The ancient return was exposed by his sister's live stream.

"Chrysalis?" Chen Siyao blurted out.

"Ice pupa," Chen Hao said. "A juvenile ice butterfly. Not yet born."

"Still alive?!"

Yang Wanqing rushed up.

She squatted in front of the groove, her nose almost touching the surface of the ice pupa.

The pupa shell is a translucent ice blue, and you can vaguely see a blurry outline inside, curled up and very small.

"Is it really still alive?" Yang Wanqing turned to look at Chen Hao.

"There's still a faint sign of life," Chen Hao said.

The viewers in the live stream realized what was happening.

"Alive?! A living Ice Butterfly after ten thousand years?!"

"A miracle of life..."

"If this can hatch, it will be the only ancient spirit insect on Earth!"

"Raise it! We must keep it alive!"

Yang Wanqing was already plotting. "Master, can I take him with me? I'll raise him! I'll absolutely take responsibility!"

Chen Siyao squatted down beside her, observing the condition of the ice pupa. There were several extremely fine cracks on the surface of the pupa shell, not cracks from hatching, but damage.

The color is also not quite right. A normal ice pupa should be uniform in color throughout, but the lower half of this pupa is noticeably darker.

She looked up at Chen Hao.

"Brother, its condition... isn't good?"

Chen Hao took two steps closer. He looked down at the ice pupa for a long time.

"The chances of survival are slim."

Yang Wanqing's excitement was immediately dampened by most of it. "Why?"

"Hatching requires a continuous influx of extremely cold spiritual energy. The concentration of spiritual energy here has already dropped to an extremely low level. It has endured this state for too long, and the pupa shell has begun to crack. If this continues, it will die before it can hatch."

Yang Wanqing panicked. "What should we do? Is there any way to save him?"

Chen Hao glanced at her.

"Flame Spirit Stone".

"What?"

"The Flame Spirit Stone is a material for body refinement and also an extremely yang material. Using it to stimulate the ice pupa in reverse can force the ice butterfly larva inside the pupa to accelerate its metamorphosis, using activation instead of natural hatching."

Chen Siyao understood. "Fighting poison with poison?"

"almost."

"What about the success rate?"

Chen Hao did not provide any figures.

Yang Wanqing no longer cared about the success rate. She stood up and patted her knees. "I have Flame Spirit Stones; I'll definitely raise it."

Yang Wanqing carefully removed the ice pupa from the groove. The pupa shell was icy cold to the touch and surprisingly light. She held it in both hands, as if holding an egg.

"It's not really suitable to put it in your storage bag," Chen Siyao said. "The temperature will change."

"Then I'll hold it!"

"You'll be holding it all day?"

Yang Wanqing looked at his hands, then at the ice pupa.

She took an empty thermos from her handbag. She unscrewed the lid and measured its size.

The ice pupa fit perfectly inside.

"...Use a thermos to hold it," Chen Siyao said.

"The thermos keeps the temperature constant! And it has an insulation layer to keep the heat in!" Yang Wanqing said confidently as she carefully placed the ice cocoon inside, with the rim facing upwards and no lid.

Chen Siyao: "...Okay."

The live stream chat was already flooded with jokes about "raising ancient insects in a thermos".

"There's a kind of adorable contrast called 'Eternal Ice Butterfly x Thermos Cup'."

"Yang Wanqing really dares to pretend to be anything..."

"The first home of the ancient spirit insect was actually a thermos, haha."

Yang Wanqing held the thermos cup, her face full of appreciation. "From now on, you'll be called Xiao Bing."

Chen Siyao couldn't help but ask, "It hasn't even hatched yet, and you've already named it?"

"Take it first! What if it survives? Have faith!"

Chen Hao had already started walking back.

The two women quickly followed.

Emerging from the ice, I stood once more on the surface of the ice sheet. Jupiter was still overhead, silently revolving.

This time, Yang Wanqing kept his gaze below eye level and resolutely refused to look up at the sky.

"Brother, where to next?" Chen Siyao asked.

Chen Hao glanced in the direction of the South Heavenly Gate.

"There is a city behind the door."

It flew for less than five minutes.

On the back of Nantianmen, the outlines of the buildings that had been seen from afar became clearer as we approached.

It's not "some buildings".

It is a city.

A dilapidated, silent city, frozen for who knows how long.

Chen Siyao looked down from the air.

The city's outline is square, with sides estimated to be about two kilometers long.

There is a city wall, half of which has collapsed, but you can tell that it was originally at least fifteen meters high.

The city gate was reduced to a mere frame, with its crossbeams hanging precariously in mid-air.

The buildings within the city are arranged in neat rows, and the streets crisscross. The layout, viewed from above, is that of a standard military fortress.

The buildings are symmetrical along a central axis, with each level building progressively taller and more imposing than the one closest to the center.

But more than half of these buildings were destroyed.

It wasn't destroyed by weathering. It wasn't eroded by time.

It was smashed.

There was a huge gap in the city wall, as if it had been blasted through by some kind of force.

Several tall buildings in the city had broken in the middle, their upper halves leaning to the side. The streets were littered with rubble and... the remains of weapons.

The three landed at the city gate.

The moment Chen Siyao landed, she noticed the thing at her feet.

A gun.

It's not a gun in the modern sense. It's a cold weapon. It has a long handle, the spearhead is embedded in the ice, and a third of the handle is broken off.

The material is not clearly visible; it is made of a metal with a dull luster.

Yang Wanqing nearly stepped on it, jumping to avoid it. "You scared me! What was that?"

"Weapons." Chen Siyao crouched down to take a look, but didn't touch them. "A battle took place here."

It's more than just "a battle took place".

She stood up and looked around.

Within a radius of several dozen meters around the city gate, there were traces of battle everywhere.

There are charred marks on the ice, caused by magic.

The stones at the base of the city wall have neat cutting marks, resembling knives or other weapons.

There were also several deep pits with smooth walls, which looked like some kind of burrowing technique.

The situation became even more serious after entering the city gate.

Almost none of the buildings on both sides of the main street are intact.

The door panels were shattered, the walls collapsed, and in some places, traces of fire could be seen.

Although ten thousand years have passed, everything has been well preserved in the extremely cold environment. The ferocity of the battle is on full display.

Chen Siyao walked down the main street, with a photo crystal following beside her, faithfully recording every moment.

The charred marks at the base of the city wall were not left by the natural dissipation of spiritual energy.

Chen Siyao squatted in front of a half-collapsed stone wall, her fingertips three centimeters away from the scorch mark.

The heat is long gone, but the texture is clear, spreading in a fan shape, with the center point on the outside of the wall.

"They attacked from the outside," she said.

Yang Wanqing stood in the middle of the main street, with the broken-handled spear at her feet. She spun around in a circle, and the more she looked, the more something seemed off.

"Yao, look over here..." She pointed to the buildings on the left side of the street, "This whole row was bombed from the front. But the row on the right collapsed towards the center of the street."

Chen Siyao stood up and looked in the direction Yang Wanqing was pointing.