The road ahead twisted and turned. I kept sensing everything around me, but no matter where I went, it was almost always the same: a gray, hazy sky, floating rubble all around, and massive stones like islands suspended in the air, some covered with plants and lakes.
Below, the world was pitch black, occasionally rumbling with thunderous booms, as if something enormous was moving.
Ahead lay a vast expanse of purple-red, like a sea of stars, but no matter how quickly I moved, I could never reach it. Behind me stretched a deep blue, like an ocean, and I could see the water from afar, yet I remained trapped, drifting in this chaotic space of floating rocks.
I've been here for two days now. This is Mother Goddess Nuwa's domain. I was fortunate; after Eugenia sensed a shift in the wind, she brought Blueflame Warden and me directly to this place.
The Nine-Tailed Fox has never told me how she managed to travel to the Living World. I plan to find her and ask when I get the chance. She's fierce, but not impossible to talk to.
This place is extremely strange. Eugenia had mentioned it before; Mother Goddess Nuwa's domain is incredibly complex, and most exotic beasts refuse to come here. She's only met Nuwa once herself.
Now I'm completely lost, wandering in this space that feels like endless reincarnation, unable to find a way out. I landed on a black stone, sat down, and could only wait, hoping Eugenia and the others might find me.
The whole space is chaotic, even the air currents are wildly unpredictable. The unique power of the Illusory Realm permeates the air—some places are like impenetrable walls, and unless I use my own power, I can't get through. Other places are like vast oceans, threatening to sweep me away the moment I step in.
I've tried destroying the floating stones and islands on a large scale, but no matter what I do, they always revert to their original state. I've been circling this place for two days.
"Where am I supposed to go?"
I sat quietly, no longer planning to move forward.
Suddenly, the blackness below began to tremble violently. The floating stones around me shuddered, and I hovered in the air, my whole body shaking with the tremors rising from below.
I had tried entering that black region before, but no matter how far I went down, I always ended up back in the chaotic cluster of floating stones.
After a while, I sensed something was wrong. The tremors below were different from before—growing stronger and stronger. I raised my hand, my fingers trembling, and I started to feel my body resisting, even the power inside me vibrating along with the shaking.
My head grew heavy, but I quickly snapped back to clarity. The tremors stopped. This time, the way my body was affected felt distinctly off.
I floated upward and landed on one of the suspended islands, sitting beside a small stream.
The river was long, its end out of sight. Strange fish leapt from the water, and I watched them curiously. There were many floating islands nearby—some with cities. I had visited them, but they were all empty. Some were ancient, others modern.
Closest to me was a huge floating island of black sand. After wandering for two days, everything I saw felt oddly familiar.
Especially this river—I sat above the waterfall, the water flowing endlessly, vanishing after it fell. Dense jungle and bizarre flowers surrounded me, things I'd never seen before.
Suddenly, a floating island flashed past my eyes. I stared in surprise: an old duplex apartment building, streaks of pink, and I chased after it, landing instantly in a yard filled with cherry blossoms. In the center stood a small pavilion, and before me was the Apartment Building.
It was strange—just moments ago, the island had sped past me, but after I landed, its movement slowed. The other floating islands shifted occasionally.
On another island, I saw only gray sand, but there was a city gate with a plaque reading 'Styx Gate.'
But I couldn't worry about that now. The Apartment Building ahead was the most intriguing structure I'd seen in two days. I walked up to it, opening room after room, searching everywhere, but found nothing unusual.
Each room was decorated differently. I searched from the first floor up to the fourth, then arrived at the door of Room 410. As I opened it, my eyes widened—images flashed through my mind, and I pressed my aching forehead with one hand.
In a daze, everything before me dissolved into white mist and vanished. I snapped awake, tapped my head, and found myself back among the floating rubble.
But then I saw another bizarre scene: a huge black hole torn open in the sky, surrounded by multicolored stones, as if trying to fill the void. Two sharp cliffs bridged together, and in the middle stood a woman.
"Is that Mother Goddess Nuwa?"
Eyes wide, I flew over in a rush. Only then did I confirm: her upper body was that of a woman, her lower half a snake. Her pale skin shimmered with rainbow light, long hair falling to her chest. She slowly turned toward me, her golden-red eyes staring, her beautiful face expressionless and rigid.
"You have finally arrived, Ethan Zhang."
"Tell me, I..."
Before I could finish speaking, I found myself caught in a vortex, floating stones whirling around me.
"What is happening?"
"This is your shattered memory, Ethan Zhang. At the moment of your death, I moved all your broken memories into this Illusory Realm. That's why you still have consciousness here."
Eyes wide, I watched as the swirling stones gradually calmed. Each massive stone—more like islands—held a different landscape: cities, forests, deserts, snowy seas, oceans. Everything looked familiar, but I couldn't remember any of it.
"Can you tell me, Mother Goddess Nuwa?"
I stared intently at Nuwa. Suddenly, she raised a hand and approached me, her hand piercing into my body to extract the Blood Jade. She gazed silently at the orange Blood Jade, then abruptly let go.
"What are you doing?"
Before I could react, the Blood Jade fell, sinking instantly as if into the ocean, its presence vanishing completely.
"I can't tell you anything, Ethan Zhang. Your memories guided you here. Someone without memories can't learn of their past, present, or future from others."
I stared in shock at Nuwa, unable to understand why she threw the Blood Jade away. I tried desperately to recall anything, but all these seemingly familiar islands held nothing I could remember. My mood grew heavy.
Thinking back, those who knew me—from the chaos, to Abbot Fortune, to Xu Fu—could never tell me anything. Now that I recall, they always looked helpless, as if they wanted to speak but couldn't. Xu Fu especially seemed to be hinting at something, but I could never remember, and he couldn't tell me directly.
"Your memory is completely shattered. For a conscious being, broken memories mean your past is severed from you. Now, you exist in the Illusory Realm only because of the fragments I've gathered."
"Can they be restored? These memories?"
I asked urgently. Nuwa shook her head slightly.
"Even a god cannot do that, Ethan Zhang. Let go of your past and live peacefully in this Illusory Realm. There is nothing left for you to do in the world below—you've already done enough."
As Nuwa spoke, she moved closer, pressing a hand to my forehead as if to comfort me. I bowed my head, feeling an inexplicable heaviness.
With a boom, I felt a surge of power shooting skyward. As I looked down, Nuwa raised her hand to block a massive orange beam—the power unleashed by the Blood Jade.
"I have severed all ties with you. There is nothing left to say, my child."
A creaking sound echoed as cracks spread densely across the space. Nuwa's eyes remained unmoved, utterly emotionless, as she suppressed the power and forced it downward.
"At this point, you can do nothing more. I want no further connection with you. You are just a failed creation, not truly human—just a mad ghost."
With a boom, the cracks vanished and the Blood Jade's aura disappeared again. Nuwa lifted her head to look at me.
"Go back, Ethan Zhang. As long as your shattered memories exist in my Illusory Realm, you can remain here."
I looked around once more. Every landscape on the floating islands must be something I experienced in my memories, but I couldn't recall any of it.