Volume 3: Deep Blue Sea
As they watched the white-robed man humming softly, the crowd’s surprise gradually became understanding. Perhaps only someone with such an aura could create such a gentle and soothing song. This seemingly special individual must surely have his own special reasons.
Shu Xun’s singing also successfully calmed Ling Yang. The little mermaid wiped his eyes, and the blue tears slid down his cheeks, forming beads that fell to the ground. At the moment the tears hit the ground, the cliff suddenly trembled slightly, and then countless small warm yellow light clusters began to slowly condense from the earth. Though small, these rays of light were incredibly dense and heavy. They swirled around Ling Yang, flying to him before gently wiping away his tears.
Di Lan Shu and others looked at the miraculous and beautiful scenery in front of them in astonishment. They had survived in this world for decades without ever knowing that the seemingly cold and icy cliffs could possess such a side.
Listening to the songs of his clan and Shu Xun, Ling Yang sat on the top of Meng Muyu’s head, finally unable to hold back and burst into tears. At the moment of wish fulfillment, the mermaid who claimed to be two hundred and three years old finally cried like a child, tears of deep blue streaming down one after another. Warm yellow light clusters gathered around, gently brushing Ling Yang’s cheeks.
Meng Muyu reached out and caught the falling tears from the top of his head without saying a word, quietly waiting for Ling Yang to cry himself out until the sniffles and sobs stopped. Feeling the gentle weight on top of his head, Meng Muyu reached out and cradled the little mermaid in his hands, gently wiping the still-moist corners of Ling Yang’s eyes with his fingertips. “Don’t cry. Let’s go find them.”
Ling Yang nodded heavily, then looked somewhat puzzled. The source of the song had made him lose his judgment. Ling Yang finally turned his gaze to Shu Xun.
Shu Xun pointed in the direction they had come from. “The sound comes from beneath the deep sea, at the bottom of the continent. Let’s go to the cliff’s edge.” Shu Xun then turned to the Blue Book Fleet and calmly spoke, “Pack up and get ready to go home. This world is about to collapse.”
The actions of the Blue Book Fleet were also very swift, or rather, they had been preparing to leave at every moment. And so, amidst the warm yellow and emerald green light clusters, the group headed back in the direction they had come from. As they stepped out of the giant forest, everyone’s footsteps came to an unconscious halt. With no towering tree crowns to obstruct the view, the awe-inspiring sight of the ink-black night sky unfolded before them, with flashes of purple-red lightning flickering incessantly. There was no sign of stopping, and what’s more, the lightning was no longer just a single line; it spread out into countless branches, densely crisscrossing into an irregular web. It was as if the sky had cracked open. The purple-red lightning enveloping the sky made everyone’s breath lighten as if even a slightly heavier breath would shatter the sky above their heads.
Before long, everyone stood at the edge of the abyss, with a bottomless cliff in front of them. Standing at the pinnacle of the world, they beheld the vast continent below in the ink-black night sky. Surprisingly, the world was not dark; beneath the distant night sky, a rainbow halo encircled the continent. It was the radiance emitted by the Rainbow Nest, enveloping the vast dark earth like countless warm yellow light clusters floating above the cliffs. The entire land, shrouded in the warm and gentle glow, was immersed in the warmth amidst the blood-red electric lights.
“What are those warm yellow lights?” Lie Yang raised his hand, watching the warm yellow light clusters swirling around him, and spoke up.
Shu Xun gently tapped one of the light clusters, causing it to startle like a bird and retreat, but it quickly flew back, brushing against Shu Xun’s fingertip affectionately. “These are the spiritual powers of the Earth Tribe. The slightly larger emerald green light clusters floating in the Giantwood Forest are from the Xuanqiu Clan, which has merged with the Wood Spirit. And those warm yellow light clusters are from the Earth Tribe, who haven’t merged with the Wood Spirit. They represent the original color of the Earth Tribe’s spiritual power. In fact, the Earth Tribe is the evolutionary race we first encountered.”
“What do you mean? Why haven’t I seen them? Even when I reached the top of the cliff, I didn’t see the rumored Earth Tribe. My brain might not be as sharp as yours, but my eyesight is still good,” Lie Yang pointed to his eyes, implying that Shu Xun shouldn’t deceive him.
Shu Xun’s gentle voice chimed in, “As it turns out, with a brain, you don’t necessarily need eyes. But without a brain… you might as well grow some more antennae.”
The blue butterfly fluttered his wings and flew to Lie Yang’s shoulder, grooming his own antennae. “Generally speaking, what he said makes sense. You might as well groom your antennae like me.”
Lie Yang: “…”
Looking down at the distant and vast continent below, Shu Xun’s low voice continued, “Do you remember the Xuanqiu City we found? The city is located in an extremely vast underground space. Due to various restrictions, we didn’t explore the underground space. Perhaps, if at that time we had let go of all our concerns and ventured into the underground, we would have seen many remnants of this world.”
“I don’t quite understand. Are all the creatures in this world living underground?” Lie Yang rolled his antennae in confusion.
