Chapter 1181 — Words of Experience

It was Amoen, shuffling beside them, who responded. He tossed a card casually onto the table; its face depicted layer upon layer of indescribable vortices and phantoms, every line and pattern shifting moment to moment. "I have said before that the 'deep sea' is not a definite 'place.' It... is simply the deep sea, the lowest layer of all things. Everything in the world can be mapped onto the deep sea, and naturally everything in the deep sea can be mapped onto the world. Though among all these mappings, the 'distance' between the deep sea and the Shadow Realm... is indeed somewhat shorter than elsewhere.

"The currents of mortal thought form projections in the deep sea, and those projections sketch out the shadows of the gods. This process is invisible to the present world, but in a place like the Shadow Realm... as I said, the 'distance' is shorter."

Listening to Amoen's ambiguous description, Gao Yang felt a sudden stir in his heart and nearly wanted to leave the neural network at once to gaze upon the depths of the Shadow Realm from the Courtyard of Defiance—but it was only a fleeting impulse. It was not as though he had never been to the Shadow Realm, but there he had seen only eternal, unchanging chaotic darkness: vast, turbid masses of indescribable form drifting and shifting against a dim backdrop, while lightning-like fissures appeared and vanished in an instant. There was only this monotonous, repeating scenery, and in that monotonous sky he had discovered nothing at all.

He had never seen the currents of thought, never seen the radiance spilling from the divine realms, never seen the trajectories of the gods—and of course never seen that "deep sea" that seemed forever hidden in mist.

Of course, it was also possible that he had seen it—but could not understand it, could not process it.

"You want to go look at the Shadow Realm now?" Amoen seemed to see through Gao Yang's thoughts, a smile surfacing on his aged face. "Don't bother. You won't see it. Even if you followed Myrmina to a deeper place, you still wouldn't see it... That is not something the visual organs and nervous system of your present mortal body can recognize and comprehend. It is supersensory information diffusion, requiring a mode of perception beyond the senses—in short, you would need the same perspective and form of life as ours."

"...All right," Gao Yang nodded slowly, setting the matter aside for the moment and returning to the previous topic. "Anyway, from your attitude... it seems you don't support the Typhonians' bold move?"

"So that 'ripple' was the Typhonians' handiwork?" Myrmina was somewhat surprised. "That I didn't expect... I had assumed only you Cecilians could pull off something so audacious."

Amoen, meanwhile, answered Gao Yang's question: "What we feel is mostly worry—worry that this overly risky move will bring unforeseen consequences. For a bold plan that already involves digging into the secrets of a divine realm, even the slightest accident means utter disaster... To put it plainly, we dare not gamble."

"This is a matter in which we truly have no confidence at all," Myrmina continued. "Gods cannot analyze themselves, so we have no idea what will really happen if you step into the God of War's divine realm. On any other matter we could offer advice and counsel with all our might, but on this one alone... we cannot think of a single helpful answer."

Gao Yang's expression grew steadily more serious. Never had he seen Myrmina and Amoen display such emotion. These two gods, no matter how thorny the problem they faced in daily life, always offered some opinion, and they themselves never showed hesitation or weakness—now their reaction made Gao Yang realize only one thing: the risk of exploring the God of War's divine realm... might be greater than he had imagined.

After bowing his head in thought for a long while, Gao Yang finally looked up. "By your guess, what would be the worst consequence of this?"

"That truly cannot be guessed—it is a blind spot in our knowledge as gods," Myrmina sighed helplessly. But after a few seconds' thought she still offered her guess. "The worst case might be even worse than the expedition team being wiped out on the spot—failure would not only bring death, but might also bring the fallen God of War back. After all, a divine realm and its god are two sides of one whole. Though the God of War is dead as a god, as the divine realm of the God of War's domain... in a sense, it is still 'alive.'"

Gao Yang's eyes went wide in an instant. "A mortal expedition could cause a divine realm that is already dying to become 'active' again?"

"It's only a guess..." Myrmina said at once. "It's actually completely unfounded..."

Gao Yang gave a light sigh. "All right—in any case, no matter what, I will give careful consideration to Typhon's plan..."

He had barely spoken half his sentence when a familiar voice suddenly came from nearby, interrupting his conversation with Amoen and Myrmina: "On this matter, my attitude is the exact opposite of these two juniors."

Gao Yang turned at once toward the sound. Under the clear daylight he saw a figure wreathed in a pale golden halo rapidly growing distinct in the air. He saw that signature golden hair trailing down to her ankles, that pale golden, gorgeous gown, and that beautiful yet awe-inspiring face.

It was a figure by no means unfamiliar, yet he still needed a moment to react.

After all, he had grown used to the other party propping herself up in the house in the form of an egg, reading the paper and drinking tea. Seeing her true form so suddenly was actually rather disorienting...

Enya, for her part, could not guess what was going through Gao Yang's mind. She simply walked straight to the golden oak, sat down across from Gao Yang and between Amoen and Myrmina, then glanced left and right at these two true "juniors" and repeated what she had just said: "My attitude is the exact opposite of these two juniors."

"You mean... exploring the God of War's divine realm?" Gao Yang had not expected Enya to appear so suddenly, but after a brief surprise he focused on her words. "You think the risk of this matter is acceptable?"

"We need to be bold for once," Enya said, her gaze turning to Myrmina on her left. "Myrmina, Goddess of Magic... you possess both the courage and the caution of spellcasters exploring the unknown, but on this matter, your caution and Amoen's have both overridden reason. I know why—because you know how hard it has been for this cycle of civilization to reach this point in 'analyzing the gods.' You do not wish to see this hard-won flame of hope extinguished. But believe me, I wish even less than you to see this cycle of civilization fail.

"Because I have waited far longer than the two of you combined.

"Mirmina, you fear that the mortals' expeditions will reawaken the divine realm of the God of War, and may even bring the fallen God of War back again. On that point I can give you my assurance: the return of a god is no such simple matter—especially when the original body has already perished and the divinity has already dispersed. A 'god' does not come back so easily."

"...Are you so certain?" Mirmina still seemed hesitant. "After all, we all know that the life-form of a 'god' is very peculiar..."

"I have experience," Enya cut Mirmina off, her tone utterly certain. "I have died."