The Sea of Clouds rolled beneath the moonlight.
Tonight, a trace of Golden Light tinged the moonlight.
Chen Shu sat atop a towering mountain. The Golden Light still blazed in the distance, holding back the Otherworld Power. The Southern Continent had found a brief peace, yet the light and power that seemed to blanket the entire world made everything feel unfamiliar. It was like an omen of the end, suffocating him.
Three years ago, on the night before they left the Southern Continent, he had sat here with Qingqing and Zhang Suannai.
Time seemed to collapse into a single instant. Returning to an old place always left him dazed.
"What are you worried about?"
A familiar voice came from beside him.
"Just feeling a little dazed..."
Chen Shu shook his head.
He had felt Cao Ci's strength firsthand: the crushing pressure of the greatest man of the previous era. Even deathly ill, Cao Ci had possessed power beyond their ability to shake. That made it all the harder to believe that, in the span of a moment's distraction, he had died.
It felt unreal, and helpless, too.
Today, Zhang Suannai had even come up with the wild idea that none of it was real—that it was a hallucination caused by the Otherworld Power eroding their minds.
It was an interesting thought.
Ning Qing seemed to guess what was on his mind. "Cao Ci was only a small matter," she said softly. "If we couldn't deal with him easily, that would be the real problem."
"What's the big matter, then?"
"The survival of the world."
"What do you mean?"
"It's a long story."
"You seem to have a lot you want to tell me."
"I can't hide anything from you."
"Go on."
Chen Shu settled in to listen.
Ning Qing met