Chapter 366: Hidden Rules (2/3)
Translator: Strivon
The vibrating cry of the chains diffused throughout the mental plane, continuing endlessly.
But as Luo Nan waited, the familiar dark chains faded away within the core of the living starry sky. A section flashed out of sight, giving Luo Nan no chance to view a concrete form.
"Tsk, has my previous efforts all gone to waste after the star atlas transformation?"
It was hard for Luo Nan to stop his imagination from running when facing an unexpected situation. He tried to use clairvoyance deep inside of the Format Pyramid Star Atlas, but the thought barely stirred when he seemed to see some sort of dissolved structure in the surroundings of the Format Pyramid.
"It's the outer-scribed circle."
This fuzzy outline of a sphere represented the Heaven and Earth Format. It was akin to an inflated bubble, one that had expanded rapidly to its limits, only to pop and shatter. Stars flickered and died within to become part of the depths of the wider starry sky.
Luo Nan wasn't clear on what this phenomenon represented. At the very least, his frame of body and soul—the God Gear and the Soul Gear—had yet to have any bad reactions.
Before the thought could even settle, another structural layer dissolved as well. It represented the tetrahedron. Its situation was quite similar to that of the outer-scribed sphere. Its stars scattered and spread, noiselessly merging into the living starry sky.
The two outer structures cast away and dissolved, becoming two dazzling waves of smoke. They branded the eyes for a moment before disappearing nearly without a trace in the blink of an eye.
Luo Nan's scalp went numb. If this were to happen to the structure representative to the Self-Format, his mental defenses would crumble before anything would happen to the frame of body and soul.
He feared what might come!
While Luo Nan was dealing with an upheaval of emotions, the last remaining structure in the core region, the spherical star atlas silhouette, became like a morphed heart. It suddenly expanded and contracted along with his breathing and heartbeat. Again it expanded, and again it contracted….
The expansion and contraction occurred six times in a row, nearly taking all of Luo Nan's attention and shifting it to this unusual motion. But it was merely almost.
Luo Nan finally paid attention to the outline of the Self-Format. He looked at its expansion and contraction with wide eyes. It swelled greatly, but shrunk only slightly. It began to increase in size in this inconceivable manner.
With a mere few cycles of this expansion and contraction, the spherical star atlas had already expanded to four times its original size. Yet its density didn't shrink because of this expansion. On the contrary, more and more stars could be seen at the core region, gradually forming a silver spherical cluster of stars.
The form of the tetrahedron, the inscribed sphere and the outer-scribed sphere was history by now. The only thing left was the splendid and brilliant cluster of stars. It was akin to being within the real universe, the core of a galaxy formed from thousands of stars.
"It hasn't collapsed. That's good."
Luo Nan was able to find joy within suffering. He was just about to observe the change in greater detail when sounds of the chains rang again from within the splendid and brilliant cluster of stars. He had nearly forgotten about the chains, but it carried a special rhythm to its vibrations. It covered every corner of the scope of his perception.
At the same time, an incorporeal yet boundless power accompanied the sound in its progression. It dispersed everywhere in the starry sky, warping the deep darkness in all directions. It caused the entire sky of stars, the thousands upon thousands of Life Sketches, to spiral around.
Luo Nan was able to sense it clearly; there was a veiled set of rules carried by this incorporeal yet boundless power. The rules came out layer by layer, intruding into practically every single Life Sketch.
A headache and vertigo was Luo Nan's first response.
It was because the first to be impacted by these rules was the general order in all directions of basic space. The living starry sky distorted. What was far became near. What was near became far. What resided up above suddenly plummeted down below…. Luo Nan's understanding was shattered to practically nothing.
This could not continue on.
If an artist were to have the concept of space, one of the most basic concepts in art, blurred, then his drawing would fundamentally no longer contain meaning.
Luo Nan wished to restore the awareness of order. He sensed deep inside the living starry sky, using his interference ability and borrowing the material plane to anchor his position once more.
