Chapter 526 - 367: Heart of the World (2)

He stored the metal bars in the Dimension Space he had created. A normal Dimensional Ring wouldn’t have been able to bear such immense weight.

After doing so, he turned and looked at the ravaged tunnel behind him.

The nest’s structure had been completely charred, and the Earth-Devouring Demon Lizard’s remains had been reduced to ash by the Purification Light.

But the entire main vein tunnel was still filled with a dense aura of contamination.

’Might as well clean it up while I’m at it.’ Ian formed a complex hand seal in front of him.

Faint golden Purification Starlight surged from his body, transforming into a shower of light that rained down on every corner of the tunnel.

Wherever the rain of light passed, the dark purple mist of contamination melted away like ice and snow, and the putrid stench in the air was replaced by a fresh scent.

The process lasted for about a minute, after which the entire main vein tunnel looked brand new.

The rock walls had returned to their original grayish-white color; one could even see the uniform marks left from when they were first chiseled.

From deep within the tunnel, the faint gurgling of an underground river could be heard. It was a water source, blocked by contamination for hundreds of years, that had begun to flow once more.

Ian lowered his hands, about to leave.

Suddenly, he froze, a slight frown creasing his brow.

He had caught an extremely subtle, almost imperceptible change.

’The contamination in this world... it seems to have faded just a tiny bit.’

It was like an oil painting defaced with thick, dark colors, and someone had used the finest of brushes to gently wipe away a tiny smudge.

Though it was minuscule, Ian’s sensitivity to the Abyssal Aura was etched deep into his very soul.

He closed his eyes, focusing all of his Spiritual Perception.

His consciousness spread out in all directions like a tide, touching the Earth Veins, the rock strata, and the most fundamental network of this world’s Rules.

He could confirm that after killing the two Level Four Mutant Beasts, the omnipresent Abyssal contamination in this world had indeed lessened by a sliver.

Although the change was slight, his actions had clearly helped to curb the escalating pollution.

’Interesting...’

Ian muttered to himself, a thoughtful glint flashing in his eyes.

He closed his eyes again, focused his mind, and his consciousness suddenly shot upward.

Through the rock strata, through the earth’s crust, through the boundary between matter and Rule.

His vision suddenly darkened, then brightened again.

He arrived in a space that could not be accurately described with words. Here, there was no up or down, no left or right, and no flow of Time.

’Is this... the Heart of the World?’

A gray haze filled his vision, and within every wisp of mist, broken images were reflected.

Once-verdant mountain ranges turned to scorched earth, rivers flowed with pus and blood, magnificent cities crumbled, and stars fell from the sky.

Countless living beings twisted in agony, mutated, and turned into rotting flesh and white bones...

These were the "memory echoes" of this world’s thousand-year Erosion by the Abyss.

Ian’s consciousness delved deeper. In the depths of the haze, the colors began to change.

The dark purple contamination was like living vines, densely entwining everything.

They writhed and grew, greedily siphoning this world’s Life Force.

The surface of every vine was covered in tiny eyeballs. Countless pupils swiveled in unison, reflecting madness and hunger.

’The Abyss’s Erosion... has already reached the World Origin.’

Ian’s consciousness swept over the vines. The places where they were rooted were the very "nodes" of this world’s Rules.

Like poisonous vines parasitizing the roots of a great tree, they were slowly draining the host of its vitality.

And in the deepest part of this heavily contaminated expanse...

A faint speck of golden light was still flickering stubbornly.

The golden light was tiny, only the size of a grain of rice, yet it emanated the most essential aura of this world.

The weight of mountains, the surge of rivers, the trajectories of stars, the rhythm of life...

All the cornerstones that constituted this world were concentrated within that speck of golden light.

This was the core of the Estelle World’s Will, but at this moment, it was tightly bound by the dark purple vines.

Every pulse was like a struggle, every flicker a cry for help.

As Ian’s consciousness neared the golden light, he clearly heard its silent wail.

It was an emotion that could not be expressed by any sound; it was the lament of an entire world, an entire civilization.

A thousand years. The World Will had suffered Erosion for a thousand years!

From its initial glorious Empire to its current state of barely clinging to life amidst the ruins.

The World Will had watched helplessly as its children died, batch after batch, as its civilization crumbled bit by bit.

It had once mobilized the power of mountains and rivers to fight back, only to provoke an even more ferocious backlash of contamination.

It had guided the survivors to build shelters, but it could not stop the spread of the contamination.

