Confirming the Time and Place! Ju Zi Was Stunned!

Li Chen checked himself and found that his Storage Soul Tool still worked. He immediately took out the emergency food and water stored inside.

He helped Ju Zi up, patted her face, and poured some water into her mouth. Ju Zi woke.

"Cough, cough... Li Chen, is this Hell?"

"No. We didn't die."

Ju Zi sat up in shock. "Then... where are we?"

Li Chen told her about the message the Plane Spirit had left him.

Ju Zi was even more stunned. "What?! You're saying we traveled back to the Douluo Continent of ten thousand years ago?!"

Li Chen nodded.

Then Ju Zi broke into a delighted grin.

"This is wonderful! Chen, Tang San hasn't become a god yet in this era. We have every chance to rise again!"

Ju Zi knew exactly what that meant.

They hadn't merely brought themselves here. More importantly, they had brought Soul Tool Technology ten thousand years ahead of this continent!

It would be a blow from another era.

Ju Zi was confident she could soon bring the Sun Moon Empire back to the pinnacle of the continent!

And what was more,

Tang San would never become a god again!

Li Chen patted her shoulder. "Don't celebrate just yet. Unifying the continent ten thousand years ago won't be easy either. First, let's take stock of our people and supplies and find out where we are."

Ju Zi nodded.

She and Li Chen immediately began waking the others.

Kong Deming, Jing Hongchen, Ji Juechen, Nana, and the others woke one after another.

Huo Yuhao, Meng Hongchen, and Xiao Hongchen soon came to as well.

Both Soul Engineer Corps—the Sun Moon Empire Imperial Soul Engineer Corps and the Fire Phoenix Soul Engineer Corps—along with a thousand ordinary soldiers, all woke unharmed.

The only problem was,

the Plane Spirit seemed to have limited power. It had only been able to bring this many people over.

Of the Sun Moon Empire's five Soul Engineer Corps, only two remained. Its million soldiers had dwindled to just a thousand.

Half the Soul Masters had lost all their weapons. Only a small number still had theirs.

"To think this old man would ever travel through time."

Kong Deming stroked his beard.

He instinctively reached for the Sun Moon Divine Light Shield on his person. Thankfully, it was still there.

With the Sun Moon Divine Light Shield,

Kong Deming was confident his level 95 Soul Power would let him contend with a level 99 Limit Douluo. He felt considerably safer.

Huo Yuhao and the others felt the same.

Huo Yuhao was the most agitated when he woke.

He had originally belonged to Shrek, but the moment he left Great Love Valley, he learned that the Sun Moon Empire had launched an all-out war. Li Chen had promptly sent people to capture him.

Now that Huo Yuhao knew everything, he hated Shrek and Sea God Tang San to the bone.

"Where's Tang San? I'm going to fucking kill him right now!"

Huo Yuhao clenched his fists.

His Dong'er and Qiu'er...

They had both been nothing but God-King Tang's puppets!

Li Chen patted Huo Yuhao's shoulder, signaling him to be patient.

"Set up camp first. Ju Zi and I will find out where we are."

"Yuhao, we'll get our revenge."

Li Chen quickly assigned everyone their tasks.

Huo Yuhao nodded.

Kong Deming immediately directed the troops to make camp. He also sent their few remaining High-Altitude Detection Soul Tools into the sky to watch the surroundings.

Fortunately,

the two surviving Soul Engineer Corps were both elite forces.

Every member had a Storage Soul Tool.

They soon had a makeshift encampment ready and began cooking.

Kong Deming also dispatched several squads in different directions to survey the surrounding terrain as quickly as possible.

Li Chen and Ju Zi quickly changed into ordinary clothes and headed down the mountain. After half a day's walk, they found a river.

Li Chen decided to follow it. Before long, he spotted a city in the distance.

A road appeared at the foot of the mountain.

Quite a few people traveled along it.

Li Chen perked up. This place couldn't be too remote.

