Not only that, the Spatial Tempest continued to spread for several hours until it reached a certain limit and then retreated slowly like the tide.
But the retreat was not a disappearance; it just returned to the basic state of the Spatial Tempest, lurking and waiting for the next eruption.
"What is going on?" Angel looked at the distant Spatial Tempest that had not disappeared with confusion, feeling as if it were a living entity breathing, the Spatial Tempest rising and falling with each breath.
"I don’t know either. Ever since Mr. Feng left, the Spatial Tempest appeared not long after. It constantly manifests the phenomenon of rise and fall, and the passage in the painting happens to be within the range when the disaster spreads, so you have to calculate the timing to enter here," Nami Midori said.
Angel frowned slightly.
From what he had just observed about the rise and fall, combined with what Nami Midori previously mentioned in the Vine House about waiting, Angel had basically guessed that the Spatial Tempest had a pattern of rhythmic undulations.
The undulation was indeed strange, but what made him even more suspicious was—
"The Spatial Tempest appeared not long after Mr. Feng left? Are you saying the Spatial Tempest here has lasted for six hundred years?"
Nami Midori: "To be precise, it’s been over four hundred years. The Spatial Tempest appeared about a hundred years after Mr. Feng left."
Angel was silent for a moment, feeling powerless about the Elemental Creatures’ concept of time. "Not long after leaving" meant more than a hundred years in the eyes of Elemental Creatures.
Apart from this, simply discussing the phenomenon, Angel had never heard of such an occurrence before.
The Spatial Tempest in the Void is indeed a common disaster, but according to the records he had seen, Spatial Tempests are not a persistent type of disaster.
There are countless causes for a Spatial Tempest; a random stirring of dust might ignite a Spatial Tempest in a few months or years. However, the internal energy of a Spatial Tempest exhausts quickly, leading to its rapid disappearance, and though space in the Void is sometimes unstable, there exists a law-like regularity that self-repairs as space collapses and slowly heals under this regularity.
In other words, for Spatial Tempests to rage, they not only need to consume internal energy but must also contend with certain external regularities. Therefore, generally, they do not persist for long.
Even in treacherous spaces where Spatial Tempests appear periodically, they are intermittent rather than continuous.
The longest Spatial Tempest likely doesn’t last for years.
But the Spatial Tempest before him had astonishingly persisted for over four hundred years.
This had already exceeded Angel’s understanding.
So, upon first hearing this, Angel speculated that it might be a manmade disaster. Because only through human intervention could such abundant and continuously linked energy be provided for a Spatial Tempest.
Previous mentions of "after Feng left, the Spatial Tempest descended not long after" led Angel to assume Feng was involved. But upon learning that the Spatial Tempest appeared a hundred years after Feng left, Angel became puzzled.
If Feng had indeed orchestrated it, he certainly wouldn’t have waited a century before unleashing the Spatial Tempest.
Or did Feng set up a persistent Spatial Tempest chain a hundred years later?
Angel had many doubts about the Spatial Tempest before him, but now it was difficult to find answers. The Void left no traces for him to pursue.
Therefore, he could only temporarily set it aside.
"Since this is the Void corresponding to the world’s center, does it mean Mr. Feng’s treasure is here?" Angel surveyed his surroundings, and the feedback from perception, apart from the boundless Void, revealed only the Spatial Tempest not far away.
The so-called treasure had no trace.
Angel looked toward Nami Midori and found that she was staring silently with her golden glowing eyes at the Spatial Tempest in the distance, which was continually contracting.
Angel felt a pang: "The treasure couldn’t possibly be..."
Nami Midori slowly spoke: "You guessed right; the treasure is within the Spatial Tempest."
Angel: ???
Back in the Vine House, when Angel heard about the Spatial Tempest behind the painting’s passage, an unsettling feeling arose.
The more you worry, the more likely you are to encounter it unexpectedly.
Now, that unease had truly become reality.
"What exactly is the situation? Can you elaborate, Your Excellency?" Angel couldn’t help but ask.
Nami Midori didn’t conceal anything and divulged the whole situation.
In simple terms, the treasure was placed within the Void. Owing to a promise with Feng, Nami Midori never approached the Treasure Land, simply leaving a Floating Flower in this Void to observe if any Void Creatures mistakenly entered, to prevent the treasure from being destroyed.
The Void is boundless, making it difficult to encounter Void Creatures. Over the years, Nami Midori hadn’t detected the presence of any Void Creatures, but though Void Creatures didn’t appear, a Void disaster did.
Four hundred years ago, while Nami Midori was in seclusion, the Floating Flower suddenly showed abnormal movements. Assuming a Void Creature had appeared, Nami Midori hurried into the Void.
Subsequently, it witnessed with its own eyes the Treasure Land being surrounded by the Spatial Tempest.
With the Spatial Tempest continually spreading, Nami Midori had no choice but to retreat.
It thought the Spatial Tempest wouldn’t last long and intended to check on the Treasure Land after the Spatial Tempest dissipated to see if it was affected. But to its surprise, from that day on, the Spatial Tempest became a permanent fixture there, never leaving again.
Angel: "You just mentioned that the Treasure Land is merely surrounded by the Spatial Tempest? Was the treasure not obliterated?"
Nami Midori: "When the Spatial Tempest first appeared, it indeed didn’t encroach upon the Treasure Land. However, with the Spatial Tempest spreading rapidly, the later situation remains unknown to me."
Angel: "Is it impossible to observe the Treasure Land from here?"
Nami Midori nodded: "The Treasure Land is far from here, positioned at the core of the Spatial Tempest. Even if the Spatial Tempest contracts to its extreme, it’s still impossible to observe the situation of the Treasure Land. So whether the treasure was obliterated or still exists is hard to say."
Although Nami Midori said as much, Angel was determined to circle around the Spatial Tempest for observation. If the Treasure Land still existed, there was at least a glimmer of hope; if it was destroyed, there was no need to waste time here.
Thus, Angel began to circle the periphery of the Spatial Tempest.
Upon completing the circuit, Angel confirmed the truth in Nami Midori’s words. He had ridden on Toby, transformed into a Gryphon, and circled the Spatial Tempest.
Even with Toby’s speed, completing a full circuit around the Spatial Tempest took an entire day.
This alone explained the enormous area covered by the Spatial Tempest.