A great swamp, a small swamp.
The Spider Princess has only one chance, and this is not a choice.
"I’ll take care of the great swamp, you handle the small swamp."
The Spider Princess nodded gently, leaning forward with trust, transforming into a vertical rainbow diving into the Deep Yellow Sea.
Lu Li returned to the Alchemical Tower Island along the Mycelium. The surrounding shattered floating islands were almost gone, even the edges of the Alchemical Tower Island were collapsing, teetering on the brink.
"I found the locations of the two swamps."
Lu Li said to the imnse skull of Mother and the surrounding allies: "The Spider Princess will handle the forr, the latter is up to us."
In the Eternal Drear’s prophecy, he arranged for Lu Li to "follow his heart."
So Lu Li and Mother will head to the core of the small swamp.
Margaret and the others did not want Lu Li to take risks, but Lu Li simply asked, "What will happen if the swamp loses control?"
"Everyone will die..."
"So I must do it."
The abilities of the Speaker of the Trees and the Dreamwalker cannot be unleashed, only the last Cursed Title remains: the Crown of Knowledge.
But that ans Lu Li must pay a price.
Lu Li stepped onto the broad hill-like skull, flying with Mother’s bony wings, sweeping over the Alchemical Tower.
The four Alchemical Towers beneath flickered with dim, precarious light. Lu Li saw countless figures standing on the floating islands of the four Alchemical Towers, looking up at the shadow-casting Mother and him rushing towards the depths of the swamp.
They could not help but suppress the swamp, waiting for Lu Li to bring back good news.
Delving into this vast, lifeless, and desolate swamp world, an indescribable, all-corroding gas perated the surroundings.
Lu Li held his breath, yet he could not stop them from corroding his hair and skin.
The distant heartbeat affected Lu Li as he approached the sprawling detestable yellow hell, and from another angle, he was very close to the small swamp.
"My child... Please take care of it."
A voice suddenly echoed in Lu Li’s mind.
After a brief silence, Lu Li replied, "I hope you can take care of it personally."
"No, this is the duty of the Guardian, even if only bones remain..."
Lu Li saw the core of the small swamp—a bright and eerie silhouette flickering in the dim depths.
Mother flapped her bony wings, descending. Lu Li sacrificed so peripheral mories, forming the strength to support himself, silently watching as his self-sacrificing Mother plunged into the throbbing, yellow-spreading heart of the swamp.
Watching the battle unfold in the yellow mist made him dizzy and incomprehensible, Lu Li couldn’t help but wonder if his decision was correct.
Out of trust for the Eternal Drear, he followed his heart. But if he stayed outside and gave "Mother" more humanity, could that have prevented it from sacrificing itself?
Or is this the least bad of all possible endings?
The indescribable struggle between Mother and the swamp continued, when suddenly Lu Li noticed the dark yellow receding like the black night at dawn.
Did Mother succeed?
Lu Li lifted his head and saw that the brightness dispelling the dimness ca from behind.
The Spider Princess succeeded.
As the dimness faded, boundless chasms stretched across the vast land in sight, and the unsupported four Alchemical Tower Islands, along with other floating islands, fell into the deep mist at the abyss’s bottom.
The Mother of the Marsh and the others were still there, preventing allies from ending in a fatal fall.
Eyes returned to the small swamp, the depth’s darkness was also retreating, revealing swaying shadows.
And Mother’s shadow, once larger than a city, now dwindled to a castle’s size, trembling lightly like a young shadow within an eggshell.
Lu Li saw the silhouette unfurl bony wings, the dark yellow rushing into the skeleton. The soul within the deep yellow-stained skull’s eye socket dimd, turning to ash along with the skeleton, scattered by the wind.
"Rember your promise..."
Mother’s whisper echoed in Lu Li’s ear.
As the yellow mist disappeared, the dying core of the swamp nearly revealed itself.
Just nearly dying.
The swamp was still alive, with each weak pulse the yellow miasma expanded more than before.
It wouldn’t be long before it grew back into a swamp amid everyone’s despair. Furthermore, there would be no Mother or Spider Princess to suppress it—
But Lu Li was here with the Crown of Knowledge.
Lu Li plunged toward the reviving swamp like a cot. Mother had sacrificed herself, and so could he.
"...Forgotten Bloodstained."
The surging molding power of the Crown of Knowledge burst around him, forming a spear, piercing the swamp.
The newly born yellow mist faded once again a little, yet what remained followed the swamp’s consciousness, swirling, corroding, preventing Lu Li from annihilating it.
The power transford from Bloodstained waned, while the yellow mist grew. To delay the swamp or destroy it, Lu Li had to continue sacrificing knowledge.
"Forgotten Lighthouse."
Dense molding power surged once more, transforming into white mist to suppress and contend with the swamp’s just-erged vitality.
The surrounding yellow mist was thick with hatred and resentnt, but it wasn’t enough.
These alone were insufficient to extinguish the swamp’s last hope.
"...Forgotten Speaker of the Trees."
The surging molding power washed over the yellow mist, the swamp’s decline gradually becoming apparent, yet it wasn’t enough...
"Forgotten... Dreamwalker."
Finally, Lu Li saw the indescribable core exposed. Like an irregular monolithic piece of dark yellow sli. Then like boiling water in a hot pot, steam instantly covered it again.
Lu Li had no more Cursed Titles to sacrifice, and the swamp was recovering every second.
If he stopped here, all prior sacrifices would beco aningless.
Lu Li felt like a gambler with few chips left. Either stop here and accept doom or give everything—
The Cursed Title’s sacrificial ritual ant the more important the knowledge, the stronger the mory, the stronger the transford molding power.
Yet peripheral mories and knowledge could only eliminate the swamp’s yellow mist, not the entity itself, only that mory...
But Lu Li refused to forget Anna’s mory.
"All I have left are mories... and you want to take those too?"
The Crown of Knowledge returned silence.
Apart from sacrificing mories, Lu Li had a last option. But as he prepared to envision the eye ford by the starry sky, a shudder from the depths of his soul warned him that doing so would bring terrible misfortune to the world.
The deep yellow miasma was spreading, leaving Lu Li no ti to think. With a brief pause, he made his choice.
"I forget the Crown of Knowledge, and..."
"Myself."
Like forgetting the Dreamwalker or Speaker of the Trees, a vast amount of molding power surged forth, manipulated by Lu Li’s last consciousness, crashing into the deep yellow sli.
The mist ford from the molding power peeled away layer by layer, letting Lu Li’s left hand touch the swamp’s core.
The swamp, which would have consud the world, was extinguished, reduced to dust under constant weakening.
In the final consciousness, Lu Li glimpsed the swamp’s retrospection... but it was not death.
Then, the unconscious body continuously descended, falling into the deep abyss.
As it once did.
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