Chapter 2285 Path of Light <TOC> Chapter 2287 World Within the Painting
Previous page password is bold portion: sticR-d8qAdu0
Translator: SumTLMan
At the end of the Path of Light, there stood a gigantic circular stone platform, erect and imposing.
The void light algae, like specks of stars, floated high above, their faint glow cascading down onto the platform, illuminating the gray-white surface with a bright reflective sheen.
Because of this illumination, Angel immediately noticed the far end of the platform.
The entire stone platform appeared as a smooth cross-section, empty except for a solitary chest placed right in the center.
Even without stepping onto the platform, Angel could clearly see with the naked eye that the chest was adorned with various gold and gemstones, declaring its identity as loudly as possible: believe me, I am a Treasure Chest!
Could such a whimsically conspicuous chest be the treasure left by Feng? Judging by Feng’s occasionally eccentric character, it seemed likely. However, certainty was elusive; perhaps this was merely a decoy, with the real treasure hidden elsewhere.
While Angel pondered this, he created an illusion body, an exact replica of himself.
Though the illusion had only a form and no discernible features, it possessed an aura identical to Angel’s, even simulating the flow of blood, the pulsing of the heart, and the emission of pheromones.
Angel intended to use this illusion to test for dangers on the platform.
Once the illusion was ready, Angel commanded it to step onto the platform.
Shortly, the illusion ascended the stone steps, one step, two steps… After crossing nine steps, it stood firmly on the smooth platform.
From the feedback received through the illusion, Angel detected no anomalies. However, he did notice some rune patterns on the stone platform.
These rune patterns appeared disjointed, intermittent, but this did not imply that the runes were incomplete. With Angel’s keen vision, he could discern that this was a three-dimensional rune, with many patterns hidden within the interior of the stone platform.
Judging only from the part of the runes visible on the platform, they did not seem to possess any offensive properties. However, the exact nature of the runes remained unclear.
The presence of runes on the stone platform was not of particular concern to Angel. He would have been more surprised by the absence of any energy conduits. After all, maintaining such a massive platform suspended in the void at a fixed coordinate without some means would be impossible.
As long as the runes were not of a deadly offensive type, they could be momentarily set aside.
After about three minutes on the platform without any attacks, Angel continued to control the illusion, intending to approach the chest for a closer look.
However, the illusion was unable to move.
Initially, Angel thought it might have been subjected to some attack, but a detailed analysis of the feedback from the illusion revealed that it wasn’t that the illusion couldn’t move, but rather, it was immobilized by a crushing force.
In the end, the illusion body is not the real one, and it finds it quite difficult to withstand the terrifying oppressive pressure here; stepping onto the staircase is already no small feat.
Upon seeing this, Angel could only helplessly snap his fingers, retracting the illusion body.
Although the illusion body did not approach the treasure, at least from the platform, the danger seems minimal. After some thought, Angel decides to personally go up and take a look.
There’s nothing amiss on the staircase, and after the ninth step, there’s a smooth stone surface.
When Angel sets foot on the stone surface, just like with the illusion body, he doesn’t receive any attacks. However, compared to the illusion body, Angel’s real body perceives the fluctuations around him much more clearly.
Especially, the energy flow of the runes within the platform beneath his feet, which Angel’s illusion body could not perceive, but now his real body can sense to some extent.
Angel doesn’t immediately move forward but first senses the direction of the runes beneath his feet.
The runes are not complex, in fact, they are quite simple. It takes Angel less than two minutes to analyze the runes within a five to six-meter radius around him. Although he still can’t determine the exact type of runes, from the currently determined aspects of the runes, this rune possesses anti-erosion properties… presumably used on the stone platform’s material, which isn’t particularly precious. Placed in the void for a year or two wouldn’t pose any problem, but any longer, and it would surely be eroded away by the unique forces within the void.
It’s worth mentioning that, while analyzing the runes, Angel is almost certain that these runes were drawn by someone inexperienced.
Some of the runes even contain errors, which, under normal circumstances, would mean the rune couldn’t be activated. The fact that this rune is still operational, Angel guesses, is similar to the studio in White Cloud Hamlet, probably hidden with a mysterious power.
