Chapter 623 The Grand Finale: Reunion!
At this moment, in another timeline of the Chu-Han Contention.
"Overlord..."
Both Yu Ji and Li Canghai had beads of sweat on their foreheads. They didn't know how long it would take to return from the past, so they could only do their best to maintain the river of time released by the Heavenly Gourd.
However, compared to the beginning, this river of time has shrunk considerably, and the water, filled with the spheres of time, is constantly flowing back into the palm gourd.
Once this river of time completely disappears, Xiang Yu will be lost in the past.
What will happen at that time is completely unpredictable.
Because the past should never have existed.
"Overlord! We need to leave quickly, we can figure out a solution later!"
Hao Jiu tried several other tools, but he still couldn't get Long Qi's soul to pass through. Even opening a time portal or having Xiang Yu use teleportation to take Long Qi to other planes in this time dimension didn't work. It was as if Long Qi was already bound to this plane.
What's even more infuriating is that Hao Jiu had already prepared a portable soul technology reincarnation device, but it was stored in the storage space and couldn't be taken out. It's simply outrageous!
"Let me try the Emperor's Sword again." Xiang Yu knew that the Emperor's Sword was not as good as the Soul-Nourishing Pot, which was specially used to store souls, but he still wanted to give it a try, just in case.
"Alright! Hurry up, Overlord. Yu Ji and Li Canghai are also under a lot of pressure. Think about them more!" Hao Jiu reminded him.
"I understand." Xiang Yu drew the Emperor's Sword and successfully captured Long Ju's soul into it.
"It's done?" Hao Jiu was slightly taken aback. Could it be because the Emperor's Sword originally belonged to this plane?
Xiang Yu then thrust his sword into the passage, deciding to deliver the Emperor's Sword first.
However, the next second, the Emperor's Sword in his hand was blocked by a tremendous force.
Even with Xiang Yu's unparalleled power across all realms, he still couldn't get through. If he exerted any more force, either the Emperor's Sword or the Chu-Han plane would likely shatter.
If the Emperor's Sword were to shatter, the dragon inside would likely be annihilated. But if the Chu-Han world were to shatter in the past, would there be a future?
Helpless, Xiang Yu had to withdraw his strength and then tried to put the Emperor's Sword into his storage space, but it still didn't work. The Emperor's Sword, which contained Long Qi's soul, could not be put into the storage space.
However, Hao Jiu's eyes lit up at this moment, "We don't necessarily have to take Long Qie's soul with us if we want to save it! Let's leave the Emperor's Sword behind. With the Emperor's Sword's space, Long Qie's soul won't dissipate!"
Xiang Yu immediately understood. "Long Qie, you should recuperate in this sword space. Do not come out unless I call you, or you will be in danger of your soul being scattered!"
"Rest assured, Your Majesty, I, Long Ju, will obey!"
"Alright! I will definitely come back to find you again!" Xiang Yu said, and stepped into the time-space tunnel.
However, the Emperor's Sword flew up on its own and got stuck at the entrance of the passage. Xiang Yu instantly felt himself being pulled back by something!
"Damn it, heavens! Can't I even leave a sword behind?" Xiang Yu roared in anger, turning around to grab the Emperor's Sword. After thinking it over, he decided he couldn't destroy the Chu-Han world of this timeline by brute force.
If the past can be changed, the future is highly likely to change as well!
"Calm down, Overlord! I still have a way!" Hao Jiu shouted urgently.
"Speak!" Xiang Yu flew back, calming himself down. He had been really angry just now, and even felt like he had been tricked by the heavens.
“We’ve changed our approach. We don’t need to take Long Qi’s soul back. We just need to ensure that his soul has the power to protect itself and can live into the future. Leave that to me!” Hao Jiu said as he entered the Emperor’s Sword and appeared in front of Long Qi.
"Long Qie, I am the guardian deity of the Overlord. I need to quickly increase your soul strength. It may be painful, so please bear with it!" Hao Jiu used a soul cultivation item as he spoke.
