Quinn saw her smile, and his heart seemed to melt all over again.
It melted into that sunlit day, by the reed marshes of the Yong River, where snow-white reed flowers drifted in the breeze, a cowherd rode his ox, and the ox ambled slowly along the bank.
That day, a strange melody kept echoing in his mind—he wanted to hum it, to sing it, but he could never quite recall the tune.
He felt that melody was so familiar, so dear, yet he could never remember it.
In this moment, he finally remembered that nursery rhyme.
He had heard this nursery rhyme, heard this voice, while swaddled in the basket as a baby.
He walked over to the girl humming that familiar yet forgotten lullaby, sat down beside her, and smiled. "It's been a long time. Do you remember the baby named Fenix Greenwood Keane in the basket? That was me."
Queena White looked at him, surprise slowly blooming on her face, then turning into a smile. "Do you remember the girl who sat on the chest?"
"I do."
Quinn's heart burned hot—he couldn't tell if it was lingering wounds, or some strange emotion at work.
Queena White hugged her knees, sitting up straight, and stared blankly at the lands below. "Everpeace is beautiful," she said.
Quinn looked down and saw ten thousand lights—across the vast earth, through mountains and rivers, cities dotted with lamps. Where there was light, there were people.
Even after all these upheavals, the people of Everpeace found ways to survive with stubborn tenacity.
Looking down at the mortal world from the Moon Palace, there was a different kind of beauty.
The Heavenly Court, forever basked in daylight high above, could never appreciate the beauty of shadows, nor see the hope in people's hearts as they lit lamps in the darkness.
Moonlight poured down, and the moon array within the Heaven-Chart Sky Diagram was half-open, soon to become a full moon. Quinn guessed he must have slept five or six days.
"How did you end up here?" He turned to look at the girl's face beside him and asked.
"The Imperial Preceptor of Everpeace met me, and we sparred with swords for a few days. Then I heard that a girl named Suyun Xiang was sending people everywhere to search for the Four Celestial Teachers and Four Heavenly Kings of the Pioneer Era, saying a Keane child was in trouble and needed help from the northern heavens."
Queena White said, "So I hurried here first, planning to enter Blackheaven Palace from the Heaven-Chart. I had just cleared out the gods of the Outer Heaven Court stationed in the Heaven-Chart when Dragon-Qilin brought you over."
Quinn realized and laughed, "Sneaking into Blackheaven Palace through the Heaven-Chart, even ambushing Lord Darksun, is a brilliant idea—it perfectly avoids his senses."
Queena White smiled. "Exactly. While you were unconscious, Ethan Cloud, Cold Pond, and Elena Cloud all came looking for you—they entered through the Heaven-Chart too. Three of the Four Celestial Teachers of the Pioneer Era arrived. Cold Pond wanted to open a breach in the Heaven-Chart, then send a fishing line into Blackheaven Palace and reel you up."
Cold Pond is the Fisher Celestial Teacher's name, while Elena Cloud is Zixi Celestial Teacher's name—though Elena Cloud is her name when dressed as a woman.
The Fisher Celestial Teacher is famed for never missing a catch—if anyone could fish Quinn up, it would be him.
"Elena Cloud was planning to lay an array to ambush Lord Darksun, but Ethan Cloud said Everpeace and Lord Darksun have no real grudge—maybe they could be both enemies and friends."
Queena White smiled. "They all care about you. Once they saw you were fine, they left. How are your injuries?"
Quinn felt warm inside. "It's strange—when I woke up, I was completely healed. My injuries were to my very foundation; I thought it would take years to recover to my peak. What medicine did you give me?"
He was puzzled—an injury to one's foundation is extremely serious. Even as a grandmaster of healing, he would need to search far and wide for rare medicines and slowly nurse himself back to health.
Even so, it would normally take years to fully recover.
Queena White had once fed him medicine and used a dragon pearl to nourish his soul, so he assumed it was her medicine at work.
"The medicines I gave you weren't anything rare—just enough to keep you alive, not cure you. But I noticed your wounds healed themselves as you slept. I was just as puzzled as you."