Chapter 457: 74. The Truth
Hearing Chuan’s words, Fisher suddenly realized who the subhuman he had bound within the barrier was; it turned out to be Tsu, the youngest of the three original spirit offspring.
With the identity of the other party clarified, Fisher’s heart, which had been suspended, did not feel any relief because there were still two significant matters to ponder before him.
The first matter was, why did Tsu have an identical appearance to Renee, who would later have a profound connection with the Mother Goddess?
The second matter was, if Tsu and Peach, both of the three offspring, were now present in the Royal Capital, did it signify that the situation within the Royal Capital was actually quite serious?
After explaining, Chuan slowly walked up to the door, his right hand brushing against it, gliding over the uneven surface with a somewhat meaningful expression.
At this moment, as he decided to push open this door, his life was on the verge of a significant transformation.
As an elf, he clearly understood that this act was an exceedingly grave overstep, an irretrievable offense against the King.
“.”
Faced with such a critical decision, he fell into an unavoidable hesitation.
Margaret, standing behind him, noticed his hesitation. She paused for a moment and then spoke,
“Lord Chuan, if you feel forced, it’s alright to stop. But even if you’re hesitant, please go to the door behind and let me tell you about the Elf King’s actions before you make your decision, okay?”
Chuan was taken aback for a moment. Without turning back, he shook his head and said,
“No, I’m also a bit curious about everything here. Why did Jianmu Palace suddenly become so empty? What is the King keeping you Trans in his presence for?”
Perhaps it was really as Duke Chuan had said; he was merely curious about the actions of the Elf King, who was living in seclusion yet approaching death, in Jianmu Palace, which led him to make this decision.
But in Fisher’s eyes, there should be another reason.
Due to his differences from his kin, as well as the ostracism and insults caused by his compassion, he had repressed this in such an environment for a long time, yearning for change, and it just happened that Margaret, the Trans, provided him with this opportunity.
“Click, click, click!”
Just as Chuan resolutely decided to uncover the truth in the Elf King’s palace, he forcefully pushed open the massive door before him.
At the moment the giant door opened, Fisher and the others did not first see any visible forms; instead, they were greeted by countless soft yet space-time warping golden lights.
The surrounding air seemed distorted from the high temperature, as if time around them slowed instantly and then sped up in the next moment.
In that instant, whether it was Fisher, Mikhail, or Tang Zeming Asuka, they all felt a pure, unprecedented sense of shock.
That dazzling golden light hovered in the air like a sun, showcasing a terrifying power unimaginable to all ranks.
“That’s…”
Under the illumination of the golden light, both Mikhail and Tang Zeming Asuka found it hard to breathe. Even Fisher felt discomfort as if a certain part of his body was burning. He looked down and discovered that the Supplement Handbook for Sub-Humans, Life Completion Manual, and Soul Supplement Handbook began to heat up, feeling exposed under that golden radiance.
That was the brilliance of incomparably pure order, contrary to chaos.
Among them, only Chuan remained unscathed, staring blankly at the sun-like entity hovering above the Elf King’s palace. Even he could recognize that it was not a great item that the Elf King, Peach, or even their mother could create; that was…
“The Loom of Fate.”
Chuan murmured in disbelief, explaining to the later uncomfortable Fisher and others what the illusory pure substance wrapped in the golden brilliance was.
“No, it’s impossible! The Loom is the most precious treasure bestowed to Mother by the Lord of the Gods. Why would it be beside the King?”
Fisher squinted his eyes and struggled to look at the golden brilliance, finally catching a faint glimpse of its general form.
It turned out to be a mass of irregular, twisted, and indescribable golden bubbles, resembling a chaotic entity formed by the gathering, condensing, and dispersing of thousands of suns. And beneath that unbearable golden entity, like an umbilical cord, was linked a tiny, teardrop-like creation identical to the item gifted to Fisher by the Supplement Handbook for Sub-Humans, evidently the fabled “Tears of the World Tree.”
