The ocean.

The wind and rain howled sorrowfully.

In the darkness, countless amounts of data flowed like a waterfall.

After a long while, the chaotic mass of data finally stopped overflowing.

All the data slowed down, becoming orderly and neat.

Lines of text appeared in mid-air:

[Destination reached]

[Location: The ocean]

[World altitude and longitude: 121.43333 , 34.50000]

[Southeastern wind flow, wind current: level 5-6]

[Wave height: 2.5m]

[Visibility: 3km]

[Heavy rain]

[Descending]

[Attention, as your evolution had only just completed, we do not have enough time to replenish energy]

[This trans-Space-Time warp had been performed by borrowing the power of Apocalypse, danger level Red]

[You can only remain for 20 seconds]

[Prepare-------]

Numerous runes of light appeared from the void of space like shattering glass.

All the runes gathered at once and manifested as a humanoid figure--------

A young girl wearing modern military combat clothing.

She stood in the void of space with her eyes closed, silently listening to the sound of rain.

Suddenly, a melodious female voice suddenly resounded by her ears:

[Time is approaching]

[In 15 seconds, the Apocalypse Assassin will arrive]

[You may begin preparations now]

The girl opened her eyes and drew a Card from her snow-white hair.

"Release"

She muttered.

Poof!

The Card manifested as a black pistol.

Wielding the pistol, the girl's eyes appeared full of nostalgia.

"It's been a really long time since I fought by your side… I really miss you"

She softly whispered and looked at the void of space.

Lines of notifications appeared there:

[The specific coordinates have been determined]

[Counting down:]

[5]

[4]

[3]

[2]

[1]

[The Apocalypse Assassin has appeared!]

Bang-------

The girl pulled the trigger, but the bullet she fired disappeared in an instant.

Right away, lines of text appeared in front of her eyes:

[The other party's assassination has been disturbed!]

[Mission completed!]

[The Apocalypse had noticed that we're borrowing its power to travel through Space-Time-----]

[If you stop for more than 10 seconds, it will definitely detect you]

[Please return immediately!]

The girl skimmed through the text rapidly, then drew another Card and left it floating in the void of space.

"Qing Shan… you must stay alive…"

As soon as she said that, countless intricate runes of light appeared around her body, radiating a blinding glow.

The glow vanished right away.

The girl had disappeared from above the ocean.

-------it was as if she was never there in the first place.

Above the ocean, the sky was still dark.

The wind howled while rain poured like a shower, the waves below roaring continuously.

But the Card continued to hover motionlessly.

It was waiting for someone.

…

Going past the mountains and ocean, on the other side of the world.

The orange cat that had dispelled [Ghostly Shadow of Night] was discussing something with a black dog.

"This point in time should be not too long after the giant eyeball had just awoken" the orange cat said.

"What were we doing at the time?" the black dog asked.

"We had already gone back to the past towards the point of the Spire's destruction, currently attempting the Apotheosis battle against the Soul Shrieker. After we defeated it, the world of the Spire turned into a Temporal Oasis and followed the flow of the River of Time towards the future" the orange cat replied.

"So there's still quite a bit of time before they arrive, huh?" the black dog commented full of emotions.

"That's right"

The two of them both looked at the one-horned serpent below.

"What now? Are we still going to save it?" the black dog asked.

"This entire world had already been destroyed with only this poor fellow remained. It's surely going to feel lonely, so it's best to take it along with us" the orange cat replied.

"Alright, then I'll take it as my pet" the black dog decided.

He moved his paw to flip through the Book of Prophesized Destinies and found a covenant.

"There, you're fortunate to be able to form a covenant with me" the black dog commented.

The covenant flew down onto the one-horned serpent's head.

Poof!

The entire serpent vanished.

The black dog waved his paw, summoning the covenant back into the Book of Prophesized Destinies.

Suddenly-------

The orange cat's fur all stood up.

The black dog also subconsciously barked and placed the Book of Prophesized Destinies in front of him.

But it was too late.

A humanoid monster whose entire body was filled with eyes had appeared in front of them and unleashed numerous rays of cold light, restraining the orange cat and black dog.

The cat and dog were both restrained.

An autumn water-like blue steel sword appeared and hurriedly tried to cut these rays of light--------

But it was already too late!

