“Forget it, I’ll think about this later. Let’s focus on getting the Imperial Seal first,” Lu Yun chuckled ruefully and scratched his head.
These weren’t matters that he could wrap his mind around at the moment. They were truly too big. He couldn’t see or imagine them. Perhaps all of the mysteries would be unlocked by the seal, and he’d understand certain truths after he obtained it.
……
Mo Yi sat on a mountain peak in Fairylands and quietly gazed out at the world engulfed by seawater.
“It’s a very familiar feeling, this seems to be…” Mo Yi tilted her head to the side and pondered for a very long time, but couldn’t put a finger on where she was. “Fairylands? Is there a place with this name? It’s probably a new name from Lu Yun.
“It’s not a bad name, not by far. This is a world of immortal dao and resonates with the world of immortals in the Hongmeng.” She rested her chin on her hands and silently observed the surroundings.
“What are you doing here??” An ethereal female voice traveled into her ears.
“Lin Mo!” Mo Yi gasped when she heard the voice. “No, wait, who’s Lin Mo? And who are you?”
Mo Yi looked cautiously at a young girl who’d suddenly appeared. The newcomer had blue hair and wore a blue dress; she stared unblinkingly at Mo Yi.
“You’ve gone through so many reincarnations that they’ve eroded your memories and many other things,” Lin Mo sighed softly as she looked at Mo Yi. “I am Mazu, also known as Qinglin. I was called Lin Mo before I became a goddess.”
“Are you… dead?” Mo Yi cocked her head and asked gently.
“Yes, I was dead. After Lu Yun assumed control over Myriadsea World, he used one of his treasures to collect my core essence scattered throughout the world and resurrected me.” She was no longer Mazu upon coming back to life. She’d returned to being Lin Mo, the girl who was not the goddess of the sea.
The Soldier King had said it was impossible to revive her because he didn’t know about the Tome of Life and Death. When Fuxi’s primary body died completely, Lu Yun had used the same treasure to directly resurrect him. Although Lin Mo had been dead, her core essence was part of this world. Lu Yun offered sacrifices to her altar and combined hell dao with the Tome of Life and Death to summon a wisp of her soul. That wisp was enough to slowly bring her back to life.
She wasn’t fully alive in her present form, but an image formed by the wisp of a true spirit. She could appear only in this world and would scatter into the void if she left Fairylands.
“Do you know me?” Mo Yi looked curiously at the other. That she’d been able to call out Lin Mo’s name without prompting meant that they knew each other from before, and that their relationship ran deep.
“I was once the princess of Grovehill Kingdom. My kingdom was beset by floods and drowned in the ocean. A flicker of my soul survived and drifted through the sea. You collected the goodwill of thousands of people for me and helped me become a divine spirit of the sea so I could administer Ruina.” Lin Mo looked intently at Mo Yi.
“Is Grovehill Kingdom a world outside the Boundless Planes?” Mo Yi murmured, both to herself and to her counterpart.
“Yes, it’s one of the outside worlds.” Lin Mo nodded.
“Do you know who I am?” Mo Yi continued after a beat, “I seem to have suddenly arrived in this plane of existence and have been searching for my identity ever since…”
“I… I don’t know who you are either,” Lin Mo smiled ruefully. “But I do know that you’re an unparalleled heavyweight. You created Ruina and her kingdom with a flip of your hand, establishing an origin and final resting place for the rootless seas.”
“Then why am I here?” Mo Yi hugged her knees to herself and stared blankly into space.
“I don’t know,” Lin Mo chuckled wryly.
“Well, actually, it doesn’t matter who I am. If I’ve forgotten my past, then let it be past,” Mo Yi murmured. “If anyone cares about or thinks of me, they’ll come find me.”
She then thought of the Dao King, the man who’d followed her footsteps and guarded her side all this time. According to Lu Yun, the Dao King had already died thirty-three times for her. Then… he must have kept dying for her in the other earlier loops that Lu Yun didn’t visit.
Perhaps the Dao King was the one who’d entered this Disintegrated Land in search of her. If she had a past, it was him. Therefore, she wasn’t very concerned about her identity and whether or not there were people she cared about before.
But somehow, there was an inexplicable force that compelled her to probe and seek out that which she didn’t really care about. Mo Yi intensely disliked the feeling, but found herself unable to deny it.
“I know you have a senior sister,” Lin Mo suddenly said.
“I think… she might be dead.” Mo Yi shook her head sadly. She couldn’t sense her senior sister’s aura anymore. She was probably dead—dead in the great war that’d broken the original Hongmeng.
The two fell silent.
“Psht,” Lu Yun’s voice rang in the air. “Don’t talk about it if you don’t want to, why’d you two have to make things so sad for?”
“But I really don’t know anything,” Lin Mo chuckled helplessly. She’d discovered Lu Yun’s presence a long time ago.
“And I don’t know anything either,” Mo Yi added innocently.
“Fine, fine.” Lu Yun waved his hand. “I’m going to set up a Formula Dao Academy here. If the two of you have nothing better to do, you can go be teachers at the academy and teach some of the disciples.”
“A Formula Dao Academy?” Mo Yi smirked. “Are you sure it’s not one for immortal dao instead?”
“Ahem!” Lu Yun coughed awkwardly and said sheepishly, “If I told everyone that it was an academy for immortal dao, I don’t think anyone would come.
“Formula dao has taken root and flowered in the fourth realm—many people know of its capabilities. If I set up an academy now, the great powerhouses will send their disciples if they don’t dare come themselves. We all have to start somewhere if we want to infiltrate another faction,” Lu Yun cackled. Formula dao was just a front, helping immortal dao percolate through the fourth realm was his true goal.
“Whatever.” Mo Yi waved a hand.
“And, although I’ve made a new opening to this world, don’t worry. My treasure is fighting off that unknown power, so it won’t affect you anymore. Qinglin… Lin Mo, do you know what this is?” Lu Yun projected an image of the Tome of Life and Death over his hand.
“No,” Lin Mo shook her head. “I don’t have a record of this in my memories and its name has never been spoken in the outside world.”
“Alright then.” Lu Yun dismissed the image and left after raising a cupped fist salute to the two, leaving Mo Yi and Lin Mo staring at each other. They didn’t know what to do next.
“As nice as this world is, it’ll get boring given enough time. Fine then, I’ll do as he says and go teach at his immortal dao acad—Formula Dao Academy.” Mo Yi smiled and flew toward the formula dao world that Lu Yun had established.
