When Angel took out the log and the painting turned to flying ash, deep within the underground maze, in a hidden space of darkness, a pair of emerald-green eyes suddenly flew open.
As she awakened, a faint glow immediately rose around her.
The glow did not reach far, but it was enough to reveal her outline.
It was a woman lying amid a bed of red flowers, breathtakingly beautiful. Her long golden hair spilled around her temples, and as she sat up, her prism earrings swayed softly.
Had Angel and the others seen her at that moment, they would have discovered that she looked exactly like the blonde farmwife in the Pastoral Leisure Painting.
Only, the woman in the painting had spring in her eyes, while this woman's gaze was like an endless forest sea—deep and cold.
After sitting up, the woman sank into thought.
What had awakened her? Right, had the outpost on the Stairway of the Hanging Prison been destroyed?
Who had destroyed it? The Wise Sovereign? No, he still needed something from her, and he needed her help to repair the magic energy array. There was no reason for him to destroy that outpost. Besides, Naraka had yet to return, so the Stairway of the Hanging Prison held no other value for the Wise Sovereign.
Other than the Wise Sovereign, was there anyone else?
Those slumbering obsessives? No. None of the planted outposts showed any sign of an obsessive awakening. Besides, if they awakened, the Nether Servants would have informed her at once.
Not the obsessives, and not the Wise Sovereign. That left only two possibilities:
First, void monsters. Second, the Wood Spirit.
Was the former possible? Not very likely. Unless they fell into the void, void monsters would not attack living beings on the hanging stairway.