act31side

Many thanks...

Everyone's safe now, so hold onto me and I'll bring you over too!

(Hiss)

There's more of them?!

Don't get distracted...

You're using your Arts too much.

No need to worry about me... the students of the Tianshi Bureaus aren't as weak as you think.

The duo work together to repel a few monsters, but as they dispatch the beasts the vertical disparity of both plates escalates before their eyes.

The distance of about fifteen meters seems a unsurmountable chasm to the two.

Damn it!

Are we... stuck here...?

This plate is about to fall, so we'd best prepare for impact... Find somewhere with soft soil to hide it, and we might...

I never noticed till now that Dahuang's plates were built so high...

Zuo Le... How many people did we save?

Don't worry, I did a headcount earlier and everyone who was here has already made it over.

Cheer up, we just have to find a way to make it back alive, and this rescue mission will be a complete success.

The legends always say as long as everyone stands together, we'll make it through any crisis, no matter how dire it gets...

Everyone's been taking care of me all these years... I've never managed to pay them back, but today...

He Sheng struggles to finish his words, and Zuo Le realizes a bright red stain is seeping through from the other's white shirt.

You're hurt?! When did you—I'll stop the bleeding!

Zuo Le, let me give you something.

Right now?!

This is my Tianshi apparatus with important data inside. You have to keep it safe, no matter what happens.

Alright... I'll take it.

He Sheng ties an Originium device tightly onto Zuo Le's hand. He hits the switch, and the little thing rapidly unfolds into a kite.

What are you doing?!

I was hard on you before, but I've realized... you have a good heart.

So I can't, leave you here...

The youth exerts the last vestiges of his strength, and a gust of wind rises. Zuo Le flies into the air carried by the kite before he can even react.

The plate below shrinks bit by bit, along with He Sheng's silhouette. But Zuo Le can make out the shapes of a few remaining monsters on the field rushing towards the shrinking figure.

(Menacing howl)

I don't know where you came from...

But I'm not scared...

Huh...?

Oink—?

You awake? Hey, wake up!

Wei, you hear that?

Seems like he's still breathing. Make way.

I...

Mianmian?

(Concerned nudging)

Stop... licking me... I don't have any treats on me...

He Sheng opens his eyes to find himself lying in a field, surrounded by a plethora of worried faces.

He seems to have returned to a day he does not remember, the first day he came to this land.

Is... everyone alright?

I...

Everyone was about to look for you when Mianmian suddenly showed up with you in tow.

But, why did you—

...Thank you for saving me.

The monsters... did we beat them?

Yes...

The dark clouds scatter, the bloody afterglow fades. Another sunset sprinkles a golden twilight all over the fields.

Is... is it over?

It's over...

We won, right?

What Shennong did then, we've managed it too...

Indeed...

Someone's managed to get the energy core under control, we did it...

Looking back at it all, isn't this the birth of a new legend?

Now that things have died down, we should head back...

Wait! If my eyes don't deceive me...

That's... Plate A-5... the <i>Wanqing</i> experimental plot!

In an overgrown field nearby stands a single rice stalk.

Zuo Le! Help me out!

Why do you want to go back? It's still dangerous!

What is it?

It worked! We did it!

Wanqing, the Ten Thousand Qing of Fertile Fields... all's not lost! There's still hope for us!

The youth happily carries the rice plant, with a slight lunacy to his laughter.

What exactly...?

You'll probably just say 'You wouldn't understand, even if I told you.', right...?

I'll just take you at your word...

For these creatures to grow, they must endure a calamity. Those that survive will break out of their cocoons; those that do not will have their lives quietly snuffed out in the darkness.

No living being can escape the cycle of destruction and rebirth.

What exactly is he planning...?

The <i>Feranmut's Heart...?</i>

We meet again.

Your presence here must mean you've figured out my plans, Lord Zuo?

What are you doing?

Weaving, as you can see.

Weaving what?

Something for sale once it's completed, of course.

For sale to whom?

It's standard practice to keep customer information confidential.

What's that... on the cloth?

Scenes from across the country... or perhaps to phrase it in your words, the 'splendor' of Yan?

I spent many years traveling across Yan, visiting every city, and Dahuang is my final stop. Only today do I consider this bolt of cloth complete.

One should use dyes of an appropriate quality for a design this beautiful. Is there any material better than Yan's splendor to dye this weave? My <i>Hundred Scenic Portraits of Great Yan?</i>

Countless bolts of silk and satin seem to descend from the heavens, every bolt a city, a piece of history, a facet of worldly plight.

The nation's splendor? No... It should be the hearts of the people.

Just look at how brilliant the brocade is. All the colors of their souls I've seen.

How could I dislike this mortal realm?

So this is what heaven looks like to those insignificant souls.

For the first time, I walked out of the chaos and void into these vast lands.

Where did I come from, and where am I going?

I still carry memories of that enormous body, and I seem to have some kind of divine power as well as a lifespan that far exceeds those of the masses I see before me.

But like a confused child, I followed the people I saw and imitated what they did.

After a great length of time, I met two teachers.

There is a barren swath of land in the northern reaches of Yan.

I'm trying to reclaim and farm the uncultivated fields there with the locals. It's fun to watch crop after crop grow out of the soil. If you don't know where to go, why don't you come give us a hand?