Eternal darkness enveloped Li Wen like a tide. She subconsciously clenched the ribs in her hands, her knuckles turning white from the exertion. There is no light, no sound, and even the passage of time becomes blurry.
The darkness in the void was not pure silence, but some kind of viscous, real substance. Li Wen tried to move his fingers, but found that he seemed to be wrapped in solidified resin, and even breathing became extremely difficult.
Here is the void.
If you are not familiar with it, you may think of the void as a vast, silent space with nothing else in it. In fact, it is exactly the opposite. The void is filled with an almost massive amount of ether energy. Even if an ordinary person is just here, they will be immediately crushed and dissolved by such a huge amount of ether energy. Only extraordinary people with certain strength can stay here for a short time.
And like Li Wen, even if they want to move freely in the void, they can never do it.
After an unknown amount of time, a ray of light pierced the darkness. Li Wen squinted his eyes and saw tiny golden light spots floating in the distance. They gathered slowly like fireflies, gradually outlining a sea of light. In the center of the sea of light, a petite figure floated.
It was a white-haired man of about seven or eight years old, sitting naked and curled up in the void. His long snow-white hair fell to his ankles, and the tips of his hair were immersed in the sea of light, causing tiny ripples. She was wearing a strange white robe with twelve interlocking sun patterns embroidered on the hem. She was leaning over an old birch wood drawing board and drawing something. The silver chain wrapped around her slender wrists swayed slightly with her movements.
Li Wen tried to get closer, but found that her body was still imprisoned by the void and unable to move. She opened her mouth to call out, but her voice was lost in the void.
Seemingly unaware of her presence, his pale fingertips continued to wander over the drawing board, outlining a pattern that Li Wen could not understand at all - it seemed to be neither words nor pictures, but more like some abstract concept that transcended cognition.
Following the description, the sea of light began to surge. Li Wen suddenly realized that the "sea water" was actually frozen time - she saw countless broken scenes floating in it: burning cities, collapsed mountains, giants nailed to bronze pillars... Each scene carried a suffocating sense of oppression.
When I finished painting the last stroke, the entire sea of light suddenly boiled.
Li Wen saw countless golden chains stretching out from the void and wrapping around her slender body. She was still painting quietly, as if she had long been accustomed to this kind of restraint. When the chains were tightened, she finally raised her head, revealing a young face that matched her immature appearance. Her eyes are particularly attractive, and the pale platinum color presents a unique transparency and purity in the full light.
That look made people feel familiar, but Li Wen could never remember it. When she tried to recall, what came to her mind was the red crown on the top of the black spire.
Li Wen suddenly understood that the little girl in front of him was the incarnation of "Sun of Repose", or in other words, the manifestation of the remaining will of the fallen god. "Although Offspring of the Old Ones has fallen, its corpse is still breathing." Is this what it means? After understanding this, she struggled desperately to attract the other person's attention, but his gaze went straight through her, and he continued to lower his head to draw a new picture.
At this moment, the ribs in Li Wen's hands suddenly became hot. She looked down and found that small silver runes appeared on the surface of the joints - it was the key given to her by "Impurities" that began to work.
The runes writhed like living creatures, gradually forming an ancient motto:
[Everyone who asks for something will be given first]
Li Wen was slightly startled. She had glimpsed this sentence in "The Final Codex", which means that if you want to obtain something, you must first pay the corresponding price. But in this void, in this dream, what can she give to the incarnation of this god?
"You haven't given up yet?"
The incarnation of the god spoke at this time, and his voice was young yet old, like the chorus of thousands of children's voices. Li Wen looked up and saw that he had stopped painting at some point and was staring at her. The figure of Li Wen was reflected in those platinum eyes, but they seemed to penetrate her and look towards a more distant time and space.
The huge ether energy that originally shackled Li Wen, making it difficult for her to move, speak or even breathe, disappeared without knowing where it went at this time. Li Wen, who had regained her freedom, felt relaxed as never before. But this is not important. From His words, Li Wen got an obvious message - she had already seen Him, just the last time Sunset Ritual.
"I..." Li Wen's throat was so dry that he couldn't make a sound.
He gently raised his hand, and the chains wrapped around his body suddenly shattered and turned into light and disappeared. His long, blazing hair moved without wind, and the sea of time soaked in the tips of his hair began to boil.
"You want "Emerald Tablet"." This was not a question, but a statement. His voice echoed in the void, "But do you know what it means?"
Li Wen felt an invisible force lifting her up and pushing her to where she was. As the distance shortened, she suddenly understood the content on the drawing board - it was not an abstract pattern, but pages of text being written.
"It is creation and destruction." His fingers stroked the drawing board, and the words squirmed like living creatures, "All things flow among them, and truth incubates in them.
"I promised Hermes - if someone wants to ask for "Emerald Tablet", then they need to come up with something of equal value."
His indifferent, transparent, pure and objectless pupils stared straight at Li Wen. At such a close distance, Li Wen seemed to have his soul frozen. The suffocation, coldness and fear were indescribable.
Fortunately, he only glanced at it briefly before focusing on the painting again.
"I've been here before, but... why don't I have that memory now?"
Realizing that there was a possibility of communication with this deceased god, Li Wen asked decisively after calming down for a moment.
After all, she has the identity of a player, and if she wants to interfere with her memory beyond the game level, only the gods can do it. In this old god's dream, only he can do it. In addition, no matter how magical Sunset Ritual is and what secrets it contains, it is impossible to do this.
So, what reason does He have to erase Li Wen's last memory?
Tilting his head, this childish movement formed a strange contrast with the vast vicissitudes of life it represented.
"Because mortals cannot look directly at divinity, not long ago you insisted on personally confirming the authenticity of "Emerald Tablet" to ensure the fairness of the transaction - the result is as you can see. Now, have you found the equivalent of "Emerald Tablet", or are you going to give up all your unrealistic dreams... Or do you want to take another look at "Emerald Tablet"?"