CHAPTER 1013: CHAPTER 206: AN UNFORGETTABLE JOURNEY

The damp, cold deck echoed with the sound of the tide, and the slumbering crowd slowly awoke.

The heat radiated from Ophelia’s body, only to retract upon seeing her surroundings.

"Why are we here?"

"A dreamscape."

Lu Li once again gazed at the island, where the rocky mountains and holes lay ugly and exposed to his sight.

The dreamscape had ended.

"You have saved me..." The weak God of the Deep Sea earnestly whispered to Lu Li. "Lu Li, I shall forever remember your name."

"Will the consumed power affect you?" Lu Li accepted His solemn acknowledgment.

"Insignificant."

The believers rose one by one, only Puxiu remained lying on the deck, still asleep, breathing softly and slowly.

"What... happened to him?" Ophelia looked at the unresponsive Puxiu, trapped in his dreamscape.

"Its influence still poisons him..."

"How to resolve it?" Lu Li asked.

"Retrieve the remnants and eradicate its pollution."

With Puxiu in tow, the low-humming Andrea lowered a small boat, and Lu Li landed on the rough beach for the third time.

[Plankal Town: Facing the Barren Lands, no longer lonely; backed by rocky mountains, like a small Belfast...]

He saw the wooden sign again for the third time.

From the town, they entered the cave; the once vivid red carpeted corridors in the dreamscape were now dull, and the sculptures and oil paintings had vanished. The underground garden was a mere patch of rough, simple, false clusters of cloth flowers and grass.

Through the door, they returned to the hall, where the God of the Deep Sea almost vented His anger on the table that once fed on Him. Ophelia reflected, recalling Lu Li’s disappearance and the subsequent sight of him.

Lu Li silently noted a heap of ashes in the corner.

Following the resonance of the remnants with the God of the Deep Sea, they arrived at an unfamiliar corridor, ascending the steps towards the mountain’s peak from within the rocky mountain.

They passed a cave, witnessing an empty shell, gigantic like a giant, its limbs longer than those of humans.

"Campbell." The God of the Deep Sea whispered its identity.

Once remembered by the God of the Deep Sea, an existence akin to Daqi, nameless, now reduced to an emptied shell, piled in the crevices of grayish-brown rocks.

Whether it was the act of a man daring to devour a divinity or not, this sight was spine-chilling.

During this time, they encountered nothing strange, as if only the man and his dreamscape existed within the rocky mountain.

At the end of the staircase above appeared a dreamlike misty glow: light pouring through the cracks in the mountain top rock wall, illuminating the ground below.

A rib embedded in the rock wall’s gap exuded obscure, abhorrent, conflicting auras entwined in confrontation.

The power of the Lord of the Deep clung to the rib.

"Remind me to eradicate Puxiu’s pollution after I fuse with the remnants."

"Will there be danger?" Lu Li asked.

He instructed the believers to wait outside the cave.

"Unmastered power is insignificant... Fusion with the remnants will restore more of my memories and power. In the face of that ancient and distant history, everything you and I experienced is like raindrops falling into the ocean, quietly melting away."

This means that the shared experience with Lu Li and others will no longer hold importance—children cherish the toys of their childhood, but the elderly do not.

"Why not... find... something smaller..."

"My power is nearing... the threshold, and any remnant received would alert them to my awakening... Moreover, there is no time... Soon Puxiu will be eternally lost in the dreamscape..."

So...

Encased by seawater, the God of the Deep Sea rose towards the rib in the rock wall, and a whispering voice slowly emerged.

"No matter what, I shall remember you all."

This may signify a farewell.

The God of the Deep Sea before the rock wall touched the rib. The abhorrent and ominous aura vanished, as if from ancient times, a chilling obscure aura quietly spread.

Ophelia found it difficult to resist the crazed urge to worship, and Lu Li continuously retreated, almost back to the stairs.

Yet the God of the Deep Sea had already slowly descended, completing the fusion of the remnants.

The seawater, in a pilgrimage-like manner, upheld His feet, the God of the Deep Sea unintentionally radiating His vast, vision-filling divine aura.

His cloak seemed to have become more exquisite, hiding the head beneath the hood disappeared, yet the face remained indistinct.

A god is non-visible.

"I shall, as promised, grant you redemption."

The grand chant echoed within the cave, and dark as ink liquid streamed from Puxiu’s body, extinguishing into starlight.

Eradicating Puxiu’s pollution, the God of the Deep Sea ceased to linger, the seawater brimming with endless power buoyed Him through the crevice, departing from here.

Silence returned to this dimly lit place.

"Just like... a dream..."

Ophelia whispered, instinctively recalling her experience with the God of the Deep Sea and the final image of the unfamiliar God of the Deep Sea departing.

"Mmm..."

At this time, Puxiu groaned as he woke, finding himself lifted by Ophelia, with Lu Li beside him, rubbing his eyes and yawning, saying, "Why did you all disappear? I’ve been looking for you for so long... Why are you looking at me like that? Did I miss something?"

"Where is His Excellency the God of the Deep Sea?"

"He has left."

Puxiu then looked to Ophelia, knowing she’d give a more detailed explanation.

Ophelia placed Puxiu back on the ground: "He awakened you... Himself... and went to find... His fragments."

"Uh... Did He find me too troublesome..." Puxiu whimpered, lowering his tail.

"No... His... power... stronger... detected by them, inappropriate... to remain... with us..." Ophelia comforted.

"Miss Ophelia means He left to protect us?"

"Yes."

"Then can we help His Excellency the God of the Deep Sea?" Puxiu believed and continued to ask her.

"We... are too weak..."

The harsh reality loomed before them.

Suddenly, the trembling earth interrupted their sorrow. The mountain beneath trembled, cracks in the rock wall widened, revealing a terrifying fissure stretching across the rocky mountain. The dense sound of falling rocks replaced the silence.

With the suppressing power of the remnants gone, the island trembled, undergoing transformation.

"It’s time to leave."

The group inside the mountain retreated back to the staircase, hastening outward.

Near the hallway, Lu Li abruptly turned towards the corridor they lingered in during the dreamscape.

"Wait for me here."

Lu Li leaped over a meter-wide crack forming in the corridor, pushing open the wooden door to the guest room on the other side.

The dim room was empty, like the rest of the interior of the mountain.

"... Come quickly!"

Ophelia’s hoarse shout came from the other side of the crack, which was widening rapidly, countless stones crumbling around the crevice.

Lu Li gazed deeply into the darkness of the corridor, then withdrew his gaze, shielding his head as he leapt over the crack and swiftly departed the splitting rocky mountain with the group.

Jojo was not here.

She, along with the devout believers of the God of the Deep Sea, Ophelia’s painted and sculpted images, Puxiu’s library, were all merely Lu Li’s subconscious imaginations.

Because this was the Lennon Islands, because Jojo and Aunt Mary had taken refuge here.