Not detecting any threats, Angel finally starts moving forward.
He walks slowly, sensing the patterns beneath his feet as he goes. After about thirty meters, Angel has nearly analyzed half of the content of the runes within the stone platform.
By this point, Angel can almost confirm that the runes beneath his feet are of a type that maintains a constant state.
The runes themselves are used to maintain the stone platform’s constant state within the void, and they don’t have a direct effect on humans stepping on the platform.
This means, just from the platform itself, there shouldn’t be any significant danger to Angel.
However, he doesn’t let his guard down and continues to move forward cautiously and carefully.
As he approaches the center of the platform, Angel notices that the light reflecting on the ground suddenly becomes brighter. With a hint of curiosity, Angel looks up.
In the “sky” above, there are still numerous floating void light algae, each emitting a faint light, creating a somewhat dreamy beauty in this boundless dark void.
Among these densely packed void light algae, Angel sees an incredibly large sphere of light.
This sphere of light is completely different from the other void light algae; its brightness is extremely high, and it doesn’t seem to be a cluster of void light algae.
Most importantly, this sphere of light seems to possess a certain sacred quality.
Angel gazed at it as if a mortal was looking up at an unknowable deity, spontaneously feeling a sense of awe in his heart.
Angel quietly stared at the sphere for a long time, not knowing whether it was a god or not. However, what he could be sure of was that the omnipresent oppressive pressure in this void was probably emanating from that sphere.
That is to say, a strand of the World Will of the Tidal Realm should be contained within the sphere.
“Is this also Feng’s doing? I hope Feng’s treasure isn’t hidden inside the sphere…” Angel thought to himself. Although he was not far from the location of the treasure chest, Angel wasn’t entirely sure that the chest was indeed the treasure Feng referred to. Perhaps, in his mischief, he had placed the treasure inside the sphere?
The thought of the terrifying pressure brought about by that strand of World Will made Angel shiver involuntarily: he hoped not.
He hoped Feng would be reasonable.
With a bit of a prayerful intention, Angel walked towards the treasure chest.
Soon, Angel arrived in front of the treasure chest. The chest was not large, about one and a half meters in length and estimated to be only one meter high.
Up close, the chest was excessively exquisite, made of pure orihalcum and inlaid with various elemental gems. This nouveau riche style, even for nobles who pursue luxury everywhere, was rarely used.
It was more like in fairytales, where the hero, after going through various trials and defeating the dragon to save the princess, finds a glittering treasure chest in the dragon’s hoard.
Because only the treasure chests in fairytales are so ostentatious.
“Quite a taste of Feng’s style,” Angel thought to himself while extending his mental tendril, wanting to take a closer look inside the chest.
When the mental tendril touched the chest, there was no dangerous feedback, but because the chest was made of pure orihalcum with a very strong integrity, it could not penetrate it, and the inside could only be seen by unlocking the lock.
Thinking of the lock, the image of the Ouija Multi-Pattern Cipher Key spontaneously appeared in Angel’s mind.
Does this lock require the Ouija Multi-Pattern Cipher Key?
If so, that would mean this place should…
Angel was still pondering the issue of the lock, halfway through his thoughts, when he heard a “click-click” sound.
It turned out that Angel, unconsciously, had slightly increased the power of his mental tendril.
Just right, the mental tendril was wrapped around the lid of the chest, and as the force increased, the lid of the chest was directly lifted a crack.
Looking at the opened chest, Angel was silent.
The chest wasn’t locked at all, so what was the purpose of setting a lock?
Previously, Angel was thinking, if this lock required the Ouija Multi-Pattern Cipher Key, then it would mean that this chest was the treasure left by Feng. ——After all, Nemeti confirmed that the Ouija Multi-Pattern Cipher Key was the key to unlocking the treasure.
Since this chest did not use the Ouija Multi-Pattern Cipher Key, Angel had reason to speculate that this might not be the treasure left by Feng.
Angel lifted his head, gazing at the glowing sphere above: “Could it be that the treasure is really inside the sphere?”
