Antahe, Ancient Kingdom

With the Aged Voice, a Pale Phantom appeared at the entrance to the passage.

It took the form of a White-Haired Old Man, composed entirely of pure Spirit Energy and lacking any physical body.

"Master, he's human like you?" Sigdrifa said uncertainly.

As she said this, Sigdrifa no longer considered herself human.

Bai Xiaowen shook his head. "He's just a spiritual phantom. He can transmogrify into whatever form he wants. He probably chose this appearance to seem closer to us and make communication easier."

The two communicated through their Mind Link, but the old man seemed to notice. Smiling, he said, "Greetings, outsiders. I am a Watcher of the Antahe Kingdom. My kingdom has already turned to the dust of history—I pose no threat to you. If you wish to learn the secrets of the Antahe Kingdom, I can help you."

Bai Xiaowen was intrigued.

As a planet of the Land of Origin, Profound Ice Star actually contained an Ancient Kingdom! Did that mean the other planets of the Land of Origin might also contain the Ruins of Ancient Kingdoms?

These Ancient Kingdoms should have originated from the era when the gods flourished. Their ruins could reveal many secrets about the Deities, perhaps even secrets about the Land of Origin itself.

"May I ask how I should address you? Are you the king of the Antahe Kingdom?" Bai Xiaowen asked.

The old man shook his head, a trace of desolation in his voice. "I am not the king, nor am I any minister of state... I am not the Ghost of any single individual after death. I am the representative of the thought-forms of countless Antahe People slumbering beneath Hailan Star. You may simply call me Antahe."

Old Antahe slowly floated forward, with Bai Xiaowen following close behind.

As Antahe floated along, he introduced the place in a low, unhurried voice.

This planet had once been called Hailan Star, and its people worshipped Sea God Neptune.

At that time, Hailan Star's entire surface had been covered by seawater. The Deep Sea Kingdom Antahe had exclusive possession of the boundless, fertile ocean. Its civilization flourished, developing a unique path for the strong and bringing the use of Spiritual Power to its peak.

However, at the End of the Second Era, war among the gods destroyed everything. The Antahe Kingdom was imprisoned by a powerful Deity. The vast ocean froze over, becoming endless ice, and Hailan Star itself became a Profound Ice Planet.

This was where Antahe's underwater royal city had once stood. Now, countless Antahe People lay in eternal slumber beneath the extreme ice.

When the World-Ending Calamity arrived, Antahe's Twelve Great Sages used Mental Resonance technology to gather the Spirit Power of all Antahe People and create twelve "Caretakers." These Twelve Caretakers were formed with Spiritual Power as their foundation.

The Twelve Caretakers took turns watching over the Antahe Kingdom. Their mission was to revive the Ancient Kingdom when the new era arrived.

Whenever one Caretaker awoke, the other eleven would slumber to conserve energy.

By then, the group had passed through the passage.

"This passage looks very short. Why did it feel so long at first?" Bai Xiaowen asked in confusion.

The Antahe Caretaker said, "The passage is indeed very short in physical terms, but twelve Spirit Barriers remain within it. They cycle endlessly, making its length infinite on the spiritual level. Without a Caretaker's guidance, ordinary outsiders would never finish walking through this passage, no matter how much time they spent."

After a pause, the Antahe Caretaker added, "However, you are not an ordinary outsider. Even if I had not appeared, you could have broken through the Spirit Barriers."

Bai Xiaowen blinked subconsciously.

"All right, this is where the Antahe People sleep..."

As the Antahe Caretaker explained, Bai Xiaowen found himself inside a vast underground gallery. Ice pillars stood throughout it, and within each pillar slept a creature with a serpent's body and human arms.

They looked just like the giant monster snake guarding the passage entrance, except much smaller—only somewhat taller than an ordinary human.

Needless to say, this was the true form of the Antahe People.

"I have a few questions," Bai Xiaowen said.

"Ask. I will tell you everything without reservation," the Antahe Caretaker said.

Though somewhat surprised by the Antahe Caretaker's goodwill, Bai Xiaowen asked directly.

"You mentioned that, at the End of the Second Era, a war broke out among the gods..." Bai Xiaowen asked. "Could you explain in detail what the Second Era was, as well as the details of the Gods War?"

"You don't know?" A humanlike expression of confusion appeared on the Antahe Caretaker's phantom face. "Isn't there a Valkyrie by your side? Although she is an undead who revived after death, she was undoubtedly a high-ranking Warrior who experienced the Gods War of the Second Era. She should know more than I do."

Undead were the dead who had revived, a form of life in another sense. Generally speaking, undead formed after the deaths of powerful individuals could retain the memories and conscious personalities they had in life.

Black Knight Lord Goria was one such example.

Bai Xiaowen also could not understand why Sigdrifa had become like this. Not a trace of her memories from life remained; only a name was left.

Perhaps she had lost too many memories during the successive changes of Death Gods? After all, Seventh Generation Death God Nagel still knew Sigdrifa's full name. By Bai Xiaowen's time, all that remained at first was the shortened name "Delifa."

If Bai Xiaowen became the Eighth Generation Death God, and there was a Ninth Generation Death God after him, perhaps even the shortened name "Delifa" would be lost, leaving her a Banshee who did not know her own name.

Though that was what Bai Xiaowen thought, the Antahe Caretaker had no intention of getting to the bottom of it. He himself was merely a collection of Spiritual Power, without a complete personality and naturally without such superfluous emotions as curiosity.

The Antahe Caretaker explained, "Our world was divided into three eras. The First Era was said to be the 'Genesis Era.' The omnipotent Supreme God woke up and created humanity in His own image. He then created many Deities, each with their own duties, to help Him manage the order of the universe. After doing all this, the omnipotent Supreme God entered slumber."

The Creation God falling asleep—such an old trope.

The thought crossed Bai Xiaowen's mind.

The Antahe Caretaker continued, "Thus began the Second Era, the Gods Era. The Deities created by the omnipotent Supreme God were initially perfect Living Beings untouched by any dust. They had no negative emotions such as greed or jealousy and could manage the universe left behind by the omnipotent Supreme God very well. The Supreme God granted them only one emotion: abundant curiosity and a thirst for knowledge..."

"This is probably going to end badly," Bai Xiaowen said.