LOGINAs night arrived at Aurous Hill airport, the Gulfstream Business Jet touched down safely on the tarmac and quickly taxied into the prearranged hangar.It was a highly secluded hangar that most civilians couldn't access, with even the ground crew kept out.Two black Houlmounts that won't draw attention were waiting in a corner even as the plane slid into the hangar, with Logan Carrick, his wife, Emmett Sandsor, and Marilyn Lacey waiting for them alongside the chauffeurs.As the business jet stopped, Charlie and Vera disembarked consecutively.Logan Carrick, his wife, and Emmett Sandsor quickly approached them, bowing their heads respectfully in greeting. "Ms. Lavor. Mr. Wade."Vera smiled at them. "Thanks for waiting and traveling all the way here. It must be taxing, especially at your age."Logan smiled respectfully. "Not at all. We're always glad to be of service, and we are feeling pretty good after the pills Mr. Wade blessed us with."Vera laughed and nodded. "And tell Emmett
As such, Vera squeezed Charlie's hand as she changed the subject and asked, "How do you think we should get from Westron to Aurous Hill? We have no identification since our current identities are registered to have passed through Argentina, and it'd raise alarms if it suddenly showed up in Oskian traffic."Charlie thought about it, and nodded. "I'll ask Isaac Cameron to send a private jet and see if we can board it directly to the airport."Vera shook her head. "Those who know that we're in the Antarctic would be aware we can't make it back in this season. Smarter ones would quickly smell a rat—we can only trust closest confidantes on this one, and keep others out of the loop.""Makes sense," Charlie nodded again in agreement. "What do you have in mind?"Vera smiled. "I'll get Emmett and Logan. I've known them since they were kids, and they know that I've lived for four hundred years. They won't be surprised that we're suddenly back, nor would they pry or mention it to anyone else.
Charlie absolutely agreed with Vera's opinion—the path of cultivation inherently consumed enormous resources for an individual. It used the most refined Reiki to infinitely enhance personal strength, and from a wider perspective, it was nothing less than squandering. After all, they were talking about concentrating resources for only a few million or even fewer cultivators all while draining dry a planet capable of sustainably supporting billions. It's a celebration of elitism and not wider society or even human civilization. They are therefore speculating that an advanced spacefaring group of cultivators must have arrived before the dawn of human civilization. Instead of inspiring and leading, they devoured Earth's cultivation resources and then left without looking back. Therefore, the portal built in the plaza pagoda of the subterranean city is—bluntly speaking—a funnel through which they plundered all of Earth's resources, sending out worker ant-like cultivators to franticall
Pausing, Vera continued, "When I studied at Harvard over a hundred years ago when the discipline of biology first came to be, scientists across the world began the discussion on the theory of evolution. Many of them were particularly obsessed with fossils of prehistoric creatures, with Harvard being the central location of such forums and discussions."At the time, academics already had complete chains of biological specimens and evidence to prove evolution. From fossils of Cambrian trilobites to Cretaceous dinosaurs along with the first primates—or the microbial remains of more than 3 billion years ago, it's all solid proof that evolution applies."It's been decades. Even if I stayed out of the limelight, the many enterprises and organizations with my investments had excavated fossils, DNA tests and other research to further prove the theory of evolution."Charlie nodded, but was bemused and waited as Vera took a deep breath and kept going. "But to sum it all up… There's an order w
When discussing the chicken-egg paradox, people instinctively focus on the species, when chickens didn't appear out of nowhere.In fact, it passed through a long, arduous process of species iteration.And if that was the case for chickens, it applied all the more to humans, where civilization began in Mesopotamia just over five thousand years ago.However, homo sapiens dates back some 300,000 thousand years ago, and other ape-men possibly going back some two million years.It was a thought that blew Charlie's mind wide open, as he suddenly understood that the ancient cultivators who reigned before the Degenerate Age of Dharma and built the Antarctic subterranean city had nothing to do with modern humans.As Charlie and Vera strolled through the forests of Crane's Cry transitioning into summer, they began a retrospective discussion of what they had learned so far about the cultivators.Charlie was himself sighing, "In the five-thousand-year timeline of human civilization, the aver
Vera, a master of Daoism, quickly noticed the geomantic compass and exclaimed, "So those circles are portals connected to different places across the world?"Charlie nodded and pointed at the circle of light in the middle. "Nine, to be specific. The one at the center heads to Oskia, so we're taking that one back to Aurous Hill before thinking of something.""Do you know where it goes?" Vera asked. "Crane's Cry," Charlie replied.Vera's eyes widened in understanding and nodded. "Crane's Cry? That makes sense. It's the founding place of Daoism, so I'm sure the cultivators from before the Degenerate Age of Dharma attained enlightenment there too."Charlie nodded, frowning. "But there's something I don't get.""Do tell. I'll see if I have an answer for it."Charlie nodded again, and held her hand, leading her to the center circle, "Let's talk while we walk."In a split second, they were at that hidden cave in Crane's Cry.Vera wasn't surprised after teleporting twice now, while C
The relationship between the prestigious families of Eastcliff was very intricate. Noble intermarriage was a common practice between these families, similar to the royal intermarriage where members of the ruling dynasties married into other reigning families.After all, every family had both male and
Jiro did not give up. Instead, he continued asking, “Then, why don’t you give it some thoughts now? What kind of man would be able to meet your criteria and standards?”Nanako thought carefully before she said, “First of all, the main criterion is that he would have to be better than me!”“Better than
Aurora replied shyly, “I am not a feisty young lady…”Charlie smiled before he asked, “Then, what are you?”Aurora replied, “I… I… I am a beautiful young woman! A little cutie!”After she was done speaking, Aurora hung up the phone shyly before Charlie could even respond.When Charlie heard the sudden b
Claire was dumbfounded, and she did not know how she should respond.Jacob, who was sitting in the co-driver seat, was so aggrieved that he burst into tears and choked up as he said, “Back then, your mother and I had no emotional connection nor affection for one another whatsoever. If I were to speak







