Chapter 646: The Ancestor's Gift (35)

The depths of the wide passageway were dark and unfathomable; the doors sealed by the Ancestor stood in the silence. Looking out, there was no sign of anyone, nor could any human voice be heard, only a continuous rustling that made one's heart creep.

"Sounds like insects," Clownfish said after listening for a moment. "How do you know it's the plants making that sound?"

Du Zhengyi could certainly be sure of such an obvious sound, and he was impatient to prove such a trivial matter. He walked slowly forward, constantly summoning the Magic of the Seal Land to maintain vigilance and detection in order to conserve his strength. The silent Seal Land showed no signs of danger.

Clownfish had already moved ahead of him, walking into a zone where the lighting had not yet been activated. He was sending a floating Fireball above his head, drifting along to inspect the walls, the firelight casting his shadow onto the wall. "Fine, it really is plants, vines. Do you know why these vines are climbing so fast?"

Du Zhengyi withdrew several ancient spells, staring silently at the shadow cast on the wall.

"Do you know why the Progenitor Mage liked fast-growing plants?" Receiving no answer, Clownfish asked again, turning his head back to look at Du Zhengyi.

Du Zhengyi walked over slowly and activated a wider range of lighting; the vines were spreading out from the depths of the passageway. Although the smooth metal walls were harder to climb than the facades of ordinary buildings, these plants were driven by instinct to climb and grow with all their might, the dark green branches deep with flexible, powerful tendrils that adhered to the metal walls.

However, as if someone had issued a command to pause, the vines, despite having already sprouted thousands of threads, suddenly halted their charge. Countless tender buds, like little snakes with their heads raised, suddenly hesitated and no longer moved forward eagerly. Du Zhengyi looked up thoughtfully at the dazzling Magic lighting on the ceiling; it seemed the light here was not merely for illumination. The Progenitor Mage had meticulously designed everything, and he did not doubt that if he performed a Magic Calculation, the beam of light above his head could even help him supplement his calcium.

The plants climbing on the walls began to grow lush, no longer eager to advance in search of light. Branches began to grow from the main stems, spreading horizontally, starting to seize every inch of space on the ground and ceiling. Du Zhengyi began to worry that these plants might soon grow into dense thickets, hindering their movement. With light, these plants were clearly growing healthier, and Du Zhengyi even caught a glimpse of what looked like flower buds growing on some of the branching vines. However, based on his experience, the Progenitor Mages were never naive or romantic beings; they would not leave these things behind just to create a rose tunnel, and a shadow fell over Du Zhengyi's heart once more.

Clownfish stopped at a corner; he did not know what had attracted his attention, and this was likewise not a good thing.

Du Zhengyi quickened his pace toward Clownfish. Looking over Clownfish's shoulder, he saw Clownfish's hand covering a section of the wall, his whole body motionless. But seeing his shoulders relaxed, it did not look like he had been hit by a Curse, or that his hand was stuck to the wall.

Not until Du Zhengyi reached his side did Clownfish snap out of it as if waking from a dream. Noticing Du Zhengyi's gaze, he let go, revealing a pale purple flower.

"Dragonfly," Clownfish said slowly.

Du Zhengyi did not want to tell him that a dragonfly was an insect and a flower was a plant; that would make them both seem not quite right in the head.

"It's a type of rose, the color is just like the Dragonfly of Istanbul," Clownfish answered softly the question he had not asked. Happiness evaporated and dissipated from his soul, and he looked dejectedly at the flower that seemed to be formed of pale smoke. "It was my wife's favorite flower. I once took her to Istanbul to find the kind of dragonfly the person who cultivated the roses spoke of. But that was a long time ago."

"When you went to Gushan, did you think you would be able to see her again?" Du Zhengyi asked suddenly.

"I am sorry," Clownfish let go of the flower and stood up straighter on his lame leg; this apology seemed much more formal. "I did not expect you to appear there."

"Did you know me at that time?" Du Zhengyi asked after a moment of hesitation.

"I wanted to see her," Clownfish answered his previous question. "I also hoped she could live well."

Du Zhengyi thought for a moment before saying, "Death is an unchangeable existence; no offense intended, this is just my own conclusion."

"Then, Du Mage, do you exist or do you not exist?" Clownfish sneered. "Shouldn't you already be a dead man yourself?"

Du Zhengyi pondered calmly for a while. "I should be dead."

Clownfish's blurred vision stared fixedly at him. "You accept it so readily?"

"Fate is hard to change, or rather, it cannot be changed in any true sense; disordered trajectories will always try to restore themselves, which may be the principle of the universe's operation. I was indeed supposed to be dead; ever since... I survived, I have been closely followed by death. If you hadn't appeared at that time, wouldn't I have already died at the hands of the previous round of intruders?" Du Zhengyi said.

Clownfish stared at him for a while. "Whether you live or die depends on whether a Daluo Mage can be brought to save you in time. If he were delayed, then you would not exist now; he is the only Medical Mage in the world who can save you. As for the killer, if it weren't me, other Mind Mages would have attacked your brain for the Magic information; perhaps it would require several Mind Mages working together using an Intent Magic Array, but... the result would be the same. Tracing it back further, if I am not mistaken, the time you were truly supposed to die was even earlier; it was humans who saved you, human Magic saved you. You owe humans a lot, and Pei Shu owes humans even more."

Du Zhengyi was silent for a while, countless thoughts surging through his mind, and he suppressed them one by one. "Since you understand all this, what can be done to make your wife live better? The result you want to change will eventually approach infinitely in other ways."

Clownfish seemed to smile; he said nothing, but Du Zhengyi vaguely felt he had missed something. Perhaps the truth had been laid out before his eyes all along, but he had failed to see through the mist.

Mist.

Du Zhengyi's gaze turned to the countless pale purple flowers in bloom around them. "Is it my imagination? These flowers look just like smoke."

Clownfish looked up with interest. "Flower not a flower, mist not a mist..." He stopped abruptly, for they both saw a flower fully unfold its petals, and then, right before their eyes, it sprayed out a cloud of smoke.

Du Zhengyi's heart sank. "If all these flowers spray out smoke..." He turned his head to look at the hundreds of flowers about to bloom in an instant, "... the visibility here will soon drop severely."