The illusion brought on by the mirage gradually faded.

But it was disappearing in a strange way.

Mo Ling discovered the entire illusory world was moving—at high speed.

It was as if something was dragging it along.

Skyscrapers and objects rushed toward him, passed right through his body, and flew away behind him.

These illusory objects were also becoming increasingly blurry, melting like wax into a swirl of iridescent light.

"What’s happening?"

’Did one of the residents ask the Little Elf for a relic that could destroy the illusion?’

Mo Ling could only stand there and watch as everything around him dissolved into iridescent light.

Finally, he saw the scene beyond the light.

It was the sky, constantly in motion.

Mo Ling had a sudden realization. It wasn’t that something had destroyed the illusion; the mirage had been blown away!

The entire Oasis City was moving at high speed through the air, and the wind had dispersed the mirage within it.

But because of certain protective wishes, Oasis City remained intact, and its inhabitants felt nothing was wrong.

With Oasis City in the air, the Vortex Turtle must have already taken flight. It was now hurtling toward the sea!

Looking in the direction of the roaring wind, the world outside the iridescent light slowly came into view.

It was a massive fissure that tore through the sky. On the other side was a deep, almost black, shade of blue.

Under immense pressure, seawater gushed from the fissure like a waterfall, pouring into the desert below.

As the mirage covering Oasis City dispersed, the residents began to materialize, and they all became aware of their terrifying predicament.

This was the very scene from the Vortex Turtle’s wish, now unfolding exactly as planned.

Stunned by the scene before him, Mo Ling could only turn to the Little Elf. "What relic did you give the Vortex Turtle?"

"A relic that allows one to swim through the air," the Little Elf replied.

"Not a relic that tears open fissures?"

"It tore that open itself. It’s always had that kind of power."

Hearing this, Mo Ling was at a loss. He had thought about closing the fissure, but that was clearly not an option.

’This Vortex Turtle is carrying the entire Oasis City on its back. There’s just no way to deal with it.’

Just then, the Little Elf beside him seemed to notice his concern and offered a comforting word. "Nothing will happen to Oasis City. Don’t worry."

Mo Ling looked at the Little Elf, who had only just returned to its normal state, and found it hard to believe.

"The wishes protecting Oasis City are more powerful than that. They will all be fulfilled." Seeing Mo Ling was still skeptical, the Little Elf stated confidently.

Thinking back on the Little Elf’s recent behavior, Mo Ling suddenly realized something.

"You split yourself across the entire Oasis City just to create these protective wishes?"

In that instant, Mo Ling felt he understood the Little Elf’s actions.

"I didn’t create them. The people of Oasis City did. I just helped them come true," it said calmly.

"The wishes of those who genuinely want to protect Oasis City will all come to pass. This was the only thing I could do."

The Little Elf looked at the shocked Mo Ling and began to explain its plan.

As a being that could glimpse the future, the Little Elf had long known this day would come.

Even if the Little Elf hadn’t helped the Vortex Turtle fulfill its wish, the turtle would have eventually crawled out of its pit, and the resulting destruction would have been far greater.

The Vortex Turtle wasn’t dead. It had been gathering its strength all along, and the people of Oasis City were completely unaware.

And even if they had known of the Vortex Turtle’s existence, they would have been powerless to stop it.

They couldn’t kill the Vortex Turtle, and they wouldn’t dare risk the safety of Oasis City by attacking it.

If killing the Vortex Turtle was impossible, the only other option was to find another way to save Oasis City: by protecting it.

But a wish like that had never been made.

Oasis City only allowed children to make wishes, and their desires were usually very simple, never so grand or specific.

Of course, Oasis City would occasionally send adults to make wishes, but they were mostly there to test the stability of the Wishing Spring, so their wishes weren’t specific enough either.

A wish to "protect Oasis City" sounds simple, but it requires a variety of specific components:

Protecting the buildings from destruction.

Protecting the people from injury or death.

Counteracting the changes in gravity and airflow from the Vortex Turtle’s movements.

Negating the effects of tremors.

And so on... 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

A vague, broad concept alone couldn’t protect Oasis City.

All sorts of unexpected things would happen.

Because of this, obtaining such a wish was incredibly difficult, especially when the wishers were all children.

Candy, toys, and pretty clothes were what they wanted, not protection.

The Little Elf waited a long time but could never gather enough wishes to protect Oasis City.

Wishes are abstract and conceptual, not specific. Only a set of specific "parameters" could truly protect Oasis City.

"I realized the limitations of wishes." At this, the Little Elf sounded somewhat dejected.

It had thought wishes were omnipotent, yet it couldn’t even accomplish the simple task of protecting Oasis City.

"So, I had to increase the number of wishers. Then, I could piece together the specific ’parameters’ to protect Oasis City from the details of their similar wishes."

The Little Elf finally decided to weave one ultimate wish itself.

As long as it fell within the category of a "wish," the Little Elf could manipulate it, slightly altering how the wish was granted to assemble the necessary conditions.

For example, if someone wished to protect their family, the Little Elf would expand the definition of "family" to include their neighbors and friends.

The Little Elf used the same method for wishes to protect one’s "home."

Of course, many wishes were only cobbled together after the Little Elf had split itself apart.

At this point, Mo Ling couldn’t help but ask, "How did you split yourself?"

It seemed to have nothing to do with wishes.

"Using the mirage," the Little Elf explained.

Its species’ true form is a constantly expanding golden light that needs to attach itself to a liquid.

The most common one is water.

The Wishing Spring and Wishing Pool are both external manifestations of its species.

Humans once mistook the wish-granting property of its species for a property of the container, which led to the appearance of the "Holy Grail."

In truth, it isn’t the Holy Grail that grants wishes, but the liquid within it.

Old Xu sealing the spring was also part of the Little Elf’s plan.

That allowed it to logically leave the spring and attach itself to the spreading mirage.

The mirage, too, is a liquid.

Thus, it could spread throughout Oasis City along with the mirage, allowing every resident to make a wish.

However, because its power was so dispersed, it could only set a wish-granting "program" for each of its splintered selves. These selves had little intelligence and were prone to error.

The Little Elf understood humans well. To prevent anyone from exploiting the wishes for personal gain, it implemented many harsh "punishments."

It began testing this program long ago, hoping to make it more stable.

However, the more it split, the lower the intelligence of each part, and eventually, some of its splintered selves went berserk.

But this was all to increase the number of wishers. The Little Elf had no other choice; without doing this, it could never have gathered enough wishes.

It had to disperse itself as widely as possible, ensuring every resident got a splinter of the Little Elf, so that the protective wishes could become more concrete.

But halfway through its plan, it was interrupted by Mo Ling...

The Little Elf looked toward the rapidly approaching fissure. "We’re still missing one wish. One specific wish."

"What kind of wish?"

"A wish for Oasis City to land safely."