Once Zheng Fan understood Infinite Mountain's place in the Digimon world, he understood why Elderlymon had lost composure. If something like this happened in the Three Great Domains, no one there would have been able to accept it either.
After some thought, Zheng Fan said to Elderlymon, "Elderlymon, the situation on Infinite Mountain might be the exact opposite of what you suspect." Elderlymon asked, "Why? Because of that power of faith you mentioned?"
Zheng Fan explained, "Where I come from, places that gather the power of faith develop consciousnesses of their own. If I'm right, Infinite Mountain already has one. With that as our premise, I think there are three possibilities." Zheng Fan did not think he was drawing out the suspense, but Elderlymon could not wait. Grabbing Zheng Fan's clothes, Elderlymon said, "Tell me already."
"The first possibility is that Infinite Mountain has been corrupted. Not by a darkness invasion, but by the Mega Digimon who fell on it. Those Mega Digimon died in battle, so we can safely assume their hearts were filled with the desire to destroy their enemies before they fell. If Infinite Mountain's consciousness absorbed those destructive wishes, it would make sense for it to become violent."
Elderlymon listened to Zheng Fan's analysis with an expressionless face, looking just like a politician on Earth. In truth, however, Elderlymon had not understood what Zheng Fan was saying. This was a difference in foundational knowledge. Scientists on Earth might excel at studying terrestrial physics, but when it came to the physics of other realms or worlds with higher forms of energy, they were mere elementary school students. It had nothing to do with intelligence. Elderlymon did not understand why Infinite Mountain could develop a consciousness, but did know that Digimon learned from what they saw as they grew. That made Zheng Fan's explanation sound somewhat reasonable.
"The second possibility." Zheng Fan raised two fingers. "Over the long years, Infinite Mountain has developed a complete consciousness. It knows what it wants to do. Just as not all Digimon are willing to accept the Metal Empire's modifications and evolution, Infinite Mountain resents the modifications you made to it and wants revenge. That was why the disaster happened back then."
This would, in fact, be a case of a divine spirit causing havoc. Anything in the world that developed sentience over long ages could be called a spirit. Such spirits were generally known as true spirits. If living beings actively participated in the process through sacrifices, prayers, and other acts that gathered the power of faith, however, the resulting spirit was called a divine spirit. All spirits in the world possessed creativity. For instance, under the Heavenly Dao's classifications, humans belonged to the flesh-and-blood spirit races, while lesser demons, which lacked creativity, were classified among the flesh-and-blood mortal races.
Because spirits could think, they would go looking for other living beings to play with, though most of the time they only caused trouble. Naturally, the spirits themselves did not think so. Many divine spirits also considered themselves superior because they received offerings from living beings. If a mortal refused to disperse after death and their spirit eventually awakened to become an object of mortal prayers, that spirit, awakened from chaos, was known as a soul spirit. Heroic spirits and vengeful spirits were both soul spirits. Cultivators' weapons were called spirit artifacts, but only spirits that truly possessed creativity would be accepted by the Heavenly Artifact Race. Weapon spirits were called companion spirits. At present, the Night Dawn Sword merely understood left and right. It came nowhere near meeting the requirement of creativity.
If Infinite Mountain truly had a mature spirit, they would need to analyze it carefully to determine whether this was a true spirit playing around or a divine spirit taking revenge.
Elderlymon's breathing grew heavier upon hearing Zheng Fan's second possibility. Zheng Fan knew such a thing was difficult to accept. If the Sacred Statue of Nuwa became a divine spirit and began causing havoc, the elders of Buzhou would surely be plagued by endless headaches.
"The third possibility is that it's granting a wish." Puzzled, Elderlymon asked, "Granting a wish? What kind of wish could tear all of File Island apart?" Zheng Fan analyzed it further. "Infinite Mountain's original purpose was to send Digimon away from File Island. Even now, it might still want to send everyone off File Island to every corner of the Digimon world. So File Island split apart, with each fragment traveling in a different direction. But this is the least likely possibility. After all, Infinite Mountain is a single whole."
Elderlymon thought for a while before asking bitterly, "Zheng Fan, your world understands spirits so deeply. Could you communicate with Infinite Mountain's spirit-or even destroy it?"
Zheng Fan shook his head. "If it's a divine spirit, it's far beyond what I can handle right now. If it's a true spirit, I have ways to restrain it. But even a divine spirit I can't fight can be destroyed, as long as we find the source of its faith."
Elderlymon finally smiled. "Zheng Fan, rest tomorrow. The day after, I'll go to Infinite Mountain with you and take a look."
"That would be ideal. Elderlymon, let me tell you about some techniques for fighting spirits," Zheng Fan said.
A day passed quickly. Compared with Leomon, Elderlymon was indeed far wiser. But Elderlymon had lived so long and been so deeply influenced by the Digimon world that, despite drawing broader insights from the combat techniques they discussed and giving Zheng Fan much to learn from, Elderlymon could not actually put them into practice in battle. Fortunately, Elderlymon was a very open-minded Digimon and did not dwell on it.
