Reverse flow of the Yellow Springs

The Jing family's main branch is really well hidden; only members of the Jing family bloodline can open the palace.
For other strategists who lack core intelligence, let alone being able to penetrate the Celestial Palace, even if they find the palace, they will have no chance of entering it.

That was the palace that belonged exclusively to the Jing family.

Good, good, this is actually a good thing for Li Yelai.

Although I don't want to admit it, isn't Li Yelai a descendant of the Jing family?

Li Yelai also has the qualifications to enter that celestial palace!

He wanted to find out more about something that the Jing family cared about so much.

Whether it's a magic potion recipe, a mysterious inheritance, or some forbidden item, it's all something the authorities need.

As expected of a family with a strong psychic ability, they always like to keep some good things hidden away, and even monopolize certain knowledge as part of their family's foundation. This has not changed much from ancient times to the present.

Ancient aristocratic families monopolized knowledge and culture, and the same is true for modern psychic families.

Many aristocratic families have their own unique traditions and potion recipes.

And this time, let me, the official team leader, share some information on behalf of the Jing family.
Li Yelai pondered in his heart, while Jing Lin said, "This is information my grandfather told me. Unfortunately, this information is not of much use to you. Even if I travel with you, you will not be able to enter that immortal palace."

"It's alright, just know that. We'll consider it." Li Yelai nodded, already understanding the situation.

Jing Lin's grandfather, Jing Ji, was also the father of his mother, Jin Cuihua. By blood, he was Li Yelai's maternal grandfather.

He was probably the first person to find out Li Yelai and Li Yunyan's identities.

Afterwards, the second group learned that her identity was Jing Jing, so the Jing family made contact with Li Yunyan.

Jing Ji's adoptive grandfather sent this message through Jing Lin, probably implying that Li Ye could go to that palace to try and get something out of it.

Of course, it cannot be ruled out that it might be a setup.

After all, if only Li Yelai could enter, he might be ganged up on if he went in rashly.

This needs to be discussed thoroughly with the higher-ups. Perhaps we should leave some people outside to provide support.

"Alright, think it over yourselves." Jing Lin didn't ask any more questions and continued, "There's another piece of information that can't be verified: there might be humans inside the Divine Treasury Immortal Palace!"

"Humans?" Li Yelai was truly shocked.

The Divine Palace is essentially a forbidden zone without a master, devoid of any order or any surviving civilization.

It is more like the celestial court in mythology, inhabited by 'immortals' and possibly a civilization closely related to humans.

But it was destroyed by some more violent enemy.

Thus, countless celestial palaces fell, two of which transformed into the Forbidden Zone Immortal Ruins and the Divine Treasury Immortal Palace. The rest vanished without a trace. Their internal space was considerable, at least tens of thousands of square kilometers, only slightly smaller than the Forbidden Zone.

Its core must be an exceptionally powerful civilization.

Humans claim to be conquering the Celestial Palace, but in reality, they are merely exploring and gaining benefits within the limitations imposed by the Celestial Palace.

The defensive formation that automatically triggers upon sensing a hegemonic fluctuation is enough to keep the scholars of the giant city racking their brains.

It's unimaginable how terrifying the Heavenly Court would have been if it hadn't been destroyed.
According to the intelligence analyzed by the Jing family, there are many extraordinary creatures inside, most likely survivors of palaces that kept exotic beasts, or perhaps left behind by a hostile civilization at the time.

Besides these, there shouldn't be any other intelligent life forms, so how could there be humans?
"Could they be survivors of the Celestial Palace Civilization?" Li Yelai's expression changed: "Descendants of immortals?"

If the previous speculation is correct, and the Celestial Palace is the legendary Heavenly Court, then wouldn't the survivors there be immortals?
What are immortals?
According to the doctrines within the Church of the Embers, the so-called immortals should be equivalent to that god of battle.

"No, you're overthinking it. If the immortal were truly alive, we would have been killed the first time we opened the Immortal Palace," Jing Lin said. "But our Jing family does have connections with an immortal, and you know about the scandalous affair involving our divine bloodline, don't you?"

Li Yelai nodded.

"It is said that the being was an immortal from the Celestial Palace. He had contact with our Jing family's ancestor, which led to the emergence of our first and second generation of divine sons. The first generation of divine sons died heroically in battle, enabling the Jing family to emerge from the calamity. Thus, the second generation of divine sons was successfully born."

Jing Lin said, "It was the second-generation Divine Son who led the Jing family into the Immortal Palace and found that palace. This allowed the Jing family to obtain a portion of the inheritance and develop to this day. If the second-generation Divine Son hadn't died, and if the Sun Yin hadn't been taken away, the Immortal Palace might have been opened by the Jing family time and time again. If that had been the case, my family wouldn't have needed to make things difficult for my sister."

"What I meant by the possibility that there might still be humans surviving inside the Immortal Palace was actually when the Immortal Palace was first opened. The Jing family sent many powerful individuals and soldiers into it. Afterwards, the Immortal Palace closed, and some people were unable to evacuate in time and were trapped inside."

