Reborn as a lotus, she initially refuses to hand it over to the state.

That night, the blue lotus in the little girl's drawing was seen by the wounded who entered the Back Armor Cave for recuperation.

Some people recognized the six-winged angel kneeling at the foot of the mountain, while others saw the black spot in Little Jinbao's arms and couldn't help but ask what it was.

Little Jinbao stood guard at the cave entrance and earnestly explained, "That's Eclipse Divine Gold, much bigger than the one in this painting. The master said it was scrap material, but it's actually quite large."

After it finished speaking, it moved the transparent crystal further towards the center of the cave entrance.

The armored vessel carrying the grotto slowly sank into the shallow bay, and the healing pavilions within its armor lit up one by one. The lake water overflowed the dark blue light curtain, but not a single drop entered the grotto.

Heilong Lake has quieted down again.

However, within the Ninth Inning headquarters, the spatial coordinate map left by Herro continues to unfold layer by layer.

What was initially revealed were the star paths that the Fifth Hunting Court had already mastered.

The coordinates of Crimson Star Domain, Sunken Star City, the seven human star cities, and the remnant guardian star lit up one by one. Most of them had already been restored by the Ancestral Realm Legion.

After Shen Xinglan overlaid the coordinate map with the existing star map, she found that there was always a blank space in the very center.

That blank space had no distance and no clear direction.

Regardless of whether the ancestral realm, the moon, or the remnant star guarding the realm are used as references, it is located at the starting point of all coordinates.

"It's not that the map is incomplete."

Shen Xinglan checked it three times in a row, her gaze gradually becoming serious: "This is a coordinate that Hero deliberately erased, and it is located inside the Ancestral Realm."

Zhou Zhenshan and Ye Lao returned to the General Administration.

The two had just finished drinking tea at Black Dragon Lake, and the thermos on the table hadn't been put away yet. Zhou Zhenshan opened the coordinate projection and found that the blank area was slowly sinking in the ancestral world model.

Finally, it came to rest deep in the Kunlun Mountains.

"Retrieve all abnormal files from Kunlun."

As soon as Zhou Zhenshan gave the order, the archive system immediately began searching.

However, no corresponding record was found in modern satellite images, the changes in the ley lines after the fifth spiritual revival, or old data left before the establishment of the Ninth Bureau.

That mountain range seemed to have never experienced anything unusual.

The cleaner it is, the more abnormal it is.

Old Ye stared at the Kunlun coordinates for a long time, then suddenly raised his hand and pressed it to his forehead.

A scene that had been suppressed deep within his soul for decades suddenly surfaced without warning.

Glacier, stone steps, seven bronze pillars.

There is also a black stone door that can never be approached no matter which direction you go.

Old Ye swayed slightly.

Zhou Zhenshan caught his shoulder in time, but the same scene appeared before his own eyes.

The two elderly men simultaneously recalled an operation that took place forty-three years ago.

At that time, the Ninth Bureau had not yet been formally established; they were merely members of the Anomaly Investigation Team. The Kunlun Geological Team discovered a section of stone steps that did not exist on the map, and seven investigators were ordered to enter.

They walked along the stone steps for three whole days.

But every time I look up, I'm still standing on the first step.

Late on the third night, knocking came from behind the stone gate. It happened every nine breaths, as if someone was exhausting all their strength to try and alert the outside world.

What happened afterward, neither of them could remember at all.

All they remembered was that after leaving Kunlun and returning to their camp, it seemed like one person was missing from their side.

However, no matter how the list was checked, all the lists showed that the task force had only six members from beginning to end.

"The bottom layer of the archive warehouse."

Zhou Zhenshan suddenly spoke up: "On the west side of the old archives, there is an unnumbered iron box."

The General Administration personnel immediately went to the sealed warehouse.

A dozen minutes later, a black box covered in rust was brought into the command hall. The box was unlocked, but its surface contained an extremely faint layer of spatial laws.

In the past, everyone who passed by it would subconsciously ignore it.

After Hero's fall, that layer of law began to dissipate.

The box contained only a paper file, a broken tape recorder, and a black-and-white photograph of seven people standing in the snow of Kunlun.

The figure on the far right of the photo is almost completely blank.

All that could be seen was a hand resting on Zhou Zhenshan's shoulder.

Mr. Ye picked up the photo.

A young face slowly emerged from the blank figure.

The two elderly people simultaneously remembered the same name.

"He Changqing".

Zhou Zhenshan's voice became hoarse: "That time, there weren't six people entering Kunlun, there were seven."

He Changqing did not return with them.

Even more terrifying, everyone else had forgotten his existence. His name, family records, and travel allowances in the files were all erased from the system.

Zhou Zhenshan immediately retrieved the old household registration records.

He Changqing's original residence had long been demolished, and his parents had passed away. However, a missing person registration from forty-three years ago reappeared in the local archives as the coordinate system disappeared.

The registrant is He Changqing's mother.

The old man searched for his son for twelve years.

Until her death, she firmly believed that the investigation team had taken away seven people, but only six returned.

Zhou Zhenshan stared at the registration form, remaining silent for a long time.

He finally understood why his mother had asked him every now and then why he could never remember who she was looking for.

It wasn't that they deliberately concealed it.

There is a force that has erased He Changqing's existence from the world.

Old Ye placed the thermos on the table: "If he were still alive, he would have been waiting behind the door for forty-three years."

No sooner had he finished speaking than an alarm was sounded from the Kunlun monitoring station.

Deep in the snow-capped mountains, all navigation devices simultaneously malfunctioned.

