Chapter 561

Although Ji Ming was communicating with 「Apple」 and them, to be safe, it was definitely a one-sided information block against Heteluciya.

But nobody is a fool; from the earlier conversation she already figured it out—this being before her certainly already knew who she was, otherwise they wouldn't be stringing her along so leisurely.

But things have come to this; having played her last card, she could only offer more sincerity.

"Well, since you've already seen my memories, you certainly know I am the seventy-eighth flower-class envoy under the Forest Church's Thus we will have Cultivation: Zhen Shen, code name 【White Dew】, my name……is not important, it's already gone."

"But actually, I am the Holy Maiden of the Sunflame Church from ten thousand years ago, known as the 'Iron Arm' Heteluciya Huffman Elgin Corona Sword of Glory!"

This is a very classic old-style name, whose structure is: given name, a famous ancestor's name from the family, personal name, surname, title.

Of course, aside from elves who pride themselves on fearing no hardship for show, people nowadays no longer need this overly complicated and hard-to-remember format.

The given name used to show respect in formal settings and the personal name used to express intimacy in private settings have merged into one, no longer distinguished by function.

Now that Heteluciya has revealed her identity, Ji Ming has completely dropped his disguise.

He changed into his classic white robe with gold trim, topped his head with a fluorescent tube, revealing his Eastern face, and spread his hands.

"How about it, my true identity—is it surprising?"

"Ah this."

Heteluciya shook her head, then nodded again.

"I roughly guessed you had a problem, but I only thought you were a thunderbolt planted by the Light God toward the Shadow God, never expecting it to be like this……"

"The Light God is my old friend; helping Him deal with some troublesome bugs is just part of the job."

Ji Ming chuckled twice and sat opposite Heteluciya.

"And my position is also clear: to follow the agreement with the Yangyue Will and eliminate our common enemy."

Although Heteluciya's speech is awkward, she has always been decisive in her actions; whenever there is a goal that can unite, she never hesitates.

Therefore she immediately threw out a sentence.

"Latent for ten thousand ages, my purpose is naturally this as well; if so, then do we have the premise and possibility for cooperation?"

"That's certain."

After receiving Ji Ming's affirmation, Heteluciya's complexion finally eased.

But while her face softened, her mouth did not; she blurted out a merciless sentence.

"If that's the case, then I must remind you: don't listen to that foolish will!"

Shopkeeper: 【Starting to attack unrelated passersby, right?】

"Remember, actually our enemy is not just the Machinery Month at all—certainly not only the Machinery Month, but also……"

"The remnants of the Dark Flame."

"Ah?"

In Heteluciya's stunned moment, Ji Ming added.

"Moreover, they possess a batch of magic dragons as enforcers, likely led by the Magic Emperor, intending to overturn even the Machinery Month together—the remnants of the Dark Flame."

——Phew, good thing I'm a super detective; otherwise this long-awaited skin-tearing segment would really not be able to pretend any coolness at all.

"You……"

Heteluciya obviously didn't expect that JiMiYin, who has only been active for the past year, could in one breath uncover the truth of the event from ten thousand years ago.

But for her, who shares a common goal, this is definitely a good thing; therefore, after nodding, she even rarely praised.

"Ha, looks like you're smarter than I imagined; then I can relax."

Since it's been confirmed that both sides' interests align and their goals are the same, what remains is to exchange information.

But before that, there's another matter that makes Ji Ming curious—namely: "How have you managed to survive until today?"

"This has to start from ten thousand years ago……"

Although as level increases, creatures' lifespans gradually lengthen, but since there is an upper limit to level, lifespan naturally also has a ceiling.

Moreover, Heteluciya is still a human—a species whose lifespan, while not especially short, has a baseline of only a mere hundred years, absolutely not considered long-lived.

Therefore, even if she exhausted all methods to prolong life, it's absolutely impossible for a frail human body to traverse such a vast span of time.

Even saying that after enduring countless ages of wind and frost, she could sit at opposite ends of a table with such a wondrous being as a supreme god and chat happily.

"Theory-wise that's indeed the case, but the demon lord—or rather, the titanium gold dragon that died in its slumber—gave me inspiration."

