A Dream of Old Friends in One Night (2)

The two wandered through the night market a while longer. Wen Mu's belt gained another pile of novel trinkets, sugar syrup still clung to the corner of his mouth, and he looked thoroughly content.

Wang Hui reckoned the time was about right. Rather than following the crowd any farther, he led Wen Mu around a bend and onto a relatively quiet path lined with low spiritual plants. Moonlight was cut by the dense leaves into fragmented shadows of varying shades, scattered across the bluestone path, while the clamor of voices gradually fell behind them.

Wen Mu looked around at the increasingly secluded scenery, then at Wang Hui in confusion. "?"

"Taking you to meet someone." Wang Hui stopped, his answer succinct.

Before Wen Mu could think further, the scenery before him blurred and reassembled like ink wash painting. In the blink of an eye, the solid sensation beneath his feet returned, and everything around him had become utterly different.

The night wind suddenly changed. It shed the warm, murky scent of the marketplace and became crisp and pure, carrying the distinctive chill of great heights as it swept powerfully across his face and hair.

They were no longer on that quiet path, but somewhere high above with an extraordinarily open view.

Before them stood an ancient tree whose magnificence could not be described in words. Its trunk resembled a dark-brown giant tower, standing silently beneath the hazy night and starlight. It was so thick that even standing atop one of its branches, one could scarcely see its boundaries at a glance.

They stood on a broad bough, almost like a platform, naturally formed by massive branching limbs. Looking upward, the impossibly luxuriant foliage nearly covered the sky, yet the ingenious density and spacing of its leaves still allowed starlight to