Chapter 399: Chapter 343: A God Manifests in the World (2)
A dorsal fin, shaped like a fishing rod, had a curved, extended tip that emitted a faint green glow.
At a glance, the green light was not much different from the myriad green specks of light dotting the Sea of Sumeru.
If one had to point out a difference...
...it was that this green light was slightly brighter.
Bathed in this green light, the strange fish’s body appeared almost transparent and illusory. This, combined with its location in the slightly dim environment of the Shallow Wave Zone, made it nearly impossible to spot unless one was very close.
At this moment, it was swishing its tail, carefully approaching a target ahead.
The target was a Spirit Realm creature only one-tenth its size, which glowed with a silver light all over.
However, just as it got within a certain distance and was about to attack...
...the silver Spirit Realm creature seemed to sense the danger and shot away abruptly.
Seeing this, the strange fish dropped its camouflage. The green light at the tip of its "fishing rod" suddenly flared.
Several rays of light shot out, instantly piercing the silver Spirit Realm creature’s body and wrapping around it.
No matter how it struggled, its efforts were futile.
Looking closely, one could see that it wasn’t green light at all, but several incredibly fine green threads.
The strange fish swam forward quickly, opened its massive, tooth-filled maw, and swallowed it in one gulp.
Instantly, a look of human-like satisfaction appeared on its ugly face.
Suddenly, a suction force emanated from nearby.
It pulled the fish’s body to the side.
It turned its head to look.
Beside it, an inky-black vortex had appeared at some unknown point.
The black vortex spun rapidly and tirelessly, like a deep black hole.
The powerful pulling force generated by the vortex was like an invisible giant hand.
It greedily devoured the surrounding green specks of light, which vanished without a trace the moment they were pulled in, like stones sinking into the ocean.
Noticing this, a flicker of fear crossed the strange fish’s eyes.
The green light on its body flared as it violently broke free from the pulling force and quickly fled the area.
Back at the spot, the vortex continued to move slowly.
However, at that moment, something unexpected happened.
The vortex’s rotation speed suddenly dropped sharply.
Then, it began to shrink, collapsing inward as if under some immense pressure.
Finally, after reaching a certain limit, with a soft "POP"...
...the black vortex burst like a fragile bubble and vanished.
At the same time, the pale green specks of light that had been forcibly drawn in...
...surged back gently and gracefully, as if freed, flowing like a tranquil stream.
The very instant the vortex disappeared, a faint spatial ripple appeared in its place.
Hu Qi’s figure materialized where it had been.
He closed his eyes slightly, sensing the situation within his Pocket World Space.
His brow furrowed unconsciously, a grave expression on his face.
’Just as I thought. Although I can store this realm inside the Pocket World Space, it becomes disconnected from the embrace of the Sea of Sumeru.’
’This means the world within the Pocket World Space can no longer absorb the green specks of light, which are formed from the Light of the Soul, from the Sea of Sumeru.’
Such an outcome was very serious for the living beings of a world.
"Living beings" here didn’t just refer to humans.
It included birds, beasts, insects, fish, shrimp, and more...
In the short term, there might not be any obvious changes.
But over a longer period, the ecosystem would inevitably collapse like a teetering skyscraper.
At that point, the world would completely die, becoming like a silent, desolate wasteland.
Even with the protection of Divine Techniques, only a small number of people could be saved.
This was clearly not an outcome Hu Qi wanted to see.
He was able to discover this problem ahead of time because this exact situation was already occurring on Zero Ecological Island, another location within his Pocket World Space used for raising Exotic Beasts.
The number of creatures on the island had already been reduced by one-fifth.
Most of them were ordinary creatures.
This was because these ordinary creatures had short lifespans.
As for the carefully cultivated Exotic Beasts, their life cycles were much longer.
They could still reproduce, but their output was clearly lower than before.
The reason for this was that the Pocket World Space was cut off from the Sea of Sumeru.
This also meant that when the creatures inside died, their Light of the Soul could not return to the Sea of Sumeru.
They could only undergo a second reincarnation within the Pocket World Space.
However, this had a huge drawback.
These Lights of the Soul had not undergone the process of having their memories washed away and their Spirituality replenished by the waters of the Sea of Sumeru.
After a second reincarnation, they showed obvious signs of weakening.
Some individual Lights of the Soul even began to extinguish and dissipate.
If this continued, it was only a matter of time before all life in the Pocket World Space died out.
’To solve this problem, there are currently only three options.’
’First, connect the Pocket World Space to the Sea of Sumeru.’
’But that’s simply impossible.’
’After all, to put it bluntly, my Pocket World Space is just a special, independent space. It doesn’t have the many functions that a complete world should possess.’
’Perhaps in the future, as my power grows, I might be able to do this after becoming a True God, but definitely not now.’
’Second, maintain the ecological balance of this realm by plundering creatures from other worlds.’
’Although this method would have significant and almost immediate effects in the short term...’
’...it’s ultimately just a temporary fix, not a permanent solution. It’s also too troublesome to implement and wouldn’t solve the problem of Exotic Beast production.’
’Third, create or find something with an effect similar to the Sea of Sumeru, allowing living beings to reincarnate on their own.’
In Hu Qi’s view...
...the third option was currently the best.
However, he had no confidence it would work. He would have to try it out to verify if his idea was feasible.
At this thought, Hu Qi opened his palm.
A flash of black light appeared, and a Damaged Black Banner instantly materialized in his hand.
In his other hand, a sphere of light emitting a soft glow appeared.
Within it, the blurry, struggling face of a figure could be faintly seen.
It was the world will that he had previously suppressed and sealed.
"Don’t worry, I’m not going to eat you. I’ll let you return to your own world, but in a different form," Hu Qi said faintly.
As he spoke, he waved the Black Banner in his hand. Wisps of black smoke surged out, instantly enveloping the ball of world will before him.
...
As Hu Qi focused on refining the ball of world will, an unknown distance away...
...at the border between the Shallow Wave Zone and the Deep Dark Zone...
...a blond Young Man sat cross-legged with his eyes closed atop a giant, purple, shell-like Spirit Realm creature.
Suddenly, as if sensing some disturbance, the Young Man’s tightly shut eyes abruptly snapped open.
