# 1830
Chapter 1823: Temporal Maze
"What did you say?"
In the Commander-in-Chief's office, Lin Qiye frowned and looked up.
"Mountains are shaking, strange lights are falling from the sky... and there are people claiming to have seen a divine bird?"
"Yeah, somewhere near Shennongjia. Quite a few people witnessed it."
"Shennongjia... is it a Mystery?"
"Doesn't look like it... What Mystery could create such a spectacle?"
Lin Qiye leaned back in his chair, one hand rubbing his chin, as if having thought of something.
"Where's Fang Mo?"
"After Xia Simeng's memorial service, the [Demon] squad has been on standby in Shangjing City."
"Have him come see me now."
"Yes."
Half an hour later, Fang Mo rushed into the office.
"Commander, do we have a mission?" Fang Mo asked eagerly the moment he stepped through the door.
"Don't rush. Let me ask you a few questions first."
After Fang Mo sat down, Lin Qiye continued, "You told me before that besides you, there are eleven other Great Xia Golden Immortal representatives, correct?"
"That's right." Fang Mo nodded. "Three years ago, didn't you have me go look for them? But the seal on that cave heaven is still intact. They don't seem to have come out yet."
"Where is that cave heaven?"
"It's near Shennongjia."
Hearing this answer, a look of understanding appeared in Lin Qiye's eyes. He slowly stood up from his seat.
"You also said that time flows differently inside that cave heaven compared to the outside world—three days inside equals one day outside... and the condition to leave that seal is that the representative must reach age seventeen, correct?"
"That's correct... But when I went last time, it seemed the Heavenly Venerable had modified the seal. I'm not sure what the specific conditions for leaving are now."
Fang Mo sighed. "The other eleven senior brothers and I are not only Golden Immortal representatives, but we also carry Divine Beast souls within us... If they could emerge, Great Xia's combat power should increase significantly."
Lin Qiye paused.
"They've already come out."
Fang Mo froze. "What??"
"Last night, mountains near Shennongjia shook and strange lights fell from the sky. That must have been the cave heaven breaking its seal..."
Fang Mo's eyes instantly brightened. "That's wonderful! I'll go find them right now and bring them back!"
He was about to turn around when he suddenly stopped, as if having thought of something.
"Wait... If the time flow inside the cave heaven hasn't changed, then haven't they already lived sixteen or seventeen years in there?"
"Yes." Lin Qiye nodded. "Theoretically, their ages now should be about the same as mine..."
Fang Mo's expression became somewhat awkward.
He still vaguely remembered, a few years ago, when they were all taken in by Yang Jian's sect. A group of children had followed behind him, calling him "Big Brother"... Back then, he was the eldest among them. Now, even the youngest of them would probably be a few years older than him.
A group of people around Lin Qiye's age calling him "Big Brother"... That did feel a bit strange.
"You were their senior brother back then, so it's most fitting for you to go bring them back." Seeing Fang Mo's strange expression, Lin Qiye couldn't help but ask, "What? Is there a problem?"
"...No, no problem."
Fang Mo shook his head. After saying goodbye to Lin Qiye, he pushed open the door and left.
The moment he left, another figure hurried over.
"Commander, they're back! Min Junliang hadn't even entered the room yet, but his voice was already echoing from down the hall."
"Who?"
"Wang Mian and Lu Wuwei!"
...
The crimson cloak brushed past the corridor. Lin Qiye quickened his pace to the medical ward's door and stopped.
On the chair in front of the door sat a white-haired figure who slowly looked up. His aged face was full of exhaustion.
"How is he?" Lin Qiye frowned and asked.
"No life-threatening danger. He just lost a lot of blood." Wang Mian replied. "This was already after I constantly slowed his time flow. Otherwise, with that amount of bleeding, he never could have made it back to Great Xia alive."
"And you?"
"I'm just a bit drained from using my divine power and lost some lifespan. Otherwise, I'm fine."
Lin Qiye stared at Wang Mian. "So, what exactly did you two encounter?"
With Wang Mian, the God of Time, by their side, even if they encountered danger in the Mist, they should have been able to overcome it. No one below the Supreme God level could threaten them.
And currently, there were almost no Supreme Gods left in the Mist. Who could have injured them this badly?
A trace of bitterness appeared in Wang Mian's eyes.
"The Gate..."
"Gate?"
"After we left Great Xia, following Lu Wuwei's ability, we kept moving south. Eventually, we arrived near Antarctica..."
Hearing the word "Antarctica," Lin Qiye's eyes narrowed.
"Antarctica again?"
A century ago, the origin of the Mist was Antarctica. Going back further, the Hero King Gilgamesh also discovered the frozen Ancestral God Temple in Antarctica.
When a single place is connected to both the Mist and the Ancestral Gods, there must be some enormous unknown mystery lurking there. Lin Qiye was aware of this... but he never expected Nyx to also be in Antarctica?
"Could this be the reason she never appeared in the world and was cut off from all karma?"
"After we arrived there, Lu Wuwei's ability seemed to be interfered with. We kept circling around Antarctica... After circling for days, we accidentally entered a mysterious space."
"There, time seemed to have stopped. Even I couldn't freely rewind or modify the flow of time. Not only that, time would change in unknown ways as we moved..."
Listening to Wang Mian's description, Lin Qiye's frown deepened. He couldn't help but interrupt and ask:
"What do you mean, time changes in unknown ways as you moved?"
Wang Mian thought for a moment, then explained differently. "Let me put it this way. Generally, time and space exist simultaneously. They can influence each other through some special methods. For example, spatial movement faster than light can traverse the river of time. Or, through extreme folding of time, one can reach any point in space..."
"But for time and space to influence each other, very stringent conditions are required. It's difficult to achieve outside. However, there, this threshold seemed to be significantly lowered."
"When you take a step forward, your time might rewind to five seconds ago. When you step to the right, you might have arrived two years later..."
"In short, that place is like a Temporal Maze. As long as you move through space, you will inevitably affect time."
"Temporal Maze?"
Lin Qiye murmured the four characters. "Even you, the God of Time, couldn't break the rules there?"