“Normally, this wouldn't be a problem, as long as they held their ground in the safe zone they'd already explored. With so many extraordinary beings within the Celestial Palace, they wouldn't have to worry about starving. But…”

Li Yelai raised an eyebrow: "But your Jing family also encountered an accident. The second-generation divine son was assassinated, and the key to open the Immortal Palace was also taken away by the Church. They were truly trapped and died inside the Immortal Palace."

“That’s right.” Jing Lin nodded. “This is also a secret that our family revealed at yesterday’s banquet, and I only found out then. These humans trapped in the Immortal Palace have both advantages and disadvantages for us. And there are many variables.”

Li Yelai nodded, "That's true. After being imprisoned for sixty years, who could know what their condition is like?"

They might be completely devoured by supernatural beings, leading to their extinction.

It is also possible that they survived and continued under the threat of supernatural beings, and may even have developed quite well and taken over many palaces.

This is a major variable for strategy guide teams today.

Even the Jing family itself cannot guarantee what might happen within the Immortal Palace over the years.

In the best-case scenario, they will assist the strategy team. In the worst-case scenario, conflicts may break out.

Sixty years is a long time; no one can say for sure.

"We'll have to see how things go then," Li Yelai said.

“Yes, indeed,” Jing Lin said. “Moreover, I suspect that the cooperation between the main family and Ye Han may be a way to deal with this kind of variable.”

"Ye Han?" Li Yelai frowned.

Although Li Ye is still somewhat bewildered, he has already had a relationship with the doll.

That beautiful girl is already his partner.

This made Li Yelai even more disgusted and hostile towards Ye Han, the guy who had designs on the doll.

"You mean his inspiration and good luck?" Li Yelai asked.

“Yes, that’s exactly what we’re worried about. There are too many variables. Someone like Ye Han, who is blessed with great fortune, could very well end up taking our spoils.” Jing Lin grinned. “We’re afraid too. Someone like Ye Han is too difficult to deal with in the Immortal Palace. Rather than killing or forcing him to retreat, they chose to cooperate and gave Ye Han some core intelligence in exchange.”

Given Ye Han's intuition and luck, many uncontrollable changes are indeed possible. Especially considering the variables within the Immortal Palace.

The Jing family made this choice with this in mind.

In other words, the Jing family is very wary of Ye Han and does not want to be his enemy.

That's true. Just the abilities Ye Han has shown make him very difficult to deal with.

He's difficult to kill. If you want to kill him, set a trap, but if inspiration strikes, he simply won't come. In complex battle situations, he can easily escape, and there's a high probability you won't be able to catch him. He might even have some unexpected adventure on his escape route.

There might even be stronger individuals who act as Ye Han's backers to intervene and save the day.

For example, that sub-adult ancient dragon, even with its sixth awakening, couldn't be caught. After finally managing to catch it, Ye Han summoned the Snow Mountain Blind Swordsman.

Instead, they got killed.
Moreover, he has constant opportunities and his strength is increasing rapidly. He might just become a hegemon; offending him would be a huge regret.

It's normal for the Jing family to choose to cooperate. They have their own goals and are worried about being interfered with by Ye Han. They want to get some benefits and then arrange a marriage alliance—it's a standard tactic for any family.

"Understood." Li Yelai asked, "Then do you know what Ye Han's goal is?"

"I don't know, we'll have to wait for Zhao Lin's information," Jing Lin said. "But she speculates it seems to be some kind of immortal inheritance. Ye Han's intuition tells him he must go to the Immortal Palace. Moreover, it's said that after this trip to the Immortal Palace, he's confident he can advance to the Overlord level within half a year!"

“What a genius. Do you think this might be the work of the book holder?” Li Yelai suddenly asked, “Did you learn from Zhao Lin that Ye Han received news of the opening of the Immortal Palace while traveling in the wilderness, which is why he decided to come to Border City No. 3?”

"Are you trying to say that our Jing family's internal strife exposed that the Immortal Palace was foreseen by the Book Holder?" Jing Lin pondered.

"Do you remember the No. 71 Disaster Fog?" Li Yelai reminded him, "According to the Book Holder's calculations, our Border City No. 3 will suffer heavy losses in the disaster fog. Only a very small number of humans will survive. Among them, there will be many geniuses. Therefore, I personally speculate that the Book Holder is using his predictive abilities to foster and cultivate various geniuses."

“And you are one of them,” Jing Lin said. The book holder had expressed goodwill towards Li Yelai, which surprised the Ark voters.

"Yes and no, at least, Night General isn't among them," Li Yelai said. "Judging from the attitude of the person holding the book, he values ​​my identity as 'Bronze Mask' rather than Night General. Otherwise, he wouldn't have only shown me goodwill after the disaster fog."

“Indeed, with your ability to interpret faces, there’s no reason for him to remain indifferent. Perhaps, in his calculations, Night General is just a dead man, not worth paying attention to. But his calculations are wrong.” Jing Lin pondered, “Something has disrupted his calculations.”

