"White Water was like an illusion," Yingzhao said. "Over the past several thousand years, it presented phantoms to this world as though they were real, and these 'realities' left countless imprints upon the mortal world."
"But all old shadows lingering in the mortal world held the seeds of disillusionment from the very beginning," Yingzhao continued. "Sometimes they were real, but when they dispersed like bubbles, they would also vanish from the world's memory, because they had never existed to begin with. This is what 'like an illusion' means."
Silence settled over the table.
Lu Wu pondered for a moment. "I understand what you mean. Before this, the only ones we had encountered and learned about were the two Water Masters. We believed them to be the masters of the Mirage Realm's Ten Thousand Scales, the rulers of the Boundary Markers, representing the gateways connecting the Mirage Realm and the mortal world. All this began with the Disappearance of the Water Master, which meant precisely that the Spirit Realm had sealed itself off and withdrawn from the mortal world."
Yingzhao nodded.
"Then the only one capable of making the entire Spirit Realm sink as one toward the reverse side of the world is..."
"The Mirage Dragon."
"Exactly. The Mirage Dragon. Or rather, the awakened 'White Water.'" Lu Wu closed the case file. "This is the Water Lord Ascension Ceremony. The White Water Immortal Authority, scattered throughout the Mirage Realm in countless strands, is reconnecting toward its center. It probably vanished from the world to establish its own boundaries."
"And to avoid being disturbed," Yingzhao said. "White Water differs from ownerless Immortal Authority. It is joined to the Mirage Dragon and exists within the Mirage Realm, with a complete system of succession that has survived four thousand years."
"Then why did Li