Even blind box hunters don't choose their partners? I got Su Daji from my blind box!

Zheng Aiguo's order was quickly reviewed and verified through three lines of government.

"pass."

Two words were uttered.

The atmosphere in the fog was anything but relaxed.

Lin Xiao stood in front of that path of light and looked at it for a long time.

At the end of the road is Earth.

Azure ocean, thick clouds, city lights, and streets glistening with rainwater.

It felt so familiar it made my heart clench.

He did not agree.

They didn't refuse immediately.

A moment later, Lin Xiao suddenly smiled.

The smile was faint.

"You didn't intend to take me home."

A thin mist drifted slowly.

The Heavenly Emperor did not answer.

Lin Xiao raised his eyes and looked into the depths of the gray marks.

"You want me to get out of this."

"I'm afraid you'll die."

The Heavenly Emperor's voice remained gentle.

He appeared to be an elder who was considering the needs of the younger generation.

"You're taking on a debt, not a fire."

"What you just opened wasn't just a few people's old files."

"The return of the old subordinates to their posts involves going through old pages that have been buried in the royal court's main archives for far too long."

"When one page is turned, another page will come looking for you."

"You still have the gray mark of me nailed to your chest."

"If this continues, the Old Fire, the Royal Court, and Earth—the three threads will tear you apart together."

"Every time you call out a name, the chief of the royal court will take another look at you."

"Every time you save a person from the past, the path of Earth becomes shorter by an inch."

The Heavenly Emperor paused.

"Lin Xiao".

"I'm leaving you an escape route."

Lin Xiao gripped the Emperor's Sword tightly.

The hilt of the sword was slightly warm.

"So, you're choosing for me?"

You are still young.

The Heavenly Emperor's Way:

"Can't tell the difference between going home and going to your death."

The gold thread on the spine of the sword adhered to Lin Xiao's palm lines.

The warm fire flowed along the blade, gradually illuminating the fog before his eyes.

Lin Xiao looked at the blue planet.

"I can tell the difference."

"Going home is my business."

"Using others as firewood is your business."

On the old fire board, Chen Sanshi's nameplate flickered gently.

It did not go out.

However, it did not recover immediately.

The Heavenly Emperor immediately seized upon this moment of hesitation.

His voice lowered even further.

"You really think they're waiting for you?"

"All they're waiting for is someone to settle their accounts."

"If you fall, they'll just keep waiting for the next one."

That's a very accurate statement.

Lin Xiao did not immediately refute.

Those outside the fog could not hear what the Heavenly Emperor was saying.

The changes to the list of eligible members have already presented the results to everyone.

Liu Bo stared intently at the old fire board.

"He stabbed Lin Xiao in the heart again."

The half-door pattern on the side door of the return route has also shrunk back a little.

The thirty-seven flames behind the door dimmed.

Lin Xiao turned to look at the old fire board.

Through the thin mist, he couldn't make out Chen Sanshi's name.

But he knew that the fire was still burning.

As long as it's still lit up, it's not a dead debt.

"Then let them wait until I'm awake."

Lin Xiao paused.

"At least now, I know they're not in charge."

"It's a person."

hum!

Chen Sanshi's fame has been rekindled.

The side door on the way back was held steady by half an inch.

The thirty-seven faint flames behind the door also stopped in their tracks.

They did not retreat further into the darkness.

The Heavenly Emperor remained silent for a moment.

He then presented his second condition.

"You shall cease all activity for three days."

"I ordered the Heavenly Realm's rear camp to cease fire for three days."

"Hand over the Emperor's Sword and Pathfinder."

"I'll give you some coordinates to get back to Earth."

Lin Xiao laughed immediately.

"You just said there was no need to pay a price."

"Are you going to raise the price now?"

"Even the Heavenly Emperor resorts to this tactic of raising prices on the spot?"

The Heavenly Emperor spoke calmly.

"That's not the price."

"It's a road clearance certificate."

Lin Xiao did not refuse immediately.

He only asked one question.

"Who can verify the coordinates?"

The Heavenly Emperor answered quickly.

"monkey."

Outside the fog, Sun Wukong raised an eyebrow.

He couldn't hear the whole conversation.

But the word "monkey" pierced through the thin mist and clearly reached his ears.

The old road's atmosphere, deep within the gray traces, grew stronger and stronger.

Sun Wukong, carrying his golden cudgel, shouted into the mist.

