The Great Pagoda Edict, Fu Li, dressed in plain clothes and straw sandals, his long hair hanging loose, ascended the Glazed Pagoda step by step.
Tens of thousands of bronze bells swayed gently in the rain, their deep, distant music rising and falling in waves, each note answering his footsteps.
Splash, splash, splash... A mighty rush of water surged from beneath the sandy ground. As Fu Li climbed higher, a torrential river of blood gradually soaked through the Yellow Sand and welled up onto the surface like a rising tide.
The lush green plants were instantly submerged by the river of blood, mingled with countless heads, corpses, bones, and eyeballs... In an instant, the vegetation grew even more luxuriantly, while flowers of every color became all the more vivid and lovely.
The horrifying bloodwater reeked to high heaven, grotesque and terrifying, yet the moment it touched the plants, it swiftly nourished and watered them. Every flower and blade of grass as far as the eye could see became impossibly tender and fresh.
The vegetation flourished, and its uniquely fresh fragrance spread with it.
Across the vast forest of pagodas, red and green intertwined in a dazzling display of color.
Gradually, the stench was overwhelmed by the ever-thickening fragrance of the woods.
Vast, surging vitality lingered among the stone pagodas of every height, thick as a tangible substance, like mist shrouding distant mountains. It set off the swollen river of blood below, grotesque yet real.
The highest level of the Glazed Pagoda had no beams or pillars, nor any partitions. The entire floor lay open to view. So high above the ground that it pierced the clouds, it was surrounded by an immense sea of clouds, cold and bleak, where one's breath froze.
Howling gales swept in from every direction, stirring