Across vast mountains and forests, spanning tens of thousands of li through the air, above, below, and in all four directions, soft and clear moonlight paved the world, presenting a grand, radiant spectacle.
Qin Ming was astonished. Old Rag was truly remarkable—where in the world had it brought him?
Having lived for years beneath perpetual night, even in environments with Fire Springs, he had never experienced anything like this. Pure, clear radiance coated heaven and earth, evoking an expansive, boundless sense of crystalline purity.
"Old Rag, where have you brought me? Could it be we've broken free from the abyss and entered a realm with a sun, moon, and starry sky?" Qin Ming wondered.
Behind him, pitch-black night mist surged heavily, churning endlessly; before him, everything was bright and limpid, as if the two directions belonged to completely different worlds!
Soon, Qin Ming grew vigilant again. Was a place like this safe? He was only a youth of the Third Realm—had he stumbled into some forbidden zone?
In the world of night mist, places blessed with light were mostly occupied by formidable creatures.
What lay before his eyes surpassed anything he had ever seen.
Even a super Fire Spring could only illuminate a single city. What Qin Ming experienced now was a vast radiance, truly a sight where "ten thousand li of distant glow bathed the boundless open sky."
In such a luminous, pristine place, what caliber of monster could be entrenched here?
Could the rag be trying to kill him with a borrowed knife?
"Old Rag, if you're dissatisfied, you can leave on your own. There was really no need to drag me here." Qin Ming pondered; the two of them truly grew weary of each other the more they looked.
He viewed Old Rag as useless, while Old Rag spat at him for being an eyesore.
By now, the rag had carried him into the radiant territory and descended to the ground, no longer flying high in the sky.
Qin Ming decisively let go, no longer applying his adhesive force. If he couldn't afford to provoke it, letting go was simple enough.
To his surprise, the rag did not fly away. Just like in the past, despite its rare material, it did not shimmer with light; it remained dim and plain as ever.
"Something's different!" Qin Ming keenly sensed that Old Rag was faintly guiding him toward a certain direction, no longer completely lifeless as it had been before.
This was truly odd. Was it about to fully awaken and become capable of communicating with people? In the past, it had never paid any attention to its "honored master."
Though Qin Ming had talked about parting ways and letting go, his body was utterly honest, already walking toward the ridge enveloped in light.
"Wait, something's not right." When he crossed the grand mountain ahead, he finally realized something was amiss with this world.
"Where's the moon?" He had initially assumed the lunar disc was blocked by the mountain, but after reaching the summit and looking all around, he felt bewildered—the night sky was completely empty.
Talk about absurd!
The night sky was profound and fathomless, with no bright moon hanging aloft.
Yet across heaven and earth, lunar essence and pure, bright light clearly drifted like thin mist, identical to the serene, hazy moonlit nights recorded in ancient texts.
Standing on the ridge, Qin Ming observed carefully, his gaze gradually shifting. What upside-down realm had he arrived in? The moon was actually on the ground!
He gazed into the distance. The forest was boundless, and the moonlight was spreading from the ground up toward the sky. The lower the elevation, the denser the lunar essence became, resembling ground frost over colored glaze.
From trunks to leaves, the trees were wrapped in moonlight, hazy and sacred, like rising white smoke or fine jade transforming into flowing clouds.
Moreover, Qin Ming pinpointed the source not far away: a bright moon lay on the ground, gentle ripples undulating across the forest and radiating upward into the sky.
What the rag was guiding him toward was the moon on the ground!
Qin Ming traveled through the forest. Along the way, the plants and trees were steeped in water-like lunar essence, a soft hazy white, peaceful and serene, like an unreal dreamscape.
He moved swiftly, yet even so, it took him a long time to near his destination.
Ahead lay a clearing in the forest, where a bright moon rested on the earth. It appeared partially buried under layers of soil, yet also seemed to reflect off rippling water, sending unbroken sheets of pure, bright ripples across the ground.
Yet there was no pool or marsh there—only soil.
"Old Rag, what do you mean by bringing me here? If you don't want to stay by my side, just leave on your own. After all, a forced melon won't taste sweet," Qin Ming teased.
He was completely baffled. A moon undulating on the ground, clear light ascending into the night sky—everything was thoroughly abnormal.
The rag gave no response, remaining as plain as ever.
Full of questions, Qin Ming followed the guidance anyway, treading upon the moonlight to approach the grounded moon.
White fog curled around the area, lending it an increasingly hazy air, while the path ahead grew translucent and crystal-clear. He felt as though he was already stepping onto the edge of the buried moon.
With a soft swish, he seemed to breach an illusory barrier. The bright moon beneath his feet remained, but the scenery ahead had shifted.
His gaze turned profound as he stared at the jade towers and palaces. Utterly puzzled, he wondered: could that be the legendary Guanghan Palace?
Before the palace stood a thick laurel tree diffusing sweet fragrance. Beneath it lay a rust-covered axe whose wooden handle had long since rotted away.
There was also a rabbit—or more precisely, a bloody rabbit pelt—hung from a branch of the laurel tree.
It was hard not to let one's imagination run wild: who had skinned Chang'e's rabbit?
This was not the only structure. Beside it stood an enormous colosseum sprawling over a wide area, magnificent and grand, bearing the unmistakable marks of history.
Additionally, there was a Golden Palace, heavily damaged, with more than half collapsed into piles of rubble.
The three architectural styles were starkly different, yet they coexisted in the same place.
