The Abyssal Garden: No Room for the Idle

Luo Shenfu paused, "That's pretty much the information. Now it's certain that outside the town is actually a weakened version of the Old Days. The desolation we see is actually a phenomenon where the traces have been erased."

"And within this town, only by entering will we find out."

Xiao Ou couldn't hear Luo Shenfu's analysis and merely asked out of curiosity, "What was the key question you wanted to ask just now?"

Su Qi looked over the area, "Actually, I wanted to ask if the coriander here is tasty?"

"???"

Xiao Ou slapped itself, cursing its own mouth! Why couldn't it just help asking!!

Additionally, it looked around and withdrew its head. It realized a blind spot; these people seemed to have been here for a while, but it and Su Buxian had only been here for half an hour. It intended to mention this question, but now it didn't feel like opening its mouth; after all, it believed Su Buxian would notice.

At this moment, neither of them mentioned the bet they had made earlier. Su Buxian's side was unknown, but it was mentally preparing itself. Who could have imagined that Su Buxian really destroyed the place where the God of Anxiety resided! He had fulfilled the bet!

Oh, mother, it was time to sell itself!

Right at this moment, Su Qi was also stepping toward the town. As soon as he entered, the feeling of desolation instantly disappeared.

This also validated the previous guess.

And after entering, there was a dark passage, hardly able to see anything, with only a sliver of light visible if one moved forward.

"What sort of infrastructure is this, not even streetlights are on." He walked forward, and just as he stepped out of the passage's entrance,

a figure leaned in the shadows, stretched out a hand, and suddenly placed it on Su Qi's shoulder.

"Shh."

"You...."

The person was just about to speak when they suddenly trembled and flipped over.

In the next instant, they were facing down with their shoulder pinned, their face full of shock.

"Not..."

What the heck, such a quick reaction! And despite their own strength, they were utterly powerless to retaliate.

"Give you one second, explain why you're here."

"Wait." The person was a bit stunned, "One second's a bit too short, isn't it?"

"That's true, make it two seconds then." Su Qi lightly lifted his hand, the chill of a deadly threat already at the other's throat.

"1...."

"2...."

Suddenly the person felt dizzy, the tone of Su Qi was unmistakably serious, and they were too abrupt at the beginning. With two seconds almost passing, they quickly cried out!

"Wait, I am one of the Heavenly Destiny People! We are companions."

Su Qi paused slightly.

Heavenly Destiny People?

After coming out from the Singularity World, the Heavenly Destiny People and the Venerables had suddenly disappeared without a trace, with no one knowing where they went.

Now, to appear here all of a sudden, and... Su Qi took a few glances at this person. The traces on their body were very similar to those of the natives; it seemed they too had been here for a long time.

"I am here because of the guidance of the World Tree Leaf; your presence has the aura of Heavenly Destiny People on it, so I wanted to talk to you here..." He seemed somewhat helpless, "Who could anticipate being countered upon a reversal."

To tell the truth, he was still quite shocked; after all, he knew his own strength well, and to be subdued without resistance in an instant was completely beyond his expectations.

However.

This was also a good thing; another strong member had surfaced among the Heavenly Destiny People.

Su Qi paused for a moment, although he did not currently have a World Tree Leaf on him, there was a withered World Tree Seed from the past, and this seemed to be the so-called aura of Heavenly Destiny People, naturally attracting the World Tree Leaf.

"That... my name is Lin Jiang." He introduced himself.

"Alright, Lin Jiang, my name is Su Buxian." Su Qi did not deny whether he was a Heavenly Destiny Person or not, although in reality, he no longer counted as one, but it wasn't a big issue.

When abroad, one's identity is what they make of it.

"So, Brother Lin Jiang, can you tell me what's going on here?"

"Most Heavenly Destiny People actually entered here quite early and have been confronting the Venerables in this place. Brother Su, you are probably part of those who didn't receive the guidance of the World Tree Leaf in time...."

"Additionally, there's another important point." Lin Jiang fell silent, "I've said this much already, Brother Su, could you let me go?"

"Oh, sorry," Su Qi sheathed his knife, and only then the cold gleam receded from Lin Jiang's neck. "I forgot."

"..."

Lin Jiang's collar was released by Su Qi, and finally, he could catch his breath. It was too harsh.

Among the Heavenly Destiny People, where would one find such a ruthless person!

"Shh." He suddenly raised his finger. "Quiet down, we've stayed here for too long... careful, someone's coming, people from the Guard Team."

"Inside, it's all Abyss believers."

"Follow me!"

He stepped forward, heading straight towards the front.

Su Qi took his steps to follow him, emerging from the passage.

And finally, his gaze landed on the scene inside this town.

But what immediately attracted him were not the vast town and the various strange buildings, which were tiered like rice terraces, distributed at the foot of the mountain, mid-mountain, and the summit—clearly stacked in layers of distinct hierarchy.

Nor was it the largest palaces stacked at the very top center... emanating a terrifying and dangerous aura!

What truly drew his attention was... that trunk emerging from the center, soaring into the clouds, the new sprouts of the World Tree!

The entire massive town seemed built upon the branches extending from this trunk!

"You see it, don't you," Lin Jiang said as he too gazed towards the distant mountainous buildings and the upward-thrusting new sprouts of the World Tree.

"The new sprouts of the World Tree's Recovery, waiting here to blossom."

Su Qi nodded slightly. "It seems it's indeed extraordinary."

Beneath the new sprouts of the World Tree, there were several grand palaces. Some palaces were eerie with patterns of the Abyss, while others bore the patterns of the Gods Palace.

It seemed as though they were side by side, yet they had not started fighting, an extraordinary sight by any means.

And furthermore,

He also saw traces of Abyss believers moving on the streets, everyone fearful but without direct conflict.

It was as if everyone was acting in accordance with some set of rules.

Lin Jiang sighed softly,

"The reason I stopped you was to remind you... this town is not so simple. Since it's called the ultimate place, there must be something different about it."

"...The most important thing here is the rules."

Lin Jiang spoke in a low voice: "Everyone here will take on a random identity and must adhere to the rules of the city and fulfill the responsibilities that come with that identity."

Su Qi paused, "The group of people we saw outside..."

"Their identity is the Scythe People; their duty is to farm, to cultivate and harvest crops. And those Abyss believers... are guards, positions within the town's power structure. No arbitrary fighting and killing are allowed here; one must follow all the rules of the town."

"I see."

Su Qi murmured softly, "However, it looks like there are ranks high and low, noble and humble, and there's also the potential… for promotion."

Since everyone starts with a random base identity, and now most of the guards in the power structure are Abyss believers from the Abyss, it indicates there must be a promotion mechanism; otherwise, the competition would be meaningless.

"Yes."

Lin Jiang nodded: "This is also why we and the Abyss arrived here early and have been fighting to this point."

He looked up at the distant palace complex:

"There lies the highest center of power, the Council! It's where the rules are made, and critical decisions are reached, decided by a vote from the members who become Councilmen..."

"And currently, we simply don't have enough Councilmen. We've been unable to hold the votes and advantage in various decisions, leading to many rules unfavorable to us."

Su Qi paused, "The decision can shape the rules of this town... interesting."

"Apart from some basic rules, most of what you see is determined by the Council," Lin Jiang said softly.

"Doesn't it sound incongruent? It's supposed to be a battlefield crucial to unveiling the order of the Present World, filled with strife, yet it presents itself in this form."

Su Qi didn't reply.

Lin Jiang just sighed softly, "Because this is a reflection of the diminished Strength of the Old Days' World Tree..."