Although Long Ju had never met Hao Jiu, based on his trust in Xiang Yu, he readily agreed, "Okay... Ah!"
What Hao Jiu needs to do now is to quickly raise Long Qie's soul to the Ghost Infant realm. A mortal soul like Long Qie's cannot be bound to the system; at the very least, it should be bound to a Nascent Soul cultivator.
Long Qie is dead, so it's impossible for him to cultivate a nascent soul. However, a ghost infant cultivated through soul cultivation is similar to a nascent soul. Once you reach that level, you can also bind to the shadow system.
With the system, Long Qi is basically hard to kill, unless he encounters another system.
Hao Jiu's expression suddenly changed drastically upon thinking of this. There was indeed another system in this plane, namely Liu Ji's Black Dragon!
"Long Qie, listen carefully! Even if you possess extraordinary strength, do not interfere in human affairs. You can only be an observer. Otherwise, you may be affected in the future, and you may face great danger!"
"Ah!..." Long Qi's realm continued to rise, but after condensing the Ghost Core, it became difficult to break through further.
This is... dimensional suppression?
Without reaching the Ghost Infant realm, one cannot bind to the Shadow System, and ghosts without a system will find it difficult to survive in this plane.
Back then, the emperor always hid inside the Emperor's Sword and never dared to go out.
"That's right! The Emperor's Sword is still in this timeline. All we need to do is let Long Qie hide inside it!" Hao Jiu slapped his thigh. Why didn't he think of this sooner?
However, it is not easy to get Long Qi into the Emperor's Sword in this world; one cannot enter without the protection of an emperor's aura.
Unless you have a proper talk with the bottom character inside.
Xiang Yu had already conjured up the Overlord's sword from thin air in this time and space. He knew the incantation to open the Emperor's Sword space, but when he tried it, it didn't work!
Hao Jiu's lips twitched violently. "Could it be that Shou Jun changed the password? Damn it, I guess I have no choice but to force it!"
"Shoujun, quickly open the space of the Emperor's Sword and release Long Qi's soul inside, or I will destroy this sword!" Xiang Yu remembered the method he had used to deal with Shoujun.
"No need for hesitation, let's just do it. Let him hear the sound first. Shou Jun is the kind of guy who won't shed tears until he sees the coffin," Hao Jiu suggested.
Xiang Yu lightly touched the two imperial swords in his hands together, and clang!
Sparks are flying everywhere!
Both of the Emperor's Swords were on the verge of breaking.
However, this time, the Emperor in the Emperor's Sword remained as still as an old dog, offering no response whatsoever.
Hao Jiu entered the Emperor's Sword but couldn't find its spatial dimension. "Could this sword be fake?"
"It's not fake. I can feel that there is space inside this sword. I can forcibly break it open, but then the sword will be ruined." Xiang Yu sighed inwardly. Back then, he was able to force the ruler to respond, which meant he really dared to destroy the sword, but now he really didn't dare.
"That old man Shou Jun is really fearless." Hao Jiu was also in a dilemma, the key was that there wasn't much time to waste with Shou Jun right now.
At that very moment, the spacetime tunnel began to shrink at an accelerated rate.
"Overlord, it'll be too late if we don't leave now!" Hao Jiu reminded him.
"Overlord, I feel great now. I can take care of myself. You should leave now!" Long Qie also sensed that this future Xiang Yu seemed eager to leave.
Xiang Yu steeled his heart, returned the Emperor's Sword to the overlord of this plane, and then stepped into the space-time tunnel with one leg. "God of Wine, could you leave behind a shadow system to continue helping Long Qi find a solution? Or give Long Qi some more rare and precious treasures to nourish his soul?"
"No, even if we leave behind some rare treasures, we have to use them immediately, otherwise we still won't be able to leave. The Shadow System has lost its intelligence since it lost contact with me. Sigh? If we could find a trustworthy soul to merge with the Shadow System into a new independent system, maybe that would be possible, but where can we find one now? It's too late!"
"Then let's turn Long Ju into a system!" Xiang Yu said decisively.
