Twisted shadows tore open the sky. Dim starlight, like colossal pillars piercing heaven and earth, linked the two and formed an enormous cage.
The stars reflected upon the sky blanketed in dark clouds, as though the starry sky had squeezed down from above into the clouds.
They seemed to be the rifts in the sky themselves, yet also seemed to have torn themselves apart to form those rifts.
A breeze swept through the swaying grass and trees. Under the starlight, the emerald plants rapidly yellowed and decayed at a visible rate.
Ooh—
Some invisible song rang out between heaven and earth.
Its high notes seemed to tremble within people's souls, plucking at the starlight between heaven and earth.
At the center of the stars, at the center of the rift in the sky, shadows from the starry sky gathered like flowing water.
They enveloped one another, forming a vague, "broad" silhouette.
Its body was pitch-black, like a reflection standing upon the earth. Specks of radiance diffused around the outline of its body, as though the stars had attached themselves to it.
The starlight flickered, outlining its shape. At a glance, it resembled a "humanoid" flattened by an enormous roller.
The shadow lowered its head and stared at the Youth standing below, watching his flesh continuously twist and his body continuously mutate.
At this moment, the Youth had almost lost his human form. His smooth skin was covered in crystalline purple jade, which spread in every direction as though it were condensing into a vast and majestic ancient machine.
Illusory lines extended from that twisted, mutated body like "tentacles" probing the entire world, rapidly spreading outward.
Then, the shadowy humanoid in the sky flickered and instantly passed through the enormous rift, arriving before the Youth.
—
Noisy thoughts, carrying frenzied contamination,