The deserted village looked particularly eerie in the tranquil night, with the sudden extinguishing of the moon in the sea causing the villagers to flee without much time to take many belongings.
But it was thanks to this that Aya could successfully find plenty of supplies in the village. "The door is wide open..." Aya boldly entered a courtyard that seemed the most decent in the village through the main gate, with the thick double wooden doors half-open. The ground in the courtyard was scattered with some debris, indicating a hurried departure.
In what appeared to be a kitchen, Aya indeed found a lot of food, disregarding the ones that needed processing and opting for some dried fish and jerky with decent flavors. Carrying a bag of dried sweet potatoes and chewing on a piece of jerky, Aya walked out of the door. The village road was as desolate as when he entered, filled with an unsettling silence.
However, Aya didn't mind much. If there were no disturbances, it meant the shadowy figures hadn't caught up yet. Even if they did, couldn't he just fight or run away? Rather than the threat of those monsters, he found the pitch-black darkness more frightening.
Clicking his tongue, Aya continued nervously down the dark street. After a few steps, he sneakily returned to the wealthy household where he had found food earlier and rummaged for two oil lamps and a few candles that had burned dry due to neglect. After refueling them, he lit the lamps before heading out again.
"I didn't expect you to fear the dark I created, but my children, are you a child?" Suddenly, a voice came from the courtyard wall. Aya remained silent for a few seconds before turning around slowly, glaring at the girl sitting on the wall with a poker face. "Do you enjoy scaring people?"
"Aren't you scared?" The girl retorted.
"Heh... Heh." Aya chuckled awkwardly and fell silent. I didn't scare at all. What do you think I was doing when I didn't turn around for a few seconds earlier? My face almost twitched just now.
"Besides that," Aya calmed down a bit. "Why are you here now? If you have something to say, I can tell you in advance that I'm not going to compromise."
"Of course not," the second Mínglín shook her head. "I'm just bored and want to chat with you. I haven't talked to a real life form in many years."
The girl propped up her chin, smiled, then pushed off the wall, landed steadily after a leap and walked leisurely to Aya, pointing at the bag in his hand. "Mind sharing some of the dried sweet potatoes you found in the courtyard with me?"
Aya opened the bag, let the girl take a piece, and himself swallowed the jerky in his mouth before picking another piece, still eyeing her warily. "Is it really just a chat?"
"Whether you believe it or not, I'm already here," the girl said playfully, giving Aya a subtle sense of "something seems off, but I can't quite put my finger on it."
Clicking his tongue, Aya decided to let it go. If those dark elements caught up, he would just turn and run. After all, those things couldn't catch up with him anyway.
---
"Not bad progress!" With only one day left until the Sacred Dance Festival, Tiran was still in the courtyard, accompanying Ayako in practicing a dance that she forcibly attached the title of Sacred Dance to.
Well, whether it was considered a Sacred Dance was another matter, but Ayako's performance in this dance was much better than in the actual Sacred Dance. Honestly, Ayako's progress in learning this dance was ridiculously fast compared to the Sacred Dance. After watching Tiran dance twice on the first day, she managed to imitate it skillfully, momentarily making Tiran wonder if her previous clumsiness in the Sacred Dance was just an act.
After Ayako performed the original ritual dance again, her serious expression didn't seem like an act at all. Tiran confirmed one thing: Ayako's motor skills were probably targeted in a specific way, as she just couldn't get the ritual dance right.
But this was also good news. At least the completion of this dance would not be lacking. Combined with the carefully prepared costumes and music, whether the dance exuded the divine essence it should have was irrelevant. It would definitely be eye-catching and stimulating enough.
"Oh, by the way, besides dancing, did I ask you to practice anything else?" Remembering something important, Tiran walked up to Ayako, held her shoulders, and asked seriously.
"Eh? Anything else?" Ayako asked cautiously.
"Yeah, like signing autographs, attending handshake events, and introducing yourself."
"Why do I need to practice those things? Isn't it enough to just go on stage and complete the ritual dance for the Shrine Festival?" Ayako asked tentatively, noticing Tiran's expression suddenly turning angry.
"What are you saying? Who told you we are practicing for the Shrine Festival? Our journey is as vast as the stars and seas! Conquering Seabreath is just the first step. Next, we'll become Morninglight's national idols and then move towards the world! Do you think Miss Idol Planner here is just joking around?" Princess Tiran unexpectedly fired up with passion.
"I mean, can you tone it down a bit... How can there be stars and seas in this world that only lasts for seven days?"
Watching Tiran's progress from outside the small world, Minglin No.1 silently sent a voice message to Tiran's mind.
Should I have switched them around and sent them back? A little regret crept into Minglin's thoughts.
