The Hatching of the Cosmic Embryos
As "New Era No. 2" traversed the pulsating layer of the Origin Silence Point, the light patterns on its hull resonated with the Embryo Preselection Web. Those cosmic embryos that had absorbed diverse wisdom in the Full-Network Resonance were now radiating a warm halo, with patterns similar to the Heart of Balance appearing on their outer shells—some interwoven with symbols of cause and effect and disorder, some imprinted with the cycle of existence and non-existence, and others covered with iridescent spirals of the Domain of Ignorance, like cosmic eggs waiting to bloom.
The dream energy of the Xing Luo gently touched the outermost embryo, and flowing images immediately appeared on the eggshell: the Photosynthetic Clan of the Balance Star Cluster learning restraint under the Warning Halo; the silver-robed elder of the Absolute Causality Star Cluster revealing a smile for the first time; the disorder messenger of the Entropy Increase Star Cluster learning gentleness in the Guardian Vortex... These memories from the Multiverse Web have become the embryo's "innate wisdom."
"They are 'reviewing' past stories of balance." Xing Luo's voice was filled with amazement. The dream energy was connected to the consciousness of the embryo, and she could feel the anticipation surging within the eggshell—not a desire for birth, but a contemplation of "how to exist better." "Just like a newborn listening to the sounds of the world in the womb, they already know what kind of universe they will face through the seeds of memory."
The causal runes of Chen Sha weave "protective trajectories" within the Preselection Web. These trajectories do not restrict the evolutionary direction of the embryo, but they can buffer the energy impact when the shell breaks, preventing the nascent universe from dying due to conflicting laws. "The hatching of every embryo should be gentle." He gazed at an embryo whose shell had already cracked, the "Trial-and-Error Balance" law within it stirring. "Like a cradle prepared by parents for their child, what we can do is give them a safe start."
The Liu Huo then infuses the nodes of the Preselection Web with the energy of "Harmonious Moment," allowing the wisdom of different embryos to merge one last time before hatching. An embryo with "Instant Eternity" as its core conveys the realization of "cherishing the fleeting" to the "Manifestation and Concealment Symbiosis" embryo next to it; while the "Manifestation and Concealment Symbiosis" embryo reciprocates with the wisdom of "accumulating power in silence," and the energy threads of the two resonate to form a new crystallization of laws.
"The new dimension of balance is 'coexistence before birth.'" Liu Huo gazed at the new symbols shimmering within the crystals. These symbols belonged to no known laws, yet could be understood by all embryos. "They hadn't even hatched yet, but they already knew how to share wisdom. This is a step further than our fusion across star clusters back then."
The first to hatch was the embryo that embodied the principle of "Trial-and-Error Balance".
The moment the eggshell cracked, there was no violent energy burst, only a gentle flow of white light. Within the light, a universe composed of countless tiny stardust particles slowly unfolded—the stardust sometimes coalesced into orderly galaxies, sometimes dissipated into chaotic nebulae, yet it always managed to regain balance at the edge of collapse through minute adjustments. Even more remarkably, the stardust in this universe actively "recorded errors": the trajectory of a galactic collision, the fluctuation of an energy imbalance, were etched into the patterns of the stardust, becoming the basis for the next adjustment.
"It's 'memory-based evolution.'" The dream energy of the Xing Luo captured the consciousness of the stardust. Unlike the primitive life forms of the Domain of Ignorance, they didn't repeatedly fight each other, but could learn directly from past mistakes. "The memory seeds of the Multiverse Web allow them to inherently understand that 'they can learn to walk without actually falling down.'"
The causal trajectory of Chen Sha formed "observation anchors" at the edge of the new universe. These anchors do not interfere with the evolution of stardust, but can record the changes in its laws in real time, providing a reference for other embryos. "Like the rings of Tree of Balance, the traces of trial and error in each universe should become nourishment for the entire Preselection Web." He looked at the star map transmitted back by the anchors, and one "deliberate mistake" in evolution was particularly striking—the stardust deliberately created an energy storm, but tested a more resilient balance structure within the storm.
In the Stardust's "error records," Liu Huo discovered wisdom beyond the Multiverse Web: these not only recorded failures but also "Simulation successes"—by deducing different corrective measures, they completed countless attempts at balancing in their consciousness before actual evolution. "This is a new dimension of 'pre-emptive balancing.'" His energy flow resonated with the Stardust. "We accumulate experience through millions of years of exploration, while these Stardust, from their very inception, have been able to stand on our shoulders and gaze upon a more distant path to balance."
