I created the myth of the Great Old Ones.

[Enter the Silent Land?]

【whether】

Lu Ban chose "Yes".

Suddenly, the planet crumbled and fell apart. Amidst the destruction, a crimson moon rose, its eerie light like an eye, staring intently at Lu Ban.

He was surrounded by crimson, and the huge red figure nailed to the moon was faintly visible.

Lu Ban knew that the moon was originally just an ordinary gray, barren planet. The reason it appeared red was because it had been stained with countless drops of blood!

In that weightless feeling of traversing a foreign land, Lu Ban sensed even more gazes upon him.

These gazes came from different foreign lands and different beings. Some were still conscious, while others were merely unconscious reflections of instinct. They were watching Lu Ban's every move as if they were watching actors in a reality show, observing him silently.

The time flow in this alternate world is inconsistent with the main perspective.

[Time ratio: 3:1]

[Onward to the Land of Night]

Suddenly, a powerful gravitational force pulled Lu Ban, causing him to fall downwards.

The accelerating feeling of falling is enough to make anyone scream; it's a fear that comes from humanity's very instincts.

The next moment, Lu Ban felt as if he had been slammed against a wall, his back hitting the solid ground, making his bones creak.

"It's getting increasingly violent..."

Looking at the azure sky, Lu Ban felt that he was still relatively healthy.

After lying down for a while, Lu Ban finally got up.

This is a forest, where trees are sparse and strive to grow upwards for sunlight.

He seemed to hear the sound of some animal echoing through the quiet forest.

In addition, there are human voices.

Lu Ban turned around and saw the dilapidated convoy and several people in rough clothes carrying weapons.

"Your Excellency, it's time for us to depart."

One of them said that his clothes were relatively better, and the sword in his hand was even more gleaming. Obviously, if a battle were to break out now, he should be able to survive for a relatively longer period of time.

"it is good."

Lu Ban responded without showing any doubt. He saw the fallen leaves and withered branches gradually twisting and forming cold and indifferent words in the silent place.

【Land of Night】

[A year of blazing fire, a blood moon is approaching]

The only thing humanity can learn from history is that humanity can never learn anything from history.

[Constant concessions have put the kingdom's borders in grave danger, with large numbers of refugees fleeing to the central regions, causing the demonic tide to intensify. Trying to quell the demonic tide with land is like adding fuel to the fire; the fire will not be extinguished until the fuel is exhausted.]

[There are also those who try to defy the inescapable torrent of fate, becoming solitary rebels against the tide, with an abyss ahead. Are you prepared to give everything?]

[Mission Difficulty: Brilliant]

[Mission Objective: Resist the onslaught of the demonic tide]

[Mission Objective: Build the Gray Tower]

It seems that Lu Ban is now going to the border town as support to resist the impending demonic tide.

The Kingdom of Night is currently under the rule of a certain kingdom, whose rulers have adopted a passive resistance strategy, resulting in the continuous loss of land and the people suffering greatly.

Since Lu Ban and his group's goal is to resist the invasion and build the Gray Tower, then they must help the original creators of the Gray Tower to improve the magic system and resist the magic tide.

Perhaps we can even revolutionize this kingdom while we're at it.

If Sia were here, Lu Ban felt that building the Gray Tower would be very simple. Sia possessed comprehensive magical knowledge, and although they might fall into the chicken-and-egg paradox, constructing the magic network should not be a problem.

According to what Xia once told Lu Ban, before the establishment of the Magic Network and the Gray Tower, there were also mages in this world, but they were probably beings whose bodies had been corrupted by pollution, causing them to become alienated and lose their reason.

The key to the Gray Tower lies in how to absorb knowledge from the body and borrow power through prayers via the magic network.

Of course, a large number of people are still needed to resist the demonic tide and build defensive fortifications.

As Lu Ban pondered these thoughts, he boarded the carriage, where his companions were clearly seated.

He first saw Sia, the girl in armor and cloak who hadn't changed much; time seemed to have left no trace on her face.

Next, Lu Ban saw Stone, who looked slightly embarrassed. His overcoat was out of place with the surroundings. He wasn't smoking and was sitting upright.

Finally, Lu Ban saw his third companion.

His previous confusion was finally resolved.

Upon seeing Lu Ban, the other person smiled happily and reached out their hand, intending to pull Lu Ban into the carriage.

