Chapter 1436: Heart and Flesh

"Sorry."

As the other two Earth tribe leaders, carrying all the Earth descendants forcibly captured by the mirror crown, struggled out of the nightmare created by Li Ang, the high-statured old man opened his mouth with slight apology:

"They just ran away, I couldn't keep them."

"It's okay."

After listening to the situation described by the high-statured old man, the black-haired woman, who looked exactly like Sif, smiled, and then said gently:

"That is the Mud Sculptor of the Aquarius Branch, a Zodiac Director-level cleaner. Basically, they all have more than one life-saving anomalous object, so it's not that easy to kill them."

"As for the other one who doesn't look like a human, although I haven't seen him in the past, he is clearly also a powerhouse at the Zodiac Director level. It is normal that you couldn't keep them when they were determined to escape."

After comforting the high-statured old man named "Bone," the black-haired woman took the initiative to walk toward Sif, who was sitting on the ground in a daze, reached out and pulled her up from the ground, then gently stroked her forehead, calling out with full love:

"Sif, my daughter, it's time for you to go home."

With the black-haired woman's call full of maternal love and the gentle touch like a breeze brushing across the lake, Sif's figure trembled slightly, and then a touch of clarity broke through the daze and panic, quickly occupying her pupils.

"Flesh... no, Mother... Mother! I'm back!"

"*Hmm*!"

The warm and delicate palm moved slightly downward, stroking Sif's face, which was almost identical to her own, and the black-haired woman smiled lovingly:

"You've worked hard all these years."

"Not hard!"

Shaking her head slightly, Sif looked up at the black-haired woman who was much taller than her, and said with a look of admiration:

"I am the child you bred, and also a part of you. It is only right for me to do these things for all the Earth descendants... *Eh*?"

When she said this, seeming to find something wrong, Sif couldn't help but reach out and touch her cheek.

When Mother was stroking her just now, she had already

A bit damp?

After discovering that the world before her was inexplicably blurry, Sif couldn't help but blink subconsciously, hoping to use the double eyelids that a descendant of the earth should have to squeeze out the foreign object in her eyes and restore clear vision.

But the tough nictitating membrane that should have belonged to a descendant of the earth did not appear in her eyes; instead, there was a large amount of warm, slightly salty, strange liquid.

That strangely flavored warm water was flowing down the corners of her eyes—which were as fragile as a human's and couldn't even withstand the sliding of sand and stone—wetting her cheeks, which lacked scales.

"Sif, you've worked hard..."

Looking at her daughter, who stood blankly in place, wiping her eyes continuously as the tears only increased, the red-haired woman repeated her previous words, then pulled her, who was at a loss, into her arms, saying with great heartache:

"I don't know what your other life was like, but it seems they shouldn't have treated you badly... Sif, I suddenly made you regain your original memories and completely betray everything from your past. This feeling must be very painful, right?"

"No... it's not painful."

Sif lifted her face, which was almost identical to the red-haired woman's, the muscles on her face straining as she forced a smile at her:

"I am your daughter, specially bred by you using 【Flesh】 and 【Heart】, living for all the descendants of the earth..."

"Don't say such things anymore." Reaching out to pat Sif's constantly trembling back, the red-haired woman said with guilt in her eyes:

"You are my daughter first, and then everything else... Sif, Mother can feel the pain in your heart. If you want to cry, then cry. This is not a mistake; it is what we all owe you."

"I... I... woo..."

Hearing the red-haired woman's gentle consolation, Sif's lips couldn't help but tremble slightly. She then buried her head in the red-haired woman's chest and began to sob heart-wrenchingly, her shoulders heaving continuously; one look was enough to see she was exceptionally heartbroken.

However, apart from the red-haired woman showing a hint of heartache and gently patting her back, the expressions of the other earth descendants appeared quite indifferent, even faintly distant.

The thin, tall elder named Bone, although he followed up with a few words of comfort, had no intention of closeness in his aged eyes, and the other short, stocky male earth descendant leader didn't say a word, his eyes even revealing a hint of disgust.

This creation bred from 【Heart】 and 【Flesh】 was clearly of the earth descendant bloodline, yet her whole body was full of "human scent," which smelled unusually annoying.

Furthermore, even though she had been re-endowed with the earth's grace by 【Flesh】, no scales of grace had grown on her face, and her other physical features remained the same as those earth parasites, completely lacking the physique that an earth descendant should have.

Therefore, in the years she was separated by 【Flesh】, she had likely completely identified with her human identity, even faintly surpassing her identification with her own bloodline, and had developed an unconscious resistance to the earth's grace.

The reason she could still stand on the side of the earth right now was probably just because her past memories had gained the upper hand. Once she recovered from the shock of the memory eruption, it would be hard to say if she would still be one of their own.

"That's about enough, right?"

After waiting patiently for a while, seeing that Sif was still crying endlessly, the stocky man couldn't help but urge:

"Flesh! Stop letting her cry for now, hurry up and look at the situation ahead! The Clearing Bureau's reinforcements could arrive at any time, and we don't have much time!"

"Hmm..."

Although she was a bit dissatisfied with the stocky man's attitude, considering that his words were indeed reasonable, the red-haired woman nodded slightly, then stroked the trembling back in her arms and said gently:

"Sif, the first prophecy you made when you were born was for us to seal your memories and place you in the snowy mountains amidst the chaos, and that you would lead us out of the cage again after our war with the Clearing Bureau failed.

And thanks to your sacrifice, we have seized this opportunity. Now it is time for you to make the second prophecy... Sif, my daughter, I need you to use your own heart to probe the pulse of this world and then point out the path forward for the earth for us!"

"Okay, Mother."

Not noticing the indifferent gazes of her clansmen, after hearing the red-haired woman's request, Sif nodded slightly, then raised her hand to wipe the tears from her face, overlapped her palms, and pressed them hard against her heart.

Thump.

Thump-thump!

Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump...

A heartbeat sound as dense as drumbeats suddenly rang out. Taking Sif's own heartbeat as the lead, the heartbeats of all the earth descendants present slowly synchronized, gradually merging into one. Finally, even the heartbeats of the three Earth clan leaders joined in.

And amidst the painful expressions of everyone, the originally silent earth actually began to "beat" along with this sound.

Rock layers as bone, soil as flesh, mineral veins as blood... Under the blessing of the three Zodiac Director-level powerhouses, the existence known as the earth successfully possessed a body and a heartbeat, and it struggled to lift its head, opening its hollow, pitch-black eye sockets to cast a shallow glance toward the direction of the future.

And in this hollow yet profound and strange gaze, a young man with black hair and black eyes was holding a petite blue-haired girl from behind, muttering in a low voice with a face full of shame:

"Good sister, I don't want to work hard anymore."

(End of this chapter)