Superhumans of the Dome City-Chapter 1379 - 4: White Moon, Black Palace (Part 2)

Chi Zijing has always been unwilling to come to the palace; he fears this dark tomb and, by extension, the man residing in it. Now that the man within the tomb cannot speak, it falls upon him to step into the crypt and confront the deepest fear within his own heart.

The fear named Throne.

The sound of footsteps echoes in the empty palace, each one like the lament of a ghost. Chi Zijing walks slowly, concentrating fully as he releases his awareness, carefully to an extreme as he touches the vast will deep in the palace. As he advances, the solid stone walls of Taiqing Palace begin to slightly tremble, the exchange of wills between the two martial artists even affecting reality, causing the entire palace to quake from their meeting.

Liu Zhongwu said the emperor was missing, but that’s an inaccurate statement. Emperor Chong Xiao has always been there; had he truly lost all his will, the entire Yong Guang Empire would have long been collapsed. Only those connected to him by blood can resonate with the martial will to contact him, and among this generation of the Imperial Family, there is only one qualified to resonate with Emperor Chong Xiao.

Chi Zijing’s brow is tightly furrowed as he comes before the supreme Throne. The man wielding the greatest power in the world sits on that chair, clad in a black crown robe with twelve hanging jade pendants shrouding his face, vaguely seen as deep and dark as the palace itself. Chi Zijing gazes at the emperor, and after a long moment, he relaxes his brow.

"Ten years, father." he whispers softly.

At this time, a succession of footsteps crackle, akin to a bag of popcorn thrown into the palace by mischievous children. A gray-haired young man with glasses hurriedly enters the main hall, followed by three young women and a stern-faced Liu Zhongwu. Old Liu is the first to bow, his slightly stiff movements betraying his nervousness: "Your Majesty..."

Chi Zijing grins: "My father will be just fine for a while."

"Oh, my heavens..."

These words eased a long breath from the Minister of Taichang, who almost collapsed on the palace floor with his full weight of about one hundred eighty pounds. Gongsun Ce also felt a weight lifted from his heart, first solemnly bowing to the emperor. Chi Zijing perceived the thorough effort of the Minister of Taichang in this bow, grateful the man from the Empire refrained from performing the Country’s etiquette, otherwise, his father in the heavens... might have laughed audibly within the Moon Spirit.

Gongsun Ce then abruptly turned his head to glare at Chi Zijing, his eyes betraying an unspeakable shock and astonishment: "What did you just address him as?"

Chi Zijing’s expression grew solemn as he sighed: "I’m sorry for concealing this from you for so long... to be honest, my true surname is ’Red,’ my father is Emperor Chong Xiao, and I am the current Yong Guang Empire’s crown prince, Chi Zijing!"

Gongsun Ce was taken aback, pointing: "What, this is impossible! You merely grow red hair during battle, carry the Imperial Sword, and use the Red Emperor’s martial arts, how could you be of the Red Emperor’s royal family?"

Chi Zijing nodded: "You’ve said it to this point, I don’t comprehend why you’re still shocked..."

"I’ve got to comply with your shock; after all, we’ve all helped you keep this secret for ten years, so no matter how stale this burden is, we must shake it a bit more." Gongsun Ce pushed his glasses, "The Emperor is fine; don’t be too nervous. Earlier, you looked as dark as the palace floor, it doesn’t suit you."

Chi Zijing was stunned, not expecting that ten years later, others perceived him as the dignified yet stern "black-faced man."

At this moment, Liu Zhongwu regained composure, wiping sweat off his forehead with a sleeve before grabbing Chi Zijing’s wrist with a concise question: "What exactly happened?"

"Father’s current state is similar to Yan Qi; his disappearance is for collecting all his power to suppress the Fan Ding Realm, otherwise what we now see wouldn’t be the overlap of two realms, but their conflict." Chi Zijing replied gravely, "Father’s power is far inferior to Yan Qi’s; even with Mr. Qin assisting, the loss of control over the Fan Ding Realm is inevitable. We must first defeat this insidious move by the Order King, then father and Yan Qi have a chance to escape."

