Chapter 1120 - 508: Star Map_2

On his left stood a burly middle-aged man with a resolute face, carrying a stone giant axe on his back. His muscles were knotted all over, full of explosive power, yet between his brows was an inescapable anxiety and ferocity, like a peerless fierce tiger trapped in a cage.

On the right, there was a woman dressed in white, her beauty unparalleled in the world. Her demeanor was ethereal yet compassionate, and in her eyes, a glimmer of wisdom seemed to flow. She looked at Dao Ruins, her eyes full of curiosity, and a faint... almost imperceptible hope.

"I am the ’Lamp Keeper.’" The old man in hemp clothes spoke first, his voice hoarse, as if he hadn’t conversed with anyone for countless years, "This is ’Cang Ya’, and this is ’Ling Shu’. We are the Guardians of the ’Real Coordinates’."

He paused for a moment, scrutinizing Dao Ruins carefully, with a hint of confusion in his eyes: "There is the aura of ’Fire’ on you, but... it’s entirely different. Who are you, really?"

Dao Ruins’ gaze swept over the three people.

He could "see" that the Great Path of these three had been cultivated to an unimaginable state. Each of them was not lesser than the Thunder Lord or Wen Xi and even this ’Lamp Keeper’, whose realm had subtly touched the threshold of another higher level.

But their "Dao" was "locked" by this tower or rather this area.

Their power could operate perfectly within the tower, but once they left the range of the tower, it would be immediately eroded by the distorted space outside, their Dao Fruit collapsing.

They were Guardians and also... prisoners.

"My name is Dao Ruins."

Dao Ruins finally spoke, his voice calm and devoid of any emotional coloring, yet it seemed to contain some supreme "principle", causing the Great Path of this small world to resonate lightly with it.

"Dao Ruins..." the Lamp Keeper murmured, as Cang Ya and Ling Shu beside him appeared equally puzzled.

This name, they had never heard of before.

In the long history of war between the Fire and the Gui Xu, there was never such a presence.

"How did you get here?" Cang Ya, the most impatient, couldn’t help but ask, his voice like a giant axe cleaving through stone, full of power, "The ’Twisted Corridor’ outside, and that damn ’Causal Precipice’, even we didn’t dare tread lightly in our prime! How did you..."

His words were interrupted by the Lamp Keeper raising his hand.

The Lamp Keeper looked deeply at Dao Ruins, his otherwise still eyes surging for the first time.

Because he "saw".

He saw that when Dao Ruins walked over, there was an "absolute normalcy" within three feet around him.

He saw that all distortion could not invade; all absurdity could not disturb.

It was not the use of Mana to resist, nor was it using Divine Techniques to break through.

It was a... higher-level "posture".

Just like how mortals cannot "pollute" a silent stone with words.

Because they are simply not on the same "plane" of existence.

"I see... I see..." the Lamp Keeper suddenly became excited, his aged body trembling slightly from the excitement, "It’s not ’Fire’... but better than ’Fire’! You’ve found another path! A path not even the ’Lord of Fire’ traversed!"

"Old man, what nonsense are you saying!" Cang Ya frowned, "The path of Fire is the only rightful path to safeguard ’existence’, where comes the other path?"

"You brute, what do you understand!" Ling Shu, rarely, opened her mouth to scold, her wise eyes now shining with unprecedented brilliance, staring fixedly at Dao Ruins, "Fire is within the ’rules’, fighting against ’erosion’. And this Dao Ruins... he himself is ’the rule’!"

At these words, Cang Ya was stunned.

He could not fully understand but felt an undefined greatness.

The Lamp Keeper let out a long, deep breath that seemed to take away eons of accumulated vexation and despair. He solemnly bowed deeply to Dao Ruins.

"Dao Ruins, please forgive our ignorance."

"We have been waiting here for nine eras."

"We were not waiting for salvation."

"But for someone like you, who could ’ignore’ everything here and walk to us... a ’hope’."

Dao Ruins’ eyes remained calm.

He ignored their excitement and reverence and instead asked the question he cared about: "What is the Real Coordinates?"

Upon hearing this, the Lamp Keeper’s expression became solemn.

He did not answer immediately but raised his hand with a wave.

The entire small world’s scene instantly changed.

Grasslands, streams, huts, all disappeared.

What replaced them was an infinite, dark "Star Map".

This Star Map was not depicting cosmic stars but composed of countless "light points", some bright, some dim. Each light point represented a "world," a "civilization," a "unit of existence".

At the center of the Star Map, there was a mass of light, blazing like the sun, which was the Source of "Fire".

And at the edges of the Star Map, there was a deep "darkness" constantly spreading, engulfing those "light points".

That is, the "Gui Xu".

"This is the ’war’ as we understand it." The Lamp Keeper, pointing to the Star Map, said in a deep voice.

"Fire guards the core region of ’existence’. And we guardians, are on the bulwark, blocking the spread of ’Gui Xu’. We thought this was a tug-of-war about ’existence’ and ’nothingness’."

"But we were wrong."

The Lamp Keeper’s finger suddenly pointed to the darkness representing the ’Gui Xu’, to that more profound, more indescribable, true "void" beyond.

Buzz!

The Star Map transformed again.

This time, it was "magnified".

Dao Ruins saw that the entire Star Map representing the "war of Fire and Gui Xu" was actually just a colossal "bubble" slowly sinking!

Below this "bubble" was the "black coast" he had glimpsed before!

Countless "shadows" were on the coast, like fishermen waiting for the tide to collect shells, waiting for the essence of worlds erased by "Gui Xu" in the "bubble" to settle down and become their "food".

And that "King" seated at the end of the darkness, on the throne, sleeping...

His existence itself was the "foundation" of the "black coast"!

"Do you see?" The Lamp Keeper’s voice carried a trace of trembling and fear, "This is the ’truth’."

"What we call the ’whole world,’ what we fought for, and the ’existence’ we sacrificed for was just a ’bubble’ on the edge of His Dream Realm about to be shattered."

"Gui Xu is not our enemy. It is more like a ’filter’, a ’digestive system’. It grinds ’existence’ down into the most fundamental ’nourishment’, which then settles down to supply the ’shadows’, and eventually to supply that sleeping ’King’."

"And the greatness of Fire also lies in this." In the Lamp Keeper’s eyes, there showed a hint of respect, "It might be a thread of ’self-saving instinct’ condensed by ’existence’ itself at the birth of this ’bubble’. It doesn’t know of the King’s existence, but instinctively resists this trend of ’sinking’, trying to reinforce the boundary of this ’bubble’ to delay its shattering."

"We, all the guardians, are merely extensions of this ’self-saving instinct’ of Fire."

Cang Ya’s face had lost all color. His Dao Heart, as solid as a rock, was now under an unprecedented impact.