The shadowy humanoid raised his gaze and looked at the figure standing atop the flowers behind him.
The wind flowing between heaven and earth swept through the youth's loose hair, brushed across his jade-smooth skin, and lifted his simple purple robe, making it snap in the wind.
The youth also raised his head and looked at the shadowy humanoid. His deep pupils, as though condensed from Purple Fresh Blood, were tranquil like a quiet night sky.
He seemed like a god standing apart from the world, coldly watching the living beings within it.
Yet he also seemed like one of the flowers and grasses filling the land, merged as one with this world.
The chaotic fates of the mortal world seemed reflected in the depths of his pupils. He was both a guide of fate and seemingly caught within it.
Peaceful divinity and chaotic humanity melded within his body, drawing him out of the world while blending him into it.
The shadowy humanoid stared at the youth before him. He said nothing and seemed to have no desire to communicate. After a brief pause, he raised his shadow-forged hand and once more "grabbed" at the youth.
In that instant, the hand swelled against the wind, becoming a giant shadowy hand that blotted out the sky in the blink of an eye.
Brilliant starlight adorned the edges of the giant hand, as though it were the starry sky itself descending from above.
As it continued to "grow," the giant hand rapidly pressed downward toward the youth below.
The swaying wind seemed to have been abruptly paused, falling still.
The rosy glow filling the sky also seemed shrouded and devoured by profound darkness.
The entire world seemed "covered" by that enormous black maw, enveloped within the shadowy humanoid's palm.
He Ao, beneath