Life Game In Other World
Chapter 446: The ’History’ of the Fountain of Youth (Double Update of 10,000 Characters, Seeking Subscriptions, Favorites, and Monthly Votes)

Chapter 446: Chapter 446: The ’History’ of the Fountain of Youth (Double Update of 10,000 Characters, Seeking Subscriptions, Favorites, and Monthly Votes)

"In the history passed down orally, the Fountain of Youth sprang forth inadvertently from the digging of a stonemason who was building a house. The spring water gushed from the ground, forming an active spring eye."

The elderly chieftain continued towards the next mural, which was the most content-rich so far. It depicted various animals with numerous lines—birds of the sky, beasts of the land, and crowds of running people.

They were wildly charging in the mural, all with the same destination—the spring eye that was specially marked.

"Can the Fountain of Youth really grant immortality?"

He Ao gazed at the mural and asked softly.

"In the legends of our generations, it is true that drinking from the Fountain of Youth could grant eternal life," said the chieftain in his hoarse voice, turning his gaze to the next mural, "The first stonemason to drink from it indeed gained immortality."

In that mural, the initial digger of the Fountain of Youth stood behind it, holding a stick, with a smiley face drawn on his face by the mural painter.

In front of him lay countless lives battling each other, humans, and exotic beasts mixed in combat, with corpses strewn across the forest.

The mural depicted flowing blood with symbols of water currents, which gathered into rivers, flowing into the Fountain of Youth and mingling with the small circle that symbolized the Fountain.

It appeared as if that first stonemason who drank from the Fountain of Youth had triggered the slaughter.

He Ao’s eyes moved to the ninth mural.

In this mural, the stonemason still stood behind the Fountain of Youth, but the once lush forests in front of him had turned into barren deserts.

A few figures were lying like dogs at the edge of the Fountain of Youth, drinking its water, with rows of camps behind them.

He Ao focused on the image of the stonemason and noticed that the artist had added very fine dotted lines to the original body structure of the stonemason, almost imperceptible without a close look.

The dotted lines were densely packed together, almost covering the stonemason’s entire body.

Looking further down, He Ao saw similar dotted lines on the bodies of the figures drinking water, though much fewer than on the stonemason.

"What do these dotted lines mean?"

Not one to keep his questions to himself, He Ao pointed at the dotted lines and asked softly.

"I don’t know," the elderly chieftain shook his head, "Perhaps it’s a way to indicate strength. In the legends, the stonemason’s power was immense, so much so that he could even move mountains and fill seas, becoming the most formidable being around."

"Did all surrounding life die out?"

He Ao looked at the barren mural and asked casually.

"That part of history seems to have been deliberately erased. We don’t have much reliable information; those years were terribly horrifying,"

he paused, "My great-grandfather told me that during the stonemason’s rule, normal people were treated as madmen, so all normal people had to pretend to be ’normal people.’ Some, in their pretense, actually became truly ’normal people.’

Could this be a shift in collective thinking?

"Did your great-grandfather survive from the stonemason’s era?"

He Ao suddenly asked conversationally.

"He lived to be two hundred and nineteen," said the elderly chieftain in a gritty voice, "The story also came from his grandfather,"

he navigated his wheelchair forward, stopping before the tenth mural, "The duration of the stonemason’s rule is estimated at about from thirteen hundred to nine hundred years ago, and he reigned over this region for four hundred years."

Nine hundred years ago, that was less than a hundred years before the establishment of Dawn City.

He Ao looked at the tenth mural, which depicted a simple scene: dark clouds in the sky pierced by a beam of light, and within that glow stood a tall figure, with the stonemason holding a long stick lying at his feet.

The stonemason’s monsters, marked with dotted lines, also lay scattered around.

The surrounding continuous camps had collapsed almost halfway, and the figures at the bottom were all fleeing.

The Fountain of Youth, situated in the center of the mural, was also covered by collapsing stones.

