Brain bloom

Sen Shi habitually conjured a set of table and chairs and sat down beside the green wheat field. The Ancient Demon King was absolutely trustworthy, but she didn't know how to explain the long process for the time being, so she could only shake her head, hoping that the other party would not ask further questions.

"Ok."

It agreed.

Then—a sigh.

"This goes back to the source of many things, such as the Rose Garden, the poor gravedigger, and me... and of course... and you who seek flowers that never fade in all seasons."

Volume 1, Chapter 356: The Rumors Are All False

Finally—the ancient demon king spoke, recounting the thing that had always tantalized her.

The ancient demon king, however, was quite savvy. Instead of relying on people's fears to speak, he actually made his voice heard, which greatly piqued Dandelion's interest.

This topic seems like it's going to go on for a long time, Dandelion thought. But plants can hardly make a comfortable chair. She looked around and spotted Mori's slender but seemingly muscular thighs. Maybe they'd be comfortable to use as a seat cushion?

Mori immediately pulled down her skirt and made another chair with floral decorations, even taking out leather material from her bag to pad it. She felt her dandelion phobia was getting worse.

“Eden Bank, this term should be understood in parts,” the ancient demon king murmured.

"To understand separately?"

"Eden is one word, and bank... is another. Eden is the dwelling place of the true God, while the so-called bank is named after something that is deposited there. After the primordial God created it, in fact..."

The pupils hidden in the shadows quietly rose, staring into Sen Shi's eyes.

"Many people have been to Eden Bank, they just don't know it."

"Well?"

This was somewhat unexpected. Mori, as was his habit, bit his thumb and began to ponder the deeper meaning behind the words of the ancient demon king.

At this moment, Dandelion was not idle either, and immediately joined the discussion: "We've heard about the creation of the primordial god before—that group of inexplicably traveling souls are searching and digging downwards to reach a place they want to reach. Could that place really be the Eden Bank?"

“No, not at all.” The Ancient Demon King shook his head.

“The creations of the primordial god are countless.” On the other side, the old man who was quietly watching the wheat also muttered to himself, “Wandering souls, boring. How could those outcasts possibly understand Eden Bank?”

Mori tilted his head and said, "We once encountered something like this. There was a cat that seemed to have magical eyes that could see through the barriers of the earth and reach the deepest parts of the ground. And then..."

"And then you were shocked, weren't you? The cat you're talking about."

"Uh, they said they were scared to death."

"...Scared to death? Is it really that serious?" The Ancient Demon King scoffed, genuinely believing it to be nonsense. "I don't believe it. No matter how much you can see, it's just the testing ground of the Primordial God. There's nothing scary about it."

As Sen Shi digested this information and searched for the next question, the period at the end of the myth began to stir. He sat cross-legged, casually picked up a handful of sand, and let it fall.

His cloudy, aged pupils seemed to see through every grain of sand as it landed.

“It wasn’t scared to death.” After a long pause, he said, “The divination results tell me that it was wrong. The cat you're talking about wasn’t scared to death, but rather… what is this?”

"Divination?"

The ancient demon king's smile deepened: "This old man can see through many things. In the chaotic mythological era, he relied on this skill to hide and avoid all dangers to survive until now, but he was mistaken for a so-called hero who ended the myth... Ahahaha."

“This is not something to laugh at, because at least I am still alive.” The myth ended with a rather serious statement.

"So, what's the result of your divination?" the ancient demon king asked with great interest.

"The cat's soul still lingers in the human world, with an extremely deep obsession. It's even planning to kill its own family now. What I find strange is that this obsession... I've never seen such an obsession before."

Then, it stood up, dusted off its hands, scooped up a handful of soil from the ground, and scattered it carelessly. Muttering something under its breath, a few seconds later—the dust it had scattered began to move, gradually forming a picture.

It's a wonderful sand painting.

Mori recognized it immediately: the sand art depicted the young master of the Kuroko family, that guy with rather peculiar habits. He was staring intently at the ground, muttering something rhythmically. His eyes were unbelievably focused, never blinking.

The myth came to an end once again, bringing sand of other colors. With a casual scattering, the large grains of sand fell elsewhere, while the frivolous dust, at his whim, added a figure to the sand painting.

It was a rather cute little kitten, perched on the shoulder of the black cat's young master, staring intently at the ground alongside him.

Unlike thick mud and sand, dust represents nothing more than a soul.

This scene made Mori Toki uncomfortable: "What... is this happening? Can this guy see underground too?"

"Yes, because the dead cat is haunting us."

“But those are just countless testing grounds, is it really necessary to keep such a close watch?” The ancient demon king, who had been joining in the fun, became curious. “Tell me the location, I’ll go take a look too.”

Mori felt he had said something inappropriate, because he had aroused the curiosity of these two old men. Even when Mori tried to grab it to continue talking about Eden Bank, it didn't react. It probably used its identity as the Primal Evil, with the omnipresent feeling of fear, to spy on the young master of the Black Cat family.

After watching for a short while, the ancient demon king strangely withdrew his consciousness.

"These two cats are really strange. What's the point of counting them? No wonder they died..."

"Have you figured out the reason?"

"Yes, in that dark testing field, there were thousands... no, hundreds of millions... no, I don't know how many billions of tiny spheres, some glowing and some not, some with clouds and rings, a jumble of shapes. Although I think they look nice, is it necessary to count them one by one?"