At the same time, Aya's situation was quite delicate. He was increasingly unable to understand the intentions of the girl in front of him. Initially, she had asked him not to follow Minglin No.1's orders, even sending dark elements to kill him. But now, they were peacefully walking through the village and chatting?
This was all too bizarre.
The girl seemed to speak freely as if she had accumulated many things in her heart that she hadn't shared with anyone in a long time, finally finding someone she could confide in. She shared many anecdotes and stories observed from a divine perspective in this small world, as well as some about her own past.
As a part of the entity "Minglin," the girl had also inherited many of Minglin's memories, which allowed Aya to understand her better. Minglin hailed from the Eastern Continent. Aya knew very little about this land across the sea from the Western Continent. According to Minglin No.2, the Eastern Continent, like the Western Continent, possessed a subdimension similar to the Devildom.
However, regardless of its environment or hierarchy, this subdimension was much higher than the Devildom in relation to the Western Continent. It was called the "Immortal Realm."
As the name suggests, it was a world where immortals resided. Although the terminology was completely different, according to her descriptions, the abilities of the immortals in the Immortal Realm should be equivalent to the deities in the Western Continent.
And if the memories of this part of Minglin were accurate, there had been over a hundred immortals in the Immortal Realm when Minglin was still there.
This fact nearly dumbfounded Aya. While the Western Continent had just a handful of beings at the level of deities, the Eastern Continent, supposedly ten times more powerful, seemed incredibly exaggerated.
If it weren't for the almost impassable barrier between the Immortal Realm and the mortal plane, preventing most of the immortals from descending to the lower world, the Western Continent would probably have long been ruled by the East Land.
Among immortals, there are two types: one is the cultivator from the lower realm who overcomes numerous obstacles, undergoes the tribulation, and eventually transforms their cultivated powers into immortal spirits to ascend to the immortal realm; the other is like me, born directly in the immortal realm, naturally able to wield immortal spirits to command the laws of heaven and earth."
"So, it's like the so-called second-generation immortals?" Aya couldn't help but quip.
"You could say it that way..." Ming Lin No. 2 rolled their eyes. Although they didn't like the title much, it seemed to fit.
"Wow, learning something new, so gods also do the deed." Aya's sarcasm, perhaps influenced by Tiran, was becoming more princess-like, sharp yet playful.
The girl was a bit annoyed, but unable to come up with a retort, she gave up and said, "Anyway, the immortal realm is perceived as a beautiful place by mortals. Furthermore, as each cultivator ascends from the lower realms and never returns, they become more divine in the mortal world, turning all the beautiful fantasies of mortals into attributes of the immortal realm."
In reality, the immortal realm was just a place with more abundant spiritual energy, beautiful landscapes not much different from the mortal world, immortals with long life but limits, without the fantastic treasures and eternal paradise imagined by mortals.
"If things were just like this, it wouldn't matter much, serving as a beautiful aspiration for mortals and a goal to strive for by cultivators."
The voice of Ming Lin No. 2 turned cold all of a sudden.
If only it were so.
But on a day many years ago, a silent change arrived in the Eastern Continent. Mortals were oblivious, but the powerful cultivators in East Land known as "Earthly Immortals" noticed, as did the immortals in the immortal realm.
A change in the laws.
Unlike practitioners from the West Continent and deities, the cultivation methods in East Land emphasized the fusion of man and nature from the very beginning, focusing on integrating with the laws. This allowed cultivators to unleash powers difficult to achieve even at the Holy Rank of the West Continent before reaching the level of immortality.
And immortals were even more so.
For immortals, the manipulation of the laws was as natural as breathing. The sudden change in the laws was like a sudden shift in the composition of the surrounding air for humans. What was originally 78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen suddenly became 100% pure oxygen, almost fatal.
Of course, immortals were immortals. If it were just that, they could gradually adapt and understand the laws again, regaining control over them.
But along with the change in the laws, the immortal realm, built on the foundation of the laws, began to shake violently, and then...
"The immortal realm fell."
The descent wasn't a physical fall from the sky, as the immortal realm was never in the heavens but existed parallel to East Land. The so-called fall manifested as three immortal mountains appearing abruptly off the coast of East Land.
"Those who seek the three divine mountains of Mount Zixing, Mount Xuan, and Mount Yanzhao to find Penglai, Fangzheng, and Yingzhou are recorded in the books of humans at that time. Those who ventured to the sea did not return. The calamity approached, the winds guided the ships away. It was said that immortals and the elixir of immortality were there."
"That's how it was written in the books of humans at that time." The girl lowered her eyelids, her voice growing colder. "They said they were going to seek the elixir of immortality..."
"Hmph... seek? What a 'seek'!"