"In the final days of the stonemason’s rule, his dominion had expanded hundreds of kilometers to the north and south. He was so powerful that he seemed an invincible deity. Then, a person claiming to be a wizard appeared and defeated the stonemason at his strongest."

The elderly chieftain narrated slowly, "After the stonemason’s death, our still-living ancestors fled from their original homeland, migrating northward."

He Ao glanced at the tenth mural, and the ’wizard’s’ dramatic entrance reminded him of a word,

’Angel.’

Moreover, it seemed this ’wizard’ was a good person, or at least, he was someone with rationality.

If the Andavi family’s legend was correct, then with a domain spanning hundreds of kilometers, the stonemason must have been at least a B-tier Angel, if not an A-tier one.

The ’wizard’ who easily defeated him and didn’t care for the Fountain of Youth was very likely an A-tier ’Angel.’

Did this imply that about nine hundred years ago, the people of the Copy World had already found a way to maintain sanity and become Angels?

After the last trip to the Copy World, He Ao knew that a wizard wasn’t a specific individual’s title, but the self-proclaimed description of a group of people seeking truth in the Era of the Great Cataclysm.

Had this ’wizard’ already attained some of the ’Truth’ and joined the ranks of the Angels?

And this place was so close to Dawn City.

The Captain of the Dawn City Defense Army seemed to be an Angel. Could there be a connection between the two?

Unfortunately, all of the history from that time was reduced to piecemeal legends in the Andavi family, and He Ao couldn’t confirm whether it was truly an Angel.

He turned his gaze to the eleventh mural, which was very simple. It depicted the Andavi family leaving their original settlement and arriving in a new region.

Desolate and uninhabited, the area was surrounded by barren wilderness devoid of animals on the ground and birds in the sky, probably not far from the core region once ruled by the stonemason.

However, the artist of the mural hinted at a revival by depicting tiny sprouting shoots among the rocks and stones, suggesting that everything was starting to rejuvenate.

The barren deserts that surrounded them had themselves been an abnormality caused by the stonemason’s rule, and now nature was returning to its true state.

However, the Stonemason seemed to have really gone to extremes, even stripping away the turf.

Why would he turn the surroundings into such a desolate state?

He Ao turned his head and took another look at the Stonemason’s murals.

Then he walked towards the twelfth mural, where everything around was restored to a vibrant state, and at the center of the image was a simplified version of a camp, with a circular building at the heart of the camp, very similar to the one He Ao was currently in.

It seemed that the Andavi family had recovered from the chaos of war.

"Can the original location of the Fountain of Youth still be found now?"

He Ao gazed at the mural and asked softly.

"Here."

The Elderly lifted his hand and pointed to a corner of the mural.

There, in that corner, a majestic city loomed hazily.

Limen City.

······

After all the detours, it has come full circle.

"Is there a more precise location?"

He Ao looked towards the Elderly.

The construction of a fortress city would inevitably face a series of mountains moved and lakes filled.

The original terrain in the murals probably has already vanished.

Finding a Fountain of Youth buried underground under these circumstances is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

"We don’t have an exact location for the Fountain of Youth," the Elderly shook his head, "but we have kept the migration map, which may be of some help to you."

With that, he opened a small box hanging under the armrest on the left side of his wheelchair, took out a mini tablet computer, swiped his fingers across it a few times, then opened a high-definition image to show He Ao.

"This is a scanned image," the Elderly explained, "but even the original images weren’t very clear. These high-definition scans are still useful, although they are a secret within our tribe and can only be seen by tribe members of higher status and the chieftain, so you can’t copy and take them with you."

He Ao:······

They had just been looking at ancient murals, guessing at lost history, and then, with a snap, the Elderly pulled out a tablet computer to show him high-definition scans.

It makes sense, but it’s a bit odd.

It feels like traversing through time.

However, he didn’t dwell on these thoughts, as he looked at the scans and activated his Super Memory, quickly glancing over them.

