Chapter 701: Red Dust Jun Returns

These embroidery threads originated from every corner of Willow Town. They were once a willow tree, a bluestone, a peach blossom, a river—like an exquisite embroidered image, now folded and gathered, drifting into the Su Residence from a frame resembling a window. If one were to gaze down upon Willow Town at this moment, they would discover the entire town had vanished, as if scooped out from the earth, its buildings hollowed, leaving behind only fragmented walls and remnants of life such as pots and pans. The members of the Twilight Society, who had been in the courtyard, experienced a sudden blur; everything around them became unrecognizable, leaving them standing isolated amidst desolate ruins.

"What...what's happening??" Jian Changsheng's eyes widened in disbelief. "The entire Willow Town has disappeared?"

"Willow Town is indeed extraordinary," Bai Ye murmured, his eyes narrowing slightly. "The landscapes of other towns were likely painted by the artists of Fleeting Life Painting, so they only depict scenery, and the buildings were constructed by hand. But Willow Town must have been personally embroidered by the Chief. Whether it's the mountains, rivers, or buildings, the town itself is an embroidered image."

"No wonder Chen Ling said that Willow Town is the heart of the Red Dust Realm. It's plausible that this embroidered image of Willow Town existed first, then expanded outwards, eventually leading to hundreds of towns and the Red Dust Capital City."

"Now that the Chief has taken this image, Willow Town naturally ceases to exist."

"The Red Dust Realm was born with this embroidered image as its core?" Even Chu Muyun was utterly astonished at this moment. They watched as the embroidered image of Willow Town soared into the sky, eventually hovering over the town's central area, flowing through a "window" into a certain place in the void. That place seemed to exist outside of their dimension.

The embroidered image of Willow Town slowly unfolded within the Su Residence. Even after being compressed hundreds of times, it was still large enough to encompass the entire courtyard. As the embroidery fully revealed itself, dense threads of silk could be seen flowing silently beneath Lord Hongchen's skin, seemingly resonating with the image. If one were to observe from above, they would be astonished to discover that the pattern of threads flowing within Lord Hongchen perfectly overlapped with the embroidered image of Willow Town.

Willow Town was a replica of the embroidered image within Lord Hongchen. Or perhaps... Yao Qing had embroidered that image into Lord Hongchen's body.

In a corner of that exquisite embroidered image, a line of elegantly written small characters stood out prominently:August 13, 2024, Yao Qing presented to Sister Zhiwei:— "Red Dust."

"No matter how powerful or skilled one is, it doesn't mean they can conquer time. Perhaps only a very few paths, a very few people in this world, can contend with time..." These were Xiao Chunping's words at the time. The latter half of her sentence went unspoken, because the Embroidery Master was one of those rare paths capable of grappling with time.

For three hundred years, Yao Qing remained here. Although connected to a stasis pod, he couldn't enter hibernation. Thus, almost all his energy was dedicated to completing this embroidered image. He used embroidery threads to imprison time, stitch by stitch, minute by minute. He had trapped three centuries within this Red Dust embroidery, and as Yao Qing stepped into the semi-divine state, this image, which held time captive, was gradually nearing perfection.

Semi-divine level embroidery threads wove silently in the air, as if time itself was passing through the delicate needle tips, ultimately flowing into Lord Hongchen's body. As these threads flowed in, the embroidered image within Lord Hongchen became increasingly vibrant, as if imbued with life and soul. At first glance, it seemed as though the entirety of Willow Town was alive within her.

When the last thread merged into Lord Hongchen, the entire Su Residence fell into a profound silence.

One second,Two seconds,Three seconds…After an unknown span of time, the graceful figure's eyelashes began to flutter, and the tip of her little finger twitched slightly. Finally, a pair of eyes that had been dormant for three hundred years slowly opened in the profound silence.

Su Zhiwei was awake. She lay like a sculpture amidst a bed of petals, her eyes fixed on the clouds drifting above the courtyard—empty and bewildered. Her thoughts slowly rebooted. It wasn't until the third cloud passed that a single thought gradually surfaced in her mind:

"I... I'm still alive?"

Su Zhiwei's consciousness gradually returned. She frowned deeply, seemingly struggling to recall what had happened before: the World War, the Grey World invasion, the Red Dust Base, and... that sudden nuclear strike. Yes, the nuclear strike. She had forcibly revived to withstand the nuclear strike for the Red Dust Base, leading to the damage of her stasis pod. She had no memory of anything after that. Yet, she distinctly remembered being injected with a sedative potent enough to induce three hundred years of sleep, and her stasis pod was ruined. How could she have survived? Had the sedative failed, causing her to awaken prematurely? What era was this? And where was the Red Dust Base?

After a brief moment of contemplation, countless questions flooded Su Zhiwei's mind, nearly tearing apart her newly awakened consciousness. She looked around, and upon seeing the incredibly familiar Su Residence courtyard, she froze in place.

"This is..."

The confusion in Su Zhiwei's eyes deepened. She looked around the residence but saw no one; it was as if she were the only one there.

Finally, Su Zhiwei's gaze settled on the main gate of the Su Residence. There was a door here, and a window.

The "window" was a floating object, the size of a picture frame, not very large. It seemed to connect to the outside world, but one could not pass through it; it merely allowed outsiders to see where she had been sleeping.

The "door" was literally a main gate, but it was unlike the family gate Su Zhiwei remembered. This was a massive, relief-carved gate, intricately engraved with many scenes. Some of these scenes Su Zhiwei could understand, while others left her utterly bewildered.

After a moment of hesitation, Su Zhiwei stepped forward to the relief-carved gate and gently placed her hands on its surface. Then, she pushed it open with force!

"Cough, cough, cough..."

Yao Qing's cough grew weaker, wheezing like a broken bellows as the embroidery threads frantically converged. With each cough, some of the threads on his body would dissipate, and large patches of crimson splattered onto the ground, a shocking sight. Yet, despite this, the smile on his face deepened.

Lord Wuji frowned deeply at this scene. He didn't understand what was happening to Yao Qing, but his intuition told him he couldn't delay any longer. As Lord Wuji subtly raised his fingertips, the forest of sword rain hovering above the street hummed to life simultaneously. It soared into the sky, converging into a massive sword dragon that streaked through the clouds. Thick bolts of lightning clung to the swords, transforming into a ferocious lightning dragon that roared as it charged towards Yao Qing.

Boom—!!!

Just then, a low rumble echoed from the sky, like an ancient, heavy portal being slowly pushed open...