Chapter 674: The World
"I am going to leave," Little Green did not hesitate to speak, and her voice was clear. It carried a harshness to it and slight hostility. It was clear to everyone that she was angry because of what the other sylphs had said.
"I have exchanged my eternal Ancestral Worldpower body for one formed by an Immortal of Creation. My body has already dissipated back to the heavens and the earth and has once more become one with the world. I no longer owe this world anything nor am I going to continue working to keep it alive."
Hearing this, something slowly came together in Hui Yue's mind. Worlds required a sovereign to stay alive. However, these worlds within the Archaic World had been alive for millennia without having or needing sovereigns looking after them.
Every single one of these worlds were filled with dense Ancestral Worldpower... Could it be that these worlds all had sylphs living within them? Creatures who had to give up their freedom to maintain and stabilize the world so that they would not collapse?
If this were the case, then that meant that the worlds within the Archaic World had evolved to stabilize themselves?
Although these creatures were in fact slaves to the world, they were also the world's children and were favored by the heavens when it came to cultivation. Within the world they guarded, they would be almost unbeatable.
Although his sudden enlightenment would not change much, Hui Yue was still stunned. He was a Crowned Sovereign of a world, and he knew that the world he was in control of was a living being.
It was living, using lifeforce, and nourishing the many creatures and plants that lived on it, but at the same time, he was also aware that it was not sentient.
To be able to create creatures like these and make them look after the world, did that not mean that the worlds within the Archaic World had gained sentience?
The thought alone made Hui Yue alarmed. It was a frightening thought if worlds were able to think about what they wanted, especially now that Hui Yue was about to take one of the sylphs away from this world.
He was unaware of how many sylphs were living in this world, and he was even more unaware of just how important each one of them were, but he could imagine that creating a sylph was in no way a simple matter.
Since it was probably not simple, would this world allow for Hui Yue to simply take one of them away with him?
Thinking about this, Hui Yue was starting to get a headache. Perhaps he was overthinking things, perhaps he was paranoid, but all of a sudden he felt something observing them. He felt something threatening was coming closer and that they were in severe danger.
While Hui Yue was feeling worried, the faces of the sylphs also turned foul as they heard the words said by Little Green.
"You gave up on your body to become a spirit?!" one of the sylphs exclaimed in shock. Her face was filled with disbelief and a tinge of curiosity. It was clear that she held no resentment towards Little Green for her decision, but another one of the sylphs snorted and took a step forward. "Preposterous!" he roared.
"You were born of this world to fulfill your job as a sylph yet you dare to try and flee?" he asked in a dangerously low voice. But no matter how threatening he was, Little Green stood with a straight back and a carefree expression on her face.
"This is a decision made by me. Whatever decision I make has nothing to do with you all. I decided to tell you because you looked out for me all these years, but I have already made my decision. I will not linger around in this world any longer. I will move to a bigger stage! I wish to see him again!"
When she mentioned him, Little Green's eyes shone with such gentleness that even made the currently worried Hui Yue feel his heart sigh with sadness for her.
But his pity for her lasted a mere moment as he felt more and more acutely that something terrifying was approaching.
"We need to leave," he growled finally and started flying into the air, but suddenly the ground trembled and the air twisted.
"Ugh, please don't let me be correct," Hui Yue mumbled to himself. Just as he mumbled, he saw the ground take the shape of a face.
Looking at this face, it had feminine features but looked like a man’s. It was impossible to tell the gender of this face, and when a voice sounded out, it was ancient and deep, but at the same time melodious. Even after hearing this voice, it was impossible to tell if it were a man or a woman.
"You were the first of my children," the voice sounded out causing Hui Yue to be shocked. Little Green was the first sylph to be born in this world? Then it suddenly made sense why they had tried to make her return to the city; she was their senior after all.
But right now, he did not have the time to be too caught up by something so shocking as he was waiting to see what would happen. The heaven above had twisted into a prison, suspending everyone in the air making it impossible for them to move. The Ancestral Worldpower of the world had bound them with chains completely rendering them immobile.
