At midnight, all was silent. A full moon like an icy disk hung high in the sky, its cold radiance pouring down like a waterfall and bathing the boundless Primordial Wilderness in a hazy, pristine silver-white.
Outside the Small Courtyard's bamboo fence, the old Willow Tree that had long since withered away stood in silence like a statue sculpted from thick ink. Under the moon, its twisted, gnarled branches stretched out bizarre shadows, resembling ancient Seal Imprints lying in wait upon the earth.
In the daytime, one might still have glimpsed a trace of struggling green and silver light along the edges of its sparse leaves. At this moment, that faint vitality had completely withdrawn, sinking into the deepest silence.
Only at the very core of the leaf veins did a speck of golden radiance flicker in and out, like the steady, powerful breathing of a sleeping giant beast. With each flash, it concealed a majestic energy comparable to the eruption of a volcano on the eve of destruction.
At a quarter past the hour of the Boar, the balance between heaven and earth was quietly broken. An omen suddenly arose!
High above the Nine Heavens, the bright moon abruptly erupted with radiance as blazing as the sun! A gigantic river of light, condensed like liquid mercury, thunderously descended from the heart of the moon. It tore through the heavy night precisely and without the slightest error, then forcefully pierced into the crown of the Willow Tree, whose branches swayed gently in the wind.
This river of light was no illusory shadow. It surged forth from the purest essence of moonlight. Wherever it passed, space rippled in rings, as though a massive star had fallen into an endless lake.
The blue Spirit Mist that naturally steamed from around the Willow