Chapter 618 Rising from the Coffin! (10,000 words! Happy birthday to myself!)

The skies above the North Ionian Mountains always darken with the arrival of late autumn. Snow clouds and fog from the north drift across the sky of this coastal mountain range, like the unwillingness and sorrow clinging to every corner of the world.

Gasha had never liked snow. Before being adopted by the professor, he was a stray orphan in the sewers beneath the mobile cities of the south, surviving by doing errands for gangs and petty theft… Snow meant cold. Fingers would stiffen, the body would shiver, movements would slow, and thoughts would freeze.

Prolonged snowfall, and the frigid air in general, made his kind—a sub-dragon with dragon blood—lethargic, and prone to catching colds and fevers.

And that meant death.

For a bastard child with no parents or identification, whether it was starvation from being unable to work or death from illness, the end was the same.

The threat of death… he hadn't felt it in a long time… three years, four years? Ever since he and Loya were rescued from the filthy slums and sewers by the professor and taken in as apprentices, he had grown accustomed to not worrying about survival, but focusing on learning and living.

But now…

"Gasha… Dean… why did this happen…"

The white-haired teenager… or rather, boy, was sobbing softly. His blue eyes were filled with tears, but they didn't fall.

Although he was crying, his small hands were very steady. Loya was assembling a small magic-powered refrigerator at a speed that most people couldn't replicate, preparing to place it inside the stone coffin to preserve the professor's body.

Because of the sudden frost calamity, the door to the ruins had collapsed, and now the entire exploration team was trapped in this ancient relic from the last era, with no idea when they could get out.

But even if they didn't know if they could get out alive, they couldn't just let the professor's body rot. It wasn't just them; the children in the orphanage were also waiting for the professor to return.

Even… just the body.

*Click.* Loya had already assembled the magic-powered refrigerator. The crystal in the center of the small, square alchemical device shone with an ice-blue light, the same color as his eyes, and released freezing air like the external frost calamity.

Seeing this, Gasha couldn't help but think, "He's always been so skilled, with an amazing talent for alchemical engineering… and he's always been a good kid."

Loya was indeed a good kid. When he was still struggling to survive in the sewers, being chased by local gangs, Loya would help by giving him tip-offs, bringing him some black bread and clean water.

Loya, whose father had been an alchemy lecturer for the Order of Light Chasers, was literate and cultured. When he had time, he would even read to him, teach him to write, and sing songs.

If his parents hadn't died in a battle between demonized beings and the city-state's garrison, he wouldn't have ended up in the slums.

And himself…

"Gasha, help me move the coffin lid…"

Staggering to his feet, the white-haired boy wiped his eyes. "It's too heavy, I can't lift it. Help me put the magic-powered refrigerator in… Waa… Dean…"

As he spoke, he sank back into grief.

"Loya, don't cry… Crying won't bring the professor back."

To this, the black-haired, dark-gold-eyed boy could only sigh softly, suppressing his own confusion, and take the magic-powered refrigerator from the other boy's hands. As he walked towards the stone coffin, he spoke to comfort him, "We need to stay calm now and protect the professor's body to take it back…"

Although he wasn't much taller than Loya, Gasha, as a sub-dragon, was stronger than many adults. He was skilled with a shield and hammer, and during training, he was even praised as someone who might become a true knight in the future.

Although everyone knew that demonized patients could never become knights, and could only become mercenaries at best, it still proved his potential.

"But, Gasha… without the dean, can we even survive?"

Suppressing his sobs, the boy, who wasn't naive and could even be considered precocious, said blankly, "This mission, this mission is just not right! It was supposed to be just exploring ancient ruins, why did it suddenly become so dangerous?"

"The adults on the exploration team, ever since they and the dean discovered 'that iron coffin' in the ruins, the atmosphere has been strange… Aunt Yelena was originally very gentle, but now, although she seems the same on the surface, I can sense that she has become dangerous…"

"Now there's not enough food and water either. Gasha, I still remember the famine the year we met the dean. Uncle Leoff was originally very good to us, but he later wanted to eat us… This time, will we…"

As he spoke, Loya closed his eyes, preventing tears from flowing out. He murmured softly, "I want to eat the vegetable soup and bread made by Aunt Sophia…"

"I…"

Gasha, who wasn't good with words, opened his mouth, unsure of how to respond.

