"When did the bright moon first appear? I raise my cup and ask the blue sky..."
Chen Yi's brush never paused. The distinctive strokes of his Running Script flowed from his heart, and an Artistic Conception drifted out with them.
A night sky.
A different night sky—deep, dark blue, scattered with stars.
A bright moon.
More dazzling than the full moon overhead, its radiance shone on all.
That Artistic Conception of moonlight and stars, with golden characters suspended within it, was like a second night sky.
It stretched across the painted pleasure boat, and even...
Across all of Quchi!
Yan Fusha looked up at the Artistic Conception that had appeared out of nowhere. The smile in his eyes faded little by little as he watched the golden words.
"You... this..."
Chen Yi plainly had no intention of answering him. He swept ink across the page, completing each line in one flowing motion.
"I know not what year it is tonight in the palaces of heaven."
Word after word appeared in the dark-blue, softly glowing "night sky," settling into a second line.
It was as though a Banished Immortal had raised his brush in midair to write those golden characters.
Within that "night sky," a magnificent palace of jade halls, carved beams, and painted rafters slowly rose beneath the "bright moon."
Immortal maidens danced inside. Heavenly soldiers in silver armor stood guard. Musical notes drifted through the air as glowing symbols.
A tall figure in a long blue-green robe also appeared above the palace.
His face was indistinct; all that could be seen was that he had raised his head to gaze at the moon.
A faint, ethereal voice carried through the air.
"Tonight... what year is it?"
"Year 21 of Anhe in Great Wei, the fifteenth day of the eighth