You've finally come back.

"Your perception of emotions is much sharper than ours."

Yin Chen's voice came from the middle of the group. He maintained his previous posture, and while his tone sounded calm, the usual relaxed look on his face had vanished.

"What you're feeling is probably not an illusion."

He stopped walking, letting the light on his staff stabilize.

"Everyone, stop for a moment."

Yin Chen's tone grew serious.

"Haven't you noticed that the environment here is changing?"

Hearing this, the group immediately halted their advance and looked around warily.

"Where is the change? Isn't it just the same broken stone walls?"

Hong Yuan reached out to touch the stone wall beside her, only feeling the same cold, hard surface as before.

"Don't look with your eyes."

Yin Chen closed his eyes, using his spiritual sense to perceive their surroundings.

"Feel it with your heart. The negative emotions in the air are multiplying."

He opened his eyes again, a solemn gleam flashing in his gaze.

"These lingering historical emotions have come alive."

He looked at the pitch-black tunnel around them.

"This place itself is the source of a constant festering, and we are walking in the deepest part of the rot, where it continuously oozes foul, purulent blood."

This description sounded incredibly disgusting.

Long Ao asked in a deep voice. He was already developing a bit of PTSD, constantly feeling like there was a mastermind behind the scenes.

"Is it a trap?"

"There are no traces of human intervention."

Su Yuehe shook her head, rejecting the guess.

"It's closer to a natural phenomenon. All the sorrow, resentment, and despair in these ruins are converging in the same direction, and we just happen to be standing on the main channel of this river of emotions."

Everyone instinctively turned their eyes to Chen Guan, who was at the very front.

They were merely travelers who had accidentally stumbled into the river, while Chen Guan was the tide being pulled by the river itself.

"Chen Guan."

An Changqing asked, "How do you feel? Is this feeling guiding you?"

Chen Guan stopped walking, but he didn't turn around.

In truth, ever since he stepped into this tunnel, that pull from the depths of his soul had become exceptionally clear. The vague calling had evolved into a tangible sense of being dragged.

He could sense that, even without him activating it, the power of lingering resentment residing within the echoes was resonating with the surrounding environment.

Those things permeating the air, deemed negative energy, were all like long-lost kin to him.

They affectionately surrounded him, appearing completely non-hostile, merely expressing the loneliness accumulated over endless years in a silent manner.

"Yeah."

Chen Guan simply gave a brief response, then added, "We're almost there."

He had a premonition that the area ahead was the absolute core.

After receiving confirmation, the group set off again. This time, no one spoke a word, and everyone's nerves were stretched to the limit.

The tunnel was so long that no end was in sight, or perhaps they had already lost their sense of distance and time in the darkness.

After walking for an unknown amount of time, the impenetrable curtain of darkness ahead finally began to change.

The pure black background gradually faded, revealing a new scene.

When they emerged from the end of the tunnel, the sight before them made everyone involuntarily hold their breath.

They found themselves at the edge of an even grander underground space, and stretching out before them was a wide river.

This time, it wasn't a metaphor; it was a real river.

The river was black, but it didn't emit any sound of flowing water.

The calm river flowed silently through a bottomless ravine, extending from the darkness at one end to the darkness at the other.

Countless tiny specks of light floated in the air above the river, rising and falling with the air currents.

"What is this?"

Hong Yuan muttered to herself as she looked at the scene, forgetting where to even rest the giant axe in her hands.

Su Yuehe's eyes instantly turned red, and large tears rolled down uncontrollably.

She didn't cry out loud, but just covered her mouth tightly, her shoulders trembling violently without pause.

That immense sorrow swept over, following the flow of the river, threatening to completely swallow her sanity.

"Steady your mind!"

An Changqing grabbed Su Yuehe's shoulders, transferring his own spiritual energy to help her resist the invasion of these emotions.

"Don't look at those lights!"

Yin Chen's face also turned extremely grim. The shield he had erected was entirely useless against this black river, like a wall leaking air.

"Every single speck of light is a soul fragment filled with despair."

He gazed at the dancing glimmers.

What in the world did this civilization do?

If his guess was correct, these fragments were all the people of that civilization, those who had once served that god, yet now they had ended up in this state, condemned to eternal damnation.

Doubts rose in his heart.

Just as everyone was so shocked by this river of sorrow that they could hardly move, the calm black river suddenly rippled.

Countless whispers floated up from the bottom of the river, sounding as if thousands of people were speaking directly into their ears all at once.

"It hurts."

"Why?"

"Traitor!"

"Go home."

These voices were chaotic and noisy, carrying a powerful mental impact that gave everyone a splitting headache.

Only Chen Guan stood alone by the river, watching the scene before him with an expressionless face.

Those noises, which were enough to cause a mental breakdown in the others, sounded exceptionally clear in his ears.

All the static faded away at this moment, ultimately converging into a clear and sorrowful call that traveled directly across eons of space and time to reach his ears.

"You've finally returned."

The call that crossed through eternity echoed vividly in everyone's minds.

The profound weight of crossing time and space cast an illusionary layer over the voice.

"What returned?"

Hong Yuan was the first to break free from the mental shock.

She shook her head vigorously, trying to stay awake. The veins on her arm carrying the giant axe bulged from excessive exertion.

A faint golden light flickered in her arms, but she remained completely unaware of it.

"Who is it talking to?"

No one answered her question.

Because the gazes of everyone present were entirely focused on the lone figure standing by the riverbank.

It was Chen Guan.

If that voice was talking to anyone, it was undoubtedly talking to Chen Guan.

"Chen Guan!"

An Changqing's tone revealed unconcealable tension. He still maintained his posture of supporting Su Yuehe, but his eyes were firmly locked on his companion ahead, a look of worry on his face.

"Did you hear that? What on earth is that?"

Tears continued to slide silently down Su Yuehe's cheeks, but fortunately, she had managed to suppress her near-collapsing emotions.

She didn't know where her emotions were coming from. Perhaps they were influenced by the atmosphere of this place, or perhaps for some other reason, but an immense sorrow kept spreading in her heart.

She lifted her tear-blurred face and looked at Chen Guan's back.

The endless grief hidden within that voice allowed her to personally experience the pain, yet it was also mixed with a certain intimacy she found hard to comprehend.

This didn't belong to a tense confrontation between sworn enemies at all.

This was clearly a reunion finally taking place after crossing through long, endless years.