Chapter 579: A Fleeting Glimpse at the Border

Yu Sheng's consciousness drifted through a formless void. This was the surface layer of his dreams, the "shallow lake" where all the unformed, discontinuous fragments of impressions gathered. Normally, at most, only some vague memory images would appear here, usually related to what he had thought and seen during the day. But now, something strange seemed to be emerging.

Vast streams of iridescent light flowed out from the depths of darkness, wandering above this conscious "shallow lake." They looked like some kind of river, but without beginning or end, cycling endlessly in the darkness.

Yu Sheng observed this flowing expanse of color with surprise, but felt no danger or anything abnormal. He quickly judged that it wasn't an external invasion, and he even sensed a hint of... familiarity from the colors.

He recalled in the darkness, and suddenly remembered where this familiarity came from.

It was the space-time fissures on the Boundary Bridge—when those fissures converged together, the distant starlight and the scenery at the edge of the universe mingled together, and it seemed to look like this.

Boundary Bridge...

The magnificent blueprint structure quietly surfaced in Yu Sheng's consciousness. Sensing something, he moved toward the nearest stream of light.

But before he could touch that "fissure," the light stream trembled and faded away.

A spontaneously arising cognition welled up in Yu Sheng's mind: It hasn't taken shape yet.

He looked around in the darkness, and from among the flowing space-time fissures, he vaguely observed branch-like structures like tree forks. It seemed as if an invisible giant tree was spreading in the chaos, supporting this vast "dimensional river," and all of this was rooted deep in his consciousness.

After immersing himself in this wondrous scene for an unknown time, Yu Sheng suddenly felt a stirring in his heart.

His consciousness plummeted sharply in the darkness, falling toward the soul's wilderness—he whistled through the chaotic gray-black clouds and the faintly glowing sky. An endless high-grass wilderness appeared in his view. He skimmed over a bonfire ritual ground and paths across the wilds, and finally landed in the foyer of that black cathedral.

The cathedral echoed with faint hymns. Pale candle flames danced on neatly arranged candlestands. The door to the main hall opened silently. Yu Sheng quickly walked into the preaching hall and saw a golden-haired girl knight standing at the far end of the hall, seemingly praying quietly in the candlelight.

Cathedral, candlelight, the deep pulpit, the devoutly praying golden-haired girl—this scene was tranquil and peaceful.

Unfortunately, the atmosphere lasted less than a second, because as soon as Yu Sheng walked forward two steps, Luna opened her eyes. A smile quickly bloomed on the girl knight's face, and a rapid-fire string of words came out:

"Good evening, Master~ You're sleepwalking over here today? Are you here to inspect the Phase 3 construction of the cathedral? Let me tell you, recently we're planning to open up an empty plot behind the cathedral to build an independent barracks, maybe even a small town. The game Eileen's been playing recently has given me a lot of ideas. The scene in Act 1, Level 1 of that game is really beautiful. Too bad I still haven't seen what Level 2 looks like..."

Yu Sheng hadn't even opened his mouth before the girl opposite had already rattled off a bunch. But after all this time together, he had more or less adapted to Luna's extreme contrast in "internal and external duality." Only after the girl finished her rambling did he wave his hand and say, "It's nothing to do with that. I want to go to the courtyard and see that 'tree.'"

Luna was taken aback. "The Astral Body Crystal Tree? You came specifically to see it... Alright then, I'll lead the way~"

Then she turned and opened a small door at the side and rear of the preaching hall—there was a passage leading directly to the courtyard at the back of the cathedral.

Yu Sheng walked through the passage with Luna, listening to the girl enthusiastically telling him about the planning blueprints for the cathedral's Phase 3, Phase 4, all the way to Phase 12. He felt that this version of the plans was completely different from the last one. In between, Luna also told Yu Sheng about the knights' recent training schedules and how Yun Qingzi occasionally visited the cathedral. She also mentioned planting vegetables in the valley, helping Hu Li feed the chickens, and Eileen's mass-produced dolls fighting with the chickens in the coop...

Luna's rambling and Eileen's usual chatter were two entirely different levels of noise. The latter's chatter was basically all useless garbage talk, either low-quality rants using 'mom' as a comma. But Luna's rambling was astonishingly rich in information. In just this short stretch of road, she had compressed almost everything that had happened in the valley and the soul wilderness recently into a package and stuffed it into Yu Sheng's brain...

But for Yu Sheng himself, there wasn't much difference between Luna (inner) and Eileen when they talked—his brain trembled just the same.

Fortunately, after they reached the courtyard, Luna finally quieted down.

An astonishing crystal giant tree stood in the courtyard.

It came from that "Astral Body seed" that Yun Qingzi had brought. Back then, Yu Sheng had planted that crystal seed in the empty ground of the cathedral garden, and now the seed had sprouted and grown.