The humanoid monster ferociously laughed, then quickly recited: "Apocalypse burn------"

Bang!

Something flew from afar and broke a hole through its forehead.

Blood spilled into the wind.

The humanoid monster's assassination was cut off.

The orange cat suddenly vanished.

A giant sword phantom that was several dozen meters in length manifested with an explosion and struck the humanoid monster, sending it flying away.

Clang clang clang clang clang!

The sound of numerous sword strikes resounded from the giant sword phantom.

The humanoid monster didn't fly for too long before its head was the only thing that remained.

Thud!

The head landed on the ground with a dull noise.

In an instant, everything had finished.

Gu Qing Shan held the Earth sword while standing in mid-air, breathing heavily.

"It wasn't particularly powerful, but it was very unique" he said.

"Right" the black dog's eyes appeared profound and added: "Its strongest characteristic was its ability to hide and abrupt appearance. Even now, I can't tell how it managed to avoid both of our perceptions"

Gu Qing Shan looked at the void of space.

Lines of glowing text had already appeared:

[Apocalypse Assassin: Myriad Eyes, had arrived through Space-Time]

[Its body was imbued with 7681 different types of obscurement techniques for Space-Time travel]

[Myriad Eyes is unleashing the unique Apocalypse: Burning Poison]

[Myriad Eyes' actions had been interrupted]

[You've killed it]

[You obtained 10,000 Soul Points]

[Attention: This is an assassination across Space-Time, you must keep up your guard]

Gu Qing Shan was speechless.

He had never truly been afraid of anyone in direct combat.

But never in anyone's wildest dreams did he think that there was an Apocalypse monster who had specifically travelled across Space-Time with plenty of preparations just to assassinate him.

Furthermore, it chose the time when they had just returned.

He and Boss had both examined this entire world to ensure that there were no living beings here.

And with the giant eyeball temporarily taking up their attention, they both couldn't expect something like this to occur.

The black dog flew down and carefully examined the head.

"Did you specifically leave its head behind?" the black dog asked.

"I did. Its attack was interrupted by some sort of attack right before I killed it, so I wanted to see what exactly happened"

Gu Qing Shan crouched down and carefully examined the head full of eyes.

Hm?

He appeared a bit intrigued.

"This is… a bullet wound?"

Gu Qing Shan focused his mind and produced several sword phantoms, which he then converged into thin strings that cut open the monster's head.

Numerous pieces of metal shrapnel had filled the monster's brain and skull, which appeared terrifying.

------and yet, not even that managed to kill the monster.

"A technological attack… could there be others aside from us in this world?" Boss asked.

He opened the Book of Prophesized Destinies at the same time Gu Qing Shan released his inner sight.

They searched through the entire world once again.

"The ocean"

"Yes, the ocean"

The two of them exchanged glances and vanished from the desert at once.

At the next moment.

They both appeared above the ocean.

Gu Qing Shan looked at the hovering Card and felt a sense of familiarity.

"How is it, do you recognize it?" Boss asked.

"I do, this is a Card from the Blood Sea deck, which comes from…"

Gu Qing Shan reached his hand forward to take the Card.

As soon as the Card touched his hand, it was activated and played a female voice:

"Qing Shan, Impartial Goddess and I secretly borrowed the power of the Apocalypse to temporarily return to this era"

"I can't tell you anything else, or the Apocalypse might notice"

"But you need to keep this in mind, the Apocalypse monsters are trying everything they can think of to return to your era"

"They want to assassinate you and take the six Sealing Tokens from you"

As soon as the message was done, the Card shattered with a 'crack' and scattered into the wind as tiny fragments.

Gu Qing Shan stood still.

"Who was that?" Boss asked with interest.

"Su Xue Er, she should currently be with Impartial Goddess, undergoing a unique type of evolution"

Gu Qing Shan answered while pondering.

Impartial Goddess…

From what I learnt during the Age of Immemorial, she was a creation of the Samsara Human realm.

With her protecting Su Xue Er, there shouldn't be any issues------- they were even able to discreetly utilize the power of the Apocalypse.

Then…

Gu Qing Shan turned his hand over, displaying the six Sealing Tokens silently sitting on his hand.