Chapter 478: Four Men
Let’s rewind a bit and return to the time when Fisher and Tang Zeming Asuka were still in the high tower, shifting our gaze to the treehouse that Chuan had just built for them. On the balcony facing the distant stone tower, Gouwen, with a slight sway of his whale tail, squinted his eyes at the flickering golden light coming from within the tall tower.
In the back room, Hela, who had been rubbing her eyes, walked out slowly. It seemed that she had become somewhat bored ever since Fisher left, even walking listlessly.
“Is that the power of the Loom of Fate?”
Gouwen vaguely sensed the dangerous power within that golden light and spoke up. Hela, smiling, came to the windowsill, standing slightly farther from Gouwen.
However, she merely glanced at the tower and then disinterestedly averted her gaze, offering no comments and even stifling a yawn.
After a long silence, Gouwen withdrew his gaze. With the retraction of his sight, the usual warmth on his face faded slightly, overshadowed by a faint shadow.
He glanced at Hela, who seemed bored and distracted, hesitated for a moment, and then spoke.
“Did Angel Salie give you my reward?”
Hela, her blue-golden scattered pupils regained a bit of focus, looked at Gouwen with a smile and asked, “If you hadn’t brought it up, I might have almost forgotten that Lady Salie had already given your reward to me. Earlier, I didn’t mention it in front of her, and later, I’d have to do the hard work behind the scenes to hand it to you. So, you don’t want anyone to know your true purpose in the Holy Realm, especially Fisher?”
A shadow fell over half of Gouwen’s face. He did not respond to Hela’s question but instead said,
“I have my reasons. As long as there’s no malice towards him, it doesn’t matter if I say it or not, right? So, what about my reward?”
“Then you should thank Lady Salie for her ability to see through desires.”
With a smile like a magic trick, Hela conjured a folded halo from her hand. With a flick of her wrist, the paper slowly flew toward Gouwen.
After Gouwen took it, he squinted his eyes, opening the glowing object. As he did so, the halo dimmed little by little until a line of readable angelic text clearly appeared above.
Fortunately, this item didn’t require Gouwen to know the angelic language to understand.
It bore an address: Kakafu’s snake people settlement on the southern shore of Dragon Tail Island in the Dragon Continent.
Gouwen’s expression showed no change, but Hela added, “Lady Salie said this is your reward for helping to bring back the information on the World Tree’s Tears. You can’t act in the Holy Realm anymore, or it will ruin her plans. You can find him here. But you know, angels are mythical beings, and you’re just a doctor. If you can’t handle it, you’ll have to wait until you bring back the World Tree’s Tears to claim another reward, but I personally strongly advise against doing that.”
Gouwen glanced at Hela, who was still looking off into the distance without asking why. He paused for a moment before gradually letting go of the halo.
As his finger left the light, it slowly faded as if it had lost its mass.
“I’m fine on my own. I’m ready to leave for that place now.”
“Don’t rush, don’t rush.”
As Hela spoke, she suddenly seemed to see something interesting. The boredom on her face gradually dissipated, and in the next second, she leapt over the fence and ran off into the distance.
“Wait here a moment; I’m going to catch someone red-handed and ask if Neceria behind you and that other Trans want to leave. I’ll be back soon!”
Catch someone red-handed?
Behind?
Looking at Hela growing distant, Gouwen felt a bit bewildered as he turned his head, only to suddenly discover in the corner of the living room had been sitting a statue-like Phoenix Race Neceria.
She seemed to have listened to the entire conversation between Gouwen and Hela just now, so now she was unsure whether to speak and blinked at Gouwen with an expressionless face, looking innocent.
“When did you get here?”
Neceria looked at Gouwen, although her face showed no expression, her eyes blinked.
After several seconds of silence in the room, faced with Gouwen’s questioning gaze, Neceria’s eyes gradually moved upward, her whole being remained frozen and silent, as if to prove she hadn’t heard anything.
