Chapter 190 Well Water

The well water shimmered.

The two hands, from two different worlds, ultimately failed to touch.

Gu Shen had submerged his entire body into the well, maintaining his balance only by hooking his toes on the edge.

His fingers pierced the water, shattering the clear surface at the bottom… but he maintained this position until the water calmed again, and he still hadn't touched anything.

The girl's regretful, disappointed face was reflected there.

"I knew it…"

Chu Ling's voice was soft, her eyes dimming.

"The spirit world and the material world… cannot truly connect…"

The moment she reached out, a spark of hope had lit up in her eyes.

But… that hope was now extinguished.

No matter how she reached out, she was ultimately just a virtual existence in the spirit world – code, logic, ethereal data.

"Not necessarily."

Having failed to grasp Chu Ling's hand, Gu Shen was now even more composed.

He knew that a vast chasm separated the spiritual and material worlds.

If simply "seeing" each other in the well water was enough to reach another world… it would be too easy.

"You should know… I'm currently at the 'Shrine Mountain,' and this mystic realm blocks all connections to the Deep Sea." Gu Shen spoke slowly.

Chu Ling was taken aback.

She often heard Gu Shen mention "Shrine Mountain," the place where the Li family ancestors cultivated the "Divine Embryo."

In an instant, she understood Gu Shen's meaning.

If this mystic realm blocked the Deep Sea connection… then how was she talking to Gu Shen right now?

"I'm certain… the barrier between the two worlds has been breached, perhaps only slightly, but it's no longer an insurmountable divide." Gu Shen lowered his voice. "Otherwise, we wouldn't be having this conversation."

Chu Ling murmured, "You mean…"

Gu Shen maintained his reaching posture, but slowly raised his head, looking out of the well.

Li Qingci emerged from the ancient house, staring blankly at Gu Shen as he seemed to be reaching for the moon in the well.

Shrine Mountain had no moon.

So Gu Shen was destined to grab nothing.

Gu Shen spoke.

His voice echoed in the sky above Shrine Mountain, and resonated in the spirit world on the other side of the well.

"Six hundred years ago, the Li family began cultivating the 'Divine Embryo.'"

"For six hundred years, the guardians have followed the guidance of the Invocation Art, pruning the 'Flower of Collapsing Order' on the sacred mountain, using their own lives and blood to nourish the 'Divine Embryo' on the other side of the Invocation Art's scales. But in reality, no one knows what the legendary 'Divine Embryo' truly is…"

Gu Shen slowly withdrew his hand from the well water.

Indeed.

He took nothing with him.

He only scooped up a handful of cool water, which slipped through his fingers when he closed his hand.

"Perhaps, six hundred years ago… the Divine Embryo already appeared?"

He said these words for Li Qingci to hear.

Li Qingci remained rooted to the spot.

"Before acquiring the 'Lamp of Sorrow,' there was always a question I couldn't understand… why did the four Bronze Man Lamps only leave their spirits in the Shrine, while the vessels carrying those spirits were taken away?"

Gu Shen whispered, "The spirits of the four Bronze Man Lamps were able to gather in the Shrine… which indicates that the Li family ancestors long ago had successfully collected all four lamps. And Shrine Mountain is such an important place, almost impossible for outsiders to intrude upon. How could these four lamps have been taken out of the territory?"

Following this line of thought, Li Qingci realized something terrifying.

"You mean… these four lamps were… intentionally scattered by the ancestors…"

Gu Shen nodded.

"Do you remember your Invocation Dream?"

"Of course… of course, I remember," Li Qingci's face was pale.

It was a nightmare.

She tried to use her lifespan and the Invocation Art to see the face of the "Divine Embryo," but all she saw was the collapsing scene of Shrine Mountain, and a blurred figure…

Although she didn't see the true face of the Divine Embryo, she confirmed its existence!

"Logically, this Invocation Art should have come true, but the scales didn't accept your payment." Gu Shen said calmly, "Why is that?"

The Invocation Art was fair.

If a wish was made and the Art could not be fulfilled, then the scales would not collect the corresponding price.

The reverse was also true.

Once a wish was made and a "feeding" was presented, the Invocation Art would definitely take away the "lifespan" when the wish came true!

There was only one possibility.

"My invocation… failed."

Li Qingci murmured.

She immediately gritted her teeth and asked, unable to understand, "But… why?"

"We previously thought that this was the Li family ancestors' guidance for your future… is it possible that it is indeed guidance, but not for the future?"

Gu Shen slowly said, "What if… the 'Divine Embryo' was cultivated many years ago?"

Li Qingci's beautiful eyes widened.

She suddenly realized… this might be a very close approximation of the truth.

"What you saw in your dream wasn't a vision of the future, but a glimpse of the past. The Divine Embryo was once hatched, but… that time was a failure. The entire Shrine Mountain faced destruction because of the failed 'hatching.'"

Gu Shen spoke unhurriedly. "So the Li family ancestors suppressed it, and at the same time, scattered the Bronze Man Lamps that provided the emotions…"

"If that's the case, why continue to invoke…"

Li Qingci stopped halfway through her sentence.

