Absolute Gate

Chapter 71 Searching for People at the Temple
Three days later, Wu Zhong and Yang Chunsha took a plane and arrived in Thebes, a region on the upper reaches of the Nile.

They also paid a tour leader to drive them across the desert.

Yang Chunsha was very depressed during this time because Wu Zhong was always practicing his skills and didn't talk to her.

He would just occasionally grab her hand and take a couple of puffs.

The local tour leader kept glancing at the two strange travelers as he drove.

But they still dutifully introduced their local scenery: "Our Thebes is the world's largest open-air museum, known as the city of palaces, and was also the capital of ancient Egypt."

"The Karnak Temple you are going to was started four thousand years ago, but was not completed until two thousand years ago. It has an extremely long history."

"It was a place of worship for the sun god Amun-Ra, as well as his wife, the nature goddess Mut, and his son, the moon god Khonsu. It was also an important place for the pharaoh's coronation."

"As the highest temple in ancient Egypt, it was also the place where the pharaoh offered sacrifices to the gods and prayed for national prosperity and victory in war."

As they spoke, the car stopped some distance from the ruins complex.

There is a special desert parking lot here, and all you can see is yellow sand.

It was midday, and the sun was scorching. And this was in autumn; I can only imagine how hot it would be in summer.

Wu Zhong and Yang Chunsha got out of the car, both wearing black T-shirts and arm sleeves, and both wearing hats to cover their faces, taking precautions against the sun.

Strictly speaking, it was Yangchunsha sunscreen, while Wu Zhong was merely concealing his ferocious appearance with flushed face during practice.

"Hoo..." Wu Zhong exhaled a long breath, finished his practice, and opened his eyes.

After practicing the Longevity Technique, Wu Zhong's entire demeanor and spirit were transformed.

His breathing was deep and even, his eyes shone like stars, and his demeanor had been completely transformed.

In the past three days, he has taken the time to refine the true energy of Jordan and Fei Peng.

His powerful inner energy at this moment was mainly from refining Fei Peng's thirty years of internal strength. Fei Peng's original body was also a big shot in the martial arts world with a high purity of power, which saved him a lot of trouble.

Based on the references in his notebook and the plant communication records, Wu Zhong inquired with Jordan.

He speculated that after he finished cultivating Fei Peng's internal energy, it would be equivalent to six years' worth of Longevity Mantra true energy for an ordinary person.

That's quite a lot, considering that Jordan's predecessor only had six or seven years of experience.

In other words, Wu Zhong caught up with Jordan's skill level simply by refining the internal energy in his life gate.

This doesn't even include the true qi he gained through refining his essence into qi.

Wu Zhong refined his life force to its limit, squeezing it out to nearly forty times that of an ordinary person. This gave him an enormous amount of energy to refine into qi, making his efficiency forty times that of others.

No, that's not all. Others practice slowly, needing to strengthen their foundation and cultivate their vital energy to avoid irreversible damage to their lives. Therefore, their skill level is calculated day by day, and a "day" is only about ten hours of practice.

In contrast, Wu Zhong disregarded the loss of his essence and squeezed it to its limit in a short period of time, then instantly replenished it...

It's like practicing the Longevity Mantra as a demonic art!
In just one hour, he achieved what others would take ten hours of intensive training, or what others would call "a day's worth of skill," plus forty times that.

Therefore, his average hour is equivalent to forty days for others.

In less than ten hours, he had mastered a year's worth of skills!
Of course, this is based on the premise that Yangchunsha is always there to absorb his energy. Without a continuous supply of life force, it wouldn't be so fast.

"The true energy of the Longevity Technique that I have accumulated now is comparable to seven years of hard work by others."

"This 'Refining Essence into Qi' technique should keep increasing, right?"

"Jordan said this is practically a cultivation technique for immortality, so it must have no upper limit?"

Wu Zhong's eyes flashed like lightning, and he was very excited.

Finally, we have a way to consistently become stronger, and it's extremely efficient.

He is not an enlightened being, nor does he possess a physical body, yet he is able to practice cultivation systems from other universes.

This is truly my own strength, without needing to borrow anything, and without the limitations of multiple time periods.

"Alright, have you had enough? Let's get down to business." Yang Chunsha took out a band-aid and covered the wound.

She had kept the wound on her hand for the past few days so that he could suck her blood.

Wu Zhong looked at her apologetically: "That's enough, that's enough. I'll just practice for ten hours a day."

