Chapter 1724: Red Dust Prison

More than three hundred years...

Chen Ling missed more than three hundred years of time.

Chen Ling's original plan of returning to Earth, leading the Nine Monarchs to perfect the Nine Great Realms, discussing how to deal with the Red Star together, and all such expectations, all turned into a dream bubble at this moment.

Chen Ling didn't know how long the Nine Monarchs waited for him. He only knew that during the hardest and most bewildered period for them...

He was absent.

When he stood on the earth of the Human Domains once again, everything had already become so unfamiliar.

Chen Ling's chest continuously heaved. With reddened eyes, he looked toward the deepest part of this so-called Red Dust Prison. His figure swayed, turning into a residual image and rushing there at extreme speed!

The outer city continuously flickered away beneath him.

A steel dome surrounded layer upon layer by city walls and watchtowers entered his field of vision.

Thirty-six watchtowers stood in every corner inside and outside the dome, and beneath it, a small white flower swayed silently.

That was the true target of surveillance for this prison.

In mid-air, hundreds of iron chains extended from the thirty-six watchtowers, all converging into that small white flower, like the shackles used in prisons to bind and suppress prisoners.

On the earth, five railway tracks extending from different directions also converged into the roots and stems of the small white flower, as if extending all the way to another world.

And the first instant the residual image transformed from Chen Ling rushed into the dome, a pair of eyes abruptly opened from one of the watchtowers!

"Who dares to trespass into the Red Dust Prison?!"

An 8th-rank aura of the Path of the Arts soared into the sky. Judging solely by intensity, it was already approaching a 9th-rank demigod!

That was a long-haired youth wearing ancient attire who looked too weak to stand the wind. With one hand behind his back and the other holding a wolf-hair bamboo brush, he coughed at this moment while frowning at the direction Chen Ling intruded from.

The strike of this 8th-rank was like some kind of signal. All the other watchtowers were activated, and figures simultaneously looked up...

A mysterious residual image that even the naked eye couldn't capture streaked across the dome, charging straight toward the white flower!

"Enemy attack!!"

"Report immediately! Someone is trespassing into the Red Dust Prison!!"

It seemed this place hadn't encountered an attack in a long time. The stationed crowd was somewhat at a loss for a time, but those Divine Path possessors soared into the sky without hesitation, swarming to surround that black shadow...

But no matter how dense their attacks were, smashing the earth beneath the black shadow or the steel dome into pieces, it seemed they couldn't truly hurt that black shadow. The two were like being in different worlds, unable to intersect.

That 8th-rank Path of the Arts frowned tighter and tighter. With a sway of the wolf-hair brush, countless tiny lines drilled toward the earth, as if also placed on a virtual canvas, intercepting toward the direction of the black shadow...

"Scram——!"

Along with a deep roar sounding, a terrifying air wave swept around!

The 8th-rank Path of the Arts's expression instantly changed greatly. Under the deterrence of this oppressive feeling, he continuously retreated several steps, and those tiny lines surrounding over were even more shaken into countless fragments...

Clang—— Clang——

The over a hundred steel chains connected to the small white flower vibrated violently. Amidst the chaos, those Divine Path possessors with relatively low ranks even directly plummeted headfirst from the watchtowers.

Right in the gap when the crowd was shaken into turmoil, Chen Ling plunged headfirst into the white flower of the Red Dust Domain and vanished without a trace.

The swaying chains gradually recovered their calm;

Bursts of chaotic clamor still transmitted from the watchtowers.

That 8th-rank Path of the Arts wearing ancient attire looked at the direction of the small white flower in astonishment, seemingly still not having come back to his senses from Chen Ling's aura vibration just now...

"No... I definitely can't stop him alone!"

"Someone! Hurry and seek reinforcement from His Majesty!!"

...

When Chen Ling opened his eyes once again, he was already under an azure sky.

It wasn't Chen Ling's first time passing through the Red Dust Domain. The "boundary" of Su Zhiwei's string theory was somewhat similar to the World Barrier, but the scale of the two was truly too different... This time when Chen Ling entered the Red Dust, he didn't feel the slightest discomfort.

His gaze swept around. The muddy earth extended into the distance, white clouds like snow under the azure sky. Old-fashioned rural earthen houses stood in the distance, the surroundings so quiet that only the rustling sound of the wind blowing through leaves remained...

Seeing this scene, Chen Ling's heart relaxed slightly.

This was the Red Dust Domain Chen Ling was familiar with.

But as Chen Ling looked closely, he discovered some clues again... The muddy earth was like a canvas faded by time. Through the mud, the remains of the nuclear ruins below could vaguely be seen. The white clouds under the azure sky were like wax paintings, motionless. The vibrant grass and trees by the roadside occasionally flickered like a broken touch, revealing the dead and decayed trunks below.

Everything here seemingly beautiful, but that seemed to merely be a rough facade, just like someone using a poster full of holes to cover a wall full of devastation... As long as one looked slightly closer, they could discover something wrong.

"What exactly happened... during the more than three hundred years I was absent??"

Chen Ling's brows locked tightly, slowly walking forward.

According to the development of the 5th generation world, the Red Dust Domain was originally a nuclear ruin, formed when the base encountered several nuclear strikes from unknown origins five minutes after Su Zhiwei fell into slumber... The vibrant Red Dust Domain was nothing more than a facade constantly maintained and whitewashed by the members of the Floating Life Painting.

Chen Ling originally thought that nuclear strike was done by Lou Yu, so after the Lord of Wuji personally killed the himself in the 6th generation world, he originally thought the tragedy wouldn't happen again. But looking at it now, even if Lou Yu died, the Red Dust Base still suffered the same nuclear strike...

Just who was the person who launched the nuclear strike on the Red Dust Base?

How did the so-called Red Dust Prison appear?

Moreover, looking from the current state of the Red Dust Domain, there should also have been members of the Floating Life Painting whitewashing and maintaining this place in the early days, but why was it so much cruder compared to the 5th generation world... Where did the members of the Floating Life Painting go?

Also...

Was there no one living in the Red Dust Domain anymore?

Chen Ling's gaze swept across those civilian houses that had been in disrepair for years. Up until now, he hadn't seen a single Red Dust resident. Everything was quiet.

Chen Ling had too many doubts in his heart. After a brief pondering, he turned his gaze toward a certain direction in the village.

If everything developed according to the 5th generation world, then back then Su Zhiwei most likely forcefully woke up from the hibernation chamber again, protected the citizens from the nuclear strike, and also lost the chance to enter the hibernation chamber again...

In that case...

Su Zhiwei and Yao Qing should still be hiding in some manor house here.