Blind Spot
Chapter 520: Line 477 Three

Chapter 520: Line 477 Three

"Yuan Ying?"

Li Chengyi raised an eyebrow. At the heights he had reached, there were only a handful of High Imprints who could threaten him on this planet.

No, to be precise, there were only a handful across the two planets.

"You may call me Xu Meng," said the man formed of blue electric light, speaking gently.

"Xu Meng? What is your relationship with Lien, with White Star, and with this world?"

Li Chengyi’s expression grew somber.

The first time Yuan Ying appeared, they had done so with a person resembling Lien as their representative.

And that squirrel... Wasn’t it the same as the one he had seen in the hallucination? The King of Thousand Waters?

Their figures seemed omnipresent yet deeply concealed.

But one thing was certain: Yuan Ying must know many facts, many truths.

"You disrupted the balance, and we could have ignored you. After all, in a year’s time, none of you would exist anymore, and your lifespans are nearing their ends. But..." Xu Meng paused. "I misjudged the speed of your development."

"You haven’t answered my questions," Li Chengyi said.

"Even if I answered, what difference would it make to you? Nothing is destined to change," Xu Meng replied.

"You are doomed to die here... This will become an unalterable fact. Everything needs correction." He raised his hand, and a strange book with deep blue covers and black characters emerged within his palm.

Initially, the book was only the size of a palm, but it quickly grew larger at a rapid pace.

Snap.

Li Chengyi said nothing; the Five Seals were indeed powerful.

So...

He silently took out a cloud-shaped jade pendant.

Purple spots of light began to flash urgently on the jade pendant.

At the same time, above Sky City, the dark clouds were completely dispelled.

In their place, more purple mist appeared out of thin air.

The dense fog quickly enveloped everything around it.

In the mist overhead, the fuzzy figure of an enormous old man seemed to be slowly approaching from afar.

He wielded a long sword, wore a Taoist robe, and his brow shone with blinding golden light.

"That’s why I hate you the most, those who talk in riddles and never clarify anything—wastrels!" Li Chengyi let out a cold laugh.

He might not be able to defeat the Five Seals, he might as well shake them.

Turning around, he cupped his fist in salute towards the heavens.

"Disciple Bailu, humbly requests the descent of the Master’s will!"

The thick fog encompassed the entire Sky City.

Hum!!!

Suddenly, an inconceivable and terrifying pressure descended from the sky like an invisible sea, slamming down fiercely within the city.

The air turned from gaseous to solid state, revealing large transparent cracks.

The ground split open, revealing depths unknown.

Tall buildings swayed, and numerous electronic devices exploded, shattered, and dissolved into the purple mist.

The modified humans of the entire city were enveloped in mist and completely unable to carry on with normal life and work.

The fighters and Reinforced Human warriors that were flying around the battlefield in the sky lost power, falling like blocks of iron.

Some smashed into buildings; others rolled through the gaps and onto the streets below, crushing countless living beings in their vehicles.

Lights went out; energy regressed.

In just a few seconds, the colossal Sky City fell into absolute panic.

"This power...!?" Xu Meng and the others’ faces, enshrouded in light, seemed to change slightly.

"It’s a Seal Ring... At least at the Seal Ring Divine Fire Level old monster!" Mina, the woman in the light responsible for carrying the Stone of Hiding, said urgently.

She, too, gazed at the gradually nearing shadowy figure of the Taoist in the sky, feeling an involuntary chilling horror despite having abandoned her physical body.

The earth began to shake and tremble.

The purple mist grew thicker, until it was almost impossible to see one’s hand in front of their face.

Xu Meng finally couldn’t maintain composure and quickly looked towards Li Chengyi.

"Have you lost your mind? Do you want to completely destroy Sky City in one fell swoop!?"

"Do you intend to kill tens of millions in the city!?"

"They die because of you," said Li Chengyi calmly, turning back to face him, the jade pendant in his hand still emitting glaring purple light.

"Stop!!" As the purple mist was about to condense and turn into purple droplets,

Xu Meng could no longer hold back.

"Whatever you want to know, I will tell you all that I can!" His voice reached Li Chengyi’s ears through some special ability.

By then, even sound couldn’t travel through the air anymore.

Sky City became utterly silent.

All sound was sealed, and everything was about to return to the void.

This vast mechanical city, at least a hundred kilometers in diameter, was on the brink of total destruction merely because of a jade pendant.

Such force, even Li Chengyi didn’t expect to be this great.

Once he was sure that the other party had given in, he quickly put away the jade pendant.

As soon as the jade pendant was put away, the surrounding purple mist faded and disappeared.

The mist overhead also slowly dispersed, and the vague figure of the Taoist, Yin Yue, gradually faded away.

The countless energy lights of Sky City lit up one after another, returning to normal.

Except for those without power that had fallen, and the unlucky ones who had been crushed to death.

Everything seemed as if nothing had happened, as it all returned to how it was before.

With the purple mist gone, the sky around was crystal clear.

The siege of the Reinforced Humans and the war machines had all disappeared without a trace.

Atop the roof of the ruined White Emperor Palace, only Li Chengyi and Xu Meng were left.

The Black Squirrel shrank in size and retreated behind Xu Meng, standing next to the woman of white light, Mina.

Xu Meng no longer possessed the composure he had earlier, his face under the blue electric light somewhat distorted as he stared at Li Chengyi.

"What do you want to know?"

"The question I just asked," Li Chengyi said with a cold stare.

"....Under the limitations of forbidden knowledge, there’s not much I can tell you," Xu Meng took a deep breath and exhaled a stream of blue ionic gas.