Even the most diligent person practices for ten hours a day, but while others only improve in one day, he improves in a year.

"Ten hours? That's hundreds of times a day, you'll have to pay me overtime," Yang Chunsha joked.

Wu Zhong grinned: "Definitely, definitely, I will not treat you unfairly."

The two joked around for a bit, and Yang Chunsha asked the leader, "Leader, is that building up ahead the Karnak Temple?"

She opened the map, which was covered with scribbles and drawings, with a circle marking the area around the temple.

The team leader flashed a white smile: "No, you still have a long way to go."

“Karnak is not a single temple, but a vast complex. You will first have to pass through the Pharaoh’s Forecourt, the statue of Ramses II, the obelisk, Luxor Temple, and the Avenue of the Sphinxes…”

"Let's go then." Wu Zhong opened his eyes, his gaze sharp as lightning, and followed the leader inside.

There are many tourists here, and quite a few locals too, at least a thousand people. How are we supposed to find them?
He and Yang Chunsha scrutinized each tourist, tour leader, or other staff member.

The so-called Yak is unknown in terms of appearance, gender, and race. He doesn't even use the common name Yak, because all the people with that name have already been found by his sugar daddy.

Their only reliance was tortoise shells.

They had already consulted the oracle in the city when they left home in the morning and determined that their target was the Karnak Temple.

Unfortunately, without sacrificing human beings, one can only determine the location of the target, but cannot obtain other information.

Wu Zhong casually asked, "Team leader, do you have any cows here?"

The team leader was stunned. If the other party hadn't spoken fluent Arabic, he would have thought he had misheard.

He retorted directly, "Don't you have cows in your country?"

Wu was speechless for a moment, then realized that his tone of voice had caused the other party to misunderstand.

As Xia Heng said, the effect of instant language coffee is more like a fully automatic translator, while Wu Zhong's brain actually has no language or culture at all.

"I mean, are there any cows around here that I can buy?"

The team leader understood and nodded, saying, "Yes, there is a mosque after the first tower ahead."

Wu nodded at the end: "Let's go there first."

"..." The tour leader was dumbfounded. It was the first time he had ever seen tourists arrive at the temple without being in a hurry to see the ruins.

It didn't matter; the tourists could do whatever they wanted. He quickly led Wu Zhong and the other man into the temple.

Twenty minutes later, Wu finally came out.

He spent some money to have two cows slaughtered in someone's kitchen.

"It's still ahead of us, one kilometer away, yes, that's the temple, no more than fifty meters off!" Yang Chunsha said, pointing to the map.

Wu Dian nodded: "Hurry up!"

The two walked briskly, and the tour leader had to keep up quickly, introducing the sights along the way.

"This is a statue of Ramses II... No, don't look so fast!"

Wu was in a hurry to find the person, since each divination was quite troublesome. Once he found the person and completed the task, he could enjoy the beautiful scenery later.

However, this archaeological site is truly breathtaking, surrounded by a dazzling array of architectural landscapes, including densely packed stone pillars, sculptures, obelisks, temples, and churches.

Even if you only pass by briefly, its majestic and solemn aura is overwhelming, inspiring awe and respect.

Soon, they arrived at Sphinx Avenue, which is more than 300 meters long.

Two rows of exquisite sphinxes with ram heads and several statues of pharaohs stand solemnly on this road, which is the only way to the Karnak Temple.

At the end of the path lies the entrance hall of the Karnak Temple, also known as the Hall of the Great Stone Pillars.

The roof is long gone, and the sun beats down on it. Only 134 stone pillars stand majestically, the largest of which is 23 meters high and requires five or six people to encircle it.

“One kilometer has passed, this is it,” Yang Chunsha said.

Wu Zhong looked around; there were many tourists in the Giant Pillar Hall.

The tour leader caught up, panting, and said, "Yes, we're here. This is the Great Hypostyle Hall of the Karnak Temple..."

"Your goal is really clear. You said you wanted to see the Karnak Temple, but you really only want to see this one temple?"

Wu Zhong patted the team leader on the shoulder and gave him a tip: "Brother, do you know that team leader over there? Could you introduce me?"

He pointed to a curly-haired young man leading a tour group not far ahead. There were about fifty tourists here, and apart from a few scattered ones, about half of them were the tour groups he was leading.

In this way, you can learn about the tourists from them.

"Hello, welcome to Thebes. You can call me Ayato." After the team leader went over to exchange greetings, the curly-haired young man walked over cheerfully.

