Chapter 59 (Part 1) - I'll Love You Even After Ten Thousand Years
59
The secret lies in the fingertips.
Those almond-shaped eyes remained clear and bright, as if filled with the flowing river of time.
After the Xuan Bone was completed and the trees reached the sky, her aura subtly changed.
That young girl in a green robe and silk skirt has become the most powerful weapon on the battlefield.
She could effortlessly shrink the Kunpeng to its original size, a feat even the ashes of the Golden Crow could not match. With a flick of her palm, her clansmen, shattered into millions of pieces, returned to her sight.
The tide of battle seemed to have turned in an instant.
"What the hell is that?" The fierce tiger's roar shook the ring, and the violent magma that struck the Kunpeng was vibrant and full of life, no longer the lava bone mound outside the ten rings.
Chi Hu Feng Si reappeared in the mortal world, but his consciousness was still stuck a hundred years ago. He didn't even remember that he died in battle, his body shattered, under the Immortal-Binding Stone Formation, in front of all his clansmen.
He stared at the ravaged ancestral land beneath his feet, his tiger-like eyes wide: "This was all done by that bird-and-fish thing?"
"From which rock did he spring out? How come he carries the aura of the ancestral stone?"
The big tiger spoke in a deep, muffled voice, as if he were cursing... just like I remembered back then.
Everyone finally woke up from their dream.
It was an extremely large, reddish-black tiger, with lava flowing through every stripe on its body.
As the fourth-ranking member of the Netherworld Clan, his size, while not comparable to the Azure Dragon or the Qilin, was almost on par with the phoenix-bodied, snake-tailed Bai Xi. Flame Bone, being a superior Fire Bone, possessed attack power even more ferocious than the Qilin's Blazing Fire, making him the undisputed God of War among the Changming Clan.
In Miaojue's memory, he was a burly, scarred man with a fierce-looking face who actually loved farming.
Feng Si has always been a very careless person.
So he didn't see the scars, blood holes, and cuts on his people's bodies covered by time, nor did he notice the few marks added by the years on their bodies and faces. He couldn't understand the barely concealed excitement on their faces as they looked at him, and he also missed the tears that were quietly wiped away by fox claws, bear paws, and horse hooves.
Because in his eyes, everyone is there.
From Weiyi to Jinshi to Miaomiao, all his clansmen are here, and everything is as usual.
It was as if he had only been distracted for a moment, his mind had wandered, and when he opened his eyes again, his home had been defiled—but as long as everyone was there, it didn't matter.
"Why are you all so dumbfounded?" Feng Si turned to look at the ice-white figure hovering in mid-air. "Sister Yi, what's wrong with them?"
No one could answer Feng Si. Everyone looked to Wei Yi for help, only to realize that Wei Yi had just returned.
Miaojue looked up at the older sister who had been with her day and night but whom she had never met.
Her icy white scales, like layers of frost, piled up and covered the half-eaten snake tail, but the broken tail did not affect her temperament at all. Phoenix feathers clustered around her upper garment, and she looked at all her younger brothers and sisters with a cold and compassionate gaze.
This magnificent figure, half-human and half-snake, is the only one of its kind since the beginning of the race.
The only thing that remained was his quietly lowered, pale pupils.
The sliver of hope she left behind truly blossomed a century later, but at this moment she couldn't explain to Feng Si what had happened to them.
How can you tell us that you once fought here and died in countless battles, and that all those who perished were scattered and feasted on?
"only……"
The giant Kun frantically tried to fly towards her.
Amidst the chaotic and misty figures, Dongfang Qianye's eyes became increasingly clear, revealing a mixture of sorrow and fervor.
Feng Si didn't know how all this happened, but he had already instinctively thrown himself into the battle with his people, chasing after the Chaos Giant Kun's melting and tearing attacks, ripping it to pieces.
The giant Kun's sky-covering body tore open several large holes, allowing sunlight to leak in.
Bu Er, Xian Ba, and everyone else, their eyes red, leaped into the air, almost with gratitude, to engage in a battle they thought they would never have another chance to fight alongside Feng Si.
He was brought back by time.
Years later, at the moment when everyone was reunited, the youngest little girl among them protected everyone.
Miaomiao tilted her head slightly, the surging wind blowing the strands of hair on her cheeks, and she remained still and serene, like a tree on a mountain.
