"Nonsense," Gu Chang'an roared. "You are mine and mine alone. I've spent so much time and effort to piece you together. I sacrificed so much. You belong to me. Only to me."

"So what?" Lady Ai countered. "The cube was peacefully waiting for its destined owner, but you forcefully defied destiny by gathering it. Without you, it would still have pieced itself together, but with the right owner."

"Stop speaking nonsense. You think you can reduce all my efforts to something as simple as defying fate? Keep dreaming. I —"

A terrifying suppression suddenly emitted from the cube, forcing Gu Chang'an to stop speaking. A taut silence descended on the battlefield, leaving the cube to keep releasing a humming sound, as if it were deliberating something. No one spoke out loud, waiting for its decision.

"That's your plan?" Wu Hong asked through divine sense.

"Yes. To be honest, I don't think you ever had a chance at defeating Gu Chang'an. If you were dealing with someone of my strength level, yes, but not him. More importantly, even if you could defeat him, there is no way you'd be able to detect his Time Nexus to kill him. The only solution is to use the cube's power and its [Existence Hierarchy] to erase him from this world. Sorry I didn't tell you."

Wu Hong was silent for a few seconds. Lady Ai was right: Gu Chang'an was too powerful. In terms of cultivation, he was truly one breath away from entering the third step. His Dao Quintessence was on the verge of completion, and if not for the flaw in his Dao, he would have already succeeded.

"I understand your plan, and I'm not blaming you, but I have some concerns — mainly about the cube's owner. Is it alive? Why does it still exist? What's its purpose? You should understand more than anyone else the complications of dealing with powers beyond comprehension."

"It's always a good thing to be guarded, but you don't have to worry too much," Lady Ai reassured. "First, your Dao doesn't fit perfectly with the cube, which is not a bad thing. As long as you don't become overly reliant on its power or change your Dao, you'll be fine. More importantly, its owner is most likely dead. According to my research, he entered the [Dao Transcendence Road] and never returned."

"The what?"

"You haven't heard of…oh, right, you're just a Quasi-Saint. Anyway, it's the last step Grand Dao Saints need to take to achieve transcendence. Only by successfully conquering the road can you become a Hongmeng Saint."

Wu Hong's mind began to analyze these words and piece together much previously unknown or missing information. He remembered how the Highest Sovereign couldn't transcend without entering the Primordial Timeline. "Is the Dao Transcending Road in the Primordial Timeline?"

"Um? You're right. Have you heard about it before? Maybe under a different name?"

"No, but I've always theorized why the Primordial Timeline was so valuable. Why does the Grand Dao have so much power and control over all these arrogant and prideful Grand Dao Saints?"

"That's right. But it's not like they are completely without options."

"Oh?"

"Have you heard of the Lost Timeline?"

Wu Hong nodded. "I've heard the name."

"Do you know what happened?"

"I've heard of the most popular theory that they did something so terrible that Grand Dao might have wiped them out. You don't mean?"

"Yes. Their sin was finding alternate paths to the Dao Transcending Road."

"If that's the case, I understand why Grand Dao went to such an extreme."

"Peh! That bitch is just power-hungry and is a control freak," Lady Ai said, not hiding her disdain for Grand Dao. "Anyway, it's not like the operation was a complete failure."

"Oh?"

"There is a surviving group from the incident, and once in a while, they release hidden access to the road. Unfortunately, they haven't shown up in a while, making people speculate that Grand Dao might have successfully wiped them out."

"Maybe they are planning a big move."

"Let's hope so," Lady Ai replied, sighing deeply. "Anyway, aren't you a Primordial Being? You don't have to worry about any of that."

"I wouldn't be so sure."

"What do you mean by that?"

"You said it yourself: Grand Dao is a control freak. Do you think she'd allow us to access the road so easily, without any conditions?"

Lady Ai was silent.

