Chapter 730: That Person Told a Story

Translator:Nyoi-Bo Studio

Editor:Nyoi-Bo Studio

The gray land, blue ocean, and boundless dome of heaven were burning. Everything in the world
enveloped by the high-temperature flames seemed to be desperately squeezing out every last
sliver of flammable material, adding to the flourishing blaze.

The volcano erupted. Boiling hot and bright red lava sank into the waters of the ocean, sending
up endless fog and steam. It lifted giant waves that each grew taller than the last as they slapped
endlessly against the land that had long been fused into strange shapes. The world was filled with
a light and heat that made one's heart tremble with fear. There was the scent of destruction.

The animals on the land ran away wildly. Their fur and skin were all rotten. With wounds deep
enough to see bone, it was as if the rays of light, ripples, and sparks were soul-devouring flames
from the underworld never to be shaken off. Regardless of how far they escaped the burning
forest or how deep they burrowed into the grass, they still couldn't hide from the destruction that
could wipe out all life.

The animals in the ocean swam restlessly, desperately hiding from the heat and poisonous gases
surging out from deep abysses at the bottom of the ocean. Mammals used to swimming freely in
icy cold water poked their heads out of the water with unusual hopelessness. What they breathed
into their lungs was searing hot air and dust carrying fatal poisons.

The birds in the sky still flew courageously. They gave the dazzling light in the sky a wide berth
and flew desperately toward the two ends of the earth. Their natural-born sensitivities allowed
them to know only by escaping to a place with few people could they find the final utopia. This
was a mass migration completely at odds with the season. Amidst this migration, most of the
birds would still die during the journey and fall to the withered earth. Those that could truly hide
from the blazing rays and black dust were a minority.

The rays of light in the world gradually dimmed. The air filled with dust and birds, blocking out
the sun behind them with unusual heartlessness. An entire green grassland had long changed
color. The animals lucky enough to survive the calamity gathered by the side of a small puddle
of water, hopelessly fighting for the one clean source of water. Thirty-odd crocodiles lay in the
deep parts of the puddle. Countless animals gathered around the edges to excavate small ditches
of water. There were some daring and powerful carnivores that bravely fought for the crocodiles'
territory.

There were no more flying creatures to be seen in the sky. The fish at the bottom of the ocean
had long been frightened into the coral reefs deep in the ocean, not daring to emerge again.
Sharks that swam around opened their eyes wide in bewilderment, unsure what had happened to
the world and their home. On the surface of the sea, a dozen giant sperm whales floated tiredly,
occasionally moving their tails weakly. Further away, by the side of a small island, sea lions
hopelessly and angrily roared toward the sky and used cruel measures such as biting each other
to release the fear in the depths of their hearts.

The animals gathered around the puddle of water gradually died. Some died killing each other.
Some died because they breathed in the black dust in the air. Some died because of hunger while
others died of thirst. Most of the animals actually died because they drank the water in the
puddle.

The air was dry. There were only countless tragic white bones left around the edges of the water
puddle, both big and small. Some seemed curled up while others seemed like they had been lying
down in fear. Their fur and skin, blood and flesh, had long returned to the earth. They only left
behind these bones all around to accompany the most powerful reptiles that had experienced
thousands of years without going extinct.

After a bit more time, the water puddle dried up. A crocodile, weighing hundreds of pounds, laid
on the mud as if accepting its fate, allowing the no longer blazing sun to shine down on the red
mud on its back. Gradually, it died, withered, rotted, and turned into white bones that shocked
one's gaze.

In reality, these powerful reptiles had actually been dried by the wind.

The sky was still deathly still, other than the thick, rolling clouds that pressed down toward the
ground. There was no sign of any life, but the scene on the surface of the ocean was even crueler.
Where the warm ocean current used to cross with the cold current from the north, countless
large-scale aquatic mammals either drifted along in the ocean by the shores of the island or sank
into the silent ocean. The whales and sea lions had long become rotting flesh that stained the
entire patch of ocean, turning the entire bay into a killing field. The air was filled with a foul
stench.

Animals that fed on rotting meat managed to extend their lives because of these massive
existences. They acutely sensed that the closer the land was to the shore, the stronger the aura of
death. Thus, they fed very carefully.

Finally, there was a day when rain fell on the dry, dark, and hell-like world. Rainwater struck the
few remaining leaves by the edge of the grasslands and startled the little insects hiding in their
holes into wakefulness. Round beads of water rolled and fell onto the mud. A beetle happily
watched its face. Rainwater gradually pooled together and followed ancient waterways toward
the depths of the grasslands. All along the way, it awoke countless lives that slept to hide from
destruction.

