"It's a long story," Fang Daolong sighed.
"Now that you're here, you must already know about the Changsheng Realm, right?"
Fang Ming nodded, of course he knew about the Changsheng Realm.
Fang Daolong found a rock to sit on and gestured for Fang Ming to do the same. Fang Ming followed suit and sat on a rock, while Nannan, nestled in Fang Ming's arms, curiously watched Fang Daolong.
After they were both seated, Fang Daolong began to speak, "The essence of the Changsheng Realm is actually a landfill for the real world. A large amount of resentment is discharged from the real world into the Changsheng Realm, allowing the real world to maintain its stability."
Fang Ming knew this and said, "I'm aware of that. I've looked into it a bit."
Fang Daolong looked at him with surprise. "You know quite a lot then."
"So, what does this have to do with you leaving me?" Fang Ming asked, feeling that there wasn't a direct connection. How could the state of the Changsheng Realm be related to him?
Fang Daolong shook his head helplessly, rubbing his temples. "It has a lot to do with it, but not with you directly. It's about us leaving you."
"As the dumping ground for the real world's resentment, the Changsheng Realm has given birth to countless resentful spirits with terrifying abilities. The most typical among them is the ruler of the Changsheng Realm – Changsheng.
"You might know some basic information about the Changsheng Realm, but what you definitely don't know is that the Changsheng Realm and the real world actually have a connection."
"A connection? What connection?" Fang Ming asked, confused.
"While the Changsheng Realm serves as a dumping ground for resentment, it is also a mirror of the real world. If there is a significant fluctuation in either the real world or the Changsheng Realm, they will influence each other."
"But how does that connect to you leaving?"
Fang Daolong's gaze grew melancholic as he looked towards the mining area where he worked. "You must have seen my younger self in the gold mine area, right?"
Fang Ming nodded.
"Everyone in our H City knows about the disaster that occurred in the mining area back then. Tens of thousands of miners died. I assume you know some details," Fang Daolong said.
Fang Ming grunted. Of course, he knew about it. He could even state the exact date.
"But you should also know that some miners were lucky enough to escape," Fang Daolong said with a wry smile. "I am one of those lucky survivors."
"How is that possible? Your mining area is in the gold mine area. It takes at least three hours to get from there to the surface. How did you escape?" Fang Ming couldn't figure it out no matter how hard he tried.
"Because, by accident, I entered the Changsheng Realm. I gained certain powers there and was finally able to crawl out from under the rubble completely unharmed."
"You became a resentful spirit?" Fang Ming asked in surprise.
"Yes." Fang Daolong extended an arm, which instantly split into a cluster of small tentacles, each tipped with a sharp bone blade.
With just this one arm, Fang Daolong had the ability to easily kill most凶煞 (Xiongsha - fierce malevolent spirits).
However, Fang Ming's heart sank slightly.
Based on the information from the tentacles, his father, Fang Daolong, was at most a 半冥煞 (Ban Mingsha - half-underworld spirit) and had not reached the "虚煞" (Xu Sha - void spirit) realm that the painter had mentioned.
What was going on?
But Fang Ming didn't choose to ask this question at the moment, perhaps it was due to individual differences in abilities.
Fang Ming turned back to his previous question. "After you came out, why did you choose to enter the Changsheng Realm again? Was there something more important to you there than me?"
Fang Daolong stood up, dusting off his pants, and said while patting himself, "Let me ask you a question."
"Please."
"If you had to choose between me and the world, which would you choose?" Fang Daolong sighed.
"You mean...?" Fang Ming began to have a guess. Could it be that some disaster was about to occur in the Changsheng Realm that would affect the real world?
Fang Daolong nodded slightly, knowing that Fang Ming had guessed the reason. "You're right. A disaster is indeed coming in the Changsheng Realm."
"If you've been to the 18th floor, you should have seen the battlefield ruins left in the underground tomb."
"Every thousand years, Changsheng leads his subordinates to the real world. They don't seek to plunder, but merely to kill. They absorb resentment through slaughter to grow, and at the same time, they consume a large number of useless lower-level resentful spirits."
Fang Ming understood this. Changsheng did this to maintain the consumption of resentment in the Changsheng Realm. The large number of useless lower-level members consumed an enormous amount of resentment, easily disrupting the balance within the Changsheng Realm. Therefore, Changsheng chose to fight to sustain himself. Now that his father had brought this topic up again, it meant that Changsheng was about to lead his subordinates to attack human society again.
"Are you saying that Changsheng is about to lead the resentful spirits to attack the real world?" Fang Ming asked.