"If you look at history, it's apparent that Grand Dao wants people to transcend using her rules and methods to prevent what happened with the second transcendent from occurring again. So, if there isn't already some stringent rule on accessing the road, I'm willing to bet there will be soon."

Wu Hong couldn't help thinking about the Highest Sovereign. The man has gone to such lengths to enter the Primordial Timeline, but in the end, his efforts might be in vain. To enter the Dao Transcending Road, he might have to pay an even greater price than the invasion cost.

"I don't feel bad for you guys at all. You deserve it."

"Where did that come from?"

"From what I know, during the Battle of Lost Timeline, countless timelines came to their defense. Everyone understood it would be beneficial to the entire world if Grand Dao didn't monopolize the road. However, you guys from the Primordial Timeline stayed out of it because it didn't affect you. In fact, many of you even supported Grand Dao."

"I'm not surprised at all," Wu Hong said. "Most cultivators, even Saints, are short-sighted. They would easily sacrifice the future for a short-term benefit. But why are you blaming me for my forefather's mistake?"

"You benefited from their actions, didn't you? So, why can't I blame their mistakes on you? As the saying goes: a father's sin must be paid by their sons."

Wu Hong was speechless. She had no control over her birth, and more importantly, she was pretty sure that proverb was wrong. Ultimately, she decided to end this conversation. With this brief exchange, it's apparent how biased Lady Ai was regarding this topic.

"Are you sure the owner is dead? I mean dead dead."

"I've done extensive research on Gu Chang'an and that artifact. From what I know, even the most powerful Grand Dao Saint cannot survive too long after entering the road. They must exit periodically to heal and regroup. However, the owner has never returned. More importantly, the artifact wasn't his Proving Dao Artifact.

"He created it for his son, who was killed after people guessed his father's fate. The artifact was divided in the final battle, scattered across the Infinite Trichiliocosm."

"I see. And what realm was this son?"

"You're a bit paranoid, aren't you?"

"Can you blame me?"

"Fair. In this world, paranoid people tend to live longer," Lady Ai replied, nodding. "He was only a Primordial Chaos Saint. Do you feel relieved now?"

"Yes." Although Wu Hong still plans to be extra careful, she felt more reassured dealing with a Primordial Chaos Saint-level threat. The only other issue was the previous owners of the different cube parts, but the chances of those people surviving Gu Chang'an's wrath were minuscule.

"Let's focus on the current situation," Lady Ai suggested.

"Who do you think the cube will choose?"

"I think you have a greater chance. As I said, you fit more with it than that bastard."

"Do you think it has an artifact spirit?"

"I don't know, but it doesn't matter."

"True." An artifact of such power doesn't require a spirit; no matter what, it will have a certain level of cognitive ability.

"I'm curious —"

The pressure released by the cube suddenly stopped, granting everyone around the ability to speak once again. However, before anyone could get a single sentence out, they disappeared, suddenly teleported to another location.

Wu Hong's guard was on high alert as she looked at her surroundings: an endless white space behind her, and an even more infinite space in front, but this one was not empty. As far as she could see, there were books stacked on top of each other and scattered everywhere, with no end in sight and no signs of organization.

"Is this a library? What's going on?" she thought. Luckily, she wasn't the only one confused. Gu Chang'an, who had appeared in the same location, was also looking around with a baffled expression. And upon seeing Wu Hong, an intense killing intent flashed in his eyes, but he suppressed it. Without understanding the situation, acting rashly would be stupid.

"Lady Ai, do you know what's going on?" No one answered. "Lady Ai? It seems our connection has been severed." Wu Hong clenched her fists and immediately frowned: her strength had returned to the Quasi-Saint Realm. This was bad news — especially after sensing Gu Chang'an's killing intent.

Just as Wu Hong was contemplating what her next course of action should be, a new change appeared in this somewhat dull environment, drawing her and Gu Chang'an's focus. A string of characters appeared in front of them:

"T…"

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