“…”
Time and sight gradually returned to the edge of the Ideal Nation. After Fisher “naturally” spoke that astonishing word, Chuan also found himself undecided temporarily, sending a small flower flying toward the towering stone tower, hoping to inquire about Margaret’s opinion.
Fisher beside him showed no signs of urgency; he merely stood next to the smiling “Cain,” waiting for a decision from that side. Of course, aside from the visible affection between them, they also engaged in serious matters, such as discussing specific methods to enter the Mythical Rank.
“You previously mentioned that a catalyst of chaos could allow one to enter the Mythical Rank. What’s the specific method?”
“Well, actually, you probably know that the leap in rank is based on both body and soul. At this moment, your body and soul have already reached the level required for the Mythical Rank, but all that is lacking is the qualitative change that combines them together. Just as I previously analyzed, you either have to resonate deeply with order or rely on the power of chaos, and you have a natural talent for the latter.
“As for how to do it specifically, I’m not very clear either. You can find a quiet place to try, feel the breath of chaos, and pray to chaos. You might just suddenly ‘pop’ into a mythical being. But I must remind you, this process carries certain risks, so it’s better to be cautious.”
Upon hearing this, Fisher’s first feeling was that it sounded unreliable. He wasn’t sure if it was due to having completed the manual before, but he always instinctively felt that the power of chaos wasn’t very reliable. However, after gaining a certain resistance to chaos with Renee, he felt somewhat reassured, merely stating,
“I’ll give it a try.”
As they spoke, they had not yet received a reply from Margaret. Instead, they greeted Gouwen and Mikhail. Seeing the smiling Gouwen and the expressionless Mikhail behind him, Fisher raised an eyebrow and asked in confusion,
“What brings you here? Where’s Neceria?”
“She’s inside the house. We had nothing to do and just happened to see you hurriedly carrying Cain over, so we came to see what was going on.”
Fisher originally didn’t want to explain to them, as he felt while Chuan might believe the lie that he wanted to go out because he liked the Subhuman Race, Gouwen probably wouldn’t believe it. Although it wasn’t necessary to explain to them, if there were any doubts and a flaw was exposed, that wouldn’t be good.
Moreover, there was a key issue: Fisher didn’t know exactly how outrageous the effects of Margaret’s Loom of Fate really were. He doubted that what Margaret demonstrated earlier was only a tiny fraction of the Loom’s abilities. He certainly didn’t believe that an artifact of a true god would have only that little use.
However, Fisher still roughly told them about the situation. Unexpectedly, Gouwen nodded thoughtfully after listening and even squinted at Fisher, as if afraid he was indeed going out for some Subhuman girl.
“Alright, then let’s go together. We have nothing else to do, and we can help a bit.”
Feeling his reputation on the line, Fisher raised an eyebrow, but before he could say anything, a flower slowly descended from the sky — the very one Chuan had sent out as a message.
He reached out to catch it and felt something instantly. Then he crushed the flower in his hand, and it disappeared instantaneously.
“I understand. Margaret said that the Trans named ‘Tang Zeming Asuka’ picks things up quickly; their progress is fast. They might even complete the control over the Loom before Mother handles the King’s reincarnation. In that case, I’ll trouble you to help. Margaret has roughly informed me of the other party’s traces. Let’s set off.”
“Are we going directly? Don’t we need to bring overnight things?”
Mikhail had originally been resting but was forced awake by Gouwen, coming over still unclear about the situation and now being told to leave again. He glanced at the sun gradually setting in the sky and said.
“Chuan is a mythical being, moving swiftly; there’s no need to worry. We’ll probably finish before it gets dark. Let’s go.”
In contrast to Mikhail’s indifference, Gouwen showed unexpected eagerness. Fisher pondered for a moment but had no objections. However, he did not immediately follow Chuan’s lead but instead turned back to Hela, saying,
“Cain, you stay here.”