Although there was indeed fear, it wasn't fragility.

Far from home, in an ancient ruin deep in the Ionian Mountains near the Silent Glacier, two children who weren't even twenty-eight years old combined had lost their support. It was normal to feel uneasy and lost.

Moreover, Loya was right.

This ruin exploration was indeed strange.

What the professor did before establishing the orphanage was unknown to the children in the orphanage, but his old friends would often come to visit him, and call him professor or mentor.

And he did indeed teach the orphanage children all kinds of knowledge, so some children called him dean, and others called him professor.

Maintaining the orphanage and teaching required money. Although the professor had savings, it was obviously impossible to maintain the orphanage's operations for long.

So every few months, the professor would go out and work with some acquaintances or strangers.

As the two oldest and most intelligent children in the orphanage, Gasha and Loya could already help the professor with some alchemical equipment and exploration issues. They were basically apprentices, so they were occasionally taken on missions by the professor.

Most of the missions involved going to some ancient ruins, analyzing some ancient documents, murals, and various creations that looked like a headache.

They didn't even need to analyze them; they just needed to classify and store them.

This was all easy, and the income was considerable, enough to support the normal operation of the orphanage.

And in this process, both Loya and Gasha were trained. They could already help the professor with almost all the chores and basic work. In a few years, they might be able to carry out related missions independently.

This was probably the reason why the professor took them on missions.

But some time ago, because there were too many insurgents, the empire increased the war tax significantly.

The ruler of the mobile city-state where the orphanage was located, in order not to have his title reduced, began to levy taxes heavily.

The orphanage was also targeted, and the tax officer, who was rude, issued an ultimatum: if the orphanage could not pay the full amount of taxes according to the number of people in the orphanage, then all the boys in the orphanage would be taken to work to death on farms and mines on the Ximov Plains, and the girls would be taken to serve as military prostitutes.

Children shouldn't be taxed, but it was useless to reason with them. In this world, whatever the empire and nobles said was the truth.

Forced to do so, the professor could only accelerate his work, but this kind of work was hard to come by. After completing all the related missions, the tax was still mostly unpaid.

Fortunately, at this time, a reliable wandering knight, a transcendent named Yelena, found the professor, saying that she had a rather dangerous but highly paid mission.

She invited a team of elites to explore an ancient ruin from the last era in the Ionian Mountains in the northwest of the continent, and the professor, as a well-known scholar of ancient civilizations and former vice president of the Imperial Alchemical Association, was naturally the most important person in the team, so she came to invite him personally.

To express her sincerity, she even prepaid some of the remuneration: this could just fill most of the tax gap. If they got the full payment, then the orphanage could even renovate the dormitory building!

At this point, the professor had no choice but to refuse. He packed his bags, brought all his tools, and even purchased a set of equipment for Gasha and Loya, and then set off with Yelena.

So it was too suspicious, from the beginning.

The perfectly timed high remuneration, the mysterious ancient ruins mission, the ancient texts that only the professor could understand, the metal coffin brought back from the depths of the earth… and the professor, who had no wounds on his body but was extremely weak and eventually died, were all so.

*Boom, boom…* The entire ruin was shaking, and even the stone coffin placed on the side was vibrating slightly, as if the person inside was moving.

That was the calamity, raging outside the ruins, all around the mountain range: the 'frost calamity'.

Because of the conflict between the Magic Moon and the Holy Sun, terrible disasters often occurred on this continent named 'Aeon'. Although most disasters only occurred in fixed areas, they were still enough to be feared.

In addition, recently, the Holy Sun's light had been weakening day by day, and the frequency and location of disasters had become unstable.

The frost calamity, as one of the most terrible disasters in the northern region, manifested as huge hailstones the size of houses condensing in the sky and falling to the ground. This was an irresistible destruction; no city wall or shield could resist it.

The members of the exploration team were originally ready to end their mission and return, but they were locked in the ruins by this sudden disaster.

Even a huge hailstone smashed through the ruin passage in the mountain, trapping everyone in the ruin, unable to get out at all.

"...If the disaster doesn't end and we haven't found another passage out of the ruins, then when the food runs out, we'll really start eating people."

Gasha's heart was colder than the magic-powered refrigerator he held tightly in his hand. "I'm a demonized being. If it's not necessary, normal people wouldn't contact a demonized being, let alone eat my flesh, but Loya isn't. He even has elven blood… No, this is unacceptable!"

