Chapter 9

Gao Wen gazed at the horizon for a long time. In the first few minutes, the cognitive conflict was so great that he couldn't even guess what he was seeing—whatever it was, it was far from the sun he knew.

That broad and magnificent arc continued to rise, and in the initial stages, it rose much faster than the sun, so it didn't take long for Gao Wen to see a small part of its curved surface. The arc was indeed glowing, with a hazy color and a structure that looked like mist, indistinct and hard to make out. This object was the source of light and heat in this world, but its light was not as blinding as the sun—on the contrary, Gao Wen could not only look directly at the arc but also discern some fine patterns on its surface.

After roughly estimating the curvature of the object, Gao Wen realized that it was dozens or even hundreds of times larger in apparent diameter than the sun—of course, its actual size should be smaller than a normal star, but it was simply too close to the ground.

At this distance, when it rose, it might cover about one-fifth of the sky... of course, this was just Gao Wen's rough estimate, as he was greatly moved, and his intuitive judgment might have a significant deviation.

The sense of oppression brought by the sight of a giant celestial body rising before his eyes was hard to describe.

Rapidly searching through Gao Wen's memories, he indeed found countless similar spectacular "sunrises" in those memories. The object in the sky was not an abnormal celestial phenomenon but the most normal landscape in this world.

So, what was the explanation?

Gao Wen quickly made several interpretations based on his knowledge. Perhaps the physical laws of this world were completely different from those of his homeland, so the efficiency of the star's light and heat was very low, and the planet he was on was very close to the star, allowing him to see such a large sun while the ground was not scorched. Or it might not be a sun at all, but a hole emitting light and heat, or some other unscientific but magical thing...

But more likely, the planet he was on was not orbiting a sun but a gas giant, and it was not a planet but a satellite of the gas giant. The object rising in the sky...

was the parent planet of this satellite.

At this moment, Gao Wen felt a stronger sense of being in a foreign world than ever before.

"Ancestor? Lord Ancestor?" Hetti's voice came from the side, finally snapping Gao Wen out of his daze and deep thoughts.

"Ah... ah?" Gao Wen suddenly came to his senses, looking at his great-great-granddaughter with a bit of surprise and uncertainty.

The beautiful noblewoman had left the dark, narrow, and dangerous underground tunnel and had somewhat regained her former grace. She bowed slightly to Gao Wen: "Ancestor, you were just spacing out, but we need to leave here first."

Gao Wen mumbled a few words to get by, then noticed that the exit of the tunnel was an open hillside. Standing there in the uncertain situation was not a wise move, so he nodded: "Let's go to a higher place to check the surroundings. The terrain I know is from seven hundred years ago and may not be useful now."

So, the group followed Gao Wen's instructions and headed towards a nearby hill. On the way, Gao Wen couldn't help but look up at the giant "sun" several times.

"Lord Ancestor, you keep looking at the sun?" Rebecca, walking behind Gao Wen, couldn't help but ask with some concern, "Is there a problem?"

Amber casually said, "Your ancestor hasn't seen the sun for seven hundred years, so he's bound to look at it a bit more."

Gao Wen ignored Amber and glanced at his great-great-granddaughter, shaking his head slightly. He confirmed in his mind that the locals in this world also called the object in the sky "sun."

Or rather, no matter what the word was, in the minds of the people in this world, the word referred to the sun, and nothing else.

Gao Wen searched through the original owner's memories again, trying several keywords and vague information before finally raising his head and gazing at the sky on the other side, which was still somewhat dim.

In the sky, which was not yet fully bright and still had many stars, he found a "star" about the size of a grain of rice, brighter than all the other stars.

The people in this world called this special star "Ao" and gave it many symbolic meanings in religion and magic rituals.

The first two guesses could be ruled out, and only the third guess was plausible.

"Ao" was the star of this solar system, so distant that it was unimaginable, and its light shining on the ground was almost as cold as the other starlight.

In the cool morning breeze, Gao Wen climbed to the top of the hill.

A land devastated by war, presenting a bizarre and decaying state, lay in the distance.

It was as if strong acid had been poured on the skin, the land was rotten, large areas of rock and soil had turned gray-black, and cracks spread everywhere. The vegetation on the land had been completely corrupted, and the remaining tree trunks had twisted into devilish claw-like shapes. Further away, one could see collapsed walls, burned houses, and the ancient castle of the Cecil family shrouded in dust and smoke.