Time, as vast as the primordial universe, flowed through this young girl.
At that moment, she seemed to possess divinity.
Dust settled, and she quietly covered her chest, which had started beating again.
His heart had been frozen by the Ice Spirit for a hundred years, and now it was ice-cold. As the vast expanse of time passed, he feared the unfamiliarity on Miao Jue's face, worried that she would be lost in that long river of time, yet he also felt connected to her.
When the marriage tree was fully established on her spirit bones, the blood that flowed with each heartbeat seemed to have merged into her branches, her rings, and her veins.
Their hearts beat in unison.
The ash-like humanoid floated to her side. Chen Jinshi looked down at her, not asking what she saw when the Xuan Bone was completed, but suddenly said, "Haven't you always been curious about how I chased after you from ten years in the future?"
Miaojue raised her eyes, her gaze clearly reflecting his face. After a long pause, her voice was gentle and clear: "I already know, because your heart's blood is in the marriage tree, so you have also been forgiven by time."
A smile appeared in Chen Jinshi's eyes: "You've been forgiving me too."
He chased after her against the flow of time at the end of the next ten years, using all his spiritual power to trace the rings of time backward and plunge into them. In each of her rewinding moments, he would briefly lose himself in time, until the compass finally reversed ten times and returned to its correct position, his soul catching up to the present.
When he finally gets back to the past, the past has already changed, and the future no longer exists.
Time is truly the most terrifying thing.
“So I’m very scared,” the young man in white lowered his eyes, admitting his anxiety, “scared that you’ll go astray in time and we won’t be together anymore.”
Miaojue blinked, took his icy hand in hers. The blood drawn from his heart was still cold, but as she held it, it began to slowly warm up.
She did almost lose herself in time; a second felt like an eternity. But the girl's tone was deliberately smug. "I think you still don't understand the meaning of the Time Bone. I'm terrifyingly strong now."
Peach Blossom Eyes smiled, and Chen Jinshi took her hand in return. "I'm not worried about your strength; I'm worried about the long passage of time that will be imposed upon you—for example, will you remember me now, but ten thousand years from now?"
Miaojue blinked again, and continued rambling on.
"...For example, if you like me now, will you still like me ten thousand years from now?"
The man paused after speaking, then added, "Anyway, I will."
Miao Jue couldn't help but laugh.
He seemed afraid that something might happen, so he confessed his love to her countless times without sparing any effort.
So anxious, so uneasy.
"But no matter how much time has passed, the sun will always be there—"
The girl's voice was soft, yet it ignited a burning passion in his frozen heart, causing the thin layer of ice to crack and melt. His Adam's apple bobbed as he longed to kiss her throat once more.
Because this tree grows in his heart.
So no matter how far she went, Miaojue could hear his heavy and powerful heartbeat, leading her out of the mire of countless years of time, not indulging in becoming a god who controls time, but still choosing to be a person with emotions and desires.
Like a golden sun shining brightly, she will forever soar through her world.
…
"But you cut yourself open and spilled your blood, didn't you?"
Miaojue sniffed; the smell of blood was so strong it seemed to penetrate to the bone.
Dust settled, and the dazed peach blossom eyes trembled.
After she contracted the giant Kun and summoned the Crimson Tiger again, his blood control pressure immediately lessened by more than half. At this moment, the several handfuls of blood mist that he had released began to be silently withdrawn, pretending that nothing had ever happened.
Miaojue pursed her lips and gently brushed her palm across the bleeding spot on his back, causing all the blood to flow back.
He picked up the dust and straightened his back slightly.
She continued to raise her palm, and the emerald light faintly transformed into countless intertwined threads. While being chased and sealed off by the Azure Dragon, Qilin, and Crimson Tiger was still something she could resist, the power of time was irrational, boundless, and formless. The giant Kun collapsed once more, reduced to only one-third of its original size when it flew out of the giant bell, as if it were growing in reverse.
"You...you..." A rumbling sound came unwillingly from above, only to be swallowed up by the lava.
Miao Jue turned around and saw that Dongfang Yaotian and Gong Yuqiu were still lying on the ground.
Two huge holes were torn open in their abdomens, and their faces turned deathly pale. The light of the Heavenly Mandate Seal flickered on and off.