Fang Daolong nodded. "That's right. Of course, this is only one of the reasons why your mother and I left you. Another reason is that we didn't want you to be involved in this matter."
Fang Ming was a bit confused by this. "Didn't the diary you left behind keep reminding me to look for you in various places?"
"The diary?" Fang Daolong looked bewildered. "What diary?"
He had no idea about it.
"You don't know?" Fang Ming's heart skipped a beat. He had always thought the diary was left for him by his parents, but Fang Daolong didn't know about it!
"Let me see it." Fang Daolong also realized that something was amiss, and it seemed some matters had gone beyond his plan.
Fang Ming opened his backpack, took out the diary, and handed it to Fang Daolong.
Fang Daolong took it and opened the diary to examine its contents, but it was indeed blank.
"There are no words?" Fang Daolong asked Fang Ming, looking up.
"No words?" Fang Ming leaned closer to look. On the page Fang Daolong had opened, it clearly stated the situation for the next few minutes.
"Yes, I can see it," Fang Ming said. "It says that in three minutes, someone will come to call you."
"Are you sure?" Fang Daolong asked skeptically.
"Certain," Fang Ming affirmed.
Fang Daolong wanted to witness the diary's magic. He closed the diary and stood in place, waiting. Fang Ming knew his father wanted to test the diary, so he remained silent, waiting for the person mentioned in the diary to appear.
One minute, two minutes, three minutes.
In mining area number two, a male miner ran out in a hurry. He spotted Fang Daolong at the entrance and ran over, panting.
"Brother Fang... Brother Fang, a machine has malfunctioned. The team leader asked you to come and take a look immediately," the miner said, gasping for breath.
Fang Daolong glanced at the time – three minutes, no more, no less!
He looked at the diary with a solemn expression, then said to the miner, "Alright, I'm coming."
"Then hurry up, I'm heading back first." The miner finished speaking and ran back in a hurry.
Fang Daolong's gaze returned to the diary. He suddenly extended his right hand and began drawing symbols in the air. Resentment condensed at his fingertips, and soon a complex rune appeared in mid-air.
"Break!"
Fang Daolong let out a soft shout, and the rune imprinted itself on the diary. The light flashed and disappeared.
Opening the diary again, it was still blank inside.
Fang Daolong's expression grew increasingly grave. Because he was currently only a spirit body, his strength was greatly diminished, and he couldn't break through the secret hidden within the diary.
The priority was to find out who gave Fang Ming this diary and what their purpose was.
"Let me ask you, where have you been following this diary?" Fang Daolong inquired.
"So far, I've been to three places: Baimu Village, the 18th Floor, and the painter's ancient ship. This is the fourth place," Fang Ming said, recounting everything.
"What? You've even been to Baimu Village and the ancient ship?"
Fang Daolong's expression became even more solemn. He took a deep breath. "The three places you've been to are not ordinary. Apart from the 18th Floor, which your mother and I arranged specifically, the other two places were completely outside of my plan."
Hearing Fang Daolong mention the principal, Fang Ming suddenly remembered what the principal had intended to do with Nannan and quickly pressed him. "What exactly is your and the principal's plan? Why does it involve Nannan?"
Fang Daolong knew who Nannan was. Not only did he know, but Nannan's birth was also orchestrated by him.
Resentful spirits are naturally infertile. Nannan's birth relied entirely on the preparations Fang Daolong made in Baimu Village, and she was also what he and the principal referred to as the divine child.
In the entire plan, Fang Daolong provided the effort, and the principal provided the strategy. They intended to nurture a resentful spirit capable of confronting Changsheng using Nannan's special nature.
Fang Daolong hesitated for a moment. He wasn't very keen on telling Fang Ming about this plan, as many of the sacrifices made by people and resentful spirits in the plan were innocent. It was a case of "one general's triumph built on ten thousand bones."
"Please, Father, tell me," Fang Ming stared at Fang Daolong. This concerned Nannan, and he had to take it seriously.
Fang Daolong squeezed his temples and sighed. "Then I'll tell you."
"The principal and I planned to cultivate an exceptionally benevolent, innately born resentful spirit, using runes to help it rapidly grow stronger and reach a level where it could contend with Changsheng in a short period. Nannan, the dead fetus within the corpse of the old well maiden, happened to meet our needs. Therefore, I altered some of the history to allow the dead fetus to live."
Fang Ming discovered a loophole after hearing this. "Then what is the purpose of my existence? Am I simply Nannan's burden?"
"Fang Ming is not my burden," Nannan suddenly retorted from the side.