Hearing the aged voice, Qiu Yan was not surprised. Instead, the corners of his mouth curled up as he smiled. "Actually, I never discovered you."
"Hm? What did you say?" The aged voice carried a note of astonishment.
Qiu Yan replied, "This painting can seize and confine souls, yet I barged in from outside and found not the slightest defense. A little thought makes that strange enough. What's more, after entering, apart from the initial penetration of my intent, I encountered no other danger. I even sensed that phantom village with ease..."
As he spoke, he drifted toward the direction from which the voice came.
"I had prepared myself to face danger this time, yet everything went as smoothly as a boat before a fair wind. It was as though this painting truly contained a paradise beyond the world. I could not help suspecting that some hidden hand was manipulating things from behind the scenes, intending to steady me first before slowly making its move."
"You truly guessed it?" The aged voice was first startled, then sighed, its tone turning low. "So be it. This too is fate. Since you have discovered me, I might as well meet you."
As the words fell, the hazy lights and shadows around them suddenly drew apart like curtains, revealing a pitch-black Void. Deep within it stood a gigantic figure.
The figure was so enormous that it surpassed Qiu Yan's imagination, giving him the sense that it held up the heavens and stood upon the earth.
Qiu Yan was now an incorporeal Living Soul, yet he was still half a head in size. Compared to the gigantic body before him, however, he was not even as large as one of its fingernails!
"Good heavens! How could there be such a huge giant?"
His astonishment