On the fourth day after the founding ceremony, Loa felt a change.
It came not from outside, but from within. Something stirred deep in his soul, like a seed breaking through soil, like a silkworm breaking out of its cocoon-gently, slowly, but unmistakably. The feeling was hard to describe. It neither hurt nor itched; it was something deeper, welling up from between his bones. He was standing in Republic Square in Xunzhen City at the time, having just seen off the last group of congratulatory envoys. Sunlight shone dazzling white on the bluestone paving, and Wangcai crouched at his feet, yawning.
"Boss?" Wangcai raised his head and glanced at him.
"It's nothing," Loa said. "Let's head back."
He returned to the Miniature Plane. The Spatial Turbulence beyond the membrane remained unchanged, multicolored streams of light churning through the void-red, blue, purple, yellow, like an overturned palette. The stone bed was still the same hard stone bed, covered with a thin cushion. Loa sat cross-legged and closed his eyes.
The changes in his soul sea began the moment he sat down.
Loa sank his awareness into his soul sea. He had visited this space countless times, and it had always been tranquil-the sea of Spiritual Force lay as still as a mirror, while his soul crystal hung above its center, radiating steady light. Cyan, purple, black, the three colors alternated like a lamp that would never go out. But today was different.
At the center of the sea, the cyan, purple, and black crystal was vibrating.
Not swaying, but vibrating. Its frequency was high and its amplitude small, like a plucked string, humming continuously, spreading outward from the crystal's center in rings like ripples on water. Three-colored halos flowed across its surface, cyan, purple, and black flashing in alternation, faster and