Wu Zhong was stunned when he shook hands with him: "What? What did you say your name was?"

The curly-haired youth blinked and repeated, "My full name is Yato Ibrahim Hakim."

Wu Zhong and Yang Chunsha exchanged a glance, both of them showing joy.

Found him, this must be him. I didn't expect it to be the team leader. His name is Yato.

After introducing himself using his altered skin identity, Wu Zhong eagerly asked, "Yato, were you called Yak before? Did you change your name later?"

Yato tilted his head: "No."

Wu was stunned, and then asked about the information of the people in the group the other party was leading.

The other party was initially reluctant to disclose the information, but under Dao Le's pressure, they directly sent him all the group members' information.

Wu checked his phone and found that none of the group members had anything to do with Yak.

Then, he approached each of the passengers and struck up a conversation with each of them.

No, no, no one has ever called him by that name.

“No, it should be this young man. His name is Yato. He must have been called Yak when he was a child, and then he changed it. He doesn’t know that.” Wu Zhong scratched his head.

Yang Chunsha went up to ask, "Yato, why don't you ask your parents?"

Ato's face darkened. "They're dead."

"..." The two exchanged a glance. Alright, the tortoise shell was definitely real; there must be an Ark here. But the problem now was, how were they going to prove to their benefactor that this Atho was formerly known as Ark?
"I'll go contact Edelweiss..."

Wu was speechless. He took a picture of Yato and sent his full name to Edelweiss, asking her to check the person's name change records.

Edelweiss does have some power; it sent the results two hours later.

"Huh? It really isn't him?" Wu Zhong was stunned.

Yang Chunsha said, "Actually, not all of the same entity in the multiverse have the same name; many have similar names."

Wu Jian nodded and said, "I know, even if this person is the one with the super strong host body, so what? The mission is for us to find an ordinary person who has at least used the name Ark. If not, we can't complete the mission."

Yang Chunsha nodded, "Indeed, objective facts are objective facts, and tasks are tasks."

Even if they find the real thing, if they can't prove it, they might as well find a fake to pass off as the real thing.

"Where is that person?" Wu Zhong glanced around.

The tour group in Ato left after their visit; you can't stay at one attraction forever.

Didn't you get his phone number?

Yang Chunsha shook her head: "Let's test it again."

The two had no choice but to turn back, searching for traces of Yato along the way, but still couldn't find him. So when they passed by the mosque, they went in to take another test.

"What? Still at the Karnak Temple?"

The test results shocked them; it meant that this wasn't the same Ato.

Other tourists are still there!

"Quick! Go back quickly! The real Ark is still in the temple!"

The two hurriedly ran back, and the team leader angrily exclaimed, "Were you sent by Allah to torment me?"

"You go back to the car first, we can tour it ourselves!" Wu Zhong waved his hand and said.

"You should have said so earlier!" The team leader left.

Wu Zhong and Yang Chunsha rushed back to the Karnak Temple, only to find that a new group of tourists had arrived.

He frowned, carefully observing each tourist, and even looked at every corner of the temple.

Confirmed, there were no duplicate visitors.

"Where is he? Did we miss him again? Was he among the people who were walking back?" Yang Chunsha pouted, about to turn back.

Wu Zhong stood there, stunned.

"Let's go, aren't we hurrying to catch up?" Yang Chunsha asked.

Wu Zhong said with a strange expression, "On the way here, I was watching everyone who was walking back, but there was no one."

"So long before we received information about Edelweiss, the people in this giant pillar hall had already been replaced, perhaps even twice."

Yang Chunsha exclaimed in astonishment, "That's impossible! Could I have miscalculated?"

She took out the latest calculated drawings: "No mistake, this is it. The error will not exceed one hundred meters. Every measurement is done in this hall."

“Every time…” Wu Zhong’s eyes were strange.

Yang Chunsha fell silent. Yes, how come it's always here?
When they left home in the morning, they consulted the oracle near the hotel and determined that their destination was the Karnak Temple.

Then I drove for two hours to get here, and the other party was still at Karnak Temple. Okay, that's fine.

But two more hours passed, and the passengers changed wave after wave, but the target location remained the same. That meant there was a problem; the other party was not a tourist at all.

So what exactly are they positioning themselves for?
In broad daylight, Yang Chunsha felt a chill run down her spine.

Her gaze slowly drifted upwards, landing on the ruins of the broken statues in the temple, while Wu Zhong's soft voice reached her ears.

"Is the Ark we've identified really a person?"

……

(End of this chapter)