Chapter 1304: The Great Masterpiece

Qi Xia suddenly turned his head towards an empty patch of ground, his gaze fixed for several seconds.

Then, he slowly spoke:

"From now on... do not mention Baiyang's name."

The empty ground was completely bare, yet a quiet voice echoed from it.

"If you absolutely must mention it, then mention me."

The empty ground remained silent, but Qi Xia seemed to have received a response.

"Only then can you survive; after all, you have no other choice."

...

"Sun."

The group fell silent the moment they heard the word.

Though the two words were clearly spoken, they felt utterly incomprehensible.

"This is... the sun...?" Jiang Ruoxue said, pressing her feet harder against the surface, which still felt strangely hard and springy. "We're actually standing on the sun... What kind of nonsense are you talking about...?"

"Isn't it?" Tiangou replied. "Look around you—we're right in 'Taoyuan' now."

The group paused at his words, slowly turning around to see an endless expanse of yellowish-white land behind them. The door they had emerged from hung in the air like a suspended opening.

They looked up and saw no sun in the dawn sky.

Could it be true? Were they in "Zhongyan Zhidi," and at this moment, the sun was not in the sky but beneath their feet?

Zheng Yingxiong kept his hand clamped over his mouth and nose, as an overwhelming scent began to engulf him. Even with his nose covered, faint traces seeped in, leaving him dizzy and unable to think clearly.

"The smell here..." he gritted his teeth and forced out the words, "It's unbearable... This scent is too intense..."

"You're a 'Lingxiu,' right?" Tiangou glanced back at Zheng Yingxiong. "It seems your ability is far more powerful than 'Tian Shu's."

The group looked at him, unsure what he meant.

"Everyone," Tiangou said, pointing at the ground, "It's not just 'Lingxiu' who suffers inhuman torment here—we 'Lingwen' do too. The massive echoes shake our eardrums... It took me a long time to get used to these enormous sounds..."

"Why is that...?" Jiang Ruoxue asked, frowning. "What's so strange about this sun...?"

"The masterpiece of several generations," Tiangou said with a rare smile. "Even if I'm about to die... I have to come here for one last look at the end..."

He slowly walked forward, his footsteps landing on the ground like strikes on a water-filled drum.

The group, puzzled, followed him step by step.

"What a wonderful illusion..." Tiangou laughed. "Even though this 'sun' has always hovered above your heads, none of you ever noticed anything wrong with it..."

As Yan Zhichun listened, she lowered her head to examine the yellowish-white land closely, spotting deep, bluish-black patterns within it.

These patterns felt oddly familiar, almost like...

"This is... a massive... eyeball...?" Yan Zhichun murmured. "Oh my god..."

Her words made the others' hair stand on end. Jiang Ruoxue felt uneasy standing on it.

"Zhichun... don't say something so terrifying out of nowhere..."

She wanted to argue, but glancing down, she saw the patterns and texture—how were they any different from an eyeball?

Now they weren't just standing on the "sun"... they were on a gigantic eyeball?

"Qinglong and Tianlong have five eyeballs, 'Shen Shou' have four, and 'Tianji' have three," Tiangou said as he continued walking. "Why the limits on numbers?"

The group was overwhelmed by the successive revelations, following him in a daze.

At that moment, Zheng Yingxiong desperately tried to decipher the massive scent invading his mind, but it felt like standing under a giant character—he couldn't make out its shape.

"It's all because we've tried it before... Five eyeballs are the absolute limit a thinking person can handle," Tiangou explained, walking a few more steps before crouching down and gently stroking the ground, as if caressing a lover. "The sun at night doesn't emit 'Baoshan,' so no one realizes it's there... Only during the day does it shine like a real sun... with a faint light."

Zheng Yingxiong stared at the eyeball's appearance, feeling an inexplicable fear, but he quickly realized where it came from.

Since he could smell the scent of the eyeball, it meant he was a "Qingxiangzhe."

He instinctively grabbed the hand of Jiang Ruoxue nearby, and she noticed his fingers were ice-cold.

"What...?" Jiang Ruoxue asked.

"This eyeball..." Zheng Yingxiong swallowed hard, then stammered, "This thing is alive... It's a living person... A living person floating in the sky...!"

...

Qi Xia paused, turning toward the empty patch of ground again.

"Have we reached it yet... If the door isn't closed... you should be able to hear my voice... You wouldn't be so brainless... right?"

His neck moved slowly, as if deep in thought or lost in a daze.

"I need to tell Yan Zhichun the whole truth... She's not crazy enough yet, do you understand? If not... that woman next to her is 'Yinguo,' do you get it?"

Qi Xia lifted his head, his state gradually becoming erratic.

"If I'm not mistaken... that's the only door left on the entire 'train' that leads to 'Zhongyan Zhidi'... You'll be the only surviving 'Tianji' from now on. You have to cherish this last chance, got it?"

...

Tiangou stopped in place, his expression trembling slightly, before turning to face the group:

"Yes, yes... This young man is right... This eyeball is a massive living person floating in the sky... It's just a shame that only the eyeball was 'Juhua'ed... Not the whole body..."

His words sent another chill through Yan Zhichun.

So, only the eyeball of this thing had been enlarged?

In other words, they were walking on a living person's eyeball... Did she still have sensations?

Would she feel a stinging pain in her eyeball? Where was her pupil looking?

"Don't worry... She's no different from the indigenous people," Tiangou said with a strange laugh. "She has no thoughts... Even if she's in pain, she can't express it... See?"

With that, he jumped on the springy surface, creating a series of drum-like sounds.

"Bang bang."

"Jump! It's fine! It's fun!"

"Bang bang."

"Bang bang."

Zheng Yingxiong watched Tiangou coldly; he could sense that although Tiangou was smiling, he was afraid.

This fear smelled oddly out of place, as if it wasn't directed at the eyeball but at something far away.

"Stop jumping..." Yan Zhichun said, her voice slightly trembling. "What's wrong with you... Is this supposed to be entertaining?"