Realizing the crisis of the Source Lord, as if making a final struggle, the entire “Source Sea” under the World Tree began to stir and surge in front of Renji.
Countless Sources Creatures leaped out of the sea, using their bodies to bring up wave after wave of stormy seas, madly pouncing towards Renji, trying to block Renji’s steps towards the Source Lord.
But these were all just futile efforts. The only Source Lord on the same level as Renji had already been completely paralyzed by the damage from the players. No matter how numerous the remaining Sources were, they couldn’t harm Renji in the slightest.
The sharp edge of the greatsword broke through the waves, shredding the mythical creatures blocking the way one by one. But these Sources still kept coming one after another, just to give the phoenix on the sea surface behind them time to breathe, hoping that their Source Lord could at least fly up again and escape from here.
This scene allowed Renji to see another side of the Source Creatures, the side as a race.
In a critical moment, it seemed that the Sources were no longer such a cold and ruthless mythical creatures.
But this would not make Renji show mercy.
After all, from an ideological standpoint, the two sides seemed destined to be opposites. Just like if one day, the oxygen on earth gained its own consciousness and tried to occupy physical bodies and obtain a shell, perhaps all humans would try their best to exterminate such a consciousness.
What Renji was doing now was the same.
The Sources were the cornerstone of the world.
The cornerstone did not need consciousness.
Ten steps, five steps, three steps…
Renji, holding the greatsword, finally arrived in front of the phoenix. No matter how the Phoenix Source Lord retreated, at this distance, there was no more room for escape. As long as Renji wanted, he could now swing down the greatsword and sever the phoenix’s head.
With the Source Lord eliminated, symbolizing the complete end of the entire Source race, the Source Sea would return to calm, the ecology of the World Tree would regain balance, and naturally, the Miasma would also disappear. And as each leaf, the myriad worlds would also usher in a period of recuperation.
Everything would return to being beautiful… Right?
…
Amidst the phoenix’s reluctant and desperate cries, Renji’s greatsword pointed straight at its head and slashed down, only to abruptly stop at the last centimeter, the blade hovering above.
But obviously, this phoenix Source Lord seemed to not have noticed. It was more like it had already imagined being slain by Renji. After letting out a final wail, its body followed and completely collapsed with a thud, starting to twitch.
Twitching once, twitching twice, twitching…
“?_?”
The phoenix Source Lord, who had its eyes closed, finally noticed something was wrong. Its body shouldn’ve just twitched a couple of times and then completely stiffened to death. How could it keep twitching endlessly?
When the Source Lord opened its eyes and saw Renji, who had pulled back the greatsword at the last moment and stopped it above its head, the phoenix was first confused, followed by an incomparable desire to live.
Some things, like death, if one had truly experienced half of it, walked through the gates of hell once, and experienced such coldness and lifelessness, then the will to live after surviving would be several times stronger than the previous newborn calf.
So during interrogation, it was not necessarily a must to directly torture the subject. One could first find another prisoner and let the subject see the prisoner’s miserable state. The subsequent interrogation would then be much smoother.
This was also the origin of the idiom “Punished as an example to others” in Renji’s hometown.
And what Renji was doing now could be said to be more or less the same.
Having experienced such a scare from Renji, having experienced for the first time in its life being so close to the end, the current phoenix Source Lord seemed to have awakened some attribute. From the previous loftiness and defiance unto death, to now…
“Chirp chirp!?”
“Chirp.”
The phoenix began to frantically cry out to Renji. Seeing Renji frown, the phoenix seemed to realize that it had been so frightened and nervous that it had forgotten to “switch” languages. It hurriedly switched to Renji’s language.
“Spare… spare me…”
“Please, let me go.”
Unlike the previous Source Lord’s ethereal voice, the current phoenix seemed to be catering to Renji’s preferences, switching to a clear and crisp tone with a weak and pitiful voice.
It was even a feminine female voice.
Don’t get it wrong, It had nothing to do with the voice.
In Renji’s plan, he had never intended to truly eliminate the Source Lord. Everything he had done before was for now, to make the phoenix completely submit and obey, and develop more independent consciousness to communicate with him.
“Tell me, what did you mean by ‘crossing over’ before?”
The phoenix was briefly confused, as if thinking about what Renji’s “crossing over” meant. Soon, her expression changed, as if she was about to become agitated again.
“The cold wave… the end of the era… why do you refuse! Foolish! You are seeking your own demise. I am your only…”
The phoenix, who seemed to have become the Source Lord again, even had a sharp and piercing voice. Unfortunately, this state did not last for a few seconds. Just halfway through her words, she suddenly fell silent.
Because Renji’s greatsword had moved a few inches closer to her neck.
“What is the cold wave?” Renji asked.
Judging from the Source Lord’s previous words, after a pause, Renji emphasized again, “Express it in an easy-to-understand way.”
“The cold wave is the end of an era, a crisis that the World Tree will face,” the phoenix answered honestly.
Seeing that Renji still seemed a bit confused, and fearing that the sword on her neck would fall a few more inches, the phoenix immediately followed up with a metaphor.
“Trees will actively let their leaves turn yellow, wither, and fall in ‘autumn’ in order to survive the cold wave of ‘winter.’ The World Tree is the same.”
“Miasma has never been meant to target us.”
“The destruction of your worlds is the World Tree’s own consciousness, and we, as the Source, are the ones who will save you.”
“We want to stop the World Tree’s self-hibernation and gather the healthy leaves together. This is the only way to survive the terrible cold wave that even the World Tree cannot withstand.”
“If the power is not concentrated and remains as individual worlds…”
“When the cold wave arrives, all the leaves on the tree, that is, your worlds, will be stripped of everything in an instant, becoming barren and desolate worlds. That is when you will truly die.”
Perhaps worried that Renji would not believe her words.
After finishing speaking, the Source Lord spread her phoenix wings to Renji. Immediately after, images preserved from the distant past began to slowly reappear in front of Renji’s eyes.
The existence of the World Tree had been for who knows how many tens of thousands of years.
Although the Sources had only developed consciousness in recent eras, it still had vague memories from before.
In the images shown by the phoenix, Renji saw a cycle.
In summer, the World Tree’s branches and leaves were lush. In the myriad worlds within each leaf, living beings freely multiplied and thrived, giving birth to various civilizations, among which there were some extremely brilliant and dazzling leaves.
But gradually, when tens of thousands of years passed, after reaching a “certain point in time,” that is, when “autumn” arrived, correspondingly…
Miasma appeared.
Yes, just as the Source Lord said, Miasma did not appear suddenly, but had always existed since ancient times. However, there were no records before because the worlds that experienced Miasma were all destroyed.
The verdant and healthy leaves withered and decayed under the corrosion of Miasma. Corresponding to the worlds inside, living beings suffered, the earth cracked, and one civilization after another, although also resisting, eventually perished under Miasma.
As the last leaf on the World Tree also dimmed, symbolizing the complete death of its world, these withered yellow leaves, after falling from the World Tree, all fell into the Source Sea below the World Tree.
From the lushness of “summer” to the bare sight of the World Tree now, all of this was in preparation for the upcoming “winter.”
After who knows how long, this time a little faster, probably only a few thousand years, Renji saw in the images recorded by the Source Lord the so-called cold wave.
It was like a bone-chilling cold wind, and also like a locust plague.
Countless densely packed tiny particles approached the World Tree from the distant darkness.
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