Looking at the ethereal, formless *Meleranke Praying in the Lake* resting in her hands, Xilutaiya knew this was an extraordinarily precious artifact—likely serving as the foundational legacy of an entire faction—even if much of this world remained unfamiliar to her.
She had originally planned to step onto the path of the gardener through the Emerald Honey attribute, but the legacy she had just received was guiding her toward the path of the Radiant Moon.
Such a dilemma put her in a bind. Still, now was hardly the time to fuss over whether to pick Tsinghua or Peking University. What mattered right now was figuring out how to get out of this place and return to the normal world.
According to the revelations in *Meleranke Praying in the Lake*, if she wanted to go back, she either had to reach the third order and learn the moon attribute's Moon Reflection Shuttle Method, or find an extremely rare, accidental fold in space-time and pass through it back to the continent above the sea of clouds.
Advancing to the third order in the short term was completely out of the question. Her only option was to locate another folded fissure formed by a spatio-temporal projection to make her return.
"According to the book, fissures cast by spatio-temporal projections are exceptionally faint," Xilutaiya analyzed with a bowed head. "The vast majority can't allow anyone to pass through at all. They only project faint anomalies from the shadow world, causing strange occurrences like hauntings.
"Unless the being possesses the Alien Star attribute, only then can they easily shuttle through such faint spatial fissures without suffering any harm."
Reading this far, Xilutaiya finally understood why she had stumbled into the World in Shadows so easily back then.
Turns out, this was the side effect of the Alien Star attribute—she was simply too adept at shuttling through time and space.
In other words, as long as she broke through again and attained an attribute rank, she could rely on her Stars talent to gain a corresponding rank of the Alien Star attribute. That would allow her to use a minute spatial fissure to cross over and return to the continent above the sea of clouds.
The Dew Prayer Method and Branch Trimming Method she had previously learned had both dissolved when her Destiny Card shattered against the Monstrous Black Cat. Bloom Art had suffered a similar fate, all of them destroyed.
Right now, she had neither the time nor the resources to relearn the Dew Prayer Method. The only thing she could rely on was the Breathing Method. In short, she first had to step onto the path of the Blood Law attribute and use it to escape, and only then consider other methods to disperse or convert the Blood Law attribute.
Having sorted out her thoughts, Xilutaiya rose to her feet. She looked around the pale gray world, hesitated no longer, and began focusing her mind to advance.
Within her Fate Board, the sole remaining Ability Card—and the very first technique she had ever learned—Breathing Method Lv. 3 began operating after a long hiatus. It greedily drank in the faint attribute power lingering within Xilutaiya's blood, stirring ripples through her core.
She felt her heartbeat grow increasingly distinct as an invisible pulse steadily rippled outward.
Her blood began to circulate faster, nourishing every cell in her body and filling them with surging vitality. At the same time, this attribute power was channeled through Breathing Method toward Sleeping Maiden at the center of the Fate Board.
Within the illustration, the cornflowers that had once been blue began to slowly take on the crimson of blood, spreading from the edges of the petals toward the stamen.
At last, the meadow where the maiden lay was framed by a field of vivid crimson cornflowers, and the entire card shone anew, undergoing a transformation.
Sleeping Maiden (Attribute: None) → Maiden in the Crimson Thicket (First-Order · Blood Law)
Effect: Appraisal Eye Lv. 3: Born of an exceptional talent and constitution, you can discern colors beyond the perception of ordinary people, as well as portions of the true essence of things. (When you raise the rank of your Destiny Card, this ability advances simultaneously.)
Effect: Balanced Physique Lv. 3: Conditioned by Breathing Method, your body has gradually adapted to the flow of Blood Law. Strength, perception, agility, and speed have all been enhanced. (Due to the baptism of moonlight, Balanced Physique Lv. 2 → Lv. 3)
*So that's where the effects of the baptism from my dream were boosted,* Xilutaiya realized with a nod.
She then activated the ability of her Stars talent once more to transform Maiden in the Crimson Thicket.
Meteors flashed across the night sky. The crimson cornflowers receded to the corners of the card face, giving way to an expanse of silver stars.
Maiden in the Crimson Thicket (First-Order · Blood Law) → Maiden Beneath the Starry Sky (First-Order · Alien Star)
Effect: Appraisal Eye Lv. 3: Born of an exceptional talent and constitution, you can discern colors beyond the perception of ordinary people, as well as portions of the true essence of things. (When you raise the rank of your Destiny Card, this ability advances simultaneously.)
Effect: Alien Star Perception Lv. 2: Steeped in the power of the Alien Star, your observation of all things is sharper. You can perceive five colors undetectable to ordinary mortals and discover unknown secrets.
Ability Card: Breathing Method Lv. 3
The power that had filled her body receded, but compared to before her advancement, a portion still remained. Xilutaiya guessed she had retained at least the physical enhancements of Balanced Physique Lv. 1, since part of the physical reinforcement granted by the Blood Law attribute was permanent and persisted even if the attribute dispersed.
Giving the black steel short sword in her hand a test swing, Xilutaiya found the weight comfortable. Now, she could begin searching for the path home.
Thanks to the guidance of *Meleranke Praying in the Lake*, she could now use Alien Star Perception Lv. 2 to distinguish which traces were spatial fissures leading back to the continent above the sea of clouds.
And so, Xilutaiya set off running through the pale gray world once more.
***
Roughly half a day later, standing beneath a massive tree, Xilutaiya spotted a familiar aura lingering between the branches.
That was it. Crossing through there would take her back to the continent above the sea of clouds.
She leapt up, tuned in to the rhythm within, and closed her eyes.
Just like that day, everything before her began to distort and sway. A moment later, she took a step forward and fell from a tree once again.
Dew-kissed grass, verdant trees, an azure sky, and that familiar mountain scent brushing her nose filled Xilutaiya's heart with boundless joy.
Finally, she was back in the normal world.
The anxiety and tension she had kept bottled up inside broke free, leaving her with a profound sense of relief.
Even though she had not shown overt panic over these past few days and had never given up, being trapped in a completely foreign and unknown environment made it impossible not to feel a shred of fear. Reason had simply told her that panicking wouldn't solve anything, so she had intentionally kept herself from dwelling on pessimistic thoughts.
Now that she had finally escaped, the lingering unease vanished without a trace. Xilutaiya wanted to jump into the air and shout at the top of her lungs, but her reserved nature kept her from doing so. The impulse turned into a light, airy hum as she strolled briskly through the mountains.
She was finally back. She resolved never to wander carelessly into a forest again.
Then she paused, a sudden realization striking her.
Since she had abruptly materialized in some corner of the forest this time, then back on that day…
She must have shuttled through a spatial fissure for some reason as well, tumbling into this forest as a result.
*Well, is this another puzzle piece found?* But now that she possessed several concrete clues, she wasn't nearly as anxious as before. With her mother's formidable aster trait, she could never have been an obscure nobody. Tracing her origins using that clue was only a matter of time.
Come to think of it, living on her own out here seemed quite nice. Looking back on fragments of her childhood memories, it felt as though everywhere she went, a whole retinue of maids from her family followed close behind, which had annoyed her quite a bit at times.
Besides, if her mother could achieve such great heights thanks to the blessing of the aster talent, couldn't she rely on the blessing of the cornflower talent to recreate the miraculous scenes she had witnessed as a child?
Her mindset, which had been wavering between Emerald Honey and Radiant Moon, tilted slightly toward Emerald Honey once more.
Chapter 83