Chapter 1375

With Jarvis leading Wanda, and Riley and Shang-Chi following behind, the group walked toward the temple together. Upon arriving at the entrance of this huge temple, they realized that the entire temple was floating in the air.

When entering the temple, the team appeared somewhat silent. Riley, who was usually good at livening up the atmosphere, didn't dare to speak. Shang-Chi had no tongue, so communication could only rely on sign language, and Wanda was clearly trapped in an anxious, breakdown state, unable to do anything.

Walking into the temple, they were surprised to find that it was breathtakingly magnificent. Passing through a long, dim corridor, what appeared before them was a gorgeous hall. Huge Eastern sculptures stood on both sides, and the flames in the braziers were burning very vigorously.

Originally, in the apocalypse, the huge temple in Central Park, New York, would inevitably hold many terrifying secrets, and the sunlight of the sunset shining through the windows should have dyed this scene with a hint of eeriness. But for some reason, they all felt a sense of peace.

"Dong, dong, dong..."

The sound of a bell rang out. In the low humming sound, there was a hint of divinity that dispelled hallucinations. Moving forward from the corridor on the side of the hall, passing through the side room, and arriving at the courtyard of the temple, Jarvis saw a familiar figure wearing long yellow mage robes ringing the bell.

"Ancient One!" Riley exclaimed.

Riley had Spider-Man's memories, so he also recognized the previous Sorcerer Supreme, at least he had seen her photo in the Sanctum Sanctorum. Riley wanted to rush forward, but after hesitating for a moment, he withdrew the foot he had stepped out, because he really couldn't be sure whether the Ancient One in such a terrifying world was a friend or a foe.

The image of the Ancient One walking out from behind the big bell startled everyone. She was dressed meticulously in mage robes, but her face and scalp were covered with black patterns, and her eye sockets were pitch black, yet her eyes were exceptionally bright.

The group took a few steps back, assuming a defensive posture. The Ancient One put her hands together and bowed to them, her slightly ethereal voice echoing.

"No need to worry, children. I come from the same universe as you, and I haven't gone mad either."

The group didn't reduce their vigilance at all. The Ancient One sighed and said, "How is business at the Sanctum Sanctorum lately? Who is the top salesperson this season? Is it Kang or Schiller? Or perhaps Loki?"

Riley appeared somewhat bewildered, but Jarvis blinked and said, "She seems to really be the Ancient One from our universe. Except in our universe, it's impossible for the Sorcerer Supreme of any other universe to have such abundant energy. Wanda, do you feel it?"

Wanda had already walked over in a daze. The powerful energy radiating from the Ancient One attracted Miss Witch; mages are naturally attracted to refined energy, and the Scarlet Witch is no exception.

"You must be Xu, right? I heard Zheng Xian mention you before I came here. Can you show me your jade pendant?"

Hearing the Ancient One mention Zheng Xian and the jade pendant, Shang-Chi already believed her a few points. He took off the jade pendant, held it in his hand, and walked forward to hand it to the Ancient One.

It wasn't that he had no guard, but mainly because the energy inside the jade pendant had long been exhausted. Now it was just an ordinary piece of jade, not worth any money at all, and completely useless.

The Ancient One took it to examine it, then returned it to Shang-Chi, and said to them, "Follow me. I think you haven't rested for a long time."

Just after following the Ancient One into the tea room, Riley couldn't wait to ask, "Master Ancient One, what exactly is going on? I mean this universe, and us, and you."

But Jarvis noticed the key point of the problem. He looked into the Ancient One's eyes and asked, "Did all those missing monsters come to find you?"

"I know you have many questions..." The Ancient One poured tea while drawing out a long tone, then said in a tone filled with nostalgia:

"All of this has to start from a certain day long ago, when I heard a cosmic sound during meditation..."

Accompanied by the low and solemn voice, the Ancient One's thoughts returned to a few months ago.

After Strange officially took over the position of Sorcerer Supreme, the Ancient One went to the Temple of Eternity to pay the price for the power she had obtained from the Vishanti, which was to help Eternity manage the universe.

The Ancient One had no opinion on this job, but Eternity did.

Not long after working for Eternity, one day Eternity called the Ancient One to the temple and tactfully expressed his intention to lay off staff.

According to Eternity, the position of the universe had changed now. They were no longer under the jurisdiction of those beings in the Great World, nor did they have any assistance. They had changed from company employees to self-employed individuals, so they had to cut personnel expenses.

Although the original words of the two of them weren't so blunt, the Ancient One clearly understood Eternity's meaning. And she wasn't the only one who received a layoff notice. Many Ancient Ones of single universes received a piece of news: the power they had used before was considered a gift to them; there was no need to pay a price, nor was there a need to come to work again.

This was good news for the Ancient Ones of other universes, but for the Ancient One of Schiller's single universe, it was inevitably a bit lonely. After all, the Sorcerer Supreme of her world grasped both mysticism and economics, and both were developing well, so there was no need for her to worry about anything.

Her body had been strengthened by the Vishanti, and her energy was very abundant, so there was no need to worry about illness, aging, or demon gods coming to seek revenge. She had a sense of being lonely and undefeated.

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But the Ancient One's state of mind had always been very stable. She didn't become arrogant because of this; instead, she felt that she should use her advantages to head deeper into the universe to pursue more knowledge and mysteries.

