"Didn't you see it?" Evan Yang asked suspiciously.
Evan's odd expression and strange words startled the three women. None of them understood why Evan spoke this way, but from their reactions, Evan guessed the truth: they couldn't see it, but he could.
"Why can I see it?" Evan wondered to himself.
"What's wrong with you?" Seeing Evan's strange look, Hannah Nangong finally couldn't help but ask.
"There are figures dancing on the lake," Evan replied.
Evan's words shocked the three women, who immediately looked carefully, but no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't see anything. The three exchanged strange looks with Evan, who said, "Looks like you really can't see it. This place is pretty strange." "Could the legends be true? Are there really fairies here or something?" Hannah exclaimed in surprise.
Lora Luo and Sharla stared at Hannah in surprise, while Evan said, "It seems there really might be so-called fairies, but they're just illusions. Some people can't see them, so everyone thinks it's impossible." "That must be it. But it's strange—why can you see them, and we can't?" Hannah asked, puzzled.
Evan smiled, "I don't know. Maybe it's just different for everyone." "So what did you see exactly? Tell us," Lora Luo asked curiously.
So Evan described how the figures danced and what they did to the three women. Half a day passed like this before the illusions finally disappeared. Evan snapped back to himself and said, "Let's go, they're gone now."
"Let me take you to some mountain peaks to look around. There are lots of peaks here, and you can see the scenery all around—it's really beautiful," Hannah Nangong said.
Evan had no idea what had happened to him. He was unconscious somewhere, while Hannah Nangong, Lora Luo, and Sharla had already reached the bottom of the mountain, searching everywhere for him but finding no trace.
"What do we do? What do we do? What happened to him?" Lora Luo asked anxiously.
"I don't know, but when he stepped out, his eyes looked dazed, like something was drawing him in," Hannah said.
"Should we go back up and see what's going on?" Sharla suggested.
Hannah and Lora had already searched the area, but with no sign of Evan, they agreed and followed Sharla back up the mountain. When they reached the spot where Evan had vanished, Sharla said, "I'll walk out like he did. Hold onto me and let's see what happens."
"Be careful," Hannah reminded her.
Sharla nodded, and Lora and Hannah each took one of her hands. Sharla slowly walked forward to the spot where Evan had disappeared, stretched her leg out to step over, but nothing happened. The three were puzzled.
Thinking she hadn't copied Evan's actions exactly, Sharla tried again, mimicking his movements, but no matter how many times she tried, nothing happened. The three couldn't figure out what was going on.
"What really happened to him?" Hannah wondered, suspicious.
Lora was restless, pacing and muttering nonstop, while Sharla frowned and said, "I think he'll be fine."
"He's got tough luck—he'll make it through," Hannah said, trying to reassure them.
"Are you sure?" Lora pressed.
"Let's just wait up here for a few days," Hannah said. She'd tried everything she could think of, but nothing worked.
So the three of them sat at the mountaintop, hoping Evan would return at any moment. But three days passed quickly. Hannah sighed, "We have to leave now."
"What? We're not waiting anymore?" Lora exclaimed.
"Even if we want to, we can't. This planet will send us away automatically," Hannah said with a sigh.
"What about him?" Lora asked, worried.
"Let's head back. If he shows up again, he'll definitely come looking for us," Hannah said.
Lora was reluctant, but there was nothing she could do. Soon, the three were transported to a nearby planet as the bright spot vanished. "Next month, if he still hasn't come out, we'll go back in and wait another three days for him," Hannah said, standing in the desolate place.
Lora and Sharla had no other choice, so they agreed to Hannah's plan.
A few days later, Evan slowly woke from unconsciousness. His first thought was that he'd fallen off the cliff, but looking closely, he realized he was completely uninjured. All around him was pitch black. He tried to activate the Night-Eye Technique, but found he couldn't use Immortal Essence.
Frustrated, he rummaged through his belongings and finally found some gemstones he'd collected before. These stones glowed and could light up his surroundings. "Never thought these gems would actually come in handy now," Evan laughed. With the glowing gems, he looked around and saw dust everywhere, along with skeletons. If this were before, Evan would have been shocked, but now he was used to it. Seeing the bones, he thought they must be people who, like him, stumbled into this place and couldn't escape. "If others couldn't get out, I still don't believe I can't," Evan thought, steadying himself to investigate. He soon tripped over a stone and cried out, "Why is there a rock here?" He set the gems down to illuminate the area and found it was a large stone.
There were words carved into the stone, the marks tiny as if made by a knife. Beside it was a skeleton holding a sharp blade.
Evan saw the blade was blunt at one end, probably from carving the stone. He picked up the stone, wiped off the dust, and examined it closely. It was a message left by someone before dying.
"Is this a dead end? If you can't escape in a month, you'll dry up and die?" Evan read the message in shock.
This stunned Evan—he couldn't believe it. He studied the skeletons carefully and found their bones seemed compressed by some unknown force, smaller than normal, and crumbled at a touch.
"What kind of place is this?" Evan muttered. He kept searching for clues, hoping to find an explanation.
Finally, next to another skeleton, he found something useful. That person had carved into the ground: "There are paintings on the wall; within the paintings lies another world."
Using the gems for light, Evan examined the walls. The illumination was limited, so he had to get close. Starting with a small section, he wiped off the dust and discovered faint paintings. Delighted, he kept cleaning, but without Immortal Essence, he could only do it by hand, even scraping his skin raw. Still, he didn't stop. It took him over half a month to clear all the dust from the walls, then a few more days to find where the mural began.
"Another world within the painting?" Evan muttered. He studied it closely and realized it was definitely a Painting Array. Breaking such an array wasn't easy—it would require Immortal Essence, which he didn't have. It seemed impossible to break through.
"A Painting Array? An independent space? If I get inside, maybe the rules are different," Evan thought. He decided to try entering the array, but first he had to find the entrance. After much searching, he finally found a spot that looked like the entry node. Pressing his hand to it, he felt a wind suck him in.
With a whoosh, Evan vanished. When he reappeared, he found himself in a world filled with light, surrounded by painted scenery and even the sounds of birds and beasts.
"Flowers? Birds and beasts? Mountains and rivers? Where is this place? Did I escape? Wait, something's different—I can feel Immortal Essence flowing in my body again," Evan said, curious. He realized his Immortal Essence was circulating once more.