Indeed, if Li Yelai hadn't encountered the Insect Lord and made a deal with Mr. Shadow back then...

The insect master may rise from the ashes, and humanity will have to pay an even greater price to eliminate him.

Perhaps that is the true result calculated by the book's owner.

But Li Yelai's misfortune changed everything. Just as the Father of the Plague said, Li Yelai's misfortune was like a plague against fate.

The insect's master's fate was to be infected and changed.
"And Ye Han could very well be like that," Li Yelai pondered. "Through some precognitive means, Ye Han was guided to certain areas, allowing him to obtain information about the Immortal Palace. If everything goes smoothly after he arrives here, Ye Han might indeed have obtained some kind of inheritance and become a hegemon like Jinshan!"

Jinshan, also known as Jade Blood Supreme, had his rise to power recounted in detail by the book's keeper. No wonder it astonished a Supreme Being so much.

"Damn, this is terrifying." Jing Lin grinned. "If it's true, then it's tens of millions of times more powerful than my Heavenly Eye in terms of predictive ability. No, it's not even predictive ability, it's directly seeing destiny! No wonder it's called the Book of Destiny!"

Li Yelai, on the other hand, was pondering what would happen if everything proceeded as the book holder had predicted.

Li Yelai died in the calamity fog, or rather, in some inconspicuous corner. The Insect Lord likely died in the end as well, but the price humanity paid would be immense.

Afterwards, Border City No. 3 was rebuilt, and cooperation with the Jing family continued. The Immortal Palace was opened, attracting Ye Han.

Could it be that Ye Han's attraction to the doll was also a prediction from the Book of Destiny?
Since Li Yelai is already dead in the Book of Destiny, what will become of the doll?

'Whatever it is, since I, this plague of fate, exist, certain outcomes won't happen!' Li Yelai thought to himself. If it weren't for the fact that misfortune would affect others, Li Yelai probably would have activated it several more times, completely disrupting the calculations of the Book of Fate.

Calculate, calculate, calculate my foot! Do you treat human life like a joke?

“If you want to know information about the Bookholder, you can go to the Wilderness Ranger,” Jing Lin reminded him. “Didn’t the Overlord in the Ark once say that there was a ‘witness’ in the Ark who was originally a companion of the Bookholder, but they broke up because of their different ideals?”

Yes, that's a good starting point!

The founder of Wilderness Rangers is a witness!
It is said that in that era, the Wilderness Rangers were very active and were the largest suppliers to the Ark's chosen ones.

Ultimately, however, the two clashed, and the witness apparently lost, never entering the ark again.

If we make contact with the wandering knights, we might be able to obtain some of the information we need.

Coincidentally, Li Yelai was indeed able to contact the Wilderness Ranger. He had Ranger Coins on him!

The only problem is that almost all the Wild Rangers have now voted for the Fifth God of Chaos.

The authorities are currently taking a wait-and-see approach to the followers of the Fifth God, but ultimately, some caution is necessary. After all, it's chaos.
However, the fifth god has a peculiar fetish: an extremely severe racial fastidiousness.

Other Chaos Gods have a large number of followers who are not human, and they accept almost anyone who comes to them, but He only wants humans.

Furthermore, the ability to bestow blessings increases the damage dealt to non-human species.

From this perspective, He shouldn't have any conflict with humans, right?

Unfortunately, Li Yelai knew too little about the Fifth God.

All that is known is that He is very young, the youngest Chaos God.

Among the Chaos Gods, the oldest are the Devious Path and the Plague Father, followed by the Blood God, then Elysium, and finally the Fifth God.
"I'll try to contact the wandering knights," Li Yelai said, standing up. "Let's go."

"Wait a minute," Jing Lin said. "I feel like you're not quite right; you seem a bit dazed. What's wrong?"

"Maybe it's because suddenly having a cute companion feels a bit unreal?" Li Yelai replied, "The doll is my companion, remember to give it to me next time we meet. We're brothers now, remember to give me a generous gift."

Jing Lin was stunned, and even after Li Yelai left, he was still somewhat dazed.

Immediately, he was somewhat incredulous; the champion's curse had been broken?
That doesn't seem like it. What's wrong with Old Li?

How did someone with such low emotional intelligence manage to have a partner?
You didn't just force yourself on him, did you?

Immediately, he quickly opened a ledger, looked at the betting amounts, and Jing Lin wailed.

"Why did you go out? Did your house get burgled?"

"You're all psionicists now, what are you worried about not being able to come back? Just take it down first!"

"You're so rational, aren't you? Your base was stolen by that innocent girl, wasn't it?"

"I invested two million eight hundred thousand in you!"

"Cheese, you're such a disappointment!"

"Damn it, blood is flowing like a river? When did blood start flowing like a river?"

Meanwhile, inside the space of Wanlong Lake.

Cheese stared blankly at the brewed coffee, lost in thought.

After a long while, she picked up her teacup and took a sip.

"It's so tough," she murmured, her expression somewhat forlorn. (End of Chapter)