Shi Ming shook his head.
’I don’t get it, but I respect it.’
One bubble burst, but countless more remained. The Eye of Destiny had said that the ancestral land of the Star Spirit Race was their graveyard. Every bubble here was a tomb, containing the memories of a Star Spirit’s life.
To find more clues, Shi Ming casually popped another bubble.
...
A fisherman was fishing by the sea and caught a beautiful, fantastical Colorful-tailed Fish in his net.
"Let me go, and I can grant you three wishes." (Note: 1)
The fish pleaded with him.
The simple fisherman was astonished. A fish that could talk was a true rarity. Besides, it was so beautiful that it would be a shame to eat it, so he let it go. As for its talk of three wishes, the fisherman naturally didn’t take it seriously. A fish that could speak was novel enough.
’Making wishes?’
’Getting something for nothing... isn’t that the kind of temptation only a devil would promise?’
’Oh, right! I have to tell my wife about this strange business!’
"..."
"You simple-minded fool!"
His wife flew into a rage after hearing the story.
"If it can talk, it must have incredible powers! Even a devil knows gratitude!"
"You should have asked it for a decent house! Look at this dilapidated wooden shack with its bare walls! It leaks whenever there’s a storm! I’ve had enough of this hard life since I married you! Why can’t you think about our family for once!"
The fisherman thought about it and felt she had a point.
He went to the seashore and called for the Colorful-tailed Fish.
The Colorful-tailed Fish appeared, its tail swaying, stirring starlit ripples in the waves.
"Your wish can be granted."
The sea breeze blew comfortably.
When the fisherman returned home, he found the dilapidated shack had truly been renovated. It was even filled with all sorts of newfangled furniture! The town’s lord himself had surely never seen such novel furnishings! The most delightful surprise was the pottery jars and wooden chests, stuffed to the brim with Gold Coins, as well as gems and silks from the East!
It was enough for them to squander for several lifetimes!
"You brainless oaf!"
"You only asked for a house? Why didn’t you ask for a castle? Let me replace that greedy ass of a town lord and rule this place! Then we’d never have to worry about the sun and wind again and could truly live the good life!"
The fisherman went to the seashore and called for the Colorful-tailed Fish.
"Your wish can be granted."
The sea breeze grew sharp and cold.
On his way back, the fisherman saw a towering fortress rising from the ground in the distance. Loyal guards stood at the main gate, their long spears pointed right at him, demanding he state his name.
"You short-sighted waste of space!"
"If it can make me a lord, it can certainly make me a King! Tell it I want to be the King!"
The fisherman went to the seashore and called for the Colorful-tailed Fish.
"Your wish can be granted."
A storm was brewing by the sea. The fisherman felt the wind was strong enough to blow a person away. He returned to the castle and found a place to live in a remote corner. It was sturdy, yet a far cry from his old wooden shack.
The new wish had been fulfilled, but greed knows no bounds.
"I’ve had enough of being King! Dealing with all these trivial matters every day is giving me a splitting headache! Tell that fish I refuse to be bogged down by the trifles of mortals! I want to transcend mortality! I want the power to grant wishes, just like a god, just like it!"
"Wife..."
"Insolence!"
The fisherman was escorted by guards to the seashore, where he called for the Colorful-tailed Fish.
The fish appeared as promised.
"This is already the fourth wish."
"But you once spared me, so I can make an exception. Go back. She now possesses the power to grant wishes, just as I do..."
The guards escorting the fisherman vanished.
The fisherman turned back into the storm, only to find the beach empty. The castle and the royal court were gone. Shells and crabs dotted the golden sand, and a simple, old-fashioned oil lamp lay fallen in the soft grains.
His wife now possessed the miraculous ability to help living beings realize their wishes.
She had also become another Star Spirit, trapped inside an oil lamp.
...
’That ending wasn’t half bad. Quite satisfying, actually.’
Having immersively watched the bubble burst and absorbed the contamination, Shi Ming turned to look at the Star Spirit floating beside him, whose form was becoming a purer white.
