Unlike ordinary people, the Empress preferred to bite her lollipops rather than lick them. Although Lin Luo wasn't worried about her biting off his fingers, he withdrew them just before she could, looking out for her teeth.

"Ah!" Driven by inertia, the Empress bit her tongue. She shuddered, waking up completely amidst a sharp cry of pain.

"Wuwuwuwu... I'm so miserable, I'm truly so miserable..." As soon as the Empress woke up and saw several familiar figures suddenly appear before her, she burst into tears of emotion, as if she had seen long-lost relatives. Before anyone could speak, she lunged forward, weeping and lodging her tearful accusations.

The sorrow of the scene, the misery in her voice, suggested a sudden winter snow in the middle of summer.

Following the Empress’s resentful explanation, the group finally understood the whole situation... Three months ago, the Empress and Lily had arrived at UYTEN. Although the Empress disliked life in the Celestial Realm, as a Celestial Being, residing there was mandatory. Thus, she was initially delighted that Lily could accompany her; at least she would have company, and life wouldn't be so dull.

But the Empress soon realized her assumption was wrong—terribly wrong. Lily was a cultivation fanatic, and she hadn't come to the Celestial Realm to keep her company, but solely because she appreciated the environment here.

Well, that wasn't so bad; she could still watch Lily cultivate as if watching television, and chat during her idle moments. But... just a month ago, Lily suddenly became obsessed with an activity practiced by the old Celestial Beings there: fishing.

And from that moment, the Empress’s disaster began, because she was forced to participate in this activity as well.

Naturally, the Empress abhorred such a tedious and dull activity, but she was helpless. Among everyone there, her strength was the weakest. Failing to escape in time at the start foretold her tragedy. The moment she entertained the thought of fleeing or made any move, an invisible force would bind her, making escape utterly impossible. The result? A full month spent without eating, drinking, or resting, sitting by the river like a stone with Lily and those elders, fishing silently.

As everyone knew, the word "silence" never existed in the Empress's vocabulary. Her temperament was the complete opposite of Reimu's. A life of ease, leisure, no work required, and daily consumption of the finest cuisine—a life that Reimu would dream of in the Celestial Realm—was, to the Empress, so boring and monotonous she felt sick... It was easy to imagine what hell this past month had been for her.

"If I hadn't learned to sleep while sitting, I truly would have died!" the Empress wept, tears streaming down her face.

"..." The other three were immediately speechless. Looking at the Empress’s grief-stricken expression, they felt a measure of sympathy. Even Lin Luo thought it was a miracle she had survived this month.

"But now it's fine. I'm finally free from this damned hell," the Empress said thankfully, though she left the rest unsaid, likely too frightened to articulate it.

"Let me ask beforehand, when will they stop?" Lin Luo inquired.

"They won't stop!" Mentioning this made the Empress furious. She pointed at Lily and the others. "These guys said they won't stop until they catch one fish. That’s something that will never happen."

"Eh?" Patchouli blinked in surprise. "With so many people, catching one fish should be simple, right? Why do you say it’s impossible? And a whole month has passed, haven't they caught a single one?"

"It's not simple at all!" The Empress was clearly exasperated, desperate to vent a month's worth of pent-up frustration. She pointed at the pond, gritting her teeth. "You don't know! That pond has no water, let alone fish... Forget fish, there isn't even a living thing in there! Tell me, how is it possible to catch a fish here?!"

"What?"

This statement left not only Patchouli and Eiju speechless in confusion but also Lin Luo dumbfounded.

He instinctively walked toward the pond. To the naked eye, the pond appeared perfectly normal, but alerted by the Empress, Lin Luo knew better than to treat it as an ordinary body of water. Closing his eyes, he entered a state of perception, focusing all his attention inward... Gradually, he detected the anomaly and finally understood what they were truly doing.

The pond's form did not exist!

Simply put, everything visible to the eye was an illusion. Aside from Lily and the others who were real, this peach grove, the pond, and even the fishing rods in their hands did not exist.

The Form of Nothingness!

Jiang Taigong fishing with a straight hook was exaggerated enough, but now someone was trying to fish in 'Nothingness'... Lin Luo found it incredible, yet he didn't believe Lily and these Celestial Beings had suddenly gone insane for no reason.

In fact, ever since he grasped the Two Great Awarenesses, he had vaguely sensed the existence of the realms of 'Being' and 'Nothingness.' Upon reaching the Quasi-Celestial Tier, he had grasped some hazy understanding. But understanding was one thing; he still didn't know what form it took... It was like looking at a landscape through fog—you knew the scenery was there, but you could never see its true appearance.