"Would Ke Longqi be willing?" Hao Jiu was taken aback. Becoming a system was definitely better than being scattered, but ghosts have a chance to be resurrected, while becoming a system meant being a system forever.
"It's too late! Hurry up!" Xiang Yu agreed on behalf of Long Ju. The ghost infant was not yet formed and could not go to the underworld. It was only a matter of time before his soul was scattered.
“I agree, go ahead and change it!” Long Qie smiled.
"Okay! I held it in, it hurts a little!" Hao Jiu stopped being coy. Time was of the essence, so he crammed all the modules he could install on Long Qie, along with countless amounts of energy and various virtual props.
"Ah!!!" Long Qi roared and began to transform into a system.
The portal to the spacetime tunnel has shrunk to half a meter in diameter, and it is shrinking even faster.
"Goodbye!" Xiang Yu had no choice but to leave. Whether Long Ju could succeed depended on his luck. Hopefully, the fusion could be completed before Hao Jiu and that shadow system lost contact.
"Long Qie! Don't forget what I said, don't disturb the human world, just wait quietly for us to return!" Hao Jiu had to give this instruction as well.
"Ah..." Long Qi was still screaming in agony, it was unclear whether his screams contained any hint of agreement.
Xiang Yu was flying at full speed through the time tunnel. He and Hao Jiu had done their best, and they had to get back as soon as possible no matter what.
If you get lost in this time-space tunnel, it's better to stay in the past, as this tunnel is more dangerous and lonely.
Finally, the spacetime tunnel closed completely.
"No!" Yu Ji and Li Canghai exclaimed at the same time.
The once vast Milky Way had shrunk to the size of a palm and was instantly sucked back into the Palm-sized Gourd!
"This is impossible!" Li Canghai hadn't expected this. Had Xiang Yu really lost his way?
"The Overlord will definitely return." Yu Ji swallowed her tears; crying at this moment would be useless.
Just then, a small dot flew out from the mouth of the palm-shaped gourd; it was Xiang Yu, who was gradually growing larger from a microscopic state.
That was close! Any slower and we would have been trapped in the past.
"I'm back." Xiang Yu had returned to normal size, completely back.
"Overlord!" the two women exclaimed in unison, tears streaming down their faces.
Xiang Yu opened his arms, and the warm, soft body embraced him. "I'm sorry to have worried you."
"It's good that you're back..." Yu Ji looked at Xiang Yu with satisfaction, but suddenly thought of a crucial question, "Has the Overlord found Long Ju?"
“Found it, but…” Xiang Yu was sensing every corner of this plane, but he did not find any trace of Long Qi’s soul.
Hao Jiu's system radar also performed a full-scale scan and found many shadow systems, but not the Longqie system.
Yu Ji and Li Canghai understood that Xiang Yu had seen Long Ju but failed to rescue him, so he must be feeling very frustrated. At this moment, what he needed most was comfort.
"It's alright. If it doesn't work this time, there's always next time. There's always a way," Li Canghai comforted him.
“Sister Canghai is right. If we try a few more times, we will definitely succeed,” Yu Ji said with a smile.
"Don't worry, I'm fine."
After Xiang Yu finished speaking, he closed his eyes and carefully recalled his past experiences.
Then, step by step, they ascended into the sky.
I took a deep breath.
He roared:
"Longqi! If you can hear me, come out and see me right now! Come out!"
Xiang Yu's shout didn't seem particularly loud, but it was extremely penetrating. Every bit of his domineering energy acted as a medium to propagate the sound, and it could even be heard in other dimensions.
"Your Majesty, Yu Ji and Cang Hai are right. We can still try harder. As long as we find an earlier time point and come up with a solution to the problem we discovered this time, we can definitely save Long Ju." Hao Jiu sensed that Xiang Yu's condition was not right.
"No, I don't think it's necessary to go again. Because I always have a feeling that Long Ju is still alive, and he's watching me silently from somewhere." Xiang Yu looked in one direction, but there was nothing there.
Just then, the sky suddenly darkened.