The pointers no longer pointed north, but instead pressed down, pointing to a depth of 3,700 meters underground.

The first strike then rang out.

Boom!

The sound wasn't loud, but it traveled along the ancestral realm's veins to ten world nodes.

Nine breaths later, the second strike came down.

A straight crack appeared in the Kunlun Glacier. Inside the crack, there was no rock or permafrost, only ancient stone steps extending downwards.

Zhou Zhenshan did not immediately order the stone door to be opened just because He Changqing might still be alive.

"The Kunlun monitoring station has been withdrawn from the core area, but unmanned equipment has been retained."

"The Earth Vein Engineering Team has set up a three-layer spatial isolation array on the perimeter."

"The ancient forces liaison group verified the inscriptions on the stone gate, and the heart-guarding team checked the transmitted divine soul messages."

"No combat personnel are allowed to touch the goalposts intentionally."

Orders were quickly issued.

The newly adjusted ninth-round system is operating simultaneously for the first time.

The gatekeeper in charge of the battle did not rush to the front.

The first to arrive at Kunlun were the ley line engineers, identity archivists, and two unmanned exploration teams.

Large equipment was transported into the glacier along the newly opened mountain road.

The Beishan node provides stable ley lines, the Holy City of Daylight sends two sets of constant light energy, and the Linjiang Lantern City lights up 108 Guardian Lamps to prevent investigators from losing their memories again.

No one asked Chu Zhou to take immediate action.

In the ninth inning, they used their own strength to stabilize the situation on the periphery of Kunlun.

Three hours later, the first unmanned probe arrived at the stone steps.

The machine moves down the stairs.

Step one, normal.

The second step is to increase the distance by thirty meters.

When we reached the ninth step, the coordinates transmitted back by the detector suddenly became blank, but the image remained clear.

It saw seven bronze pillars.

Each gatepost was covered with numerous tattered identification plaques.

The identity tags did not all belong to the same army. There were the 7th, 11th, and 13th Border Guards, as well as a large number of numbers that had never appeared in the ancestral records.

Five ancient characters are engraved on the black stone gate at the very center.

[The First Gate of Kunlun.]

The probe attempts to get closer.

There was another knocking from behind the door.

This time, instead of the usual nine-breath interval, the ancient communication rhythm of the border guards was used to form a complete military phrase.

Is anyone else outside?

The hall was quiet.

Zhou Zhenshan gripped the communicator, the veins on the back of his hand bulging slightly, but he still didn't answer immediately.

The Hunter's Court has read countless memories of the human race.

It's not impossible that they understand the language of the border guards.

Chu Zhou's divine sense traveled along the North Mountain node to Kunlun.

A small lotus stalk, no bigger than the palm of a hand, slowly grows at the entrance to the stone steps.

The Myriad Realms Purifying Flame did not attack the stone gate; instead, it peeled away the remaining spatial laws layer by layer, following the direction from which the sound came.

[Human soul fluctuations detected.]

[Target's soul preservation rate: 37%.]

The target contains a gatekeeper's seal.

[Hunting contamination detected.]

The pollution did not control the target's soul.

The target is using its own gatekeeper seal to suppress an unknown high-level life form.

"You can respond."

Chu Zhou's voice faded.

Zhou Zhenshan then pressed the communicator: "Kunlun Investigation Team, Zhou Zhenshan. Message received from inside the gate. Please state your name, number, and current status."

There was no response from behind the stone gate for a long time.

After a dozen or so breaths, a weak voice reappeared.

"Zhou Zhenshan?"

"You old geezer...you're still alive?"

Zhou Zhenshan's eyes instantly reddened.

Old Ye sat beside him, his hand holding the thermos cup trembling slightly.

The voice was many times older than he remembered, yet it still retained the speaking habits of He Changqing when he was young.

"He Changqing".

Zhou Zhenshan slowly called out the name: "Forty-three years ago, you were the seventh member of the Kunlun investigation team. We remember you."

A very soft laugh came from inside the door.

"Just remember it."

"I'm worried I'll die here before there, and there'll be no one outside to report me missing."

Zhou Zhenshan wanted to ask more questions, but He Changqing interrupted him first.

"Don't open the door."

"Behind this door, there's more than just me."

From deep within the stone gate, an even heavier impact suddenly came.

Boom!

The seven bronze pillars trembled simultaneously.

Numerous golden cracks grew outward from the cracks in the door, as if some enormous creature was constantly pushing against the stone door with its palm.

He Changqing's voice quickly became urgent: "Ten thousand years ago, when the guards of the First Realm Gate retreated, they sealed one of the Harvesting Dharma Bodies of the Fifth Hunting Court behind the gate."

"It does not have a complete divine soul, but only the right arm of the Fifth Priest and a part of the consciousness of the law."

"Hero erased the coordinates of the First Gate not to protect this physical body, but to prevent the Ancestral Realm from ever sending reinforcements. For 100,000 years, it has been devouring the guards within the gate."

Zhou Zhenshan immediately asked, "How many people are still alive?"

"Three thousand seven hundred and twenty-one living people."

"120,000 remnant souls."

"The number of people contaminated... is impossible to count."

He Changqing paused for a moment: "When I came in, I only wanted to find the people knocking on the door. Later I found out that they had been knocking for 100,000 years."

The impact from inside the door fell again.

A thick, golden finger slowly emerged from the crack in the stone gate.

A single finger spans over a hundred meters. Its skin lacks any fleshy texture, displaying only layers of golden scriptures composed of civilized contracts.