(We've finally entered the young blade route, yet I hesitate.)
Bai Ye asked Sagara a question, but Sagara instead posed a new one.
Bai Ye said nothing. Uncle Wuyou's gaze flickered slightly before he smiled and said,
"Master, could this be Po Mountain territory, Po Mountain Town?"
He was playing dumb. After all, Bai Ye had already discussed certain details about this world with everyone.
Sagara shook her head.
"No, no. We are not within Yan territory right now, but inside a painting."
"A painting?"
Bai Ye was stunned at first, then suddenly understood. He clapped his hands with a smile.
"Wonderful, wonderful. So this world is merely a painted scroll. No wonder... no wonder..."
"Yes. That is why Po Mountain Town is only this large. How large could a painted scroll possibly be?" Sagara nodded.
Then she smiled.
"The lengths of the scrolls sometimes change, and the scenes within are bizarre and fantastical. The people in the paintings have found rules for their own worlds, but in the end, they are still false. That cannot be helped."
"So the heavens, earth, and people here all defy reason... they are merely the painter's whims..." Wuyou came to the same realization.
"I understand all that... but those people are living, breathing people. The tea has flavor, and there are even candied hawthorn skewers... Is it all just the result of some kind of art? But if it is... what kind of... art could do this?" Lava found it difficult to accept.
She had never heard of such an art.
Sagara shrugged helplessly.
"This humble monk cannot explain it clearly either. But Po Mountain Town is already... perhaps the hundredth painted scroll I have traveled through! At the very least, I know where I am."
"As for the art Lady Lava mentioned,