Chapter 495: The Lake

After writing for a while, Zuo Meng stopped. He didn’t continue the next part.

This book was also a form of reality, carrying a world within it. Even if Zuo Meng didn’t write, it would develop on its own—just without his control. His writing process allowed him to steer the world’s direction. If supreme beings existed within, they’d inevitably sense the illusion of a “mastermind” manipulating their existence.

“The ink writes the future but consumes Origin Power…”

Zuo Meng sensed his own changes, deepening his understanding of the ink’s nature.

The ink was undeniably a form of power. Those lacking true comprehension couldn’t use it even if they obtained it. One first had to experience the “bamboo scroll world” and fuse with the Origin Rules to perceive its essence. To master it, one had to escape the “sheepskin book world.” Each step was interlocked; none could be skipped.

“Xiao Meng.”

“Xiao Meng…”

The voice returned, clearer than before, as if whispered directly into his ear.

“That voice again.”

Zuo Meng set aside his thoughts and resumed tracing the sound’s source.

“Who is it? Would Master Zuo Han Sheng or Junior Sister Zuo Qiu know something…?”

He felt certain the voice belonged to someone he knew—someone vital. Yet his memories held no trace. Creator-level power let him recall even his time in the womb. He’d fully mastered the Six Harmonies Realm where he was born, and his mother there had long passed. Only Master Zuo Han Sheng and Junior Sister Zuo Qiu remained as loose threads.

Both had vanished without a trace.

Ordinary humans would’ve died long ago under Zuo Meng’s epoch-spanning lifespan. Yet these two still lived—he sensed their lingering vitality through his connection to them, an ability gained after grasping two realities. This baffled him. Neither Master nor Junior Sister were powerful beings; they hadn’t even escaped their world. Unless they’d hidden as thoroughly as the Dream Realm’s Old Turtle, they should’ve perished.

“I’ll reverse time to search after returning beyond the door.”

Zuo Meng quickly formed a plan. Leaving now wasn’t wise—the Giant Snake had expended great effort to bring him here, and departure might prevent return.

Previously, he couldn’t track Master and Junior Sister because their fates intertwined with his. “One cannot divine their own fate” was a fundamental rule. But after obtaining two realities beyond the door, that invisible restraint broke—as if he’d shattered some boundary.

Or was still shattering it.

Dismissing these tangents, Zuo Meng followed the voice.

He soon finished exploring the Western Hall. Like the Eastern World, it hid many secrets, but none served his purpose. As he headed back east through the central zone, he froze midstep.

A lake?

A hundred-meter-wide lake now lay between the Eastern and Western areas. Its mirror-still surface revealed tiles beneath shallow water—utterly ordinary. But here?

This was the realm beyond the door, a place of suspected true reality.

Nothing here was ordinary. Worse, this lake hadn’t existed when Zuo Meng first crossed from the east. It appeared after he’d exited the sheepskin book world.

“A lake visible only after unlocking two realities?”

Approaching, Zuo Meng received fragmented concepts from the lake—it possessed rudimentary consciousness. But when he probed deeper, it fell silent.

“Xiao Meng.”

“Xiao Meng…”

The voice resounded again, clearly from the lakebed.

It had guided him thrice now: first to the bamboo scroll world in the east, then the sheepskin book world in the west, now this lake. All three clearly held secrets tied to him—or powers he desperately needed. To abandon this path meant resigning to stagnation, eventual consumption by an Origin World.

“Show me your true face!”

After confirming the lake was the sole change across both areas, Zuo Meng prepared his third descent.

The first world—the bamboo scroll—had preserved his memories. Using Origin Rules, he’d exploited a loophole to transcend via the Dream Realm.

The second world—the sheepskin book—sealed his memories. But he’d crafted a system using gains from the first world to guide his escape.

This third world would merge both powers.

To avoid repeat sealing or new complications, he fused both forces into his rank—a creator’s foundational essence, surpassing even soul.

Pitch-black ink and multicolored Origin Rules flowed into Zuo Meng’s consciousness, merging into a strange entity within his sea of consciousness…

Ignoring this, Zuo Meng stepped onto the lake, walking toward its center—the voice’s origin.

Bizarrely, the clear water turned murky underfoot. The placid surface roiled with countless wailing silhouettes. Twisted faces breached the water, thrashing desperately to escape—futile, for they were the lake itself.

Gurgle…

At one-third distance, whirlpools formed beneath him.

Tiny at first, they devoured the entire lake in moments, swallowing the distorted faces. Zuo Meng stood unaffected—the water’s surface remained undisturbed to outside observers.

Externally, calm clarity persisted.

Internally, chaos reigned.

Stillness ruled the lake.

Motion came from the people.