"Angel?"
A familiar voice sounded in his ear.
Angel slowly opened his eyes, and then he saw a verdant shadow appear before him.
Angel was dazed for quite a while, regaining some semblance of thought: "Lord Nami Midori?"
Nami Midori: "It seems you’ve woken up? Can you tell me what happened here?"
Listening to Nami Midori’s questions, Angel pondered for a moment, suddenly realizing something. He sat up abruptly, his head looking around.
He found himself still on the stone platform, but the Path of Light in the distance had disappeared, and above him was a pitch black void, with neither the glow algae nor the projection of the Tidal World Will remaining.
"What’s going on?" Angel muttered in a daze.
Nami Midori, with a puzzled expression, said, "I was going to ask you the same thing. The Spatial Tempest outside suddenly vanished, and after waiting for a long time without it reappearing, I flew over."
When Nami Midori arrived, she saw Angel lying on the stone platform like a corpse.
She thought something had happened to Angel and hurried over to check the situation, only to find out later that Angel seemed to be just asleep.
"When you came, there was nothing around already?" Angel asked, confused.
Nami Midori nodded her snake head and her vertical pupils looked at the treasure chest behind Angel: "If you mean the contents of the chest, it was already gone when I arrived. Were you attacked and then robbed of the treasures in the chest?"
Angel realized Nami Midori misunderstood him: "I wasn’t referring to the treasure. I meant the oppressive force around, and those orbs of light above."
"Oppressive force? Orbs of light?" Nami Midori glanced upwards, seeing only an endless pitch-black void above, with no orbs of light at all. "When I came, there was no oppressive force and not a glimmer of light."
Hearing this, Angel generally understood that when Nami Midori arrived, everything had already ended.
Recalling the previous situation, he passed out after his spirit tentacle entered the orb of light, then had a bizarre dream, and that led to the current moment.
It seems that the initial ceremony should have completely collapsed, even the projection of the Tidal World Will had vanished.
Because of the disappearance of the Tidal World Will, the oppressive force naturally vanished too, and the Spatial Tempest outside, which lasted more than four hundred years, also stopped.
However, what puzzled Angel was... what was the result of the heavenly authority?
Did he receive the heavenly authority?
He should have, right? Otherwise, according to the calculations, before the Tidal World Will left, his body should have been crushed by the oppressive force until it collapsed.
But why didn’t he feel anything? He perceived his internal body, everything was intact, neither injured nor strengthened.
The Mind Space showed no change, and as for the Spirit Sea, it was just the same as before.
Angel thought about it, according to Feng, the heavenly authority is not a power that affects the Material Realm, but rather an operation akin to "making the World Will recognize you."
So isn’t the current situation normal?
But just because everything is without a trace, Angel was not entirely sure if he had indeed received the heavenly authority. After all, he passed out at the last moment.
How could he prove the possession of the heavenly authority?
Angel sought an answer from Earl Mi, but Earl Mi also knew nothing, only aware that Angel had been asleep for about four or five hours, and then Nami Midori arrived, knowing nothing else.
For now, there’s no way to verify if he obtained the heavenly authority.
Angel sighed silently in his heart, deciding to deal with this matter later. Currently, the situation was still fair; the Elemental Creatures of the Tidal World had only contacted humans through him. Even without the heavenly authority, he believed with the foundation of the Barbarian Cave, they could still secure an absolute position in the future situation.
With this thought, Angel also opened his mind, overall gaining much this time, and the heavenly authority was just an added bonus.
If he got it, great; if not, it’s still fine.
"What are you thinking about?" Nami Midori’s voice came again.
"Nothing, just pondering what might have happened after I fell asleep." Angel stood up and glanced at the now-empty treasure chest beside him: "The things in the chest weren’t stolen by anyone; I already got what you might call the treasure."
Nami Midori breathed a slight sigh of relief after hearing this. Though Feng didn’t expressly say for Nami Midori to guard the treasure, she had been watching over it here for more than six hundred years, having positioned herself as a Guardian. If the treasure were lost in the end, she would feel very guilty.
"Since you got the treasure, why did you pass out here?" Nami Midori didn’t ask about the treasure’s details. Since Feng didn’t tell her back then, she didn’t need to ask now.
Angel smiled wryly: "Encountered a little unexpected circumstance, but now that the Spatial Tempest has disappeared, it indicates everything has returned to its proper course."
Angel wasn’t sure whether to mention the heavenly authority, as Nami Midori was after all an Indigenous Person of the Tidal World, and regardless of whether he obtained the heavenly authority, making Nami Midori aware that an outsider coveted it might put her on edge.
Therefore, Angel decided to keep it under wraps for now.
Seeing Nami Midori’s face still filled with confusion, Angel pondered, then retrieved a seed emitting a faint green glow from his bracelet space.
When Nami Midori saw this seed, her expression immediately changed: "Is this..."
Angel was a bit surprised, realizing from Nami Midori’s reaction that she seemed familiar with the seed? But thinking about it, it made sense, given Nami Midori and Feng had lived together for so many years.
"This is given to me by Mr. Feng, with a message for You, Nami Midori." Angel said: "I have never opened it, so I don’t know what Mr. Feng said."
Angel handed the seed to Nami Midori, who was still in a daze.
Nami Midori took a while before looking up: "You... did you see Mr. Feng this time?"
Regarding this, Angel didn’t hide anything.
"Kind of." Angel pointed to the empty treasure chest: "This chest originally contained a painting, and I encountered Mr. Feng inside the painting. However, it was just a consciousness of Mr. Feng within the painting, which disappeared along with the Spatial Tempest."
"I see, just a consciousness within the painting?" Nami Midori’s expression was slightly disappointed; she had hoped Mr. Feng had returned here.
"Aren’t you going to see what’s in the seed?" Angel asked as he saw Nami Midori holding the seed but not opening it.
Nami Midori softly said: "I’ll look once we leave the void."
Angel nodded; after all, it was meant for Nami Midori, and she could decide when to view it.
"Shall we leave here first?" Although there was no oppressive force anymore, thinking about the Spatial Tempest that once appeared around still made Angel uneasy, so it was better to return to the Tidal World first.
Nami Midori did not refuse; she had explored the surroundings before Angel woke up and found nothing but emptiness, making staying here quite meaningless.
Before leaving, Angel suddenly thought of something.
"By the way, where are those Void Travelers?"
Nami Midori glanced towards a direction: "Over there."
Angel looked towards the sound, seeing through the energy spectrum a large group of transparent mucus creatures gathered together, peeking in their direction, albeit timidly, not one dared to get close.
Actually, that’s not quite right; there was one somewhat nearer, just outside the stone platform.
Angel took a glance and recognized the aura of this particular Void Traveler; it was the one Wang Wang intended to leave for him as a "communication tool."
Apparently, Wang Wang had trained it beforehand, and its courage was evidently greater than that of the other Void Travelers.
Angel didn’t interact with this Void Traveler directly but instead released Wang Wang from his bracelet space first.