The ancient return was exposed by his sister's live stream.

Yang Wanqing grilled more than twenty skewers, handed five to Chen Siyao, and then munched on his sixth chicken wing. Cumin crumbs clung to the corners of his mouth.

"Yao Yao".

"Um."

"Those...traces of war that I saw today."

"Um."

"A lot of people must have died."

Chen Siyao bit into a lamb skewer, chewed it twice, and swallowed it.

"Yes."

Yang Wanqing stared at the sparks dancing on the grill.

"It's a bit strange," she said. "I didn't feel anything when I looked at it during the day; it just seemed like a relic. But now that it's quiet at night... I suddenly thought that ten thousand years ago, this street was full of people, and then they all died."

Chen Siyao did not answer.

There was a few seconds of silence.

Yang Wanqing flipped the last beef skewer on the grill over.

"Never mind, I don't want to think about it anymore." She ended the conversation herself. "I don't want to think about heavy things while I'm eating. Here, Yao Yao, here's the last skewer of beef for you."

Chen Siyao took it.

Jupiter is spinning overhead.

The city lay silent beneath my feet.

On a battlefield ten thousand years ago, two girls were eating barbecue and drinking cola.

It's absurd, but not necessarily bad.

,

the next day.

Yang Wanqing was woken up by Chen Siyao.

"What time is it...?"

"There's no concept of 'what time'. Ganymede's day-night cycle is different from Earth's. But according to Earth's time, you slept for seven hours. Get up."

Yang Wanqing buried her face in the quilt and groaned for five seconds before sitting up abruptly.

"Where are we going today?"

"City center".

Half an hour later, the three of them stood in front of the circular platform that Chen Siyao had noticed yesterday.

Seeing it up close is much more impressive than when I glimpsed it from a distance yesterday.

The truncated cone is approximately fifteen meters in diameter. It is not made of ordinary stone, but of a dark gray metal with extremely intricate patterns covering its surface.

The patterns converge from the edge of the truncated cone towards the center, overlapping to form an extremely complex array pattern.

Chen Siyao squatted on the edge, her fingers hovering two centimeters above the lines as she traced them.

"Teleportation array," she said.

Yang Wanqing circled the circular platform. "Where are we teleported to?"

"The Thirty-Three Heavens," Chen Hao's voice came from behind.

Both women turned their heads at the same time.

Chen Hao stood on the north side of the circular platform, his hands behind his back.

"Ganjali is just the southern gateway to the heavens," he said. "The real thirty-three heavens are on Jupiter. This array is a short-distance teleportation array, allowing direct access to the interior of Jupiter from here."

Yang Wanqing took two seconds to process this.

"The interior of Jupiter? Isn't that a gas giant? It's all gas; how could a person live there?"

Chen Hao did not explain.

Chen Siyao stood up. "The Thirty-Three Heavens—within Jupiter's atmosphere?"

Chen Hao glanced at her and nodded.

The live stream chat started providing科普 (popular science) information: "Just for your information, Jupiter is a gas giant with no solid surface. It has an extremely thick atmosphere, which is entirely composed of hydrogen and helium."

"So the Thirty-Three Heavens are really 'in the sky'? Floating in the air?"

"Wait, if we use an array to construct a floating structure... and then maintain it with spiritual energy... is that theoretically feasible?"

"Where is Professor Li? What did Professor Li say?"

A comment popped up from Professor Li's team: "The configuration of the teleportation array matches the 'Heavenly Road' described in the twelfth section of the mural on the south wall. Theoretically, ancient cultivators were fully capable of constructing a stable floating complex in a gaseous environment."

After reading this, Chen Siyao turned to Chen Hao. "Brother, can this formation still be used?"

"The formation itself is not damaged." Chen Hao walked to the center of the circular platform, "but activation requires a specific magic weapon to inject spiritual power."

He paused for a moment.

"But I don't need it."

He pressed his right hand down.

Place your palm on the convergence point in the center of the truncated cone.

Spiritual energy is infused.

Visibly, the patterns that had been dormant for thousands of years began to glow.

From the center outwards, concentric circles spread outwards like ripples. The gray metallic surface was covered with a blue-white light.

Within ten seconds, the entire truncated cone transformed into a glowing disc.

After the light stabilized, a thin layer of mist rose from the center of the circular platform. The mist swirled, forming a light gate with a diameter of three meters.

Chen Hao withdrew his hand and stood up straight.

"Let's go. The Thirty-Third Heaven is just beyond here."

Chen Siyao took a deep breath, paused, adjusted her breathing, and checked the status of the recording crystal. The image was stable, and the signal was normal.

"Keep up," she said to Yang Wanqing.

Chen Hao first stepped into the portal of light.

Chen Siyao followed closely behind.

The feeling of passing through the portal is different from that of a spatial passage; there is no darkness, no sense of emptiness.

It was a blinding flash of white light, followed by a sensation underfoot.

Hard. Smooth.

Chen Siyao opened her eyes.

She stood on a circular floor. White. Jade.

It is not ordinary white jade; it is flawless throughout, with a slightly warm luster and very faint textures on the surface.

The disc is about twenty meters in diameter, with a low railing around the edge, carved with auspicious cloud patterns.

And outside the disc...

cloud.

An endless sea of ​​clouds.

A golden-white, surging sea of ​​clouds stretched to the horizon. A disc floated above this sea of ​​clouds, without any support. Just suspended there.

Yang Wanqing stepped out from behind her, stepped onto the white jade floor, and then stopped.

"..."

She opened her mouth and slowly turned her head around.

A sea of ​​clouds. Only a sea of ​​clouds.

Then her gaze settled in one direction.

A stone bridge.

Extending straight out from the edge of the disc into the distance.

The bridge surface is made of bluish-gray stone slabs, with railings on both sides, and is wide enough for four people to walk side by side.

The end of the bridge was shrouded in mist, but the outline of the buildings could be vaguely seen.

Flying eaves.

The towering tower. Sunlight streamed down upon the celestial palace amidst the sea of ​​clouds, the rosy glow swirling and the clouds billowing. At a glance, it was exactly the heavenly realm described in ancient myths and legends!

A cluster of palaces floating in a sea of ​​clouds.

In the distance, a white shadow flies through the clouds. It has long wings and a gracefully curved neck.

Crane.

Chen Siyao stood on the edge of the circular platform, her hands resting on the railing. A breeze surged up from the sea of ​​clouds, carrying with it cool, moist air.

She opened her mouth.

He didn't say anything.

The live stream was silent for a full eight seconds.

Then the barrage of comments poured out from the bottom of the screen.

"What did I see?"

"The Heavenly Court. This is the Heavenly Court."

"Movies and TV shows are becoming reality... So the Heavenly Court in Journey to the West is real?"

"Did the director of Journey to the West film scenes here?"

"Jupiter is a gas giant, so the thirty-three heavens are indeed 'in the sky.' The palaces float in the atmosphere."

"I've really made something of myself! I saw the Heavenly Court today!"

"So the so-called Thirty-Three Heavens... are they really floating in the sky???"

"So the 'celestial palace in the heavens' that the ancients spoke of wasn't just a legend, but a real floating paradise on Jupiter! My worldview has been completely shattered!"

All the academicians of the research institute stood up, staring intently at the live broadcast screen, their bodies trembling and their eyes filled with fervor. Gazing at the ancient and eternal celestial realm before them, they were speechless for a long time.