How had Mo Ling determined that once these totems were destroyed, the surrounding "scene" would begin to collapse?
Because he had "seen" it...
Earlier, after that explorer destroyed the patterned totem on the Sand Land, he noticed slight changes in the jungle.
The changes were incredibly subtle. They were impossible to distinguish with the naked eye alone, but Mo Ling's vision could keenly detect them:
"The jungle's colors have faded..."
"More than that, the gaps between the grains of sand have become somewhat blurred. The cracks and geological patterns on the pebbles have faded slightly. The film of water coating the soil has become strangely murky. The tiny branches of the roots buried underground have suddenly changed from 'rough' to 'smooth.'"
"It's like an image has been 'sharpened.'"
"But it isn't as simple as sharpening. The texture of the entire image has worsened. If reality is made up of countless layered images, then after that totem was destroyed, one of those countless layers vanished, causing the real scene to lose something."
Mo Ling detected all these changes in an instant.
Countless changing details in his vision formed a definite message and sent it to Mo Ling's brain, which immediately responded: this world had changed.
Such a "reflex" would never have occurred before Mo Ling acquired this vision.
Thus, he became certain: those totems were anchor points that formed the layers of this world.
They were like switches for the layers. Once those totems were destroyed, the layers connected to them would vanish completely, allowing this world, beautified by its layers, to reveal what it looked like before it had been altered.
"These layers—or rather, these totems—are definitely hiding something..." Mo Ling swiftly reached his conclusion.
However, clearing all the surrounding totems would take far too long. Mo Ling made a