The resolution of the Elderly’s tablet was not low, and the scanner’s precision was very high; many details, even damages, were clearly visible in the images.

There were a total of four migration maps, each depicting the paths taken by the Andavi family during different time periods. The cartographic method used in these maps was completely different from the current standards of the Federation, likely a unique creation by the Andavi family, or a popular method from a certain era.

However, the meanings of the various symbols on the maps were labeled, so He Ao had no major difficulty reading them, although it required a bit of a mental switch.

He Ao memorized all four maps with a quick perusal the first time through, but to avoid exposing his abilities, he deliberately spent more time on them.

Eventually, he raised his head and softly said to the Elderly, "Thank you."

"It’s we who should be thanking you."

The Elderly set down the tablet computer and revealed a smile.

His expression was much more relaxed now than when He Ao met him for the first time, showing that resolving the issue with the Merck family truly lifted a great threat for him.

He Ao’s gaze swept over the previous twelve murals, memorizing them, and then he turned his head, looking behind him.

There was a new mural that was only partially completed.

The background of the mural was filled with mushrooms as far as the eye could see.

Clearly, these ’mushrooms’ were Phantom Mushrooms.

"Although we now have more advanced ways of storage," the Elderly maneuvered his wheelchair to the front of that mural, "I still hope to record these histories in the ancient way, so that even if one day we lose those histories, we can still leave some traces."

He Ao watched the mural calmly and nodded lightly.

He pondered for a moment, organizing all the information he had just acquired, and then asked in a measured voice, "So what does the phrase ’After drinking from the Fountain of Youth, the immortal may not necessarily be human’ mean?"

"I don’t know the specific meaning," the Elderly shook his head, speaking slowly, "but that saying has been passed down in our family since the era ruled by the Stonemasons."

In the era of the Stonemason’s rule, there were indeed people in the Andavi family who had drunk from the Fountain of Youth.

He Ao stared at the mural that only had some mushrooms painted on it.

He suddenly recalled that the people of the Andavi family seemed to possess a high resistance to spiritual enticement.

This appeared to be a type of evolution in the face of harsh environments.

Such evolution usually requires a long time; when did the Andavi family develop this resistance?

Was it during the Stonemason’s era?

It was very likely, but He Ao vaguely felt that there was something not quite right.

He looked towards the Elderly, "Do you know when the Andavi family’s innate resistance to spiritual influence started?"

"The era before the Stonemasons is untraceable, but what is certain is that, after the Stonemasons, all members of our family have this resistance to some degree."

The Elder replied, "Currently, we suspect that this resistance may be related to the Fountain of Youth."

He Ao’s conjecture was similar.

As the conversation reached this point, he paused for a moment and asked the question he had long pondered, "Which Divine Being are your ’hospitals’ worshipping?"

"You think we are worshipping a Divine Being?"

The Elder was taken aback, seemingly not expecting He Ao to ask such a question, and then his movements stiffened.

He suddenly realized that he thought there was nothing wrong with the hospital because he had grown up in this environment, where in his world, the hospital was supposed to be the center of the stronghold, an obvious matter.

It had always been so.

Although the Andavi family would entertain many guests, most were merely curious about the existence of a hospital in their stronghold, expressing surprise but not pondering whether the hospital was there to worship a Divine Being.

After all, under normal circumstances, nobody would associate a modern hospital with a temple—especially since the Andavi family’s hospital was just like any other hospital, with no occult items.

He Ao’s line of thought took a sharp turn that the Elder did not react to right away.

But he quickly realized why He Ao might think they were worshipping a Divine Being.

The Andavi family’s hospital, located at the very core of the stronghold, had doctors of high status, and only the head of the hospital could become the family leader.

Without considering functionality, these conditions are only present in temples of other Wilderness Wanderer families with religious beliefs.