Gongsun Ce pondered briefly: "I had a short exchange with the Silent King prior; she said this phenomenon is the Order King’s ’Single History,’ which sounds like an impact on the timeline. However, it seems to me more like interference from a parallel world."

Everyone looked to the expert most knowledgeable about time, Shiyu Ling, who carefully examined the palace, tapping the dark floor tiles with the tip of her shoes.

"There is no issue with the current time." Shiyu Ling concluded, "The problem lies elsewhere. What is your understanding of parallel worlds?"

Qiluo projected a tree: "Originally, time moves straightforwardly, the past deciding the future. With some events taking different paths, different futures may arise. For instance, the moment I toss a coin..."

Qiluo tossed a virtual coin, landing with the digit side facing up.

"We exist on the ’heads up’ world line." Qiluo said, "However, the coin could still land ’tails up’; assume these two possibilities simultaneously exist, then at the moment the coin is tossed, the world splits into a parallel world where ’tails up’ exists. All people and events there might mirror those of our primary world, differing only in that coin."

Qiluo drew a branch on a virtual tree, illustrating it with many varying branches—evident at a glance, divergence points are ubiquitous. Should the theory of parallel worlds hold true, countless "realities" could overlap simultaneously.

"Well done on the explanation, now let’s hypothesize a second scenario." Shiyu Ling pointed at the coin divergent point on the virtual tree, "What if this divergent point at the current moment isn’t a trivial matter such as a coin, but a profoundly impactful event—like if the little girl failed to achieve the final realm in Meteor City—how would development proceed?"

Qiluo created a large branch, resembling a new small tree sprouting from the trunk.

"In that case, I’d lose to Klein, and the battle in Meteor City would collapse. Ultimately, Gaius and Klein might lead the fight against Situ Yi... the world’s trajectory would be entirely different." Qin Qianbai said.

"Indeed, thus a parallel world with stark divergence emerges. Now let’s propose the final hypothesis..."

Shiyu Ling used her finger to drag the divergence point downward, moving it to the base of the virtual tree.

"Suppose this significant divergent point occurs long ago; how would the situation evolve?"

Branches representing parallel worlds began sprouting from the virtual tree’s roots, initially as modest branches, growing rapidly through the passage of time, ultimately forming an entirely different new tree beneath the current timeline. Everyone gazed at the equally large tree, fully comprehending the current situation.

"The Silent King was right; the Order King altered history this time." Shiyu Ling smirked, "He implanted a divergent point in the past and used the power of the Fan Ding Realm to simulate a similar yet distinct world line. Should Fan Ding Realm’s erosion be fully completed, we will live within the Order King’s simulated world... as for how we fare there, only the Eternal King knows."

"Isn’t this absurd thing supposedly some Brahma Form Skill? Why aren’t you this impressive?" Gongsun Ce scratched his head.

Shiyu Ling rolled her eyes: "Big Sister here has been a Creator Realm Mage for less than a year; the Order King established the Brahma Form Skill who knows how many thousands or millions of years ago, right! I’m not surprised by what the Eternal King does." 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

"How should we resolve this issue?" Gongsun Ce sighed, "Is there a way to intervene in the past? Shouldn’t we send an agent to obliterate the Order King’s divergent point and reverse the world’s line?"

Everyone gradually looked at Gongsun Ce, each with increasingly complex expressions. Gongsun Ce grimaced, "I casually lightened the mood, you wouldn’t...?"

Old Liu laughed kindly: "According to me, the Jihui Bureau’s proposal holds substantial practical value..."

Chi Zijing clasped Gongsun Ce’s shoulders, deeply heartfelt: "Mr. Gongsun, the Empire now bestows a formidable challenge upon you!"

"Are you serious? Really time travel?!"