Lin Qing had been looking forward to Immortal Herb Lin Qing's final words.
But what came next left him completely dumbfounded.
[Eleven thousand five hundred years.]
In the scene, the Truth-Seeing Profound Pupil Lotus still swayed beside the spring of the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well.
Only, the eye patterns on its petals no longer conveyed curiosity or anger, but a deep, bone-weary exhaustion.
It was the numbness born after time had worn away every edge.
[I tried every method I could think of to leave this place.]
The scene began switching rapidly.
One fragment after another flashed past like a revolving lantern.
Its roots tried to burrow deep underground, hoping to bypass the barrier from below, only to be violently thrown back by an invisible force.
The petals released pale violet mental ripples that crashed against the poisonous barrier like tides, yet vanished without a trace, unable to stir even the slightest ripple.
It even tried using the unique energy of an Immortal Herb to fight the poisonous barrier.
In the end, that energy was absorbed by the barrier instead.
[Without exception... they all failed.]
Immortal Herb Lin Qing's narration was calm, so calm that it made one's skin crawl.
[Ah... this is the prison Tang San, after becoming a god, set up.]
[A poisonous barrier prison that cannot be crossed without an Ultimate Attribute!]
[And among us Immortal Herbs, none possess an Ultimate Attribute.]
The scene shifted to a panoramic view.
Several Immortal Herbs were scattered throughout the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well.
Each radiated powerful energy fluctuations, yet every one of them was trapped within this tiny patch of land.
They communicated telepathically, chatted, complained, and cursed Tang San over what Immortal Herb Lin Qing had taught them about Tang San's deeds during this time.
But that was all there was to it.
They could not get out. They would never get out!
[I've had enough!]
Immortal Herb Lin Qing's voice suddenly rose.
The resentment suppressed for over ten thousand years finally erupted.
[I've had enough of these boring days and nights, year after year!]
[Sunshine, rain, snow, absorbing the essence of heaven and earth... it's always the same things!]
[Forever unchanging!]
The flower in the scene trembled violently.
The eye patterns on its petals even shed two streams of pale violet liquid.
No one knew whether it was dew or something else.
It was venting, releasing over ten thousand years of accumulated despair and rage.
But what came after venting it all?
It still could not get out.
[So...]
Immortal Herb Lin Qing's narration paused for a very, very long time.
Long enough that Lin Qing thought the final words were about to end there, and he was just about to breathe a sigh of relief.
Then—
[I don't want to live anymore.]
The words were spoken with extraordinary calm.
A calm that made hearts tremble.
It was not an angry roar, nor a despairing cry, just five simple words.
"I don't want to live anymore."
The scene within the light screen began to change.
Immortal Herb Lin Qing, the Truth-Seeing Profound Pupil Lotus, stopped trembling. Its petals slowly folded inward, wrapping around the eye pattern at its center.
[If I can't get out anyway, if I'm going to be trapped here forever anyway, then what meaning is there in living?]
[The other Immortal Herbs tried to persuade me.]
[Octagonal said that as long as I was alive, there was still hope.]
[Youyou said, what if Tang San's poisonous barrier failed someday?]
[Jiaojiao, with that fiery temper of hers, nearly burned me with flames. She wanted to interrupt my dispersal of power.]
The narration gave a soft laugh, filled with bitterness.
[But I knew there was no hope.]
[Tang San became a god. Unless he dies, or personally removes it, it will remain forever.]
[So, let it be.]
[Farewell, boring world.]
[Farewell, my more than ten-thousand-year... life as a prisoner.]
[Under the astonished "gazes" of all the Immortal Herbs—if plants could have expressions—I chose death.]
That tiny stretch of land around the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well suddenly became exceptionally quiet.
Although there had never been much sound to begin with, even the wind seemed to have stopped.
The surrounding Immortal Herbs all "turned" their "heads"—well, they merely adjusted the direction of their leaves or petals.
Aromatic Silk Beauty's pale pink petals trembled faintly.
The icy blue leaves of the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass froze completely, motionless as though they had been iced over.
The flames around the Infernal Delicate Apricot flickered unpredictably, revealing its inner turmoil.
They all "saw" it.
They clearly "saw" what that black-and-white Truth-Seeing Profound Pupil Lotus had done.
With its slender roots, it pulled out the root fibers that had been deeply embedded in the soil, one by one!
The soil pattered down, exposing the black-and-white rhizome beneath.
The faint yet distinct cracking sounds as its roots snapped were amplified within this deathly silent prison.
[I pulled out my own roots, then... jumped into the fatal Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well, where even we Immortal Herbs could not remain submerged for long!]
The scene zoomed in.
The black-and-white flower, trailing its broken roots, cut an arc through the air.
Without hesitation!
"Splash—!"
The flower fell into the strange spring where ice and fire intertwined yet remained clearly divided, splashing up bizarre droplets that were half blue and half red.
The icy side was piercingly cold, while the fiery side radiated scorching heat.
[I felt the energy of the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well begin to wildly erode my body.]
The narration was quiet, as if describing something that had nothing to do with it.
After remaining in the waters of the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well for some time, the petals began visibly melting and breaking down.
Its roots were dissolving as well, turning into wisps of energy that drifted through the spring water.
[My life was slipping away... It felt strange.]
[There was no pain. Instead, I felt a little relieved? Like setting down a burden I had carried for more than ten thousand years.]
There were fewer and fewer petals.
The roots grew shorter and shorter.
Immortal Herb Lin Qing, the Truth-Seeing Profound Pupil Lotus, was "dying."
But just before it was about to completely disappear—
"Splash!!!"
Another flower followed immediately after, plunging headfirst into the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well!
The scene captured that startling flash of crimson.
Red like the blood in one's heart, red with sorrowful beauty, red with resolve.
Even the arc it traced through the air seemed to carry a sense of tragedy.
[To my utter disbelief, it seemed that after me, another Immortal Herb jumped in alongside me.]
For the first time, Immortal Herb Lin Qing's voice carried obvious emotion.
There was surprise, confusion, and a trace of bewilderment.
That flash of red bobbed in the waters of the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well, likewise swiftly enveloped and eroded by the powers of ice and fire.
[Unfortunately, I have no idea what happened afterward.]
The voice gradually lowered, carrying its final relief—or perhaps resignation.
[Because—I died.]
[I killed myself.]
The scene went completely dark.
At the very end, there seemed to be a faint red glow and fading black-and-white colors gently touching deep within the spring water.
Then everything returned to darkness.
The final words ended.
"???"
Lin Qing, in reality, sat on his chair with a completely bewildered expression, his entire body petrified.
It felt as though his brain had been stirred into a lump of paste, leaving him blank for a long while.
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