Chapter 623 - 469: Newborn Will-o’-the-wisp
Chapter 623: Chapter 469: Newborn Will-o’-the-wisp
In the Land of Silent Death, the deepest darkness resides. It is the buffer zone separating the Ancient Star Nation from the Outer Battlefield. However, aside from the Ancient Star Nation and the Outer Battlefield being the only regions with life, all other territories are devoid of light and life.
Rather than simply being a dividing line between two locations, it would be more accurate to say that all dark frontiers—aside from the Ancient Star Nation and the Outer Battlefield themselves—belonged to the Land of Silent Death.
One could never know where the boundaries of the universe lay, much like the darkness within the Land of Silent Death: limitless and unending.
In this boundless place, saturated with Death Energy, a brilliantly golden firebird had been appearing frequently over the past year.
It seemed to be searching aimlessly for something within the Land of Silent Death, but its search had been fruitless.
’That damn Archie... to think he’d steal Master’s body and hide it in a place like the Land of Silent Death!’
’There’s a faint, fleeting trace of Master’s presence here, but where is it? Huh? Now it’s gone...’ Finally, the creature threw its head back with a mournful cry. With a powerful flap of its wings, it vanished from the land saturated with Death Energy.
Suddenly, from a stretch of festering, pitch-black swamp, a few wisps of ghost fire emerged.
There were seven wisps in total. Three of them were red, no bigger than a fingernail, and were the most low-level, possessing the least energy. Two were orange, containing slightly more energy; these were second-tier and about the size of two fingernails put together.
The last two were yellow. They were the largest, each the size of a fist. These two yellow wisps were like local tyrants; the moment they appeared, the other five ghost fires scurried back into hiding as if terrified.
Meanwhile, the two yellow wisps shot toward the spot the Golden Crow had just vacated. The residual Fire Element Energy there was an irresistible lure.
A ghost fire’s instinct is to absorb any energy that can make it stronger. The path of the Golden Crow was suffused with a pure, rich Fire Element Energy. Just a small taste would be enough for them to grow significantly.
However, this residual Fire Element Energy, while not the Golden Crow’s personal flame, still carried the essence of the True Sun Fire. For an ordinary ghost fire to absorb it, it would first have to withstand the searing heat of the True Sun Fire.
The instant the two fist-sized yellow wisps charged into the Fire Element Energy, they dissolved on contact. Each yellow wisp shattered into dozens of smaller flames, none of which was even a tenth of the original’s size.
Just then, the other five wisps—the three red and two orange ones that had been too frightened of the yellow flames to emerge—suddenly crept out from the crevices of the swamp.
It was the law of the jungle: big fish eat small fish. In terms of quality and rank, they were no match for the yellow wisps. When the yellow wisps were at full strength, the smaller flames were destined only to be absorbed as sustenance.
But things were different now. The yellow wisps hadn’t lost their rank, but their individual sizes had been drastically reduced. As if reaching a consensus for the first time, the five smaller wisps suddenly swarmed toward the tiniest of the shattered yellow flames.
Even at less than a tenth of its original size, a single yellow flame was still larger than any individual red or orange wisp. But if all five of them worked together to besiege one, the outcome would be entirely different.
If they could just manage to absorb one of the scattered yellow flames, they themselves could evolve.
The red would turn to orange, and the orange would transform into yellow.
They possessed no consciousness, no intelligence—only a strange, primal instinct to survive. This was the law of the Land of Silent Death: natural selection, survival of the fittest.
At last, under the combined assault of the five wisps, the smallest yellow flame was overwhelmed. The five wisps consumed and assimilated it in unison.
After devouring and absorbing their share of the yellow flame’s energy, the three red wisps’ color gradually faded, their forms slowly turning orange.
As for the original orange wisps, their rank did not change after absorbing the yellow flame’s energy; they remained orange. Transforming from orange to yellow required far more energy.
This amount was far from sufficient.
However, it wasn’t long before the scattered yellow flames began to coalesce once more, reforming into two yellow wisps. One of them, however, was now a tenth smaller than it had been.
Startled and having missed their window of opportunity, the five smaller wisps scurried back into hiding. They had been lucky to absorb even a fraction of the energy; any more greed, and they would have been the ones to be absorbed.
The vast swamp was filled with a dark, stagnant miasma, utterly devoid of life. Within the mire lay the withered, rotting roots of bizarre plants and the skeletal remains of countless unknown beasts.
Suddenly, at the very edge of the swamp, a new wisp of ghost fire slowly sparked into existence, glowing from within the skull of some unknown beast.