Phantylia plunged into the sea at that very moment, abandoning the physical body she had been inhabiting, and in her Heliobus form, she slipped through the cracks of the seal.
Noticing that Sylvia hadn't pursued her, she inwardly scoffed.
How naïve.
Even if Jing Yuan himself were waiting down there, he couldn't stop her.
And even if someone had already swallowed the fruit whole, so what? She'd simply devour that person herself.
To a Heliobus, what difference did it make whether the fruit remained a fruit or had become part of a person?
Once she used the Ambrosial Arbor's fruit to reconstruct her physical form, backed by the Arbor's endless well of power, what could Sylvia do even if she brought Jing Yuan along?
She'd wear them both down right here.
Besides…
According to her calculations, even after descending now, the fruit would still need a little more time to fully ripen.
Whether the person down there could even seize it by then was another matter entirely.
--+--
At the same moment.
Above the Lunarescent Depths.
Sylvia descended from the sky just in time to see Acheron lift her scabbard and—clang—bring it down squarely on the forehead of that Vidyadhara warrior.
The warrior, who had seemed on the verge of waking, immediately fell back into a deep slumber.
Silence reclaimed him once more.
"He woke up?"
"Mhm. The noise from your fight with Phantylia stirred him. He even tried to take his own life, but I stopped him."
Acheron nodded, her attention already drifting away from the figure at her feet.
"So he really meant to end it… Good thing you stopped him. Otherwise, if anyone asked about my meddling here in the Scalegorge Waterscape, I'd have a hard time explaining."
Sylvia glanced down at the once-again-unconscious Vidyadhara.
This guy was meant to be the fall guy.
Without him, if someone in the Vidyadhara clan tried to pin the blame on her later, Sylvia wouldn't have any solid evidence to offer in her defense.
As she was pondering this, Acheron reached out and ruffled Sylvia's hair.
"Your fighting was a bit… crude."
In Acheron's eyes, Sylvia was the classic "brute force over finesse" type.
Her moves were straightforward, lacking in subtlety or refined technique.
It was all about overwhelming power to overcome any skill.
Though she had trained under Acheron for a while, she could only be considered a passable warrior at this point.
As a swordsman? Well, let's just say there was plenty of room for improvement.
That Phantylia clearly wasn't much of a combat specialist either.
If Acheron and Sylvia had swapped places, with Acheron wielding the same level of power, she was confident she could have suppressed Phantylia completely.
"…You could at least praise me first."
Sylvia pouted, which drew a light laugh from Acheron.
But soon, the smile faded from Acheron's face as she gestured with her chin toward a point behind Sylvia.
"We have company."
"Who?"
Sylvia turned to look. In the distance, near the entrance to the Scalegorge Waterscape, she could just make out the approaching figure of Jing Yuan.
"Well, well… The other three aren't here yet, but Jing Yuan's arrived first."
Sylvia rubbed her chin with interest.
She'd thought this part of the story would play out as it originally did—with Dan Heng being intercepted by Blade, and Yanqing showing up for a fight.
Didn't expect to miss those guys entirely.
Instead, Jing Yuan had already made his way to the Scalegorge Waterscape.
So where had Dan Heng been cornered by Blade and Kafka, after all?
For a moment, Sylvia found herself curiously wondering what Dan Heng was up to right now.
But first things first.
She turned her attention to Jing Yuan, who was quickly drawing near.
Faced with the rebirth of the Ambrosial Arbor, Jing Yuan maintained a calm smile despite the seriousness in his eyes.
"Miss Sylvia, regarding Phantylia…"
"Phantylia's already gone down. She's probably running into Dan Shu right about now."
As she spoke, Sylvia studied Jing Yuan closely.
A sudden suspicion crossed her mind: had Dan Shu's final state of mind been subtly influenced by Jing Yuan's maneuvering during this time?
"Dan Shu… alas."
Upon hearing the name, Jing Yuan let out a soft sigh.
He then looked down at the Vidyadhara at his feet and asked:
"So this is the culprit who secretly delivered the Stellaron beneath the seal?"
"Not sure if he's the one who delivered it, but he definitely had a hand in activating the Stellaron. As for that token… it's in Dan Shu's possession now."
--+--
Meanwhile.
Beneath the seal—
Weaving through twists and turns, Phantylia smoothly broke through the seal's barriers and arrived before the roots of the Ambrosial Arbor.
The moment she appeared, she spotted Dan Shu floating above the roots, holding a golden fruit in her hand.
It seemed she had just plucked it, not yet having had the chance to take a bite.
Phantylia instinctively felt the fruit had ripened a few minutes earlier than she had estimated.
But since she had never personally witnessed the Ambrosial Arbor bearing fruit, she simply buried her doubt, masking it with a scornful laugh.
"Heh—It really is you, Dan Shu. You traitor who knows nothing but betrayal. Did you really think you'd get a chance to live? Even if you offered this fruit to Jing Yuan, you'd still die!"
Dan Shu gazed at Phantylia's fiery form and smiled:
"I am well aware of that. But I do not care."
With that, Dan Shu took a bite of the fruit. Yet Phantylia acted as if she hadn't even seen it, continuing to approach at a leisurely pace.
She didn't seem the least bit concerned about the fruit being consumed.
Intensely concentrated Abundance energy burst forth within Dan Shu's body as the fruit was ingested.
The power—overwhelming, nearly uncontrollable Abundance—threatened to shatter Dan Shu's sanity entirely.
"Ugh… Aaahhh—!!!"
The excessive power rampaged through her body. Her original flesh was instantly torn apart, only to be repaired by the Abundance energy.
In this cycle of destruction and regeneration, her body began to swell and mutate grotesquely, even sprouting golden branches from her back.
"Hehehe—Did you really wonder why I wasn't worried about you eating it?"
Phantylia laughed as she drew near Dan Shu, as if admiring a masterpiece.
"Hah…"
By now, the sprouting branches had pierced Dan Shu's throat, robbing her of speech. All she could do was stare wide-eyed, her gaze fixed fiercely on Phantylia.
"Enough… I can't let you waste any more of this power. Be a good girl now, and become the fodder for my new body!"
Having lost interest in Dan Shu, Phantylia's flames morphed into a massive, gaping maw and swallowed Dan Shu whole.
The flames consumed her body, using the power of the Ambrosial Arbor fruit and Dan Shu's own flesh as material to rebuild a physical form.
A golden lotus gradually bloomed within the flames, then slowly closed, forming a bud.
A new body was being nurtured, but Phantylia's doubts only grew.
"Something's wrong… This isn't right… The first fruit of the Ambrosial Arbor shouldn't be this feeble."
The new body taking shape was, in all honesty, stronger than the physical forms of most races in the cosmos.
Yet this strength fell far short of the results Phantylia had originally calculated.
In her projections, a body forged from the combined powers of Destruction and Abundance should have surpassed that of an ordinary Emanator.
But now? Far from surpassing it, this body's power left Phantylia feeling… hollow.
There was an unpleasant sense of incompleteness, as if perfection had been unexpectedly cut short.
Even the connection to the Ambrosial Arbor, which should have been stable, felt patchy and unreliable.
--+--
T/N: I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 3 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
[email protected]/AspenTL
If you guys wanna check it out.