More concerned about the safety of his friend than himself, the black-haired boy subconsciously gritted his teeth, almost crushing the magic-powered refrigerator in his hand.

Even if he died, he couldn't allow Loya to encounter such a thing!

But just then, he suddenly heard several heavy knocking sounds.

"Thump, thump, thump."

There was a sound, coming from the stone coffin in the center of the room.

This sound immediately interrupted Gasha's worries and Loya's confusion. The two children suddenly raised their heads, looking at the location of the stone coffin in confusion.

After a while, the two exclaimed in unison.

"It, it moved?!"

"The professor's coffin lid, it actually moved!"

*Swish!* Immediately, Gasha picked up his shield and hammer from the side, staring nervously in that direction. "Could it be undead transformation?!"

This shield was a refined iron shield personally selected for him by the professor. For him now, it was a large shield enough to cover his entire body, and he could continue to use it when he grew up. Ordinary people couldn't even lift it.

However, even a refined iron shield that arrows and magic-powered guns couldn't penetrate couldn't deal with intangible undead—the undead's decaying body was not worth fearing; what was truly terrifying was their transcendent power, which could naturally reach the 'Soul Condensation' stage at its weakest!

Undead were originally magical creatures that could only appear in places with extremely high magic density, and this ruin happened to have extremely high magic density. In addition, the external frost calamity brought natural magic like a tidal wave. If the professor really turned into undead… it wouldn't be strange.

"Could it be that the professor isn't dead?!"

But on the other side, Loya stood up, his blue eyes full of joy—the boy's thoughts were optimistic; he didn't think about undead at all, and even began to stride quickly towards the stone coffin.

Of course, Gasha stopped him.

"The professor stopped breathing a long time ago, how could he not be dead?"

The sub-dragon boy cautiously approached the stone coffin, holding a shield in one hand and a hammer in the other. Having seen life and death in the slums, he clearly knew what people looked like after death. Although the weather was freezing, the professor's body hadn't started to change yet, but his blood had long stopped flowing, and even a transcendent couldn't save him.

He wanted to tell Loya to run away, but then he thought about the treacherous situation of the exploration team, so he didn't continue to speak.

"Thump thump thump!"

And at this moment, the stone coffin moved even more violently. It was a shaking different from the shaking of the entire ruin under the disaster. It was clear that someone inside was trying to open the stone coffin, but couldn't figure out how.

"Professor!"

Seeing the stone coffin shaking so violently, even Gasha, who wasn't good at expressing himself, felt grief for a moment. He closed his eyes, recalling the past—the professor had saved him and Loya, as well as many other children in the orphanage, during the famine; the professor had built the orphanage bit by bit. Although he was a skilled alchemist, he studied recipes and learned to cook to please the children, and played with the children…

Although it was only three or four years, it was so warm.

Gasha opened his eyes, his dark-gold pupils revealing determination.

He raised his shield.

"Rest in peace!"

With a low roar, Gasha poured his weight and strength into his hand, and then, along with the shield, heavily pressed down on the stone coffin!

Instantly, the stone coffin became quiet—although the person inside seemed to still be moving, but facing a sub-dragon boy with natural strength and his shield, even a beginner knight couldn't struggle when being suppressed.

After a while, the person in the coffin stopped moving.

"—Sigh."

Then, there was a sigh that was almost inaudible.

Neither Gasha nor Loya heard this sigh, but at the moment when the sound waves rippled, the two children suddenly felt their bodies shake, losing control of their bodies for a short time.

And when they recovered from their confusion, Gasha was shocked to find that he had released the shield in his hand at some point, and the movement in the coffin appeared again!

And this time, the coffin lid of the stone coffin had been pushed open, revealing a gap.

And a slightly old but well-maintained hand stretched out from the gap, rising from the coffin!

To be honest, Su Zhou felt terrible right now.

It wasn't the trivial matter of the silly child outside wanting to press him back—he would press back too if he were them—but about the entire world.

Since descending from the void into this twilight world, he had felt an invisible and intangible discomfort…

The spiritual energy of this world was very thick. If the spiritual energy of a normal world was like thin mist, almost non-existent, then the spiritual energy of this world was like thick fog where you couldn't see your fingers.

Thick, viscous, difficult to mobilize, as if it had its own will.