He stepped to the roadside and stopped several passing Soul Masters.

"Hello. Could you tell us where we are?"

The Soul Masters eyed Li Chen and Ju Zi suspiciously.

Li Chen hurriedly explained with a smile, "My wife and I got lost in the mountains for days. We only just found our way out."

Ju Zi blushed faintly at his words.

"Oh, you got lost. This is the Flowing Cloud Mountain Range. Spirit City is a few hundred li farther on."

Spirit City?

Li Chen was startled.

Well, damn.

We landed right on their doorstep.

We'd better plan carefully, or it's only a matter of time before Spirit Hall discovers us.

After hearing their story,

the passing Soul Masters smiled and handed Li Chen and Ju Zi some dry rations and a few Silver Soul Coins.

"You two must be starving after being lost for days. Have something to eat. Take this money and stick to the main road on your way home. There could be soul beasts around here, so don't wander into the mountains again without a good reason."

The Soul Masters nodded and went on their way.

Ju Zi accepted the Silver Soul Coins in surprise.

She examined them curiously. "This is Spirit City, so those must be Spirit Hall's Soul Masters, right? I didn't expect them to be so kind."

"And these Silver Soul Coins... they hardly look any different from the ones ten thousand years later."

As a Soul Engineer, Ju Zi could tell at a glance that their design had barely changed in ten thousand years.

"Right. Spirit Hall pays every Soul Master a monthly subsidy of at least one Gold Soul Coin. That's a form of income redistribution, too."

"What?!"

Ju Zi covered her mouth in surprise.

Because she had needed to wage war, she had studied a great deal about the Douluo Continent's history and culture.

"Why do I remember the history books saying Spirit Hall committed countless atrocities and ruled with an iron fist? And that its leader, Bibi Dong, was the Rakshasa God who wanted to destroy the continent?"

"Spirit Hall actually paid Soul Masters a monthly subsidy?"

Ju Zi had seen for herself

what it meant for history to be written by the victors.

After Tang San became a god and defeated Spirit Hall, he really had rewritten the story to suit himself.

Ju Zi considered this. "Then Bibi Dong and Qian Renxue, those two gods, probably weren't as evil as they were made out to be. They simply lost."

Li Chen corrected her. "Not necessarily. Spirit Hall was good to Soul Masters across the continent. But Bibi Dong was Bibi Dong, and Spirit Hall was Spirit Hall."

"If we get the chance to kill Bibi Dong later, we should. She's an ungrateful wretch through and through."

Li Chen knew very well that Qian Daoliu's strong sense of morality had let Bibi Dong take advantage of him time and again.

Qian Xunji had indeed locked Bibi Dong in a secret chamber and assaulted her, but Spirit Hall had also poured enormous resources into her.

It had trained her to be its Holy Maiden since childhood.

Yet Bibi Dong had turned around and gotten involved with Grandmaster, intending to run away with him.

What organization would put up with that?

Grandmaster was lucky they hadn't killed him. At most, someone like Bibi Dong could be used. She could never be an ally!

Anyone who joined forces with her would regret it!

Ju Zi was even more surprised. "State Preceptor, I didn't realize you knew so much about Spirit Hall's history."

Ju Zi had been the one to discover Li Chen.

She had marveled at the rigor of his scientific knowledge, and he had soon distinguished himself in Soul Tool creation.

And that wasn't all.

Li Chen also seemed fascinated by military affairs. He could propose all kinds of strategies, from four crossings of the Mingdou Mountain Range to tunnel warfare, guerrilla warfare, and blitzkrieg...

Even Ju Zi had been impressed.

If not for Xu Tianran, Ju Zi would have fallen for Li Chen long ago. Now Xu Tianran hadn't come with them, and she felt she might finally have a chance with Li Chen!

Li Chen adjusted his glasses. "Know yourself and your enemy, and you'll win every battle. Come on. I think we can head back now."