Under Lucrecia's control, the flying carpet smoothly departed from the eerie dense forest, slowly ascending towards the sky through a gap in the treetops.As they passed through the interwoven branches, Yu Sheng could distinctly feel the little puppet on his shoulder becoming somewhat nervous—mainly through the sensation in his hair: "Why are you also so nervous? By rights, the old tree should be an acquaintance of yours, right?"
"I've changed so much, it might not even recognize me," Erin said, staring intensely at the twisted and strange treetops around them, "Besides, it's changed so much too, it might not even have any sanity left..."
Yu Sheng just chuckled, casually lifting the little puppet off his shoulder and placing it on his knee, not so much to comfort the little thing but to protect the increasingly bald spot on the back of his own head...
Thinking about this, he couldn't help but raise his hand to touch his head. When he touched the back, a look of contemplation appeared on his face. He thought for several seconds before suddenly clapping his hands: "I've lived quite a long life..."
Erin had noticed his contemplative expression earlier and was about to ask what he was thinking, but never expected him to express such a sentiment as soon as he spoke, leaving the little puppet momentarily dazed: "…Huh?"
Yu Sheng didn't answer, instead absentmindedly combing through Erin's golden hair with his fingers, while his gaze moved past the flying carpet that Lucrecia was steering, landing on the "mirror shard" that was becoming increasingly closer.
Only when they flew this close did he realize that this shard was even larger than he had imagined, with its triangular structure standing towering and immense in the forest. The clouds meandering in the murky sky even seemed to faintly merge with the scenery within the shard—and despite the shard's edges resembling a fragmented mirror, upon closer proximity, Yu Sheng realized that the central region of the shard more resembled some sort of space rift.
Regardless of how close they got, the scene deep within the shard remained hazy, as if several layers of thin gauze covered the mirror, obscuring scenery from an unnamed distant place.
Lucrecia reactivated her crystal ball, which quickly started displaying various mysterious geometric shapes, yet her brow furrowed tightly.
Seeing this, Yu Sheng curiously asked, "How is it, can you figure out its origin?"
"The divination shows that it...isn't here," The Star Sea Witch said, frowning, "When in the forest, my crystal ball couldn't feel the shard's existence at all, but upon leaving the forest, the crystal ball indeed 'saw' a foreign object, but the coordinates it perceived weren't here at all."
With a fair amount of adventuring experience, Yu Sheng quickly thought of something: "So what we're seeing is a shadow? The main body is far away, but it projected an image here?"
"...No, it shouldn't be that simple," Lucrecia slowly shook her head, "Did you notice the forest below? In the area where the shard pierced the forest, the trees are obviously sparse, and many places have exposed barren land—this thing is here, and its existence has indeed affected this forest...the deviation in the divination might have been interfered with by something else."
"Alright, whatever is interfering, this thing seems to be of high rank," Yu Sheng stroked his chin, "Able to affect the Ancient Saints' divination and poke such a big hole in the Tree Angel..."
Yu Sheng suddenly paused, casually lifting the little puppet to face him: "Erin, help me check my fortune today, will you?"
The little puppet instinctively waved its arms a few times as it was lifted, but upon hearing this, immediately became serious, scrutinizing Yu Sheng intently before her eyes suddenly widened: "…Oh no! There's really a blood omen?!"
"Huh? I was just asking casually, and there really is?"
"I'm surprised too, I checked just now and everything was fine," Erin blinked, earnestly reaching out to touch Yu Sheng's face, "Now you just look like you're doomed..."
Lucrecia listened, bewildered, unable to hold back her curiosity as she softly inquired to those beside her: "Do they always communicate like this?"
Luna, who hadn't spoken until now, nodded: "Yes, they do."
Meanwhile, the flying carpet had already arrived very close to the "mirror shard," making Yu Sheng cease his conversation with Erin. Recognizing the potential for trouble ahead, he grew a bit more cautious, at the same time enlisting Luna's help to make several slashes on his hand, from which drops of blood floated beside him, at the ready.
He'd already decided, if something did come charging out from the shard and threatened to kill him, he'd retaliate with a face full of fresh blood.
Yet, that gigantic mirror-like rift didn't react at all to the approach of the flying carpet.
It simply stood silently in the world, like a lifeless shadow.
Yu Sheng poked at the little puppet laid down on the flying carpet: "The blood omen you saw was just for me, or are the others also in danger?"
