Zuan noticed a well had appeared out of nowhere in an empty space within the cluster of buildings. He had passed by this spot many times yesterday and was absolutely certain it hadn't been there before.
He went to the well and discovered something even stranger: the water inside hadn't frozen!
In this icy, snowy environment, a normal person's breath would turn into icy mist. Within seconds, their face would be covered in frost, and soon after, an ordinary person would freeze to death here.
Even cultivators with slightly lower cultivation levels couldn't last long here. How could a well like this keep its water from freezing?
Could the Nine-Foot Mirror be hidden in this well, its divine power protecting the water from freezing?
He reached into the water, confirmed there was nothing unusual, and then jumped directly into the well. With his Blue Swan ability, his movements were completely unimpeded in the water.
He had initially expected a vast space below and was even prepared for a long exploration.
However, he only descended about a dozen meters before reaching the bottom. He searched around for a while but found no hidden chambers or spaces.
Only a few characters were carved at the bottom. Although he was in darkness, this was no challenge for the current Zuan, and he quickly made out the inscription: "Flowers are not flowers, mists are not mists; where is the universe inverted?"
Zuan paused, wondering what the words meant.
He pondered for a long time but found no clue, so he decided to climb out of the well first.
He stood by the well, staring at the rippling water surface, continuously pondering the meaning of the inscription. Several conjectures formed in his mind, but he quickly dismissed each one.
There was too little information to make a judgment.
Zuan didn't dwell on it and decided to look elsewhere.
He noticed that during the day, there were significantly more buildings around than at night, and the outline of a temple became clearer.
A sense of realization washed over him. Yesterday, he had wondered why so many buildings were missing and yet showed no signs of weathering; now he knew they had simply been hidden.
Could it be that different parts appeared during the alternation of day and night?
This was where the ancient demon race hid treasures, and judging by the temple's architectural style, it was likely the work of Yu Men Beiqing.
How was all of this achieved?
Zuan couldn't help but become curious about Yu Men Beiqing, whom he had never met. He hadn't expected such an astonishingly brilliant figure in the history of the demon race, whose mastery of formations was probably no less than that of Immortal Sovereign Baopu.
While musing, he had already walked through these newly appeared buildings and finally stopped at a place resembling a main hall.
Here, there was a stone platform with a slanted disc on top. A stone needle stood vertically in the center of the disc, and the disc's perimeter was marked with various scales and patterns.
Zuan noticed the stone needle's shadow falling on a certain mark on the disc, and a thought struck him: this thing greatly resembled an ancient sundial.
But besides the marks representing the hours, what did those other strange patterns signify?
He gently touched the disc with his hand, and suddenly, a clicking sound emanated. He was astonished to find that the disc could rotate.
As the disc rotated, the stone needle's shadow also moved to different marks on the disc. Zuan suddenly looked up because he realized that, in that brief moment, the sun in the sky was moving along with it.
He was horrified. This thing could control the sun?
What kind of being was Yu Men Beiqing?
However, Zuan quickly calmed down. He extended his divine sense to the sky, and his expression became a little strange: "It's not a real sun after all..."
This ruined temple seemed to be its own self-contained world, with its own sky and sun. The fact that Yu Men Beiqing could achieve this was equally incredible.
He continued to turn the disc and soon found night falling. The numerous buildings around him began to shimmer in and out of existence, and even the disc in his hand seemed about to disappear.
Fortunately, Zuan had been prepared. He quickly turned the disc back, returning to daytime, and only then did the buildings stabilize.
At this point, he also noticed that the special patterns could be moved. He tentatively shifted one, and a rumbling sound came, as he observed that some of the buildings also began to move.
Seeing this, a flash of insight struck Zuan, and he broadly understood Yu Men Beiqing's arrangement here.
No wonder he had previously felt that the distribution of these buildings was somewhat haphazard; it turned out they needed to be rearranged.
The sundial-like disc before him was similar to a formation disk, capable of not only controlling time but also moving the orientation of these buildings.
To increase the difficulty, these buildings were also divided into two parts: day and night. This meant that no matter which side one tried to piece together, success was impossible; only by combining both could the assembly be completed.
However, none of this was a challenge for Zuan. By now, he possessed a near-photographic memory, and the distribution of the buildings he had seen last night was already deeply imprinted in his mind.
He tried moving the patterns on the disc, quickly found the pattern, and then swiftly rearranged the current buildings according to his memory.
Soon, these walls, pillars, and other structures moved together, increasingly resembling a complete temple.
Yet, Zuan frowned. Several times, he hesitated while moving the patterns on the disc, and finally, he released his hand and fell into deep thought.
Although he had assembled the majority according to his memory, a small portion of the buildings consistently refused to connect.
He recalled the buildings he had seen last night again, confirming he hadn't made a mistake in his memory.
Furthermore, those buildings couldn't be moved and weren't controlled by this disc, so the problem naturally wouldn't lie there.
He stared at the large expanse of buildings before him. He had already changed his approach several times, but some buildings still wouldn't fit together, and it seemed a considerable number were missing.
He was now certain that it was impossible to assemble a complete temple using only these buildings.
Based on the clues he had just gathered, the idea of operating via this disc was correct. It seemed he must have overlooked some crucial clue.
A thought struck him, and he thought again of the well he had just visited, and the inscription within: "Flowers are not flowers, mists are not mists; where is the universe inverted?"
Did the first half refer to "moon in the water, flowers in the mirror" (illusions), and the second half refer to controlling day and night with the sundial?
He felt something vague on the verge of being grasped in his mind, but just as he tried to focus on it, it vanished.
Unconsciously, he found himself by the well again, intending to go in and investigate further.
Suddenly, his gaze fell upon the water's surface. Besides his own reflection, he saw the reflections of the distant buildings.
A smile appeared on his face. He finally understood where the missing buildings were.
He quickly flew back to the disc and swiftly began reassembling the buildings. This time, he completely disregarded the previous layout and rapidly rearranged them.
If anyone else had been watching, they would have found it extremely strange, as the current arrangement of these buildings was utterly chaotic, less logical even than his previous attempts.
However, the corners of Zuan's mouth curled upward further and further. With his last adjustment, he clapped his hands and laughed, "Done!"
He had just deciphered the meaning of the inscription. In essence, it was quite simple: one shouldn't view these buildings from a normal perspective, but from an inverted perspective.
The buildings on the ground, combined with their reflections in the water, formed the complete temple shape.
Now, the only problem was the missing night-time buildings. Zuan frowned; once it turned to night, the daytime buildings disappeared. How could he make both sets of buildings exist simultaneously?
Suddenly, he remembered the entry time for the sealed land: it had to be during the alternation of sun and moon. He slowly moved the outer disc of the sundial to a specific time.
At this moment, the sun in the sky was about to set but hadn't fully done so. Simultaneously, the sun's reflection appeared in the well, and because of the clear, cold well water, it looked like a moon. This perfectly met the condition of the sun and moon shining together.
The night-time buildings began to appear, finally piecing together with the other buildings and reflections to form a complete temple.
Just then, the well suddenly emitted a dazzling light. Following this, the entire well rapidly shrank, and its water surface finally condensed into a mirror.
The Nine-Foot Mirror had appeared!
[5 seconds from now] Chapter 677: Walking Wisely Through Mountain and Field
[3 minutes ago] Chapter 1361: I Am the Heavenly Emperor
[7 minutes ago] Chapter 512: East Wilderness Response
[10 minutes ago] Chapter 676: Crystal Wall Bookshelf
[16 minutes ago] Chapter 511: Mo Douguang Breakthrough
14439 · 0 · 34
9251 · 0 · 15