Chapter 231: Chapter 229: Circular Platform
The world started moving again.
Everything returned to normal. No one present realized what had just happened.
Only Mo Ling was still trapped in the bizarre vision, unable to pull himself away.
He looked at the runes on the ground again. They weren’t shattered, and there was no world-destroying dragon. They lay there, still perfectly intact.
The only difference was the addition of an Immortal Wood Ball in the eye of the Little Fish.
It was as if nothing had happened at all.
After their rest, Jeff directed the others to spread out and place the balls into the grooves in different areas.
Mo Ling floated in the air, observing the grooves in their various locations.
They were cleverly and evenly distributed along the runic lines, each groove fifty meters apart, forming a grid pattern across the Moon Altar.
’Is this to ensure the spherical zones cover the entire Moon Altar?’
Mo Ling observed for only a moment before he discovered the pattern of the grooves.
’As long as the coverage is complete, the Little Fish will be able to travel along the runic lines and traverse the whole Moon Altar.’
The "fish tank" would become enormous.
’I wonder if the Little Fish will break through the world’s barrier again, like before.’
As Mo Ling was thinking, the others were already placing the balls into the grooves, one by one.
However, the temporal stasis Mo Ling had anticipated did not occur.
A ball rolled unremarkably into its groove, where it was immediately secured in place.
The Fake Fishman who had placed the ball didn’t stop moving either; he stood up and walked toward another groove.
’What’s going on?’
Mo Ling had been prepared to see the Little Fish transform into a dragon again, but the previous vision didn’t reappear.
The runic lines on the ground lay quietly.
The sea breeze stirred the mist, and the crowd bustled about their work.
One ball after another was placed into the grooves.
The "awakened" Little Fish didn’t stir again either.
Everything was perfectly normal.
Mo Ling was certain that what he had just seen wasn’t a hallucination. It had been real.
But everything before him now made him doubt himself again and again.
’Did I really see it wrong?’
Placing the balls was much easier and simpler than hunting the Old-Eaters. The group took the Immortal Wood Balls and spread out according to their assigned areas.
After they familiarized themselves with the pattern of the grooves, their pace quickened. Before long, some had already finished their share of the work.
"Which areas are left?" the returning Fake Fishmen asked Jeff.
"Just the ones inside the passage. It’s more complicated in there. Go and double-check to see if you missed any."
The Fake Fishmen nodded and headed down toward the passage, following behind their companions to inspect the grooves.
Afterward, more of them returned, one after another.
"We’ve checked. None were missed."
Jeff nodded and looked toward a raised circular platform in the center.
"Then there’s just one last step."
He led the group to the edge of the platform. It wasn’t high, only about the height of a single step.
There were many small holes around the circular platform. These holes were smaller than the diameter of the Immortal Wood Balls and clearly weren’t meant to be used as grooves.
"I tried this before. They don’t fit," one of the Fake Fishmen said.
Jeff shook his head. "We don’t put anything here."
He summoned a tentacle of water, inserted it into one of the holes, and secured it firmly.
"Everyone, lend a hand."
The other Fake Fishmen quickly realized what Jeff was doing. They each summoned their own tentacles of water and inserted them into the holes.
"Put some muscle into it. We’re turning it counter-clockwise, all together."
"Okay."
"Got it..."
As they all exerted their strength, the platform actually began to move, slowly starting to rotate counter-clockwise.
However, it was clearly difficult to apply leverage through the small holes, and even with their combined effort, the platform turned very slowly.
"It’ll be easier if you lift upward a bit," Jeff reminded them.
Sure enough, as the direction of force changed, the platform’s rotation gradually picked up speed...
Mo Ling floated in the air, initially puzzled about the platform’s purpose.
But as its angle continuously changed, he began to see a clue.
This platform also had a section of a runic line, but at the wrong angle, it didn’t connect with the runes outside the platform.
As the heavy platform began to slowly turn, the rune on it started to align with the ones on the outside.
’They’re aligning it?’
Observing the break in the runes carefully, Mo Ling saw that the rune on the platform could indeed match up perfectly with the one outside.
Now, as the platform rotated, the broken ends began to slowly align.
"Almost there."
The group carefully twisted the platform. With the sound of hard stone grinding against stone, it locked into the designated position.
"Release now. Be careful. Everyone else, stand clear."
Jeff commanded, watching the platform cautiously.
As the tentacles of water released their grip one by one, the platform began to slowly descend.
After a deep, muffled THUD, the platform settled firmly on the ground, the vibration spreading throughout the entire Moon Altar.
Seeing this, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
"We did it."
At this point, the break in the line was now perfectly fitted against the external rune.
The entire platform had completely merged with the Moon Altar. Aside from a faint circular seam, there was no discernible difference.
"What’s the purpose of this platform?" Li Luo asked, confused.
"It’s the connection point. It allows the runic lines of the whole Moon Altar to connect head to tail, forming a complete circuit," Jeff explained. "That’s what the ancient texts say. You have to place the balls first, then connect the runes."
"Why?" Li Luo pressed.
"I don’t know."
"..."
Li Luo probably knew he wouldn’t get an answer from Jeff, so he didn’t press the matter further.
Perhaps no one in the entire Fishman Race knew why it had to be done this way; they were simply following instructions.
The runic lines on the Moon Altar seemed to have no pattern, and this platform was just a small part of it.
But Mo Ling, from his vantage point in the sky, could make out a faint shape among the runes.
’Is that... a dragon?’
These winding runic lines were messy and chaotic, like wildly overgrown vines.
However, using the platform as the "eye," Mo Ling discovered that the runic lines actually formed the image of a dragon!
It was very similar to the Monster Dragon Mo Ling had seen before.
The groove where the ball was placed was the eye of the fish.
And the circular platform was the eye of the dragon.
’First, dot the eye of the fish, then dot the eye of the dragon.’
It seemed to be an unalterable sequence.
In a daze, Mo Ling seemed to see it again: the little wandering fish slowly transforming into a writhing dragon.
The dream of the dragon transformation and the scene before him began to overlap.
The entire runic pattern seemed to come alive as the platform fell into alignment.
Mo Ling stared at the platform, and the profound words of the Fishman language echoed in his mind once more.
The character on the platform was very simple.
It was a cross formed by the intersection of a "horizontal" and a "vertical" stroke.
A Little Fish was swimming in circles around the center of the cross, seemingly trapped in an endless loop.
The moment he saw this character, Mo Ling instantly understood its meaning—
"Clock."
