life copy game

Chapter 1658 The Fountain of Wisdom (Long Chapter, Requesting Monthly Tickets)

The thick, silvery fog seemed to tremble gently as if stirred by a breeze.

The towering roots of the World Tree were completely obscured by the mist; when He Ao stretched out his hand, he couldn't even see his own fingers.

The snake's tail in the sky had long since disappeared; he had lost all reference points that could clearly indicate his direction.

"Big guy, this place is a bit scary." Siwei leaned on He Ao's shoulder and shrank back.

"Mm." He Ao nodded slightly.

After a brief moment of thought, he reached down and took the Spear of Vestalla from his back, gripped the hilt, and slowly moved forward.

An invisible tremor permeated the void, but He Ao simply gripped the spear in his hand tightly.

The invisible tremor seemed to transform into some kind of guidance at this moment, allowing him to clearly sense that there was some kind of 'existence' not far ahead.

As he moved forward, the thick fog trembled, occasionally flashing with eerie blue flames that drifted through the fog like eyes before quickly dissipating.

Sometimes, flames would suddenly appear around Heo, 'look' at Heo's body, then their gaze would fall on the Spear of Vesta, before gradually dissipating.

He Ao was also quietly observing these dark blue flames.

Actually, there was also a faint blue glow near the roots of the World Tree outside, but it was far away and flickered quickly. It was here that He Ao had the opportunity to examine these lights up close.

On the surface, these flames are lifeless and have no energy circuits; they are just faint glows similar to phosphorescence.

However, their movements are so lifelike that they seem to possess intelligence and are 'observing' their surroundings.

After a brief moment of contemplation, the flesh beneath Heo's skin began to writhe as he activated his super memory and gazed at the flames.

Soulless?

What special structures are formed by anomalies?
Or does the soul actually exist in some other form and have been integrated into the entire anomaly?
The children in the orphanage also don't have clearly visible souls, and even Siwei doesn't have any obvious soul shadows.

But the wisdom they displayed was the wisdom of normal life.

Perhaps their souls have assimilated with the anomaly, becoming part of it? Or perhaps they themselves have become some kind of special anomaly?
As He Ao pondered, his footsteps had already ventured deeper into the fog.

tick-

From the depths of the fog ahead, came the faint sound of water.

A wellspring of wisdom?

The word flashed through He Ao's mind, and he quickened his pace, walking rapidly towards the direction of the sound of water.

The thick fog accompanied his progress, quickly thinning out.

The soft sound of water transformed into a clear, gurgling sound of flowing water.

A large stone tablet vaguely appeared before him.

The stone tablet did not appear to be complete; only the lower half existed, while the upper half seemed to have been directly erased by an invisible force, with no obvious signs of cutting or breakage.

But even this remaining lower half is forty or fifty meters high, engraved with intricate patterns, standing like a tall building in front of He Ao.

Similar to the stone tablet he entered at the beginning, as Heo approached, the intricate patterns on it gradually lit up. Although the light was already very dim, it still formed several Denis characters.

Truth is never-ending.
The sound of rushing water came from behind this stone tablet.

He Ao lowered his head and quickly walked around the stone tablet.

As he walked around the stone tablet, the surrounding fog quickly thinned, leaving only a faint, white mist.

He Ao also saw the source of the sound of water—a dried-up spring.

The spring is roughly oval in shape, and its longest point is about fifty meters long.

Crystallized tree roots coiled around the bottom and edges of the spring, densely covering the surrounding space.

Although these roots were much smaller than the ones He Ao had just seen, He Ao could still vaguely discern that they were the root system of the World Tree from the outside world.

The gurgling sound came from the very center of the spring.

Although the sound was loud, He Ao did not see a single drop of spring water overflow.

boom--

Just then, a loud booming sound came from behind the spring.

He looked up and saw, behind the very thin mist, the vague outlines of palace-like buildings were faintly visible.

The booming sound came from those palaces.

But this was not the last sound. Immediately following was an even more intense roar, and one could even faintly hear people shouting.

