"Stop!"
Chen Yi roared and sprang to his feet.
A cool breeze blew in through the window, making him shudder. At last, he came fully awake.
Chen Yi froze, confusion on his face. He looked down at himself, then around the room. There was no Five-Colored Radiance and no Black-Robed Daoist. Finally, he breathed a sigh of relief.
"So I fell asleep. I don't even know when that happened." Rubbing his eyes, Chen Yi glanced out the window. The moon was already high overhead. "Father is back, so this should be easy to settle. He has never liked the Buddhist School. When Mother was torn over what that wicked monk said before, Father even took her to task for it. Once he learns I've been confined because of this, he'll surely let me out!"
Full of hope, he gazed out the window. He did not notice the moonlight falling upon him and refracting outward, spreading several yards around him with him at its center. Everywhere it touched grew still and quiet.
"Silly child. That brat Chen Guangrui is thoroughly wrapped around his wife's finger now. I'm afraid he won't be coming to your rescue anytime soon." Outside, Chen Cuo stood barefoot on a tree branch, as though he weighed nothing. His pitch-black Daoist robe seemed to merge with the night, its patterns tracing the stars and moon. "But with your present state of mind, the measures I, your ancestor, left you, and the Black Lotus planted back then, there'll be quite a show once the Buddhist School's scheme falls into place."
He raised his head toward the sky. Countless stars were reflected in his ink-black eyes.
Several meteors were streaking across the heavens.
"The Rift is growing wider. Who knows when the barrier covering the entire Mortal World will lose