"My father said that he hoped I could have a mind as broad as the sky and a future as bright as the sun!"
When he heard this, the man's eyes changed a lot.
At first, his eyes were as cold as iron, like ice that had not melted for billions of years.
When Su Lie's name was heard, a slight crack appeared on the ice. And now, Tian Yang's words made the cracks on the ice bigger and bigger. Finally, with a snap, the ice broke, and a pool of spring water gushed out from under the ice.
They flooded the ice like a long autumn lake, reflecting the high sunlight.
Putting down the long sword, the man took a step forward and raised his hand as if to hold Tianyang's face, but then put it down again, and asked in a restrained and vigilant tone: "What's your mother's name?"
His accent was still strange, but his sentences were much smoother.
Tian Yang said without thinking: "Nan Fei, my mother is Nan Fei."
The man asked again: "Did she tell you my name?"
Tianyang shook his head: "No, she never mentioned your name. It was me who found the diary you put in the storage room. That's where I started to get to know you."
The man shuddered slightly and continued to ask, "Your mother, how is she...how is she now?"
Tian Yang's whole body trembled, and he slowly lowered his head, but his tears continued to flow and drip onto the ground: "She, she is gone. I didn't protect her well, I didn't protect her well!"
Suddenly.
One hand hugged Tianyang.
He heard the man say, "No, it's none of your business. It's me. It's my responsibility."
"I feel so sorry for her. I have not fulfilled my responsibilities as a husband. I was not by her side when she was pregnant. I was not by her side when she gave birth. Even when she passed away, I was still not by her side!"
"I'm also sorry for not fulfilling my responsibilities as a father. I didn't accompany you as you grew up, didn't teach you to be sensible, didn't give you any guidance, and didn't give you anything."
"But even so, even so, you still come to me, child. I am not worthy of you doing this."
"not worth it... "
A drop of tiger tear fell on Tianyang's shoulder, emitting countless tiny traces.
Tian Yang raised his head and saw the man trying to suppress his grief. He put one hand on his head and forced a smile: "I didn't expect you to have grown so tall. I almost forgot how long I have been here."
"It's obvious that Nan Fei taught you well. But, what brought you here? Are you looking for a grave, too?"
Tian Yang stepped back a little, shook his head and said, "No, I found the bell and discovered a chip you hid in Gem Town. I saw the contents inside and knew the location of the 'tomb' you were hiding."
"I'm also trying to stop some people from finding it, but I'm failing..."
Su Lie glanced outside the palace and said, "It seems that your story is very long, and we have plenty of time. Come on, it's getting dark, and we can't leave the palace at night."
Tianyang glanced outside the gate and found that the sky had become dark, much darker than when he was climbing the mountain just now.
He did not ask his father why they could not leave the palace after dark. Su Lie had lived here for a long time and his understanding of this world must be better than his.
The father and son found a clean place to sit down, and Tianyang began to tell his story, starting from how he became an ascender.
Su Lie listened quietly without interrupting, and time passed by minute by minute. When Tian Yang finished speaking, it was already completely dark.
Su Lie closed his eyes, as if he was digesting the large amount of information brought by Tian Yang. After a while, he opened his eyes again and said, "I didn't expect that so many things happened to you."
"It's all because of me. If it weren't for me, Nan Fei wouldn't have..."
"You have avenged her, but I am not happy at all. This means I can't do anything for her."
He smiled bitterly, his eyes were painful, yet also revealed helplessness and deep fatigue.
Tian Yang looked at him and asked, "How do you live here? There shouldn't be any resources for survival in this world, right?"
Su Lie raised his head and nodded solemnly: "You are right, so I am getting closer and closer to the black people now. If I hadn't seen you today, if you hadn't called my name, I would have forgotten even the last bit of persistence."
"I have been here for too long, so long that I have forgotten that I am a human being and what my purpose is here."
After saying this, Su Lie straightened his back and said seriously: "Just now I noticed that your abilities are not what an Ascended One should have. Could it be that you have also been contaminated by darkness?"
Tianyang omitted a lot of things in his narration just now, otherwise it might take three days and three nights to tell the whole story.
That included his creation of the primordial furnace and his mastery of dark particles.