Tens of thousands of years ago, as a being in the laziness domain who could surpass Bu Long Fei Er De in strength, spending most of its life asleep was a super lazy hound dragon.

Even though the super-large strong earthquake couldn't wake Patricia, she eventually got hammered and hammered, being buried on the spot by the collapsing iceberg.

Although in the end she still fell into an endless hibernation unable to wake, she literally slept to death beneath the ice layer.

But before her life waned, she could maintain the hibernation state without any supplies or maintenance for a full ten thousand years!

Indeed, as a brave Yangyue person with integrity, not intending to entrust her fate to so-called saviors.

Even though Heteluciya had exhausted everything after the war, after calculating that the Dark Flame false emperor was not dead, she still decided to do something for her homeworld.

Thus, like a certain sci-fi novel, she chose to imitate the titanium gold dragon's story, freezing herself in ice and remaining in hibernation until the false emperor reappeared.

Even if she herself would still inevitably die at that time, at least she could serve as aid sent by ancient forebears, becoming an unwavering banner to rally the brave who resist.

Good news, the wall-facing Heteluciya succeeded.

Although that complex hibernation-maintaining magic array ultimately couldn't withstand the wear of time, reaching the end of its lifespan, at least it successfully sent her to ten thousand years later.

Moreover, when she awoke from her tomb hidden deep in the ocean, Heteluciya delightedly discovered that her hidden ailment and decline were actually gradually healed in the quiet sleep and ample supplies!

Originally on the verge of withering, even having grown white hair, the dying person thus returned to vigorous health, able to press a giant horse to the ground and toy with it—the Iron Arm Holy Maiden.

Even though she now finds herself in the unfamiliar ten thousand years later, she can still burst forth with brilliant firelight.

Bad news, the others failed.

With Heteluciya's personal charm, having endured countless battles, she naturally would not lack loyal followers.

Therefore, upon hearing that she would, under the pretense of burial, construct a tomb to enter hibernation, many aspiring individuals voluntarily offered to become her tomb guardians.

And as these people increased, families would appear, villages would appear, and then evolve into a town or even city-state capable of accommodating a large population with complete facilities.

Therefore, at its peak, the countless families that had evolved from this group of tomb guardians even united and formed a brand‑new civilization united as one.

However, this golden‑like vigilance and friendship might persist and be inherited for a few generations, but after ten or several dozen generations…

After several thousand years, the gratitude and loyalty to their ancestors would be completely worn away, leaving them like strangers, and this civilization would have nothing special about it.

Thus it is just like those ancient American civilizations that were isolated from the world and naturally vanished in silence before they could ever step onto the world stage.

When Hertelucia painfully crawled out from the ruins of the collapsed temple buildings, what met her eyes was a city ruin already overgrown with moss.

"This…"

Lost as it may be, the old coot hasn't given up.

Like playing an RPG adventure game, she began exploring the ruins of the city named Heru.

While gathering supplies and conditioning her body, she also scavenged historical records, solved riddles, and gradually uncovered the truth behind this civilization's ultimate decline.

Hurricanes, plagues, famines… and, bitterly ironic, internal strife that drained the last drop of blood.

"How tragic."

She inserted a damaged gold medal before the collapsing city gate, and amid a crowd of watching monkeys, Hertelucia carved a line of large characters into the ground.

【In memory of the glorious civilization that once arose here, the internal consumption among the Yangyue beings has not yet ended, but it will eventually end.】

Although this place is isolated from the world, she did not rashly carve her true name; instead, after the horizontal bar that signifies leaving a name, she chose to leave it blank.

As for the end of her adventure, she took the last of her supplies, built a small boat with her bare hands, and left this sorrowful land.

In fact, even here, Hertelucia's heart may be inevitably confused, but hope still exists.

But ten thousand years is too long, really too long.

The magic dragons had other sisters who shared the same plight and supported each other, yet they all ended up as a group gone mad; the fate of their birth families, let alone others.

Therefore, whether companions or subordinates, brave warriors or wise mages, humans who live only a century or long‑lived races—

Some companions died in the turmoil of hundreds of years, some could not withstand the grind of time, and others forgot their original intentions and turned to the opposing side.

In short, all the old friends she had promised to meet again in the future ultimately stood her up, leaving only her to reach the future ten thousand years later.