It had tried to fight against the Will of the Abyss, only to be forcibly suppressed, torn apart, and contaminated...

Now, only the last remnant of its origin core was left, struggling to hold on.

Like a candle flame about to be extinguished, flickering in a gale.

The moment Ian’s consciousness touched the periphery of the golden light.

BUZZ!

The golden light trembled violently, conveying an unbelievable excitement!

It "saw" the pure aura of Order within Ian’s consciousness and felt the Purification Rule that made all Abyssal contamination tremble.

It also perceived that sliver of the pollution’s source that Ian had forcibly erased when he killed the Earth-Devouring Demon Lizard just now.

A thousand years... a full thousand years!

For the first time, someone had truly weakened the Abyss’s Erosion of this world!

For the first time, the contamination had lessened, even if only by the smallest fraction!

The golden light began to flash violently, like a drowning person finally seeing a hand reaching out from the shore.

It desperately transmitted a stream of information.

The stream of information was incredibly weak, yet it was filled with a thousand years of pain, exhaustion, and despair...

...and a final sliver of hope that refused to be extinguished.

"Visitor from the Otherworld... help me..."

"Dispel... the contamination..."

"Save... my... world..."

The stream of information was intermittent. With every word it transmitted, the golden light dimmed a little more.

It was already so weak that expressing itself completely had become difficult.

Ian silently watched the speck of golden light, tightly bound by the vines and in danger of being extinguished at any moment.

He could feel the images the World Will was transmitting.

The once-glorious Star Shining Empire, with Floating Cities suspended in the sky like stars. Its people had mastered the secrets of Star Realm Refined Gold, building a magnificent civilization.

Then, the Abyss suddenly descended. The sky was torn asunder, the Earth was corrupted, and living beings were twisted...

The World Will mobilized all its Power to resist but was beaten back at every turn.

In the end, it could only retreat into its origin core, forced to watch as its own world died bit by bit.

It was like a giant being executed by a thousand cuts, with every slice striking deep into its Soul.

"You’re about to die. I can’t help you!"

Ian began to speak slowly, his thoughts echoing in the gray, hazy space.

He was speaking the truth. The World Will was too heavily injured; what he was seeing was merely a final resurgence before its death, even if its duration was far different from that of an ordinary person.

The golden light flashed violently again.

This time, the information it transmitted was clearer, carrying the decisiveness of an all-or-nothing gamble.

"Kill those... Level Four Pollution Sources... They are... the Abyss’s Anchor Points."

"If... all the Anchor Points are cleared..."

"I can... briefly gather my Power..."

At this point, the stream of information came to an abrupt halt.

The flickering frequency of the golden light decreased significantly, as if it had exhausted its last bit of Power.

But Ian had received the meaning it conveyed.

Those Level Four Mutant Beasts weren’t just powerful monsters; they were "Anchor Points" that the Will of the Abyss had driven into this world.

They were rooted in the world’s Rules, continuously channeling contamination and suppressing the World Will’s resistance.

Killing one was like pulling out a nail, allowing the World Will to reclaim a portion of its authority over the Rules that had been seized by the contamination.

When all the Anchor Points were cleared, this world might truly have a sliver of hope for recovery.

Ian took one last look at the speck of golden light entwined by the vines, then slowly withdrew from this space.

His consciousness returned to his body. He opened his eyes, a complex look flashing in their depths.

’So that’s how it is. The survivors of this world haven’t made it this far by sheer luck. The World Will is still protecting them.

Even though it was the humans of this world who wounded It the most deeply, leaving It trapped in the depths of its origin, tightly bound by the Abyss’s vines, to struggle for a thousand years.

’It seems that while I’m collecting Star Realm Refined Gold and knowledge, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to help this world pull out a few nails.

If a complete World Will could recover, perhaps it could offer a decent "reward".’

Ian began to weigh the pros and cons in his mind.

’First of all, simply helping doesn’t align with my interests. What I want most isn’t the World Origin, but the knowledge here.

Secondly, whether Estelle’s World Will would pay a reward after awakening is another issue to consider.

Also, I still haven’t figured out where this world’s contamination originally came from.

None of the materials I’ve come across these past few days have any record of it. I need to pay close attention to this.

As for my other commission, the will of the Profound Yellow World wants to advance to Level Six, which requires it to devour the World Origins of other worlds.

The commissions from the two World Wills are in direct conflict.

What should I do to reap the greatest benefit...?’