Chapter 1296: Heavy Mysteries
Both Bruce and Andy had obtained sizable Origin Stones!
They returned to their respective countries completely satisfied!
As for Odin, he had no intention of sticking around—he couldn't stand to look at Jiangnan for another second!
Taking the Origin Stone and leading the Magician, he vanished without a trace.
At this moment, Omega had a massive headache. Haitang had borrowed quite a bit of Spirit-Sealing Ore from various sources!
After the great battle, those dozen or so ships had been swept away to who knows where!
Spirit-Sealing Ore was by no means ordinary; much of it had been borrowed from other countries and had to be repaid!
Now, how was he supposed to pay it back? Even selling his own brother wouldn't cover the cost!
Omega was already brainstorming ways to find a buyer for his brother.
Just then, a mournful cry rang out across the sea!
୧(#༎ຶ口༎ຶ#)୨ "Aaaaahhh—what the hell have I been doing all this time?!"
Miyazaki, drenched in blood, roared at the sky, clutching his head with a ferocious expression.
His face was utterly hopeless; he wished he could find a crack in the ground to crawl into!
Ever since that incident in the Abyss, he'd fallen into a state of idiocy!
If it weren't for the multiple heavy blows to his brain and the mental attacks this time, he might have stayed foolish for who knows how much longer!
Recalling everything he'd done while in that state—
Eating watermelon rinds, drooling, calling himself "baby,"
Demanding candy, crying when refused, and even being kissed for five minutes by an old lady fish...
One incident after another—Miyazaki felt like dying!
This was even more embarrassing than when you black out from drinking and a friend helps you remember everything you did while drunk!
Now the whole world knew Miyazaki was a complete idiot!
How could I possibly have the courage to keep living in this world?
Might as well just die!
Miyazaki was suffering the agony of regained memory.
Beneath him, Lance had turned into a bloody mess, with a huge red bump on his head, looking like a horned beast!
(#꒪།ヮ།꒪#)
Lance just floated on the sea, his hollow eyes filled with profound wisdom!
Drool was streaming down.
(#꒪།﹃།꒪) "Goose honk—goose honk honk!"
"Leather swallow—gonna get the runs—every year the runs come here—"
"I ask swallow why you come—swallow says: pfft pfft crackle crack—"
At this moment, Jiangnan and the others standing in the distance all covered their foreheads with their hands.
(ﾉ)⇀‸↼)
Another one gone stupid!
Jiangnan covered his face. What kind of weird song is that?
And what kind of "swallow" are you talking about? Is it a proper one?
That's not even human speech!
(◦¯᷄ก¯᷅) "Indeed! Stupidity neither disappears out of thin air nor is created from nothing! It simply transfers from one object to another!"
"And during the transfer, the total amount of stupidity remains constant!"
"Is this the Law of Conservation of Stupidity?"
"The ancients didn't deceive me! Between Miyazaki and Lance, at least one of them finally got smart!"
Everyone stared at Jiangnan in horror.
‼(•'口'•۶)۶
The heck is the Law of Conservation of Stupidity?! What did you even study in school?!
The Ancients: (≖_≖) I never said that!!!
Miyazaki's eyes were bloodshot as he glared fiercely at Qian Benying among the crowd.
(#͡ᵔ།益།͡ᵔ) "You! Qian Benying! 'Queen,' huh? You tricked me into being your underling, didn't you?!"
Qian Benying instantly teleported behind Jiangnan, peeking out half her head.
｜ᵒ̴̶̷̥́～ᵒ̴̶̷)
"I-I'm telling you, don't bite the hand that feeds you, okay? I saved your life!"
"If I hadn't picked you up, you'd have starved to death at sea!"
Miyazaki's eyes were red with rage, his whole body trembling.
But then Rokka showed a reluctant expression, even wiping away tears.
(˚˃̣̣̥᷄～ก̀) "Little Miyazaki, I'll miss you. Maybe we can play string games again sometime, hmm—but I guess there's no chance anymore, right?"
"I'll cherish the days we spent playing together!"
Jiangnan: (´థжథ)σ "Pfft—"
(థ╰╯థ｡) "Th-that... I wasn't laughing at you, just remembered something funny."
Miyazaki clutched his head, his face turning bright purple.
୧(#˃᷄།益།˂᷅#)୨ "Aaaaahhh—I don't want to live anymore!"
[From Miyazaki: Resentment Value +1000!]
He turned and sprinted across the sea, vanishing into the distance.
Meanwhile, Lance, still singing the swallow song on the water, was picked up by Omega.
After all, he'd come all the way to help Boss Pang, and now he'd gone stupid—there was no way to explain this to the Eagle Kingdom authorities.
So they had to take care of him for now.
With the external forces dealt with, only their own people remained.
Jiangnan looked at the rather large piece of Origin Stone still remaining and felt gratified.
The effort hadn't been wasted!
Just then, Yu Kingdom's Sena also arrived with his wives.
Seeing that everything had settled, he let out a long sigh of relief.
The group didn't just stand around on the sea. They headed into the Lantis Spirit Ruins.
The seabed had now completely turned into a deep-sea chasm, utterly unrecognizable.
