Wisps of cloud and mist twisted into a vortex, casting everything before them beneath gray-black shadows as they churned.
Azure light flickered now and then through gaps in the clouds—the traces of lightning. The fleeting currents were more jagged than the cracked earth.
The thunder gathering by Tang Qi's ears boomed dully like beating war drums, making him wonder whether some giant dragon dwelled within that dense sea of clouds, ready to swallow the clouds—and everything beneath them—into its belly.
Even the rampaging gale was dragged into the heart of the vortex. In the gloom, Tang Qi truly saw a pair of eyes—
More precisely, a pair of eye sockets.
At the vortex's center was, astonishingly, a gigantic human face.
Even from dozens of kilometers away, those eye sockets looked as large as giants. Its true size was impossible to estimate.
Thunder gathered in its hollow eyes, while drifting mist spiraled through its flared nostrils and open mouth.
Playing the lute required delicate fingerwork, making it impossible for Tang Qi to wear warm cotton gloves. The piercing damp cold began seeping into his pores, threatening to freeze even his finger bones and blood.
Amid the gathering storm, a thick hand slowly reached out from the sea of clouds.
They were far enough away.
But that hand was broad enough, too.
So broad that crossing dozens of kilometers would take it only a dozen minutes or so. The world before them grew darker and darker, the shadows heavier and heavier. Before long, they would crush down over their heads.
And in this brief gap, where could they possibly flee?
Their only choice was to keep descending, maintaining a relatively even speed with the storm as they moved away—
But that would inevitably consume a great deal of fairy dust.
This journey