In a daze, Ye Buyu arrived somewhere so dark she could not see her hand before her face.
She looked around for a long time. "Is anyone there?"
Only her own footsteps in the silence answered her.
What was going on? Had she been abducted to some strange place?
Ye Buyu carefully recalled what had happened earlier. Those strange souls seemed to know her, and they had mentioned a gift.
How strange.
As she pondered, intermittent singing drifted from afar, and a tiny light appeared in the darkness.
Never mind. I'll go take a look first.
Ye Buyu ran forward. The speck of light stayed put, obediently waiting to be discovered.
Ye Buyu drew closer, examined it carefully several times, then raised her hand and touched the faint, floating light.
A childish voice was singing something.
"Purple Pearl Light, purple pearls bright, noble splendor spreads far and wide..."
Then another speck of light lit up in the distance.
Ye Buyu walked toward it.
"Yiliang Township, in the north, famed for snowscapes beautiful as gold..."
Ye Buyu suppressed her confusion and looked toward where the next light appeared. When she chased after it, she still heard a childish nursery rhyme.
"Jiakelie, hotter than fire, scarlet flames ripple blood-red..."
What was this?
Ye Buyu's steps gradually quickened, and the lights began appearing faster and faster.
All kinds of voices mingled together. The jumbled nursery rhymes were like gravestones, engraving civilizations lost to time and preserving their names.
Ye Buyu stumbled forward at a run. Specks of light illuminated the utter darkness, until what swept past her ears was no longer childish voices, but roar after roar.
Grief, pain, questioning, defiance...
Fine soul threads, like unbreakable ropes, forcibly pulled Ye Buyu out of this chaotic space.
Countless lights became steps beneath Ye Buyu's