In the past, people had asked the Elder why their hospital held such a revered status, and his response had always been, "It’s the Andavi family tradition, it has always been this way." "It signifies our care for the lives of our family members; the existence of the hospital has greatly reduced the mortality rate among our people."

However, objectively speaking, maintaining such a hospital building does seem somewhat wasteful for the Andavi family.

But the Andavi family inherited many ’Doctor’ pathways of Talent Sequences, allowing them to acquire high-quality doctors at relatively low cost.

The Elder’s mind was flooded with words to refute He Ao’s statements, summarizing reasons why the hospital was not a temple.

By this time, He Ao, who had been awaiting a reply, had already turned back to the previous murals,

"If this ’hospital’ building is so important, then it must have appeared in one of the murals, as the painters who intended to record history would not have missed such a significant thing."

Among the twelve murals, the first appearance resembling a stronghold’s construction was in the sixth mural.

This mural depicted a very rudimentary stronghold that looked like a temporary stone fortress.

Next was the eighth mural, which portrayed a scene of the Stonemasons inducing life to fight against each other.

In the corner of this mural, a few strongholds faintly appeared.

These strongholds already had some scale, with complete facilities, but in the very center of the stronghold was a square, not a circular hospital.

He Ao shifted his gaze to the ninth mural.

This mural depicted the pinnacle of the Stonemasons’ rule, with numerous strongholds filled throughout it.

Almost every one of these strongholds contained a circular structure similar to the current Andavi family’s hospital.

The size of these ’hospitals’ varied with the size of the stronghold—some were large, with two or three floors, others only a layer, a small hut.

At that moment, the Elder also wheeled over, looking at the mural He Ao was focusing on.

"These ’hospitals’ are a ’legacy’ left by the Stonemasons."

He Ao looked at these strongholds, contemplating, "The Divine Being that the hospital worships, is it actually the god of the Stonemasons? Could it be that, with the end of the Stonemasons’ rule, your family overthrew the original deities they worshipped, retaining only the more practical value of the hospital itself?"

The Elder stared at the strongholds.

He had to admit that what He Ao said made sense, and it was indeed a plausible reality, perhaps even the genuine history.

He swallowed back the words he had just thought to rebuke He Ao.

Watching He Ao’s contemplative expression, he began to consider whether to make these historical murals available to more of the younger members of the clan.

Perhaps these youngsters, with their active minds, could help them uncover points they had never found before, revealing a more authentic history.

Although the person before him, ’Pete,’ was also a middle-aged man, the Elder could feel that the other’s mind was exceptionally active.

However, at this moment, He Ao’s active thinking hit a snag.

He faintly felt that this ’hospital’ might be greatly related to the Fountain of Youth, but he could not ascertain this connection.

Still lacking some critical clues, he rubbed his temples and organized the clues he had acquired today. The next clues would likely need to be sought out in Limen City.

He abandoned the continued study of these murals and instead approached the Fountain of Youth at the very center of the room.

"This Fountain of Youth was brought along when our people migrated,"

the Elder slowly followed He Ao’s steps,

"After bringing it back, we sealed it within this metal space.

"To prevent descendants unable to control their own desires from opening this container, the first leader after the Stonemasons enlisted the help of a passing wizard to design a self-destruct mechanism. Should anyone attempt to open it, it would detonate instantly, destroying the container and the Fountain of Youth within.

"For years, the life force it emitted has saved countless members of our tribe and has allowed the leaders who could enter this room to have longer lives.

"To prevent the leaders from being tempted, we’ve chosen a stringent succession mechanism—only a Transcendent with the best resistance can become the head of the hospital and, in turn, the leader of the family."

"Has no one ever been tempted over all these years?"

He Ao pulled out a test tube from his bosom and asked softly.

"Yes," the aged patriarch gazed at the water of the Fountain of Youth, his look a bit vacant,

"The first patriarch who designed this device succumbed to the temptation of this water when he grew old and was facing death, although he was stopped at the time, it still caused a dreadful number of casualties.