Although the Ancient One hadn't ascended above the single universe, she could still travel to other single universes by connecting with Eternity and using the Temple of Eternity as a transit station.

From the time she was laid off until a few months ago, her life had been rich and interesting. Traveling in various universes not only broadened her horizons and enriched her knowledge but also made her control of power more exquisite.

But every traveler would have a brief moment of fatigue. After experiencing a round of travels, the Ancient One decided to return to her own universe to rest for a period of time, and by the way, see how mysticism on Earth was developing and whether Strange needed her help.

She returned to Kamar-Taj and was surprised to find that the development of the magic side was faster than she had imagined. Various magic devices had been developed, and the education system had also become more perfect.

Precisely because of the appearance of magic wands, more young mages were able to learn magic more easily, and this also gave the Ancient One a reason to stay. Strange was busy doing business at the Sanctum Sanctorum, and the students recruited by Kamar-Taj always needed someone to manage them.

Thus, during this period, the Ancient One had been staying on Mount Ximalaya, correcting Kamar-Taj's textbooks with other Grand Mages who focused on education, optimizing the structure of magic wands, and participating in research at the same time.

For so many years, the Ancient One had maintained the habit of meditation. And just about a few months ago, she heard a mysterious cosmic sound again during meditation. The reason she had to use "again" was because she remembered she had heard this sound before.

"Answer me... answer me..."

"Lake Hali in the Aldebaran system... Carcosa... The dark sun is already hanging high in the sky..."

"The day the stars align, the time when the Old Ones return..."

"The stars align..."

"Go..."

The Ancient One remembered that she had heard the exact same ravings about a few years ago. She vaguely remembered that the other party was warning her, but this transmission was headless and tailless. The Ancient One was busy with trivial matters at the time and had no time to investigate.

But after a few years, the other party came again. Considering that the time concept of these demon gods was different from that of humans, this could already be called an extremely frequent warning. And the content of this transmission had changed; he actually said "the stars have aligned"?

Although the Ancient One was calm most of the time, she still felt a hint of tension. It wasn't because of fear, but because they were no longer barefoot now.

The future of Earth and humanity was visibly bright, and Kamar-Taj was also flourishing. More importantly, the Ancient One herself had also found the fun of traveling the universe. She believed that she could completely pursue a longer lifespan and more knowledge.

Once a person has concerns, it's easy to be suspicious. The Ancient One wasn't a dawdling person either; she had considerable courage. Didn't you provide a specific address? Then I'll go see immediately who is playing tricks regarding the so-called return of the stars.

Simply put, the Ancient One had already rolled up her sleeves and was ready to beat people up. No matter what the relationship was between this strange demon god who sent the signal and the so-called stars, the Ancient One was ready to knock them down with one punch. If one punch wasn't enough, she would throw a few more. If she couldn't do it alone, she would call a few more of herself.

Thus, the Ancient One came to the Aldebaran system mentioned in the rumor. Aldebaran is located in Taurus and is also known as Alpha Tauri (α Tau), a red giant star 65 light-years away from Earth. The system where Aldebaran is located is also called the Aldebaran system.

65 light-years is very far for humans of the past, but for mages at any time, it's not far. The Ancient One opened a portal to the top of Aldebaran and then began to look for suspicious planets in Taurus.

She didn't find the so-called Lake Hali and the city of Carcosa, but she found a part of the palace ruins on the surface of an asteroid. It looked like the spire of a Gothic palace, crashed onto the surface of the asteroid.

The Ancient One found a very strange coordinate there. The last few digits of the coordinate pointed to Earth, but the front carried some prefixes that the Ancient One couldn't understand.

Realizing that things might be wrong, the Ancient One chose the simplest, crudest, but most effective method, which was to go find Eternity.

After Eternity saw that coordinate, he immediately told the Ancient One that the prefixes in front of that coordinate actually referred to the universe, meaning that this coordinate referred to Earth in another single universe.

The Ancient One didn't hesitate either, directly telling Eternity everything, and also revealing to Eternity that she intended to beat up this culprit and the stars, wanting to see if Eternity saw any danger.

This move could be said to be striking at the heart. There was nothing in the entire multiverse that Eternity didn't know. No matter how many conspiracies and tricks the mastermind had laid out, it was impossible to escape Eternity's discerning eyes.

And Eternity indeed did as the Ancient One wished, closing his eyes and concentrating, beginning to trace the context of the event.

And less than a second later, he opened his eyes. The Ancient One swore that she saw a hint of terror on Eternity's face.

Then, Eternity, with extremely fluid movements, conjured a large pile of refined energy, filled the slots in the Ancient One's backpack, stroked the Ancient One's back to send her—or rather, push her—to the temple entrance, and said:

"Do what you want to do. If the energy is not enough, contact me directly. I will always be your solid backing."

"But remember, Ancient One, no matter what happens, absolutely, absolutely, absolutely..."

Eternity used several emphatic words in a row. The Ancient One thought he was going to say some important warning, so she also became serious, putting on an attitude of listening attentively.

But Eternity looked into the Ancient One's eyes with an extremely sincere and enthusiastic gaze and said:

"... absolutely don't say you know me!"