Aboard the Aska.
Inside the cockpit, everyone sat on the sofas, watching the wooden puppet Xiao Sensen in front of them.
"Thank you all so very much for lending a helping hand! Otherwise, I would have been done for! An Origin Tiger's egg takes at least an entire cosmic annihilation epoch to hatch. If I had been sucked onto it... ahhh! I don't even dare imagine it! The consequences would have been too horrifying!" Xiao Sensen bowed respectfully before continuing in a dramatic rush.
By the end, it seemed thoroughly terrified, clasping its cheeks and shaking its head in exaggerated frenzy.
"What do you plan to do next?" Yu Xian asked, looking at Xiao Sensen.
Xiao Sensen replied as if it were the most natural thing in the world: "Follow you all, of course! I said I would repay you and grant you great benefits. As a champion of justice, I would never go back on my word!"
"That won't be necessary. Good deeds should be done without expecting a reward," Niman refused.
She could not shake the feeling that Xiao Sensen was far too bizarre. As a former Creator God and current guardian god, she was utterly unable to discern what on earth Xiao Sensen actually was.
If it were a living organism, having created life herself, she ought to have recognized its life-form classification.
Carbon-based, silicon-based, boron-based...
Yet Xiao Sensen was none of these. Although its body looked like wood, it was not wood at all. What it was made of remained a mystery, and how it could be alive was equally baffling.
Even... how it produced sound was incomprehensible, because its body was completely solid.
Niman had been observing it closely while it spoke. She noticed that the interior of Xiao Sensen's mouth was only hollowed out slightly; the rest of its entire body was solid, with no vocal organs whatsoever.
To produce sound simply by opening and closing its mouth was unnerving.
Sensing Niman's unease, Yu Xian nodded in agreement. "Niman is right. We don't do good deeds expecting anything in return. You can simply return to the Great Lord of the Forest. There's no need to be so polite."
"Return... to the Great Lord of the Forest? But... I can't go back! I was sealed away by a wicked woman for ages and ages and ages! By the time I finally got out, everything was gone. Later, I ran into yet another wicked woman! She was horrible—she tricked me, used me, and eventually threw me into an alternate dimension. I couldn't get out until that dimension collapsed. And after that, I ran into yet another wicked woman who messed with me for ages and ages and ages! By the time I regained my freedom..." Xiao Sensen froze, then drooped dispiritedly.
Yu Xian stared at Xiao Sensen, speechless. So every single person it met upon getting out was a wicked woman?
"Then why don't you stay with us? We can be champions of justice together!" Little Nora said, gazing at Xiao Sensen with bright anticipation.
Yu Xian and Niman exchanged a glance and sighed softly. Neither of them really wanted Xiao Sensen lingering aboard the Aska for too long, but Little Nora and Little Huangquan clearly took a liking to it. Since she had already made the offer, neither adult felt right shooting it down.
"You want to be a champion of justice too? Amazing! Then let's do our best together! One day, we'll become just as great as the Great Lord of the Forest!" Xiao Sensen instantly rebounded from despair to excitement. Its bead-like eyes sparkled as it looked at Little Nora, and it gave her a big thumbs-up.
Before long, Little Nora and Xiao Sensen were chatting away like kindred spirits. Yu Xian glanced at Nora, sensing that her earlier conjecture was probably right: Xiao Sensen might truly be nothing more than a toy crafted by some Mighty One for their child.
Those "wicked women" were probably daughters of Mighty Ones who grew bored of the toy, discarded it, and left it drifting until it ended up here.
Yu Xian got up and walked over to the nearby window. It was not an actual window, but a display screen relaying footage captured outside.
The screen showed pitch-black void, but Yu Xian knew the Origin Tiger's egg was out there.
Unfortunately, according to Xiao Sensen, the egg would take a whole cosmic annihilation epoch to hatch. Otherwise, he would have loved to see what an Origin Tiger actually looked like.
Speaking of which, Yu Xian had first heard the concept of a cosmic annihilation epoch from Zhenwo Changjing.
The moment Xiao Sensen mentioned an epoch earlier, he knew its creator had to be on the level of a Mighty One. After all, even Niman had only learned of the unit from him.
He would have to find time later to question Xiao Sensen thoroughly, see just how much knowledge on the level of Mighty Ones it possessed, and ask if it recognized Zhenwo Changjing or Zhenwo Wuchang.
Just then, a burst of cheerful laughter came from behind.
Yu Xian looked back to see Xiao Sensen playing merrily with Little Nora and Little Huangquan. A smile crept onto his face. Perhaps this was fine too; at least Little Nora and Little Huangquan finally had someone they could play with together.
Although the two little girls were on good terms, their interests differed greatly, meaning they could never settle on the same games. That was why they usually played on their own.
Xiao Sensen's arrival neatly bridged that gap, acting as a lubricant between Little Nora and Little Huangquan so that both little ones could play together.
"Do you know what's most important if you want to become a champion of justice?" Xiao Sensen asked, looking at the pair.
Little Nora raised her hand immediately. "I know! The most important thing is a heart of justice!"
"Uh-huh, a heart of justice!" Little Huangquan echoed.
Xiao Sensen shook its head. "Wrong! The most important thing is... strength!"
It circled around Little Nora, then circled around Little Huangquan, nodding thoughtfully with a look of deep satisfaction.
"Both of you are excellent. You both possess the potential to become great heroes! A Victorious True King Bird can grow into a True Bird, one of the Three Divine Birds, and a holy spirit can grow into a Realm King. With my help, you will definitely become true champions of justice!" Xiao Sensen puffed out its chest, looking utterly proud.
Sitting nearby, Nora felt a stir of curiosity and asked, "Xiao Sensen, what are the Three Divine Birds?"
"The Three Divine Birds? The True Bird, the Celestial Rooster, and the Great Feng, of course! That's common knowledge—don't you know?" Xiao Sensen looked at everyone in surprise before answering.
After speaking, it glanced in confusion at Little Nora and Little Huangquan, only to see both little ones shake their heads in unison.
"Then... do you know the Four Tigers?" Xiao Sensen asked hesitantly.
Everyone present shook their heads to indicate they had never heard of them. Xiao Sensen instantly slumped to the floor, muttering to itself, "Oh no... it seems I've arrived in a Lost Epoch."
"What does a Lost Epoch mean?" Little Nora asked.
Xiao Sensen answered listlessly, "A Lost Epoch is an era of total rupture. Every ten-odd trillion cosmic annihilation epochs, the Tree Universe enters a Lost Epoch. Everything from the past vanishes amidst the universal ebb and flow of all things.
"According to the Great Lord of the Forest, this happens because the space Between Being and Non-Being exerts influence over the 'being' and 'non-being' within the Tree Universe. Certain rules and powers undergo transformation during this process. Those who adapt grow stronger, while those who resist will perish."
*Such advanced knowledge,* was Yu Xian's immediate thought upon hearing this. But on second thought, it seemed... utterly useless to them right now. They had basically listened to a bunch of high-sounding air.
Of course, once their strength reached higher levels in the future, maybe this knowledge would prove useful after all.
***
[Supplementary Note]: Between Being and Non-Being refers to the space outside the Tree Universe. It is composed entirely of "being" and "non-being" and spans infinitely.
It is roughly analogous to a space teeming with countless tiny black and white dots. The black and white dots constantly annihilate each other, yet simultaneously generate one another—something arising from nothing, and something returning to nothing—endlessly and without limit.
Since this novel will generally not delve into matters outside the Tree Universe, this brief explanation is provided here.
Chapter 280