"When a person is on the brink of death, the temptation of eternal life becomes infinitely great."

Eventually, he shook his head gently, "That’s why the patriarchs in our family choose self-exile when they grow old and face death, leaving the family behind."

This subject was somewhat solemn.

An elderly person, no matter how powerful, would find it difficult to fare well alone in the wilderness.

Self-exile sounded nice, but in harsh terms, it was akin to suicide.

After listening, He Ao asked casually, "So do you have any plans to move into the city for your old age?"

"?"

The aged patriarch was taken aback.

"Have you heard about the ’Wilderness Wanderer Immigration Act’?"

He Ao continued to ask.

The aged patriarch shook his head blankly.

It seemed that the sharing of information between Wilderness Wanderers indeed had some issues.

The intelligence of Wilderness Wanderers mainly relied on exchanges with the surrounding cities, and if no one in the city was willing to share this intelligence, it would significantly delay the speed at which Wilderness Wanderers acquired it.

Traveling caravans depended on nearby Wilderness Wanderers for resupplying their goods, and Wilderness Hunters venturing out of the city needed to purchase low-cost furs or gems from the hands of Wilderness Wanderers.

No one wished for Wilderness Wanderers to leave their active regions and migrate into the cities.

Even if moving into the cities would make their lives better.

Of course, some Wilderness Wanderers might inherently have various reasons for not wanting to move into the cities.

The world is often complicated.

"No matter," He Ao glanced at the test tube, "after this is all over, I’ll explain it to you in detail."

The test tube in his hand was one of the ones he had obtained from Shadow, and it contained a milky white semi-transparent liquid.

He Ao placed this test tube next to the container holding the Fountain of Youth, and the liquid inside the tube closely resembled the water of the Fountain of Youth.

At first glance, it appeared as a semi-transparent version of the Fountain of Youth.

"A diluted solution of the Fountain of Youth?"

The aged patriarch had also noticed the test tube in He Ao’s hand, and he was somewhat shocked, "May I have a look?"

"Sure."

He Ao handed him the test tube.

"Clever design, almost no energy leak."

The aged patriarch toyed with the test tube in his hand for a moment, then looked at He Ao, "May I open it to take a look?"

He Ao thought for a moment, then nodded slightly.

The aged patriarch was evidently an expert in this field, his inspection would be much more accurate than He Ao’s guesses.

With He Ao’s affirmative answer, the aged patriarch carefully opened the latex stopper of the test tube, and a sensation of warmth immediately diffused from within.

The patriarch took a whiff and immediately resealed the stopper.

"It is the Fountain of Youth, no mistake, I have been here for over a hundred years, I would not be mistaken, but the Fountain of Youth is not the main substance, it’s mixed with other things, I’m not even sure what he mixed into it, but what he added indeed mitigated some of the pollution from this diluted Fountain of Youth, although it greatly weakened the medicinal effects of the Fountain of Youth."

He looked up at He Ao, reluctantly handed back the test tube, "The person who formulated this medicine is a genius, where did you get this from?"

"From the city."

He Ao took back the test tube.

"Is this why you absolutely needed to learn about the Fountain of Youth?"

The aged patriarch mused.

He Ao did not answer.

In fact, by sharing the information about the Fountain of Youth with him, the aged patriarch was effectively prepaying him for the work to come, since the information about the Fountain of Youth was what He Ao had agreed upon with the patriarch as payment for destroying the Phantom Mushrooms.

"Aren’t you afraid that I’ll break our agreement and just run away?"

He Ao glanced at the murals around him and chuckled.

"Although I am old and not very strong," the voice of the aged patriarch was frail yet unusually confident, "I believe I still have a certain talent for judging character."

He extended his hand, offering a folded piece of paper to He Ao,

"This is the ’Talent Sequence 115: Nightwalker’ secret potion formula."

This was trust.