Rose was so stunned that she had not even paid attention to Nie Yun's conversation. By the time she came to her senses, the tip of the unknown creature had opened like flower petals, revealing a platform they could stand on, and Nie Yun was beckoning her over.
"Hey! Your Majesty, this fellow is pretty friendly. It seems to want to take us home and entertain us. Come on up." As he spoke, Nie Yun turned, bent his knees, and leaped onto the platform.
Rose's eyelid twitched. Why did she have the strange, unsettling feeling that her guest had taken over as host...?
Suppressing the countless questions in her heart, Rose followed Nie Yun onto the platform. As the petal-like structures slowly closed, the unknown creature returned to its original shape.
With a splash, the unknown creature plunged into the magma and vanished, leaving the underground cavern quiet once more...
About an hour later, deep beneath the ground far away, the black unknown creature emerged again from a vast lava lake. Its petals opened, revealing Nie Yun and Rose standing on the platform.
Nie Yun looked around, feeling the heat, even more intense than in the previous cavern, and grumbled inwardly, Your home really is a terrible place...
Then, a moment later, a gigantic black figure in the distance seized his full attention...
"This... this is..." Nie Yun's eyes widened. He slowly tilted his head back, then kept tilting it farther...
Only when he was looking almost ninety degrees upward did Nie Yun finally see the top of the enormous thing before him. His mouth fell slightly open.
Even someone as well-traveled and knowledgeable as Nie Yun was left momentarily dazed by the sight.
Pangu held up the heavens with his hands and planted his feet upon the earth,