Painting 150: The Mountains Have Aged

Sangsang smiled. When the blade formed by the condensation of spacetime power struck it just moments ago, the aura of the withered branch had shifted. That instantaneous change, which she had successfully captured, carried a strikingly familiar resonance.

She had just remarked on the lack of evidence, and now a suspected piece of evidence had delivered itself right to her doorstep.

As Sangsang turned to head back to the research institute, she heard someone calling out behind her.

"Your Highness, Your Highness Sang!" Muxu came running at full speed. His blue-violet eyes were shimmering with moisture, teardrops still dangling from his eyelashes. The natural fragrance emanating from him soothed the pain in her body and soul, which now began to slowly mend.

Muxu asked with tear-filled eyes, "Your Highness Sang, have you discovered anything? Have you found a lead?!"

Controlling the urge to inhale Muxu's scent too deeply, Sangsang nodded. "There are some clues, but we are still a long way from fully cracking it."

"I knew it, I knew you could do it!" Hearing only the first half of her sentence, Muxu jumped up and down, weeping profusely as tears slid down his face to congeal into crystalline amber beads. "Peak, Peak he..."

"Muxu, we agreed. No acting out." Peak stepped forward, his large hand resting gently atop Muxu's gender-ambiguous head. Standing nearly two heads taller than Muxu, Peak looked almost as if he were embracing him from behind.

The Heavenly Emperor stared wide-eyed upon seeing Peak close by: "Peak, you..."

Sangsang also noticed that although Peak's aura had not weakened, white hair had begun to sprout on his head and wrinkles had formed on his face, much like the elderly individuals in the laboratory.

These two signs were the unmistakable symptoms of entering old age.

Peak smiled at Sangsang. "Do you still need test subjects? I hope I can be of some use."

Muxu burst into loud tears.

The group returned together to the island housing the Energy Provenance Project team. Little Jin lagged behind, dragging the Heavenly Emperor along while crooking his fingers to collect the amber teardrops Muxu had dropped all along the way.

Once they were alone among themselves, Sangsang gestured toward the elderly people chatting and laughing in the distant garden, confirming with Peak, "Are you coming here with the intention of becoming a consumable test subject just like them?"

Peak nodded. "Once we enter old age, our lives have reached their end. Three to five years makes no difference compared to three to five days."

"Nonsense, nonsense! I won't listen!" Muxu covered his ears and shook his head. "Your Highness Sang will definitely find a way!"

Peak covered Muxu's eyes and raised his head. "Crying too much is bad for you. You knew this day would come back when you first met me. After preparing for so many years, how is it that your reaction is even more dramatic than my little nephew's?"

"I—I haven't even had a cub for you yet!" Muxu sobbed. "All those years you paid into the fertility insurance are completely wasted!"

Peak's eyes grew warm as he bent his fingers to flick Muxu's forehead lightly. "What kind of foolish talk is that? You aren't even an adult yet."

"So what if I'm not an adult? My age has one more zero than yours!" Muxu covered his forehead and shouted. "Anyway, I'm latching onto you. If you volunteer as a helper, I'm signing up too. Who knows, maybe cracking the origin of the Resurrection Tree can even resurrect you!"

Peak said softly, "It's useless. There is another researcher in the Life Research Institute who is a Resurrection Tree person, yet that doesn't change the fact that Heavy Water people cannot be resurrected. You promised me you'd be good, which is why I brought you along. Stop crying now."

Muxu let out another loud wail. "I'll cry if I want to! I'll cry every single day when you're gone!"

Crossing his arms, the Heavenly Emperor interrupted loudly, "Hey, the two of you are facing a separation of life and death here. Could you cherish the time and talk about romance properly?"

Sangsang added, "The Heavenly Emperor's phrasing isn't pleasant, but you really should cherish the time. There are plenty of elderly people vying to be consumables. Peak, you should just stay and accompany Muxu well. Live each day as it comes."

"A long pain is worse than a short one," Peak gently shook his head. "Besides, the only places in old age where we can let our remaining brilliance shine are the laboratory and the battlefield. Here, I can still transform my origin into a magical artifact to leave for Muxu. Once I'm on the battlefield, what I might leave behind becomes completely beyond my control."

Sangsang furrowed her brows. "I always feel that for powerhouses like you to be consumed in silence inside a laboratory is simply not worth it."

"No, it is worth it." Peak looked toward the unclouded, sunny elderly people outside. "Our sacrifice is so that our children can possess long lifespans just like people from the outside world. One generation or two might not succeed, but as long as we don't give up, one day the Heavy Water lifespan curse will be removed from the top ten mysteries of the interstellar world."

Sangsang felt somewhat perplexed. This spirit of sacrifice was hard for her to understand; wasn't one's own self the most important thing of all? However, her lack of comprehension did not hinder her passion for cracking the mystery of the Heavy Water lifespan.

"Is the reason Heavy Water people have limited lifespans because the World Will has concentrated their lifespans into innate talent and aptitude? Since no one has yet found the laws corresponding to lifespan, does that mean it's impossible to communicate with the World Will?" Twirling the withered branch in her hand, Sangsang suddenly beckoned to Muxu. "Stop crying. Ye Xiu said I have a way. If you don't believe in me, you should at least believe in the Heart of Time! Come over and help me check if this branch comes from a World Tree."

Muxu wiped away his tears, sniffling as he took the withered branch and turned it over and over to inspect it. "It is a World Tree, but I don't recognize this particular tree."

Sangsang narrowed her eyes slightly, taking back the amber tear handed to her by Little Jin. "You recognize every World Tree?"

"I know all the living ones. Do you want to know who he is? My grandfather manages the Wood Clan's treasury, and the remains of all the royal family members are kept inside. I'll ask him if he recognizes it." Sniffling with a reddened nose, Muxu produced a leaf and used the unique communication method of the advanced Wood Clan to contact his grandfather.

Without making any other movements or speaking aloud, Muxu opened his eyes a short while later. His tear-filled eyes were full of bewilderment. "Strange, my grandfather doesn't recognize it either. That's impossible... Could there be a wild World Tree that hasn't been discovered yet? Or perhaps one from hundreds of thousands of years ago."

Sangsang smiled, taking back the withered branch. "It's better if he doesn't recognize it."

Muxu's face scrunched up. "Where did you find this branch, Your Highness Sang? Grandfather said it is extremely powerful—even stronger than the current Wood Emperor."

"The Heavenly Emperor found it in an ancient ruin." Sangsang gently twirled the withered branch. "This is what I meant by having a lead. If things go smoothly, we might actually unlock the mystery behind the Heavy Water lifespan."

Muxu's eyes lit up instantly. "This is a lead?"

Peak also wore a look of astonishment. "You suspect this branch is the World Tree that supports the existence of Heavy Water—in other words, the World Will itself!"

Sangsang raised her gaze. "You support this conjecture?"

"I do. Ancient legends of Heavy Water mention tree-folk similar to the World Tree existing, though there has never been proof of the World Tree's existence. This is a major discovery." Peak looked from Sangsang to the Heavenly Emperor, then asked, "The Life Research Institute will definitely be thrilled upon hearing this news. Do you intend to make this discovery public?"

The Heavenly Emperor looked at Sangsang.

"Unless we have concrete results, we will not make interim findings public." Sangsang refused. Although the people she had interacted with during her half-year at the Central Research Institute were few, many things within the institute could not escape her eyes and ears. While management here was strict and the theft of others' achievements did not happen, academic competition was nonetheless very common.