Perhaps what made Infinite Mountain frightening was the unknown. Since the cataclysm, no Digimon had been able to reach its summit. Some half-angels, such as Unimon, could move around halfway up the mountain, but that was their limit. Infinite Mountain no longer had any angel Digimon, and of its two Ultimates, Andromon had been dispatched by the Metal Empire. Of course, there had also been a native Black King Sukamon, who had been killed without anyone knowing. What, did Sukamon know? What a joke. Sukamon would be killed the instant they dared show themselves aboveground. Even if they survived, no Digimon would believe them if they claimed their boss was an Ultimate Black King Sukamon.
Infinite Mountain remained cold and gloomy, unbearably lonely after so long without anyone around. Because the Digimon world was fundamentally composed of data energy, the winding mountain path was spotless, without a speck of dust. As they passed certain places, Elderlymon recounted amusing incidents that had happened there years ago. One crater in the ground had been made when Meteormon fell over; holes in a wall came from Beelzemon firing wildly; Shoutmon had sung at an echo wall and ended up trapped inside a giant pumpkin by Pumpkinmon. Leomon and the others had never experienced those days, and Elderlymon's stories filled them with envy. They also strengthened their resolve to fight the darkness invasion to the bitter end. Defending one's home sounded noble, but only those who understood what made that home great would truly have the resolve to protect it.
Unimon was the only Digimon who stayed near Infinite Mountain year-round, precisely to stop reckless Digimon like Leomon from venturing inside. It was fair to say that Unimon had long since learned every part of the mountain below its midpoint. With Unimon leading the way, Zheng Fan and the others chatted and laughed as they climbed, yet still made much faster progress than Zheng Fan and Leomon had last time. No wonder Unimon thought reaching the upper mountain before noon would be easy.
Climbing at noon had not been Zheng Fan's suggestion. In his view, the Digimon world had no spiritual energy, so naturally it had no yin energy, yang energy, or anything of the sort. Elderlymon, however, had survived from before the great war and knew that dark power weakened in sunlight. Zheng Fan still thought it pointless. If the culprit really was a dark Digimon, any Digimon capable of occupying Infinite Mountain for so long could hardly be afraid of sunlight.
Once they passed the halfway point, Unimon grew cautious too. Although Unimon had sounded perfectly righteous when lecturing Leomon, it was obvious that Unimon had done the same thing before. Angels simply had a greater advantage against dark power, and as a half-angel, Unimon had managed to escape disaster. Otherwise, how could Unimon tell everyone that this spot was dangerous and that place was terrifying?
In Zheng Fan's perception, the higher they climbed, the denser the power of faith became. The level at the foot of the mountain could be found in better temples, Daoist monasteries, churches, and even schools on Earth. Faith energy of that strength could reinforce believers' convictions. At the halfway point, it could make people with no faith begin to believe. At the summit, it might be strong enough to sway ordinary believers. This was no good thing, especially if a divine spirit was influencing Infinite Mountain.
At first, everyone chatted and laughed as they talked about history, but the closer they came to the summit, the grimmer their expressions grew. Both the dark power and the power of faith were immensely strong at the mountaintop. Zheng Fan was certain that Andromon No. 2 from the Factory would be controlled here. He just did not know whether Andromon No. 2 would follow instinct or the Metal Empire's rules.
Fortunately, the human and Digimon here all have the strongest wills, Zheng Fan thought with relief, only to hear Unimon scream behind him.
"Leomon, stop!" Elderlymon acted as quickly as the words came out. A beam of red light shot from Elderlymon's hand, effortlessly separating Leomon and Unimon.
Leomon had torn Unimon's wing open, but Unimon was more concerned about Leomon's condition. A white ball of light emerged from Unimon's mouth and drifted slowly toward Leomon. Seeing that Elderlymon did not stop it, Zheng Fan turned his attention away from Leomon.
"The Heavenly Dao is ever-changing, the mortal world illusory. Moved by their plight, Nuwa shaped humans from clay and refined stones to mend the heavens; only then was the boundlessness of the Heavenly Dao revealed. Your disciple, Zheng Fan, respectfully invites Nuwa." Zheng Fan chanted without pausing his hands, his fingers rapidly forming one seal after another. A mighty figure with a human head and a serpent's body appeared in midair. Yet those features were all they could make out; to everyone watching, Nuwa was nothing more than an outline. Even so, her presence surpassed that of an Ultimate.
Zheng Fan spat out a mouthful of blood after summoning Nuwa's phantom image. Seeing how indistinct she was left him deeply disheartened. When an elder of Buzhou had summoned Nuwa's phantom image back then, only her face had been unclear; every individual scale on her serpent's tail could be counted. Comparing the two, Zheng Fan knew he fell short by far more than a little.
Of course, this phantom image of Nuwa was modeled after Buzhou's Sacred Statue of Nuwa. Although he did not know whether the statue truly depicted Nuwa herself, attempting to invoke the technique using Nuwa's actual form as his model would have only one outcome: Zheng Fan would die on the spot.
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