# 1479
Chapter 1480: Empty Dojo
Lin Qiye opened his mouth, his voice somewhat hoarse:
"Yes…"
Lin Qiye hadn't been certain before, but now he saw it clearly—Lingbao Tianzun's return was inevitable. Setting aside everything else, without Lingbao Tianzun, all of them would either have died under Zeus's [Myriad Sovereign Scepter] or been exiled to the ends of time, spending their remaining years in silence and death.
Lingbao Tianzun was Great Xia's hope.
"Then from now on… will Baili Pangpang never be able to come back?"
After a long silence, Lin Qiye finally gathered his courage and asked the question he most wanted to know.
Lingbao Tianzun gazed at Lin Qiye for a long while before speaking. "Whether Baili Pangpang or Lingbao Tianzun… these are merely identities. All his memories remain within this贫道的 mind, and there is a corner of this贫道的 soul that will always belong to Baili Pangpang.
When everything settles, even if this贫道 were to live again as Baili Pangpang… what would be wrong with that?"
Lingbao Tianzun fixed his gaze on Lin Qiye's eyes, a faint smile appearing at the corners of his lips.
Lin Qiye stood frozen in place.
"We can talk about the future when the time comes." Lingbao Tianzun shook his head and turned to continue walking deeper into the Dark Ancestor Stone Formation.
Lin Qiye took a deep breath and followed, an indescribable feeling stirring in his heart.
It wasn't an unpleasant feeling—he could sense that traces of Baili Pangpang still remained in Lingbao Tianzun, which meant he hadn't completely disappeared… Lingbao Tianzun had also said that when everything was over, Baili Pangpang might still have a chance to return.
Though having the dignified Lingbao Tianzun willingly revert to being that silly rich boy again sounded impractical, there was at least a sliver of hope.
The flames around Lingbao Tianzun gradually dispelled the darkness of the stone formation. Clad in his Taoist robe, he walked while performing calculations—sometimes turning, sometimes looking back, sometimes circling clockwise around a massive stone eight or nine times.
Lin Qiye followed obediently behind him, not straying a single step.
To an outsider, this scene would only suggest the two of them were mentally unstable, but what Lin Qiye was actually thinking was… that the episodes from Journey to the West might all be true!
They walked through the megalith formation for about a dozen minutes, but Lin Qiye still couldn't see its edge. These massive stones seemed endless—no matter which direction they walked, more would appear around them.
However, the moment Lingbao Tianzun stepped into one of the megaliths, the environment changed dramatically!
All the densely clustered megaliths vanished, his field of vision instantly opening up. The stone bricks beneath his feet transformed into soil and grass, bathed in cold moonlight, as if they'd stepped onto a prairie in the mortal world.
In the distance of the prairie, a bare tree stood quietly, and directly above it in the night sky, a bright full moon seemed cradled by its dense branches, emanating a serene glow.
Night, bright moon, withered tree, prairie…
This scene resembled an ancient painting, existing through countless ages. Standing in the distance, Lin Qiye felt an overwhelming sense of vastness and desolation wash over him.
"This place is…"
"This is the deepest part of the stone formation—the former dwelling of the Dark Ancestor." Lingbao Tianzun spoke calmly.
Lin Qiye stared at the bare trunk, his eyes narrowing slightly as he seemed to gaze into the distance by the moonlight. After a moment, he spoke with confusion:
"So, we might encounter the Dark Ancestor here?"
"Impossible." Lingbao Tianzun shook his head. "Though this was the Dark Ancestor's dwelling, that was in ancient times. Now that the Ancestral God mythology has declined, the Dark Ancestor should have disappeared long ago. This is merely an empty Dark Ancestor dojo."
Lin Qiye's expression grew strange. After a hesitation, he raised his hand and pointed toward the figure beneath the distant bare tree:
"Then… who's that figure under the tree?"
…
Olympus.
Si Xiaonan stood atop a deserted mountain peak, overlooking the massive shadow submerged in the depths of the valley below, her eyes narrowing slightly.
"Using Lucifer to block the Seraph, then exploiting Great Xia to destroy the Temple of Heaven, forcing Vishnu onto his pirate ship… in one stroke, recruiting two Supreme-tier combat forces. Zeus really knows how to scheme." She murmured softly.
She hadn't witnessed the battle between Michael and Lucifer firsthand, but she was almost certain Lucifer was no match for Michael. Yet with three Supreme Gods stationed here, even Michael couldn't do anything to Olympus.
Who could have imagined that while other divine kingdoms were still locked in slaughter and battle, Zeus had quietly woven such an elaborate scheme, giving fractured Olympus such powerful backing in an instant.
While Si Xiaonan was calculating and analyzing, something seemed to alert her. She sharply raised her head to look at the sky.
It was daytime, yet a golden ripple appeared mysteriously on the moon's shadow in the sky. The golden ripple flickered and vanished in an instant—if one weren't looking carefully, it would have been impossible to detect. But the terrifying divine power fluctuations contained within it were impossible to hide from a Chief God-level perception.
"Michael returned to the Moon?" Si Xiaonan's expression grew increasingly grim. "Could something have happened on the Moon as well?"
This was undoubtedly bad news for Great Xia. Michael, as the strongest combat force standing on the opposite side of the Cthulhu Faction's mythology, as long as He remained on Earth, could directly威慑Olympus. Even with three Supreme Gods stationed there, Zeus wouldn't dare make any moves. But if Michael left Earth… that meant the sword at Zeus's throat had disappeared.
Now, most of Great Xia's combat forces had been exiled by Zeus, leaving only the two Heavenly Sovereigns guarding the homeland. If Olympus and the Cthulhu Faction were to act now, Great Xia's situation would become extremely dire.
Si Xiaonan's face阴沉, her mind racing. After a moment, a gleam of sharpness flashed in her eyes. Her palm swept across her face, and her form shifted once more into the appearance of an Olympian Lesser God.
She spread her legs, took a light leap, and directly descended toward the massive shadow churning in the valley.
Buzz—!!
Sensing Si Xiaonan's approach, the massive shadow slowly rose from the dust. A colossal Buddha with four faces and eight arms gradually took shape.
One of the faces, covered in cracks, faced directly toward Si Xiaonan. Its expression was neither sad nor happy—those narrowed eyes calmly gazing down at her. Then, a low voice rang in her ears:
"…What business?"
Si Xiaonan paused for a moment, then bowed respectfully and said:
"Zeus大人sent me to ask you… how is your recovery progressing?"