"The Ark... the Pure Land... are they still there?"
Ayami's question was like a stone cast into a still lake, stirring silent ripples through the quiet hall of the Whisperer. Her amethyst eyes were fixed on Lin Ye, filled with seventy thousand years of hope and deeply buried unease, rendering any evasion or lie hollow.
Lin Ye fell silent for several seconds. The origin starmark on his forehead flickered faintly, still maintaining a weak resonance with the Starwhisper Crystal on Ayami's brow, conveying an indescribable weight that spanned the ages. He turned to look at his companions behind him-Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Karin, Elder Mochen, Priest Lingxi, and the closely guarded Xingli and Little Star, whose conditions remained uncertain. Every face bore exhaustion and pain, but more than anything, the resilience forged through hardship and a determination to face the future.
Then he turned back to Ayami. His voice was steady, but he could not hide its weight. "Commander Ayami, we... come from seventy thousand years in the future. We are indeed the successors of the Covenant, the Key and his companions. But the news we bring may not be what you hoped to hear."
He drew a deep breath and spoke slowly. "The civilizations you knew as the seven covenant stars-the Crystal Spirit Race, the People of the Stars, the Uzumaki Clan, the Senju, the Uchiha, the Mount Myōboku Immortal Path, the Ryūchi Secret Art, the Shikkotsu Healing Art... most of them are gone. The Ring of Oaths was destroyed in the last great war. Countless civilizations fell, and the Covenant exists in name alone. The Ark we know of was the last hope carrying the seeds of civilization, evacuated beneath the silent veil that the High Priest of the People of the Stars, Uzumaki Oriyuki, and other predecessors activated