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"Can’t you really remember what your relationship was with that old guy?" On the way to the Imperial Palace, Chen Qing couldn’t help but secretly transmit his voice, "Could it be an old flame?"

"Since when did you become such a gossip?" Zi Yue replied coldly.

Yet her eyes were fixated on the surrounding walls of the palace.

It was all too familiar—the bricks and tiles were almost identical to her memories. But she had left Yundu ten thousand years ago, and the palace seemed very new, not aged at all. Could it be a replica of its former self, remade?

Zi Yue also couldn’t remember what she did in this location of the Imperial Palace.

Her memories of the Sorcerer Dynasty were all painful—various experiments, and countless torments inflicted on her body and spirit.

Zi Yue couldn’t recall how many poisons she had ingested since childhood or how many curses of the magicians she had suffered, or with how many objects she had been experimented upon.

For such a test subject, why was she so familiar with the Imperial Palace?

Could it be that she once held a position here?

"I’m just concerned about you," Chen Qing transmitted with a guilty conscience, "If this thing is an old flame, we can pull some strings, right? Nearly all the people from the Sorcerer Dynasty are gone by now. If this only successor of the Heavenly Master is your old flame, then maybe we can win over the Dynasty’s remaining forces.

You saw it too, with the war looming, having such a mysterious force helping us would be very useful. "

"You’re overthinking it," Zi Yue said somberly, "That old man is very abnormal. Don’t expect too much. I always feel he looks at me more like I’m some kind of treasure."

"Really?" Chen Qing narrowed his eyes. In fact, he thought that compared to the old man, it was Zhang Xiaoyun, the little chubby kid, who looked at Zi Yue as if he’d found a treasure.

And with his age, he really shouldn’t... recognize Zi Yue.

"Up ahead is the Treasured Artifact Palace," the Heavenly Master said excitedly, pointing to a massive gate in front of them. Chen Qing looked over, and the gate was massive, even taller than the Black Tortoise Gate, which was located at one of the four cardinal points when entering the palace.

At the gate, there was a huge Bagua, with the Yin Yang Fish circulating as if alive, emitting a strange power.

Chen Qing looked on with vigilance. The Yin Yang Fish seemed to contain a significant amount of energy, but he couldn’t discern its nature. As the Master of Divine Path, he was extremely sensitive to the attributes of energy. The fact that he couldn’t detect it made him feel insecure.

The Old Celestial Master raised his dust whisk, and the Yin Yang Fish spun rapidly, the black and white seeming to embody all the principles of the world. Chen Qing could distinctly feel strong spatial fluctuations around him. When the gate opened, his suspicions were confirmed—

The Sorcerer Dynasty possessed remarkably advanced spatial technology!

The world inside the gate was definitely not the same as the world outside!

Chen Qing was sure of this.

He had followed Shen Kaku to the Void Zone before, a special space created by guild members using the third version of reality-altering techniques, even able to reject the laws of versions. And this place... was the same. The space here was insulated from the outside laws.

The spiritual energy inside was shockingly dense, so dense that the current level in Jiangnan—even if concentrated by Bai Yu to create the richest Spirit Field—would not compare to even one percent of the density here.

This intensity had reached the pinnacle of the third version’s earthly realms.

Chen Qing found it difficult to imagine that the Sorcerer Dynasty actually possessed such a thing.

In a place with such concentrated spiritual energy, if Transcendent beings were cultivated, thousands could have been nurtured over ten thousand years...

Though unaware of how these people accomplished this, Chen Qing became increasingly cautious of the Heavenly Master Mansion’s power; the force they possessed might far exceed his imagination.

"Hurry up and get inside; we can’t let the spiritual energy dissipate." The elder took the lead and strode in. Chen Qing hesitated, but Zi Yue seemed not to hesitate at all, directly following him in.

Chen Qing watched, and eventually, he followed as well, thinking to himself that this person, usually so steady, was daring to an unusual degree today.

"Can you remember any of this?"

Upon entering this colossal palace, the sight was truly dazzling: the vast hall enshrined all sorts of objects with various shapes, including floating sword racks, numerous weapons brimming with overwhelming spiritual energy, floating talismans, and statues imbued with consciousness—even some living items.

For instance, some oddly eerie fingers, a human skin mask adorned with various expressions, and... some strangely shaped, unidentifiable objects.

Chen Qing swallowed hard, this was even more exaggerated than the biological weapon depository in the Dragon Palace, Each artifact within emitted a unique and tremendous force, giving the impression that none was inferior to the Mirror Demon in his possession.

This Sorcerer Dynasty... where did they get so many trinkets from?

These artifacts... I’m afraid not even in the third version could you find so many all at once, right?

Spiritual Artifacts!!

Chen Qing knew almost instantly what they were, having lived for who knows how many tens of thousands of years and possessing their own consciousness, these Demon Instruments were at a scale only seen in the third version when the Artifact Demons rose.

How did the Sorcerer Dynasty, which birthed during the age when Earth Spirits waned, come into possession of these?

Chen Qing was aware that these items, unless buried deep underground or dwelling outside the heavens, simply could not be stored in the mortal realm. It was not until the Era of Stars began in the third version that these artifacts fell from the sky, so how could they all appear here?

Chen Qing recognized many of the items inside; they were personally designed by him.

Zi Yue recognized them as well, her face etched with bewilderment.

She remembered some things...

Originally, she was one of the foremost experimental subjects, who by chance came into contact with a Spiritual Artifact and showed extraordinary talent in manipulation, leading those above to bring her to the Treasured Artifact Palace, breaking protocol.

As a designer, she knew the properties of many artifacts and thus, during that time, she succeeded in activating a good number of artifacts, becoming the most valuable experimental subject then.

Her treatment and standard improved considerably, and many of the dreadful experiments that would have been carried out on her were suspended.

Instead, she was compelled to become proficient with the myriad artifacts here.

Yes... she remembered now, she was the First Artificer of the Treasured Artifact Palace, capable of using over a thousand of the top magical artifacts within this palace, known as... the First Spirit Artificer!

"Do you remember now?" the Old Celestial Master asked excitedly, rubbing his hands together: "Do you remember these things? This one, this one, the Sky Wicked Armor, the thing you were most skillful with, remember it?"

Zi Yue looked over; the Heavenly Master was pointing to a floating white mannequin, ghastly pale and indescribably eerie, especially its eyes, which seemed lifeless, but upon gazing into them, one felt as though they were being sucked in!

Sky Wicked Armor...

Upon hearing this name, Chen Qing couldn’t help but tremble involuntarily.

The development of the fourth version had little to do with him, since there was a staff reshuffle at that time. For a while, he was transferred away from the project, almost causing a fallout with the gaming company.

Not until the game launch encountered numerous issues did the company executives, swallowing their pride, come back to beseech him to return.

By the time he resumed control of the project, the fourth version was already near completion.

He remembered being quite dissatisfied and wanted to redo it, but the company deemed it too costly and wished for him only to fine-tune it.

The fourth version involved the awakening of ancient artifacts and the descent of the stars, with the world formally following the stars and becoming travelers of the Primordial Chaos World; players would also begin to truly confront Otherworldly Demons.

Of course... that version, until he literally fell gravely ill and died, seemed never to have launched.

Maybe this is why this world has always cycled through the first three versions, and why the players from the four major guilds have never been able to unlock the fourth, right?

But why... would the Sky Wicked Armor from the fourth version appear here??

This Sorcerer Dynasty... exactly... how did it come to possess this power?