immediately.

He looked at the growing number of refugees praying on their knees, pondering what would happen next: if the Celestial Patrol was truly eliminated, it would undoubtedly be a stimulus to the Dimensional Limit Mechanism, meaning they could replicate this against other nano-living bodies, and this war would eventually end with the Mechanism’s total victory, the world falling once more into their control.

If he planned to do nothing and just return to the Ability Store, completely bidding farewell to the future, Lin Qing would likely sulk but wouldn’t break ties because they still had an ultimate means to change the future.

No matter what organization popped up, whether it’s the Mechanism or the Evangelical Association... he had nearly a hundred years to prepare and counter.

But he always felt things weren’t that simple.

That jade token... and the black coin, the sacrifice and pollution ritual... these thoughts constantly lingered in his mind.

"... We’ll head back to the store first." Chen Xuan finally spoke, "Before taking action, there are some questions I need to figure out."

Fortunately, Honglian, Wang Baihu, and the others were staying in the dorm and not wandering off. After directing everyone through the back door to return to the shop, he briefly recounted the Mechanism’s secrets and the events happening outside.

This way, everyone finally understood why everything was so lively today.

"I have a question, what exactly is the Star God?" Jiang Siqi asked curiously, "Is it really just a bug the size of the Moon?"

"It’s a god." Liuli said nonchalantly.

Chen Xuan and the others all turned to look at her.

"A god?"

"Yeah, don’t you humans love to call anything beyond your comprehension a god?" Liuli shrugged, "By that standard, it is definitely a god."

"Wait..." Chen Xuan interrupted, "Where did you learn about it?"

Judging by the timeline, by the time the Star God destroyed the surface cities, the Angel Alliance was already defunct.

"You don’t think it only appeared in the 21st century, do you?" Liuli sighed lightly, "Its existence is as ancient as ours, we can sense its omnipresent gaze, just like sensing the Mother of Flesh."

"Then in this world..."

"Nope, at least not on this side, the Star God didn’t appear."

Chen Xuan remembered that the demon named Andor also once said the Star God was an extraterrestrial divine being, a hope for humanity’s ascension.

"If I’m understanding correctly, the Dimensional Limit Mechanism wants to draw upon the power of another world’s divine being to eradicate the gigantic nano-living bodies of this world?" Honglian murmured, "Is that possible? I mean... can they really control a god?"

"Not necessarily control." Chen Xuan shook his head, "Maybe this is also the Star God’s intent. The most crucial question now is how this influencing process is happening. You guys stay at the shop for now, I’ll head to Hot Pepper Village."

"Hot Pepper Village?" Lin Qing said somewhat surprised, "Is it because of that jade token?"

"Not just the jade token, I also want to check... whether the rift connecting the two worlds still exists."

"Then I’ll go with you." She stood up.

Chen Xuan knew he couldn’t convince her otherwise, "Alright."

Just then, the sound of footsteps came from upstairs.

Everyone was momentarily stunned.

But Chen Xuan’s heart suddenly sank.

Liu Shuyue’s figure appeared swiftly in the hallway, seeing everyone gathered, she was a bit surprised too, but her gaze quickly locked onto Chen Xuan, "Do you have a moment?"

"What’s up?" he quickly asked.

She glanced at the others hesitantly.

Chen Xuan immediately understood, stood up, and followed her to the second floor. Only then did she say, "A celestial anomaly suddenly appeared in the northern sky, I’m feeling uneasy, so I came to find you."

"North?" He frowned, "Not at the entrance of Hot Pepper Village?"

"No, not there." Liu Shuyue replied in surprise, "Do you know what’s happening?"

"Maybe, let’s go take a look first and then talk."

Turning around he called Lin Qing, and the three of them passed through room 201 and entered Hot Pepper Village. It was likely morning, the sun still hanging in the east, but the sky showed a peculiar light purple. Unlike the usual lively and peaceful atmosphere, the villagers’ faces were filled with fear and tension, everyone had set aside their work to whisper while looking up to the sky.

Chen Xuan walked to an open area, gazed northward, and was startled.

In the distant skyline, a purple haze spread, seemingly forming an opening from which something was leaking out. This smoke like a curtain, also outlined the contours of the mountain peak below—assuming he was recognizing it correctly.

But how could a mountain be this high?

The sharply defined peak was almost above the sun!

Eight thousand meters? No... it would need over dozens of eight-thousand-meter peaks to create such a spectacular visual effect, even from thousands of miles away its gleaming summit could be glimpsed.

"Could that be..."

"Yes," Liu Shuyue nodded solemnly, "It is indeed in the direction of Kunlun Mountain, considering there are no surrounding mountain ranges that could compare to Kunlun, it wouldn’t be wrong to say this is the Kunlun Peak where the Lotus Cloud Sect resides."

No wonder she came to find himself.

"I didn’t expect it to be this tall..." Lin Qing gasped, "There’s no mountain on Earth that’s this exaggerated."

"Why can’t we see it normally?" Chen Xuan asked.

"Because the Kunlun Peak is shrouded by clouds year-round, coupled with the sect’s large formations, once you leave the mountain, you basically see nothing." Liu Shuyue explained, "It’s said that long ago, the people at the mountain’s base could see Kunlun, no matter how distant, the Divine Mountain always stood upon the northern sky."

"Looks like the jade token truly has connections with the Lotus Cloud Sect..." Chen Xuan mused reluctantly. Because of this, he couldn’t simply choose to cast aside Jiang City’s future entirely.

Afterwards, he recounted the plans of the Dimensional Limit Mechanism to Liu Shuyue with Lin Qing.

The latter listened with some confusion, the concepts of Celestial Patrol, orbital mass projection, and Moon-Earth strikes were somewhat abstract, but she understood one thing clearly: this series of anomalies were not coincidental, but a chain reaction caused by the Mechanism.

"Is the jade token Ji Yun gave you still with you?"

"Yes, I’ve kept it with me." Liu Shuyue took the jade token from her pocket and handed it to Chen Xuan.

Chen Xuan examined it carefully, finding its size and shape remarkably similar to the one in Lin’s memories; the main difference was this token was clearly well-carved, not only were the edges decorated with patterns, the middle had two rows of small text "Boundless and cursed, evidence is here."

The token in the memories had a coarse and dull surface, with no markings or symbols, like a raw jade just roughly processed.

The Immortal Alliance also had jade tokens, but compared to the former, its design was lighter and smooth, it seemed Ji Yun took inspiration from smartphone designs when creating it.

"Does the Lotus Cloud Sect issue jade tokens to their Mountain Disciples?" Chen Xuan asked Liu Shuyue.

"The sect doesn’t give out uniform tokens, but they also don’t prevent disciples from carving or carrying them." She thought for a moment and answered, "I’ve seen jade tokens with Liu Zhidong before, which are completely different from this one."

Different from what Sect Disciples use, yet similar to the token from another world, an astute observer can tell something is amiss.

"I guess the answer lies at Kunlun Peak." Chen Xuan took a deep breath, "The plan to visit the Lotus Cloud Sect might need to be advanced."