"Just you," Erin said without a care, "What, are you insisting we martyr ourselves for you?"
Yu Sheng was already immune to the highly suggestive language system of this little thing, and his expression didn't change a bit upon hearing it. He still looked worried: "Are you sure about this judgment? Aren't you usually only accurate when looking at me?"
"You said it yourself, I am the Omen Goddess, a professional goddess must dare to make judgments..."
Yu Sheng frowned slightly but did not question further, and in the corner of his eye, he saw Lucrecia folding a few delicate paper cranes—a summoning item with temporary life, flapping their wings as they left the flying carpet, then circled in the air before flying towards the surface of the mirror rift from afar.
However, soon those paper cranes collided with something one after another, suddenly stopping in mid-air before falling down, then flapping their wings again to return to Lucrecia's side.
"There is a solidified barrier on the surface of the rift," Lucrecia said, synchronizing with the perception transmitted by the paper cranes, as if in deep thought, "It feels like a... real mirror."
Upon hearing this, Yu Sheng frowned slightly, and just then, he heard Baili Qing's voice coming from the side—
"Red..."
"What?" The Little Puppet immediately turned its head to look at Baili Qing, who had been mostly silent along the way, "What red... ah, are you talking about that mysterious blindfolded woman who taught you how to fail?"
The little thing spoke like a sandstorm, and even Baili Qing almost couldn't keep a straight face, while Baili Xue, hiding on the side, burst into laughter, "I didn't say that! Don't blame me when the old lady tries to cause trouble later..."
"Don't get sidetracked," Yu Sheng quickly interrupted those big eyes that seemed overflowing with humanity, while looking at Baili Qing, "Are you saying... this thing is related to Red?!"
"I can't be sure yet, but I have been somewhat suspecting, or rather... it's an instinct," Baili Qing said with a slight frown, "Do you all remember when we talked about all the 'shadows of time' and 'fragments of history' in the fault disappearing?"
Of course, Yu Sheng remembered, and upon hearing this, he immediately reacted: "You mean to say, this is from the fault where those fragments and shadows have disappeared? Do they look like this?"
"Of course, they don't look like this, that's why I dare not make a judgment," Baili Qing shook her head, "The historical fragments in the fault are regions of spatiotemporal anomalies invisible to the naked eye, with no fixed shape or size. Meanwhile, the shadows of time are tangible entities generated from these historical fragments, manifesting as deformed monster forms with strong aggression and pollution characteristics—none of these correlate with the appearance of this giant mirror, but then again..."
Baili Qing seemed to hesitate here, as if unable to find suitable words to express herself, and after a few seconds, she continued—
"Among the five council members, I am the one who 'woke up' the latest, so I'm not very clear about the situations of others, but I have heard bits and pieces from others related to Red.
"They mentioned the 'Dark Moon Royal Court', a world with a blood-red moon, and Red also said once that her homeland is bathed in dark red moonlight, where the land is barren and desolate, with cracks...
"And besides all that, the 'mirror' is Red's main power. She also said once, her kindred hid within the last mirror... though I've never known what she meant by that."
Baili Qing deliberately shared this bit of what could be considered "internal council" information, something she had never spoken about to outsiders, but in reality, not really a "Boundary Land secret," especially if telling ancient saints like Yu Sheng and Lucrecia, none of the other council members, including Red, would have much objection.
"Red moon and mirror..." Yu Sheng slightly frowned after listening to Baili Qing's story, looking at the mirror rift standing between heaven and earth, and the distant world within it, illuminated by blood-red moonlight, "So this indeed matches."
He turned to Lucrecia, "The Old World definitely doesn't have this, right?"
The Star Sea Witch nodded, "Of course not."
"So, this should be historical fragments and shadows of time leaking from the fault line into the Old World—although the specific process is unclear, after passing through the rift and falling to this side, they turned into this form."
Yu Sheng said, while rubbing his chin in thought, "What's the principle behind this... did they break apart and reassemble upon hitting this side? A unique environment in the Old World leading to this? Or because..."
Yu Sheng's gaze passed over the edge of the flying carpet to the endless eerie forest below.
"...Could it be that the Tree Angel mistook these fallen historical remnants from Boundary Land for an injured 'comrade,' applying healing techniques to a pile of car crash debris?"
Erin looked bewildered at this, suddenly clapping her hands, "Whoa, don't say... you really shouldn't say..."