"My relationship with him... It's not something I can easily talk about," Sean Shaw said. "Because I once promised—"
"Then don't say it!" Lucia Lu hung up.
She didn't want to hear it.
She didn't want to hear any promises he'd made to Skye.
All night, she couldn't sleep, tossing and turning over every little moment between him and Skye.
And every little moment between him and herself...
There were golden chickens kept in the peach grove. Suddenly, she heard their crowing and realized dawn was breaking.
Daybreak meant... she'd have to face His Majesty the Celestial Emperor and Divine Marquis Lann Yin, and make a choice.
How was she supposed to choose?
Should she choose Sean Shaw?
She really couldn't pretend Skye didn't bother her.
Should she choose Soren Lann?
She didn't feel that kind of romantic affection for him.
Maybe she shouldn't choose either of them... but deep down, she just couldn't let it go.
"Lucia!" Outside, High Goddess Vivian Lu called, "Are you up yet?"
Panicking, Lucia turned into a flash of light and left the peach grove.
She raced along, slipped through a Teleport Array straight to the Spirit Alliance, then randomly picked a mountain to hide on.
"Huh? Divine Lady Lucia? Did you come looking for me?" Suddenly, His Majesty the Celestial Emperor's voice rang out overhead.
Lucia looked up and saw His Majesty the Celestial Emperor sitting on a cloud, drifting gently down.
"Your Majesty? What are you doing here?" Lucia asked in surprise.
"I'm sleeping here."
"The clouds are so damp—why not sleep indoors?" Lucia asked. "Don't tell me the Spirit Alliance people dared to neglect you?"
"I'm the Celestial Emperor. Who would dare neglect me?" He laughed.
"Then why sleep up on the clouds? You have to use your power just to keep the cloud together—doesn't that get tiring?"
The Celestial Emperor didn't answer. He gazed down at the gorge and asked, "Do you know what that place is?"
"Of course! That's Coffin Valley," Lucia replied. "Down below are ninety-nine coffins. My Divine Father told me that each well beneath a coffin is a Spatial Interface."
The Celestial Emperor nodded. "Little Five's Mother left through the Twelfth Coffin down there."
"Huh? Aren't those Spatial Interfaces supposed to lead to the Elderworld?" Lucia asked, puzzled. "My Divine Father said that once, a man from another realm named Landon Yale moved all the coffins and opened a path to the Elderworld."
"Spatial Interfaces can lead to the Elderworld, or to the Outer Domains," the Celestial Emperor said. "As long as you have enough power, you could open a wormhole to the Outer Domains."
"Fifth Highness's mother could open a wormhole to the Outer Domains?"
What kind of unimaginable power would that take?
But His Majesty the Celestial Emperor shook his head. "No! She told me once that in this world, there are beings far stronger than we can imagine. They really can open wormholes. But Little Five's Mother couldn't! With her cultivation, she could only move the coffins, that's all."
"Then how did she leave?"
"She called it a Spatial Tide," said the Celestial Emperor. "I don't really understand the details, but she said that as long as the tide reached here, she could leave."
Lucia nodded, half understanding. "What does a Spatial Tide look like? Have you ever seen one?"
"I saw it once. The time she left. The well shone with blinding white light."
"That's it?"
"That's it! The light faded, and she was gone..." The Celestial Emperor looked lost in thought.
"How often do Spatial Tides come? Could she ever come back through here again?" Lucia asked.