The Wind Scattered Stars Like Rain

In the space of a few moments, the blue light and streaming clouds seemed to sink lower and lower, until they nearly touched the foothills the group had been heading toward!

Their surroundings grew darker, too.

The sky was clear and bright, blue and gold shining together more brilliantly than before. Yet down on the ground, it looked as though night were about to fall.

Everyone grew alert.

They could still see the brightness overhead, so by rights, their surroundings should have been brighter. Set against the gathering darkness around them, something was plainly wrong.

"A ghost maze? No—that shouldn't be possible—"

Fatty Zhao's face went pale. He waved a hand before his eyes, making sure he could see it clearly.

Then he slapped himself hard, confirming it probably wasn't an illusion.

But the sky was bright as day—no, it was daytime. So why was it getting dark down here?

It felt as though the passage of light between the sky and the ground had been severed. Yet their eyes could still see what was happening above—

It made no sense!

Especially when traces of a starry river were beginning to appear within that blue light.

It wasn't night, but it might as well have been. Liu Dahai cursed inwardly and called to his companions, "Get your flashlights out. It's too dark around here. It isn't safe."

Fortunately, as hikers, they all had flashlights. They pulled them out and lit up their surroundings.

Someone even drew the short machete he used to clear a path. They moved closer together, peering around cautiously, especially at the sky.

Deep in that celestial curtain, as the blue intensified, the clouds began to "collapse" inward without warning, gradually gathering into the shape of an inverted funnel.

Inside that vast Sky Dipper, deep within the