"I can only tell you that Yuan Ying is made up of people from all walks of life who hope to maintain the balance of the world. We distinguish neither race nor type, no matter if one is human or not, we all guard everything for one goal."

"We are the last bastion of this world. The world is vast, yet so small. That boundless night sky seems within reach, yet it’s unattainably far. We can never get close to it."

"Lien... is also one of us, but he is one of the only two who came closest to success. The first one is the founder of Yuan Ying, Lan Meng."

"The founder?" Li Chengyi’s gaze sharpened.

"Let’s change the place, unless you want those you don’t wish to hear to die accidentally," sighed Xu Meng. "We hold too much knowledge; even a slight brush with forbidden knowledge can cause unintended eavesdroppers to die in an instant."

"This is why we, Yuan Ying, must hide our existence and minimize contact with ordinary society. Even idle chatter could put the mortals around us in life-or-death situations."

"Right, the Stone of Hiding," Li Chengyi reminded.

Xu Meng’s face twitched, suppressing his anger as he nodded.

"Rest assured."

"Mina, please," he said, turning to the woman beside him.

"Alright. Do not resist," the white light woman told Li Chengyi.

She lifted her hand, extending four fingers, each fingertip shining with a speck of black light.

Hiss!!

Four beams of black light shot out towards the four of them.

The black light expanded, turning into four black orbs that engulfed them.

In the blink of an eye, the black orbs disappeared, and the four vanished from the spot.

*

*

*

Red Rock Star·Surface.

The dark red sand dunes rolled and undulated, seemingly stretching to the ends of heaven and earth.

This was a boundless sandy land, free of any human traces, with two immense planets floating silently overhead, one white and the other blue.

"That’s the Earth-Moon and White Star."

With a flash of black light, four figures appeared on the sand.

Xu Meng looked up at the sky above, the planetary bodies, and said in a low voice.

"When Lien left, in order to try to bypass the forbidden knowledge, he divided his only hope, his memory, into hundreds of thousands of pieces, distributing it among hundreds of thousands of clones. Hence the Lien division is now an important part of Yuan Ying. They are all considered one person.

The real Lien has disappeared. The only way to avoid the Blind Spot, to escape destruction by forbidden knowledge, is to be held by a single individual. He held it, yet he couldn’t do it. Therefore...."

Xu Meng said solemnly.

"Why couldn’t he do it?" Li Chengyi frowned and asked.

He had been chasing that hope for so long, just to overcome the Blind Spot, and now they’re telling him it’s not possible?

"I don’t know," Xu Meng shook his head. "Only Lan Meng and Lien knew, but they couldn’t do it; Lien managed somehow, but Lan Meng, terrifyingly powerful, was perhaps the strongest individual that ever appeared in this world. Even he couldn’t...."

"So none of you dare to try? Not even the courage to know that forbidden knowledge?" Li Chengyi said coldly.

"What do you know!? If you found out but couldn’t do it, what would you do? Would you run away with the only hope? Escape to the Black Sea? We are not Lien or Lan Meng; we can’t leave this place!"

The Black Squirrel shouted angrily.

"By then! The only outcome is death! Only by dying, by vanishing, can the forbidden knowledge be passed on!"

"So you all just sit here without knowing what to do, afraid of the unknown possibility, too scared to even take a step forward?" scoffed Li Chengyi.

"As long as the balance is maintained, everyone can live in safety. Why seek death?" argued the Black Squirrel.

"The world is doomed to destruction, that’s what the name Blind Spot signifies, but this isn’t our exclusive fate. In the Black Sea, countless Blind Spots vanish every moment, reborn; it is the arrangement of fate! Unchangeable!" Xu Meng also spoke out.

"Don’t people also start from birth only to end in aging and death?" Li Chengyi said, "What’s the difference with the world?"

"It’s not the same... once the world loses balance, if the fixed structure is destroyed too much, everything will reboot," Xu Meng shook his head.

"Forget it, I don’t care what you all do, just tell me how to rid myself of the Blind Spot’s entanglement," Li Chengyi cut to the chase without further ado.

"Integrate with us, or leave completely. While you remain oblivious to the most crucial forbidden knowledge, you have these two options," Xu Meng replied.

"If there are such safe options, then why didn’t Lan Meng and Lien choose them?" Li Chengyi retorted.

"...."

The question left all three momentarily silent.

The anger on the Black Squirrel’s face faded away.

Mina lowered her head, the light on her body dimming.

The wind-sand howled, leaving only the moan of the wind across the dark red desert.

After a long while...

Xu Meng finally spoke again.

"Because... whether you leave for the Black Sea or stay and join Yuan Ying, you would gradually become an immortal being, starting to lose your sanity over time. Until... you completely turn into a Blind Spot monster, forever in existence."

"Yuan Ying used to have more than these few people... and now, they’ve all disappeared, sealed by us into exile spaces to keep reality unaffected," Mina continued.

"Are you saying... places like Yunshan?" Li Chengyi suddenly realized.

"Yes... we’ve guided outsiders to create numerous Blind Spots as exclusive spaces for them," Mina affirmed.

"....." At this point, Li Chengyi had come to understand what kind of people Yuan Ying were.

They were a group of pitiful creatures who, in order to survive, had to merge with the Blind Spot, to maintain the balance of the world, hiding in the dark, shamed by their failures.

From them, he also learned something new.

That is, many of the monsters in the Blind Spot were not without reason from the start. They slowly lost everything over time, becoming monsters.