"..." She closed her eyes slightly, and the cause and effect of what happened to them emerged like a clear thread.
In her vision, crisscrossing root systems emerged from the two individuals, each fruit at a node representing a scene, interwoven before and behind them, each scene clearly unfolding—
Miao Jue clearly saw that Dongfang Yaotian and Gong Yuqiu stood up for the common people, saw the two sacrifice themselves to transform into the Heavenly Fate Pearl, and witnessed them doing good deeds but causing harm by sending a trace of the Heavenly Fate Pearl to the giant Kun, allowing Dongfang Qianye to seize the opportunity to awaken his soul.
A look of helplessness appeared on her face.
What else could she do with this perfect couple?
With a flick of her fingertips, she gently dispersed the countless roots of cause and effect into specks of light. As she lowered her gaze, the power of time swept over them, and the huge hole in her abdomen, pierced by the tentacles of the Kunpeng, began to recede and heal.
The Heavenly Fate Pearls, which had been refined, were reversed and returned to their abdomens, their intricate threads intertwining and restoring themselves. The two unconscious individuals slowly awoke once more.
The so-called refining of the Heavenly Destiny Pearl means burning the two chosen ones down to just two spirit pills.
Dongfang Yaotian and Gong Yuqiu stared in shock at their own transformation, while the girl in the distance seemed to have vanished into the distant sky.
When she did all this, the whole world seemed to tremble.
Because the Heavenly Fate Tribulation of Langhuan is a matter that contains the great mysteries of heaven and earth, and is condensed with the destiny of heaven, and she just stopped the Heavenly Fate Pearl with one hand and forcibly reversed it, it can be said that she can cover the sky with one hand.
Miao Jue calmly looked into the distance. The boundless land was shrouded in endless ignorance, and countless mortals were swallowed by chaos, their eyes filled with terror... This was the end of a hundred-year-old tribulation of destiny and love.
If this is what "Heaven's Way" has brought about, then she might as well "destroy the world." Anyway, she already has a ready-made world-destroying villain by her side, and now they're even more compatible.
Dongfang Yaotian held the Heavenly Fate Seal in his dantian and watched as the giant Kun in the sky struggled to approach the snake woman. In an instant, both of their Yin-Yang Heavenly Fate Seals seemed to tremble.
Initially, it seemed that this pair of destiny seals truly arose out of love. However, once they were freed from the tribulations of love, they finally realized what this "love" had brought them.
"only……"
The chaotic Kunpeng, riddled with holes from melting, and frozen stiff as a corpse by the solid ice of white scales and frost flowers, still landed at the feet of the only one.
Upon landing, he transformed into the human form of Dongfang Qianye.
The Heavenly Destiny Pearl did not fully fulfill its wish, so his human form transformation was not as smooth and natural as that of other members of the Changming Clan, with his head and limbs retracting in an irregular manner.
The scene looked like a monster being stuffed back into a human body, looking neither like a human nor like them, utterly incongruous.
Miaojue's pupils were fixed on him, ready to erase his existence at any moment.
Dongfang Qianye stood before Wei Yi like a puppet with its limbs out of balance. His face looked much younger, just like the young man who went to sea for the first time more than a hundred years ago and saw a mesmerizing dream on the sea that he could never escape.
She traversed freely across the distant, azure sea, and wherever her icy white scales passed, the sea surface froze, like blooming ice flowers.
She was like a goddess, a miracle that descended upon a young fisherman.
What Netherworld Clan? What monster? From the very beginning, he knew she wasn't human.
Gong Yujin would shrink back in fear because of the true form of the Qilin, and agree to all his subsequent plans. She thought he was acting out of fear and apprehension, just like her.
No. From the very beginning, he only wanted to be like the only one.
A century later, Dongfang Qianye stood before Weiyi once more. He had been nurtured by the Changming Ancestral Stone, and within him lay a true body that was the same as, or even more powerful than, theirs.
"Weiyi, I've been waiting for you."
"Now that I am immortal, I can stay with you for thousands and thousands of years..."
His pupils were unfocused, his figure was scattered, and he reached out towards the icy white figure in his memory.
The only gaze was perfectly calm, hovering motionless in place.
She observed his transformation from a giant Kun to a human, and a hint of worry suddenly appeared in her eyes.
