Eight stones gave off a faint mist, which soon formed a hazy realm of foggy light.
Afraid the strange spectacle might attract monsters, Gu Qingshan immediately put the stones away.
He was only one stone short of crossing the Sea of Weapons and seeing that world.
...How could he get the remaining stone?
Gu Qingshan sent his divine sense through the Bone Forest card and gazed toward the World of Gods.
Lola sat in the Temple of Wealth with her eyes closed, already lost in deep meditation.
—Clearly, she was devoting herself to cultivating the spirit arts of the Thorn Bird lineage.
Gu Qingshan didn't disturb her. He withdrew his divine sense and quietly left the card.
It seemed he would have to find another way.
The simplest option was to take part in the organization's missions. He could naturally obtain fragments that way, but he would have to hand them over.
Then...
If he gathered the stones himself...
Before he'd left last time, a scout had reported a fragment's energy fluctuations seven hundred miles southeast of camp.
He hadn't had time to investigate then. He and the Moon God had been summoned back by Cang Wu Mo.
Now—
Gu Qingshan oriented himself and leaped out of the woods.
He covered hundreds of miles in an instant.
Ahead lay a long lake, smooth as a mirror.
Beneath the clear sky, only a few lotus leaves swayed in the breeze across the lake.
There was nothing else.
Faint fluctuations came from the center of the lake.
—They were identical to the fluctuations from the other fragments.
Gu Qingshan landed soundlessly on the water and walked toward the middle of the lake.
A moment later,
he stood at its center and looked down at his feet.
A fragment giving off a faint