So, the Loom of Fate and the Tears of the World Tree were connected.
“Because the Elf King’s lifespan is nearing its end, Lord Chuan. Your mother entrusted the heavy responsibility of caring for the child to the Elf King, yet granted him the least blessings. Perhaps it is because of a mother’s guilt towards her child, or perhaps a worry that once this most important child leaves, the gifts he created would collapse, causing infighting among the elves; hence, the World Tree wishes to prolong his life.”
“Those who possess the Loom of Fate can comprehend fate, obtaining unimaginable wisdom and power, as well as gaining a portion of the True God’s authority. As a precious creation of the God of the authority of ‘Fate,’ it can naturally also exert certain effects on other rules.”
Margaret looked at the massive golden sphere ahead, speaking clearly word by word.
“Therefore, the Loom of Fate can, to the greatest extent, help him evade the perpetual pursuit of death, thus the World Tree secretly bestowed this most precious divine creation to the Elf King. Moreover, the Elf King also combined other methods to counteract death. First, he needs Trans. He said there’s a chaotic aura within me that can resist the order of death and life; secondly…”
At the moment Margaret spoke, a layer upon layer of pink flower petals suddenly began to drift down from the sky above.
That was peach blossom.
The blooming peach blossoms fell slowly from the sky, like ripples formed on a calm lake when something dropped into it, gradually dispersing the shadows of fate surrounding them.
The image, forcibly maintained by some power, gradually stagnated, blurred, and began to dissipate. Upon closer inspection, the power sustaining this shadow of fate was surprisingly very similar to the one that previously obscured it, both a golden light of destiny.
And with the peach blossoms drifting down from above, dispersing the shadow of fate in this place, the scene before them also changed accordingly.
Before Fisher and the others was still that slightly ajar “Supreme Door,” opening the passage to the Elf King’s palace, but at this moment, the brilliant golden light of the Loom of Fate was absent inside.
“Teacher Fisher, what happened?! Why… are Margaret and Duke Chuan missing?”
Fisher looked around, noticing that Jianmu Palace appeared even more desolate and dilapidated than the shadow of fate. A sudden, ominous premonition surged within him.
He did not speak but extended his hand, watching helplessly as the peach blossoms fell into his palm. He could feel the coolness and slight chill of the peach petals.
At this moment, Fisher’s heart sank to the bottom; he seemed to have understood the entire sequence of events.
“.”
He closed his eyes and sighed, tightening his grip on the peach blossoms in his hand.
Behind him, Tang Zeming Asuka sensed the low atmospheric pressure on Fisher and dared not speak, while Mikhail looked around and asked Fisher,
“Fisher, what is happening? Why is this scene constantly changing? Is this another layer of Peach’s shadow of fate?”
Fisher shook his head at this and, grinding his teeth, glared at the open Supreme Door. He then crossed through the door, saying:
“. You all follow me.”
Mikhail immediately followed, and Tang Zeming Asuka bit her lip, scanning the surroundings. After confirming that Margaret and Chuan had truly disappeared, she also quickly joined Fisher and the others.
As they stepped into the Supreme Door, without the dazzling light of the Loom of Fate to illuminate them, they could clearly see the scene in the Elf King’s palace.
In front of the palace, the wide ground was densely filled with extremely large trees. The tree trunks exhibited a strange bluish-black color, with a hint of crimson visible deep within.
The trees had no leaves but were laden with round, red fruits.
Tang Zeming Asuka moved a bit closer, initially curious about what fruit these were, but it was only upon coming closer that she suddenly noticed something odd.
She saw that the wrinkled bark of the trees revealed slight gaps, allowing her to see a multitude of eyes, fingers, and other organs densely arranged within the trees.
Tang Zeming Asuka’s face turned white as a wave of nausea surged within her, covering her mouth and retreating several steps to gag on the ground.