"Lonely Chang'e abides, but with whom does she dwell?"
Qin Ming mused that after endless years, if Chang'e truly existed, she would probably be so old she needed a walking cane by now.
After all, according to lore in the world of night mist, no living being was immortal. Even Heavenly Immortals and Heavenly Gods had lifespans and would eventually die of old age.
Even in Yujing, hailed as the supreme realm, the mighty figures would ultimately decay.
Qin Ming looked back and forth, then listened closely. The place was deathly quiet. What did Old Rag mean by leading him here?
Hesitating for a moment, he walked toward the Golden Palace first, only to discover a large amount of dried blood on the ground within the half-collapsed structure, looking remarkably like a murder scene.
The rag fluttered slightly, seemingly warning him away; that was not a place he could set foot in.
Qin Ming grew suspicious. Did it want him to look for Chang'e? Naturally receptive to good advice, he acted immediately and walked toward Guanghan Palace.
However, before the palace, the rag reacted again, stopping him from drawing closer and prompting him to divert his course.
Qin Ming was very amenable to persuasion and halted at once, though he craned his neck to peer inside. The interior of the presumed Guanghan Palace was strung with cobwebs and utterly desolate.
Suddenly, his pupils dilated. He actually saw a figure—could that be Chang'e? A white dress trailed on the floor, doing nothing to hide her slender silhouette; her graceful, upright back was immaculate.
She looked as though she had been frozen there for thousands or tens of thousands of years, entirely motionless.
Qin Ming gazed on and on, never pulling his eyes away.
Suddenly, under his stunned gaze, that flawless figure, formerly like a wood or clay carving, slowly began to turn her head, her black hair drifting in the air.
In an instant, he glimpsed a pale face. Before he could scrutinize it, what struck his vision was like lightning crashing down from the highest heavens.
Blinding light filled Qin Ming's vision, stinging so fiercely that tears nearly rolled down his cheeks.
He vaguely felt the rag quiver. Was it summoning lightning, or shielding him from it?
By the time the terrifying glare vanished, the woman in Guanghan Palace stood there as before, without a single strand of hair stirring, as though she had never turned around at all.
An illusion, or a hallucination? Qin Ming prided himself on being obedient. The moment he felt the rag's slight tug urging him to leave, he turned and walked away without hesitation.
As he passed the laurel tree and saw the bloodstained rabbit pelt hanging from it, he instantly quickened his pace.
Qin Ming walked toward the final structure. This time, Old Rag did not stop him, falling completely silent.
At the entrance of this magnificent colosseum hung two millstone-sized paper lanterns, completely blood-red. As he approached, flames flared to life inside them.
"Nanming Departing Fire!"
Qin Ming's heart quivered, his expression stiffening slightly. Just two lanterns at the entrance, yet they nurtured divine fire within. Such ostentation was truly terrifying.
He walked forward. Since he was already here, he might as well make the best of it and choose to trust Old Rag.
Once the two divine-fire lanterns shone, the entire ancient structure ceased being lifeless. It seemed to undergo a total revival, the carved markings along its surface beginning to glow.
Qin Ming stepped into the colosseum and surveyed the area.
Enclosed by high walls, tiered spectator stands sloped downward toward a sunken arena in the center.
The colosseum was vast, constructed from stacked megaliths and capable of accommodating a massive crowd.
Down in the sunken center on the arena stage, there were actually living beings. Earlier, they had been completely motionless, as if buried in dust and petrified into stone.
Yet as the engraved patterns on the megaliths lit up and the torches abruptly ignited, the beings in the arena abruptly stirred to life.
Qin Ming's expression turned grim as he stared at the two creatures.
One was a human girl of sixteen or seventeen with a slightly rounded, fair face, trembling eyelashes, and clear, wide eyes.
In fact, she had an air of innocent purity, as though ignorant of the worldly ways. Having just awakened, she was still somewhat dazed and at a loss.
Opposite her stood an insect monster resembling a centipede with a pitch-black body, yet it possessed a grotesque human head. Sprouting from its back was a glowing vine, like a caterpillar fungus that had cultivated into a demon.
The transition from stillness to awakening took merely an instant for the two beings, who immediately clashed in fierce battle.
"I forfeit, I withdraw..." The girl cried in panic. She had already borne bloodstains, seemingly unsuited for a colosseum in the first place, and was no match for the insect monster.
Her voice stopped abruptly. The blue-gold vine behind the monster pierced straight through her forehead. Blood dripped down as the terror on her face froze, the light in her eyes fading rapidly.
Tear!
The insect monster tore her to pieces, staining the stone ground with blood.
Qin Ming had just walked in when he witnessed such a gruesome sight.
Then, he saw eight stone gates set in the eight directions around the colosseum. Mist churned as the gates began to glow, accompanied by voices of discussion that sounded as if they were transmitted from an unimaginably distant realm.
"The Earth Moon has actually revived!"
"Where?"
"The mist gate right in front of us has reopened—where else could it be!"
"That colosseum has been activated! Are there still living people inside Guanghan Palace?"
Uproarious chatter echoed from within the eight mist gates in fervent debate. The various factions seemed to be selecting people to send across.
Qin Ming was dumbfounded. Standing inside the ancient structure, he could actually hear voices from different realms. Soon after, figures burst through the dense mist and entered the colosseum.
At that moment, within Guanghan Palace, the motionless figure slowly turned around.
Chapter 406