Flagship, Zeroing Laboratory.
Chen Ran's body jerked violently.
The information True Lord Yuding had sent back unfolded in his mind like a frigid painting.
Guanghan Palace, the Watcher, the withered Moon Laurel Tree.
And that nearly unsolvable trial.
"Make a tree that has completely died, and has been defined by the laws of the world as 'nonexistent,' bloom again?"
Bai Ze looked at the synchronized information, his expression even more bitter than if he had swallowed gall.
"Isn't that asking the impossible?"
"This isn't a matter of power at all. This is challenging the underlying rules of the entire Primordial World!"
"Even if the Dao Ancestor came, he would probably only be able to shake his head and sigh."
The atmosphere in the laboratory was oppressive to the extreme.
Everyone looked at Chen Ran.
They knew that the only one they could rely on now was this mortal who always created miracles.
But this time, would a miracle still happen?
Chen Ran said nothing.
His fingers flew across the light screen.
The core of the Heavenly Derivation Matrix began operating at an unprecedented speed.
Countless streams of data concerning the laws of Taiyin Star, the Moon Laurel Tree, and the Watcher gathered, broke apart, and reassembled before him.
He was searching.
Searching for the opening everyone had overlooked.
Time passed second by second.
Fine beads of sweat seeped across Chen Ran's forehead.
His face grew paler and paler.
This was no longer simple calculation.
He was using his own soul to contend against the laws of an entire world.
Forcing himself to find a trace of possibility for "life" within those laws of death that were "absolutely still."
"No..."
An hour later, Chen Ran stopped.
For the first time, defeat showed in his eyes.
"The Heavenly Derivation Matrix's deduction has failed."
"All simulations point to the same conclusion."
"The Moon Laurel Tree's 'death' is absolute at the level of definition."
"None of the laws or energy we currently possess can reverse it."
That conclusion made everyone feel as though they had fallen into an ice cellar.
It was over.
Their last hope had been shattered as well.
"Could it be... that there truly is no way?"
Xihe's voice came through the formation, trembling with tears.
"Wait..."
Just as everyone sank into despair.
Chen Ran's gaze suddenly fixed on an inconspicuous corner of the light screen.
It was the most basic data analysis True Lord Yuding had sent back regarding the Watcher, Chang'e.
[Name: Chang'e (logical identification name: Watcher)] [Status: Law-assimilated entity, neither life nor dead object] [Core drive: Mission (protect the key)] [Emotional module: Frozen (residual value: 0.001%)] [Residual emotion analysis: Loneliness, longing, regret...]
It was that line of data concerning "residual emotions."
Chen Ran's pupils abruptly contracted.
It was as if he had grasped something.
"I understand..."
Chen Ran murmured.
"We were all wrong."
"From the very beginning, this trial was never about using 'power' to revive that tree."
Everyone looked at him.
"Then what is it?"
"What the Watcher wants to see is not whether we possess the ability to reverse life and death."
Chen Ran raised his head, and light reignited in his eyes.
"What she wants to see is whether we possess the will to create 'hope' amid despair!"
He offered no further explanation.
He immediately connected to True Lord Yuding's divine consciousness.
"True Lord Yuding, listen to my instructions."
Chen Ran's voice rang directly within True Lord Yuding's mind on Taiyin Star.
"Abandon all Magic Power. Abandon all immortal laws."
"Right now, you are not a Chan Sect Golden Immortal. You are merely a mortal."
"A person who cannot find his way home on a frigid night."
Although True Lord Yuding did not understand, he chose to trust him without reservation.
He dispersed the immortal light protecting his body and allowed the bone-piercing cold to invade him.
A mortal's frailty, pain, and helplessness surged into his heart.
"And then?" he asked.
"Then, light a fire."
Chen Ran's instruction was simple, yet filled with power.
"Use your mortal body to find something that can burn."
"Use the most primitive method, rubbing wood to make fire."
"Beneath that withered Moon Laurel Tree, ignite a fire that belongs to 'humanity.'"
Even True Lord Yuding was stunned by that instruction.
Light a fire?
On this Taiyin Star, where even the laws were frozen?
What did that have to do with making the tree bloom?
Yet he still obeyed.
Like a true mortal, he searched through the ruins of Guanghan Palace for shattered beams that could still burn.
Using two dry branches, he clumsily rubbed them together again and again.
Without Magic Power, he simply could not ignite a fire.
His hands were rubbed raw.
Blood dripped onto the dry branches and instantly froze into ice.
Failure. Failure. Still failure.
The Watcher merely watched him coldly from the side.
As if she were watching a ridiculous clown.
Nuwa and Xihe could not understand Chen Ran's intentions either.
Only Chen Ran, far away aboard the flagship, remained utterly focused.
Through True Lord Yuding's perspective, he synchronized the scene to the entire United Fleet.
He synchronized it to every living being across the Primordial World that was panicking and despairing.
On the screen.
That powerful, lofty Chan Sect Golden Immortal now looked as bedraggled as a beggar.
Amid eternal darkness and cold, he made futile attempt after futile attempt just to ignite an insignificant flame.
The sight was filled with absurdity.
Yet it also carried an inexplicable power that struck directly at the heart.
"What is he doing?"
An ordinary demon soldier could not help asking.
"I don't know."
His companion replied.
"But somehow, I don't feel as cold anymore."
That was right.
Watching that clumsy figure, watching him struggle for that tiny spark of light.
A trace of warmth rose inexplicably in everyone's heart.
It was not the warmth of Magic Power.
It was the first spark of fire belonging to "civilization."
It was the hope humanity's ancestors had felt when they first lit a bonfire in the savage age of raw meat and animal hides, driving away darkness and beasts.
It was the resistance of weak Living Beings who huddled together for warmth before a cruel world and never gave up.
Streams of faint yet incomparably pure thoughts rose from every corner of the Primordial World.
They gathered together, passing through the Heavenly Net System and through True Lord Yuding's body.
They poured into the two dry branches he was rubbing together.
Finally, after countless failures, a tiny, feeble spark flickered.
Then it suddenly burst into flame!
The fire was not bright.
Yet in an instant, it illuminated True Lord Yuding's face, smeared with blood and sweat.
It also illuminated the Moon Laurel Tree behind him, which had been withered and silent for eternity.
The Watcher's frozen body suddenly trembled.
For the first time, the millennia-old lifelessness in her eyes was broken.
She saw it.
Within that faint firelight, she saw a man anxiously waiting for her to return home.
She saw a tribe singing and dancing around a bonfire.
She saw a civilization arduously passing hope onward through the darkness.
Those were memories that belonged to "Chang'e," long frozen within her.
A tear like an ice crystal slid from the corner of her eye.
It fell onto the roots of the withered Moon Laurel Tree.
The next moment, a miracle happened.
That Moon Laurel Tree, which had completely died and had been defined by the laws as "nonexistent."
Upon its branches, like ice sculptures.
A tiny silver osmanthus blossom, radiating a gentle glow.
Quietly bloomed.
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