As her face turned toward the ground, she suddenly discovered that even the blue bricks on the floor of the Elf King’s palace had been stained a crimson color, let alone the soil beneath.
“F-Fisher, those trees! Ugh!”
Mikhail leaned in to take a look and felt a chill run down his spine. He incredulously scanned the massive trees, immediately dumbfounded.
“Those are not trees; they look like a kind of parasitic organism growing on a pile of corpses, bearing fruit by absorbing nutrients from those corpses? It should be like that, but I don’t know the specifics. The underground is filled with branches of these things, and there are even more corpses beneath.”
Fisher slashed the giant tree’s bark with the Fluid Sword, creating a gash that immediately sprayed a fine mist of blood. Following that, a mixture of various subhuman and human organs combined with the sap of the parasitic plant began to flow out.
Watching the large volume of liquid flowing out, Fisher finally understood why such a grand Jianmu Palace had no living being in sight and why the Elf King had been so fond of slaves over the years.
He maintained a cold expression, his eyes like blades as he gazed at the round, red fruits above, speaking clearly word by word,
“This is what Margaret referred to, the Elf King’s third method of sustaining life. He used some fairy secret technique to merge living beings with these plants to cultivate fruits that sustain life, enhancing vigor through consumption of them. With these three methods, it’s no wonder he can survive the pursuit of death for so long.”
Tang Zeming Asuka covered her mouth, her face pale as she said,
“How could this be? If this has been the case for six months, what about the Elf King in reality? What happened to Margaret and Duke Chuan?”
Fisher’s expression grew increasingly cold. He gazed at the palace above, taking step by step towards the cold palace, from which a faintly weak dry cough could be heard.
With each step, Fisher’s understanding of the situation became clearer.
“The reality? Peach has been deceiving us from the very beginning; what was lost in Jianmu Palace is not the Tears of the World Tree at all. Even if that item is precious, in comparison to what Margaret truly stole, it could only be considered a tiny trinket.
“Margaret truly stole the creation of the gods, the ‘Loom of Fate.’ No wonder they concealed the news so well. A true divine artifact like that should never leave the Tree Continent; they must cover up the truth at all costs.”
Fisher stared at the drifting peach blossoms around him, feeling a surge of anxiety within him because at this moment, all of them had fallen into an extremely dangerous trap, a deadly scheme set by Peach,
“Margaret stole the Loom of Fate and erased this past; for the elves, this is an absolutely irredeemable grave sin. With Peach’s vast powers, even if she may not know who the insider is, she must know where Margaret went. The reason she hasn’t yet acted to reclaim the Loom of Fate must be because Margaret used some method to maintain a strategic balance, preventing those Grand Dukes from making a move.”
No matter how Fisher guessed, it all felt absurd, and no matter how he calculated, it seemed impossible to foresee this step. Yet, his pace did not slow. He looked around, glancing at the surroundings while running towards the Elf King’s palace, aiming to explain the truth to his two companions, who seemed confused.
“So from the moment she encountered us, she concealed the truth. She indeed didn’t know who the actual insider was, but she definitely knew where Margaret went. The only three reasons she had for wanting us to enter the barrier were, first, to see if we could find the real insider. Of course, it wouldn’t matter if we didn’t find anyone, as her main objective was the latter two.
“To use our hands to kill the Elf King, and also, to kill us.”
Tang Zeming Asuka froze in place, her high school mind overloaded as she struggled to comprehend the current situation for a long time.
“K-Kill the Elf King?! How can we do that if we haven’t even seen the Elf King yet?!”
Fisher walked expressionlessly to the dark palace, examining the one enormous bed within the hall, upon which lay a gaunt figure, still somehow brimming with a terrifyingly high rank despite being on the verge of death.
Fisher was silent for a moment, then gritted his teeth and spoke clearly word by word,
“You will see him soon because at this moment, we are already in reality.”
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(End of this chapter)
