Chapter 173 - Chapter 173: Chapter 172: Frozen Time

Chapter 173: Chapter 172: Frozen Time

Translator: 549690339

“Are you from another world?” The faculty and students were quite astonished by Abu’s tale. Although they had read about other worlds in the Heavenly Machine newspaper, they had never come into direct contact with someone from one.

“So you’re saying your world is under the threat of destruction by entities like the Twelve Kings? And you require our help to save it?” A faculty member felt incredulous. He was just a humble cultivator at the Nascent Soul Stage, how could he possibly possess the power to rescue an entire world? Wasn’t that an overestimation of his abilities?

“Do you have any proof?” The faculty member wasn’t ready to unquestioningly believe Abu’s story. Even if they did, how could they potentially travel to Abu’s world?

Even cultivators at the Transcendence Tribulation Stage couldn’t withstand the chaotic currents of the void, much less them.

“This artifact is a familial heirloom, bequeathed to us by an Immortal. It is this very object that allowed me to journey to Jiuzhou.” Abu held out the artifact which allowed inter-dimensional travel. His world was facing impending doom which dwarfed any need to obfuscate his origins.

Was he to just observe passively while his world was annihilated, just to protect his identity?

Abu refused to be such a person.

Abu had already conducted his own investigation. This world was teeming with formidable individuals, but the only one who had the ability to aid him was the Human Emperor Jiang Li. All others lacked the capability to journey to his world.

Although Jiang Li was known to be affable, that didn’t mean Abu could readily meet him.

He needed the assistance of the people of this world to meet Jiang Li.

As for the possibility of the faculty member harboring greed for the artifact and seizing it for himself, Abu had considered it.

Abu was risking the chance that the teacher was an honest man who wouldn’t plunder his possession. Even if he did, as long as it enabled Abu to get in touch with Jiang Li, it would be worth it.

If the teacher seized the artifact and turned a deaf ear to Abu’s predicament… Abu endeavored not to entertain this possibility.

Luckily, the faculty member showed no signs of such intentions.

“We need to report this. It isn’t something we can decide on our own,” the faculty member stated solemnly.

The symbols inscribed on the artifact were exceedingly complex. He couldn’t comprehend them, hence couldn’t verify whether it was capable of breaking through dimensions, or whether it was indeed an Immortal’s relic. But he could ascertain that it was an artifact from the Body Integration Realm or above.

The artifact couldn’t entirely corroborate Abu’s account. However, it was indicative of Abu’s extraordinary origins.

The director of The Great Zhou Dynasty Academy had recently been replaced. The current director, at the peak of the Divinity Transformation Stage, wasn’t qualified to make a decision on this matter. He also failed to decipher the artifact. However, he inferred that it was a relic of someone at or beyond the Transcendence Tribulation Stage.

Director with artifact in hand went to Yangxin Hall to find Ji Zhi, only to find an abandoned brush in the middle of a text and no sign of Ji Zhi.

Eventually, Ji Zhi was found in retreat in the back garden.

Ji Zhi was resolute in his decision to break through to the Body Integration Realm.

Ji Zhi accepted the artifact, his eyes deep and probing as he glanced at Abu.

Abu was puzzled by this reaction.

Desiring to contact Jiang Li, Ji Zhi found himself without a Remote Communication Talisman and therefore unable to locate him.

“Follow me.”

He then led Abu through several spatial passages to the Imperial Palace.

Even though it wasn’t his first time experiencing spatial transmission, he was greatly amazed by Jiuzhou’s advanced spatial pathways.

While using the dimension-breaking artifact, Abu had been so preoccupied with escaping that he hadn’t paid attention to the process of transmission.

The more he compared, the more he realized that his own world appeared incredibly weak.

Abu looked up to Ji Zhi with admiration.

Could this be the Divinity Transformation Stage powerhouse who was rumored to be even stronger than his father and capable of reaching the Transcendence Tribulation Stage under the auspices of national destiny? He was incredibly powerful!

“Emperor Zhou.” The Imperial Palace Guard saluted Ji Zhi.

“Is Jiang Li present?”

The guard was taken aback by the inquiry, “Emperor Zhou, you do have a sense of humor. Just like there are no wives in wife cakes and no couples in husband and wife lung slices, the Imperial Palace doesn’t necessarily house the Human Emperor. ”

“…Well, that is a fair point.”

