Suddenly!
The pitch-black night seemed to be lit up by something, and a fierce wind swept in without warning. Countless bells rang all around him. Normally, the sound would have grated on his nerves, but now, Shen Yangge felt no irritation at all. Instead, he felt deeply reassured.
"Jingle, jingle..."
The ringing in his ears seemed to turn into soothing chants. A moment ago, Shen Yangge had found the masked people dancing around him strange and alarming, but now he slowly began approaching them of his own accord.
He even reached out toward them.
Wait, how had his hands changed back?
And the clothes he was wearing were different from what he had worn to bed.
While Shen Yangge was still puzzling over this, the bells stopped. He heard many people talking, whispering among themselves...
But when he looked up, all he saw was an open grassland, with stretches of forest surrounding it a short distance away. Where were these whispering people?
Had he listened to those bells for so long that he was hearing things?
Before Shen Yangge could think it through, the people wearing beast masks suddenly knelt in unison, raised their banner staffs, and spoke in a very strange language.
It was strange because, although Shen Yangge clearly could not understand the language, he knew what they meant.
"Your departure is the beginning of everything."
"We await your return."
"We await your return..."
The voices gradually faded into the distance. Shen Yangge wanted to ask what those words meant, but patterns suddenly began appearing across his face, wave after wave. Had Shen Mother seen them, she would have been horrified.
These patterns were identical to those that had covered Shen Yangge's face at birth. Unaware of any of this, he took a step forward, and the scenery