So she waited for Dongfang Qianye's hand to reach out to her, and just as Bu Er and Feng Si frowned and rushed forward, she shook her head and stopped Miao Jue. She caught Dongfang Qianye.
Her icy touch almost brought tears to Dongfang Qianye's unfocused pupils.
He waited a very, very long time. He never intended to harm Weiyi, and the tail he severed that year was not his doing. He could do anything to anyone in this world, but he had never touched a single hair on the goddess in his heart.
The crowd frowned and formed a circle.
Dongfang Qianye was already at his limit. Jinwu Jingu, who was of the same rank, was far superior to him. He was surrounded by the entire Changming Clan. More importantly, Xuangu still had time to drop his hanging blade at any moment.
Everyone thought that this century-long ordeal of the extinction of the tribe was about to end.
No matter how tragic or humiliating the past may have been, no matter how much their ancestral land has been destroyed, it doesn't matter anymore—they are all alive, and they are about to be reunited.
Miao Jue's mind suddenly stirred.
She suddenly pressed her hand to her slightly constricted chest, and Chen Jinshi beside her also felt her heartbeat become irregular. They both felt the same unease.
A certain causal thread has not yet dissipated, but has intricately pierced their fate.
Miao Jue noticed that Wei Yi's gaze remained sorrowful; from the moment she returned, she seemed to have already grasped a certain possibility.
Ashes quietly welled up beside her, and she silently solidified the buds at the top of her rings.
Everyone held their breath. Under the tip of the finger, the ice spirit from the beginning of heaven and earth surged out, forming frost flowers along Dongfang Qianye's arm. Suddenly, it turned into an ice spike, which pierced Dongfang Qianye's chest at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye.
Since he has already conceived himself into the Everlasting Clan, his heart is his only death hole.
"Whoosh!"
Icicles, like spider silk, instantly covered his front, and his entire body shattered into ice shards from his chest down, just like the "love" he spoke of.
His entire inner palace has been shattered.
Dongfang Qianye's intoxicated eyes completely lost their luster, and his head, which had been desperately held high, lost its strength and drooped softly.
The chaotic spirit suddenly burst apart from this physical body, no longer resembling the Kunpeng.
"He's dead?!" Ling Qi asked excitedly.
Not content with the ingenious technique, it pursued and used its spreading root system to completely gather the chaotic, scattered state, leaving not a trace, and traced it all back.
It was completely extinguished by time, vanishing into thin air.
The people nearby didn't dare to breathe, watching helplessly as the chaotic energy completely disappeared before finally letting out a stunned sigh.
Xianba: "Really...really dead?"
A few seconds later, Chen Jinshi suddenly leaped into the air.
The vast golden crow spread its wings on the ground, its dark black color blocking another similar aura descending from the sky.
The ashes regenerated.
That's impossible; no Eternal Clan member could survive having their heart crushed.
The dust settled, and the peach blossoms' eyes turned sinister and ugly. They slowly emerged from beneath the ashes and wings, looking at the cracked sky above.
Miaojue suddenly realized something and turned around sharply to look at Weiyi.
The hidden worries in his heart were completely realized. He closed his eyes tightly, and the frost-white snake scales began to glow.
"What...what's going on?!" Ling Qi exclaimed in surprise.
The sky above them suddenly multiplied into countless layers, like the endlessly unfolding pages of a book.
The infinite space is like several branches existing simultaneously, and in each layer of space, the chaotic giant Kun is rampaging.
Above the ancestral land, countless identical spaces were stacked one upon another?!
He used the power of space to raise Gu poison in parallel.
When he disappears on the same timeline, space will merge downwards, and a brand new Chaos Kunpeng will descend again, until everything is destroyed, leaving only him and the One.
Dongfang Qianye... He became the only being capable of resisting the power of time!
…
Miao Jue looked surprised; the cause and effect of this hidden meridian over the past hundred years had finally become clear.
A hundred years ago, she was the only one who placed the ancestral land of Changming Village into a separate space, ensuring the safety of the entire clan for ten years. Later, the space was broken. She found a new cause and effect, leaving the good karma of the Time Bone here with Miaojue. However, at the same time, the bad karma of the Space Law was also seized by Dongfang Qianye.
Just as everything in the world is governed by yin and yang, no force is absolute or unbreakable.
The Way of Space... is the only thing that can break the Law of Time.
