Mr. Duan paused for a moment in front of the explosion ruins.

Mr. Duan's deep, unfathomable eyes swept over the chaotic ruins, as if carefully checking every trace of energy fluctuation remaining in the air.

Finally, he shook his head dismissively.

"What a boring ending."

He murmured something, and his tall figure rippled out like water before disappearing from the spot in an instant.

The next second, he appeared in another part of Donghai City.

Eternal Night Guild Base.

This is Zhou Huai's base camp, surrounded by high-level defensive formations built at great expense.

Mr. Duan appeared outside the base gate without warning.

He raised his head, his deep, calm eyes sweeping over the high-level city-protecting formation before him, which was powerful enough to withstand the full force of an SS-level expert's attack.

There was no pause.

There was no power buildup.

With his hands in his trench coat pockets, he strode off with an air of nonchalance.

"Pop—"

A soft sound, like a bubble bursting.

The array barriers outside the base, which used countless rare materials and were inscribed by top array masters, melted and dissipated silently the moment they came into contact with his body, like the first snow meeting a raging fire.

It did not trigger any alarms, nor did it cause any energy backlash.

This is the power of the transcendent, the rule-breaker, who disdains to follow any of the established laws of this world.

"Tap, tap, tap..."

The crisp sound of leather shoes echoed in the empty lobby on the first floor.

Mr. Duan stopped, tilted his head back slightly, and closed his eyes, as if sensing something.

A moment later, a faint smile appeared on his lips.

He slowly raised his right hand, which was covered in a clean white glove, and gently beckoned towards the third floor.

"Come."

A single, simple word.

"Buzzing—!"

With a crisp vibration, the life pendulum in a room on the third floor suddenly responded. The ancient artifact, radiating boundless life energy, seemed to hear its master's call, humming loudly, transforming into a golden stream of light that pierced through the thick ceiling and obediently flew into his palm.

He gently flipped his left hand, and the black Heaven-Suppressing Seal, capable of suppressing the laws of heaven and earth, appeared.

"The Heaven-Suppressing Seal, the Pendulum of Life..."

"They are all keys to unlocking the door to a new world."

"Now that all the puzzle pieces are complete, we can't stay here and waste any more time."

After finishing all this, he put away the artifact and was about to turn and leave when he suddenly stopped. He turned to look at the third floor, a hint of doubt flashing in his eyes.

"There's even a lost lamb left here?"

With a flash, he disappeared from the lobby on the first floor.

The next second, Mr. Duan appeared out of thin air in a tightly sealed bedroom on the third floor.

The room was dimly lit.

A slender figure sat upright on the large bed.

It was Ye Xi who was forcibly brought back by Zhou Huai and locked up with the chains that banished magic.

At this moment, she had already awakened from the forced coma caused by the "words of the Great Sage Li Er".

She was looking down, her beautiful, aloof face filled with rage and humiliation, desperately pulling at the chain around her ankle that emitted a ghostly blue light.

"Damn lowly creature! How dare you use such a thing to lock me up!"

She gritted her teeth and growled, trying to mobilize the magic power within the body of this A-rank Holy Light Singer.

However, the runes flowing on the chains of magic suppression firmly suppressed all her energy fluctuations.

At this moment, apart from the terrifying mental pressure belonging to an ancient awakened being, her physical strength was even weaker than that of an ordinary person who exercises regularly.

There was absolutely no way to break this specially made chain.

Just then, Mr. Duan suddenly appeared in the center of the room.

Their eyes met briefly in the dimly lit room.

Ye Xi's hand suddenly froze. She was stunned for a moment, staring intently at the middle-aged man in the retro gray coat in front of her. His once clear, girlish eyes now revealed a deep and sharp look that had come from years of experience.

"It's you?"

She stopped struggling and glared at the gray-clad man in front of her, gritting her teeth.

"The current situation seems completely different from what you promised us back then!"

"Where exactly is this place? Why is the quality of this body so poor?"

Faced with her angry roar, Mr. Duan's face remained completely calm; he simply looked at her indifferently.

"Plans can never keep up with changes, and things have gone slightly off course."

"Deviation? You call this a minor deviation?" Ye Xi laughed angrily, her eyes filled with rage: "I, the mighty Ice Queen, once a being who could turn the world upside down with a flick of my wrist! Now I'm actually locked up here by a tattered chain made by a mere ant from the lower realm! If this is what you call 'Dawn,' then you are simply insulting us!"

"Calm down first," Mr. Duan said calmly. "This was not my intention. It's just that the speed of version updates is much faster than I expected."

"The erosion of the abyss is irreversible, and the underlying logic of the world is collapsing. If I don't take forceful action, you will not even be able to slumber, and you will be completely annihilated by the rules."

Mr. Duan paused, looking at her with a deep gaze: "I had to awaken you ahead of time. The price of this hasty awakening is that some people, like you, could not accurately descend onto the 'Origin Tree,' but instead, like rootless duckweed, randomly attached themselves to the bodies of these lower beings in the present world."

"The Origin Tree?" Ye Xi keenly caught the word, and the anger in her eyes subsided slightly, replaced by a glimmer of hope. "That tree... did you really succeed in cultivating it?"

"Of course, given enough nutrients, it grows even more luxuriantly than I imagined." Mr. Duan said calmly, then lightly touched the magic-suppressing chain on "Ye Xi's" foot with his fingertip.

A crisp "snap" sounded.

The seemingly indestructible chain that had rendered the ancient awakened ones helpless snapped like rotten wood, turning into dust.

“Let’s go.” Mr. Duan turned around and put his hands back into his coat pockets. “Since we’ve found you by chance, come back to the Sacred Tree with me. I still have a lot to do, and I don’t have time to stay here with you and reminisce about the past.”

After saying that, he turned and left without looking back.

Ye Xi stared silently at his tall yet indifferent back. She rubbed her ankle, which had been marked with red welts from the straps, took a deep breath, and finally got up, dragging her still-unaccustomed body, and obediently followed him out the door.