Me! Cleaner!.

Chapter 1257 Egg Mountain and Footprints

After beginning to doubt the raven's motives, Leon's brows furrowed even more deeply, and he immediately thought of those true gods who came to their deaths, as well as Frederica, who had not yet shown herself.

He had been on guard, fearing that the True Gods lying in ambush were just a decoy, and that Frederica would suddenly strike when he let his guard down. But she hadn't come out even after he had almost captured all the True Gods, so she probably wasn't really in the Ring of Time.

Since she was not on Mount Huanshi and could not personally oversee the ambush, the ambush was bound to fail. So why would she specifically allocate a large amount of root energy to the gods for an ambush that was destined to fail?
Aside from the possibility that she was giving him a benefit, most of the scattered roots she "sent" were meant to restrain him, preventing him from mobilizing a large number of roots in order to suppress the gods, and thus preventing him from quickly capturing the thrush, and keeping him tied down by the thrush and [Disaster Avoidance].

Having paid such a high price, throwing out a considerable amount of Roots in one go, and sacrificing so many True Gods as bait to hold herself back, she must want even more...

Oh no! In this world!
Suddenly realizing Frederica's true purpose, Leon's expression tightened, and he quickly called out to the old ox:
"and many more!"

"Moo?"

"Stop chasing! Try to see if you can still leave the Ring of Time normally!"

Can I leave normally?

A little bewildered by Lyon's request, the old ox still stopped as instructed and tentatively nudged the outside of Huan Shi Mountain.

"Moo moo moo! (Wait! The timekeeping on Huan Shi Mountain is off! The time difference increases with every step we take uphill.)"

Sure enough, the thrush's task was to lure itself up the mountain...

After closing his eyes slightly, Leon decisively asked:

"How much of a time difference is there? If we leave right now, how much will the time difference be compared to the normal time?"

"Moo...Moo? (Maybe...three months?)"

Three months... that's definitely too late for anything!

Despite all his precautions, he still fell victim to a scheme. Lyon took a deep breath to calm himself, then looked intently at the old ox and said:

"I remember that time in the Ring of Time varies in speed? If we find an area where time is still 'in the past' and leave the Ring of Time from there, will we still make it in time?"

"Moo... (That's possible...)"

The old ox hesitated for a moment upon hearing this, then seemed to understand something, and said in a somewhat helpless tone:
"Now I understand why your son insisted that you bring me along."

"Ok?"

"Although the time is different in different areas of the Ring of Time, you can only leave the area after the time is 'restored'. Only escapees like me can be excluded from this 'restore' and get you back in time."

"Escapee?"

"I'm just someone who came from different times... I'm not actually a cow from your world."

Under Lyon's astonished gaze, the old ox sighed and said:
“I was raised by Fu from another timeline. What happened there wasn’t much different from here. Hope’s lineage still fled into the depths of the old land with the Holy Land, and was eventually found by the Four Pillar Gods. Then Fu was forced to forcibly condense the essence of the root… Alas! In short, they were all wiped out.”

After letting out a soft sigh, the old ox added:

"The only difference between there and here is that after Fu was forced to condense the essence of the source, she seemed to have foreseen something, so she stuffed a little bit of the essence of the source into my mouth, and then pushed me off the Ring Mountain to let me escape on my own."

Later, relying on that bit of primordial essence, I climbed up from the foot of Mount Huan Shi and came to your world. I found the Hope Clan, who were hiding from the Four Pillar Gods, and that's how the so-called Holy Ox of the Hope Clan came to be. I originally hoped to help her and change the fate of your Hope Clan, but in the end..."

In the end, everyone still met their original fate, only now the ordinary old ox had become a sacred ox nailed to the mountainside of Huan Shi Mountain? So that's how it is. No wonder you seemed to know a little about everything, yet also seemed to know nothing at all…

"Let's keep going." After bending down and passing through the brass-colored clouds, landing on the black mountain path, the old ox scratched its hooves on the mirror-like black stones, then urged on:

"The time anomaly areas we're looking for are usually located on mountaintops near the lighthouse, and I can't carry you any longer; you'll have to get off and walk from here on out... Hey, where are your eyes?"

"what?"

"Eyes, these are exactly the eyes I want!"

After looking at the bewildered Lyon in shock, the old ox's stomach bulged slowly twice, and then it spat out a true god that had been kneaded into a chick. As the chick-like true god landed, a thin and narrow beam of light immediately shone from the mountaintop in the distance, which was shrouded in countless brass clouds.

As the Chick God screamed in panic, the "light" sweeping from the mountaintop lighthouse lost its color and transformed into an invisible presence like a gaze. Immediately, countless dark eyes opened on the black mountain path beneath the Chick God's feet, staring intently at it.

"?!!!"

"Anyone who comes into contact with Mount Ring of Time will immediately be detected by the lighthouse at the summit, found by the [Gaze] and continuously watched, and then given a mark by Fu, who is responsible for guarding Mount Ring of Time... just like it."

After raising its front hoof and pointing at the thrush that had already taken the opportunity to escape, the old ox looked Leon up and down, and said with an incredulous expression:

"The lighthouse's gaze pierces through the past and future, and cannot be avoided. Only individuals who transcend time, or escapees like me, can escape its gaze... Are you not a native of this world either? Or an escapee who climbed up after me?"

"..."

While I'm not exactly an escapee, strictly speaking, I might not even qualify as a person of this world...

"Let's go up first."

Not knowing how to explain his situation, Leon glanced at the thrush that had disappeared down the mountain path and mumbled something incoherently:

"More or less, but it's a bit complicated to explain in detail... By the way, what's that thing up there?"

"Oh no! Those are my eggs!"

"?!?!?!"

Looking towards the mountains deep within the brass clouds, the old ox saw two enormous round mountains standing side by side. Overjoyed, it quickly trotted into the depths of the yellow clouds and headed straight up.

"You go up first, I'll come find you after I get myself back!"

Fine……

Looking at the two egg-shaped mountains that were rapidly shrinking under the cover of yellow clouds after being knocked in by the old ox, Leon's lips twitched involuntarily. He then quickly climbed up the black mountain path.

Strangely, however, the raven responsible for "luring" him disappeared into the depths of the yellow clouds and never left a trace again. Even when Lyon climbed to the empty summit of the Ring Mountain, he still couldn't find it.

Did you run away?
After frowning slightly, Leon, who had no time to pay attention to the thrush, was preparing to search for the time anomaly area and wait for the old ox to catch up with his body when he unexpectedly discovered a series of strange footsteps.

The intermittent footsteps, as if carved by a knife and axe, sank into the mountaintop, deeply imprinting themselves on the incredibly hard black stone, and spreading towards the "crater" at the summit of Huan Shi Mountain.

Could it be that the raven didn't run away, but jumped down directly? Wait! Director Armando and Director Aries are down there too!

Remembering the two former bureau chiefs still trapped in the mountain pass, Leon quickly changed direction and followed the footprints to the central mountain pass. He cautiously peeked out to look down, wanting to see what was happening below, but he felt a slight warmth on his back and heard a chilling laugh behind him.

"Go down!"

(End of this chapter)