Dream Marsh.
Above the Firmament blanketed in Gray Mist, a giant eye hung overhead, shedding a soft, luminous glow.
Its light reached across all of Dream Marsh, leaving no corner untouched.
To the villagers of Peach Paradise, the light seemed little different from any other day. But to the Black Banner, Bian, and the Peach Paradise Land God, it felt utterly different!
Amid flickering lightning, a Black Cat dropped from the sky and howled up at the heavens!
All around it, fine threads of electricity spilled from the void and gathered on its body!
Then roiling black clouds descended, bearing the Black Banner, which took the form of an old man in black.
He drew a deep breath. A faint mist rose around him, and he lifted his head to the sky.
"The light released by the Heavenly Eye conceals twelve distinct halos!" The Black Banner sounded surprised, yet his voice was strangely calm, as though any change were only to be expected.
"Not just that." Sand and soil gathered into the figure of the Peach Paradise Land God. "Those halos also contain the mysteries of the Heavenly Dao!"
Far away, in a corner of Dream Marsh, a cracked stone statue slowly raised its head toward the spectacle in the sky. Its body trembled slightly.
Beside the statue lay a pool. A carp leaped within it, showing faint signs that it might rise on the clouds!
A fierce wind sprang up and swept across more than half of Dream Marsh in an instant, shaking the minds of its living creatures!
"This Grotto-Heaven must be recovering little by little!" Eager to act, the old man in black felt the mysterious rhythms spreading throughout Dream Marsh and could not help rejoicing. "If so, those of us inside stand to gain immeasurably. Perhaps..."