[Vol. 7] Chapter 31: Whispers
At some point, the air in the room had grown thick and heavy.
Something was whispering, murmuring in an unintelligible language. Strange, haunting tones rose from the depths of an unseen abyss, as if trying to drag those who heard them into the darkness, dissolving them into the same eerie void.
As if only by sinking deeper could one truly understand its voice. Only then could the veil over reality be lifted, revealing the highest truth and the ultimate reality.
It was calling.
Calling for one to drown…
And through drowning… be redeemed.
"Ding-ling~"
Suddenly, sound of bells rang out, clear and bright, like the morning bells that ward off evil.
"!!!"
The light in Hongyan’s eyes, which had been fading as if she were sinking into a deep ocean, instantly returned. She trembled violently, as if jolted awake from a nightmare, then gasped for air. Desperate, frantic, like someone just pulled from the water after nearly drowning.
"Hah… hah… hah… haaah…!"
The suffocating weight in the air vanished, and the unsettling whispers dissolved into nothingness.
Her unfocused pupils slowly regained clarity, and her consciousness resurfaced from whatever abyss had nearly swallowed it.
"W-what was that just now…?"
Violet lowered the small silver bell in her hand and calmly patted the still-shaken girl on the shoulder. She gave a slight nod, her voice steady.
"It seems your previous training has had some effect. You've unconsciously started using the power that forms the essence of illusion to strengthen and expand your spiritual awareness. Maybe because of that… you accidentally made contact with something. And, as we just saw, it managed to affect you to some degree."
"Accidentally… made contact? But… with what?"
Hongyan frowned slightly. Though her breath was still uneven and her face pale, she seemed to have regained her composure.
The chime of the small silver bell Violet had rung carried a special kind of spiritual power. One that belonged to the Spirit Fox Shrine Maiden. It not only forced Hongyan out of that eerie state but also completely erased the dark aura lingering around her soul, severing her connection to the unknown force that had begun to corrupt her.
More than that, it stabilized her mind, forcing her to calm down.
The sensation was probably like being rudely woken up by a bucket of cold water. Unpleasant, but undeniably effective.
Luckily, Hongyan had only just come into contact with that thing and quickly realized something was wrong, choosing to seek out Violet immediately. If she had waited any longer and allowed her soul to be further tainted, fixing the situation would have been far more complicated.
Violet exhaled lightly before speaking.
“It was likely just a coincidence, probably related to the nature of your breathing technique and the fact that you came into contact with that summoned entity earlier today. As for what exactly it was... I can’t say for sure just yet. But let’s set that aside for now.”
She studied Hongyan’s face carefully.
“How do you feel now? Do you still have that sensation of sinking into the deep sea, or hear those… unrecognizable whispers?”
Hongyan tilted her head slightly in surprise.
“You knew exactly what I experienced just now?”
But a moment later, she sighed in realization, shaking her head with a wry smile.
“Right… You’re the inheritor of the Spirit Fox Shrine Maiden. A real immortal, after all. I guess I owe you my life again.”
Closing her eyes, she took a few deep breaths, centering herself before speaking again.
“It’s gone now. My spiritual perception during meditation is back to its usual state, just pure darkness. But those whispers… they’ve completely disappeared. What’s going on? Does this mean I haven’t fully broken free from the illusion’s influence?”
Violet gave no direct answer. She simply shook her head and spoke calmly.
“Hongyan, it’s important to question things and to think critically. But above all, you must learn to trust in what you know and what you see.
If you’re certain that you are fully conscious and in control of yourself, then no matter how strange or impossible something appears, the problem can only ever lie with the world around you.”
“You mean…”
“This archipelago… No, actually, the entire Emerald Sea feels off. What you saw with your spiritual perception may have been vague and unclear, but… it wasn’t an illusion.”
Violet didn’t linger on the topic for long before switching gears.
“You mentioned earlier that you saw islands submerged deep beneath the sea, and that it even made you question whether this world is real. So… can you tell which island it was?”
Hongyan fell silent for a moment. Then, after some hesitation, she nodded, confirming the priestess’s guess.
“It was… Palut Island. Not just that one, there were the entire Eastern Sea Pearl Islands too. The outlines of the buildings were exactly the same as in reality, but they looked as if they had been submerged for centuries, rotting and crumbling away. I was sitting there, inside the ruins of a broken-down room, with heavy, ice-cold seawater wrapping around me… And those whispers, those voices I couldn’t understand…”
Her gaze, filled with curiosity and confusion, met Violet’s silver-blue eyes.
“Miss Violet, what do these visions mean? Are they some kind of prophecy about the future? Who is speaking, and what are they trying to say?”
Violet simply chuckled, her expression calm and unreadable.
“Good question. But I don’t know the answer either.”
“I can sense that something is fundamentally wrong with the sea and space around us, but on a deeper level, you actually see more than I do. The weak can’t perceive it, and the strong aren’t affected by it. In a way, you’re at the perfect stage to catch glimpses of these whispers and maybe even begin to understand them.”
“If that’s the case, then maybe I could—”
“I wouldn’t recommend it.”
Before Hongyan could finish her thought, Violet shook her head, cutting her off.
“Have you ever wondered why my protective barriers automatically block and erase those whispers?”
Her voice remained steady, but there was a weight behind her words.
“When it comes to forbidden knowledge, simply understanding it can be dangerous. That alone can harm you. With your current strength and the resilience of your soul, even if I helped you decipher those whispers, you wouldn’t be able to withstand the burden they carry.”
Violet’s eyes darkened slightly.
“If you had at least a [Seeker of Immortality] realm (legendary-level). I might consider letting you try. But right now, you’re still too small, too fragile compared to that kind of power. And you wouldn’t want to become something… unrecognizable, would you?”
"I…"
Hongyan instinctively pressed her lips together.
After what she had just experienced, she knew Violet wasn’t trying to deceive or scare her. The whispers hadn’t attacked her they had simply tried to convey information. Yet even that had been enough to overwhelm her, making her see terrifying visions and nearly shattering her mind.
If she truly understood those whispers… would she still be herself?
Suddenly, a thought struck her.
"Wait… If that’s the case, then could those merfolk who fell into madness or a coma from spiritual contamination also be…"
Before Violet could respond, Hongyan realized the flaw in her own theory.
"No, that can’t be right. Their contamination came from the ghosts attacking this sea, specifically from the power granted by the Ghost Ship. But I heard those whispers, the ones that felt like they were coming from the depths of the ocean, while I was in the Eastern Sea Pearl.
Does that mean… the Ghost Ship is somehow connected to the true source of those whispers?"
She frowned, the puzzle pieces swirling in her mind.
"And then there’s the Sea Goddess, who performed a miracle during the day and cured the ones affected by the contamination. What’s her connection to all of this?"
Seeing Hongyan getting more and more tangled in her thoughts, Violet simply chuckled and patted her shoulder.
"Don’t rush. We’re getting closer to the truth, but the connections between all of this are far too complex to unravel in just a few words. Right now, your priority should be resting and preparing for tomorrow’s mission."
Her voice grew slightly more serious.
"Until we leave the Emerald Sea, stop practicing that meditation technique. Just sleep at night. Sometimes, knowing too much, seeing too much… It’s not always a good thing."