Chapter 1376

"Following the mysterious coordinate left behind by the Aldebaran system, I came to this universe. I originally thought that what awaited me were some fierce demon gods that were difficult to deal with, but the development of things far exceeded my expectations."

Sitting cross-legged on a cushion, the Ancient One closed her eyes slightly, as if she were asleep, but the few people drinking tea opposite her could hear a hint of pain in her tone.

"I was attacked," the Ancient One said, and then she cast her gaze on the few young people opposite her. She didn't need to speak; the others understood what kind of attack she had suffered, just like the kind they had suffered before.

But the Ancient One looked perfectly fine, Shang-Chi thought to himself. The wound on his tongue's cut surface no longer hurt; he even felt he was lucky because the wound in his mouth healed the fastest.

"I know, you are wondering why I didn't suffer severe organ damage like you?" The Ancient One shook her head gently and said, "I have lived for a long time, almost reaching the end of my lifespan, and those extra years were not spent in vain. In the days of dealing with magic, I had long since honed my state of mind to perfection."

"I have the ability to answer all my own questions. Regarding the environment I am in and the things I encounter, I can come up with a view that I can accept myself. No matter what kind of accident I am in, fear has never been my main theme."

The Ancient One tilted her head slightly to the side, as if she didn't realize how much shock her words had brought to these young people. Her gaze remained gentle, and her tone was soft.

"When I was young, I also had a period of confusion, but facts have proven that as long as you live long enough, you can always find a suitable answer for every question you care about."

Shang-Chi dipped his fingertips into the tea and said, "So, should we pursue immortality?"

The Ancient One shook her head and said, "Immortality without power is meaningless. I can live until now because I am strong enough to fight."

The group felt a bit speechless at this answer, but the Ancient One then threw out what she really wanted to say: "After obtaining power and lifespan, I had endless leisure time to explore myself. This will be a necessary process, and it is also the fundamental reason why I am sitting here talking to you intact."

"So as long as the willpower is strong enough, can we be immune to these injuries?" Wanda asked.

"No, no amount of willpower can resist the pervasive darkness. I must have a perfect state of mind, be without desire, without demands, and without guilt. I won't feel guilty, I won't hesitate, and naturally, I won't be afraid."

Among everyone present, only Shang-Chi slightly understood the artistic conception in the Ancient One's obscure vocabulary. This was more inclined toward Eastern philosophy, just like "if you don't do anything wrong, you won't be afraid of ghosts knocking on the door," and it was also like the "Great Perfection" and "Emptiness" emphasized in Buddhism.

Shang-Chi's gaze fell on the black patterns on the Ancient One's face and head. That thing didn't look very friendly, which didn't match the fact that she had resisted the invasion as she said. He even doubted whether this mage could really understand all her states, or whether she was also blinded by something like them.

Seeming to notice Shang-Chi's gaze, the Ancient One smiled and said, "You must want to ask again, since that's the case, why did I end up in my current situation?"

"I believe you have already seen that my state is not good, one could even say it's precarious. I am trapped in this universe and cannot leave. I'm afraid I still need your help."

"What did you encounter?" Wanda leaned forward and asked with some concern.

When she saw the Ancient One's relatively good state, she still held some fluke mentality, thinking that perhaps this powerful Sorcerer Supreme could help them go home. But sure enough, things didn't develop as she expected. The Ancient One was probably not as at ease as she appeared on the outside.

The Ancient One sighed gently and said:

"For many years, the perfect state of mind I honed did indeed allow me to resist the invasion of darkness time and time again. I have been staying here for over 40 days."

As soon as the words fell, exclamations rang out. Everyone who could make a sound let out an exclamation. For the few who had only experienced two short nights here, 40 was an unimaginable number.

In these two short nights, almost everyone had lost their important organs, experienced the torture of madness and pain, and no one had the confidence to survive the next night. But this seemingly gentle mage had persisted here alone for 40 days, so her poor state was understandable.

"In fact, for the first 29 days, I was almost unscathed," the Ancient One blinked and said, "The monsters on the ground couldn't cause me any harm, and the strange and chaotic madness of the night invasion was nothing more than a fleeting storm to me. No matter how crazy it was, as long as I could hold onto my original heart, they would always pass."

"But everything changed on the night of the 29th... The consequences brought about by a certain action of mine before destroyed my originally perfect state of mind. A crack appeared on my mental defense, and from then on, whispers constantly came from that gap."

"They are getting closer and closer." The Ancient One's tone remained calm, as if she were talking about something completely unrelated to herself, but this short sentence made the hair on the backs of the few opposite her stand up, as if they had been doused with a basin of cold water.

"Their tentacles have squeezed into the crack. My eyes and brain have noticed their existence, so I have these patterns you see. Perhaps it won't be long before they are born from within."