Above infinite space, time loses its beginning and end. Having lived in seclusion within the ancestral stone for a century, he had already made complete preparations.
Miao Jue gripped his palm tightly, his eyes darting around like stars, and the surging power of his Xuan Bone surged within his inner palace.
Red Tiger, unaware of the gravity of the situation, roared furiously, "How come there are still these things? It's alright, I'll kill one if one comes, and I'll kill a whole group if a group comes."
The chaotic Kunpeng overhead swooped down, and Dongfang Qianye's voice boomed: "The only thing that matters is... the Bone of Time, which can only... soothe wounds and reverse the passing... The only thing that matters is... eternity..."
The pitch-black, chaotic energy cascaded down like a waterfall from the heavens, corroding everything in its path.
This time, it was even better than last time.
The magic trick can still use time to shrink him away, but he will still appear more completely in the next space. How many times can the ground beneath our feet withstand this?
No more than five times, and the entire land will melt away and disappear, and no living beings will exist in the world anymore, returning to the chaos at the beginning of time.
They will be completely homeless.
Why? Why?
Dust settled, and his peach blossom eyes turned completely black, a mad smile playing on his lips. A dazzling, mysterious light flashed, and the Golden Crow appeared, transforming into a blur as it hurtled towards the Kunpeng.
The key is to devour him from the opposite direction and completely control his consciousness, which will eliminate all spaces and stop the overlap.
The golden crow flapped its wings and flew away, and everyone was stunned for a moment before quickly following.
"Xiao Shi, wait!"
On the ground, Dongfang Yaotian and Gong Yuqiu stared blankly at the scene above them, which was far beyond their comprehension. After a moment of stunned silence, they sat up.
They faced each other and simultaneously extended their palms, clasping them together.
The Yin-Yang destiny seal resonates, and this time it concerns only them.
Dongfang Yaotian gave a wicked and arrogant smile, and Gong Yuqiu also smiled openly. After going through so many misunderstandings and heart-wrenching twists and turns, they realized that they might not have been right for each other. But at this moment, they finally truly understood each other.
Don't let that girl save them, if they can end all this.
The Heavenly Destiny Pearl once again forged itself without wind. This time, the hidden secrets within locked the process, preventing it from stopping midway.
Miaojue clenched her fists helplessly, watching everything before her flash by like scenes from a camera, and she didn't know who to save first.
Everyone is saving the world, for their families, for their homeland, for love.
The primordial Kun grew its massive maw in the abyss, locked in a fierce battle with the Golden Crow of the Nine Heavens. The two kinds of ash bones clashed in the final confrontation, and the air was filled with the bloody smell of the battle, with ashes falling like feathers for dozens of meters.
Feng Si, who had never seen Jin Shi so badly injured, immediately turned his tiger eyes red. He hid the secret technique behind Wei Yi, stepped on the stone, and suddenly leaped into the air.
He rode past all his people and onto the top of the giant Kun, which was countless times larger than himself.
"Step back!" The tiger roared, domineering and resolute.
The crimson tiger spewed thick magma from above, melting into the Kunpeng's eyes, while its own four thick claws were corroded by the chaos.
Even if Feng Si doesn't know how all of this happened, no matter how many times he starts over, Chi Hu Feng Si will still walk his own path.
He stood in front of all his people and died fighting for them.
Miaojue's eyes slowly reddened.
Everyone is getting hurt, everyone is striving to finally have a home to return to, so why should they?
She took a deep breath, trembling, and glanced one last time at the soaring golden crow before making her decision.
He stood up.
The only one in front of it straightened up its body, which was wrapped in phoenix feathers, and the light of its white-scaled snake tail had fully bloomed, bringing the cold wind of the beginning of heaven and earth.
"Miaomiao, this is what I should do."
Wei Yi lowered his head slightly, his white pupils filled with the same guilt as before, "Thank you for leading us to where we are today."
The girl in the blue dress shook her head: "It's not over yet."
Wei Yi smiled, his lively eyes still faintly resembling those of when the ancestral stone was born. "My turn."
Before the ingenious technique could be reacted to, the icy white snake tail had already flashed past.
The ancient white dragon leaped into the chaos and embraced the ever-surging Kunpeng.
"The only, the only..."
