The Emperor Appeared
After rising from the water's surface at the center of the eddy, the beam of light formed a vertical pillar of light in the twilight. Long Tian returned to the ship from the main hall and squatted by the gunwale, water still dripping from his clothes. But his gaze wasn't on himself; it was fixed on the guiding beam of light that continued to rise into the night sky. It emanated from below the water, forming a stable column of light in the air in front of the ship, extending as far as the eye could see, without scattering or deflecting.
The man at the stern stood by the helm, watching the beam of light. He turned the bow at an angle along the base of the beam, aligning the hull with its longitudinal axis. He asked, "Follow it?"
"Follow it."
The ship began to move across the light gray sea, following the direction of the beam of light. The beam remained stationary as the ship moved; the distance between the ship and the beam neither increased nor decreased, as if their relative positions were anchored at the same point, maintaining a stable interval through continuous synchronized movement. About half an hour after the ship had traveled, a new change began to appear on the sea surface—the color of the seawater gradually transitioned from light gray to a brighter hue, as if the area directly illuminated by the beam of light was gradually expanding, continuously spreading and incorporating the surrounding sea into the same bright area.
A small, raised outline began to appear ahead of the beam of light. At first, it was just a dark line slightly higher than the sea surface. As the ship approached, the outline gradually revealed more details—it was an arched top, a semi-circle emerging from the water, with smooth edges. Under the beam of light, it reflected a uniform dark gray light, as if wrapped in a matte layer. As the ship approached the raised outline, its speed naturally decreased. The people at the stern lowered the anchor rope to stabilize the ship. Long Tian off the ship and swam towards the raised outline, stepping on the shallow water.
It was an arc-shaped top, no more than an arm's length above the water, with a ring of fine serrations around its edge, consistent with the arrangement of serrations on all the previous discs and grooves. He swam halfway around the edge of the serrations to confirm its complete outline, then crouched down at the edge, his palm against the surface of the arc-shaped top. The aura of the Origin Return Pearl spread along the arc of the top, flowing smoothly through the serrations. After covering the entire top, a halo began to light up along the direction of the serrations on the surface of the arc. The halo climbed upwards along the arc, forked to both sides after reaching its highest point, and extended downwards segment by segment along the two sides of the arc, merging with the path of the serrations to form a complete halo path.
After the halo fully illuminated, the surface of the arched top began to slowly split along the longitudinal center line, like a door being pushed open. The interior space revealed after the split was much larger than Long Tian had expected, as if the entire arched structure contained a complete cabin. The interior was dry and bright, without any water, as if it had been sealed for a long time.
Long Tian climbed along the edge of the split into the arc-shaped interior, his feet landing on the dry ground. The interior space was more spacious than the entrance, the floor material matching the arc-shaped outer wall—a uniform dark gray, seamless, as if cast from a single piece. Dragon Shadow followed him through the opening into the interior, where a layer of light automatically spread out, illuminating the entire space and revealing a vast circular hall. The dome was composed of multiple arc-shaped ribs, radiating towards the center and converging at the point into a mark perfectly aligned with the vertical line on Dragon Shadow's forehead. A ring of fine serrations encircled the edge of the mark, the same arrangement as the serrations on the Dragon Bone Marker Disc. Under the light of Dragon Shadow, the mark's surface exhibited a uniform dark gray reflection, its texture revealing itself as if it had been sealed away for a long time and was now exposed to light for the first time.
Long Tian stood in the center of the hall, looking up at the mark converging at the center of the dome. The Origin Return Pearl was circulating in his chest cavity at a faster but more stable frequency than usual, and the new core was also accelerating in sync, forming a uniform conduction path with the Imperial Seal that had been completely integrated into his body. It was as if it was completing the final connection between the Dragon Shadow and the indoor space through the mark in the hall, corresponding all routes to the same final destination. Yu Jin followed from behind and climbed into the hall, standing next to Long Tian. The two stood side by side in the center of the hall, looking up at the mark continuously reflecting the light layer of the Dragon Shadow at the center of the dome. The light layer of the dark gray bead shining through Yu Jin's collar spread out side by side with the light layer of the Dragon Shadow, forming a continuous band of light around the mark. The band of light overlapped with the dark gray reflection of the mark itself at the edge of the mark, forming a superimposed layer of light, as if the light layers of the two light sources were simultaneously making their final contact with the mark, maintaining their stable brightness in the continuous light, no longer requiring any further adjustments.