“If you aren’t in a rush, you can wait here for about a decade or so to meet the Palace Master,” the Imperial Palace Guard shared his pearls of wisdom with Ji Zhi.

I can’t exactly wait for a decade, even if I’m not in a hurry. “Then, is Supreme Commander Liu present?”

“Supreme Commander Liu is here. Just a moment, I’ll inform him.”

In no time, Ji Zhi found himself and Abu transported to Supreme Commander Liu’s side via spatial transportation.

While not as potent as the Vast Buddha, Supreme Commander Liu’s mastery over spatial techniques was amongst the best in Jiuzhou.

“Emperor Zhou.”

“Senior Liu. ”

The two exchanged nods.

“Is this the foreign guest you mentioned?” Supreme Commander Liu looked at Abu with curiosity. The only foreign guests he had encountered in his lifetime were Heavenly Demons from outside the realm.

Supreme Commander Liu picked up the dimension-breaking artifact and studied it: “It certainly doesn’t originate from Jiuzhou. Judging from the symbols, it seems it randomly teleports the user to another world.

Unfortunately, it’s a one-time-use item. Once used, it turns into nothing more than scraps of paper. Even if we knew your world is in danger, we wouldn’t be able to deduce the location of your world based on this artifact, and consequently would be unable to reach it.”

Seeing that the dimension-breaking artifact was now dull and unresponsive, Ji Zhi had thought that as long as he had enough power, he could activate it. He hadn’t anticipated it was already spent.

“What…what do we do then?”

Abu was on the verge of tears. He had been so close to finding the Human Emperor and saving his world, only to realize that he couldn’t locate his own world.

“I’ll try to contact the Palace Master first. Maybe he has a method that evades my comprehension.”

After hearing the whole story, Jiang Li looked at Abu with a peculiar expression.

Was it possible that Abu’s world was in fact the world he himself resided in now?

The timelines didn’t add up though.

Had the dimension-breaking artifact transmitted him several hundred years? That was depressingly low efficiency.

Jiang Li strolled around the city with the Remote Communication Talisman, allowing Abu to look for anything familiar.

Upon recognizing a familiar cityscape, Abu was struck dumb, his body trembling uncontrollable tears streaming down his face: “This is Buwu City, my home!”

“Have we actually defeated the Kings?!”

“But how much time has elapsed? Why is it as though we never even experienced a war?”

Jiang Li remained silent.

“I heard that because you were saving someone, you didn’t find the Ice Crystal Flower, and thus failed the mission?”

A group of students at the Great Zhou Dynasty Academy was comparing their mission results.

“Hehe, not to brag, but our team not only found the Ice Crystal Flower, but we actually found three! We even made a stupefying discovery! It’s a unique discovery for the entirety of Jiuzhou!”

“Three?” Zhu Zhu was astonished. Ice Crystal Flowers typically grew alone, rarely in pairs, let alone in a group of three.

Zhu Zhu suddenly remembered that when they rescued Abu, there were three Ice Crystal Flowers beneath him. However, they had been too focused on saving him and hadn’t paid it much attention.

The student chuckled, “We discovered that when three Ice Crystal Flowers grow together, they can freeze a living being. For example, if a twenty-year-old were frozen, even after a thousand years, upon being unfrozen, he would still be at the age of twenty. His lifespan halts! This discovery alone is enough for us to graduate.”

Zhu Zhu had a hunch:

It wasn’t that Abu had arrived in Jiuzhou just now, but that he might have arrived decades or even centuries ago, transmitted to Jiuzhou by the dimension-breaking artifact. Severely injured, he had fallen in a place where three Ice Crystal flowers grew. The Ice Crystal flowers had frozen Abu, and the unconscious and wounded Abu knew nothing about it until one day, someone carelessly littered a warming talisman in the Extreme North, right atop Abu, melting the ice encasing him.

“Could it be…” Zhu Zhu found her guess too audacious to believe even herself.

But she clearly remembered a warming talisman on Abu. Everyone kept their talismans close to themselves and on the inside. Who would keep it on the outside?

And how did Abu, who came from another world, procure a warming talisman?