The old general’s duty was to guard the Everlasting ruins and prevent outsiders from entering. The only ones who entered the Everlasting ruins were Eldest Senior Sister and Lu Yang, along with the immortal ghost within Lu Yang’s body.

Upon entering the Everlasting ruins, Lu Yang did not feel out of place.

The Undying Sect’s Yanjiang stronghold had a secret realm constructed entirely based on the Everlasting ruins, meant to increase the sense of belonging and faith in the Everlasting Celestial.

The floating platforms in the air, the ancient buildings on the platforms, everything was very familiar. The buildings had collapsed under the baptism of time, making it hard to imagine their appearance before they crumbled.

Eldest Senior Sister snapped her fingers, causing the collapsed buildings to float up and reassemble, forming their original appearance, as if time had reversed.

Although the architectural style differed from contemporary ones, these buildings could not be associated with the term “ancient.”

Modern architecture started in the Great Qian era and evolved over 300,000 years, changing with the times.

The ancient period spanned much more than 300,000 years. By the end of the ancient period, arts and language were highly developed, no worse than now, with the only difference being in style.

The main structure of the buildings was majestic, with pavilions arranged in an orderly manner. Even the main gates were inlaid with yellow jade, green jade, and red gold, exuding a grand aura.

“Do you recognize these buildings, senior?” Yun Zhi asked.

Only the three of them were in the ruins, so the Everlasting Fairy didn’t need to hide her presence and emerged from the spiritual space.

She carefully examined the buildings and then shook her head gently, “I don’t recognize these buildings. Although I don’t understand architectural styles, I always feel these don’t belong to our era.”

Yun Zhi rarely showed a surprised expression: “According to the Great Xia dynasty’s identification, this ruin dates back 300,000 to 400,000 years. The Great Xia dynasty has never made a mistake in time identification.”

“Moreover, the architectural style and layout here do not match the early Great Qian period.”

“The academic community generally believes that as the ancient nameless ones refined the stars, the glorious ancient era was reduced to ashes, along with countless treasures.”

“Thus, the Great Qian dynasty, upon its establishment, advocated frugality, reduced taxes and rents. But look at the buildings in the Everlasting ruins; they are not luxurious but can’t be associated with frugality either.”

These were not Yun Zhi’s words but rather from a report submitted to the Emperor Xia by veteran scholars organized by the court after investigating this place.

“Then I don’t know.” Everlasting Fairy honestly said, not adept at thinking about such matters.

Lu Yang remained silent throughout. He hadn’t expected to encounter difficulties at the start of exploring the ruins, with even the era of the ruins undecided.

Moving forward, they encountered murals familiar to Lu Yang.

On the murals, the Everlasting Celestial, with an indistinguishable gender and arms outstretched, held countless planets in their embrace, with tiny figures on each planet, raising tributes to the Everlasting Celestial.

Reflecting on four months ago, when the Yanjiang County’s Helmsman Chu brought Lu Yang and two others into the secret realm and introduced the origin of the Everlasting Celestial before the murals, revealing the secrets of the ancient nameless ones refining planets to them.

Things have changed, Lu Yang lamented. It hadn’t been long, yet the good man Helmsman Chu was gone, the murderer still at large, unpunished.

On the right side of the mural was a large section of text that Lu Yang could not understand.

“Is this ancient text?”

Yun Zhi nodded and gave Lu Yang a brief translation. The general meaning was that in ancient times, the Everlasting Celestial protected the human race and fought against the ancient nameless ones, dying of exhaustion. However, by chanting the Everlasting Celestial’s name, one could resurrect them.

Now it can be confirmed that this part of history was fabricated. Neither the Everlasting Fairy Yellow Bean nor the Everlasting Celestial Don’t Wants Face did such things.

The Everlasting Fairy had already fallen before the ancient nameless ones refined the stars, while the Everlasting Celestial had only been born a few months prior.

“So, is this actually a relic from the ancient times?” Lu Yang frowned, feeling that things were not that simple.

Yun Zhi shook her head, “If it were in the past, I would think so, but after what the senior just said, I now believe the text on the mural might have been deliberately left by someone behind the scenes to mislead us.”

Yun Zhi turned to ask the Everlasting Fairy, “Senior, I have just translated most of the text. In this era, people cannot fully translate the ancient language. For instance, this inscription—neither the scholars sent by the court nor I can translate it.”

The Everlasting Fairy looked at the inscription, frowning and silent. She could, of course, understand it, but it was so strange that she thought she had misread it.

She read it word by word, “May the Everlasting Celestial bless us, and may the Xinhuo Dynasty endure forever.”

Then the Everlasting Fairy asked, “What is the Xinhuo Dynasty?”

Lu Yang also found it odd. He had never heard of a dynasty called “Xinhuo.”

From a chronological perspective, the ancient era ended, the Great Qian Dynasty was established from the ruins, ten thousand years later, the Great Yu Dynasty replaced the Great Qian Dynasty, and after another ten thousand years, the Great Xia Dynasty replaced the Great Yu Dynasty, up to the present day.

There was no place for the Xinhuo Dynasty.

The Xinhuo Dynasty could not have existed in the ancient times, according to the Everlasting Fairy.

Lu Yang and the Everlasting Fairy looked at Yun Zhi in unison, hoping for an answer.

Yun Zhi frowned slightly, also puzzled by this, “I have never heard of the Xinhuo Dynasty either. Could it be that there was a Xinhuo Dynasty in the ancient times?”

Lu Yang rejected this idea, “Impossible. The Fairy told me that in the ancient times there were only tribes, not even the concepts of ‘dynasty’ or ‘law’.”

The Everlasting Fairy nodded.

Lu Yang proposed a hypothesis, “Is it possible that the concept of a dynasty emerged after the Fairy’s fall, and a dynasty was established?”

Yun Zhi shook her head, “After the senior fell, the ancient nameless ones soon refined the continent, wiping out all who knew the Fairy’s true name. The time between these two events is too short to establish a dynasty.”

Yun Zhi implied that the fall of the Everlasting Fairy marked the beginning of the end of the ancient era.

Lu Yang seemed to think of something, but the speculation was too shocking, completely overturning the common understanding.

“Since all doubts are eliminated, only two possibilities remain.”

“The first possibility is that the mural was made by the mastermind behind the scenes, who fabricated an non-existent ‘Xinhuo Dynasty’ to mislead us.”

“The problem with the first possibility is that fabricating a non-existent dynasty is too easily debunked, making it meaningless.”

“The second possibility is that between the ancient era and the Great Qian era, there was another dynasty called the Xinhuo Dynasty.”

“The Xinhuo Dynasty was actually the first dynasty in history, inheriting from the ancient times, using the ancient language, and obtaining ancient treasures. The fall of the Xinhuo Dynasty marked the complete end of the ancient heritage.”

“The problem with the second possibility is, why does no one know about the existence of the Xinhuo Dynasty? How could the rise and fall of a dynasty leave no records at all?”