Although the situation was much better than in the Perfect World, where there was not even spirituality in the spiritual energy, it was not a normal situation.

And more importantly, it was this physical body.

Since Su Zhou was born, even counting the large and small critically injured situations, he had never been as weak as he was now: this body was already extremely weak before death, its lifespan almost completely exhausted, and he could feel that this lifespan seemed to have been forcibly drawn away, rather than naturally consumed.

Although it might look okay on the outside, it was completely a terrible empty shell on the inside.

"Limbs… joints are difficult to bend."

"The internal organs have almost collapsed. It was me who forcibly restarted them by recreating life with my soul."

"Blood… sigh, why is this blood dry? How long has this body not drunk water, or was it baked in a furnace before? Why is my blood dry?!"

Realizing this, Su Zhou was even more shocked: "Damn it, what's wrong with my counterpart? Am I in a cremation furnace?"

"If I don't replenish some water, even if I use my soul power to hold on, this body will collapse!"

In addition to these terrible news, Su Zhou also figured out some basic information about his dead counterpart.

The body was about fifty or sixty years old, maybe even older.

There had once been a considerable amount of transcendent power in the body, not strong, but not weak either, but he had long stopped practicing and maintaining it, almost abandoning it himself, leaving only some of the most basic power.

And because of the death of this body, even that little bit of basic power had dissipated.

Su Zhou didn't bring anything this time.

Not to mention the body, there were still 6.5 billion Huoxi people in his personal space. Although the Tree of Wisdom and the Sara family would take care of them, it was obviously impossible to bring them to another world.

And the Blade of Annihilation, Su Zhou left all of these in the Earth universe to fight against the powerful enemies of the Void Cult.

After all, his physical instincts could also use weapons.

"I wonder how the fighting is going now. My physical instincts are also very powerful. Although they can't compare to my combat awareness, they should be enough to deal with ordinary interstellar civilization fleets."

Thinking of this, Su Zhou couldn't help but smile: "As long as I don't face those revived strongmen from the previous era, it should be easy."

Without bringing these powers, Su Zhou now had only his soul, inheritance, fundamental supernatural powers, and the marks of great beings like the Samsara Seal, and the Celestial Scale.

With these, it was completely enough.

"Anyway, let's move first."

Slowly opening his eyes, Su Zhou felt that his vision was a bit blurry—of course, the cornea was a bit blurry after someone had been dead for a while.

Based on this, he deduced that the time his counterpart died should be around twelve hours.

Completely pushing open the coffin lid, Su Zhou struggled to lift himself up, and then looked to the other side.

The faces of two extremely shocked and bewildered children came into his view.

The white-haired child was slender, or rather, a bit thin due to malnutrition. His ears were a bit pointed, and the shape of his ice-blue pupils wasn't completely round, and they also emitted a warm luster. He probably wasn't a pure-blooded human.

Although the black-haired child also had a smooth figure, it was full of strength like a cheetah. His physical fitness was very good, his dark-gold pupils were vertical, and he had two horns on his head, but one horn was broken from the middle—this was obviously a dragon-snake related bloodline, and the manifestation was very high.

Both of them were wearing quite thick winter adventure suits. The black-haired sub-dragon boy's expression was cautious, uneasy, and fearful, but the fluctuation of his soul radiated a deeply hidden anticipation. The white-haired boy's surprise was truly heartfelt. He didn't seem to hide his emotions at all.

These two children seemed to be stuttering something. The language was completely unfamiliar. Although Su Zhou could communicate with his soul, he didn't plan to show too many abnormalities in front of children who couldn't hide things.

"Let me see what memories my counterpart left behind…"

Calming down and closing his eyes, Su Zhou's soul power began to scan the brain of this body.

The human brain was essentially a very sophisticated bio-machine. Whether it was reading or inputting, it was very complicated, but this obviously couldn't compare to the soul of a Celestial Immortal.

Even though the soul had dissipated due to death and the brain was severely damaged, most of the memories in this body's brain were still preserved quite well, although there was indeed a lot of missing information, basic knowledge like language could still be quickly copied.

"I see…"

After reviewing it several times in his mind, Su Zhou opened his mouth, controlling his body, and made an old, weak, and somewhat hoarse voice: "Gasha, Loya."

"Pour me some water."

"Professor!" "Dean!"

