The Ancestor Fish Fry leaped with all its strength, breaking free of the Sea Waterfall, blurred and dim, as though it were breaking out of its predetermined fate.
And with this attempt, the Sea Waterfall's current state finally came into view.
The surface of the Sea Waterfall, broader even than the sea itself, suddenly seemed to have had a section cut off, its flow ending up ahead.
This meant the Sea Waterfall had reached its end, with no possibility of advancing. Forcing its way through would be just as difficult as breaking free of the water's surface.
No wonder the Ancestor Fish Fry had suddenly stopped making any headway. It really had run into the boundary wall of what had been rendered.
The Ancestor Fish Fry lived in the Sea Waterfall, but when it encountered a break like this, it could only follow the current downstream, not swim upstream.
Going downstream, trapped within the River of Cause and River of Fate, it could pass through the Sea Waterfall's break normally, but it would hardly make any progress throughout its life, passing away in a muddled haze.
Going upstream gave it the possibility of escaping the River of Cause and River of Fate, but it could no longer pass through the Sea Waterfall's break. Once it reached the break, it could only smash its cauldrons and sink its boats, making one ultimate leap without turning back, its life hanging by a thread.
Thus, every Ancestor Fish Fry had only one chance in its lifetime to swim upstream. It would succeed or die trying. In a sense, this was even crueler than a carp leaping over the Dragon Gate; after all, failing to leap over the Dragon Gate did not necessarily mean death.
If ordinary creatures reached the end of the Sea