Lin Shisan woke from unconsciousness.
What met his eyes was not the familiar Little Fishing Village outside the Purple Sky Dragon Palace, but a completely unfamiliar stone chamber.
The chamber was small, roughly forty to fifty feet square.
Its four walls were built of dark brown stone, their surfaces smooth as mirrors, without a single seam to be found.
The vaulted ceiling was high, over thirty feet tall. A fist-sized luminous pearl was embedded at its center, giving off a dim yellow glow like candlelight.
A faint fragrance filled the air, like the lingering scent left after some kind of incense had burned.
An extremely thick layer of red brocade covered the chamber floor.
Intricate golden patterns were embroidered across the brocade, giving it the look of a bridal chamber.
Lin Shisan stood on the foundation of the Teleportation Array. The runes beneath his feet had gone completely dark, with no trace of activity remaining.
In the spacious chamber, aside from him, there were only the restrained Bai Youyou and... the limp Zi Yuner.
Zi Yuner was sitting on a bed at the other end of the chamber.
She still wore her deep purple Dragon King's ceremonial robes, but her lapels had become somewhat disheveled.
Sweat had slightly smudged the makeup on her face, her cheeks were flushed an unnatural red, and her little tail swayed back and forth behind her.
The moment she saw Lin Shisan, her pupils contracted sharply.
Her hands hung at her sides, trembling slightly, as though she were doing all she could to suppress the restlessness within her.
Lin Shisan looked away from Zi Yuner and swept his gaze around the chamber.
There were no doors or windows. The four walls formed a seamless whole, without so much as a crack.
He raised a hand