The Spring of Immortality was actually more of a project than anything else.
And the Arcanists had been the first ones to propose it.
During the height of the Arcana Kingdom’s power, they had proposed all kinds of unique ideas, attempting to bring them all to fruition.
There was one topic in particular that had caught the attention of all the Intelligent Races — the plans for the Spring of Immortality.
The theoretical framework of the Spring of Immortality was quite simple. According to Arcana Master Clega Yind’s research, Origin Energy would take on a liquid form when compressed to a high enough density. This was the theory behind the existence of the Origin Energy Sea. As such, his hope was to invent some kind of instrument that could store Origin Energy in this liquid form.
In other words, he wanted to emulate the sea of Origin Energy by creating an Origin Energy Well.
This way, he would have a boundless store of Origin Energy for him to use.
This was the initial concept behind the Spring of Immortality.
However, the project began to change as it progressed.
It was quickly deemed wholly impractical. The difficulty of creating an Origin Energy Well wasn’t any less than utilizing the Origin Sea in the first place. If a source of liquid Origin Energy already existed, then why would anyone try to create a replica that was just as hard to use? That was truly an idiotic endeavor.
However, there were others who took this concept in new directions.
Then someone discovered that liquified Origin Energy was extremely malleable and could take on many different forms.
As such, the Spring of Immortality’s true purpose was not in its unlimited energy source but rather in its extreme adaptability.
It could serve as a foundation for Origin Energy to transform even more drastically.
With this philosophy in mind, a more concrete plan for the Spring of Immortality began to take shape.
However, this research remained unfinished even through the Arcana Kingdom’s decline.
Once the Arcana Kingdom was toppled, the other Intelligent Races divvied up the spoils. Among them, the Astrals had gained the most knowledge because of their love for it and their great interest in the profound secrets of this world.
The Astrals had then established their Immortal Kingdom, and the Astral leader was crowned Achilles the Immortal. His viceroy was, naturally, Diomedes.
In the 1000th year of the New Star Era, Diomedes restarted the Spring of Immortality project, hoping to finish the Arcanists’ research.
Because of the Astrals’ unique form of existence, their physicality had always been questioned.
They themselves believed that they were genuine lifeforms. Their bodies were merely formed from pure consciousness, making them fundamentally different from ghosts.
But the other races believed that the Astrals were ghosts!
At first, there were no such things as ghosts, but the Dark Astrals had created a new lifeform, ghosts, in their own image. Their actions had fulfilled what was, at that point in time, nothing more than a fairy tale.
The Astrals could not accept this cla.s.sification. They had converted themselves to live longer and better lives, not for them to have a “better death.”
Even though this appeared to be nothing more than semantics on the surface, it was still an important distinction. Their very reason for existence was being targeted and attacked. Just as laws were vital to a country and teachings to a sect, a race’s view of themselves was of utmost importance as it touched upon the very reason why they existed in the first place.
The most obvious problem with accepting the label of ‘ghosts’ was that many Astrals would have started wondering whether there was any point to living a life such as this.
This kind of self-doubting, fatalistic viewpoint could quickly lead to the demise of an entire race.
Diomedes had discovered a theory written down in the Spring of Immortality’s research records — the Origin Energy creation theory.
The theory of Origin Energy creation had been initially proposed by one of the Arcana Kingdom’s Arcana Masters, Kader. Kader specialized in Origin Energy research, and during the course of his studies, he had discovered that one of the unique properties of liquified Origin Energy was that it could create organic matter.
As such, he developed the following hypothesis: of the many components that were needed to produce life, Origin Energy was involved in the formation of those components.
Based on this starting point, he was able to deduce a fascinating conclusion: the creatures living on the Primordial Continent were intrinsically related to the Origin Energy Sea. It was Origin Energy that had created everything in the beginning, including a variety of different lifeforms.
And the reason why some lifeforms were stronger and others weaker was because some organisms had been created with a purer life essence, while others had received a muddied version. The former had naturally become those of the Origin Races and the latter the Intelligent Races.
If he was able to discover the principles behind Origin Energy creation, then it would be possible for the Astrals to obtain their own physical form.
This was the Origin Energy creation theory,
Unfortunately, the Arcana Kingdom had been too prolific in its research at the time. Many different ideas were constantly being disseminated, and Kader’s proposal hadn’t attracted much attention. It had been quickly swallowed up by the pa.s.sage of time and forgotten.
Until the fateful day it fell into Diomedes’ hands.
In it, Diomedes saw a possibility for the Astrals to regain their purpose for living.
He was going to use this theory to revitalize the Astrals!
This was a very grandiose and risky train of thought, but Diomedes believed that it was possible.
For the Astrals, who had forsaken their corporeal form, their own bodies were the perfect research material. There was no need to overly treasure them.
And with that, their plans to create the Spring of Immortality were set in motion. Actually, it was probably more accurate to refer to it as the Spring of Life. Its primary function was to strengthen a lifeform at a fundamental level. Of course, the Astrals could also use it to weaken their opponents — as long as they were able to master and control the principle of Origin Energy creation theory, they would be able to perform all kinds of modifications on different lifeforms.