Returning to the main point, what Lily and the others called fishing was merely a façade. What they were truly doing was extracting 'Being' from the concept of 'Nothingness'... in short, creating something from nothing.

Of course, this creation from nothingness also varied by the strength of the realm. For example, Lin Luo's Rule of Creation was a form of creation from nothing, but its essence was still built upon the premise of 'Being,' and his Rule of Destruction—from Being to Nothing—also required 'Being' as a prerequisite.

Thus, theoretically, the fundamental premise for all power was singular: 'Being!'

However, what Lily and the Celestials were doing now was genuine creation from absolute nothingness to something!

If any of them managed to catch a fish—even a tiny one the width of a finger—it would signify that person had reached the realm of creating life!

Of course, such a tiny fish would possess far less life energy than a human or a large animal. But no matter how weak the energy, it would still be a life form. More importantly... Nüwa needed soil to create humans, but here, no prerequisite was necessary. In terms of the realm of creation from nothingness alone, this clearly surpassed his own level, assuming they succeeded.

"I never expected something like this..." Lin Luo was shocked. What astonished him wasn't the attainment of the creation-from-nothing realm by Lily and the others, but the fact that regardless of whether it was Lily or those Celestials, their overall strength was below his, yet their grasp of this realm surpassed his own.

Logically, this shouldn't be possible.

After all, his Rule was Creation!

"However, this is also an opportunity." After observing carefully for a while, Lin Luo realized the shortcomings of his own Rule of Creation.

The Rule of Creation had never been an offensive skill. Ever since gaining the Rule of Destruction, he had relegated the Rule of Creation to defensive and auxiliary uses. Furthermore, no matter how powerful he became, the Rule of Creation progressed agonizingly slowly.

He had tried to reverse Destruction again, attempting the fourth evolution from point to line to evolve Creation to a higher tier, but he failed utterly. Even though he could enhance the intensity of Destruction using the Power of the Circle, he simply couldn't reverse Destruction... The principle was simple: once everything is destroyed, the premise becomes 'Nothingness,' and his Creation couldn't achieve true creation from nothing!

For this very reason, although his Rule of Creation had improved significantly since he first grasped it, it ultimately couldn't reach the level of "creating everything."

Moreover, although Youyouzi hadn't gone easy on training the host, she strictly adhered to the principle of self-reliance regarding him, offering him absolutely no assistance. This left Lin Luo without direction on how to advance the Rule of Creation.

He had never imagined he would witness a higher echelon of creation in a place like this... Although no one here had reached the level of creating life, they at least possessed a methodology; they were all attempting it. Even if they ultimately failed, it didn't mean the method was flawed.

Since such an opportunity presented itself, Lin Luo naturally wouldn't refuse. He immediately walked over to where the Empress had been sitting, picked up a fishing rod, and held it in his hand... This rod was also a product of creation from nothingness; it had no weight and gave no sensation when grasped.

He cast the line into the water. There was no sound, no ripple, but in that moment, Lin Luo felt he had genuinely touched the most fundamental 'Nothingness!'

"The strength of these Celestials is comparable to Yuyuko's level; some are even weaker. With their power, it shouldn't be possible for them to open up this most fundamental 'Nothingness.' Strange... Why is the fundamental 'Nothingness' present here? Is it something that inherently exists here, or is it due to another reason?"

Lin Luo was intensely curious about this situation, pondering it secretly, but he soon cast the thought aside. He calmed his mind and focused entirely on fishing...

"Ah! What is he doing?"

Seeing Lin Luo also join the Fossilized Organization, becoming one of its members, the Empress’s eyes nearly popped out... She truly couldn't fathom how such a foolish person existed in this world. She had explicitly told him it was impossible to catch a fish here, yet he proceeded to engage in such a dull and tedious activity. His intelligence... was genuinely concerning.

"Ahhh, another idiot has been born," the Empress shook her head helplessly, but then she quickly smiled. "Haha, let him be. I’m free anyway. Right, let's go down to the Lower Realm for fun."

As she spoke, the Empress looked hopefully at Patchouli and Eiju.

"Sorry, I need to go home." Patchouli didn't even look at her, closed her book, and turned to leave.

"Hey, hey, wait for me! We're friends..." The Empress hurriedly chased after her.

"Sigh, such a young mistress one can never stop worrying about," Eiju sighed and followed them.

P.S.: I make a solemn vow: three updates tomorrow, or I shall perish trying! Damn it all, I refuse to believe Gensokyo can stump me!