Shu Xun, helpless, continued to explain in detail. “Of course not. What I mean is, the true continent is actually the underground space we once visited. In this world, the real continent has long been submerged by seawater. The land we are currently standing on is supported by the bodies of the Earth Tribe. The Earth Tribe can enlarge themselves and petrify their bodies, as recorded by Ling Yang in the Spirit Tides Ruins. After another evolution, the Earth Tribe further enlarged themselves and recreated a continent on the once-submerged land, pretending that this world had not yet sunk. That’s why we haven’t found any ruins or buildings on the continent.”
“Is this also the reason you mentioned before about insects actively enlarging themselves? They want to help replace the Earth Tribe by using their enlarged bodies to pave the way for a continent? This is simply… too crazy…” Lie Yang was almost at a loss for words. Such a crazy move could probably only be done by those simple insects. “Then what about this cliff?”
“This cliff is also formed by the Earth Tribe. I speculate that only when the spiritual power of the Earth Tribe is about to dissipate will giant trees grow on it. These giant trees should be related to the Three-Leaf Green Grass. As guardians, the Three-Leaf Green Grass not only protects the Xuanqiu but also the Earth. It controls the growth of the Wood Spirit into giant trees, merging the dissipating spiritual power of the Earth Tribe so that it doesn’t dissipate completely. That’s why the outer periphery of the earliest-formed continent is dense with giant wood forests, while the interior consists only of dark gray rocks and soil. Ling Yang suddenly shed tears when leaving the giant wood forest. It should be because he sensed the boundary of the giant wood forest, which is the limit where the Earth Tribe is about to dissipate and needs the integration of the Wood Spirit. As for this cliff, it should be the last hope left by the Earth and this world for the survivors. It’s the highest point in the world, with a lush green sky supported by the Earth Tribe. This place will undoubtedly be the last stronghold of life that can endure the longest.”
Upon hearing this, the Blue Book Fleet fell into silence. After being imprisoned by the siege for decades, suddenly one day, someone told them that this was the final protection of this world. The distinction between right and wrong had reversed in an instant. This situation caught them off guard.
Shu Xun’s voice continued to echo along the edge of the cliff. “It’s quite miraculous, isn’t it? If my guess is correct, the invaders who invaded the spacecraft were not the consciousness of this world, and the ones seeking help from you were not from this world either. They were invaders trapped by the world. The invaders possessed extremely high mental power, enough to completely shield the spacecraft’s exploration, so no one detected the specific situation of the invaders. To prevent the invaders from escaping with passing spacecraft, the Deep Blue Sea attracted the spacecraft back to the planet. As the black hole inside the planet gradually expanded, the gravitational force of the planet became stronger and stronger until the invaders were unable to escape. And you, who fell to this planet, although you are outsiders, even if you were rejected by the consciousness of the world, the world’s consciousness still left you on this cliff. When the planet was about to collapse, it threw the recorder containing holographic images into the universe, which attracted us. Therefore, the ultimate condition for clearing the Deep Blue Sea is to rescue those who are trapped. However, it cannot be done too early. It must be after the planet is completely confirmed to have consumed the invaders through the black hole, with no possibility of escape. That is, you can only leave when this world is destroyed.”
“Is it really like this?” Liang Ye couldn’t help but feel shocked. If the reason was indeed as Shu Xun said, even if the consciousness of the world didn’t accept them, it still chose to protect them. Thinking of the apology from the grass and the mermaid not long ago, Liang Ye’s mood became complicated.
“What about the life of this world? Didn’t you say before that the condition for clearing the Deep Blue Sea is to take away the life of this world with the spacecraft?” Lie Yang looked at Ling Yang and the grass floating beside Shu Xun, feeling somewhat impatient.
Shu Xun sighed helplessly. “Ask them if they will leave with us. They won’t. Spirit Tides won’t, Xuanqiu won’t, Earth won’t, the Rainbow Nest won’t, the Three-Leaf Green Grass won’t, and even those other life forms with not much spiritual power are the same. After the world was invaded, all life forms underwent overloaded evolution, hoping to one day resist the invaders and save their homeland. As the sky presses lower and lower, the consequences include not only increasing oxygen concentration but also increasing energy concentration. All life forms in this world want to make a final struggle. If they can’t save their homeland, they are willing to perish together into nothingness.”
Ling Yang squeezed his small fist, his voice extremely determined. “That’s right. I won’t leave. Even if we are ultimately swallowed by the void black hole, I will disappear with the world.”
The childish oath lacked fancy words, but it echoed the common voice of all life in this world. ‘Rather than being intact, I’d rather be shattered. If you protected my birth and growth, how can I abandon you? If there’s a chance, I’ll accompany you in seeking it. If it’s a desperate situation, I’ll accompany you in facing the void’. When the Xuanqiu clan fought desperately to severely injure the invaders and change the sky’s oxygen concentration, when the Earth tribe turned into giant rocks to support the new continent, when the Spirit Tides tribe shed all their tears, and when the moment began hidden at the bottom of the continent, no life wanted to escape.
