Perhaps it was because the "sky" had cracked open.
The pale green overhead now gave off a jade-like luster, a soft, almost transparent light. Though it was far away, when they looked up, they seemed to see light from beyond the green sky passing through that piece of jade, through every leaf that composed it. The light seeped from the veins of the leaves, gathered at their tips, then dripped down like morning dew.
Drip, drop.
Most of the rain of light evaporated in midair, but a small portion collected on the slender branch that kept descending. It flowed down along the branch, forming a flowing film of light on its surface and gathering beneath it into a steadily growing bud.
There seemed to be something inside.
It expanded and contracted with their breathing.
"Do you think a little Jiang Yu will pop out of there in a moment?" Zhang Jixin stood with his arms folded and his head tilted back, squinting at the bud at the end of the branch. He voiced the possibility foremost in everyone's minds.
Such things were not uncommon.
When wizards explored a New World, they often used similar methods during the initial surveys-sending a wisp of consciousness into a rock, a tree, or even an animal's egg in the New World. They would be born through it, take human form, travel far and wide, and gather information on every aspect of that world. After death, they would not enter that world's cycle of reincarnation. Instead, their souls would return to the heavens, taking all that information with them.
Or some wizards who pursued unconventional paths would separate portions of their consciousness in advance and cultivate them outside their bodies. On the eve of their advancement to Grand Wizard, they would recall all those portions