Giant, deformed monsters wandered on the wasteland.

The fields and crops had long been obliterated by the tide of monsters, making it impossible to distinguish them.

"The family's territory..." Rebecca, lying on the hill, clenched her teeth tightly, her eyes reddening, with tears of anger or sorrow welling up. The young girl, who had just inherited the family business and had not yet adapted to the role of a lord, seemed to have lost everything.

"Land corrupted by the tide of magic looks like this," Gao Wen sighed. "The Gondor Empire was once corrupted from the inside out, and I guess the corruption still lingers on the old empire's wasteland—now new corruption has appeared in the territory of civilization."

Amber broke out in a cold sweat: "By the Shadow God... we were surrounded by these things all along?"

Hetti, thinking about the possibility of the family's recovery, asked, "Is there any hope?"

"There is no hope," Gao Wen shook his head. "You didn't stop the attack of the deformed creatures, and the elemental contamination caused by the tide of magic is irreversible. Even if all the monsters are eliminated, the pollution on this land will persist for a long time."

"How long will it last?" Hetti still seemed to have some hope.

"Has human civilization returned to the land of the Gondor Empire?" Gao Wen asked a seemingly unrelated question.

"…It is still a lifeless zone, and the land on the other side of the grand barrier is a place no one dares to step on."

Gao Wen shrugged: "It seems the corruption of the Cecil territory will last at least seven hundred years."

Rebecca and Hetti looked at their ancestor with some surprise. They couldn't understand how this great figure, who had founded the Cecil family, could remain so calm in the face of the destruction of the family's last territory—neither angry nor sad, as if it were something unrelated to him, which even made them a bit afraid.

But Gao Wen quickly noticed their expressions and asked, "Is there a problem?"

"Lord Ancestor, aren't you... angry?" Rebecca asked cautiously, "This is the last territory of the Cecil family..."

Gao Wen was taken aback, immediately realizing he had not fully assumed the role, which had exposed a flaw. He quickly put on a stern face and mustered all his acting skills: "Dwelling on these things is of no use. Gao Wen Cecil is a pioneer, and every inch of land and wealth of this family was built from scratch. If the territory is gone, it's gone. We can always find a new place to start over—why be so sentimental?"

Hetti and Rebecca quickly nodded, admiring their ancestor's broad vision and magnanimity. They thought, "No wonder he is a legendary ancestor—just wonder where he plans to start over in an era where all the land has been divided among the existing nobility, and unclaimed lands are mostly off-limits..."

"There's nothing to see here. We need to plan our journey next. First, we need to find a town and try to reunite with the group that broke through the siege," Gao Wen quickly changed the subject while his act was still effective. "I remember a knight named Philip led the breakout. Did you agree on a meeting place?"

Rebecca quickly replied, "We agreed to meet in the northern town of Tansan. If Tansan is also attacked by monsters, we will continue north along the kingdom road."

Gao Wen nodded, about to leave, when a strange feeling made him stop.

After a moment of hesitation, he and Knight Byron almost simultaneously shouted, "Get down! Hide!"

Although they didn't understand why, Rebecca and Hetti immediately followed Knight Byron to hide under a nearby boulder, and Amber, as soon as Gao Wen spoke, had already slipped into the shadows and disappeared. Gao Wen quickly hid behind Rebecca but suddenly saw the somewhat dazed and foolish servant girl Betty still standing there with a frying pan, looking bewildered. He darted out and pulled her back—almost at the same moment, a sense of oppression that made everyone's hearts tremble descended from the sky.

In the rising light of the "giant sun," an elegant and massive creature slowly flew across the sky.

It was a dragon, several dozen meters long.

Hetti subconsciously cast a third-level spell, "Light Refraction Field," to conceal everyone, but she was not sure if this simple spell could fool the eyes of a legendary creature.

But the dragon did not notice the people on the ground—or perhaps it simply didn't care. It just slowly flapped its wings, flying majestically and majestically across the sky, its huge eyes reflecting the land of the Cecil territory destroyed by the tide of magic.

Then it spat out a breath... oh, a breath of saltwater... no, it burned the place.