Gu Qingshan flew off the island, racing downstream along the river.
Suddenly, he saw someone ahead, flying along at an unhurried pace.
—Oldest.
Gu Qingshan hurried after him and called, "Why did you come out?"
Oldest stood on the Book of Fate, panting hard. "Reneedol left with an elf woman. I was worried, so I came to check."
Gu Qingshan looked at him, then at the Book of Fate beneath his feet, and understood.
—After creating the Fate Fable, Oldest had been utterly exhausted.
Now he didn't even have the strength to fly, and had to rely on the Book of Fate to carry him.
Gu Qingshan paused, then gradually came to a realization.
Oldest had traveled back to this era, and lost his undying body.
He had just fought with all his might. Though Chi Hu had provided him with some Life Force, he was still covered in wounds and drained of strength. He had only one or two tenths of his peak power left.
—If they were both at full strength, they could still try to break through.
But in their current state, what could they do besides get themselves killed?
Gu Qingshan looked downstream into the distance. Over the murky, dark water, he saw a layer of something that might have been fog, or might have been something else.
It was moving.
—It seemed to be alive, and conscious, carefully watching him and Oldest.
Gu Qingshan tried projecting his divine sense toward it, but the connection was severed at once.
Unexpectedly, the fog-like layer gradually parted, revealing the river and the rock walls ahead.
Wisp after wisp of mist avoided the space directly in front of them and began closing in from all sides.
Gu Qingshan's heart sank. A chill crept up his spine.
—It had cleared