A tiny trickle entered the puddle of water surrounded by white bones. Surprisingly, a lizard
hiding deep in the crack of the rocks by the riverside was still alive. It extended its bloody red
tongue, stepped clumsily across the shallow water, and began to lick at the giant white eye socket
of a crocodile. Now and then, it stretched out its right front leg, violently announcing to its
surroundings its right of ownership of this puddle of water. In any case, the more than 1,000
white skeletons around the water puddle had all sunk into silence. It was impossible for them to
express any opposing objections to its announcement. If the lions and baboons were alive, the
world would have been a different place.

No matter which world it was, rainwater always represented life. This time seemed to be no
exception. The black dust that filled the air was washed away by the rainwater. The dust that
could not even be dissipated by the wind finally yielded under the might of the water god. Fresh
and clean scents once again appeared in the air. Life everywhere was born because of water and
gathered because of water. They began happy lives after the calamity and began anew their
mutual hunting. Even the bloody hunting carried a joyful scent of life.

However, these creatures did not know how terrifying the black dust caught within the rainwater
that fell from the sky was. They did not know that the rainwater could wash away dust but could
never wash away the traces that filled the earth. Its form could not be seen yet it was sufficient
enough to kill off most life.

When it rained, the sea calmed a great deal. The waves slowly pushed the bodies of the dead
animals to the rocks by the shore. The smell of decay lessened greatly as it was washed away by
the rainwater.

However, the rain grew heavier and heavier. It was as if it would never stop. The animals that
drank the rainwater began to feel life slowly leave their bodies. They didn't understand why this
was happening. That kind of innate terror made them particularly hopeless. In the downpour,
they used the last of their strength and began to cruelly and fiercely carry out the meaningless
killing, not even showing mercy to their own kind.

After countless floods of various sizes, life on land suffered another heavy blow. Other than
leaving behind countless bodies submerged in filthy water, there were no other signs of life to be
seen. The rotting bodies piled by the side of the ocean were churned into patches of disgusting
foam by countless rainfalls, completely different from that fairy tale.

However, heavens punishment of this world seemed to not have ended yet. After the rain, there
came a sudden frost. From north to south, the air everywhere suddenly dropped by a dozen
degrees. A world that could not see the sun seemed to have also confused its seasons. An arctic
winter suddenly appeared in front of lives that were in grave danger.

After the frost was snow—endless snow. At first, the snowflakes still held traces of black dust.
In the end, they recovered their pure white color, appearing incomparably pure. Snow covered
the sky, ground, and sea. The entire world was enveloped in wind and snow. A severe coldness
descended. The layer of ice extended into the sea.

The white land was very clean. The snow fell seemingly without end. No further traces of life
could be seen in the snow. This scene calmly and coldly continued, one year, two years, 10
years, 100 years…

…
…

Fan Xian was like a person waking from a dream. It took a long time for him to tear his gaze
from the mirror. His eyes were bloodshot, and his lips were slightly white. Although everything
shown to him was the same as the results of his analysis and deduction after he entered the
Temple, it still made his heart ache. He knew that this was not some mystical realm. Unlike the
other people in this world, he could not pretend this was a fairy tale and then record it in a wall
painting and in legends. He knew that everything had truly happened. The lives that had died
during the calamity had truly once existed.

His bloodshot eyes indicated exhaustion and a weariness of the heart. Fan Xian lowered his head
and rubbed his eyes. He then raised his head again and observed the seemingly never changing
snowy scene in the mirror. He knew that change had to happen. Otherwise, how could
civilization have continued? What made his heart tremble the most was that having watched until
now, he still didn't see what terrifying tortures the people in that world, once his peers, had
suffered.

The majestic, marvelous, exquisite, plain, ancient, and simple building was an existence
completely different from the nests of grass and caves of rock in this world. It also had suffered
the heaviest blow in that calamity. The people of that world grasped some of the secrets of
creation. In the end, they threw these massive killing weapons to him. What an absolutely absurd
truth.

High temperatures melted water, mud, iron, and tendon. Surges and ripples shattered all that
remained. Shapeless and nameless rays killed all the people. After the drought came the flood.
After the frost came the wind and snow. After countless years under the cover of the white snow,
the once present brilliance had been submerged. No one would ever again know that there had
once been a race that had shone brilliantly in the world before.