...Its growth was completely beyond his expectations.

Yu Sheng walked forward two steps and instinctively looked up.

The pure white crystal trunk seemed to be formed by thousands of intertwining vines. The crystal-clear main trunk and branches spread into the sky, extending in all directions. The likewise crystal-clear crystalline leaves emitted a faint glow among the branches. The heavy, massive crown had almost covered the entire courtyard, even spreading over the cathedral buildings around the courtyard.

And it was foreseeable that the crown would continue to spread, possibly even becoming larger than the cathedral itself.

Mysterious, majestic, radiating a breathtaking majestic beauty.

"...This thing grew this fast?"

Yu Sheng looked up for a long time before finally speaking.

"Yeah, it's growing very fast—it's actually slowed down recently," Luna said from beside him. "Last time Old Yun came, that branch over there had only just grown to the edge of the garden. Now it's almost touching the bell tower. But this tree seems very spiritual—it actively avoids the cathedral's towers and roofs. I was worried it would poke through the roof before."

As if responding to Luna's "praise," part of the crystal giant tree's leaves shook, producing a crisp, pleasant sound of crystal rubbing, like a melodious wind chime.

Yu Sheng blinked. "...No watering or fertilizing?"

"No," Luna spread her hands. "In the soul wilderness, there's no hunger or cold, and plants don't need watering or fertilizing to grow."

Yu Sheng stroked his chin and didn't speak for a moment. Instead, he looked up, squinting, and began to follow the feeling in his heart, carefully observing among the branches and leaves of the crystal giant tree, as if searching for something.

Soon, he found what he was looking for.

"So it's here after all..."

Among several thicker branches of the crystal giant tree, some irregular "veins" faintly appeared. Those fine markings floated in midair between leaves and branches, connected to the crown body only by a faint light as fine as spider silk. Inside the veins, one could vaguely see gorgeous, hazy streams of light, like distant twisted starlight.

Yu Sheng's judgment was correct.

The illusions he had seen in his conscious "shallow lake" corresponded to the changes in the soul wilderness—and only the "relics" of the Dim Angel could manifest such changes.

The Astral Body seed he had planted in the cathedral garden, and the Boundary Bridge he had "consumed," had all become part of the soul wilderness.

Clearly, this "fusion" had led to this wondrous... result.

Seeing Yu Sheng looking up without speaking for a long time, Luna also squinted and looked up, imitating him, staring intently at the tree crown.

She finally noticed those tiny space-time fissures hidden among the branches.

"Wow—" the girl couldn't help but exclaim softly. "What is that?!"

Yu Sheng: "It's the Boundary Bridge."

"The Boundary Bridge!?" Luna was stunned. "That, that thing is already gone, isn't it? You said it had disintegrated in our world..."

"Correct. Its previous 'version' disintegrated at the information level because it couldn't be compatible with our world, but its blueprint and the last remaining control mechanism were 'consumed' by me. So now it's gradually 'growing' again on the Astral Body Crystal Tree," Yu Sheng said unhurriedly. "It seems... the growth is quite fast."

Luna blinked, with an expression of 'that actually works?' and was speechless for a long time.

Yu Sheng silently stepped forward a few paces and placed his hand on the pure white crystalline trunk.

The tree had indeed not been watered or fertilized, but in a sense, it had been 'watered' with his blood.

Almost instantly, Yu Sheng established a connection with the crystal giant tree, and at the conscious level, he 'saw' another aspect of it at this moment.

It was very similar to the scene he had seen earlier when wandering in his dream, in the conscious 'shallow lake,' but with something added—

Iridescent fissures drifted and flowed in the chaos. Pure white crystal branches, like winding vines, coiled around the fissures. Together, they formed some kind of vast structure beyond human comprehension. Within the illusory floating iridescence, it seemed as if silhouettes of starry skies from the edge of the universe were hidden.

Yu Sheng again attempted to approach the nearest fissure.

This time, the fragile fissure did not immediately dissipate. Instead, it slightly revealed to the watcher the hidden scenery on the other side of the passage—

Amid the turbulent light and shadow, Yu Sheng felt as if he saw a large ship.

A ship?

Yu Sheng was stunned. He again leaned close to the fissure whose destination was unknown, opening his eyes wide to look at the other side.

A massive ghost ship was sailing through the vast starry space. The starlight looked distant and unsteady, as if through an invisible water surface. Illusory pale green flames spread from the sides of the ghost ship, rippling like water, creating a phantom sea among the stars—the ghost ship raised translucent giant sails, sailing toward the edge of the material world. The large patches of illusory flames around it surged, instantly spreading across the entire sea of stars. This scene seemed as if that ship was towing the entire world... sailing through the void.

Yu Sheng: "...?"