Free Web NovelChapter 586: Chapter 82: Dissection
June 7, 2018
The core region of the Nether Sea, area of temporal anomalies, within the captain’s chamber of the expedition flagship.
As the reading deepened, the content of the testament became increasingly bizarre.
"Regarding myself, I won’t elaborate here, as those who read this letter are likely not interested in my personal life. However, if you are indeed interested, feel free to view Attachment 1: My Struggle."
"Back to the main topic, the temporal anomalies in this area once plunged us all into a desperate situation. Yet, it was in this despair that the seeds of hope began to take root. When we all realized that death was inevitable and irreversible, our initial panic gradually faded away. Since the situation couldn’t get any worse, whatever we did next would be an attempt to salvage it. In such an atmosphere, the wisdom of the survivors began to surge, with all sorts of incredible conjectures being proposed and verified. Our understanding of time and space entered unprecedented territory. In just a few years—although, in the depths of the Nether Sea, where the concept of time is already blurred, it might have been decades—we achieved amazingly significant results. This testament is one of our achievements. Using immature technology and extremely scarce resources, we developed a simple Space-Time Anchor, anchoring this jade stone at a fixed space-time coordinate, immune to decay even after centuries or millennia. However, the invention of this technology came too late, as all our limited resources had been exhausted on preliminary experiments, leaving no means to continue experiments to find a way to attach the Space-Time Anchor to living beings."
"For technical documentation on the Space-Time Anchor, see Attachment 2. Under Master Zou’s guidance, we all collaboratively completed and successfully verified the technology of the Space-Time Anchor. But truthfully, by the time future generations see this testament, it is likely an era when Xiangzhou’s Immortal Dao techniques are highly advanced enough to counteract temporal anomalies. Our Space-Time Anchor technology might appear outdated to them, but nonetheless, we, these beaten remnants, once struggled and strived in such a cruel environment, and I believe it deserves some commemoration."
"Aside from the Space-Time Anchor, there is my own story, which is perhaps the topic of genuine interest to future readers. The gossip is detailed in Attachment 1, which fully explains a centuries-long cultivation journey and leadership experience, showing that they do not aid in changing one’s gender cognition or sexual orientation. But the truly important issue is not whether my psychological gender is male or female. Instead, it’s the moment of despair, when all experts and scholars had succumbed to the erosion of temporal anomalies, gradually driving them insane or to death, that I conceived a wild, unrestrained idea in the final moments of my life."
"I want to start over."
"There is a popular saying in Xiangzhou, which might appear ancient to you successors: ’I regret nothing in my life.’ Objectively, my life is indeed without regrets. Born into a prestigious family, I was cherished as a treasure at a young age. In the golden years of my life, I was valued by the Saint Sect and absorbed as the next Sect Leader, reaching the pinnacle of Xiangzhou Continent. For decades, I worked diligently and did not disappoint anyone’s expectations. Although my performance as Sect Leader was not flawless, I basically fulfilled my duties, ensuring Xiangzhou continued on its path of prosperity. While I personally don’t care about my posthumous reputation, I always thought that history would recognize my contributions, until I planned my last expedition before retirement, the Nether Sea exploration."
"Before this, including myself, no one on Xiangzhou Continent realized the immense risk lurking in the depths of the Nether Sea. Although countless cultivators have disappeared in the depths of the sea over the past thousand years, we could always find various optimistic reasons to explain it, such as negligence, occasional environmental changes, or insufficient cultivation in the past, compared to the now highly developed Immortal Dao civilization, which is incomparable... In hindsight, ’Joy ends in sorrow,’ a phrase aptly describing the arrogant people like us who ignore the might of nature."
"In the final moments of my life, I indeed felt some regret. My own death is insignificant; I was over a hundred years old when I joined the expedition. Although I had many years left, my prime years in Immortal Dao cultivation and as Sect Leader were over, and the remaining time was merely an elder’s lingering, lacking in merit. So when I joined the expedition, I decided that if danger arose, I would sacrifice my life to protect others..."
"I was too arrogant, thinking that with the best Immortal Dao cultivation in the world, I could control everything. Yet, in the face of nature’s power, humanity remains weak and powerless. My own death is insignificant, but burdening the expedition team truly filled me with regret. This team gathered the academic elites of various families and sects, and nurturing these elites cannot be as natural as the succession of the Sect Leader of the Saint Sect. Losing them would deal a severe blow to the entire academic research of Xiangzhou. Thus, I have thought more than once, if I could have another chance, I would not carelessly delve into the Nether Sea; at least I would scout the path myself to protect others. This feeling of regret entangled me for a long time, giving me an important insight as my life drew to a close."