"You were my child, and I watched you grow up. You worked hard for me. You made it possible for me to continue living; you helped my consciousness form, and I have gained much."
"I understood that having more sylphs would make it possible for me to become stable even without a connection to another being helping me."
"Many worlds and realms are incapable of surviving in this chaotic place, but I was able to do so. Even now, I am one of the most stable of them all; I am one of the most conscious worlds in the entire galaxy."
"All of this because I created you, my children, on a whim."
The voice turned silent for some time, and everyone was waiting for what it would say next. Hui Yue knew that it would be impossible to fight a world. A sense of crisis descended upon his heart. He never thought that if he asked Little Green to follow them, it would bring such a disaster upon them, and although he could have been kicking himself for it, he did not regret his decision.
"I am a world; I have no dreams or emotions. All I have is an instinct to survive, but even so, I think I can understand your desires."
"He was like a part of yourself and when he vanished you lost that part. If someone were to take away one of my mountain ranges, I would no longer feel complete, and I would do everything in my power to be reunited with them."
"I do not understand the feeling of love, and I do not understand the feeling of longing that you are feeling, but I understand what it is like to belong somewhere, and I believe you belong with him."
"The body you dissipated contained so much Ancestral Worldpower that I will be stable for at least ten more years because of it, even if all my sylphs left me," the world said honestly, and everyone was shocked. Although ten years was not long for cultivators, it was a lot of time for a world considering how much energy it needed to sustain itself.
"I think that it is okay to let you go," the world sighed. "I was not planning on displaying my might, and I will have to sleep for some years after this, but my oldest child is moving on. It is a sad but exciting moment for me. Perhaps this is the closest I will ever get to feeling emotions."
"Since you have decided to go, I will say my goodbye to you. This will be the one and only time I display myself to others, and I am only doing it because of who you are to me."
The world was silent for a long time. "Let it be known that the sylphs are my children! If they wish to leave this world and find a way to do so, then they are more than welcome to leave and experience the outside world. I do not want my children to be sad or unhappy."
Having said this, the face on the ground vanished. The Ancestral Worldpower chains from the heavens released their hold on them, and the entire world slowly returned to how it was before.
The sylphs that had come to try and convince Little Green to return to the city were stunned. All of them were laying on the ground prostrating as they shook with fear and reverence. To them the world was absolute.
None of them said a thing about Little Green wanting to leave. They all just stared reverently at the location where the face had just been.
"This is a sacred place!" one of them said as his eyes blazed with happiness. "This place will become the destination for our pilgrimages in the future. To revere our god, the world, we will come here and pay our respect!"
Hui Yue was a little shocked to see how much they revered the world, and he felt rather dumbfounded. Pilgrimages to this location just because the world showed its face here?
What surprised Hui Yue the most was that the sylphs had not been shocked by the fact that the world was conscious. They had been shocked because it had decided to show itself.
Could it be that these sylphs already knew that the world was conscious and aware of what was happening?
The fact that the world had a sentient mind was already enough to shock Hui Yue into a stunned state, and the fact that it was able to summon enough energy to display its strength the way it had surprised him greatly. These worlds were definitely not places that Hui Yue could take for granted, and he now understood that when entering a world he had another thing he needed to look out for.
It was incredibly important that he did not cause problems for the worlds. If the world was enraged, it would be easy to deal with a group of experts like his group.
Now that he understood that the sylphs that existed in the worlds held such importance to the world, he knew that they were beings that they absolutely should not mess with if they wanted to stay safe.
"Little Green, I wish all the best for you in the future. I hope you find him again," one of the female sylphs said with a smile on her face.
When Hui Yue looked at her, he understood that she was completely sincere and he saw a warm smile on Little Green's face. It was clear that these two had the best relationship of all the sylphs present.
"I will do all in my power to find him again," she said solemnly with a nod of her head. "He cannot hide from me!"
Having said this, she rose to the sky. Together Hui Yue, his friends, and Little Green ascended into the heavens and slowly left the world they had been in for quite some time ready to look for another world and seek out traces of where the Alchemist God was.