"Kid."

"Don't be too quick to trust the accountant."

"The true path will not grow out of the ledger."

Liu Bo's lips twitched.

That's a very crude way of putting it.

But when it comes to this, it's definitely more effective than any grand principle.

The Heavenly Emperor deliberately sent his voice out through the thin mist.

"You're still as noisy as ever."

Sun Wukong sneered.

"Whether I, Old Sun, make a fuss or not is none of your business, you bird that keeps accounts in the sky!"

The array patterns of the Huayang Old Array trembled slightly.

Liu Bo almost lost his composure.

In wartime, things should be serious.

But when the Monkey King speaks, it does indeed invigorate you.

The Heavenly Emperor was not angered.

He simply changed direction.

"Lin Xiao".

"Look, he's from Earth too."

"But did he go back?"

"He couldn't even say which road he was thrown out from."

Sun Wukong's expression remained unchanged.

The golden cudgel in his hand pressed down an inch into the ground.

thump.

The entire old formation seemed to sink.

"You talk as if you dare to turn to my page in the ledger."

Both inside and outside the fog, there was a brief silence.

Lin Xiao's eyes narrowed.

They've caught them.

The loophole in the Heavenly Emperor's words was finally exposed.

"You don't dare turn to the page about Monkey King."

"Yet they dare to tempt me with the Earth."

"That means what you gave me wasn't the complete path at all."

The Earth's projection in the gray streaks stuttered for the first time.

On the outskirts of the city, a large number of lights suddenly went out.

Vehicles were stopped halfway down the street.

The movements of pedestrians on the roadside were also frozen.

A pieced-together old video was forcibly paused.

Lin Xiao took a step forward.

"You mean helping me get back to Earth?"

"At most, it just puts me into a gear that you can control, like Earth."

The Heavenly Emperor's voice finally turned slightly colder.

Being too smart is not a good thing.

Lin Xiao did not stop.

"If you can really send people back to Earth at will, you shouldn't leave any old sources of fire behind."

"Sun Wukong".

"The side gate for the return route."

"Dark red remains."

"Qin Family Bronze Medal"

"You won't keep a single one of these things."

He moved forward again.

The private path in the gray traces swayed.

Even that blue planet has begun to distort.

"You besieged three thousand cities for a whole year."

"Set up a rope formation."

"Force Earth to hand over its people."

"Make the royal court's main file erase the name, stamp it, verify the memory, and even replace Tian Jiao's soul."

"You've done so much."

"And now you're suddenly telling me you have a way to send me back to Earth?"

The golden threads on the Emperor's Sword trembled violently.

hum!

The thin mist was shaken open, creating a narrow crack.

The sounds outside the fog returned for a moment.

Liu Bo suddenly looked up.

He finally heard what Lin Xiao said next.

"What you're afraid of isn't whether I go home or not."

Lin Xiao stared into the depths of the gray marks.

What you're afraid of is...

"I followed the side door of the return route and pointed to the person who could truly lead people home."

boom!

The patterns on the old fire board all lit up.

For the first time, the half of the door, which had always been incomplete, revealed its complete outline.

Qin Weiguo stared intently at the blackened copper sheet on the table.

The firelight illuminated the scene.

The remaining characters on the copper plate reappeared.

[The Qin family members are not included in the register, yet they are admitted.]

Qin Weiguo's Adam's apple bobbed.

"It's not a road."

"It's a person."

Liu Bo immediately took over, his voice tense.

"The side gate of the return route is not a passage file."

"It's a kind of acrostic mechanism!"

"The Qin family was not recorded within the family either."

Liu Bo stared at the copper piece, his face growing paler and paler.

"The Qin family is very likely one of the rules governing the use of this door."

What Wang Ting was truly afraid of Lin Xiao mentioning wasn't the door.

"It's the person who can open the door!"

Inside the Three Thousand Cities Military Soul Tower, the old lamps flickered simultaneously.

Zheng Aiguo did not hesitate for a moment.

"All units, record."

"The Heavenly Emperor is actively avoiding the old ways and clearing out past grievances."

"A suspected fear-based roll call mechanism at the side entrance of the return route."

"Included in the highest strategic notes."

The fog was quiet for a moment.

Then, the Heavenly Emperor smiled.

This time, he did not deny it.

"Yes."

"Of course I'm scared."

"I'm afraid that a spark that shouldn't have fallen will burn the whole ledger to a crisp."