Chapter 284: Chapter 282: The Origin of the World
While Mo Ling was still mired in confusion, a long root suddenly shot out from behind, wrapped around him, and yanked him backward.
Then, Mo Ling saw the vast expanse of blue rapidly recede into the distance.
He was pulled by the root back into the pitch-black void.
Mo Ling looked back along the root, but he couldn’t see who was pulling him.
Not until a familiar voice traveled up the root: "Don’t be afraid. I’ll get you out."
It was Bai Zhou’s apprentice.
Mo Ling breathed a sigh of relief. He turned back to watch the vast blue sea, which was gradually receding into the distance, his gaze lost in thought.
At this distance, he could no longer see the Little Fish.
Even the sea, which had seemed endless, had shrunk to a small blue dot, like a pure sapphire in the void.
This sapphire was the beginning of everything for Fishman Island, and also its temporary end.
"Did you see that fish in the sea?" Mo Ling asked, addressing the root.
"What fish?"
"Never mind..."
It seemed Bai Zhou’s apprentice hadn’t noticed the distant Little Fish.
Mo Ling turned his head to survey the void. It was identical to the void he had seen from the Little Fish’s perspective.
The root pulled Mo Ling higher and higher until they rose out of the ravines below.
Looking at the ravines formed by brushstrokes, Mo Ling had a sudden realization. He had seen this scene before. When the Little Fish led its school to transform into a dragon and escape the world of words, the ravines had looked exactly like this.
’Did all of this come from that character for "immortal"?’
Looking at the smooth, familiar cutting marks on the ravines, a strange thought began to form in Mo Ling’s mind:
’Am I the source of all this?’
If he hadn’t used his ability to help Bai Zhou cut the unshakeable boulder and carve the character for "immortal," none of this would have happened.
Bai Zhou would have never become an immortal.
There would be no school of fish.
No Fishman Island.
And none of what he was experiencing right now.
As he was lost in his daze, a concerned voice came from within the root.
"Are you all right?"
"I’m fine."
Mo Ling looked up again but still couldn’t see what lay at the top of the root.
The root seemed to stretch on endlessly, and he was simply following it, ascending nonstop.
The ravines below grew more distant, and Mo Ling confirmed his suspicion: that was the character for "immortal" he had helped Bai Zhou carve.
However, the area around the character was beginning to collapse, with the vague outlines of new characters seemingly taking shape in the chaos.
As his perspective continued to rise, Mo Ling noticed a thin membrane above his head, just like the one he had seen from the Little Fish’s perspective.
The root binding him gave a sharp tug, pulling Mo Ling through the membrane and dropping him onto the ground.
Warm sunlight spilled down, and a gentle breeze rustled through the leaves.
Mo Ling followed the root with his eyes and saw a member of the Chali Race crouching nearby, looking at him with concern.
"Are you okay?"
It was Bai Zhou’s apprentice.
"I’m fine. What happened?"
Mo Ling quickly scanned his surroundings. Bai Zhou was gone; only the bloodstained boulder remained standing.
The character for "immortal" in the center was unchanged, but the boulder was now covered in strange cracks. These cracks looked like the individual strokes of characters—horizontals, verticals, and diagonals—and they scored the boulder’s surface, leaving it scarred all over.
"How did it end up like this?" Mo Ling couldn’t help but ask.
"It became like this after you and Master fell in," the apprentice replied.
"I only managed to pull you out. Where’s Master?"
He ran over to the boulder and circled it a few times, as if searching for Bai Zhou.
"Did you see Master?"
"He turned into a fish," Mo Ling answered, the words feeling strange on his tongue.
"A fish?" The apprentice looked confused for a moment, but then his expression shifted to one of sudden realization. "Master has achieved immortality!"
He ran excitedly to Mo Ling. "So it’s true! Carving the character for ’immortal’ really lets you achieve immortality! But we have to leave, quickly. This world isn’t going to last much longer."
"Why?"
"Because this is a Soul Spirit’s world. Once it loses its master, it will fall into reality. But the point in time it falls into is uncertain. It could be in the distant past, or it could be in the far future."
"How do you know that?" Mo Ling asked, baffled.
"Because no one understands Soul Spirits better than we of the Chali Race."
Hearing this, Mo Ling finally pieced everything together.
This world... it would fall into a past before the school of fish even existed...
"Let’s go."
"Right."
The root wrapped around Mo Ling again and gave a powerful tug.
Mo Ling felt himself being yanked backward by a tremendous force, like being pulled out of a thick, sticky gelatin.
Then, he felt the same violent shaking he’d experienced when first entering this world.
He was being pulled from all directions.
However, the force of the root wrapped around him was greater than these other forces, and he continued to be pulled steadily backward.
Finally, he broke free from the chaotic pull, stumbling backward and nearly falling to the ground.
...
"How do you feel?" the little person on Mo Ling’s shoulder asked with concern.
Mo Ling looked down at his body and saw no sign of any root.
"That was just an external manifestation of the Soul Spirit. An incorporeal power needs a physical form to manifest," the little person explained, as if sensing Mo Ling’s confusion.
’So the root was the Soul Spirit’s power?’
Mo Ling twisted around to look at his back. Sure enough, there was no root.
Still, at least he was finally back.
"What will happen to that world?" Mo Ling was still worried about it.
"I don’t know." The little person shook his head. "It will go where it’s meant to go."
"Let’s deal with what’s in front of us first." He patted Mo Ling’s shoulder and gestured for him to look forward.
Mo Ling looked ahead, confused, and saw that the sphere entwined with Old-Eaters was still there.
It was as clear and transparent as ever, making it seem as if everything that had just happened was an illusion.
"In a moment, help me catch the person inside."
With that, the little person leaped from Mo Ling’s shoulder, moved to the base of the sphere, and extended thin tendrils from his body. They wove together and pierced into the sphere’s surface.
Then, Mo Ling watched as the Old-Eaters awoke one by one and swiftly crawled along the tendrils, burrowing into the little root carving’s body.
Despite his tiny body, the root carving seemed to have an infinite capacity, endlessly absorbing the Old-Eaters into himself.
The little person’s tendrils spread across the sphere, writhing as they reached every part of its surface. This allowed him to absorb the Old-Eaters at an ever-increasing speed, and the sphere of Old-Eaters rapidly shrank.
As the gelatinous sphere slowly dissolved, a human figure appeared at its center.
The person’s entire body was covered in Old-Eaters, and they appeared to be unconscious. Their body emerged from the transparent swarm, like a piece of black wood rising to the top of a churning current.
The Old-Eaters swam around, merging into the still-spreading tendrils.
Without the support of the Old-Eaters, the person fell limply from the air.
Mo Ling got into position, caught the person, and gently lowered them to the ground.
Seeing the familiar diving helmet, Mo Ling breathed a sigh of relief.
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