Pillar of Yita

The Phantom Realm was rapidly fading away.

Fang Hong could clearly feel it; this was different from the previous scene switches. It was truly fading, the power of the Phantom Realm weakening, feeling like the moment of awakening from a dream when one no longer fully believes in everything that just happened.

Eventually, at a certain moment, his eyelids violently fluttered and then suddenly opened.

Bright light flowed in like a trickling stream into his vision, causing him to close his eyes again. After adjusting for a while, he reopened them.

In front of him was a silent square, with crumbling slates revealing the dark, dense soil underneath, as if the blood that flowed here thirty years ago had yet to dry up.

Weeds that grew through the cracks in the broken stones were blindingly green, rustling softly as a gentle breeze swept across the square.

The once towering buildings had turned to ashes in the blaze, and among the overgrown weeds, only half of a knight statue remained standing in the center of the square.

On the base of the memorial stone were inscribed words that boasted the bravery of the ones who had built this place, but in the midst of the text was a deep, unmistakable crack.

A gecko, with its dark green silhouette, darted across the stone tablet in a flash.

Fang Hong remembered that when he entered the Phantom Realm, it was around midnight, but now the sun was high in the sky, just past noon.

He heard a slight noise and turned to find Red Leaf.

”Where is this?” Red Leaf was standing where she had hidden in the Phantom Realm, but her face was full of confusion, as if she hadn’t fully awakened yet.

”Grey Oak Square, as you see,” Fang Hong replied.

Red Leaf was startled, then realized, ”We, we’re back, Dolifen’s Phantom Realm… has all of this… ended?”

Fang Hong nodded gently at her.

Yes, everything had ended—

All that they had seen within the long Phantom Realm.

Lady Tengye’s cozy inn in Dolifen, the City Hall office wrapped in dispute, Hustings Cathedral where countless souls rested, and the Grey Oak Square engulfed in flames.

Every person they met in the Phantom Realm, from the unlucky Jeffrey at the start to Nikopolas atop the square, seemed vividly lifelike, as if right before their eyes.

But all of that had vanished with it.

Just as it was originally sealed in the long river of history, it was now returning to the embrace of ancient times, with only some things left to prove it had existed.

Fang Hong opened his palm, where a ring with golden flames lay quietly, resembling the circular eye of a giant dragon, as if some power was lurking within, softly conversing with him.

But Fang Hong merely looked at it before clenching it back in his fist, and all the illusions vanished like smoke.

Others gradually joined them on the square.

Not just the Papalarians, who had somehow found the courage to engage in a do-or-die fight with Nikopolas, but also some who had not been on the square at the time.

Like Hansen’s Adventure Group and his subordinates.

These people, one by one, came out of the ruins, confused and disoriented.

Back when they first entered Grey Oak Square, they were scattered by the Shadow of Nicopolis created by Misu, and after that, Fang Hong never encountered them again in the Phantom Realm. He had thought they had all perished at the hands of Nikopolas, but to his surprise, some had survived.

These survivors were somewhat perceptive, seeming to realize that their luck in living was owed to someone else, looking at Fang Hong and his companions with a mix of respect and fear.

But given their prior betrayal in the Phantom Realm, they felt shame and couldn’t bring themselves to interact with Fang Hong again, eventually leaving the place downcast.

In fact, Fang Hong didn’t put much stock in that matter; given the circumstances at the time, the choices those people made were understandable. He took a special look and noticed that Hansen was not among the group.

Regrettably, it seemed the man hadn’t escaped his fate.

Then there were the knights from Tabopolis.

Aside from Recall, who died at the hands of Nikopolas, most of these men, in the end, survived.

Now, they came running out to reconnect with Red Leaf, but were surprised when they realized the part she took in completing their final mission.

”Why didn’t you keep the client here, heaven’s sake, that guy didn’t abscond with all the money, did he?” The knights said all at once.

”Shut up, you lot, that was the Chairman of the Black Goat Commerce Association,” Red Leaf said irritably to these brainless fellows.

Her Guild had named itself the Oak Knights, and perhaps it was that name which caused trouble, making them all appear as dim-witted as if they had wooden heads. She considered herself quite average, but in the Guild, she stood out as an odd one, being nurtured as a future core member.

The members of the Silver Forest Spear would often mock them for treasuring a stone as if it were a gem, and because of this, she gritted her teeth and strove hard to keep up with the two geniuses of the Silver Forest Spear. Although she always fell just short, she proved herself in the end.

The friends in her order might be rigid, but at least they were warm-hearted, not overly concerned about trifles, freeing them from too much scheming and intrigue.

There were some things she hadn’t told Gita and Luo Yu.

The Guild had long since reserved positions for both of them. However, this was the rule of the Tabopolis Oak Knights: they would never reveal the truth to the newcomers until they had been chosen.