The Little Stone Monster Pulling the Cart

The ship sailed across the vast sea. In the distance, fishermen of the People of the Abyss surfaced, waving at the vessel.

Lan stood at the ship's rail, gazing into the distance, silent for a long while.

He turned back to look at Yinsai, his eyes filled with complexity.

Throughout his life, Lan had strived to change his homeland, and in many ways, he had succeeded.

He had brought change to his people, ensuring they no longer went hungry, enabling them to be self-sufficient.

He had established numerous food workshops, made the Ice Temple less aloof, and began producing food for the common people.

But he discovered that he had only changed his hometown.

Yinsai remained the same Yinsai; it had never truly changed.

Lan sighed, "Our civilization... where will you ultimately go?"

He finally understood why his teacher had founded the Temple of Truth, for only thousands of people inheriting the will of the saint could change this world.

A single person alone could not accomplish what they aimed to do.

The fishing net was hauled up, brimming with catch. His student approached, holding out fish and other sea creatures, their scales shimmering brilliantly under the sun.

"Teacher! Look!"

"The sea is still more abundant and lively!"

"The sea has all kinds of food, and the seabed is covered with plants, while the land has nothing."

Lan asked his student, "Is it a good thing for life forms to become more diverse?"

The student looked puzzled, glancing at the Ancestral Fish in the net. "Teacher, isn't it good to have more edible things?"

Lan smiled. These people were truly aloof.

Their deeply-rooted belief in their superiority over all other life forms was unshakeable, without a moment's consideration.

"What if we were the ones being eaten?"

The student was speechless, unsure how to respond.

The ship passed through a thick fog, guided by the light atop the lighthouse. Lan and his group finally arrived at the Island of Mist.

This place didn't belong to the kingdom of Yinsai, merely an overseas enclave.

It also didn't belong to the Abyss Kingdom. The Temple of Truth and this island stood independent from both, more like a mysterious sacred realm.

All the temple instructors were waiting at the base of the lighthouse to welcome Food Priest Lan, including some older apprentices about to graduate.

"Everyone has been waiting for your return, Second Generation Sage of Truth."

This time, Lan would not leave again.

He had inherited his teacher's will and the identity of the sage.

"What's that?"

In the distance, Lan noticed a group of students frolicking on the hillside.

They were riding in a peculiar vehicle – a metal-framed carriage with two rows of seats, accommodating seven or eight students.

The vehicle wasn't pulled by a person, but by a stone.

Or rather, a life form composed of stone.

It was a peculiar creature made of two stone spheres, one large and one small. The lower half, the larger sphere, rolled rapidly, while the upper half, the head, wobbled from side to side, looking somewhat comical.

But it was not slow, pulling the carriage swiftly.

"So fast!"

"Speed up!"

"My little companion, faster!"

The carriage bounced violently, with the students shouting and cheering.

Under the control of the eldest priest, the vehicle careened down the hillside, then raced along the coast.

The carriage hurtled uncontrollably towards Lan and the temple instructors. The students' eyes widened in shock as they realized their predicament.

"Oh no!"

"We're in trouble, it's the teachers."

"Stop!"

"Quick, stop it."

The students panicked even more.

Then the carriage overturned.

Lan raised his hand, supporting the falling students, preventing them from crashing directly onto the ground.

The stone spheres pulling the cart split into two, rolling together before reassembling.

However, it looked wobbly, as if dazed from the impact.

Lan looked at the entity pulling the cart: "What is this?"

Upon closer inspection, Lan finally recognized it.

It was actually a stone monster, albeit a newborn one.

It was a descendant of the stone monster created by Sandean. The progenitor stone monster, confined in the dungeon, had recently given birth to a litter of small stone monsters.

What surprised Lan the most was that the priests on the Island of Mist had found a way to control and utilize them.

"How do you control these monsters? They are transcendent beings with Wisdom Ability."

"They wouldn't easily submit to Trilobite Man control."

The oldest student stood up to answer: "It's the Spirit Realm Covenant. The Spirit Realm Covenant allows us to form contracts with spirits. The spirits lend us power, and we give them memories."

"By modifying it slightly, changing the names of both parties to us and the stone monsters, we can similarly establish contracts with stone monsters through the Spirit Realm."

"The stone monsters become our partners, and we offer them something we possess."

Lan's tone was one of shock: "The Spirit Realm Covenant?"

"There's actually such a method? Achieving symbiosis with monsters through the Spirit Realm Covenant?"

This ingenious idea was beyond even Lan's imagination.

He turned to ask the temple instructors: "Who came up with this? It's truly a brilliant concept."

The instructors exchanged glances, and finally, one stepped forward to say, "It was... a student of Haru's."

"His name is Anhofus."

Although Lan had complex emotions regarding Haru, he held no grudge against Haru's students, believing that a teacher's misdeeds shouldn't affect the students.

Lan was unaware that Haru's secret art of immortality had originated from Anhofus. After all, Haru hadn't even shared this information with their teacher, Sandean.

Lan felt this person was exceptionally talented and immediately took an interest in him.

"Where is he?"

The instructor replied, "When he heard you had become the second-generation Sage of Truth, he ran away."

Lan shook his head: "Is he afraid I'll hold a grudge against them because of Haru? That won't happen."

"If you find him, tell him he can come back."

"Haru is Haru, and he is himself."

The students' transgression and the collision led to a scolding from their instructor.

But in Lan's presence, the instructor ultimately let them off.

The chastened students departed with their little stone monster and the carriage. Once out of sight, their contrite expressions quickly dissolved into barely suppressed snickers.

They huddled together, laughing uncontrollably.

Who knows what they found so amusing.

Lan watched their silhouettes in the sunlight, playing and hugging the little stone monster, and suddenly thought of his younger self, Haru, and Elena.

Perhaps one day, monsters would become part of Trilobite Man society – stone monsters helping to pull merchant caravans, fire demons providing flames and heat, and so on.

"Is it not possible to coexist?"

This phrase suddenly echoed in Lan's ears, and he whipped his head around.

"Who's there?"

"Who's speaking?"

No one had spoken; he was merely recalling a memory from a dream.

That voice was soft and pleasant, reminding him of the divine emissary's voice he had heard in Volcano City.

Lan had a sudden realization. "At that time," he murmured, "it was the divine emissary asking me."

Dark Swamp.

"Splash!"

"Tsk!"

A young man waded through the mire, each step exceptionally difficult.

He passed through the canyon's entrance, resembling the gates of hell, advancing towards the depths of this swamp known as the forbidden land of death.

Behind him followed a small stone monster, wobbling and rolling in the mud. Fortunately, this marginal area wasn't deep.

Finally, in the depths of the mire, he dug up a glass shard from a flask.

The glass shard had intricate array patterns inside, as fine as the tiniest filigree, and the glass seemed to be infused with something, faintly emitting a silver glow.

"The magic bottle is indeed still here."

The young man was somewhat excited. This magic bottle could be said to contain Haru's most powerful force and crucial research.

"Teacher, your legacy will not be extinguished."

"The formidable power you created, along with your name, will continue to be passed down."

The glass shard flickered with light, illuminating the face of the newcomer.

It was Anhofus.