Chapter 378: Chapter 339: Losing First Is Not Necessarily a True Defeat

Anton made up his mind and stood up, leaving the Quiet Chamber.

He sent a message to Eleanor, then left the Ninefold Celestial Tower and headed to the Eternal Tree, where the Egg of the Old World was kept.

The Egg of the Old World floated quietly in its vine-woven pouch as always. Its grayish-white shell now bore more pale veins than the last time he saw it. They stretched and wound along the curve of the shell like fine blood vessels.

Anton unfurled his Divine Sense and plunged it into the egg, clearly feeling the vibrant, pulsing life force inside. Compared to when he first obtained the Egg of the Old World, this vitality was much more vigorous and dense. It was no longer the faint, ephemeral state that felt as if it could dissipate at any moment. Looking closely, a beast-like silhouette could faintly be seen through the shell.

"It is recovering nicely." Anton nodded to himself.

He figured that at this growth rate, the Egg of the Old World would likely hatch in another twenty years.

He withdrew his Divine Sense and went to the area where the Heaven-Overturning Seal and the Nine Dragon Divine Fire Shield were being nurtured.

The Death Qi from the Broadsword Spirit he obtained previously had long been purified. He had immediately merged it into the Nine Dragon Divine Fire Shield to serve as a Spirit Seed, then set up an array to nurture it. Right now, both Profound Artifacts hovered in the Array Hub at the center of the formation, enduring the washing and nourishing of the dense Spiritual Qi.

The mountain and river patterns on the surface of the Heaven-Overturning Seal were much deeper than before, with each line exuding a heavy, solid texture. Anton could clearly sense the pulsation of the Spiritual essence within the seal, which was already very close to that of the Sword Pill. He estimated that in four or five years at most, this Spiritual essence would fully take shape and transform into a true Artifact Spirit. At that point, the Heaven-Overturning Seal would cross the threshold and rank among Spiritual Artifacts.

As for the Nine Dragon Divine Fire Shield, because the Spirit Seed was integrated later, it still needed more time to be nurtured before completing its transformation.

Anton scanned them with his Divine Sense. Confirming the fusion process was stable, he did not linger and turned to leave.

Afterward, he checked on the Spiritual Weapons brought back from the Alternate Space. Satisfied that their Spirit Souls were developing steadily, he paid them no further mind.

It was worth noting that after initially retrieving the Spiritual Weapons, Anton had personally investigated that Alternate Space, but unfortunately, he found nothing. The Spiritual Weapons there had long been picked completely clean, and the Undead Monsters had been eradicated. Furthermore, without its Death Qi, the Alternate Space lost the breeding ground needed to spawn Undead Monsters, stripping away its last bit of value.

"An ancient battlefield-type Alternate Space... It’s a bit similar to the Nether Abyss. Could it be a spatial fragment of the Nether Abyss?"

"The Death Qi has completely dissipated too. No, it is highly likely that someone harvested it."

Connecting these two points immediately made Anton think of the Ring of Annihilation. Perhaps those cultists were behind this as well.

Even so, Anton had no intention of digging deeper. That bunch of lunatics acted with extreme secrecy, making it difficult to catch their tails. As long as they did not provoke him, Anton could not be bothered to deal with them. Anyway, there would be plenty of opportunities to clash with those guys after the Undead Calamity erupted in the future.

Amidst his swirling thoughts, a Paper Crane suddenly flew over.

He extended his hand, letting the Paper Crane land on his palm before it unfolded itself back into a flat sheet of letter paper. Eleanor’s neat, elegant handwriting lined the page. Anton swept his gaze over the words row by row.

The letter detailed the events that had occurred on the continent during his seclusion. Most of the information concerned the rise and fall of various factions. The most important piece of news was that the Sea Race had been attacked by the other four major powers and became the first to withdraw from the battle for the Holy Dragon Mountain Range.

"The same development as the original history..." Anton lowered the letter, a thoughtful look flashing in his eyes.