Although the Lantis Ruins had disappeared from Blue Star, the main Lantis Spirit Ruins still remained.
Since it was inside the Spirit Ruins, it hadn't been affected by the Leviathan nuclear explosion.
This was also why Lantis had survived the Celestial Wrath a thousand years ago.
As soon as they entered the Lantis Spirit Ruins, Mi Ye, Wang Dalei, and the others were stunned by the magnificent Lantis architecture.
This was a major discovery!
No wonder Jiangnan had gone to such lengths to protect this place.
Who would have thought that ancient Soder-era Lantis had been so glorious?
Sena, looking at everything in Lantis, was so moved that tears streamed down his face.
(›꒦ິ⌓꒦ີ‹) "Is this where our ancestors lived? I never thought I'd see it with my own eyes! I can die without regrets now!"
Jiangnan rolled his eyes. "What's with all the emotion? There'll be plenty of time for crying later. Let's go to the council first."
...
Inside the uniquely styled Lantis Council Hall,
everyone took their seats. Those who could breathe underwater were fine; those who couldn't used Bisea Pearl bubbles.
The Lantis Elder Council members also arrived.
It was a tripartite meeting.
Wang Dalei and the other two looked in horror at the mermaids and mermen.
Seriously?!
These fish-head monsters completely shattered all our beautiful fantasies about the underwater world!
Old Lady Leicester, however, had set her sights on Luo Jiaoyang and kept winking at him.
(◞◔︶◔ิ◟)✧
Luo Jiaoyang: ???
☚(◞•̀д•́) "Is that fish out of oxygen? It's rolling its eyes—should we give it some oxygen or something?"
Alice blushed and quickly nudged her grandmother.
"Oh, Grandma! Tone it down—we're in a meeting!"
Jiangnan covered his face, then waved his hand, placing half of the Origin Stone and the Origin Staff on the conference table.
He propped his chin on his hand, his expression turning serious.
"This is our haul. According to the agreement, we protected Lantis during the siege by various powers and eliminated Shark's influence."
"Shark is dead, you've successfully taken over, and you've regained your position as the ruler of Lantis."
"Now, shouldn't the promise be fulfilled?"
Alice stood up, her eyes full of gratitude as she looked at Jiangnan.
(❀╹◡╹) "If not for our benefactor, Lantis would have been destroyed under that celestial fall. This time, our people have seen the power of humans in this era."
"The times have changed. The glory of a thousand years ago is no more. Trying to revive that glory is nothing but self-destruction—Shark is the proof."
"Therefore, Lantis is willing to unconditionally share our knowledge and technology with Hua Xia and Yu Kingdom."
"At the same time, we hope you will protect Lantis from external interference and help us gradually integrate into this era."
Jiangnan grinned—this was exactly what he wanted.
He then turned his gaze to Sena.
"And you, King of the Sea? What do you say?"
Sena smiled bitterly. "If not for the Tribulation Envoy, Yu Kingdom would have been submerged beneath the ocean this time."
"Of course, as previously agreed, regarding the Lantis matter, the three sides will form an alliance and develop together."
"We can discuss further cooperation details later. I'll contact Hua Xia's Secretary Yang about it at the appropriate time."
Craig and Merlin finally breathed a sigh of relief. They had been afraid Sena would be foolish enough to try to monopolize everything.
Such a decision would surely doom Yu Kingdom.
After witnessing the undersea battle at Lantis, the two had no doubt that Jiangnan truly possessed such power.
Wang Dalei swallowed hard.
My Uncle Jiang has so much influence? With just a few words, he sealed a cooperation deal?
Lantis's knowledge and technology in this era were priceless treasures.
With these, Hua Xia's Spirit Martial world would surely enter a stage of rapid development.
If Jian Ge learned about this, he'd be overjoyed!
Jiangnan looked contemplative.
"Now, let's talk about the Origin Stone. In the Celestial Wrath that Shark summoned, why wasn't there a single piece of Origin Stone?"
"Not even one. That's too strange!"
After all that effort, all they got was a natural disaster?
Wasn't it supposed to rely on the mutual attraction of Origin Stones to summon an Origin fall?
How was there none inside?
And where did this bizarre starfall even come from?
There wasn't an asteroid belt near Blue Star. Even if it came from outside the system, it should have been detected in advance.
Shark summoned it with a single call, and it was seven kilometers big!
That was even more insane than using Little Cherry!
And what kind of divine object is this Origin Stone anyway? Why does it have the power to evolve species?
At this moment, Jiangnan's mind was full of mysteries.
Alice was also confused.
(๑•̌.•̑๑) "Could it be because we didn't use the Origin Staff? The Origin Stone was already depleted, its power insufficient, so it couldn't summon new Origin Stones?"
"This big one was summoned by King Atlas using the Origin Staff back then."
Just as everyone was puzzled, Jiang Ning's figure appeared behind Jiangnan.
Many Lantis mermaids showed fear at the sight of Jiang Ning, but even more showed hatred.
However, Jiang Ning didn't care what others thought of her. She only cared about Jiangnan.
(｡･᷅◠･᷄) "Can I speak?"
Jiangnan's eyes lit up. Sister Jiang Ning must know the secret of the Origin Stone!