I'm Trapped in the Block

Chapter 494: Chapter 491: Starlight Guides the Way

Darkness was falling. As Li Luo and Zhou Chao talked, they ventured deeper and deeper along the path.

The fallen trees lining the path were much thicker than the ones they had seen at the start. They appeared to be ancient, their trunks nearly a person’s height in diameter.

If these trees were still alive, they would have blotted out the sun, completely shrouding the forest in their shadows.

But now, these ancient trees had all been sliced to pieces in a myriad of ways and were piled up on either side of the road.

”These must be activated ancient trees, right? Could Lord Ying have cleared all of them?” Mo Ling asked in surprise, looking at the endless expanse of wood.

’That projector’s power is definitely not as simple as it seems.’

’The projected attacks I saw before were bizarre, but they weren’t strong enough to harm these massive ancient trees.’

’Does it have other reels of film that can project different attacks?’

Mo Ling didn’t know what other activated relics besides Little Bottle Cap were helping Lord Ying, and their power was not to be underestimated.

Mo Ling suspected the relics on this island were split into two factions: one backing Lord Ying, and the other, the Eye of the Stars.

The Eye of the Stars’ faction wanted to spread the activation, while Lord Ying was constantly trying to eliminate it.

’If their power levels weren’t so similar, they couldn’t possibly have been locked in a stalemate for this long.’

’Lord Ying only mentioned how powerful the Eye of the Stars is, but he was secretive about his own strength.’

’And why would the Eye of the Stars just hole up in the center of the Sky Island? If it’s really as powerful as Lord Ying claims, it could have broken out long ago, right?’

Just as Mo Ling was wondering about this, Li Luo and Zhou Chao suddenly stopped in their tracks.

They seemed to be staring at something in the distance, and a blue light began to reflect in both of their pupils.

”It’s starlight,” Zhou Chao said blankly. Mo Ling almost thought he had been mesmerized by the Eye of the Stars, but he quickly returned to normal.

”Is it my imagination? It’s like the starry sky has fallen to the ground,” he turned his head and asked Li Luo in disbelief.

Night had not yet fully fallen, but Li Luo’s eyes were already filled with countless stars.

”We... are walking into a river of stars.”

”Yeah, that river of stars... it’s so beautiful.” Zhou Chao looked ahead again, and after a short while, his dazed expression returned.

Both of them seemed a little off, their eyes filled with longing.

Mo Ling was a little worried. He had personally witnessed what the Eye of the Stars could do; the allure of that starlight was not something an ordinary creature could resist.

And at that moment, both Li Luo and Zhou Chao couldn’t help but quicken their pace.

’Didn’t Lord Ying say the film would protect us? Why isn’t it working?’

Just as Mo Ling was feeling doubtful, the film on top of the Block suddenly began to flicker faintly. Immediately after, two pieces split off and flew in front of Li Luo and Zhou Chao’s eyes, covering their vision like a pair of sunglasses.

Afterward, the two pieces of film slowly faded and disappeared.

Li Luo and Zhou Chao’s hurried steps gradually slowed to a halt. Then the two looked at each other, caution in their eyes.

”Did you feel it?” Li Luo asked seriously.

”I felt it. Such a powerful pull... I felt like my consciousness was about to leave my body and fly toward that starlight.”

Zhou Chao rubbed his temples and said with some lingering fear, ”That pull is subconscious. It’s like a seed of desire was planted in my heart and then sprouted rapidly. Before I knew it, that starlight became the thing I craved most. I didn’t even realize anything was wrong.”

Li Luo held up a hand, waving it in front of his eyes. He then walked over to the Block and looked at its top. The film that had just appeared was now hidden again.

”So the film Lord Ying gave us really can protect us?”

”It seems so. It must have cut off our contact with the starlight, like layering an invisible filter over our eyes.”

Zhou Chao also felt around in front of his eyes. Neither of them could touch the vanished film, but there was no doubt it had taken effect.

”Phew...” Zhou Chao breathed a sigh of relief. ”I don’t want to experience that feeling a second time. When I was talking to you just now, I thought everything was normal...”

The starlight’s allure took hold in an instant. The bewitched creature would never realize it had been affected.

However, since the film had already taken effect, the two no longer had to worry about making the same mistake.

”Since we can already see the starlight, it means we aren’t far from the Eye of the Stars. Let’s keep moving...”

This path that Lord Ying had specially opened for them seemed to lead directly into the starlight. Before long, the path was covered in light, and even the shattered wood on its sides was illuminated with myriad points of light, like stars.

Mo Ling also saw what Zhou Chao had called ”the fallen starry sky.”

The starlit path indeed looked like a flowing river of stars. The road grew hazy in the distance, merging into a starry sky that blanketed the earth.

Although the starlight’s allure had been blocked by the film, its captivating beauty remained.

At the edge of the area shrouded by the starry sky, Mo Ling could see tall, ancient trees. The starlight seemed to be protecting them, preventing Lord Ying’s power from entering.

Beyond a faint, arcing light was the plain of fallen, shattered wood, creating a stark contrast between the two areas.

Those ancient trees were lush with branches and leaves. It was as if a star resided on every leaf, and the branches were the lines connecting the constellations.

The evening breeze blew, causing the stars to sway and cast a shimmering light.

These ancient trees had merged with the starry sky, a blend of the real and the illusory. They existed on this Sky Island, yet were also rooted around a river of stars, in perfect harmony.

However, beneath this beautiful starlight, Mo Ling felt his blood run cold.

He knew that those ancient trees were not ordinary trees, but completely activated ancient trees that possessed independent consciousnesses.

But these consciousnesses had been completely imprisoned by the light created by the Eye of the Stars. Although the trees were rooted on the Sky Island, their minds might have long since flowed into that void-like river of stars.

As the night deepened, an ethereal blue band of light in the starry forest became more and more distinct. It coiled around every ancient tree, like a chain locking them all together.

Faint, floating points of light drifted within the band, like individual consciousnesses that had detached from their physical bodies.

Mo Ling remembered clearly that Lord Ying had said the consciousness of the Eye of the Stars came from the stars. And now, these points of light drifting in the ethereal blue band looked just like electrical signals pulsing along neurons.

A gust of wind blew, stimulating the swaying leaves, and they changed from blue to red. Bubble-like points of light escaped from the now-purplish band, spreading into the distance along an axon-like path to another large tree.

The starlight on that large tree also turned red as a result, and its leaves rustled though there was no wind...

’The Eye of the Stars... is it really just using stars as its neurons?’