His eyelids felt heavy.
A dull ache throbbed at the back of his head.
He Xi tried moving his fingers. Beneath his palm lay cold, smooth stone tiles.
He was sitting with his back against the wall.
The corridor was quiet, crystal lamps set into either side casting a soft blue glow.
Slowly raising his head, he saw a dark wooden door before him.
Had he been blasted out?
He Xi raised a hand and pressed it to his temple.
His shattered memories resurfaced, piece by piece.
The black book.
The water's surface.
Bruce.
The dragon's back.
And, after an unknown amount of time had passed, himself stepping through that blue teleportation gate with one of them.
Though he had secretly hoped he might see the homeland he had not visited in so long within the dream, unfortunately, when he woke again, he had already returned to the Observer's Tower.
White gauze curtains, clouds, wind, long blue hair—and that bad woman, who had changed into a light white gauze dress and approached him with a faint smile.
"I made a bet with Mao Mao Jiao."
"At least tell me the answer to the other question."
"You want me to lose too?"
He Xi closed his eyes.
"Too cunning."
He had originally thought he had seen through the dream.
And he knew that while this legendary mage could guide dreams, she could not see everything within them.
So long as he did not speak, she would not learn what he was thinking.
And that was indeed the case.
Flora did not know who that person was.
What he had not expected was that after he had "woken" from the dream, this legendary mage, like a blue water lily, had actually put on a white dress like the girl next door and