"Xiaobai,"
"Back then, were you trapped in the lamp in the same way?"
The snow-white Star Spirit shook her head.
"No. I’ve forgotten the specific memories, but I vaguely recall that I was captured by an old man while I was traveling and trapped in the oil lamp."
Her gaze was hazy as she answered Shi Ming’s question while looking at the dream-like bubbles all around them.
Shi Ming nodded.
’So Star Spirits really are treasures. Just catch one, turn it into an item, and you can get three wishes. If used properly, it could even become a family heirloom... No wonder the fate of so many Star Spirit Race People isn’t very good in the end.’
But there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Many gifts come with a hidden price tag.
"Xiaobai, these bubbles seem to contain only the memories of your people and all sorts of contamination from unknown sources. Can you spot any other anomalies here?"
Shi Ming didn’t pop any more bubbles. He could see the stories and illusions within through their colorful, shimmering surfaces.
Xiaobai reached out, her palm brushing against another vibrant, dream-like bubble.
She carefully sensed the anomaly within it.
"The ancestral land... just like I was before, it’s been contaminated by worldly desires. It’s different from a tangible form of contamination; it’s a more abstract concept."
"Contaminated by worldly desires?"
An idea struck Shi Ming, and he took out the rest of his Purifying Marrow from his personal storage. ’If it’s the same kind of contamination, and Purifying Marrow can cleanse the Lamp of Wishes, then it must be able to cleanse the contamination here, too.’
Xiaobai’s eyes swept over the small amount of Purifying Marrow, then looked out at the boundless ancestral land.
"It can indeed purify this contamination, but you have too little of it."
"What about this, then?"
A two-meter-tall tree was transferred out of his Captain’s Space. It was a new plant that Shi Ming had grown from a Bodhi Fruit of the Bodhi Tree of Suffering on Earth. The fertilizer it consumed daily was the flesh and blood of the Great Black Heaven Dragon. Its growth was astounding; in less than half a year, it had gone from a sapling to a two-meter-tall tree as thick as an arm.
The Bodhi Tree of Suffering.
It possessed Purifying Power.
The Bodhi Tree of Suffering rustled its leaves, and a faint halo of light spread out. The mottled colors in a cluster of bubbles returned to a pure, brilliant state before shattering abruptly. As they broke, they scattered specks of starlight, leaving no discordant emotions or residual contamination behind.
It was effective, but the efficiency was too low.
Even if he took this Bodhi Tree of Suffering and systematically cleansed all the contaminated bubbles, with two billion of them, there was no telling how much time it would take.
"Big Guy, I feel like they’re crying out to me for help."
The last remaining Star Spirit’s eyes were filled with sorrow.
"Crying for help? How do we save them?"
Shi Ming asked.
’Can these remnant bubble-dreams also transmit their thoughts to their own kind?’
’If so, couldn’t they communicate the best strategy to us?’
Having dealt with the Star Spirit Race’s creatures, artifacts, and ultimate treasures many times, and relying on information from the Eye of Destiny, Shi Ming understood one thing very clearly: while the Star Spirit Race was generous, they didn’t just give things away for the taking. Their free assistance always came at an equivalent, hidden cost. If he wanted to get more from them, he would have to meet certain conditions.
Reaching this secret ancestral land, a place that even Sovereign Ron couldn’t find, was his reward for helping them get their revenge.
And here, in this ancestral land, if he wanted to obtain the great opportunity that even a Pillar Stone would covet, he would likely have to complete other tasks. Judging from the current situation and the information from the Eye of Destiny, resolving the contamination within these colorful bubbles was a necessary condition.
The key was, without having obtained the Origin of [Purification], how could he effectively purify the contamination here?
The bell on Xiaobai’s ankle was silent. She was trying to communicate with the lingering regrets of her deceased kin.
————————
Note 1: Adapted from Pushkin’s fairy tale in verse, "The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish."