I looked at Weixi with a questioning gaze. Weixi glanced at me, "I've been to this place before..."
"Let's go," Richard said, then turned his gaze. "Follow us..."
After speaking, without waiting for me to react, he directly jumped into the lake.
The emerald green lake water instantly swallowed him. He didn't float up but sank straight downwards.
The lake water was clear and transparent, and I could clearly see the black figure sinking further down.
"Don't worry, there's no danger," Weixi said, then jumped into the lake.
The situation was the same as Richard's. After jumping in, he didn't float up but sank downwards.
Damn it, if you dare to jump, why shouldn't I?
And at this moment, I felt like I was about to approach some truth, and I was unwilling to give up.
With almost no hesitation, I also jumped down.
I had expected the lake water to be ice-cold or scorching hot, but honestly, the moment the surrounding lake water enveloped me, I felt no other unusual sensation.
I even felt a warmth, as if I had returned to my mother's embrace.
And the suffocating feeling I had imagined did not appear. I knew clearly that I was in the water, yet I could still breathe.
Isn't this too unreasonable!
Could it be that my body has mutated?!
I felt my body slowly sinking, enveloped all over, and it felt very comfortable.
I didn't know how long I had been sinking. I couldn't change direction in this place.
I couldn't see Richard's figure, nor Weixi's shadow, and could only let my body sink.
At a certain moment, I suddenly realized that the surrounding lake water was gone.
The lake water was like an illusion, but I knew it was real!
I subconsciously looked around, and then I saw Richard and Weixi standing beside me.
And their gazes were fixed forward, with expressions of reverence on their faces.
I followed their gaze and saw a scene I would never forget in my life.
It was spectacular!
The scene was incredibly spectacular!
It was a towering ancient tree with lush branches spreading out in all directions. Looking at it, it resembled a giant tree umbrella.
The only imperfection was that there were no leaves on these branches.
The rich vitality was emanating from the branches.
And I felt that these branches seemed to contain some terrifying power!
However, this power did not make me feel uncomfortable.
"Is this the Shepherd God?" I asked.
"I don't know," Richard replied. "I call it the Tree of Life, of course, that's just a name I made up on the spot..."
Just as I was about to speak, Weixi suddenly patted my shoulder and pointed upwards.
I followed his finger and saw that above us was a lake...
"This..." I was stunned.
Holy cow! Is this computer-generated special effects?
This is clearly something only computers can do!
"Your expression is exactly the same as Weixi's when he first came here," Richard said, seemingly amused by my expression, with a faint smile on his face.
"Is there a reasonable explanation?" I asked.
"I'm sorry, Lu, there isn't," Richard replied, then beckoned me. "Follow me."
I quickly followed.
We walked step by step towards the Tree of Life, and the closer we got, the more we could feel the vibrant vitality.
Beneath this towering ancient tree, we were like three ants.
Richard walked around to the side of the Tree of Life and pointed at the trunk.
I looked up, and the trunk was covered with various patterns that seemed to have no logic.
However, books usually have such things, so it wasn't surprising.
"Just some patterns on the trunk..." I said.
"Look closely," Richard smiled.
I followed the patterns on the trunk and examined them carefully. These patterns, when connected, actually formed a huge mural.
The scene in the mural was not complicated. It had very crude brushstrokes, depicting the shape of a large tree.
And beneath the tree, there were three humanoid symbols!
Two figures stood facing each other, and one person was lying on the ground, making it unclear what it represented.
However, after careful observation, I discovered a detail!
The two standing figures had their eyes open, but the person lying on the ground had their eyes closed.
"Could it be... sacrifice?" A bold idea suddenly flashed through my mind.
I had seen similar situations many times before, in some ancient tribes, this was very common.
As for the three people... thinking about it carefully, there were also three of us.
Could it be that the three people in the painting corresponded to the three of us?
And then one person needed to be sacrificed!
One of us three had to die?!
In the current situation, was it me?!
"Lu... look at the symbol on the tree..." Richard said.
I looked at the mark on the tree and followed it outwards.
Immediately, three large symbols appeared in my vision.
These three symbols were the xun, the harmonica, and... the guzheng!