"Where is the cat?"
The gentleman did not directly answer the Starry Sky guest's question. Instead, he tilted his head and asked one of his own.
"Coming, coming!"
A familiar voice came from above the hall. Zheng Qing abruptly looked up and, as expected, saw Yellow Flower Cat. It was unclear where it had crawled off to, but several patches of its fur were matted and dusty.
Under everyone's gaze, it bounded along the circular hall's gallery and pillars, then leaped down to the floor. With its tail hanging low, it trotted unhurriedly toward the gentleman. The Legends it passed all lowered their hands and stepped aside.
Zheng Qing noticed a scroll strapped to Yellow Flower Cat's back.
After running up to the gentleman, the tabby stood on its hind legs, removed the scroll from its back, and offered it to him.
"Master, this is what you asked for!"
Yellow Flower Cat was unusually proper—in Zheng Qing's memory, this was the first time. Since it was rather short, Zheng Qing hurried forward, took the scroll, and presented it to the gentleman.
The scroll was rather heavy.
It felt warm and smooth in his hand, neither paper nor cloth, but somewhat like slick skin. As he held it, Zheng Qing even vaguely felt tiny blood vessels beneath that skin trembling slightly, though he did not know whether it was an illusion.
The gentleman did not take the scroll. Instead, he directly instructed the young wizard:
"Unfold it."
Zheng Qing obeyed and slowly unrolled it. No flowers fell from the ceiling, no brilliant light rose, nor were there howls of souls or mysterious whispers. It was as though he had simply unfolded an utterly ordinary scroll.
There were no words on it.
Only a simple sketch of a ruler and compass.
But