A History-Defying Speculation

The old general's duty is to guard the Immortal Ruins and prevent outsiders from entering. Only the senior sister, Lu Yang, and the immortal ghost within Lu Yang's body have entered the Immortal Ruins.

Entering the Immortal Ruins, Lu Yang felt no sense of unfamiliarity.

The Immortal Cult's Yanjiang branch has a secret realm that was built entirely according to the Immortal Ruins, in order to increase a sense of belonging and faith in the Immortal Immortals.

The platform suspended in the air, the ancient buildings on it—everything felt so familiar. The buildings had crumbled under the ravages of time; it was hard to imagine what they looked like before they collapsed.

The eldest sister snapped her fingers, and the collapsed buildings floated up, piecing themselves back together to their original form, as if time had reversed.

Unlike contemporary architectural styles, these buildings are by no means "ancient".

Contemporary architecture began in the Great Depression era and has evolved over 300,000 years, changing with the times.

The High Antiquity period lasted for more than 300,000 years. In the late High Antiquity period, art and language were very advanced, no less so than they are now. The only difference between them was in style.

The main building is magnificent, with pavilions arranged in a staggered manner. Even the main gate is inlaid with yellow jade, green jade and red gold, exuding a grand atmosphere.

"Do you recognize these buildings, senior?" Yun Zhi asked.

There were only the three of them in the ruins, so the Immortal Fairy no longer needed to conceal her presence and emerged from the spiritual space.

She examined the buildings carefully, then gently shook her head. "I don't recognize these buildings. Although I don't understand architectural styles, I just feel that these don't resemble the architecture of our time."

Yun Zhi rarely showed a surprised expression. "According to the Great Xia Dynasty's appraisal, this site existed between 300,000 and 400,000 years ago. The Great Xia Dynasty has never made a mistake in dating."

"Moreover, the architectural style and layout here do not conform to the conditions at the beginning of the large-scale construction."

"There is a general consensus in academia that as High Antiquity nameless ancient beings refined the stars, the glorious High Antiquity era was reduced to ashes, along with countless riches."

"Therefore, when the Great Gan Dynasty was first established, it advocated frugality, reducing taxes and rents. Looking at the architecture of the Immortal Ruins, it can't be considered extravagant, but it's not exactly frugality either."

These were not said by Yun Zhi, but rather written in a report submitted to Emperor Xia by senior scholars organized by the imperial court after they investigated the area.

"Then I don't know," the Immortal Fairy replied honestly, as she wasn't good at thinking about these kinds of questions.

Lu Yang remained silent throughout, never expecting to encounter difficulties right from the start of exploring the ruins, as they couldn't even determine the exact era in which the ruins were located.

Further ahead, there were murals that Lu Yang was familiar with.

On the mural, there is an immortal being whose gender is indistinguishable, with outstretched arms. In the immortal being's arms are countless planets, and on each planet kneels a small figure, who holds up offerings to the immortal being.

Four months ago, Chu, the leader of Yanjiang County, led Lu Yang and his two companions into the secret realm. In front of the murals, he introduced the origins of the immortal immortals, allowing Lu Yang and his companions to learn the secrets of how the High Antiquity nameless man refined the planet.

Things have changed, Lu Yang sighed. It hasn't been that long, and Chief Chu was such a good person. He's gone just like that, and the murderer is still at large, with no one to punish him.

On the right side of the mural was a long passage of text that Lu Yang couldn't understand.

"Is this High Antiquity writing?"

Yun Zhi nodded and gave Lu Yang a brief translation. The gist of it was that in High Antiquity times, immortal beings protected the human race. These immortal beings fought against High Antiquity nameless being and died from exhaustion, but they could be resurrected by simply reciting the immortal beings' names.

It can now be confirmed that this part of history is fabricated. Neither the Immortal Fairy Huang Doudou nor the Immortal Immortal Bu Yaolian ever did such a thing.

The Immortal Fairy had already perished before the Nameless High Antiquity One refined the stars, while the Immortal Immortal had only been born a few months earlier.

"So this is actually a High Antiquity relic?" Lu Yang frowned, feeling that things couldn't be that simple.

Yun Zhi shook her head. "If it were before, I would have thought so, but after what you said, I think the words on the murals might have been deliberately left by the person behind the scenes to mislead us."

Yun Zhi turned to the Immortal Fairy and asked, "Senior, I just translated most of the text. In this day and age, people cannot fully translate High Antiquity languages. For example, this signature line is beyond the translation of even the scholars sent by the court and myself."

The Immortal Fairy frowned and fell silent as she looked at the signature. Of course, she could understand it, but the sentence was strange, so strange that she thought she had misread it.

She read aloud, word by word. "May the immortals bless us, and may the dynasty of the torch endure forever."

The Immortal Fairy then asked, "What is the Dynasty of the Flame?"

Lu Yang was also puzzled; he had never heard of a dynasty called "Xin Huo" (meaning "Burning Flame").

In terms of time, the High Antiquity era ended, and the Daqian Dynasty was established from the ruins. Ten thousand years later, the Dayu Dynasty replaced the Daqian Dynasty, and another ten thousand years later, the Great Xia Dynasty replaced the Dayu Dynasty, which continues to this day.

There is simply no place for a dynasty that has passed on its torch.

The Dynasty of Fire could not have existed in High Antiquity times, according to the Immortal Fairy.

Lu Yang and the Immortal Fairy both looked at Yun Zhi, hoping to get an answer.

Yun Zhi frowned slightly, puzzled by this scene. "I've never heard of the Fire Dynasty either. Could it be that there was a Fire Dynasty in High Antiquity times?"

Lu Yang refuted this view. "Impossible. The fairy told me that in High Antiquity times there were only tribes, and there wasn't even the concept of 'dynasty' or 'law'."

The immortal fairy nodded.

Lu Yang proposed a hypothesis. "Is it possible that after the fairy's fall, the concept of a dynasty arose and was established?"

Yun Zhi shook her head. "After the fall of the senior, the High Antiquity nameless one quickly refined the continent and erased everyone who knew the fairy's true name. The time difference between these two events cannot be too long. It is impossible to establish a dynasty in such a short time."

Yun Zhi's implication was that the fall of the Immortal Fairy marked the beginning of the end of the High Antiquity era.

Lu Yang seemed to have thought of something, but this guess was too frightening, completely overturning the world's understanding.

"Now that all doubts have been eliminated, only two possibilities remain."

"The first possibility is that the murals were created by a mastermind who fabricated a non-existent 'Dynasty of Fire' to mislead us."

"The first possible problem is that fabricating a non-existent dynasty would be too easily exposed, making it meaningless."

"The second possibility is that between High Antiquity times and the Great Gan era, there was another dynasty called the Fire Dynasty."

"The Fire Dynasty was the first dynasty in history, and it was a lineage from High Antiquity, using a High Antiquity language and acquiring High Antiquity wealth. With the fall of the Fire Dynasty, the High Antiquity tradition was completely severed."

"The second possible question is, why is it that no one knows about the existence of the Torch Dynasty? Would the birth and fall of a dynasty go without any record whatsoever?"