In the original history, the Sea Race was also the first of the five major powers to drop out of the war. The process was identical to what the intelligence report described. This was actually not all that surprising. After all, the Sea Race’s disadvantage was glaringly obvious. Not only was the land not their home turf, but the Great Vortex Islands were located far beyond the continental shelf, making them much too distant from the Holy Dragon Mountain Range.

Even if the Sea Race eventually succeeded in taking the mountain range, their supply line stretching across half the continent could be cut off at any moment. They simply could not securely hold the territory.

The higher-ups of the Sea Race had likely foreseen this early on, so they used this defeat as an excuse to withdraw from the war. Otherwise, a single defeat without suffering critical losses would not have stopped them from making a comeback.

In the present, this move did not reflect well on the Sea Race and greatly damaged their prestige. However, time would prove the correctness of this decision. During the subsequent Undead Calamity, because the Sea Race had preserved the bulk of their forces and remained far beyond the continental shelf, they ended up taking the least amount of damage. By the time the Undead Calamity ended, they were the first to recover their strength, subsequently suppressing the other four major powers and showing signs of becoming the continent’s number one faction.

One could only say that an early defeat wasn’t truly a loss; he who laughs last is the ultimate winner.

"Looking at it this way, the upcoming developments shouldn’t deviate too much either."

In the original history, the intensity of the war only increased after the Sea Race’s exit. Shortly thereafter, the Jade Royal Court and the Freedom Alliance united to fight against the Blood Roar Fortress and the Heart of the Mountains, thereby forming a two-on-two standoff. The major first-tier factions were gradually dragged into the war, attacking one another. The flames of war spread from the Holy Dragon Mountain Range across the entire continent. By then, it would be very difficult for the Silver Moon Clan to stay out of the fray as they were doing now.

But that was a matter for the future. At this stage, advancing to the Nascent Soul Stage was the most important priority.

Anton rubbed his fingers together, and the letter turned into flying ash, dissipating into nothingness. He then walked toward the other side of the Eternal Tree, the location he had selected to set up the Great Dream Formation.

For the current Anton, the Great Dream Formation was not particularly complex. At the very least, it could not compare to the Primordial Five Elements Grand Array.

It took him only half a month to complete the array setup.

Afterward, he entered the formation without delay, sat cross-legged at the Array Hub, and injected a strand of Magical Power into it.

The Array Patterns lit up one by one. A silvery-gray light spread in all directions along the lines, enveloping the area within a hundred meters in a soft halo. The air grew stagnant, as if an invisible veil was slowly descending from the dome to drape over his head.

Anton calmed his mind and closed his eyes. His consciousness began to sink, as if supported by an invisible pair of hands, slowly plummeting toward a bottomless depth. The surrounding sounds, light, and temperature rapidly faded away, disappearing piece by piece like water marks left on the shore during a receding tide.

Then, the world lit up once more.

Anton looked around and found himself standing on a street. The road, paved with bluestone bricks, was wet with rain and gleamed with a hazy gray light. The houses on both sides were low and dilapidated. Their wooden doors were swollen from the dampness, revealing dark mold spots along the edges. A few distant dog barks drifted over, muffled by the wind.

Anton looked down at his own hands. His palms were rough, his knuckles thick, with a heavy layer of calluses on the webbing between his thumbs and index fingers. They were worn down from years of gripping a hoe.

Looking down at his body, he saw he was wearing a patched linen shirt with pant legs rolled up to his knees, exposing mud-splattered calves. On his feet was a pair of straw sandals, worn down to a paper-thin sole.

He raised his head and surveyed his surroundings. It was a late autumn afternoon, and the sky was a gloomy, overcast gray. The wind blew in from the end of the street, carrying the burnt scent of scorched stalks from the fields.

Standing in the middle of the street, Anton’s mind was completely blank. But soon, the memories returned. He was a farmer, living alone in a shack outside the village, surviving by cultivating a few acres of barren land.

So, he stepped forward and walked toward the end of the street.

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