Facing an Ancient God for a Year

Chapter 1370: Chapter 1368 The Fallen Empire (27)

It’s truly wondrous how, after introducing what seems to be an absurd assumption, everything suddenly becomes reasonable.

It is not the small town on the outskirts or even the entire world that transcends time, but Leytin itself.

So there isn’t an all-encompassing grand curse; the special power is merely acting upon one city.

By comparison, this is evidently a much less laborious interpretation.

Nightmare, lake bottom, secret chamber.

Under the gaze of the four leaders of the Fallen Star Clan, Fu Qian fetched out something and opened it.

It was a broken pocket watch, with strange engravings inside the back cover.

And with Fu Qian remembering every word, this time he transformed into a worm, all experiences of being escorted by an extradimensional guardian swiftly passed through his mind.

The painting that appeared in the gallery…

The severe and noble ordinance…

The sudden descent of the fog…

The various nightmares…

The Sect caught off guard…

Even to the extent of a special pocket watch that seemed to be called “her”…

All the way, under the brutal squeeze of extreme efficiency, the “burning” of each force and individual seemed ultimately to pave the road leading to the truth.

When I first arrived in this world, my judgment was that the reality belonging to the World Within the Painting was obscured, the world in which The Sect resided had the property of nightmares.

One reason is because the Witch once told me this was a world of despair.

The existence of Leytin, as such, was clearly discordant.

However, in driving various forces later on to push beyond their limits to seek evidence for my speculation, more and more signs appeared that inversely proved this was actually a place blessed by the gods, a paradise secluded from the world.

And the imagined ruinous apocalypse occurred during a transient foggy day where time nearly lost its meaning.

My mission’s target also once again firmly confirmed this, thus knowing from the start that the Fallen Star Clan before my eyes was merely a tragedy I concocted for myself.

…

Nevertheless, Fu Qian never forgot some slightly abrupt details.

For instance, this initial achievement assumed to be a loophole of the nightmare in his hand.

At the time, the interpretation of the inscription behind the watch face was that the Baroness, who had considered the pocket watch a soul vessel, displayed a special reflection in the nightmare.

Yet, if Leytin in the Ordinance World is indeed real, how should this inscription be explained?

A tombstone inscription casually engraved by the Witch after sending all individuals out of the World Within the Painting?

The pocket watch, which had been verified by many, was known to have no Extraordinary Aura, mind you.

Reysen and others processing the experiences of the World Within the Painting through dreaming, understanding it as an act by the Witch to help them blend into the world without rejection, seemed natural enough.

To have even a lifeless pocket watch undergo such treatment, is it not somewhat contrived?

Besides, there was another detail that baffled me right at the start of this mission.

Although this is evidently Leytin, it appeared vastly different, with numerous areas having undergone significant change.

The initial understanding was to associate it possibly with the instability of the nightmare itself.

Yet now, with the introduction of the concept of ancient Leytin, everything seems to have a smoother explanation.

Firstly, the memories Frankie and the others experienced were indeed true.

The scene of the Stars Association’s collapse and The Sect’s fall truly occurred in history, and the apocalypse subsequently arrived from which Leytin did not escape unscathed.

During this process, Frankie and others, carrying the misaligned cognition of nightmare and reality, abandoned the Stars and descended into the nightmare.

As a result, years later, those they saw as clumsy Awakeners dreamed once again of a reborn Leytin.

This made them even more convinced about the malice and absurdity of that nightmare.

However, the real situation was that it was Leytin from ancient times, which, under some special effect, returned from history to reality, bringing the intact ordinance along.

To them, history ended at that moment, and everything thereafter did not happen.

This also explains the strange inscription appearing in the pocket watch.

Nightmare, discarded pawn, ruins, all anomalies were original apocalyptic scenes explained and contained through the perspective of a Leytin that had never been destroyed.

For instance, discarded pawns were the products of the time curse, and even though the World Within the Painting was ostensibly a reality, it exhibited such a perfect nightmare nature.

Leytin and the ordinance, with a domineering stance, defined and explained all this, forcibly erasing the illogical aspects.

This even once misled me to, for instance, attempt to verify the time upon entering this mission — only to find that the obvious differences in the faces of the two cities were nearly identical in year, month, and day.

This initially made me not suspect the historical attributes of the outside Leytin too much.

Only the contradiction between Frankie’s memory and reality just now reignited my thoughts, prompting attempts to locate potential flaws in the time span.

Frankie and others, as The Sect hunters, not knowing these names like Orintel has a simple reason — that was already ancient history.

But under the power of “interpretation,” all matters are forcibly included within the logic of Leytin’s perspective, thus altering the perception of time.

As for the inscription on the pocket watch, it is also a manifestation of this effect.

It was not done by the Witch, and even the nightmare perception by Reysen’s family might not be.

All individuals merging into Leytin will undergo a process of being “interpreted.”

Most turned into victims of nightmares; the Baroness, due to being overly special, ultimately appeared in this form.

This is also why the nightmares emerged concentratedly a month ago.

There might even be similar entities with the nature of the World Within the Painting among them, yet for the sake of rationale, all were unified into this form.

…

The blood bar dropping over this hour seems worth it!

Among the swiftly passing thoughts, Fu Qian finally sighed deeply with emotion.

Under this even smoother deduction, the probability of the Witch still being alive evidently also increased significantly.

The question now is, in what manner is she “integrated”?

This clearly might help deduce where to find her.

“Lord Golim Xiao, what exactly do those names you mentioned mean?”

And seeing Fu Qian seemed to have finished pondering, Lady Xia on the side finally couldn’t help but ask.

“They are the veteran victims of the Stars this time.”

Fu Qian turned his head, his gaze meaningfully sweeping over the crowd.

“It seems that you, sir, have finally understood, and it wasn’t in vain that we shared this.”

Carefully observing Fu Qian’s expression, Frankie clearly wasn’t so easily convinced.

“If you don’t mind, we’d like to know about the supreme Dark Moon you mentioned.”

“Of course I don’t mind. In fact, I’m thinking about it as well.”

Unusually easy-going, Fu Qian took a step forward, looking down at the three Pools of Origin.

Just when everyone thought he was organizing his words, suddenly, with a flash of motion, he reached out and grabbed at the Bronze Ring Fish.