The child carried a kettle over and squatted down to look for the ant, but he couldn't find it.
His mother called out from behind him, and he acknowledged her before pouring the kettle over.
The boiling water flowed through the cracks in the floor, but to Lu Yin, it was like a torrential flood that was scalding hot.
He frantically crawled out of the cracks and towards the protruding floorboards.
Soon, he was surrounded by boiling water, and he could only stand on the highest point of a tile.
He had to wait for the water to cool down before he could swim away.
This was the fate of an ant.
Even if he had the ability and courage to carry a thousand kilograms, the difference between him and a child was too great to make up for. It was just like the difference between Lu Yin and the unknown. It seemed like he had the strength to fight against someone who had two laws, but the unknown was far more powerful than that.
Where was this?
A corner of Xiang City?
If he wanted to leave, he had to touch the city gates.
However, he didn't know how to take control of Xiang City. At the very least, an ant couldn't do it.
But if an ant couldn't do it, then what could he do?
Lu Yin looked around.
Aside from himself.
There were definitely other creatures that had entered Xiang City, but they couldn't leave. Snails, turtles.
Ants.
Were they all living creatures?
Countless huge droplets of water fell down.
Pedestrians stepped on the boiling water and walked away while cursing, but Lu Yin was drenched in water.
Where did these people come from?
Had they always lived in Xiang City?
Or was it a constant cycle like the Monolith World?
He listened to the noise, and this wasn't the first time he'd seen the streets from this perspective. When he'd gone to the Frigid Immortal Sect to participate in the Sky Beyond Heaven trial, he'd become a grasshopper jumping on the streets and died many times. He'd experienced the commotion from the perspective of a grasshopper, and he'd experienced being trampled to death time and time again.
However, he'd faced the same person at that time: the Frigid Immortal Sect's ancestor, Bai Wangyuan. Bai Wangyuan had used the Sky Beyond Heaven trial to imprint his invincibility onto the cultivators who'd taken the final step. Anyone who could reach that step was no ordinary person, and Bai Wangyuan wanted them to feel fear. He wanted them to be trampled to death time and time again until they all bowed their heads before him.
Lu Yin had relied on the Primogenitor's Scripture to break through that situation.
This time, it was different, as this was a manifestation of Xiang City's inner thoughts. It wasn't to intimidate them, but rather to allow them to see themselves clearly. Lu Yin didn't know anything else.
However, the fact that Xiang City was able to do this was truly terrifying. It was equivalent to crippling the cultivation of an expert who was compatible with two universal laws. This was the true power of a Suppressing Artifact Turbid Treasure.
If he was trampled to death, would he really die here?
Lu Yin wasn't sure, as Che's words might not be true. The Heaven Bearing Immortality's cultivation was too weak, and it couldn't represent him, but Lu Yin didn't want to test it out.
Finally, the boiling water cooled down, and he quickly swam over. Following the cracks in the ground, he walked to the center of the street and looked into the distance, searching for the city gate.
He couldn't see it. A city was already huge for a human, let alone an ant.
Even if he couldn't find it, he could still listen.
Thinking of this, he moved closer to the peddler and waited quietly. When the peddler and the pedestrians talked, they would definitely mention the city gate.
And so, Lu Yin waited quietly in the cracks in the ground next to the peddler.
Day after day passed, and Lu Yin didn't know how much time had passed. On one particular day, the sun was setting, and the shadows on the ground were twisting. Lu Yin glanced at them and assumed that they were just leaves being blown by the wind, so he didn't pay them much attention. However, the twisting of the shadows became more frequent and even more enchanting.
He turned around and looked at the wall. The twisting shadow came from a green leaf, and when Lu Yin looked over, the leaf twisted even more exaggeratedly, as if it had gone crazy.
This was definitely a living creature.
But how could a living creature turn into a leaf?
This was horrifying. If that was the case, then the next time he entered, he would become a leaf and be stuck in one place. How would he leave?
Lu Yin's first thought was that this might be a trap set up by Che.
The leaf twisted crazily, almost tearing itself apart as it greeted Lu Yin.
Lu Yin hesitated for a moment, but then he climbed up the wall until he wasn't too far away from the leaf.
"It's an outsider, right? An outsider?"
"That's right."
"I knew it! This is great! Please help me leave this place! I'm stuck here, and I don't know what's wrong with that creature, but it stuck a piece of bamboo into my body and I can't move."
"You could move before?"
"Yes."
"Aren't you a leaf?
Even if you can move, it's probably because of the wind. "
"No, I can move on my own. Although I'm a leaf, I can still move. Looks like you're new here. Let me tell you, I've seen chairs move on their own before, and those creatures were so scared that they ran away. They said that it was haunted, but in the end, the chair was burned.
What a pity. "Lu Yin understood. It seemed that one could move no matter what they turned into in Xiang City. Xiang City wasn't a land of death, and there was always a chance of survival, even if they were turned into chairs.
Wait, what could turn into a chair?
Whose inner form was a chair?
"Hurry up and save me! I've been trapped here for too long. Although time passes in this strange place, my state of self remains unchanged. I'm not hungry or thirsty, and I don't feel any of the signs of decay that I've felt before."