A second ago, Mori didn't understand.

Then, she tried to imagine it for a moment, and then goosebumps rose all over her body, expressing the astonishment in her heart.

Isn't that... the universe?

"I...I want to see what it's like!" Although her hands passed through the shadow of the ancient demon king, she was determined to grab the guy and find out what was going on.

Feeling puzzled, the ancient demon king nodded and simply used his old trick, showing the few seconds he had just witnessed.

Sen Shi looked down clearly at a vast universe, a boundless universe. Strange and wondrous galaxies, colorful nebulae. Incredibly small stars scattered their light into every dark corner. Everything tiny signified everything grand.

The universe was right beneath her boots; she was merely looking down from above.

Everything—was so far away from her…so far away.

At the same time, she understood the cat's inner thoughts, which the ancient Demon King had probably overheard—

"Counting stars...it's so much fun...In this life, I'm determined to figure out the exact number of stars, otherwise...otherwise I'll die with regrets."

"Ugh, when I got to 390,000, I couldn't remember... I have to start all over again. Will it be like last time?"

"—Now you know, the rumors are all false." The Ancient Demon King said with a chuckle, "This testing ground won't scare anyone to death. As for how the cat died, it probably forgot how many it counted to, and then starved to death out of depression."

Volume 1 #357: Have you ever dreamed?

The way the young lady of the Kuroko family died left Mori speechless. But thinking about it carefully, she realized she'd only learned of it by overhearing the two security guards gossiping through the door… She had a feeling this whole thing was…

Sen shook his head, guessing he'd remember this for the rest of his life.

She caught a glimpse of the universe beneath her feet.

The ancient demon king's tricks had faded, the grandeur of the universe had vanished, and then the familiar muddy ground of the demon realm reappeared beneath her feet. She felt a pang of regret, a sense that this universe was the place she had once inhabited.

She lived on one of the countless stars...

"Why are you lost in thought?" The ancient demon king reached out and touched her shoulder again.

"I was wondering, you call this universe a testing ground?"

“Yes, that’s right. The testing ground of the Primordial God…” With a hint of nostalgia, the Ancient Demon King seemed to be catching up with an old friend. “Back then, the development of those outcasts was terrible. Although the Primordial God created them to add some voice to the desolate world, it was a failure.”

Mori pressed his temples, momentarily unable to comprehend what was happening.

"The outcasts are the soul of travel."

"Correct."

"The primordial god is similar to a creator, who created this so-called abandoned people before humanity existed?"

"Yes, so they are natives of the human world. But they are just failures, with many problems to be solved. Humans are a flawed creation, and to be honest, they are quite ugly."

"So what if it's ugly? Humans have already reached the limit of creation; at least they possess profound reason."

He tore apart the sand painting with his feet, and the mythological period joined the conversation. Now, the ancient Demon King's ironclad rule of reciprocal exchange is no longer binding, and everyone can communicate in a commonplace way. Clearly, he also has much knowledge to share.

"That's true, the primordial god just wanted the world to be lively."

"He was tormented by silence..."

"What's the test site all about?" Dandelion asked curiously.

The ancient demon king always felt she had been wronged by having to explain so many things, but she still spoke clearly, after all, the two seasonal beings in front of her had saved her daughter.

"You saw those things just now, didn't you? Those little spheres. The primordial gods modeled our world in circles, providing places where life could flourish—but none of them were successful."

"Uh?"

"That area—yes, the universe the coffin bearers spoke of—is sealed within the human world by world magic. There is also time magic accelerating the flow of time there, but it's all an illusion. The Primordial God simply wanted to cultivate a group of life forms in the universe for observation."

The more he understood, the colder his soul felt.

observe……

The universe is hidden deep underground in the human world, which is bad enough, but its purpose is to be observed?

"As mentioned before, humans are ugly creatures, but they are still the original creations and need to develop. The primordial god was supposed to guide humanity, but He didn't do that. So He created the universe, trying to use those little spheres to give birth to new life, and then let it develop freely and propagate civilization."

"Therefore, the primordial gods could gain knowledge through observation, understand how humanity would develop, what mistakes it would make, and what level it would ultimately reach, and thus guide true humanity."

Dandelion gazed at the ground, murmuring to herself. Even though she could no longer see that vast universe, the magnificent nebula remained vividly etched in her mind. Did life, fabricated from thin air, exist on those tiny stars? All of this—was right beneath her feet.

I always find it very interesting to observe the free development of humanity from the perspective of deities.

Sen Shi wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, subconsciously listening to the ancient demon king's sighs and subsequent explanation—

"But this cannot be called a success. The primordial god created countless stars, but all in vain. Not a single star could give birth to life. Of course, it eventually succeeded, consuming a drop of Eden's blood, which you can understand as divine blood."

"Was that star that came to life blue?"

"It seems so, but I don't remember."

"In short, this is the testing ground you've been interested in." It seemed relieved to have finally finished speaking. "Whether it's still functioning, I don't know. The Primordial God is in a precarious situation and probably doesn't have the time or inclination to observe it."

At this moment, Mori wasn't exactly a good listener, because her hand was clutching the front of her dress, feeling her heart beating calmly there. It was circulating blood to every part of her body, a symbol of life.

But that's all there is to life.

And the long civilization that has evolved from the succession of countless lives is nothing more than this.

Everything is someone else's plaything...

"Senshi?" Dandelion asked with concern, while helping to wipe away her sweat.