To some extent, this is also the fundamental reason why the Hertelucia who despises saviors the most could compromise so quickly.

— Even though successive blows did not drive her to despair, her isolated and helpless situation was still terrifying.

Especially when she returned to the civilized world, searching everywhere for old friends to no avail, she unexpectedly discovered traces of the false emperor's existence.

Upon deeper investigation, she found that not only was he living comfortably, but he had also become the shadow empress behind the Shen Lin Wang Guo.

"Heavens!"

If Hertelucia weren't able to withstand hardship, she would have already turned to ashes after a despairing cry to the heavens.

No matter what, even after she slew the magic emperor who had been reborn by seizing a daughter's body a second time, his soul fell into a critically fragile state.

Even if one were merely online for ten thousand years, moving just a little bit, they would surely score higher than this guy who has been idling for ten thousand years.

But.

"Can we win?"

"We will win!"

Those who understand you best are often not your friends and family, but your enemies!

Therefore, upon realizing the false emperor was using the deceitful tactics of "substituting Li for Peach" and "exchanging the cage for the bird," Hertelucia directly chose to follow suit.

— You usurp him, then I'll usurp you!

Thus she adopted an unimportant new name, joining the Deep Forest Church as a pious village girl from a remote settlement.

The church might be the thing that has changed the least over these ten thousand years, and with her former experience as the Sun‑Flame Saintess, her rise was naturally smooth and swift.

After employing soul secret arts and barely surviving the shattering of the Deep Forest God's soul, she even became the newest Floral‑Rank Envoy at just twenty‑eight years old.

According to her career plan, she originally intended to make sweeping reforms, quickly replacing that useless old… thing of the Messiah to become the new pope.

Then, using over ten more years to slowly maneuver, she would also pull a "exchange the cage for the bird," ultimately completing the god‑usurping feat and giving the false emperor a great fright.

As a result, she had barely set out to stir things up in the eastern border, and had barely arrived at her work site—she hadn't even had time to wash off her makeup.

She was then captured on the spot by Ji Ming, bound as the new boss of the villain side, and taken to the dungeon for torture.

However, after fully discussing their respective plans, Ji Ming realized that this rack still had to be bound.

Because if it were any later, once Hertelucia racked up achievements here, they'd have to shoot the protruding bird, trying to topple Rose's pretty face to establish authority.

By then it would be the savior and the wall‑facer's own people fighting each other, inevitably causing internal bloodshed, which would amount to everyone working together to inversely aid the magic emperor.

And after hearing Hertelucia's account, Ji Ming also gained a rough grasp of this iron‑fisted saintess's methods and abilities.

Coincidentally, the operation had grown large, with more personnel, so many messages from the Deep Forest might not reach him in time for him to issue appropriate orders.

So he simply let Hertelucia inherit his intelligence organ within the Deep Forest Church, after which Rose and the others would report their work to her.

After all, they're all insiders within the same organization; a unified arrangement is safer than external handoffs and can improve efficiency somewhat.

Naturally, Hertelucia, who had gained the advantage, had no objection; her plan to usurp the Deep Forest faith by grafting flowers onto trees became more solid.

Yet after learning from Ji Ming about his arrangements and various hidden stakes in the Shen Lin Wang Guo, she still exclaimed in shock.

"What? The Deep Forest Church has only twelve flowers in total, and you've already taken four?"

A rough calculation shows that if you add herself, nearly half of the members in this small church's high‑level circle could be insiders!

She couldn't help but recall how, when she was first brainwashed, the Deep Forest God's arrogant "I'm super awesome!" attitude made her suddenly feel a bit awkward.

"Isn't this a bit…?"

She was about to say something exaggerated, but Ji Ming's reply was.

"Indeed it's a bit few; try to trick a few more Floral‑Rank Envoys into meeting me alone, and I can make the church your Star Sea One‑Man Rule."

All that can be said is that Her Ladyship the Saintess is a down‑to‑earth person who truly possesses Lu Xun's "make use of" wisdom.

Upon hearing this, she stopped being sulky, stopped striking poses, and the half‑day tsundere even reached out her hand voluntarily.

"Good, one word and it's set!"

So this time it was Ji Ming's turn to be tsundere.

"Hmph."