"What's up with these people?"
"People?
You mean these creatures?
How do you know they're people?
Do you know them? "
"I'm the one asking you. Be honest if you want to leave."
"Okay, okay, okay. I understand. You're asking about these people, right? What's wrong with them?"
"Have they ever changed?"
"What do you mean?"
"Grow old, or die."
"Yes."
"Are you sure?"
"I'm sure. I've become this peddler's family heirloom. It was his grandfather's grandfather's grandfather who fixed me here."
This place looked like a normal world, so these people should all be real. "How did you get in?" Lu Yin asked. "What's wrong with you?" "You're right.
"I don't know. I turned into a leaf when I woke up."
"Was it Che who brought you in?
Or did you find this city on your own? "
"I really don't know. I beg you, please save me. Even if you have to let me go, I don't want to be fixed here anymore. Actually, I'm envious of that chair. If I'd known earlier, I would've been burned instead of staying here forever."
"Are there any other creatures here besides you?"
"Many, but ever since I was fixed here, I couldn't see you anymore. The only reason I could recognize you was because an ant couldn't stay still for such a long time. It's not normal, so I guessed that you must be a transformation of some creature."
Lu Yin looked at the leaf. "Another creature?
Looks like you know more than one type of creature. "
"Yes, we've even talked about it before, but I haven't seen anyone since I was fixed here," the leaf said sadly.
Leaf had talked about many creatures, but he probably hadn't met any humans. Otherwise, he would've known about them. Or rather, he hadn't met any creatures that knew about human civilization.
Che had said that he'd thrown many creatures here to test things out. Perhaps Leaf's civilization was one of them.
To Che, it was just a test, but to Leaf, it was an eternal torture.
Lu Yin wouldn't forget that Che was an existence that had wiped out many civilizations in the universe. Although he was polite and had even said that he would return Xiang City, that didn't mean that he was benevolent.
There were no creatures in the universe that were absolutely benevolent.
Lu Yin suddenly thought of Yi Tian Que's master, an existence that yearned for truth, kindness, and beauty. Could it be benevolent?
Lu Yin stopped thinking about it and didn't rush to save Leaf. He could still hear the merchant's conversation, so he waited for the right direction.
"By the way, do you know where the city gate is?"
"Seems like it."
"That's enough," Lu Yin interrupted. Seems like it?
That wouldn't do. He had to travel so far to find the city gate as an ant, and if he found the wrong one, he would have to cross the city. He didn't know how many dangers he would encounter and how much time he would waste. It was better to listen.
He didn't stay idle during this time and started gnawing on the bamboo. Leaf had told him many things, but he couldn't take Leaf with him. An ant carrying a leaf was too big of a target, so he'd just let it drift away with the wind.
Bamboo wasn't easy to gnaw on, and Lu Yin only managed to gnaw half of it after ten days.
He continued.
A few more days passed, and on this particular night, many people were running around as if chasing something.
Lu Yin watched as a slipper jumped wildly on the street and fell into deep thought for a long time.
"We definitely can't run away, we'll be burned again," Leaf said.
Lu Yin realized that Xiang City was too terrifying; there were even creatures that could turn into slippers. What kind of personality was this?
What kind of creature was this?
He actually started to panic.
Crack!
The bamboo snapped and fell to the ground. Leaf broke free of the bamboo in midair, and a gust of wind blew it into the distance.
It was overjoyed, "Thank you, thank you!"
Lu Yin watched as Leaf was swept into the sky by the wind. He didn't know what its fate would be, so he decided to continue waiting.
Another half a month later, Lu Yin heard the answer he wanted. The city gate was to the right, and it was at the end of the street.
He ran along the cracks in the walls for more than ten days before finally seeing the city gate. He continued.
Lu Yin's figure appeared outside Xiang City, and he was greeted by the curious gazes of Master Grass and Eternity Bearer.
"How was it?" Even Master Grass was curious as to what Lu Yin had become.
Lu Yin answered calmly, "Titan."
Master Grass: "??"
"It's an ant."
Master Grass was speechless. Who would have thought of this? But since it was an ant, it made sense.
"It's better than my snail," Eternity Bearer said.
Lu Yin glanced at it. This fellow was lucky that it hadn't been trampled to death, but Lu Yin had nearly been trampled to death.
Compared to a snail, an ant's survival ability was much stronger. It was a smaller target and could run faster.
"We'll just have to wait for Ba Yue next," Master Grass said.
Lu Yin asked how much time had passed and found that time in Xiang City flowed at the same rate as in the outside world.
He didn't know what Ba Yue had become.
Time passed day by day, and soon, two years had passed. Ba Yue still hadn't come out; she couldn't have died, right?
Lu Yin had brought Master Grass and Eternity Bearer back to the three universes a year ago. Only the heavens knew how long Ba Yue would be trapped inside, but Leaf had been trapped for a very, very long time. Several generations of people had died, so it had to be at least a few hundred years.
He hadn't asked the average lifespan of the people in Xiang City, but even if it was a hundred years, it would still be a few hundred years.