Chapter 1727: I Felt the Presence of Fate

Seeing this, Xu Que was completely shocked.

So, all these vines here are actually the former members of the Eternal Ethnic Group?

No, that's not right; wasn't I inside an Illusion Realm... Wait!

Xu Que suddenly thought of something: the System had previously explained that he was currently in a dimensionally chaotic space, so whether it would have an impact was something even the System could not test.

He steadied his mind and continued looking downward.

After Dong Spirit Grass brought Meng Kun back, she raised him for a full thousand years, during which the members of the Eternal Ethnic Group decreased significantly.

At the same time, the former Eternal Forest, due to Nuclear Radiation, caused the body of the Eternal Ancestor to mutate as well, beginning to spread wildly throughout the forest; countless Dao Pattern Stones began to grow, and simultaneously, various places of chaotic time started to appear due to the Eternal Ancestor losing control.

A thousand years later, Meng Kun entered childhood and gained the ability to create dreams and contain people within them.

Thus, the Eternal Ethnic Group began a long process of migration...

After viewing all the scenes, Xu Que's body trembled, and he returned to reality once again.

He looked in all directions and could vaguely see massive amounts of vines tangled together; those must be the clan members who had survived.

"How was it? Kid, what did those scenes depict?" Meng Kun's curious voice came through.

Xu Que paused for a moment: "You are a Dream Creator; don't you know?"

"Those fragments belong to Sister Dong; I do not have the right to inspect them." Meng Kun sounded somewhat depressed. "In fact, since you are the clearancer, I cannot even inspect your Dream."

Xu Que understood; this must be a restriction Dong Spirit Grass herself had set back then, allowing only the clearancer to inspect them.

But the question was, had he really traveled through time and space?

Judging by the current situation, everything was caused by himself; because he went to the Eternal Forest ten thousand years ago, it resulted in the emergence of the Forest of Chaos today.

Yet, if he had not chosen to enter the Holy Moon Hall and had instead chosen to participate in the Heavenly Gate Competition in another Immortal Domain, would he still have entered this place?

Vaguely, Xu Que felt the existence of something called Fate.

All destinies would head toward their final destination; even if he did not participate in the Heavenly Gate Competition, he presumed there would still be other reasons causing him to arrive at this place.

Xu Que did not delve deeply into the logical relationships herein; all of this had already formed a complete closed loop of time and space.

With the Cause and Effect relationships being so blurred, even if he wanted to figure out exactly how all this happened, it was fundamentally impossible.

"So that's how it is... How many people in the past have completed the assessment for this level?" Xu Que asked the question he cared about most.

Meng Kun's answer did not surprise him too much.

Not a single one.

"So I'm quite curious, kid; what method did you use exactly to reverse the fate of the former Eternal Ethnic Group?" Meng Kun's voice was full of curiosity.

Hearing this, Xu Que suddenly realized something.

The fate he had been asked to reverse back then was probably not the fate of the Eternal Ethnic Group being moved underground.

If he had not gone to the Eternal Ethnic Group, without a doubt they would have been surrounded by Foreign Demons, and finally, due to the arrival of the Demon Lord, they would have chosen other methods of escape.

In all likelihood, they would still have migrated underground.

From a certain perspective, he could be considered to have reversed their fate.

"It's better if you don't know," Xu Que said in a somewhat low voice.

This sudden sense of heaviness, along with the feeling of dislocation where things remained but people had changed, made him feel very uncomfortable.

Meng Kun also noticed this, and a buzzing sound came through: "Alright, since you've passed the level, I'll let you go through; don't just barge in casually in the future."

Hearing this, Xu Que hesitated for a moment before saying, "My companions..."

"Oh, I've already sent them up to the water surface; every single one of them was useless, none of them even lasted one-tenth of the time you did!" Meng Kun spoke with a tone of frustration at their incompetence.

Xu Que grinned; wasn't that stating the obvious?

As soon as they entered, they faced Foreign Demons, and at the Half-Step Immortal Emperor Level at that.

The strongest among them present was merely at the peak of the Immortal Emperor Realm; who could fight against that?

Only a Son of Heaven like this awesome Saint would have such capability!

"Alright, thank you." Xu Que cupped his fists toward the depths. "If there is a chance in the future, I will come to visit you."

Hearing these words, Meng Kun seemed very happy.

After all, guarding an ethnic group alone for ten thousand years meant that even a creature capable of living for such long ages as Meng Kun would occasionally feel a trace of loneliness.

"Get ready; I'm going to send you off!"

As Meng Kun finished speaking, a bubble slowly floated up from below, enclosing Xu Que.

Then, with a "Pop," the bubble burst.

The next moment, Xu Que found himself standing on land, with sunlight raining down from above.

Having stayed underground for so long, he felt he was almost forgetting what sunlight looked like.

"Phew... Finally out..."

Xu Que let out a long breath, glanced around, and discovered that Nishang Fairy and the others were all lying haphazardly on the ground; he hurried over to wake them up.

At Xu Que's call, everyone slowly regained consciousness, feeling somewhat confused about their situation.

Xu Que briefly explained the situation to everyone, then immediately looked at Nishang Fairy: "How much time do we have left?"

Nishang Fairy was about to ask something, but upon hearing this, she glanced at the Crystal Stone in her hand and her face instantly turned deathly pale: "Only half an hour left!"

Everyone immediately panicked.

"What do we do? We don't even have a single Dao Pattern Stone now!"

"It's over; this Heavenly Gate Competition will probably end in failure..."

"Sigh, a wasted trip."

Xu Que shrugged; the distribution locations of these Dao Pattern Stones were extremely hidden, and with only half an hour, it might be difficult to even find a single one.

"Everyone..." He patted his chest, then suddenly stopped, his brows knitting tightly together.

After hesitating for a moment, Xu Que reached into his bosom, pulled out a stone, and also a small Wooden Box.

"Holy crap... I actually brought them out!"

It was unmistakably the Dao Pattern Stone and the Crystal Core of the Winter Frost Grass!

Xu Que stared blankly at the items in his hand, feeling as though his entire Life had become somewhat unreal.

Were those events merely his Dream, or had he truly traversed time and space?

After a long pause, he suddenly stored the two items away and hurriedly rushed toward the side.

Seeing this, Nishang Fairy immediately cried out urgently, "Tang Master, where are you going?"

"This poor monk is going to find the Dao Pattern Stone," Xu Que replied without turning his head. "You all go to the exit to Rally first; wait for this poor monk to come find you."

As he spoke, his figure had already vanished from sight.

Nishang Fairy slowly lowered her raised hand; she knew Xu Que was unwilling to give up and wanted to make one last struggle before the end.

But how could the Dao Pattern Stone be found simply by striving hard?

If effort alone sufficed, then why, over so many years, have only a mere handful of people managed to enter the Central Heavenly Gate?