For a moment, whether it was the wary Gasha or the unsuspecting Loya, the moment the 'professor' called out their names in his usual tone, their hearts couldn't help but beat faster: "You're alive?!"

"Yes, the injury was too serious before, so I feigned death for a while."

After speaking intermittently, Su Zhou didn't pretend. He was really this weak now: "I'm very thirsty… pour me some water."

"We'll get it right away!"

Hearing the familiar voice, and being instructed in a familiar tone, the two immediately began to act, turning around to get water.

He couldn't blame them. After all, they were just children. Even if they had seen life and death, they would still can't help but believe in 'miracles'.

Even if there were doubts in their hearts… but things had already gotten this bad, what couldn't they believe?

During the time the two children were away, Su Zhou narrowed his eyes slightly.

He continued to use his soul power to fine-tune the condition of his body. Although he was dehydrated, it wasn't impossible to operate.

"Is the lifespan coming to an end? That's fine, the Yin-Yang Reincarnation Immortal Method can be practiced… The divine wood aura in the divine wood mark given to me by the Great Dao Tree is completely enough. With this idiot's life extension cultivation method that even Sara can quickly master, the lifespan of this body is not a problem at all."

"As for cultivation, the spiritual energy situation in this world is a bit strange. Let's see what happens first. Let's use the Five Virtues Qilin Method, which is the most universal."

The cultivation method he developed was just right for him to practice himself. These two extremely simple idiot cultivation methods could operate in any world, under any circumstances.

After roughly determining these two points, Su Zhou concentrated and tuned out another thing, a gift from a great being that came with his soul, like the Samsara Seal and the Great Dao Tree mark.

"Prajna Book, collect the information about my current body!"

In the next moment, a golden book full of cracks on the outside appeared in front of Su Zhou, and then began to turn pages automatically.

Brilliant light patterns flashed, and endless streams of information flowed, pouring into his eyes.

[Prajna Book has been activated, automatically collecting information…]

[Name: Svetly Afanasy Zelensky (cвetлыn·Афaha?cnn·3eлehcknn)/Su Zhou]

[Age: 67 years old]

[Talent: Elite]

[Race: A branch of the Aeon people, with some demon blood]

[Cultivation: None]

[Current condition: Near death]

[Historical information: Born in the central region of the Asmodai Empire, the mobile city 'Gray Iron'. Mother died early. When studying at the Alchemy Academy of the Order of Light Chasers in the south in his youth, his father was infected with demonization during the 'Red Moon' and was dealt with by the imperial military, harboring resentment.

In middle age, he joined the Asmodai Imperial Royal Alchemy Association as an alchemy master, becoming vice president and professor of the Alchemy Department of the Holy Stone Academy, and secretly supported the actions of a rebel army, providing intelligence and technology, seriously undermining the empire's rule in related areas.

At the age of fifty-two, the rebel army he supported was wiped out due to a traitor's betrayal; in the same year, he was betrayed by a traitor, exposing his identity as a rebel mentor, and was forced to go into hiding, going to the southern noble autonomous city-states, acting in the name of an ancient ruins researcher, completely giving up revenge.

At the age of sixty-two, a 'scorching drought disaster' occurred in the southern Aeon continent, and the local grain harvest failed. Some mobile cities left the disaster area, but a large number of settled villages and some mobile cities fell into riots. Because he couldn't bear it, he took action to save many children and established the 'Hope Light Orphanage'.

At the age of sixty-seven, due to the empire's increased war taxes to fight against the 'Sunset' and 'Bitter Frost' two great barbarians in the Northeast Plains, he took on the ruins exploration mission in the Ionian Mountains and died in the depths of the ruins, exhausting his lifespan.]

[Perfect Deduction: Already dead, so none.]

"Good家伙!" (Good Heavens!)

In fact, the information in the Prajna Book was even more detailed, but this was already enough.

After reading it, Su Zhou couldn't help but sigh: "So my counterpart was actually a rebel army instructor? Although he gave up on himself in his later years, he still took action again for the children… He's indeed a good person."

"It's just that he's really old, and that demon bloodline… This world is quite strange. Can demon bloodlines live with ordinary people?"

These were actually minor matters. After roughly understanding his body's information, Su Zhou shifted his attention to the entire world.

After collecting the information about his body, the Prajna Book had also almost completely collected the general information about this twilight world.

