Chapter 2056: Flower, Yet Not a Flower; Fog, Yet Not Fog. Where Is the Inverse Universe?
Zu An noticed that a well had appeared out of thin air in a vacant area. He had examined that area many times the day before, so he was certain that it wasn't there previously. He walked up to the side of the well and saw something even stranger: The water inside wasn’t frozen!
After all, in this world of ice and snow, even the air that a normal person exhaled would become a frigid mist. A layer of icy-cold frost would appear on one’s face in just a few seconds. A bit longer, and an ordinary person would already freeze to death. Not even those with lower cultivation ranks would be able to hold on for very long. How could this well still have water that hadn’t frozen? Could it be that the Ninefoot Mirror was hidden in this well, and that the well was kept under protection by its divine force, thus preventing the water from freezing?
Zu An reached his hand into the water to feel it, and ascertained that there was nothing strange. Then, he jumped straight in. With his Blue Mallard ability, there was no problem moving through water at all.
At first, he thought that there could be some giant space underneath, and he was even ready to explore for a long time. However, after sinking a dozen or so meters, he didn’t actually discover any hidden rooms or spaces. There were only a few characters carved at the very bottom.
Even though he was in the dark, that wasn’t any trouble for Zu An. He quickly read through the contents. “Flower, yet not a flower; fog, yet not fog. Where is the inverse universe?”
Zu An was stunned. What was the meaning of this sentence?
Even after thinking to himself for a long time, he couldn't figure anything out. He could only leave the well for the time being. He stood by the side of the well and stared at the rippling surface of the water. He continued to think about the meaning of those words. Several guesses appeared in his mind, but he dismissed them one after another. Right now, he had too little information and couldn't make any conclusions.
Zu An didn’t keep dwelling on it either and decided to take a look elsewhere. He discovered that there were far more structures around him in the morning than at night. Right now, it resembled the outlines of a temple more.
He felt a bit of relief. He had been wondering why there were so many structures missing yesterday, and there were no traces of erosion either. So they were all over here! Could it be that different parts would appear as the day changed?
This was a place where the ancient Fiend races kept their treasure. Furthermore, judging from the design of the temple’s buildings, this was likely the work of Imperial Gate Bei Qing again. Just how had they managed to do all of this?
Zu An couldn't help but become curious about the mysterious Imperial Gate Bei Qing. He hadn’t expected the Fiend races to actually have someone so incredible in their past. Bei Qing's achievements in the field of formations weren't necessarily inferior to Immortal Ruler Baopu's.
While he was feeling incredibly moved, he walked around the newly appeared structures. In the end, he stopped in front of a place that looked like the main hall. There, he found a stone stage with a slanted disc on top. At the center of the disc was a stone needle. All kinds of scales and diagrams were marked all around the disc.
Zu An noticed that the stone needle was pointed at a certain marking on the disc. He couldn't help but feel a bit startled.
This thing is really similar to an ancient sundial!
But apart from those markings that represented time, what were the other strange diagrams?
He reached out his hand and gently touched the disc. Suddenly, cracking noises filled the air. He was shocked to discover that the disc could actually be turned!
As the disc moved, the stone needle also moved to different markings. Zu An suddenly looked up, because he discovered that the sun above him was also moving along with everything else. He couldn't help but feel horrified. This thing could actually control the sun? Then just what kind of being was Imperial Gate Bei Qing?
Even so, Zu An quickly calmed down. He reached into the skies with his divine sense, and his expression became a bit strange. He muttered, “It’s not a real sun after all.”
As he continued to turn the disc, he discovered that night quickly arrived. The surrounding structures became faintly visible, and even the disc in his hands seemed as if it was about to disappear. Fortunately, he was already prepared for that. He quickly spun it back and returned to daytime. Then, the structures finally stabilized.
Just then, he noticed that the special diagrams could be moved as well! He tried to move them, and heard a rumbling noise. Some of the buildings began to move. He immediately realized something when he saw that. He could now roughly guess the arrangement Imperial Gate Bei Qing had created here.
No wonder he had felt that the layout of these buildings was a bit messy. It turned out they needed to be rearranged! Furthermore, this sundial in front of him seemed to be the formation disc. Not only could it control time, it could even manipulate the positions of the buildings.
In order to increase the difficulty, the buildings were even divided into day and night. That way, no matter how one tried to piece them together, it was impossible to succeed. Only when they were merged together would the structures be completely pieced together.
Even so, none of that was a problem for Zu An. His memory was practically photographic. The structures from the previous night were still firmly in his memory. He tried to move the diagram on the disc and quickly figured out the rules. He began to quickly move the structures based on his memories. Soon after, the walls, pillars, and other structures moved together, and resembled a complete temple more and more.
However, Zu An furrowed his brows. While moving the diagrams, he hesitated several times, and eventually, he let go completely and thought to himself. Even though he had already pieced together most of it according to his memory, nearly half of the structures just didn’t join together. He recalled the structures from last night to make sure that he hadn’t made a mistake. He found that those structures couldn't be moved either, nor could they be controlled by the disc, so there was no issue on this side.
He stared at the structures in front of him. He had already tried several strategies before, but there had always beed some buildings he couldn't piece together, and there were still quite a few buildings were missing. He was now already certain that these buildings alone couldn't complete the temple.
According to the earlier clues, his original plan to manipulate the disc to move the structures wasn’t wrong. It seemed he was still missing some important clue, though.
He suddenly thought of the well from earlier and the sentence at the bottom: Flower, yet not a flower; fog, yet not fog. Where is the inverse universe?
Is the first half referring to the philosophical concept of 'water moon, mirror flower'[1]? And the latter half, manipulating day and night through the sundial?
He felt as if he had almost grasped something important, but then it slipped away.
Unknowingly, he arrived at the side of the well. He wanted to go inside and take another look. His gaze stopped on the water's surface. Apart from his own reflection, there were also the other structures. A smile appeared on his face. He finally understood where the missing structures were.
He quickly flew back to the disc and reorganized the buildings. This time, he scrambled the entire place before quickly arranging it again. If there were other people watching, they would definitely find that extremely strange, because the structures now looked extremely messy and chaotic. They didn’t even look as good as his earlier plan.
However, the grin on his face grew larger and larger. Eventually, with a final twist, he rubbed his hands together and said, “It’s finished!”
He had just comprehended the meaning of that sentence. It was actually quite simple; the meaning was that he couldn't see those buildings from a normal viewpoint, but rather had to flip them at a ninety degree angle. The structures on the ground and the water surface thhus linked up together to form a perfect temple.
The only troublesome thing was that he was lacking the buildings from nighttime. He frowned. Once night fell, the daytime buildings would disappear. So how was he supposed to make both buildings appear at the same time?
Suddenly, he thought of how the sealed land could only be entered when the sun and moon exchanged. He slowly moved the sundial’s outer disc to a certain time.
The sun in the sky was about to disappear behind the mountain, but it didn’t completely fall. At the same time, the sun’s inverted image appeared in the well. Because of the cool well water, it looked like a moon, which perfectly fit the condition of replicating the sun and moon’s exchange.
The nighttime structures began to appear, then ultimately combined with the other structures and reflections to form a complete temple.
A burst of blinding light suddenly shot out from the well, and immediately after, the entire thing quickly shrank. In the end, the water surface condensed into a mirror.
The Ninefoot Mirror thus appeared!
1. Mirror Flower, Water Moon is a Chinese proverb/phrase referring to something that can be seen but not touched, like a flower reflected in a mirror or the moon reflected on the water's surface; something that is beautiful but unattainable dreams, a mirage. ?