Chapter 2175

"Take a guess," Zidane replied, raising a brow. Instead of answering, Shannon stared at him in silence. Zidane sighed softly and said, "You didn't think about using the token I gave you, did you?" Shannon paused in surprise and soon realized what he meant. He was referring to the Underworld Pass Token that could freely open ghost gates. During her visit to Phantom Market, she'd accidentally traded a half-scroll painting of Zidane. He wanted the painting back and gave her that token as compensation. Of course, Shannon remembered it, but she'd entered the time-traveling portal in divine soul form. How could she have brought the Underworld Pass Token with her? Just as that thought crossed her mind, a flicker of light appeared before her eyes. Immediately after, the black token detached itself from her divine soul and shimmered into view, floating right in front of her. A glint of astonishment flashed in her eyes. Like spiritual essence, had the token been fused with her divine soul all along? But even if she had the token and could enter the underworld, wouldn't the underworld of this timeline be unlinked from her original timeline? Zidane didn't explain. He simply lifted a hand and hooked a finger toward the air to send the token flying toward him. After pressing it into the void, a ghost gate opened right before them. He handed the token back to Shannon and said, "Did you not know? The underworld guards the last chroyan branch in existence." Wynthorpe clan's Soul Tree had been formed from a wisp of chroyan branch's spiritual energy, but the underworld had preserved a complete branch all this time. Shannon had failed to open the time-traveling portal through the Soul Tree. If she wanted to return, she would naturally need to open a new portal through another chroyan branch. Zidane had known she and Benjamin would come searching for him once they decided to travel through time to find Velquin's divine soul. Yet, he never expected her to discover Soul Tree, which was formed from the spiritual energy of a different chroyan branch. Though Soul Tree carried the power of the chroyan branch, its time-traveling portals were unstable. The slightest misstep could hurl them into space-time chaos. If he didn't intervene, she and Benjamin might have to drift between space-time chaos forever. Zidane never made unprofitable deals, but this time… He let it go. He did owe them a lot, after all. Shannon hadn't expected the underworld to own a chroyan branch, and what surprised her more was Zidane knowing about it. She recalled the mysterious figure who'd appeared in Phantom Market and began to suspect that Zidane's ties to the underworld might run much deeper than she'd imagined, but she didn't probe. She stepped forward and was ready to enter the gate with him when a thought struck her. Then, she asked, "What about Benjamin and Trevaris?" She'd been swept away by the space-time chaos before she could see if they made it out safely. Zidane surely knew their fate since he could find her. He told the truth. "The mini phoenix made it back." After a pause, he continued, "As for him, he jumped into the space-time chaos after you. His divine soul is drifting like yours." Shannon's heart clenched. Just as she was about to ask, he said, "Relax. Once you're in the underworld, he'll sense your divine soul and come to you." With the chroyan branch present, the underworld was connected to all timelines. Finding someone here was far easier than anywhere in the mortal realm. The words had barely left his mouth when Shannon stepped forward without hesitation, through the ghost gate. She never doubted his words. As the ghost gate closed behind her, golden light sparked at the golden band on her wrist. It formed a thin thread of light pointing deep toward the underworld. Before she could trace it, a familiar golden light lit up the space ahead. The void tore open to reveal a spatial rift, and Benjamin stepped through, bathed in golden light…