467: Chapter 467 Hua Liuli's Past

"Of course I'm willing! Your past, your present, your future—I want to be a part of them all."

Chen Yi did not hesitate in the slightest and immediately agreed, "Then let's set off now. Do we need to tell everyone?"

Hua Liuli shook her head, "No need! The flow of time in that place is different from the outside world. We might spend a few hours inside, while only a few minutes pass outside! Besides—there are some things I want to tell only you first!"

The afternoon sun shone through the rolling mountains.

Following Hua Liuli's guidance, Chen Yi teleported to the southernmost part of Africa—the Silent Mountains!

This place was far from human habitation; even birds rarely left a trace here, with only the wailing sound of the wind blowing across the rock walls.

Chen Yi followed Hua Liuli as they descended into the center of the valley.

Surrounded by steep rock walls hundreds of meters high, the ground was scattered with various types of rubble.

Hua Liuli looked around, her eyes turning somewhat complex.

There was both the melancholy of returning home and the nervousness of facing the past.

"This is the place!"

"Over the past millennium, I have returned seven times, each time at high noon on the day of the full moon."

"This is the eighth time—and also the first time I've brought someone else!"

Chen Yi noticed her hand trembling slightly and gently took hold of it, "If you aren't ready yet, we can come back another day."

Hua Liuli shook her head, "No, it is precisely because I am ready that we must come today."

She walked to a nearly vertical rock wall on the north side of the valley, the surface of which looked unremarkable.

Hua Liuli extended her right hand, pressed her palm against a spot on the rock wall, and said something.

It was a language Chen Yi had never heard before, yet he could understand what it meant; it resonated with heaven and earth.

"Rumble—"

The originally ordinary granite surface began to show faint purple patterns, gradually outlining a circular array diagram with a diameter of three meters.

In the center of the array diagram was a complex multi-ring structure, nested layer by layer, with each ring slowly rotating.

"Full Moon Incantation!"

Hua Liuli explained, "This is a Restriction left behind by the first generation array eye. Only when we array eyes chant the incantation at a specific time can the Heavenly Gate be revealed!"

Chen Yi was stunned.

First generation array eye?

Hua Liuli wasn't the first generation?

Could it be that there was some hidden story behind this?

Hua Liuli looked up at the sky.

The noon sun shone vertically down, forming a perfect right angle with the ground.

The moment the sunlight hit the center of the array diagram, the entire diagram erupted with blinding purple light!

The light did not spread outward but contracted inward, forming a bottomless vortex portal on the rock wall.

"This is the entrance to the Space-Time Corridor!"

Hua Liuli took a deep breath, "Stay close to me. The space-time inside the corridor is chaotic; if we get separated, we might be lost forever."

"I understand!"

The moment he passed through the vortex, Chen Yi felt a strong sense of weightlessness.

But the next second, his feet were already on the ground.

Before him was a corridor that seemed to have no end.

On both sides of the corridor, there were no walls, but flowing curtains of light, and various fragments of images were constantly flashing on them.

Ancient rituals, battle scenes, research footage, and face after face, both strange and familiar—it felt similar in effect to the memory field at the Eagle Country research institute before!

"What… is this?"

"It is… or rather, it is the memory corridor of us array eyes!"

Hua Liuli walked to a curtain of light, where a scene was currently flashing.

A fifteen or sixteen-year-old black-haired girl stood in the center of an altar, surrounded by twelve figures in black robes.

The girl's features were ninety percent similar to Hua Liuli's, only more youthful; she looked just like a young Hua Liuli.

"This is me!"

Hua Liuli said, "Me, about four thousand eight hundred years ago! The first time I had my Awakening of the array eye power, I cried that day. Not because of the pain, but because I knew—from then on, I would no longer be myself."

The girl in the image was wrapped in purple energy, letting out painful screams.

The twelve black-robed figures around her were looking at Hua Liuli with frantic expressions, their eyes filled with fanaticism and anticipation.

"What on earth is going on?"

Chen Yi was even more bewildered, "Aren't you the array eye of the Space-Time Rift? When did you become an ordinary girl? Could it be… you were actually a human originally?"

Hua Liuli nodded, "Yes, I was actually a human originally!"

"Or rather, the power of the Space-Time Rift's array eye can only attach itself to a human. It doesn't mean the array eye of the Space-Time Rift can manifest as a human out of thin air; that is something the First Emperor got wrong."

"The black-robed figure leading them was the previous array eye. He truly could not withstand the loneliness and solitude and wanted to die, which is why this ritual existed."

"He wanted me to become the array eye and take his place in managing this world well."

Hua Liuli continued walking forward, and Chen Yi followed silently.

The images on the light curtains changed as they walked.

Chen Yi saw young Liuli learning various knowledge in a laboratory, saw her commanding an army of Demonic Beasts on the battlefield, and saw her sitting alone atop a high tower late at night, gazing up at the starry sky—

When they were halfway through, one segment of the imagery was particularly eye-catching.

Hua Liuli had grown to look exactly as she did now, and she was currently arguing fiercely with a silver-haired woman.

And that silver-haired woman was none other than Emilia!

"That was the scene of the first time I met Emilia. Quite ridiculous, isn't it?"

Hua Liuli stopped and gazed at that segment of the imagery, "We had a disagreement regarding the direction of the world transformation plan, and in the end, we merged into the Demon Abyss Cult—"

The corridor seemed endless, but Hua Liuli seemed to know the way.

She led Chen Yi through one silhouette of an era after another, finally stopping in front of a pure white stone door.

There was no decoration on the stone door, only a palm-shaped indentation in the center.

"Origin Sanctuary!"

Hua Liuli pressed her right hand onto the indentation, "The place where all my secrets are stored, and also the place where my Soul began."

The next second, the stone door slid open silently.

Behind the door was a scene that completely exceeded Chen Yi's expectations.

He had expected to see gloomy and eerie Demon Abyss-style architecture, but the sanctuary before him was as pure as paradise!

The whole structure was built from some kind of white jade, with a high vaulted ceiling.

Sunlight shone in from somewhere unknown, casting a soft golden radiance throughout the hall.

The pillars in the hall were not carved with demons or Demonic Beasts, but with the images of various ancient Spirit Beasts.

The most eye-catching thing was a purple crystal floating in the center of the great hall.

The crystal was about the size of a human head, but its surface was covered in cracks, as if it could shatter completely at any moment.

It floated quietly in mid-air, slowly rotating, emitting a faint yet warm energy fluctuation.

Hua Liuli walked under the crystal and sighed, "This thing is of the same origin as the array eye in the Space-Time Rift. Because there are two, it is possible to set up two array eyes, which are you and me—"

"It is also the source of my power, the root of my pain, and the proof of my existence."

"Sit down. The story I want to tell you is very long, spanning thousands of years—"

"Mm, I'll listen to whatever you have to say!"