Unlike before, with the perfect gift and the Prajna Book, Su Zhou no longer had to run around in various other worlds, collecting information with his eyes blindfolded.

This world was called Aeon (Aion), meaning 'Eternity'.

It had a sun called the 'Holy Sun', a moon called the 'Magic Moon', and a moon called the 'Sealed Moon'.

One day, two moons, and the stars in the sky.

Aeon was a world of a flat earth and a round sky. The four sides of the continent were all glaciers and mountains. The entire world was generally shaped like this: ▢. The middle was a rectangular continent, both sides were oceans, and the edges were surrounded by glaciers and mountains.

The world of Aeon was vast, but because of the disasters caused by the conflict between the Holy Sun and the Magic Moon, the area that could provide for human survival was not large, not much more than Earth. There were many magical creatures inhabiting the mountains, making it extremely dangerous.

Currently, although there were many countries on the world of Aeon, there was only one hegemonic empire, the 'Asmodai Empire'. This empire was the product of the self-collapse of the previous Aeon unified empire, the 'Sol Empire', after paying a great price to defeat the united army of the 'Bitter Frost and Sunset' two great barbarians.

Many nobles spontaneously reorganized the new empire with the strongest as the core. It was extremely powerful, and its mission was to unify the continent again, launching a series of external wars that lasted for hundreds of years.

However, although the Asmodai Empire was powerful, it had many internal problems. The Order of Light Chasers, the Holy Stone Church, and the near-independent Yanfrost Army in the north were all major problems. In addition, various transcendent organizations and families had their own interests. Over the years, this behemoth's wars had only strengthened the royal family's power and fame, but had not brought any benefits to the masses.

Then…

That was all.

The Prajna Book's collection was a summary based on the information known by Su Zhou's counterpart.

Svetly, as Su Zhou's counterpart, spent most of his life wandering within the Asmodai Empire. Whether he was studying at the Order of Light Chasers, working at the Royal Alchemist Association, or supporting the rebels, he was all within the empire.

Even the southern noble autonomous territory where he was now was legally a part of the Asmodai Empire, it was just that the nobles' strength was too strong and the empire couldn't directly interfere.

"I see… alchemists, knights, bloodline awakeners, and spellcasters, are the main power systems of this world… Although there are more subdivisions, that's roughly it."

Nodding slightly, Su Zhou thought thoughtfully: "The power ceiling of this world is not low. The destructive power during all-out war is already very terrifying, but because of the spiritual energy, the power that individuals can mobilize is always limited. Large-scale magic arrays or various equipment must be used to fully exert the due destructive power."

"It's like weight training, an interesting world."

There was some more information later, but Su Zhou wasn't in a hurry.

Because at this time, Loya and Gasha had brought the water.

The two children were carrying two large pots of water. Gasha's footsteps were steady, but Loya was a bit wobbly. The black-haired boy originally wanted to take the other pot himself, but the white-haired boy refused, insisting on taking a pot himself.

"Loya seems to have some transcendent talent innately because of his excellent bloodline."

"Gasha… strange. There are obvious abnormalities in his body, and his soul is unusually turbid, far from Loya's almost transparent pure soul—it's clear that this child's heart is also very pure, why is this?"

With a glance, Su Zhou couldn't help but frown. Externally, the wrinkles on the face of the old body moved slightly, causing the two children who were familiar with the professor to feel a bit flustered.

"S-Sorry, Professor, I thought the ice water was too cold, so I specially heated it with a bonfire for a while."

Grasping the handle of the water pot tightly, Gasha nervously handed the water pot to Su Zhou's mouth, seemingly wanting to help him drink it.

Loya stood aside, holding the water pot, a bit uneasy.

"It's okay, I'm not angry. Rather, you considered it very carefully. This body really can't drink cold water anymore… Don't stuff it, I'll drink it myself."

Su Zhou opened his mouth to comfort him, and then raised his hand, took the water pot, and swallowed it in large gulps.

Under the control of his soul power, a large amount of water was absorbed the moment it entered the body, and then forcibly penetrated into every cell.

The blood vessels, which had long been dry, began to flow again—whether or not it could transmit oxygen was one thing, but gradually activating the body was another. Anyway, later, he would start practicing with the Reincarnation Immortal Method, and the body would naturally regain its vitality.