The scene was comparable to creation, with the white-scaled phoenix feathers transforming into boundless ice flowers that spread across the chaotic five elements of the Kunpeng and herself, before shattering in this space.
It vanished into thin air, its flesh and blood dissipated.
The next second, boundless ice flowers appeared in the space above, causing the Chaos Kunpeng to continue collapsing.
Frost and ice flowers fell in profusion.
The only one who perished with him.
Dongfang Qianye comprehended the laws of space, but Weiyi is the true progenitor, and only she can resolve the chaotic Kunpeng's fission space. Therefore, she will be trapped and fight him in the infinite space, eternally shattering him in the boundless universe.
She felt indebted, and she finally made amends.
Fuji was stunned. The Kirin transformed into a human and shouted in astonishment at the sky. He had never lost his composure like that before, because he had never felt the eternal death sentence so clearly.
The red tiger roared and chased after the sky, almost falling down, but was caught by Chen Jinshi and Ling Qi.
The aftershocks still lingered overhead. Through a layer of space, they could see the giant Kun react, struggle violently, and then be enveloped by even more powerful ice spirits, fighting each other, but they could not cross the space.
It seemed that Dongfang Qianye finally understood the significance of the Changming Clan on this day.
I will remain mute in exchange for my people to enjoy eternal enlightenment.
They all agreed.
In the repeated shattering of space, he finally understood that there was no world that belonged solely to him, and the only thing that could be promised to him was eternal death together.
Dongfang Qianye roared and struggled to his feet, as chaos corroded and swallowed the white scales. "The only one, the only one!"
Love at its end is nothing more than a struggle for survival; how ridiculous!
The dragon roared in the sky, the Qilin rolled in flames, the Crimson Tiger relentlessly assaulted the invisible spatial barrier, and the Silver Fox and Panda futilely charged at it again and again.
No one wants to live like this.
The dust settled, and he clenched his teeth tightly.
The twin pearls of destiny that were about to be completed released a burst of blue light, illuminating his fingertips. He lowered his eyes and suddenly clenched his fist.
His ash-bones body completely dissipated into countless tiny molecules. If he could carry the Twin Pearls of Destiny into the heavens and utterly annihilate Dongfang Qianye's existence—
However, before he could disappear, a hand grabbed him.
The wind is picking up.
On this desolate land, in this ignorant world, a wind has risen.
…
Miao Jue slowly lifted her fair cheeks.
Beneath her, endless, delicate roots spread across the entire continent, across the boundless sea, and reach the human world.
She stood in the middle of the crisscrossing root system, with a towering tree swaying in the wind behind her, releasing a spring-like breeze, its thousands of branches swaying.
A tremendous force flowed through the surroundings, through everyone's wounds, through their centuries of pain and their current collapse, through the male and female protagonists who loved each other to the end and sacrificed themselves for Changming, and through their fingertips where the dust had settled and no red marks remained.
She raised her hands and clasped them together over her heart.
Who says that time, like a mysterious force, can only heal wounds and reverse the passing of the dead?
Why should others have to pay for the disasters they bring over a hundred or even ten thousand years?
If the horizontal time here cannot eliminate the endless vertical space—
Then she'll take the whole world with her when she goes back.
He exhausted all his profound essence to create this grand cause and effect.
This is the ultimate ability of the Time Bone.
As if suddenly realizing something, Chen Jinshi folded his wings and rushed toward her in a disheveled state, finding her clear eyes among the myriad points of light.
Miaojue looked into his charming eyes and mimicked his villainous smile.
Would you consider this a form of world destruction?
After going back in time, only she and he could remember everything; only the two embedded in the bone tree were the pardoners of time.
Go back in time, change everything, and nip the sin in the bud.
Let everyone forget the sorrow and suffering of this century of separation and live freely in the present.
Then we fell in love.
Miaojue saw Chen Jinshi's outstretched hand again amidst the scattered light. This time, she was still the giant tree, but this time she caught him.
His fingertips were icy cold, but his palms were burning hot. He gripped her hand tightly, and his heart seemed to calm down. No matter how much time passed, he would never let go, even in death.
The trick is to close your eyes.
As the tree rings rose higher and higher, they burst forth with dazzling light, and a giant disc appeared beneath her feet.
She is the tree, she is the clock hand turning backwards.
Pointing to a century.
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