Dao Ancestor Hongjun had been gone for a long time.
So long that Saine had once believed this Top Existence from the Immortal Domain Civilization would not reappear in the Destruction Divine Kingdom Faction's sight anytime soon.
Yet to those familiar with Hongjun, his elusive, dragon-seen-but-tail-never-seen state did not seem strange at all.
Over a thousand years later, Hongjun returned.
But his return was just as brief.
As Saine later learned, Hongjun had met Locke only once.
Saine did not know what the two of them had discussed.
Locke had not taken the initiative to mention it, nor had Hongjun come looking for Saine.
That did not mean Hongjun thought little of Saine.
Rather, some matters truly required one to reach the level of a Lord of Dimension before they could participate in them.
Although Saine had now advanced to Level-12 Late-Stage, and wielding the Mechanical God Rule True Body gave him combat power comparable to a Lord of Dimension,
his own realm had, after all, not yet crossed that threshold into Level-13.
Besides Locke, Hongjun had also met Duan Ning.
Duan Ning was Saine's adopted sister and Hongjun's grand-disciple in the Immortal Domain lineage.
Through Duan Ning, Saine finally learned part of the reason behind Hongjun's disappearance during this time.
When Duan Ning arrived in the Gear Time-Space, Saine was processing a set of Final Silence Noise-Reduction Models.
She did not speak immediately.
Only after Saine sealed away that gray-white rule sandbox in his hands did Duan Ning place a wisp of Great Dao ripple left behind by Hongjun before him.
That wisp of Great Dao ripple was faint.
So faint that Skynet could barely capture it.
Yet when Saine touched it with his Soul of Truth, he still felt the ancientness and vastness contained within.
It was not