Gu Shen smiled silently.

He knew that Li Qingci had guessed the answer.

He stood by the well and looked down.

The Li family ancestors tried to use the extraordinary power of Shrine Mountain and ancient secret methods to create a "perfect being" to combat the collapsing order. Six hundred years ago, he created a "physical body," and then brought the four Bronze Man Lamps to send emotions to the "being"… but the final product was dark.

"The Divine Embryo's hatching… needs to wait for the right era."

"The previous eras were all wrong… only this era is the right one."

Gu Shen said softly, "This mountain should have been lifeless, but 'white flowers' grow here. For thousands of years, the order has collapsed and black flowers cover the mountains. Logically speaking… not even a wisp of vitality should appear. The appearance of these 'white flowers' is no coincidence. They absorb the life force that spills out of the mountain, which means that life is always brewing in this mountain."

"Right… in this well."

For six hundred years, the well water had not dried up.

In the desolate environment of the mountain, compared to those little white flowers, compared to that ancient house covered with talismans… the vitality of this well was the strongest.

Gu Shen's blazing fire emerged and condensed at his brow.

He tried hard to look towards the bottom of the well, his mental power penetrating the water surface, passing through the deep stone walls, and reaching into the boundless darkness. Even with the blessing of the blazing fire, he could not see anything clearly… but he was absolutely certain that the reason Shrine Mountain could nurture white flowers was in this well.

This was an inexplicable intuition!

"Chu Ling… try to mentally link to the surrounding environment."

Gu Shen didn't avoid Li Qingci, speaking directly.

Chu Ling?

Li Qingci was taken aback.

Was he calling out… a third person's name?

She subconsciously looked around. Shrine Mountain was silent all year round. As a guardian, her spirit enveloped the entire mountain, allowing her to see even the slightest movement. She was certain that there was no third person here.

Could it be… this was the voice in Gu Shen's head that he had just mentioned?

"I see… a ball of light."

Chu Ling's voice was lost.

She sat at the junction of the spiritual and material worlds.

This was a contradictory thing.

If she really had "eyes," then closing them would make her feel like she was sitting in the smoothly moving 001 carriage, and opening them would make her see herself in the well, with the water surrounding her.

And right below her, a small ball of light floated.

"It's like… a cocoon."

"I also see… a lot of flowers…"

Chu Ling murmured, "They're white flowers…"

Around that light cocoon, pure white little flowers grew, one after another, but they were only buds, not yet in full bloom.

"You see… white flowers?"

Gu Shen paused, then said seriously, "What does that little cocoon look like? Can you see it clearly?"

"I… I'll try to see it more clearly."

Chu Ling slowly swam down, trying to touch the light cocoon at the bottom of the well as a spiritual body.

The space at the bottom of the well was very narrow.

However… this distance, which was clearly only a hair's breadth, had turned into an unbridgeable chasm at this moment… She spent a great deal of effort to barely get closer to the light cocoon.

"It's a… little person…"

Chu Ling's voice was very low.

The small light cocoon looked like a newborn infant, nestled in the purest water at the bottom of the well. Countless white flowers grew around her, each symbolizing holiness and light.

And it was such a curled-up infant, with two lines of clear tears streaming down her small cheeks.

Just one look would make anyone feel sorry for her.

Chu Ling said softly, "I see that she's crying…"

As she said this, she also felt sadness, a silent sorrow, flowing like water, trickling into her heart.

Chu Ling touched her cheek.

She touched something cool… something warm…

Tears.

"Gu Shen… I think… I understand something…"

Chu Ling touched a drop of her own tear.

In her mind, it was as if a door had been opened.

That was something that the source code should never be able to understand.

Joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness.

Four lamps, four flames, at this moment… one of them was lit.

Following the intuition in her heart, Chu Ling slowly reached out and touched the holy infant. She wiped away the tears from the infant's cheeks, and her own tears were wiped away along with them… At the moment of contact, she felt an indescribable warmth.

It was like touching "life."

But this… was her own "life."

…

…

Gu Shen saw all of this in the "mental link."

He held his breath and waited quietly.

After touching the infant, Chu Ling's consciousness began to dissipate… like millions of feathers scattered by the wind. The girl swaying in the reflection of the well water began to spread out bit by bit.

And thousands of strands of spirit all went into the body of that "infant."

Finally.

The world under the well returned to tranquility.

Gu Shen's spiritual perception slowly dimmed and plunged into darkness.

But after a moment.

A glimmer of light appeared slowly—

Gu Shen felt "Chu Ling" open her eyes.

No… more precisely, the infant slowly opened her eyes and looked up at the world outside the well.

…

…

The mental link only lasted about a hundred seconds.

The moment she opened her eyes, Chu Ling's consciousness returned to 001.

After realizing what had happened, her expression was a bit disappointed.

If everything just now wasn't a dream, but real, then after her spirit arrived in a physical body, she should have been able to truly touch the real objects of the material world.

She hadn't touched anything yet.

Even… touching the stone wall at the bottom of the well would have been good.

And in the world above the well.