He was worried about leaving Tang Zeming Asuka and Neceria alone here. Although he couldn’t yet determine whether Margaret held any malice towards them, rational judgment indicated that before Tang Zeming Asuka helped her control the Loom, she was unlikely to do anything. Still, for safety’s sake, it was better to leave Hela, a mythical being, behind.
“Fine by me.”
She showed no objections and even smiled and waved at Fisher and the others, making Fisher feel that this angel harbored some ill intentions.
But Chuan indeed didn’t hesitate. Seemingly not wanting to leave the Ideal Nation for too long, he quickly raised his hand and conjured thick branches out of thin air, forming a small floating vessel like a boat, signaling Fisher and the others to board.
Gouwen took the lead, and Fisher quickly followed. Mikhail reluctantly boarded as well. On that small boat, four big men sat cross-legged together, heading in the same direction the Kakafu snake people tribe had left, also departing the Ideal Nation.
The wooden vessel, resembling a small boat, wasn’t very spacious. Mikhail felt as if half of his butt was hanging outside. He didn’t know if it was because of that or due to thinking about the situation of the Ideal Nation hidden among the mountains, so he spoke up.
“The elves are now eyeing the Ideal Nation; won’t we get caught by them coming out like this? It feels a bit like a lamb entering a tiger’s den.”
“My compatriots don’t like the dirty tricks and surveillance style. Like me, they are mythical beings with their own pride. If they don’t act, they don’t, but once they do, they will try to kill us. That time will be after Mother has handled the King’s reincarnation.”
Mikhail didn’t say, “Then that means we’ve delayed for a full six months.” But to consider the elves’ face, he kept silent.
Gouwen rubbed his chin and looked at Chuan’s back, which was facing the wind with black hair flying. He couldn’t help but ask,
“What about you, Lord Chuan? You betrayed your kin and stole the most cherished thing from your mother to escape to such a far place, for what? You should know this is a serious crime among elves; it’s the kind that can’t even be reincarnated.”
Chuan’s back remained motionless. Even the long ears on his head drooped a bit, causing the earrings hanging from them to jingle. But soon, he spoke again.
“Every day I lived on the Tree Continent was extremely torturous because my compatriots looked down on lives beyond us. But I don’t blame them; sometimes I even blame myself, because only I think like this. All conscious souls in this world come from the stream of consciousness in the spirit realm; they simply enter different vessels. Whenever I think of this, I feel unbearable pain.
“In the past years, I worked tirelessly to create a nation on our land, hoping to establish a happy pure land, yet what I received was plunder, abuse, and ridicule. I felt confused; was it truly my fault that led to such torment? But when I saw the King’s actions in Jianmu Palace, that genuine disgust told me the answer.
“I will be right.”
The three men behind Chuan looked at his back. Honestly, this elf was indeed different from other elves. Even Fisher and Mikhail, who were not very familiar with this time and place, had this feeling, let alone Gouwen, who had traveled for many years.
Gouwen deeply understood what kind of temperament those elves possessed; their ranks were so high that they didn’t care about other beings at all. The entire Tree Continent was hell for beings of lower ranks, and it was the kind you couldn’t manage at all.
This was also why Gouwen had rarely entered the Tree Continent in his years of being a doctor; comparatively speaking, this naturally savage side was much better; at least here, the Subhuman Race didn’t kill slaves for amusement unnecessarily.
“We’ve arrived.”
As they spoke, Chuan’s little boat slowly came to a stop. The expressions of the four men on the boat varied.
Due to past events, Chuan’s expression seemed a bit complex, but he quickly adjusted, focusing his gaze on the matter of catching a thief; Fisher and Gouwen were both looking around, though for some reason, they both seemed full of ill intentions, but occasionally they would glance toward the same direction by the sea. Then there was Mikhail, who…
Well, he was entirely confused, even wondering why he was here. The four big men had embarked on an absurd outing, and he just wanted to take a nap.
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(End of Chapter)
