As Qingmu descended the steps of the altar, a familiar feeling, as if he were returning home, suddenly welled up within him. He stopped and looked down; the altar, like the one he had seen before, was piled high with stones of varying sizes and shapes that looked haphazardly arranged.
He looked up at the sky again. There were still five Sun, but their positions seemed to have changed. He squinted and carefully examined them, and found that four of the Sun were fixed in place, neatly arranged in a rectangle. Only one Sun had changed position; it had been outside the rectangle a moment ago, but now it had entered the center of the rectangle.
These four Sun existed after the Altar of Wind was activated. Does that mean they were brought from Huracan? And this moving Sun is the true Sun here?
Although Qingmu wasn't a physicist, he knew that no matter how magical a space was—whether it was a wormhole or Ant Nest —it could only traverse the universe on its own, and couldn't possibly take a star with it. And since both changes in the number of Sun occurred after the altar was activated, it was very likely that this was due to the influence of Mental Power, meaning it was something from the spiritual world.
But he first ruled out the possibility that it was a dream.
No one could create such a dream. It's too vast! Although he couldn't determine how high those four Sun were, they were certainly beyond his current Mental Power, even with the Soul of Wood.
If this is a dream, it means that this dreamscape is many times wider than the entire Mental Power Field covering this place.
Judging from the scene after falling into the Spacetime Deep Well, these Sun are outside the Spacetime Stasis Zone, but not very far away; they may be at the edge of the Spacetime Stasis Zone, which is why their light can penetrate. But what is incomprehensible is that the starry sky seen from within the Spacetime Stasis Zone should also be outside it, yet visually the Sun appear to be outside the starry sky.
Another possibility is that it's a hallucination.
The immense mental shock experienced when activating the altar can easily cause hallucinations.
The difference between hallucinations and dreams lies in their spatial composition. Dreams rely on a person's memory and require Mental Power to retrieve memories to construct space. Without memory, the dream space is empty, and the consciousness will not gain any perception in it, like Ghost drifting in the depths of the universe.
Unlike hallucinations, which can originate from memories, such as the flashing and chaotic combination of certain memories that make one unsure of where they are, hallucinations can be partly composed of dreams, but they are more often caused by external mental shocks, that is, incomplete spaces accidentally constructed by external mental forces.
The concepts of dreams and hallucinations are easily confused, the most important point being whether the illusion before your eyes originates from your own memory. However, the two concepts can also be interchangeable. For example, when a person's consciousness enters someone else's dream or Group Dream, they can see things that don't exist in their own memory, but these things don't actually exist in the real world before their eyes. Their consciousness will construct new memories in the brain and treat them as real; this is a kind of hallucination. Even lucid dreamers sometimes find it difficult to distinguish whether they have entered a dream or are simply experiencing a hallucination.
Qingmu is a dreamless person; all the unreal events he experiences can be considered hallucinations, because they are not constructed from his own memories. However, his Mental Power is strong enough to clearly see the boundaries and integrity of his mental space, thus determining whether he has entered a dream. The only time he misjudged was in the Zhulong Mountain Cave in Southern Yunnan, where the Group Real-Scene Dream created by Kitano Masatake almost confused him, but it did not trap him for long.
The five Sun in the sky at this moment cannot be explained by any known physics, nor do they meet the conditions for constructing a dream. But it has lasted for so long, and everyone who experienced it saw the same phenomenon, so it doesn't seem like a shattered illusion.
Qingmu withdrew his gaze and looked back at the altar. His eyes did not feel any discomfort from staring at the Sun for so long. Everything inside the altar came into view again, and the familiar feeling washed over him once more.
The last time he entered the altar, he had a strange feeling, but at that time the giant moon was in the sky, and he didn't have time to think. He was only in a hurry to rescue Petru and Mrs. Larry from the altar, and then followed the Itza savage into the waterfall flowing backward.
Looking back now, that feeling is the same as how I feel now.
Qingmu wasn't in a hurry; he continued walking slowly, step by step.
The feeling of familiarity grew stronger. He blew his nose, took a deep breath, and said to the Crow above him, "Do you... sense anything?"
"Caw..." The Crow tilted its head and pondered for a moment, "It's like... coming home!"
Yes, that's exactly the feeling!
The feeling of a wanderer returning home after many years.
The appearance of one's hometown may be different from when one left home. Fields have become roads, and low houses have been replaced by high-rise buildings. But no matter how it changes, for a wanderer who has left home, the taste of his hometown will never change. As long as he gets close to it, he can smell the long-lost fragrance of the soil.
He walked along, enjoying the feeling.
In a daze, he saw an ancient garden, with pavilions and terraces, green-tiled roofs and flying eaves, and winding corridors among the flowers and trees, surrounding a pool of clear water. An old willow tree stood by the lake, with thousands of tender willow branches drooping low to the water, like a jade maiden dressing up.
In the center of the garden stands another large tree with a thick trunk, deep roots, and lush foliage. Many purplish-red fruits can be faintly seen among the leaves, and a large black bird is seen hiding among them. It caws and startles away a group of children who are about to climb the tree.
From the main garden outwards, mulberry trees grow in abundance, forming a dense forest. Many farm women carry bamboo baskets on their backs, moving through the grove to pick tender leaves. After picking mulberries, the farm women go into the silkworm house and feed the silkworms with mulberry leaves. The silkworms grow up, climb up the cocoon mountain, spin silk to form cocoons, and then transform into moths, fluttering their wings and flying towards the light.
Qingmu wasn't sure if this was a genuine hallucination or if some of his memories had been awakened. He wanted to see more clearly, and as soon as he focused his mind, he saw all the moths rushing towards the fire. With each one they caught, the wick-like flame grew larger, until it became a raging inferno. The fire quickly spread and burned the entire garden.
Qingmu felt the fire suddenly burst into his brain, turning the garden and his mind together into ashes.
He seemed to be standing on scorched rubble, where everything had lost all trace of life and was plunged into the darkness of death. Only the willow tree by the pond still swayed in the wind, its reflection on the water showing a girlish shyness.
A gust of wind blew, the illusion vanished, and all that remained before him was a black altar and the black, charcoal-like stones within it. Yet, he felt a warmth and stirring of life emanating from his embrace.
He reached into the inner pocket of his trench coat and pulled out a broken willow branch.
After so long in the Spacetime Stasis Zone, the willow branches not only did not die, but instead had a few more leaf buds than before, shimmering with a tender yellow-green color in the sunlight that made one want to put them in their mouths.
Qingmu suddenly muttered to himself, "Maybe I know how to get home."
The Crow cawed and gripped Qingmu's hair tightly with its claws, as if afraid he would abandon it.