If the Astrals had succeeded, then they might have become the next ultra-powerful race to rule the continent. They would have had the Origin Beasts’ control over Origin Energy, an undying body, and a powerful consciousness. Perhaps it wouldn’t even be too much to consider them the perfect creature.
Fortunately, they had not succeeded.
Diomedes had disappeared.
As the primary driver behind the Spring of Immortality project, Diomedes’ disappearance dealt a serious blow to the project’s progress. The Spring of Immortality had immediately found itself stranded, which eventually led to its failure.
And because this project was a failure, the Astrals didn’t bother keeping it a secret. It was unsurprising that the humans also knew quite a bit about its specifics.
Ahd now, Diomedes had unexpectedly appeared here, in the Abyss.
When Su Chen realized that the other party was the Diomedes of old, he immediately thought of how involved Diomedes had been with the Spring of Immortality project. It was only natural that Su Chen quickly put two and together.
Upon hearing Su Chen’s words, Diomedes was obviously surprised as well. “The Deep Sea Sorrow? What is that? What is going on in the outside world?”
“It seems that you’re still unaware. Why don’t I tell you how we reached this point first?” Su Chen didn’t immediately tell Diomedes what had happened in the outside world. After all, he was still an Astral elder, and it was hard to say what kind of schemes he was hiding in his heart. If Su Chen explained everything to him, then it was entirely possible that Diomedes would begin to scheme against him.
When Diomedes saw Su Chen’s behavior, he understood what Su Chen was trying to do. “The fact that you were able to enter an area that Imbly painstakingly created proves that you are no ordinary individual. But don’t worry. I will tell you everything you want to know, as long as you answer me one thing.”
“Imbly? This is Daniel Imbly’s creation?” Su Chen interrupted. “I thought it was Corniga’s.”
Daniel Imbly was the root of the Oceanids’ torment. He was an Arcanist who had fought with the Oceanids for thousands of years, and was Corniga’s teacher.
“Corniga? Oh, you mean that Arcanist child. Yes, he partic.i.p.ated as well. Even though he suffered from an incurable disease, his resilience was quite impressive. Without his help, I wouldn’t have fallen into this state either,” Diomedes sighed.
“An incurable disease?”
“Yes. That child, Corniga, had at least three kinds of incurable illnesses and seven serious wounds. His eyes had gone blind, a third of his brain had been gouged out, and both of his legs were lame…… It’s quite a miracle that he was even alive. But yes, he was the one who completed all of the arrangements here.”
Su Chen was taken aback. “How did he do it?”
Diomedes shrugged. “Little by little. He spent all of his time completing his teacher’s wishes and sealin me here, using me as the converter for the Spring of Immortality. This spring is capable of producing vast amounts of vitality that accelerates the growth of any nearby organism. When Daniel Imbly left this task to his disciple, I thought he was crazy. He could have found any other normal Arcanist to fulfill his mission, but he chose that crippled child instead. This kind of enterprise is extremely difficult for even a healthy individual to pull off. Unexpectedly, it was this cripple that somehow managed to complete Daniel’s work on his own.”
“That is quite unprecedented,” Su Chen muttered to himself.
History had given Daniel Imbly an accurate account, but no one knew the sacrifice that Corniga had made as well. Actually, no one even knew that he was crippled in the first place.
No wonder he hadn’t come up with any other inventions in his lifetime.
The youth had spent his entire life to get this one thing right.
After a moment’s thought, Su Chen asked, “Weren’t they the ones who put you into this situation in the first place? How come it doesn’t sound like you hate them?”
“Put me?” Diomedes was momentarily taken aback before he realized what Su Chen meant and chuckled, “You think Imbly and Corniga schemed against me and put me into this state?”
“Is that not so?”
“No, no, no,” Diomedes chuckled. “Not at all! They were helping me.”
“Helping you?”
“Yes.” Diomedes sighed. “That happened a long time ago, and I can recount the story to you. But kid, I’ve already told you all this. Shouldn’t you tell me about what’s happening in the outside world? Is that not fair?”
“Fine. What do you want to know?” Su Chen estimated that he still had time and nodded.
“What is the current situation of the outside world? And what’s all this talk about the Deep Sea Sorrow anyways?”
“It’s pretty similar to before, but the Ill.u.s.trious Divine Dynasty has fallen, replaced by the humans’ Seven Kingdoms……” Su Chen broadly described before moving onto the Deep Sea Sorrow.
However, he left out the destruction of the Reproductive Temple.
He didn’t want to overly stimulate Diomedes.
“So that’s how it is,” Diomedes said. “So the current Astral leader is the third one, and he is still holed up in the Wanlai Caves? It seems like they haven’t made any progress whatsoever.”
“Everyone else is just advancing,” Su Chen said.
“That is true. I cannot sense the aura of a bloodline on you, but you are already at the Spirit Burning Realm. While I was alive, the humans were still pouring all their efforts into studying bloodlines. Have they reached the point where they no longer need the support of a bloodline anymore?”
“Only certain individuals,” Su Chen shrugged. “So can we talk about you now? Why is it that sealing you here is actually helping you?”
“Oh, that’s quite a long story.”
Previous Chapter