The Body Gear and God Gear were meshed and rotating for this end. The light of the eyes orifice formed a heart lantern, driving the flow of energy of the inner organs, while also casting its light toward the boundless starry sky of the mental plane.
The subtleties were magnified as a result of his clairvoyance.
The boundless river of space, the thousands upon thousands of constellations—they naturally conformed with the heart lantern of the eyes orifice. Yet each had their differences. Some were dark without light. Some transformed to become especially eye-catching. But their darkness or brightness had nothing to do with the material space when it came to above and below, far and near.
Things were even messier now!
Like riding a tiger, it was already impossible for Luo Nan to get off this ride. He could only continue to use his clairvoyance. The heart lantern gave off a beam of sensing light, touching these glittering targets one after another.
In an instant, the warped physical space no longer had any meaning when it came to distance. The heart lantern of the eyes orifice was like a beam of light descending from outside of space. It came from the mental plane and pierced into the solid world of reality.
Darkness assaulted Luo Nan's senses, but they were pierced though in the blink of an eye. The barrier between the material plane and the mental plane appeared before Luo Nan in this moment, weak and powerless.
The light and shadow of reality interweaved and combined under the illumination of the heart lantern, projecting a fuzzy shadow of a human. The image gradually grew clearer.
Luo Nan was able to see a muscular and powerful black man. He was half-naked, his upper body bare for all to see. The man sat cross-legged in a hidden room in stillness. The clear contours of his muscles trembled subtly, revealing that he wasn't as tranquil as he appeared on the surface.
Luo Nan recognized this man. Black Tiger Baze. Deputy Head of the Knights of Equity in Xia City's Order of Justice. This man was a power ability user with the gift of a super strong fleshly body.
Back during the incident at Frost River Reality, this fellow had been An Weng's dauntless subordinate. He had been an enemy to Luo Nan's party, fighting a dazzling battle against the Ears of Truth Fairchild. But in the end, he became one of An Weng's offerings of sacrifice in order to release the might of the Scales of Truth.
During the sacrifice, the exchange of the chaos element in Baze's body had caused a near-complete collapse of Baze's previous foundation. In the end, he was saved by the merciful Fairchild. Fairchild asked Luo Nan to grant a helping hand, and Luo Nan implemented an order frame, preserving Baze's life.
Baze relied on Luo Nan's order frame in order to live. From this sense, Baze was the same as one of Luo Nan's 'believers.’
But Luo Nan reached the conclusion that he lacked the power to dominate this wild and untamable beast of a man. Luo Nan also lacked the interest to command Baze. There were many times when Luo Nan simply forgot about him.
Luo Nan never thought his subconscious clairvoyance would settle upon this man.
Based on Luo Nan's current acuity, knowledge, and experience, as well as the close relationship between the two, the heart lantern of the eyes orifice fell upon the quintessence of Baze.
The bones and muscles were powerful, yet the internal body was weak. The inner organs were strong, yet the vital energy was scattered. Baze's original frame had collapsed to nothing. It was only by relying on the order bestowed upon him that Baze was able to live to this day.
Baze was still in convalescence nowadays. Even though he had the support of the order frame bestowed upon him by Luo Nan, Luo Nan knew only a smattering of knowledge back then. There were many vague spots in his information. The relevant amendments and adaptations were large undertakings.
Luo Nan could feel Baze's hardships and impatience, but Baze was still as tenacious and callous as ever.
Perhaps the focus of the heart lantern of the eyes orifice had fallen on Baze for too long, for Baze seemed to sense something. His eyelids trembled slightly, before he soon opened his eyes. Luo Nan could see that Baze's thick lips were tilted up a little, carrying a bit of a sneer. It was unknown whom or what this was directed at.
Baze lifted his arms in the next moment, raising his head toward the sky. He sat in this bizarre posture of devoutness, seemingly seeking to embrace a divinity within the empty air.
He opened his mouth to reveal a rough voice, "Come then! Bestow onto me rules! Point me toward the path ahead! And I will repay you with valor and strength!"