In just a short time, the original somewhat shriveled and shrunken body began to rapidly activate.

Although it was still full of wrinkles and age spots hadn't disappeared, it was much better than the almost corpse-like situation before. It could be seen that the body had regained its moisture.

The appearance of Su Zhou's counterpart, Svetly, was not bad. Although he couldn't compare to Su Zhou himself, he did have seven or eight similarities—this was already quite good.

After repeated optimization through cultivation and undying blood, Su Zhou's appearance on Earth was almost perfect. If it wasn't for his personal aura that made everyone subconsciously pay attention to his strength rather than his appearance, he could have eaten a hundred lifetimes with his face.

Although Svetly was old, he could be seen to have a lot of energy. Some demon bloodlines made him tall and strong. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to push open the stone coffin and Gasha's shield.

In short, he was a handsome old man.

"Ah, I've come back to life."

After drinking two large buckets of water in a row, under the stunned gaze of the two children, Su Zhou's body had mostly recovered at this moment. Although he still needed his soul power to maintain his vitality, it wasn't as difficult to move as before, and bending his joints took some effort.

Reaching out, pressing his hand on the edge of the stone coffin, Su Zhou flipped out of the coffin, and then stood up.

"Professor, how do you feel now?"

"De, Dean, are you alright?"

The moment he stood up, he attracted the two children to come forward. Su Zhou could see that whether it was Gasha or Loya, they were both genuinely concerned about him.

Faced with this pure kindness, Su Zhou naturally wouldn't have no response. He laughed heartily, and then reached out, one in each hand, and picked them both up.

This body was at least 1.9 meters tall, maybe even more than 2 meters. The two children were only as tall as his waist, so Su Zhou naturally easily clamped them under his armpits, turned them around twice: "Look, this is completely better!"

"Wah! Professor, let me down quickly. You just woke up, you can't do strenuous exercise!"

"So high, so high!"

Wearing a gray cold-proof suit, plus a black overcoat, and smilingly putting the two children down, Su Zhou moved his hands and feet, and found another strange thing: "Strange, my hands are burned?"

"It's clear that the palms here touched extremely hot objects not long ago… there are obvious blistering phenomena from burning."

"Interesting, this should be related to the 'metal coffin' that my predecessor excavated from the ground before… Even the reason for my predecessor's lifespan and death is related to that coffin. That thing burned my hands, absorbed my lifespan, and made me die shortly after I returned."

Nodding thoughtfully, Su Zhou couldn't help but chuckle: "It seems that I'm really my counterpart—big events will follow me wherever I go."

"Alright, let me see what the situation is in this world."

Thinking like this, Su Zhou originally wanted to collect some more information, for example, using the Prajna Book to deduce the information of two close people, Gasha and Loya, and get some more information about the world of Aeon.

However, just as the two were still cheering for his awakening, Su Zhou suddenly turned his head and looked towards the door of the room.

There were many separate rooms in the ancient ruins. The exploration team lived in different rooms, and didn't meet each other usually, only gathering for dinner every day to discuss the results of the day's exploration and see if they had found other paths out.

It was past noon, and it was still early before dinner time. Originally, no one should have come to visit.

But Su Zhou noticed that someone was deliberately slowing down their steps, their voice was extremely soft, and they were approaching the room he was in silently.

"This stride, and these footsteps… is it a woman?"

Narrowing his eyes, it would still take some time for the turbidity of his cornea to clear, but Su Zhou's soul had already outlined the other party's shape.

"Don't hide, is it appropriate to be so sneaky facing an old man and two children?"

Without hesitation, using his still hoarse but steady voice, Su Zhou didn't even bother to raise his eyelids: "The lady at the door, what do you want here?"

He could sense that the figure outside the door suddenly paused. She seemed to think for a while, and then naturally stepped forward and came to the door.

"Aunt Yelena?"

Seeing the other party appear at the door, Loya subconsciously spoke out the other party's name.

However, the lady named Yelena didn't care about Loya's voice.

"How is it possible…"

Standing at the door, she just looked at the body with an inexplicably shocked gaze, though old and weak, was indeed alive and had blood was pulsing – at the moment of seeing it with her own eyes, her pupils even shrank subconsciously, unable to suppress it at all.

"Professor Svetly, aren't you already dead?"

Alright, a 10,000 word chapter for my birthday, won't you give me some monthly tickets?