<h4>Chapter 1497: Approaching the Origin</h4>


    Trantor: EndlessFantasy Trantion Editor: EndlessFantasy Trantion


    As they went north, the weather got colder by the minute.


    Frigid winds bore with them dust particles as they howled across the in and sent nameless nts flying all over. A grim atmosphere descended upon the in as the cold wind seemingly announced the world’s barren state. There were little to no tall nts across the vast in. Due to the cold climate, there were only low, lifeless nts and a scattering of wild grass. It was not a ce suitable for life...


    ...or hunting.


    Hunting grounds and nts for foraging were, of course, still around, but they were not nearby. Dozens of kilometers away, there was a lush coniferous forest surrounded by patches of open fields and a few herds of herbivores as well as a couple of predators. Their existence fed the two small primitive settlements there, and conversely, the settlement was also game for the predators.


    It was a time when men and beast were on the same level of the food chain.


    Hao Ren, d in a leather robe with a torn side, stood on a protruding piece of rock. His clothes were worn out but to the primitive locals, his getup was still something wondrous. He looked into the distance, deeper into the barren in, thinking: This barren ce looks the same everywhere, but I don’t have to worry about getting lost now that I’m here. There was a very obvious “signpost” farther out across the stretch. It was a massive white cone that reflected sunlight. From a distance, it looked like a white tower, but in reality, it was a massive block of ice and was reverently called “Tatumnu” by the locals. It tranted into “a grave of ice”, which was a rather awe-inspiring name.


    Hao Ren turned back as two little boys d in beast hide looked at him with fear and reverence. Their skin was a little brownish, and their faces were painted with dyes made out of nts and animal blood. In their hands were spears made out of rock. They were the settlement’s warriors, yet when they looked at Hao Ren, they felt nervous. The reason was simple; their fear stemmed from an overwhelming show of force that was beyond theprehension of these primitive warriors. Hao Ren had used a shining long spear to kill a mammoth by himself, and that terrifying scene left a mark in their minds.


    They were guides that he found on a need-to basis. In and thatcked anyndmarks or any workable records of cities, and in an age where thendmass was different, it was difficult to move about without a guide. In one of his backtracks, Hao Ren got lost in the Gobi Desert for close to a month. So, if the situation allowed, Hao Ren would, by hook or by crook, get a guide or two to go with him.


    Fortunately, further back in time, it was much easier to get their cooperation. Most of the time, Hao Ren just needed to show them powers beyond their understanding, and the people, steeped in animistic beliefs, would immediately bow before him.


    However, there were other issues, especially when it came tomunication with the ancient primitives. While the trantion plugin could solve thenguage issue, there were still differing world views that needed to be ounted for. Majority of the time, Hao Ren had to work out if whatever rudimentarynguage they spoke was actually what he thought they meant.


    At times like this, Hao Ren would miss hispanions who had already left him. Lily, Hessiana, Hasse, and Hesperides... While thest two had a chilly rtionship, and they would trade verbal barbs, their perception of the world was simr at the very least.


    However, they were now all gone. Hesperides left by 4,705 BC and Hasse stayed with Hao Ren until 6,012 BC. After that, Hao Ren had been traveling alone across the massive temporal backtrack, searching across ancient Earth.


    “So that is where the god sleeps?”


    Hao Ren shook his head as he rid himself of all unnecessary thoughts and pointed at the massive ice block.


    The two tribal warriors shook their arm once. That was their way of affirming something. The taller guide then spoke, “Yes, that is it. Surrounding ice always melts away, but not that. This was once our hunting ground, but no one dares to approach it now.”


    Hao Ren nodded in understanding. He had already learned of it back in the vige. The in was not so barren not too long back. Even with the post-ice-age climate resulting in the scarcity of vegetation, there were still roaming animals on the in. Although not a huge amount, it was enough to sustain a few small settlements during that difficult time. Then a “god” crossed the ins, and her wrath was incurred when someone killed her prey. She froze the entire area as a result. That led to the tribes moving to the forest with roaming predators, and now only two settlements were left.


    The “god” now lived in that ce, and the tribes all believed that even though the ice had melted away, a mountain-like block of ice remained on the in. Sunset or fire did not even cause it to melt, and around the ice block, it was difficult for any nt life to sustain itself. Animals avoided the ce out of fear too. All of it was proof that a god was there.