Angel sighed, lowering his head to look at the exaggerated treasure chest.
Regardless of where the treasure is, it’s time to see what’s really inside this chest.
“Since it’s not the treasure left by Feng, perhaps, this chest is just a jack-in-the-box?” Given Angel’s understanding of Feng’s character, it’s very likely that this chest is like a circus clown’s jack-in-the-box, where upon opening, a spring-loaded clown full of prankish flavor would pop out.
With the anticipation of possibly being pranked, Angel followed the slightly opened seam, slowly lifting the lid of the chest.
Contrary to expectations, the spring-loaded clown did not appear, and there was no surprise inside the chest as Angel had imagined. Instead, an item was placed inside, quite ordinarily.
A painting, set within an antique bronze carved frame.
With the light overhead, Angel could vaguely see the bright colors on the painting, but what it specifically depicted needed to be taken out of the chest to be known.
Angel extended four tendrils of mental power, placing them on each side of the painting, gently lifting it out of the chest.
Before seeing the content of the painting, Angel speculated that given Feng’s character, if the chest wasn’t turned into a jack-in-the-box, could it be intended to use the painting for a prank?
However, when the painting was laid before Angel, he was momentarily stunned.
The content of the painting looked very orderly, with no trace of prankishness.
In the painting, the largest background was a deep blue night sky full of stars.
Beneath the dazzling starry sky was a pitch-black shadow without detail, which looked somewhat like an endless wilderness. Within this wilderness, there stood a large tree.
If one were to name the painting in straightforward language, it would be “Starry Sky and Tree.”
If named in abstract terms, Angel would call it “Insignificance and Solitude.” Although the tree occupied a significant portion of the painting, compared to the vast starry sky, it appeared very small; in the entire boundless wilderness, only it stood alone, adding a taste of solitude.
After appreciating it for a moment, Angel thought the painting was quite good in itself.
“Did Feng paint this?” Angel mused: “If Feng painted this, why would he place it in this chest?”
Just from the painting itself, aside from some personal emotional atmosphere, there wasn’t anything particularly noteworthy.
Angel looked closely again, trying to find hidden content within the painting.
After a while, his gaze fixed on the area beneath the large tree. Although the shadow of the tree was depicted very clearly, for some reason, he always felt as if there was a figure standing under the tree, just that due to the perspective, it was impossible to see what lay behind the tree.
Angel found this thought somewhat absurd, but once it emerged, it couldn’t be dismissed.
As Angel entertained the notion that “there might be someone standing behind the large tree,” the scene in the painting suddenly began to change.
The perspective of the painting started to slowly shift.
In just a brief second, the scene shifted by 90 degrees.
The starry sky remained as dazzling as ever, the wilderness as vast and empty, and the tree appeared unchanged in its entirety. The only difference was that, beneath this tree, a figure had indeed appeared.
The 90-degree shifted perspective allowed a clear view of the back of the tree, and there, a human silhouette was indeed leaning against the tree, gazing up at the starry sky…
The sudden change in the scene was surprising enough; what was even more astonishing was that the unfolding of the scene was exactly as Angel had imagined.
Angel could hardly believe his eyes, staring intently at the painting, with a single question in his mind: was it the hint of the painting that came first, or did the change in the scene stem from his own thoughts?
As Angel pondered in astonishment, the painting underwent another transformation.
The originally flat scene suddenly began to ripple, as if a droplet had fallen onto the serene surface of water.
Ripples spread from the inside of the painting outwards, one circle after another.
Eventually, at the center of the ripples, a pitch-black point formed. An irresistible force of suction emanated from this dark point.
This process was incredibly rapid, and the suction seemed to possess an unstoppable nature, such that even when Angel activated various defensive measures and even opened the Gateway of Fantasy, he was still drawn in by this force.
He was directly sucked into the black point.
As Angel’s figure entered the black point, the stone platform returned to calm, as if everything had reverted to its original state, as though nothing had ever changed…
Chapter 2285 Path of Light <TOC> Chapter 2287 World Within the Painting