# 1631
Chapter 1625: The Dynasty Reappears
Amidst the swirling dust, Lin Qiye slowly opened his eyes.
He gazed at the yellow-hazed sky before him, his thoughts seemingly frozen in place. It took a long while before he struggled to stand, but the moment he lifted his head, a intense wave of dizziness flooded his mind.
"Bleh—!!!"
Lin Qiye abruptly doubled over, dry heaving.
He had never gotten carsick, seasick, or airsick in his entire life, but now he understood what it meant to feel like his stomach would turn inside out. He lay on the ground for over ten minutes before he could勉强 stand.
"What kind of place is this..." Lin Qiye's gaze swept across his surroundings—nothing but desolate, uninhabited loess stretched in all directions.
Wasn't he on the exploration ship in the mist just now?
Lin Qiye clearly remembered that before losing consciousness, he had been on that ship heading back to Great Xia. He heard three bells echoing across the sea's surface, and then a brilliant light exploded from his chest...
Lin Qiye seemed to recall something and lowered his gaze to his chest. The three marks that had been there before were now down to two—one had vanished as if wiped away, fading to near invisibility.
"The 【Covenant】?" Lin Qiye's brow furrowed tightly.
According to what Charles had said, the 【Covenant】 was a sacred, unbreakable oath. Once made, it would inevitably come to pass... But what exactly did this vanished 【Covenant】 do? Why did it transport him here from the exploration ship?
Question after question surfaced in Lin Qiye's mind. He circled the area, but within several kilometers, there was no trace of human habitation. This place resembled the edge of a desert, with barely any vegetation in sight.
Lin Qiye climbed a small dirt mound and peered into the distance, suddenly spotting a pair of legs buried upside-down in the earth beside a boulder several hundred meters away.
Lin Qiye squinted, and his lips twitched involuntarily!
"Wu Quan!"
Without hesitation, Lin Qiye sprinted to the boulder and shattered it barehanded. A young man lay unconscious in the crevice, covered in blood.
Lin Qiye first checked his breathing—the good news was that he was still alive. The bad news was... he didn't seem to have much time left.
How could this happen?
Lin Qiye's gaze swept over Wu Quan's body. Strange wounds covered his entire surface, as if slashed by something, and several bones were broken. His entire body was limp, his breathing barely perceptible.
"Where did these injuries come from?" Lin Qiye looked at his own body and realized he too had some bruises on his skin, though his physique was far too robust to notice, and his attention had been elsewhere upon arriving in this strange place.
Both he and Wu Quan bore injuries... Could the 【Covenant】 have caused collateral damage to their bodies during teleportation?
Lin Qiye had no time to think further. He simply lifted Wu Quan onto his back, chose a direction, and began sprinting across this barren land.
With such severe injuries, Wu Quan might not last long. He needed to leave immediately and find somewhere to treat him.
At full speed, the earth blurred past behind him. Soon, black specks appeared on Lin Qiye's horizon—structures of some kind, low and small.
As he drew closer, Lin Qiye saw they were several low earthen houses with no windows, only small doors, surrounded by broken wooden fences standing firm against the swirling sand.
"Someone's here." Lin Qiye's eyes lit up. He lightly landed before one of the earthen houses and knocked on the wooden door.
Knock knock knock��—
A moment later, a figure emerged from behind the door.
"Who are you looking for?" The man appeared to be in his forties or fifties, wearing coarse cloth clothing, with dark, rough skin, hunched over, barely reaching Lin Qiye's chest, looking malnourished.
"Hello, where exactly is this place?"
"Luo Hun Mound."
"Um... which city is that in?"
"City?" The man paused. "Oh, West Market is ten li east of here."
"...I mean, which province? Which city?"
The man gave him a suspicious look. "What provinces and cities... fifteen li north is Xue County. If you're looking for information, just go there."
"Xue County..."
Lin Qiye muttered the name. Before he could回过神, the man shut the door firmly.
Hearing the words "Xue County," combined with the man's clothing and the architecture, a bold idea suddenly flashed through Lin Qiye's mind, only to be quickly dismissed...
No, impossible, right?
Lin Qiye shook his head and headed north. Fifteen li might be a great distance for ordinary people, but for Lin Qiye, it was merely a moment's work.
Through the swirling dust, Lin Qiye's feet carried him atop a earthen mound. He stared at the ancient city wall standing firm on the yellow earth in the distance, and his jaw dropped involuntarily...
Not far from Lin Qiye stood a wall constructed of earth and stone, its surface uneven and rough. A arched gate opened at the center of the wall, with crowds of common folk dressed in coarse cloth lined up in two rows, filing into the city. Among them, occasional figures in bright silks and brocades galloped in on horseback.
On top of the wall, dozens of soldiers in armor surveyed the people below, on alert.
"I'm not dreaming?!" Lin Qiye murmured to himself.
This scene completely exceeded Lin Qiye's understanding. While modern times had preserved many ancient city sites and film studios, most were obviously fake reconstructions at a glance... But this city before his eyes was unmistakably a genuine ancient city!
Combined with what the man had said, that bold idea resurfaced in Lin Qiye's mind!
The 【Covenant】 had not only transported him across space, but also across the river of time?
How could that be possible?
Even someone like Wang Mian, the god of time, could only perform short-duration regressions. But what era was the city before Lin Qiye from? Han? Tang? Song?
Regardless of which dynasty, the gap between that era and Lin Qiye's time was over a thousand years. Even setting aside the side effects of causal fluctuations, Wang Mian would probably have to expend over a hundred years of his lifespan to arrive here... Such ancient times were not something just anyone could reach.
Yet that 【Covenant】 had transported both him and Wu Quan to this era?
However, something odd was that everyone here—whether common folk or soldiers—had haggard expressions, with heavy dark circles under their eyes and poor complexion, presumably from malnutrition.
Lin Qiye carried Wu Quan on his back and strode down the mound. He stopped a merchant-like man and asked:
"Excuse me, what dynasty is this?"
"?" The merchant gave him a strange look. "Yuanshou, sixth year."
"Yuanshou?" Lin Qiye's face remained blank. He wasn't well-versed in history, and upon hearing this era name, he still couldn't place which dynasty it was.
Just as he wanted to ask more, a voice rang out from the distance:
"The Marquis of Champion is entering the city!!"