Chapter 309: Prime city 1.

The floating ship continued through the darkness for another two hours before Mo Yuxin finally opened her eyes.

She had been leaning against the window, one hand still wrapped around Su Yubing’s hand. The little girl was asleep across from them, curled beneath the cloak Su Yubing had placed over her. Outside the ship, the strange worlds and broken stars that had filled the earlier journey had gradually disappeared. The darkness beyond the window had become ordinary again. There were still stars, but they looked like normal stars. There were no ancient cities hanging between worlds, no giant eyes watching from beyond the heavenly gate, and no impossible roads made of light.

Mo Yuxin stared outside for a while.

Then she said, very calmly, "I think we’ve gone far enough."

Su Yubing looked up from her shoulder. "Far enough where?"

"Far enough from the Southern Continent."

"We are supposed to be traveling toward the Southern Continent’s heart."

"Yes."

"And somehow we left it."

"Yes."

Su Yubing stared at her.

Mo Yuxin looked back with a completely serious expression.

"We should turn around."

For several breaths, Su Yubing said nothing.

Then she covered her face and laughed.

"You finally admit it."

"I admitted it several hours ago."

"No. You said the trip had become complicated."

"That was an accurate description."

"You even stepped onto that giant ship without asking where it was going."

Mo Yuxin thought about it.

"It had comfortable seats."

Su Yubing laughed harder.

"That’s your excuse?"

"It was a good ship."

"You really are impossible."

Mo Yuxin smiled and pulled Su Yubing closer until the latter’s head rested against her chest.

"Are you unhappy?"

Su Yubing’s laughter slowly settled.

"No. Not even a little."

Mo Yuxin lowered her head and kissed the top of her hair.

"Then it’s fine."

Su Yubing raised her face and looked at her. "You know, I think this is the first time I’ve seen you look genuinely annoyed during this whole journey."

"I’m not annoyed."

"You are."

"A little."

"Because we left the continent?"

"Because we were finally getting somewhere and then the universe decided to send us sightseeing."

Su Yubing smiled.

"Maybe the universe knows you like traveling with me."

Mo Yuxin’s eyes softened immediately.

"I do."

The answer came so naturally that Su Yubing paused.

Then she smiled and kissed Mo Yuxin’s chin.

"Good."

A moment later, Mo Yuxin turned her attention toward the front of the ship.

"Where is this thing going?"

Su Yubing glanced around.

"Maybe we should ask."

They found the old woman who had been steering the ship standing near the front deck. She was the same woman they had seen before the ship crossed the heavenly gate, although the strange glow around her had faded. Without the mysterious scenery around her, she looked like an ordinary middle-aged cultivator wearing a gray robe.

Mo Yuxin walked toward her.

"Where are we?"

The woman looked over her shoulder.

"You finally noticed."

Mo Yuxin stared.

Su Yubing almost laughed.

"Where are we going?" Su Yubing asked.

The woman pointed ahead.

"Back to the Southern Continent."

Mo Yuxin blinked.

"What?"

"The ship’s route changed when you entered the road. It has completed its loop. We are returning you to the same place where you left."

Mo Yuxin looked at Su Yubing.

Su Yubing smiled.

"See? The universe fixed your mistake."

Mo Yuxin nodded seriously.

"Good universe."

The old woman snorted.

"You two really are strange."

Mo Yuxin did not deny it.

The journey back took another day.

During that day, the supposed mystery of Homeward City became much less mysterious.

The old woman explained that the heavenly road was simply an ancient transit formation created by cultivators far beyond the current cultivation system. The seven gates had once been used to move people, supplies and information between isolated regions of the world. The reason the formations reacted to Mo Yuxin and Su Yubing was not because they had some grand destiny. Their spiritual imprints happened to match the two founders who had created the route thousands of years ago.

The seven lanterns represented seven checkpoints.

The seventh bell represented the final activation sequence.

The sleeping woman beneath Homeward City was the core guardian spirit of the entire network.

The city records had called Mo Yuxin and Su Yubing ancestors because, in the ancient era, two cultivators with nearly identical soul patterns had repaired the network after a catastrophe and were later recorded as founders.

The future versions that had appeared beyond the gate were not literal future versions in the sense Mo Yuxin and Su Yubing had first assumed. They were projection echoes created by the formation from the residual memories of countless travelers.

The giant eye had not been an evil god either.

It had been the core surveillance mechanism of an abandoned defense array.

The frightening voice saying that the ending would change had belonged to a damaged control mechanism attempting to preserve its programmed objective.

As for the little girl, her strange title of seventh bell was merely because she carried the activation seal of the old network. She was the last descendant of the guardians who had lived around the central formation.

There was no ancient enemy secretly waiting to devour the world.

There was no heavenly conspiracy.

There was no hidden war between eras.

There was an old transportation system, a badly maintained formation network, several exaggerated historical records and a collection of cultivation experts who had spent too many centuries making ordinary things sound dramatic.

When Su Yubing heard the complete explanation, she sat in silence for a moment.

Then she asked, "So all of that happened because nobody properly maintained a formation?"

The old woman nodded.

"Basically."

Mo Yuxin stared out the window.

"That’s disappointing."

Su Yubing laughed.

"You wanted a great ancient enemy?"

"Not really."

"Then why are you disappointed?"

"Because I wasted a perfectly good afternoon fighting a giant eye."

Su Yubing leaned against her shoulder.

"You did enjoy it a little."

Mo Yuxin smiled.

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TO BE CONTINUED.