Lu Ban was taken aback, then greeted him.

"Long time no see, Lao Cui."

Chapter 695 Inevitability

When Lu Ban saw Trist, he felt as if he had been transported to another world.

After all, he had just heard the news of Twisted Fate's death. The Xuanjun who suppressed the Old Ones in the cave in Jiangcheng Mountain was his familiar old friend Twisted Fate. With the cycle of fate already completed, it was truly moving to see Twisted Fate again.

Lu Ban sat in the carriage, and the group continued its journey.

He glanced at Sia, then at Stone, as if seeking their answers.

"I already know."

Drizzt suddenly spoke up at that moment.

He didn't explain what he knew, but judging from his eyes and expression, that must have been everything.

"When I saw Stone, I already had a feeling that there was no other pipe like this."

Drizzt pulled out the briar pipe from his pocket; even the pattern on it was exactly the same as the one Stone had.

"So, I'll be participating in a mission to go to the past of your world and suppress an Old One?"

He checked it again.

Lu Ban nodded.

"Because I saved your world, you were able to be born in that world and eventually meet me. So, when we first met, the ending was already destined, and fate had already completed its cycle, right?"

Inside the swaying carriage, Drizzt asked, as somber sunlight filtered through the trees, passing through the carriage door and into the cabin, the swirling dust revealing the trails of light.

"Correct."

Sia answered.

She knew very well that the Twisted Fate sitting in front of them now was the Twisted Fate after the Glass Flower and before the Night of the Summoning. This must be the mission that Twisted Fate participated in during that period. After that, he would take on a mission to the alien realm where Lu Ban was located, and finally meet his end there.

Of course, even if he told Drizzt this, he wouldn't really feel it.

From his perspective, he had only missed seeing Lu Ban and Xi Ya for a while. Who would have thought that to them, he was already a dead man?

"But not entirely."

Sia explained further.

"To be precise, what we are currently observing is that Lu Ban's world was preserved because of Xuan Jun's actions. After a certain mission, you never returned to the ruined city, at least not in front of Stone. And you left a message, letting Lu Ban know that Xuan Jun is you."

What message did I leave behind?

"Trist asked."

Stone was about to answer when Sia stopped him.

"You don't know what you'll leave behind, but there might be a chance for things to turn around here."

"That's what the young mage said."

"Because this sentence is Lu Ban's evidence that Xuan Jun is Cui Shi. If we don't reveal this sentence to you, it means that fate can be changed."

"What do you mean?"

Drizzt didn't quite understand. Some of these things involved him personally, while others involved the disordered time in the Silent Land, which was difficult for someone whose perception of time was always one-dimensional to comprehend.

“Lu Ban did not witness your becoming a Xuanjun and your eventual death. So, if we can find a way to intervene, then the fact that you became a Xuanjun and died might not be true. In fact, you hid and survived, but we all thought you were dead.”

Sia explained.

"For example, I first saw that you had a piece of cake in your hand. Then I turned to look outside the carriage, and when I turned back, the cake was gone. There was a little cream on the corner of your mouth, so I concluded that you ate the cake, which makes sense."

"But actually, it might be like this: I was upset because you ate my cake, so I developed a time-traveling magic technique and went back to the past. When I was looking out the window in the past, I came back, stole the cake, ate it, and put some cream on your lips."

"In this way, my past remains unchanged, but the cake is indeed eaten by my future self."

Upon hearing Sia's explanation, Trist and Stone exchanged bewildered glances.

Only Lu Ban spoke.

"I want to eat cake too."

"I want to eat it too."

Sia nodded in agreement, then looked at Trist.

Do you understand?

"But if that really was me, shouldn't I have been seen by others when I died, like a successor or something? How do you explain that?"

Trist still found it hard to understand.

"What I just said can only be known by the Chosen Ones, because the Chosen Ones are people who have traveled through time and space. As for those successors, they cannot perceive time other than their own, so those possibilities are nothing to them."

Sia explained.

"If you consider your journey as a book, then they are the people in the book. The people in the book will never know that they are in a story. For them, only the version of themselves that is read by the reader is real. We, on the other hand, are the readers, who can flip through the pages at will, even skipping some chapters, and thus reassemble the story at will."

"That's why I said that if Drizzt didn't know that sentence, then we still have more room to salvage the situation."

She looked at Stone, then at Lu Ban.

"Is that so..."