The wind and singing had both faded away, along with the cold surrounding him. Qi Si stood up and discovered that he was only as tall as the edge of the bed.
He wore a long crimson garment embroidered with gold. Its sleeves tangled around his limbs and fluttered with every step. Barefoot, he laboriously pushed open the wooden door and stumbled into a world filled with light.
Blinding light, enough to make one go blind, filled every corner. Qi Si half-closed his eyes, slowed his steps, and carefully moved forward. Someone was speaking beside his ear. At first, he could not make out the words, but after taking a few more steps, they became clear.
"Contract, where are you going?"
"Contract, don't go any farther. You shouldn't go there..."
"Contract, wait for me..."
The light gradually faded, or perhaps his eyes had adapted to it. A colossal golden tree towered between heaven and earth, its branches, leaves, and vines crisscrossing like a spiderweb, resembling a cage.
Qi Si realized that he stood at the edge of a cliff. Below him stretched endless ruins, broken stone slabs interwoven with crumbling walls. A golden sunset hung distantly over a collapsed temple.
For no reason, he found the scene familiar, yet he could not remember where he had seen it before. He stopped and looked back. A child in black robes stood expressionlessly behind him, reaching out a hand.
Qi Si sidestepped his touch and ran in another direction.
The sunset vanished. In the sky, where the sun and moon should have been embedded, hung a pair of silvery-white eyes, gazing coldly and peacefully upon the world below. Mist-like white gauze spread in every direction, gradually covering the boundless land.
Qi Si suddenly felt a viscous sense of restraint, as though he