Now that Su Lie asked him this, he had no choice but to answer, "During the crusade against the Black Prince, something unexpected happened to me. I was soaked by the pulp of a fruit cultivated by the Black Prince, and then I was able to use dark particles."
"After that, I can use the remains directly, using the dark particles to activate their properties."
Su Lie looked surprised: "You can use the relics, can you use them directly?"
Tian Yang asked curiously: "Can't you? Didn't you say that you are getting closer and closer to the black people?"
Su Lie smiled bitterly and looked towards the gate: "In the tomb, there are also day and night. During the day, although there are dark particles, they are still at an acceptable level."
"But at night, the dark particles will be particularly dense, polluting and attacking outsiders. Only in the palace, in those buildings, the light emitted from inside these buildings can drive away the dark particles."
Su Lie pointed to the gate and said, "In order to survive in this world and to do something, I risked spending a few nights outside the palace."
"I also underwent a transformation as a result. I no longer needed to eat like a normal human. My star essence gradually dissipated, and the dark particles in my body became stronger and stronger."
"This makes me stronger and more capable than when I was a Array Breaker, but at the same time, it also makes me slide into darkness. When the star essence in my body completely disappears, I will be completely transformed into a Dark Citizen."
"But even so, I can't directly use the remains. The most I can do with the items left behind is to create some equipment, but I can't take advantage of their properties."
Tian Yang was surprised and said, "It's actually like this. I thought you and I were the same."
Su Lie
He shook his head. “The key may be the berry you mentioned. It contaminated you, but it didn’t completely contaminate you. This is a good thing. You can still use the star essence and advance. This shows that the star essence and dark particles in your body are in a relatively balanced state.”
No, they are separate.
The star essence is in my body. The obsidian furnace restrains the dark particles. They do not interfere with each other and each forms a system.
Tianyang corrected himself in his heart.
Then he asked, "Why are you here?"
Su Lie looked at the top of the temple with a distant gaze, as if remembering something long ago: "At first, I went deep into the adverse world to prevent people from finding the tomb. Later, I thought again and again, instead of worrying about someone finding the tomb, why not just destroy it?"
"So I found the Nanli base, where I got a map of the tomb, and met... what's her name, the little girl."
Tian Yang reminded him: "Yi Huan, her name is Yi Huan."
"Yep."
"Do you know who the father of that little girl is?"
Without waiting for Tianyang to answer, Su Lie announced the answer: "It was Fan Wenzhe, the resident of the Reverse Realm who found the tomb. Yes, when I heard the news, my expression was the same as yours."
"But, how should I put it? That little girl is no longer human. Even if she used to be, she is no longer human now. But she has a strong sense of self."
"It was this consciousness that allowed her to remain kind. Fortunately, I was able to communicate with her and asked her to let me in without telling her mother."
Su Lie's face changed slightly and he said, "Have you seen her mother? Her mother is not so easy to talk to. Her mother has already turned into a monster. The only thing she has left is to protect the gate, because this is what her husband told her and it was also the last thing he said to her."
"Her mother, I'll tell you in detail when I have time. Anyway, Yihuan led me into the 'grave', or rather, the abyss."
"This world is an abyss."
Tian Yang nodded in agreement: "I found from the remains of those dark people that the names of these dark people almost all start with the prefix of 'abyss'. So I also infer that the real name of this world is probably 'abyss'."
Su Lie laughed: "I wish I had your ability at that time. It took me many years to figure this out."
"After so many years of exploration, I discovered that this world is not the 'gap' I had imagined before, but a completely independent world."
"It is probably located at the bottom of the universe. It is the final destination of all worlds. It is a cemetery."
"They all slide endlessly into the dark world, and eventually, they will all arrive here."
Su Lie gestured with his hands, then pointed to the murals on both sides and the dome of the palace: "I have explored many similar palaces and buildings, and there are murals and even images preserved in them."
“Those paintings and images showed me different worlds one after another.”
"Tianyang, I think that when a world falls into the abyss and completely dies, a part of that world, the most distinctive part, will form a palace or a building with a special style here."
"Then, there will be murals or images preserved, bearing witness to the past experiences of that world. These things are the epitaphs of those dead worlds!"