    The god’s wrath was not over based on what the superstitious tribal people believed in. She wanted the exiled tribes to show their martial might to prove that they were worthy to return. resulted in a quarrel between the two remaining tribes.


    Hao Ren did not pay any heed to the tribal people’s blind superstitions. He was only sure of one thing: the god that froze the ins could be no other than Vivian.


    “I’ll be going there,” Hao Ren said.


    The two warriors behind him leaped up in shock as fear started to appear on their faces. They started to ramble non-stop before they took a few steps backward. “No, no, no. No one can approach the god. We will be frozen and melted away by the next sunrise...”


    Hao Ren looked at their terrified expressions and could imagine what sort of terror Vivian’s ce of slumber had inspired in the tribal people’s hearts. If he insisted on them following him to dig her grave, those two warriors would probably die of shock right where they were standing in.


    Hence, he shook his head. “Go back, I’ll head there myself.”


    He then pulled two short alloy swords out of his Dimensional Pocket and gave them to the guides. “As agreed, this is your reward.”


    The two tribal warriors carefully received the weapons, which were beyond theirprehension, but they soon realized the weapons’ sharpness and durability, and they were shocked.


    Hao Ren did not linger, and he went down the rock towards the ice tower.


    The frigid wind started to blow again.


    As he ventured further, he began to feel an empty sense of loneliness. As he looked at the barren, frozennd, he felt like the only one left in this world. How long had it been since he went back in time? He pretty much lost count. The multitudes of travel through the chaotic space and time, as well as the following temporal distortion, had messed up his senses. He had gone from the advanced world to the Dark Ages, then to the glorious Age of Mythology before he headed to the prehistoric wilderness. Advanced or primitive, civilized or barbaric, each era was marked with distinctly different architecture, and many contradictory items were scattered across this track of time. As a traveler, Hao Ren was not even sure if he was traveling across a continuous timeline.


    The further back he went, the more obvious the feeling got.


    Sometimes hended in a primitive settlement, and other times he ended up in a city of metal with starships above it. From there, he would thennd in a theocracy, and who was to say that he would not end up in a steampunk world next...


    The otherworldlings did not immediately build up their great civilizations in the Age of Mythology. They too had undergone the rigors of exploration, and most of their initial settlements were half-ruined city blocks or falling Dimensional Pockets. And they had centuries, even millennia to figure out how the things from their homeworld worked. It was only after, that they turned their eyes towards the inhabitants of this, the Earthlings.


    Right then, Hao Ren had ended up at a point in time where the otherworldlings had just arrived on Earth and were minding their own business.


    The massive block of ice was getting closer, and up close, Hao Ren realized that it was massive. The conical structure could have easily been a hundred meters tall, and frosty aura rippled outward from the ice. Almost a good hundred-odd square meters ofnd was perpetually frozen, and uneven threads of red could be seen underneath the ice. They looked like blood vessels under the skin.


    Hao Ren looked beyond the tower of ice and his sightnded on the tip of the mountain behind. He saw a light pir shoot up from the top and slowly swept across the sky.


    That was the observation tower that Odin and his kin had built. The Norse gods, having recently arrived from outer space, were observing this mysterious. They had thousands of weak and sick kinsmen who needed food and medication. On the southern side of the ins, a group of runic dwarves was tattooing one of their young bloods and celebrating the creation of their first forge. Over the mountains farther away, Zeus had justnded on the and was scouring the mountains for stones that could be worked into construction materials. They were required to repair the structures on Mount Olympus that had been damaged by the dimensional shock. Over at the Nile River, Ra’s sunship was half-buried in the forest, while Osiris and Isis looked resignedly at the damaged thrusters. They began nning for long-term repair works...


    As for the humans, they had yet to recover from the chill of the ice age, and their settlements were not ready to wee the gods. Nevertheless, the Age of Mythology had already begun.


    Hao Ren came to the base of the ice tower, and through the thickyers of ice, he could make out the “princess” who was sleeping within the cold ice.


    He ced his hand on the ice as he sighed softly. “Vivian, I’ve found you again.


    It was 7,715 BC. The ice age was over, and life bloomed once again.