Gu Shen, who had witnessed all of this in the mental link, took several deep breaths to calm himself down…

All previous conjectures were correct.

More importantly, if the infant at the bottom of the well was really the Divine Embryo body that the Li family had prepared for six hundred years later… then Chu Ling had the possibility of coming to the "material world"!

This was truly… a miracle!

Gu Shen lowered his voice and spoke to Li Qingci.

"The Divine Embryo that the Li family has been waiting for for six hundred years is at the bottom of the well."

Li Qingci leaned over the well.

She looked down with anticipation.

She used this well often, and the water she drew was sweet, cool, and refreshing.

However, she looked hard for a long time.

The well water was ordinary and clear… there was nothing else.

Not to mention the so-called Divine Embryo.

"It's also full of white flowers symbolizing life and hope…" Gu Shen said convincingly.

She looked at Gu Shen gesturing with a complicated expression.

"That Divine Embryo should have just started to gestate… It's just an embryo, and it needs to absorb other emotions to learn and grow, and truly become a 'living being.'"

"The Lamp of Sorrow let her feel sadness…"

"If I'm not mistaken, to complete the Divine Embryo, you must collect all four lamps…"

If the person who said these words wasn't the Mr. Gu who helped the Li family understand the secret of the Bronze Man Lamps for six hundred years… if it were anyone else, Li Qingci would think that he was probably crazy.

Finally, Gu Shen rolled up his sleeves and jumped directly from the well.

"Mr. Gu!"

This scene really startled Li Qingci.

She exclaimed.

This old well had gone through long years, and although it could be used normally… no one knew if black flowers grew under the well.

If he touched the black flowers, it would be terrible!

But it was too late—

With a "swoosh."

Gu Shen jumped into the well.

Before falling into the water, he had already taken a deep breath, preparing to dive into the boundless deep water… but the reality was that this well… wasn't deep.

Gu Shen plunged down and immediately hit the bottom.

He looked up, staring blankly at the water level at his neck, and once again, not believing it, he submerged and tried to find other passages, but there were narrow stone walls on all sides.

Divine Embryo?

White flowers?

Chu Ling?

There was nothing here… everything he saw in the mental link seemed to be fake.

Although this well could produce sweet water, there was nothing he had just seen!

Gu Shen raised his head and saw Li Qingci's concerned face.

"Many years ago… the guardians searched Shrine Mountain and couldn't find any trace of the Divine Embryo. Of course, this well was also searched."

…

…

Li Qingci handed over a clean towel and said tactfully, comforting him, "Mr. Gu, although the way you jumped into the well just now looked very handsome…"

She only said half of this sentence.

Gu Shen sat by the well, soaking wet, with a complex expression.

He knew the content of the second half of the sentence.

"But the way you tried so hard to climb up looked really embarrassed."

Jumped down the well.

There was no Chu Ling, no white flowers, and no so-called Divine Embryo infant in the well.

Then climbed up empty-handed…

Gu Shen knew that no matter who looked at it, this action seemed a bit foolish.

It was difficult for him to explain the reason for jumping into the well to Li Qingci. In fact, he had explained it once before jumping into the well, but it seemed a bit pale in the face of the empty reality at the bottom of the well.

"Could it be that the well world I jumped into… is not the same world as Chu Ling's?"

Gu Shen fell into deep thought.

If the Li family's plan was to use the power of the "black flowers" to create a perfect being, then undoubtedly, this plan had to be carried out in two steps.

The first step was to create a "body."

The second step was to create a "spirit."

Six hundred years of "invocation" and the guidance of the power of Shrine Mountain were undoubtedly all for creating the Divine Embryo's body, ensuring that there was such a thing in the material world.

And "spirit"…

If the four emotions of the Bronze Man Lamps were transmitted to the Divine Embryo, theoretically it seemed that a "spirit" could be successfully created.

But on closer inspection, this was unreasonable.

Because its thinking, consciousness… all seemed to be lacking.

Having joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness didn't mean having humanity.

Perhaps this was the reason for the Li family ancestors' failure six hundred years ago, but the key point was how to fuse "matter" and "spirit" together… these were truly things from two different worlds.

Gu Shen thought of his jade thumb ring.

The jade thumb ring trapped the spirit of the "Storm Throne," trapping it in a virtual space.

That space was neither the material world nor the spiritual world… it was more like a linking space between the two worlds.

So…

Following this direction of speculation, the well world where the Divine Embryo was located… should be the so-called "linking realm"?

Yes.

Only such a vague "space" could protect the Divine Embryo from external influences, waiting to receive the washing of the "spirit."

Six hundred years ago, the Li family ancestors failed.

And the final "Invocation Art" pointed to the future.

So he broke up the Bronze Man Lamps and sealed the Divine Embryo in the linking realm, preventing the Li family from creating the "monster" of the past again… waiting for the "future" indicated by the Invocation Art to arrive.

In that correct era, there would be a mature, stable spirit.

That spirit had already experienced the warmth and coldness of the world, felt the fluctuations of emotions, but had never had the opportunity to truly descend into the world.

And "she" would become the ray of light that the Li family had been waiting for for six hundred years.