At midnight, all was silent. The heavens looked as though they had been steeped in thick ink, without so much as a single star in sight. Only a flawless full moon hung high in the sky, its cold, radiant light spilling like mercury across the earth, shrouding the vast mountains, rivers, and plains of the Primordial World in a hazy, pristine silver-white glow.
Beside the fence of the Small Courtyard, the Withered Willow that had been reborn after surviving calamity stood silently. Its gnarled, dragon-like branches twisted and intertwined, casting clawing shadows beneath the moon and lending it an added air of ancient strength and mystery.
The fresh green leaves that had sprouted during the day now seemed to have drawn in all their vitality, frozen motionless like jade ornaments carved by a master hand, hanging from the silent branches.
Inside the stone house, Chen An had long since fallen into a deep sleep. His even snores mingled with the faint warmth radiating from the dying embers in the stove, weaving a peaceful air of mortal domesticity. He was utterly unaware of the heavenly phenomenon gathering silently outside, one that was about to shake the Primordial World.
At the third quarter of the Hour of the Pig, the change first appeared.
The first sign of the miracle emerged in the tender leaves at the tips of the willow branches.
Without warning, round silver beads the size of grains of rice quietly condensed at the tips of the newly born leaf buds. These silver beads were no ordinary night dew. Light flowed within them, as though liquid moonlight were gently rippling inside. They seemed to have dripped directly from the moon wheel in the Ninth Heaven—Star Jade Marrow condensed from Taiyin Essence.
Next, the golden veins tracing strange patterns across the