It seems Denon has arrived as well; the battle has begun.

He Ao withdrew his gaze and continued to look at the spring in front of him.

He didn't know if Denon would succeed, but his mission was to stay here and not let anyone leave.

After a brief moment of thought, He Ao looked at the center of the spring, which was still gurgling, walked to the edge of the spring, and looked at the spring itself.

Although the bottom of the spring is mostly covered by tree roots, there are many uncovered areas in the gaps between the roots, and those areas are a hazy, indistinct mass of white mist.

Heo raised the Spear of Vistara, gently touching the mist with the tip as he explored downwards.

The crystal spear tip pierced through the fog without any hindrance, followed by the spear shaft. Almost halfway through the shaft, He Ao did not touch anything solid.

Is this area empty?

While pondering, He Ao gripped the gun and slowly pulled it upwards.

At that very moment, his hand suddenly stopped moving, as if some force was grabbing his gun from below, and the resistance to pulling it out instantly increased.

But Heo did not hesitate. He suddenly exerted force and forcibly pulled out the Spear of Vistara.

Is there something below? Or some kind of rule? Is it a one-way street where you can only go in and never get out?
Heo once again extended the Spear of Vistara into the hole, attaching his divine sense to the metal of the spear shaft, attempting to peer into the space below.

However, all he felt was an empty void, nothing at all.

He Ao continued to try to pull back the spear. This time, he still felt resistance, but it was much weaker than before.

He glanced at the spear in his hand, suppressed his thoughts, and stepped onto the crystal tree roots that spread over the spring. The roots did not collapse and provided support.

So he stepped on the tree roots and quickly walked towards the center of the spring.

Almost instantly, he arrived at the center of the spring, in the direction from which the gurgling sound of the water was coming from.

Here, there is an even smaller spring, about 20 or 30 centimeters in diameter and about one meter deep, resembling a vertical well.

He Ao peered into the shaft, but there was no water flowing inside.

Only one eye was open, its gaze also fixed on him.

"Ah!" Siwei, who was sitting on He's shoulders, was startled and almost rolled off.

He Ao reached out and helped her up.

"Big guy, this is scary." Siwei carefully covered her eyes with her hands, turned her head away, and dared not look into the well.

“Dead eyes,” He Ao said casually.

"Really?" Siwei hesitated for a moment, then slowly turned her head to look at the center of the spring again.

The eyeball was indeed motionless, lying there without moving.

Upon closer inspection, one can even see obvious signs of crystallization in the eyeball, with a thin layer of crystal covering the surface. However, these crystals are so thin that they are not immediately noticeable.

“Who left an eye here?” Sisley pouted and made a hugging gesture with her little hands. “It’s such a big eye.”

"Aren't you afraid anymore?" He Ao asked with a smile.

“I’m not afraid of this at all,” Siwei said, hands in her pockets, head turned away, neck stiff.

He smiled and continued to look down at the vertical shaft in the center of the spring below.

The eye in the well was almost the same size as the inner diameter of the shaft, and it was covered with bright red blood vessels, which looked somewhat terrifying, as if there were really a terrifying monster looking out from the bottom of the well.

However, He Ao quickly shifted his gaze from the eye at the bottom of the well to the other side of the well wall.

Thin, long roots are coiled around the well wall, densely extending all the way to the edge of the eyeball at the bottom of the well.

However, unlike the roots outside which are completely crystallized, the roots inside the shaft, although also showing a tendency to crystallize, are only covered by a thin layer of crystal on the outside.

Furthermore, the deeper you go, the thinner the covering crystal becomes.

A dark, glossy surface can be faintly seen.

He picked up the Spear of Vesta and compared it to the roots deep in the shaft, which were covered with a faint crystal.

Apart from the thin layer of crystal, the spearhead of the Vestara is almost identical to the shape of this root system.

Therefore, the gun barrel is made from the roots of the World Tree, and specifically, the roots that haven't been crystallized.

