Jiang Ping An arrived outside Senior Yue Sha's residence. Just as he was about to cup his fists and bow, a light, drifting voice floated out from within.
"Come in."
"Thank you, Senior."
Jiang Ping An offered his thanks and pushed open the door.
The courtyard looked as ordinary as ever.
Yue Sha sat in a pavilion by the river, dressed in simple cloth garments. She looked like a mortal as she held rice grains in her hand and fed the fish.
With her back to Jiang Ping An, she said calmly, "The gift for you is in the room. Go see it yourself."
Jiang Ping An grew even more curious about this gift.
What sort of gift was it, to be placed in a room instead of handed to him directly?
Filled with curiosity and doubt, he crossed the little bridge and arrived before the innermost house, then pushed open its door once more.
This door was actually a spatial portal to another world. The instant he opened it, he arrived in another space.
A familiar, distant-thatched cottage appeared before his eyes.
At the cottage entrance stood a man and a woman. They seemed to be waiting for something, holding each other tightly, their faces filled with unease.
The instant he saw them, Jiang Ping An, who was always calm, began to tremble violently. His star-like eyes reddened at once.
The man and woman saw Jiang Ping An as well, and tears burst from their eyes.
Unable to believe it, Jiang Ping An turned to look back at Yue Sha outside.
"Senior, this..."
"It isn't an Illusionary Realm."
After Yue Sha spoke softly, she closed the portal.
Jiang Ping An slowly turned around, his gaze falling upon those two unforgettable faces. Tears streamed down uncontrollably like a spring bursting