The moon haze hung high in the sky, Guanghan cold and desolate.
Cold pool, green bamboo, forest shadows swaying.
Before the Moon-Hazy Cold Pool of Clear Bamboo Palace in the sixth layer of the Taiyin Illusion Realm, Li Jianchun, who had nearly been frozen until his divine soul cracked apart and his life and Dao vanished, awoke from numb confusion.
Looking up, he saw clear, frigid moonlight pouring down from the heavens. Looking around, he found bamboo groves stretching like a sea in every direction, every stalk of green bamboo mottled with moonlit marks.
Though he did not know where he was, Li Jianchun could sense that although this place was cold, it no longer carried that bone-piercing, soul-stabbing chill from before. There was even a thread of warmth in the wind, making his divine soul feel wonderfully comfortable. All he wanted was to sink into sleep and never wake again.
Li Jianchun instinctively wanted to fall asleep again, but then something occurred to him, and he jolted awake. He hastily looked around and saw that Tian Ming'an, Qiu Buyu, and Huang Ping'an were all there. Though they were frozen amid ice and snow, he let out a long breath. "Good. Everyone's here."
Once he knew everyone was present, Li Jianchun finally could no longer hold on and fell into a deep sleep again.
After Li Jianchun fell asleep, Tian Ming'an, Qiu Buyu, and Huang Ping'an awoke one after another over the following dozen or so days. After confirming that everyone was there, they too returned to sleep.
The four of them had utterly forgotten to consider how they had arrived here—or rather, their divine souls could no longer endure much thought.
Before the Moon-Hazy Cold Pool, Tian Ming'an, Qiu Buyu, Li Jianchun, and Huang Ping'an lay within shells of