"During the Blackest Night, the Indigo Light will play a crucial role. This is just the beginning. Do you know about Abin Sur's friend? There's a group in the universe secretly manipulating the course of world events. In the visions Abin Sur saw of the future, they tried to destroy the world, and the Indigo Light is the key force to stop them." The old man's voice gradually rose as he spoke.
Thea was momentarily stunned. Who was he talking about? It sounded like he meant the New God Darkseid. Unable to figure it out, she decided to ask directly.
"What's the name of this group?"
The old man said with utmost seriousness, "Abin Sur called them the Guardians of the Universe."
Thea nearly spat blood. Her imagined enemy instantly shifted from the three-meter-tall, thousand-pound behemoth Darkseid to the less-than-one-meter-tall, twenty-pound little blue Guardians. The change was honestly a bit much to process.
The old man continued rambling on. "The Indigo Light is an experiment to stop the Guardians' madness. Abin Sur planned to bring like-minded individuals to breach the Guardians' defenses from within, while the Indigo Light would transform their extreme thinking from the outside."
As he spoke, he gestured with his long staff, dancing excitedly.
Thea found the scene somewhat amusing. The old man probably didn't know the Guardians were the Green Lanterns' bosses. If his hero Abin Sur actually did this, he'd be a textbook rebel.
Judging by his words and actions, this prematurely deceased Abin Sur clearly wasn't some honest guy. The Guardians' judgment was seriously questionable.
Their so-called "greatest Green Lanterns"—Abin Sur, Sinestro, Hal Jordan—these brave souls had either already rebelled or were on the path to rebellion.
The Guardians must have been incredibly unpopular to end up so universally betrayed. Sinestro merely raised a banner against them, but Abin Sur actually wanted to brainwash the Guardians themselves.
He just died too early. Otherwise, Sinestro might never have gotten his turn to rebel. Thea expressed her deepest respect for this predecessor with such creative thinking.
Eating the Guardians' food while secretly plotting to brainwash the little blue men—Abin Sur truly lived up to the Green Lantern name. He had real courage.
"As for Indigo-1 and the others, they'll presumably still follow Abin Sur's orders," the old man said uncertainly.
Thea reserved her opinion on that. Judging by their fanatical behavior—grabbing anyone they found to brainwash—even if Abin Sur came back to life, they'd brainwash him too!
But none of that really concerned her. After exchanging a few more words with the old man, she slowly walked into the ravine.
The ravine was broken and crude, steeped in dark dampness. Crawling creatures she didn't recognize emerged from cracks in the stone. These sensitive animals sensed the intruder and were displeased at having their quiet disturbed. A few tried to attack, but after sensing her aura, they quickly retreated back into hiding.
The not-so-spacious ground bore numerous marks from sharp instruments—clearly carved out using ring constructs. Thea followed the guidance of the emotional energy, slowly walking deeper.
When she reached the deepest point, she finally saw the true embodiment of this world's will—the Indigo Light's central power battery.
What left her speechless was that this central battery still took the form of a charging lantern. Except for the color, it was identical to the Yellow Lantern central battery she controlled.
No surprise—this was once again the work of the artistically challenged Abin Sur, modeled after Oa's Green Lantern central battery. Thea could already picture seven different-colored central batteries lined up before her eyes, with herself shouting to summon the dragon.
Carefully approaching the central battery, the expected waves of brainwashing didn't appear. Thea became increasingly certain of her judgment.
This central battery was harmless to her. Indigo-1 and the others had definitely twisted good teachings. Otherwise, how could such a positive emotional energy have so much hostility, fighting at the slightest provocation? Even the Red Lantern Corps wielding rage probably wasn't this bad.
Remembering the purpose of her trip, she hesitated no more. Without an indigo ring, she could still commune with the emotion of compassion.
She drew her holy sword—its blade trembling eagerly—and sank her consciousness into her spiritual world, searching for the compassion within herself.
The day she obtained the fear emotion had been somewhat opportunistic. Afterward, through continuous use, she gradually mastered and controlled that emotion—result first, then cultivation. The sequence was clearly reversed.
She couldn't do the same with compassion. Technically, compassion wasn't rare. Anyone with a kind heart possessed compassion. Even thoroughly rotten people occasionally helped the weak—the most obvious examples being Indigo-1 and her twisted followers.
When someone encountered misfortune and you stepped in to help—that was compassion.
But it differed from courage and hope. Those two were extremely positive. Compassion was slightly darker—it had a prerequisite: someone else had to suffer first before you could show compassion. Otherwise, in a peaceful, harmonious environment, if someone started singing about compassion—who would you pity? You'd look like a lunatic!
Thea had never quite found her position. She definitely had compassionate emotions, but they'd never reached a level she could actively manifest and use.
To Earth's ordinary people, she was the beloved of all—surrounded by glory and favor. Exaggerating a bit, in the eyes of the world she was like a god. Even now, if the President wanted to speak with her, he needed to steel himself. Not because she was hideous or difficult to communicate with—purely because of the gap in power, naturally inspiring awe.
But she understood her own situation better than anyone. No one understood better than her the trials Earth would face in the future. Pity others? Who would pity her?
The virtue of universal love for all humanity—she'd never felt she possessed such a thing. She'd been searching for compassion that she didn't even know where to find.
Now, facing the universe's central reservoir of compassion and using the holy sword as a medium, under the surging emotional waves, Thea realized she'd been thinking wrong all along.
Abin Sur's idea of turning villains good and making them "feel compassion" was undoubtedly a twisted path.
Thea's original vision of universal mercy and salvation of all beings was also somewhat biased.
The objects of compassion weren't limited to intelligent life—especially after seeing this planet's will transform into the Indigo central battery, she became even more certain of this.
Using the central battery to break out of her fixed mindset, Thea realized how narrow her previous perspective had been. Now she saw the grand scale before her—the entire world was crying out. This world needed help.
Not one person, one place, one planet—but this universe, this ravaged universe needed compassion.
When her vision expanded to the boundless world, Thea trembled with excitement. She'd finally found her compassionate heart.
Indigo emotional energy erupted from her body and spiritual world. In terms of wielding emotional energy, few in the world could match her. After just a brief familiarization, she controlled this emotion.