"What exactly are they?" Wanda asked with a trembling tone.

"They are the stars, they are also the Old Ones... The day the stars align, the time when the Old Ones return." The Ancient One's tone became lighter and lighter. She repeated this sentence she had heard repeatedly, and then said, "The stars have already aligned."

"Then we, then we want to, how are we going to deal with them? We can't even see them." Wanda said with some breakdown.

But Jarvis noticed a key point. He looked into the Ancient One's eyes and asked, "What caused the flaw in your state of mind?"

Everyone quieted down, all waiting for an answer. In their view, since she had been able to persist alone in the darkness for so many days, there was no reason for her mental defense to be suddenly broken. So what exactly did the Ancient One encounter? What caused this incomparably powerful mage to be trapped here?

"Guilt."

This answer was beyond everyone's expectations.

"Guilt..." Wanda whispered. She tasted the meaning of this word on the tip of her tongue, but she couldn't understand the deep meaning within it.

"You must have come here following the footsteps of the monsters, right?" The Ancient One picked up a teacup, took a sip of tea, and asked. The group nodded, and the Ancient One continued:

"It was I who lured almost all the monsters in New York City here and eliminated them."

Then the Ancient One closed her eyes gently and said:

"Please forgive me for not being able to tell you the whole truth, because even repeating them would cause my mental defense to shatter completely, and there is clearly no one here who can repair it."

"All along, what I couldn't accept more than death was losing control. If this day is destined to come, I will resolutely choose the former."

"No." Jarvis said instinctively.

"Don't worry, children." The Ancient One slowed her tone again and said, "This is just a hypothesis. That day is still far away. After returning from my travels, I realized the importance of a long lifespan, so I am trying hard to save myself, and the hope lies in you."

The room was briefly and lengthily quiet for a moment. Wanda calmed down. She raised her hollow eyes, looked at the Ancient One, and asked, "What do you want us to do? What do you think we can still do?"

"No need to feel pessimistic, children." The corners of the Ancient One's mouth lifted gently, and her tone sounded very light, just like the kind of teacher most common in summer camps who reminds children to take their things well. She asked in a slightly childish, exaggerated tone:

"Does anyone here have gardening skills?"

The group looked at each other and all shook their heads. Riley sighed gently and said as briefly as possible, "I can even kill a cactus, don't count on me."

"Then perhaps you haven't realized that in cutting techniques, some gardeners will deliberately create wounds on plants, but the purpose isn't to kill them, but to stimulate regeneration, let them have more tenacious vitality, and let them better adapt to this world."

"Didn't understand at all." Wanda shook her head and said.

The feelings of the others were the same as hers. The Ancient One was truly the most traditional kind of mage, who had to express everything with complex metaphors and tortuous allegories, as if she wouldn't know how to speak without mixing in a little mysticism that ordinary people couldn't understand.

After a few rounds of tea, the Ancient One stood up slowly, put her hands in front of her, and said to the group, "It's almost dark. I'm afraid you must leave."

"The longer you stay in this universe, the crazier the attacks you encounter will be. I can't be sure whether staying by my side will cause you to suffer the same level of attacks. If that's really the case, you won't be able to survive."

"So, you should return to New York City and find what you want to find before the resistible attacks completely swallow your hearts."

"What exactly are we looking for?"

"The truth of the return of the Old Ones, the way to leave here, or just... the way to survive."

After leaving the temple, the group had their own thoughts. Wanda, however, let out a breath. Miss Witch appeared much calmer, and the others were also amazed at her state.

"As long as there is a goal, it's fine." Wanda shook her head gently and said, "Besides, there are indeed many strange things here waiting for us to investigate, aren't there?"

Suddenly, a gust of wind came from behind them. Everyone stopped and turned their heads, only to see the huge temple gradually fading away in the magic power, slowly disappearing, as if their experience just now was only a dream.

"Wait, a dream?" Shang-Chi suddenly froze for a moment. He stopped his steps and fell to the back of the team. The people walking in front found that he wasn't moving, so they all turned their heads to look at him.

Shang-Chi broke a branch in the bushes next to the grass and wrote a line of words on the ground at the edge of the grass.

"So far, has anyone here had a dream?"

Riley and Jarvis looked at each other. Jarvis shook his head and said, "We didn't even have time to sleep, so where would we have time to dream?"

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"Then we can try tonight." Shang-Chi wrote.

"What's the point of this?" Wanda asked.

"Why is it at night?" Shang-Chi wrote quickly: "Why do those things only appear at night? What's the point?"

The complexions of the group quickly became heavy. Wanda walked quickly toward the car on the side of the road and said, "Let's find a place to stay, and then see what exactly is special about the night."