With the hatching of the first embryo, a hatching frenzy swept through the Preselection Web.
The "Instant Eternity" embryo blossoms into a dazzling cluster of pulsars, each star with a lifespan of only a moment, yet capable of releasing light that illuminates several star regions during its eruption, taking "brief glory" to its extreme; the "Manifestation and Concealment Symbiosis" embryo evolves into a twin universe of alternating light and darkness, where the laws of the light domain settle in the silence of the dark domain, and the energy of the dark domain is activated in the eruption of the light domain, forming an endless energy breath.
What is most moving is a "Super Balance embryo" that integrates all wisdom. When it hatches, it has no fixed form, but transforms into a flowing sea of laws—islands of cause and effect, disordered waves, and whirlpools of existence and non-existence floating on the surface, while the seabed slumbers with the survival instincts of the Domain of Ignorance and the memory corals of the Multiverse Web. All known forms of balance coexist harmoniously in this sea, and new possibilities are constantly being conceived in the tides.
"This is the ultimate gift of the Origin Silence Point." The dream energy of Xing Luo merged with the sea of laws, and she saw the figures of Ling Xi, Feng Hen, Mo, and even the earlier guardians. Their beliefs had become lighthouses in the sea, forever guiding the direction of balance. "The evolution of the universe is not linear progress, but a spiraling return—starting from the primordial chaos, exploring countless forms of balance, and finally returning to the all-encompassing harmony."
As the last embryo hatched, the pulsation of the Origin Silence Point suddenly slowed. Those void cores that had once nurtured these embryos transformed into a "Sea of Memory Stars," countless shimmering points of light bearing the imprints of the Multiverse Web's past: Tang San's radiance within the Star Track Rift, Tang Nian and Lan Che's silhouettes as they journeyed into the unknown, Ye Guang and Shi Xu's unwavering commitment as they merged into the Tree of Balance... These points of light, like seeds, drifted into the nascent universe, becoming the "spiritual coordinates" of their evolution.
When "New Era No. 2" returned, the light of the nascent universe had already merged with the Multiverse Web. Xing Luo, Chen Sha, and Liu Huo stood on the bridge, watching those young universes begin to weave their own networks of laws under the illumination of the Sea of Memory Stars —their light trails were connected to the Multiverse Web, yet they extended into completely different branches, just like the branches of a tree that always grow in different directions, yet share the same root system.
"We should return to the Heart of Balance." Within the dreamlike energy of the Xing Luo, the edge of the star map revealed more distant, unknown star regions, where the light resonated with a frequency similar to the pulsation of the Origin Silence Point. "But the story of the universe's balance has only just begun a new chapter."
The causal runes of Chen Sha drew a cyclical trajectory on the control panel, incorporating the coordinates of the nascent universe into the star map of the Multiverse Web: "Memory will be passed on, wisdom will grow, and what we leave behind is the soil that allows balance to continue forever."
The energy flow of the Liu Huo resonated with the light patterns on the ship's hull, and the engines of "New Era No. 2" emitted a low hum synchronized with the Origin Silence Point: "Life and death are endless, memory is the soil, multiplicity is the light, balance never ceases... This is our blessing to the new universe, and also our vow to all guardians."
Behind the ship, the light of the nascent universe, like the rising sun, illuminated the nothingness of the Origin Silence Point and the future of the Multiverse Web. The eggshells scattered when those cosmic embryos hatched transformed into "Memory Bridge" connecting the old and new universes, allowing the whispers of the Heart of Balance to transcend time and space and continue to nourish every life that yearns to exist.
The course of "New Era No. 2" is now pointing to the next frontier of the Multiverse Web. There may be even more peculiar laws there, and more difficult challenges to maintain balance, but in the eyes of Xing Luo, Chen Sha, and Liu Huo, there is only the unwavering determination inherited from their predecessors—because they know that no matter which dimension the universe evolves to, the essence of balance will never change:
It is the sedimentation of memories, the wisdom of symbiosis, and the eternal question of "how to exist better".
This questioning is the most moving heartbeat of the universe, the deepest dimension of balance, and the eternal poem that all life in the Sea of Stars will eventually compose together.