He Ao focused his gaze on the black gun.

Judging from the condition of these roots, the crystallized roots may be a symbol of the 'death' or 'decay' of the World Tree.

So, were the roots that didn't crystallize taken when the World Tree was still 'alive', or when it had just died?
He Ao lowered his head, staring at the small vertical shaft in front of him, listening to the gurgling sound of water flowing from it.

From the outside, the shaft was completely dry, with not a single drop of water in sight. Only some mist, spreading from the outside, vaguely covered the well opening.

But the rushing water sounded as if the place still had an abundant water source.

He gazed down at the well-preserved eyes and the root system that had not been completely crystallized.

After hesitating for a moment, he reached out and extended his hand into the shaft.

Siwei watched this scene, her eyes fixed on the view below, and nervously gripped He Ao's collar.

Soon, He Ao's hand reached over the surface of the shaft and parted the fog covering the shaft.

But nothing happened, and he didn't feel anything extra in his hand.

But he didn't stop; he continued to probe downwards.

Once his forearm was completely submerged above the well, a faint, damp sensation seeped into his fingertips.

He Ao paused slightly, lowered his head, and gazed at the scene inside the shaft.

The tree branches and eyeballs covered in crystal still stood there, unchanged. The air looked dry, and the bottom of the well was desolate.

But the damp scent that lingered on He Ao's fingertips remained.

The sound of rushing water came from the bottom of the well.

He Ao lifted Siwei off his shoulder, bent down slightly, and reached his hand further into the shaft.

The moist air gradually covered his palms, and He Ao vaguely felt some kind of invisible force clinging to his skin, trying to penetrate his body.

That power was both gentle and surging, brimming with vibrant life force.

"What's inside?" Siwei, who had been lifted up by He Ao, craned her head and looked at the empty shaft, her expression slightly changed.

"I don't know." He Ao shook his head slightly. After thinking for a moment, he placed Siwei on the tree roots on the ground. "Stand on the tree roots and don't run around."

“Big guy, do I look like a disobedient child?” Sivi said seriously, hands on her hips.

“It doesn’t look like it.” He Ao smiled and shook his head, then turned back to look at the shaft in front of him.

He placed the spear on the edge of the shaft, then reached both hands into the shaft.

Soon, he put both of his hands into the slightly damp air.

The rushing water sound became noticeably muffled, as if the flow of water had been blocked by something.

He Ao looked at the empty shaft, put his two palms together, and slowly raised them upwards, making a scooping motion.

But as he moved, the dampness naturally seeped through his fingers, and by the time his palm approached the well, the dampness had completely disappeared, leaving only his empty palm.

He Ao covered his palm with his divine sense and tried again, but still gained nothing.

Is it impossible to get it out? Or is it that only some special item can unlock it?

He frowned slightly, took out the Spear of Vestara from his back again, grasped the crystal spearhead, and plunged it into the shaft.

Soon, the dampness covered his palm again, as well as the tip of the crystal gun and part of the gun barrel.

Then He Ao grasped the tip of the gun and slowly raised it upwards.

The lingering dampness was also slowly disturbed by his movements.

This time, the moisture covering his palms also dissipated quickly, but the moisture covering the gun and the crystal was unexpectedly retained.

As He Ao moved, the moment the spear tip left the shaft, a thin, invisible line of water suddenly emerged from the void.

The moment it came into contact with the outside air, the water line collapsed with a roar, turning into an invisible aura that spread in front of He Ao.

Just then, He Ao took a slight breath.

The pervasive aura accompanied his movements, instantly surging into his nostrils, gathering in his chest, and being rapidly refined by him, flowing through his limbs and bones.

He had improved his physical abilities very slowly and started jumping rapidly again.

It is energy, almost without impurities, and can be easily refined.

He Ao stared at the vertical shaft in front of him, his eyebrows slightly raised.

This energy might require several transformations for extraordinary individuals, but for martial artists, it can be refined almost directly.

boom--

At that very moment, a tremendous roar came from the direction of the palace.