Seeing how pitifully foolish Le Le'er was, Cheng Shi sighed and revealed a few details about the Rainforest being under the Grand Tribunal's protection. But he hadn't forgotten why he'd co here, so he followed up imdiately:
"Order once entered the Sea of Desire alongside War. Did They co into conflict with your Benefactor?"
Le Le'er's aura grew even more bewildered. She actually asked Cheng Shi in return:
"When did They co?"
"?"
Cheng Shi laughed in disbelief. He had no idea how to evaluate this utterly "unique" deity.
"Fine, fine, fine — They never ca, I ca, I'm the one who ca, happy now...?"
By this point, Cheng Shi had more or less figured out the situation. Rather than saying Le Le'er had fallen to beco Corruption's Envoy, it was more accurate to say She'd devolved into a simpleton who did nothing but devour fear to amuse herself.
This "I don't know, I don't know, I don't know" routine of hers was enough to drive a person mad.
"Do you regret it?"
Finding no other answers to extract, Cheng Shi could only redirect his attention back to Le Le'er herself.
"You plunged into the Sea of Desire just to fill the void of your missing fear, and you beca the Mother Tree of Fear — loathed by all in the universe. You lost your people, you lost Garuda, you even lost everything except fear. Le Le'er, do you have any regrets now?
"Do you still rember the 'courage' you felt when you leaped?"
"Courage..." Le Le'er's aura suddenly wilted, and the branches of the heaven-piercing tree began to wither at an alarming speed. "I had no courage...
"Back then, standing before the Sea of Desire, I witnessed what true fear was. I was already deeply satisfied. I didn't want to jump — soone pushed
in..."
"!!??"
Cheng Shi's pupils contracted. He blurted out in disbelief: "Garuda!?"
"No, it wasn't Garuda. I know his aura well. But the one who pushed ...
"I've never... felt... their aura...
"They were like... like..."
Mid-sentence, Le Le'er lost her voice. She grew increasingly dazed and confused, her branches seeming to point sowhere — but the mont they aid toward Cheng Shi, all movent ceased.
Sothing seed to be affecting her. Her withering accelerated.
But she didn't die. Deep within her trunk, she preserved one final, feeble spark of vitality, wrestling against this sudden external force.
Of course, Cheng Shi knew none of this. All he saw was that as an Envoy's life force faded, the colossal tree before him lost its forr grandeur and beca utterly ordinary and hideous.
And right at that mont, a sparrow-like bird appeared from nowhere and, under Cheng Shi's watchful gaze, alighted gently on the withered treetop. It glanced about, pecking here and there, as if demonstrating to Cheng Shi through action alone that this tree was no longer a threat.
Cheng Shi froze for an instant. He hadn't even begun to process what was happening before a blazing desire surged through his heart.
Since the path ahead was clear, since his heart held no fear — then why not... go take a look at the Sea of Desire?
Even just one glimpse from afar!
The mont this thought arose, the distant sound of tides grew even clearer. Hearing that soul-stirring call, Cheng Shi didn't hesitate — he took his first step toward the Sea of Desire.
Then a second, a third, a fourth...
His strides grew longer, his speed faster. He was terrified that a single mont of delay would cost him this once-in-a-universe chance to see the Sea of Desire with his own eyes. So he mustered every ounce of strength and charged headlong forward.
Just as Cheng Shi was about to leave the Mother Tree of Fear's line of sight and plunge straight toward the edge of the Sea of Desire — just as the Clown was about to surrender to his own desire and embrace the cravings of the universe — the little bird that had just landed on the withered tree hurriedly flapped its wings and took flight, craning its neck as if to sing and awaken this lost soul.
But before the bird could utter its first note — BANG — Cheng Shi's figure suddenly halted, driving into the ground like a nail, rooted firmly between the Mother Tree of Fear and the Sea of Desire.
He stopped.
Drenched in cold sweat, gasping for breath.
His face was deathly pale, his entire body trembling. His fra appeared utterly rigid, yet his lips seed to "dance" with a life of their own.
"Heh — fear's back?"
The Fool's Lips chose this rare mont to proactively send Cheng Shi a "greeting."
Cheng Shi clenched his fists with white-knuckled force, gritted his teeth, and didn't dare raise his head to look at the road ahead. He squeezed two words from his throat: "No."
"Then why'd you stop?"
"Because..." He wrenched the foot he'd stomped deep into the mud free, turned stiffly around, took several deep breaths, and resolutely began walking back the way he'd co. "...Old Jia taught
that being human ans first learning to control your desires. Having no fear isn't a reason to cut loose."
"Ha. I've seen people put themselves on pedestals before, but this is the first ti I've seen soone put soone else up there.
"Whether it was him or not, you know the truth, Clown."
"..."
So much for the cool act — or rather, so much for that performance.
It truly wasn't Old Jia's teachings that had brought Cheng Shi back. A mory tied to a re mortal couldn't possibly withstand the tidal pull at the edge of the Sea of Desire.
Corruption was simply too terrifying. Even if a creature entering this place harbored only the faintest wisp of desire, it would find countless resonances across these mudflats near the Sea.
Those resonances were like a thousand invisible threads — tugging you, pulling you, controlling you, drawing you ever deeper toward the Sea of Desire, seeking stronger connections and deeper resonance, until your desires flowed like a trickle rging into a river, becoming one with the Sea.
Even a Servant God might fail to resist that pull, let alone Cheng Shi, who rely possessed a single container. So he'd fallen for it almost imdiately — especially now, stripped of fear, he had no way to guard against his own desires. Not until...
He intervened!
Cheng Shi, having resolutely turned back, suddenly coughed up a mouthful of blood and spat the blood-stained Door Key from his mouth into his palm.
He stared numbly at the key that had saved his life, realizing it was that Lord's gift that had pulled him back from the edge of the Sea of Desire.
Indeed — Death had protected Cheng Shi once more.
Le Le'er may have stripped away his fear, but she couldn't take the new authority of fear that didn't belong to Corruption.
When Cheng Shi had been sprinting toward the Sea of Desire faster and faster — so fearless that he'd scorned the Door Key's protection and nearly spat it out — the rough-hewn creation of Death had sliced open the underside of his tongue, delivering a new fear unto him.
And so the Clown stopped.
What he'd said wasn't entirely wrong. What saved the Clown was indeed fear — but not the old fear. It was a new fear, a brand-new terror that didn't belong to Corruption.
Once he realized that even the Sinking Land, short of the Sea of Desire itself, was far from simple, Cheng Shi retreated even faster. As he cautiously withdrew, he asked with lingering dread:
"Brother Mouth, I lost my fear and nearly charged straight into the Sea of Desire. Would the sa have happened to Order when It stepped onto this land?
"Did Corruption strip away Its fear to make It fracture even further?
"So is that how Fear-Order ca to be?"
...
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