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

Chen Hao sat cross-legged in a state of chaos. Around him, three rays of light—golden, emerald green, and earthy yellow—intertwined and intertwined, like three giant dragons swirling and swimming around his body.

Above the foundation of the Dao, there are now eleven.

Metal, Wood, and Earth. The three new principles are firmly rooted in the foundation of the Dao, forming a complete system with the original eight principles.

Chen Hao opened his eyes.

The eleven Great Daos roared simultaneously, and the power of the laws surged through the body for a complete cycle before slowly receding and returning to calm.

It became.

In six years, he refined all three major paths: metal, wood, and earth.

Chen Hao stood up and stretched his limbs. The cracks in his Dao Foundation had long been repaired, and it was now three times thicker than before his seclusion.

He raised his hand and waved it, and the space of the Guixu Pearl cracked open in front of him.

Light poured in.

But the light was very dim.

Chen Hao stepped out of the Returning Void Pearl and landed in the study.

My first feeling was cold. Not in terms of temperature, but a kind of lack of vitality.

The whole room was gray and gloomy, and the sunlight streaming in through the floor-to-ceiling windows had a grayish tint.

The study door was open. Chen Hao went out; the living room was empty.

A thin blanket was folded on the sofa, and a clean cup sat on the coffee table. It was clear that someone had been living here, but wasn't there at the moment.

His gaze fell on the smart panel on the wall.

Time: 1:17 PM.

Below the time, red numbers are jumping.

It has been three years, eleven months, and three days since the Gold-Eating Beast arrived in Earth's orbit.

Countdown.

Chen Hao stared at the line of red text for two seconds. It was much faster than expected.

He turned and walked towards the balcony.

The moment I pushed open the door, a pungent, foul odor hit me. It wasn't a problem with the air quality—the problem was with the daylight itself.

It's 1 p.m. The sun should be directly overhead in the west, and the sunlight should be bright and dazzling.

But now...

The sky was a grayish-yellow. The sun hung there, but it looked as if it were seen through a layer of dirty glass.

The light was so weak it resembled dusk, and the entire city of Shenzhen was shrouded in a somber, gloomy hue.

Chen Hao raised his head and looked up at the sky.

I saw it.

At the edge of the sky, in all directions—north, east, and west—a dark ring of something that doesn't belong to the sky can be seen. It's not a cloud. It's the edge of the Kuroshio Current.

It's visible to the naked eye.

Six years ago, when he left, the Kuroshio was still near the Oort Cloud. Now it has approached to a distance that can be seen with the naked eye.

Chen Hao looked down.

The streets of Shenzhen were deserted. Occasionally, one or two aircraft bearing the logo of the People's Federation would fly low overhead; otherwise, it resembled an abandoned city.

There was no foot traffic. No shops had their lights on. Weeds grew wildly in the roadside green belts, and several cars were parked crookedly in the middle of the road, their age unknown.

He turned on the bracelet's projection.

Information flooded in: announcements, news, and data reports from the People's Federation. He quickly scanned them, each item deepening his understanding of the current situation...

Uranus is destroyed. Neptune is destroyed. Sixty percent of Saturn's outer rings have been eroded. All of Humanity's assets on the outer planets have been abandoned and evacuated.

The rate of Kuroshio's advance: increasing by 40 percent annually.

Current estimate – countdown to the destruction of Earth's orbit: three years and eleven months.

Scroll down further. The Human Alliance's self-rescue plan. Six technical routes. Wormhole 12.3%. Consciousness digitization completed the rat experiment.

Chen Hao paused for a moment when he saw the data.

In four years, we went from zero to twelve percent. From pure theory to the uploading of living consciousness.

If you give them fifty years...

Unfortunately, there is no such thing.

Chen Hao turned off the projector. He didn't go to find Chen Siyao and Yang Wanqing.

With a flash, he disappeared from the balcony.

At the summit of Kunlun Mountain.

The wind is colder than it was six years ago. It's not a natural cold; the entire atmosphere is cooling down after the sunlight weakens.

Chen Hao stood on the smooth platform, facing the enormous archway. The law patterns on the archway were dull and lifeless, and the six grooves waited silently.

He took out the white feather robe from his Qiankun bag.

Jingwei's natal creature. A finger brushes along the edge of the feather; its essence lingers. Faint, yet constant.

Chen Hao placed the feathered robe into the center of the archway. White light shone again, spreading in all directions along the patterns of the laws.

Anchor point positioning initiated.

He closed his eyes, his consciousness extending along the light, traversing the void, passing through the endless sea of ​​stars...

Found it. Jingwei. Still alive. Location unchanged. Anchor point clear and stable.

Chen Hao opened his eyes and put away his feather robe.

Then he sat down cross-legged.

The Great Dao operates simultaneously. The power of the laws surges from the depths of the Dao foundation, converging along the meridians into the palms.

The Way of Gold—A sharp golden light shot out from the Dao Foundation.

The Way of Wood—the vibrant green energy follows closely behind.

The Way of Earth—the profound, earthy yellow principle settles steadily.

The Way of Water – A deep blue, shimmering light flows through the water.

The Way of Fire – Crimson-gold flames leap and dance.

All five elements come together.

Chen Hao stood up and pushed his palms forward.

Above the sky, five-colored patterns appeared out of thin air. Gold, green, yellow, blue, and red—five beams of light descended from the depths of the sky, pierced through the clouds, fell into Chen Hao's palm, and were then poured into the five grooves of the archway by his hands.

The first groove lit up. It was gold.

The second one. Emerald green.

The third one. Earthy yellow.

The fourth one. Dark blue.

The fifth one. Crimson gold.

The five elements are in place.

Chen Hao withdrew his hands and activated the Dao of Space. Pale blue power of law surged from his body, transforming into a colorless stream of light that flowed into the final groove.

All six grooves are fully illuminated.

The archway began to shake.

The light on the law patterns swirled rapidly, the five colors combined with the colorless spatial power rotating within the door frame. It spun faster and faster, until a vortex took shape.

The space inside the doorway began to distort. At first, there were slight ripples, then violent distortions. A curtain of light appeared inside the archway.

The space passage is taking shape.

Chen Hao increased his output. Dao power surged continuously from his Dao foundation, pouring into the archway. The light curtain gradually stabilized amidst its trembling.

Then it flashed.

Like the static on an old television screen.

Chen Hao's brow twitched.

The light screen flickered again. This time it was more intense. Black cracks appeared in the white tunnel image, like fissures in glass, densely covering the entire inside of the door frame.

Those cracks are not physical damage. They are tears at the level of laws.

Chen Hao stopped unleashing his power and took two steps back.

The vortex inside the archway dissipated, and the light dimmed.

He frowned.

Again.

This time, he increased his output. The Great Dao was operating at full power, with a full 50% more Law Power than before.

A vortex forms... a light curtain appears...

It broke again.

It's still the same. The screen flickers more and more frequently. The channel jumps back and forth between forming and collapsing, like a lamp whose filament is about to burn out.

The crack in the middle, like a scar, stretched across the very center of the light screen, and it just wouldn't heal.

It's not that there's not enough energy. Nor is it that the laws are incomplete.