Neither side made any rash moves. After watching each other quietly for a while, they lowered their guarded gazes. They both understood that they now shared one concern-they must not disturb the king.
And so, in this awkward, contradictory state of hostility, the two sides remained beneath the same roof. Minute after minute passed. Soon, one hour had gone by, then two, then three...
Before they knew it, dawn had arrived. The crowing of the palace roosters called forth the sun. As the first violet-tinged rays fell upon the palace's golden tiles and blue-green roof plates, the three colors floating in the air began to change more dramatically.
The three colors intertwined faster and faster, as though an invisible current of wind had caught them in its swirling embrace. They danced back and forth through the air, constantly changing shape-clouds one moment, mountains and rivers the next, then war chariots, then blades and swords... This continued for roughly ten minutes before the shapes gradually dispersed, returning to the original three-colored radiance floating in the air. This time, however, the radiance was richer and impossible to see through.
A dense, colored mist spread through the residence, reducing visibility to less than two meters. Zeng Mu could see Qin Zhongyi's face clearly, but not the pattern at the bottom of the cloak hanging down his back. That alone showed how thick the mist had become.
The others faced the same problem. Qin Mu and his companions could not make out Zeng Mu's face at all. Had their perception not assured them of his presence, they would have thought that nothing could exist within the impenetrable colored mist before them, let alone a person.
Was it almost finished?
Everyone present had the same thought. Zeng Mu's eyes shone even brighter. As the only