A Gamble
"How come this thing is still here?" Feng Xue was astonished as she looked at the Phantom Object called the Sea Calming Needle. Could it be that in some world, even the Journey to the West had been lost? But then again, the fact that this thing could be Phantom Object meant that the Great Sage in that world had become Weird Tale, right?
So what kind of historical changes could have caused even Weird Tale like Sun Great Sage to completely disappear? Or was it like the Feathered Serpent God, who died in some terrible war, and whose reborn consciousness was insufficient to support his resurrection?
Feng Xue frowned and then turned her gaze to the two matching items.
[Illusions of the Past] is a desolate mountain that seems to have been burned down. According to the Witch, all [Illusions of the Past] are Remnants collapsed World-class Supernatural Tale. Therefore, this thing should not be Flower-Fruit Mountain. It is just that its state happens to be similar to Flower-Fruit Mountain recorded in the novel, so it has a certain informational synchronization with the Sea Calming Needle.
As for the third item, True Thing that serves as a "Traces of History," it is nothing special. It is just a square brick that looks a bit old. Apart from being True Thing from another world, it is no different from any brick picked up on the street, and it is impossible to determine the information about the world it comes from.
"Could I take it out and have a look? I want to see all the attributes of this Phantom Object."
Feng Xue pondered for a moment, then spoke to the Witch. The Witch shook her head, indicating her denial.
"No."
"Ah..." Feng Xue felt a little embarrassed by the other party's complete lack of explanation, but considering that the other party was an NPC, it would have been abnormal for them to explain everything before.
However, the value of this set is only 380 billion, which is not an unacceptable figure for Feng Xue. Even just for the name "Sea Calming Needle," it is worth buying.
The money was exchanged for the goods, and the Witch quickly delivered the three items to Feng Xue. However, when Feng Xue saw the staff with gold plating at both ends, a strong sense of loss welled up in her heart—
Name: Phantom Object - Sea Calming Needle
Elements: [Blunt Weapon], [Strike], [Power], [Staff], [Monkey King]
Description: A powerful staff wielded by a master warrior, with impeccable balance, that enhances your speed and strength, and always manages to hit those jumping guys.
Note: Although it's called the Sea Calming Needle, this thing is not as good as it seems.
"Damn it, it's MKB!" Seeing this Phantom Object that was related to her Boots of Silence and Blade of Suffocation, Feng Xue's expression was momentarily tense. However, upon reflection, compared to Journey to the West being forgotten, it was acceptable, even normal, for Dota 2 to be forgotten.
Adjusting her breathing slightly, Feng Xue looked at the mountain again. The remains of some world-class Phantom Object were filled with mosaic-like chaotic information. However, from the few pieces of information that could be discerned, one could see Trait like [fire], [burn], and [destruction]. For a moment, Feng Xue wondered whether this thing was Flower-Fruit Mountain or Flaming Mountain.
"Well, Weird Tale are just a collection of interconnected information; they're still a decent kind of Phantom Object," Feng Xue consoled herself, then looked at the Witch and said:
How do I use this?
"Destroy the [Legacy of Old Gods], and the [Illusions of the Past] will absorb it, nurturing a seed. Then, you can consume the seed by absorbing the [Consciousness] of the True Thing. After opening the door through the [Traces of History] and arriving in another world, the seed will begin to hatch. After that, you only need to complete the 'keywords' contained in the new Trait to activate it. If you cannot destroy it, a special synthesizer is provided here, costing 20,000 towers at a time."
The Witch didn't keep the instructions a secret, and Feng Xue decisively took out 20,000 towers. Although the Unspeakable Rod-shaped Object should be able to destroy the Sea Calming Needle, the idea of breaking the Sea Calming Needle with a crowbar still seemed a bit outrageous to him.
However, the Witch NPC clearly didn't understand Feng Xue's feelings. He simply took the two items from Feng Xue's hands and stuffed them into a box that looked somewhat like Horadric Cube. With a click, a rather familiar-looking object appeared in front of Feng Xue.
"The Omen Seed?" Feng Xue stared wide-eyed at the thing the Witch took out of the box. The black sphere made of a lot of mosaics was the very thing he had named the Omen Seed.
However, upon closer inspection, one can find that the two are still different. At least the black sphere in front of me does not look as chaotic as the one I created when I failed to Smelt down.
"Can this thing really be absorbed?" Feng Xue looked at the black sphere with some wariness, but the Witch calmly nodded and said:
"Ordinary Weird Tale are fine, but Weird Tale that can become the thread starter 'definitely' are acceptable."
The Witch emphasized the word "certainly," Feng Xue immediately realized that this might be related to the fact that one could obtain "truth" in the level master's assessment. Just like Chen Xiyao could eat the flesh of the Omen, after obtaining truth and possessing a sufficient amount of [consciousness], this not-so-large amount of [consciousness] would become edible.
However, considering that digesting this stuff might require even more effort, it cannot be considered "food".
Intuitively, Feng Xue didn't sense anything wrong with this thing. Instinctively, it seemed edible. After thinking for a moment, Feng Xue suddenly realized something and immediately opened the Smelt interface of the Golden Finger. He then discovered that this thing was different from the [consciousness] he had refined from those corpses; it did not have the "inedible" mark.
If this seed were something else, Feng Xue wouldn't be so conflicted; losing hundreds of billions wouldn't be unbearable for him. But the problem is that this thing contains the element of "Monkey King".
The Monkey King might not mean much to others, but to Feng Xue, the Heavenly Emperor, it was of paramount importance.
Although the Monkey in the original Journey to the West did not actually storm the Lingxiao Palace or banish the Jade Emperor under the table, the trouble with Weird Tale lies in the fact that they are not settled according to the original text, but rather based on the impressions of more people.
If many people believe that the Monkey can defeat the Jade Emperor, then the Monkey can indeed subdue the Jade Emperor.
As for Feng Xue, the Lord of the Heavenly Court, when she encountered the Monkey, all she could do was crawl under the table and shout, "Quickly, go and invite the Buddha Tathagata!"
But if there were a Monkey King, everything would be different. Anyone Tag "Monkey King," "Monkey," or possessing the power to "Havoc in Heaven" could pull out their own Monkey King Weird Tale, thus transforming the "Havoc in Heaven" into "The True and False Monkey King."
He didn't even need the Weird Tale of Sun Wukong; all he needed was a Monkey, because he could use his power of "Investiture of the Gods and Conferment of Immortality" to directly bestow upon himself the title of "Great Sage, Equal to Heaven."
As for causing trouble in the underworld and the Dragon Palace...
Stop joking, he controls the Dragon Palace and the Underworld!
"Let's bet!"