Chapter 910: Chapter 532: Minister, Reporting to Your Majesty, a Great Victory on the Western Front...
Deep within the Imperial Palace, there is a secluded courtyard devoid of people, where an ancient pavilion with five stories stands, each level displaying a stone wall as the foundation of the Great Yu Royal Family’s heritage.
At this moment, on the fourth floor of the pavilion, inside a room with closed doors, the surface of the mural belonging to "The Human World" ripples with starlight.
A thin crack slowly emerges, and Zhao Douan steps out from within, stunned by the unexpected change that leaves him in a state of shock.
"Is this the backyard of the Martial Arts Hall? Did I walk out from the painting?!" Zhao Douan looks around the familiar room in disbelief.
Outside the tightly closed windows, sunlight pierces through the window paper, illuminating half of a meditation cushion on the brown floor.
He instinctively turns back to find that the crack on the painting behind him is rapidly healing, slowly vanishing.
"It’s gone... so I followed Zhenbao’s consciousness into the ’passage’ of the painting and walked out from within it in reverse?"
The answer is obvious, but at a glance, Xu Zhenguan is nowhere to be seen.
"She’s not here? Did she visualize into the place from somewhere else? But when I traced back in reverse, I appeared here... instead of directly beside her..."
"Is this the mechanism behind ’visualization’? When a cultivator visualizes, they essentially use some method to communicate across space, using this mural as a ’server’ to transmit consciousness? So, I could only trace back to this node?"
Zhao Douan attempts to understand this matter in a way familiar to him.
"No! I immersed my consciousness into the painting through meditation... and not with my ’physical body’, so theoretically, right now, I’m not the original body but a segment of consciousness..."
Zhao Douan quickly lowers his head, examining his body, his complexion changing slightly.
It is only then that he notices his "body" is currently semi-transparent, in a ghost-like state, hovering above the floor.
Hmm...
It’s very similar to when "Pei Niannu" manifests in reality!
"I can clearly sense the existence of my ’body’, which is far away, perhaps with a single thought, I can use the painting as a medium to return my consciousness to the original body..."
Catching hold of that mysterious connection with the body, Zhao Douan’s nervousness fades, turning into astonishment.
Evidently, this doesn’t seem like an "accident", more like a "function" inherent to the stone wall, merely discovered by him by chance.
"Without the body, I’ve lost my cultivation, this is indeed very similar to Pei Niannu’s state."
Zhao Douan stares at the mural, his eyes growing increasingly illuminated with brightness.
He chooses not to return immediately, because he’s unsure if there will be a second chance, so he plans to explore a bit.
To understand as much as possible the boundaries of this ability.
Zhao Douan first tries various things in the room, confirming that he is merely a "ghost", in a state akin to a wandering divine soul.
Afterward, he attempts to float out of the pavilion, with doors and windows offering no obstruction to him, soon appearing in the sunlit courtyard.
"Hmm... there’s no burning or stinging sensation, indicating that I’m not at least a shadow creature fearful of the sun..." Zhao Douan mocks himself.
He continues cautiously floating outward, exploring the distance limits, the depths of the Martial Arts Hall are sparse of people, but just as he crosses the courtyard wall, a sinister voice locks onto him suddenly:
"Who dares to sneak into the Imperial Palace’s inner court?! Truly think that this house is blind and deaf?"
Zhao Douan’s body stiffens, turning toward the not far away, the tightly closed flower-decorated wooden door creaks open, and a familiar hunchbacked figure draped in a bright red Python Robe, hair gray and slightly hunched, approaches with a stormy expression, seemingly rushed over.
Eunuch Hai’s eye sockets shimmer with brilliance, fists tightly clasped within his sleeves, Qi mechanism swirling, already poised in an attack stance.
The two lock eyes.
The air falls silent all at once.
Eunuch Hai’s weathered face twitches, showing amazement, bewilderment, and incredulity.
Zhao Douan remains silent for a moment, attempting to drift quietly to the side, but no matter how he drifts, he is firmly locked on by Eunuch Hai, who has opened his Heavenly Eye.
Hmm... indeed similar to Pei Niannu, seemingly "invisible", but can be seen through by a cultivator.
He gently says, "Eunuch, if I say I’m returning to the palace to report military intelligence to Your Majesty, would you believe it?"
Eunuch Hai: "..."
...
Primordial Ancestor Temple.
Xu Zhenguan, in a meditative position, opens her beautiful eyes, a hint of peculiar color flashing in her gaze.
Recalling the experience of this visualization, she can’t help but fall into thought.
Clearly, the changes occurring within "The Human World" signal positive news, with the clues she’s been painstakingly searching for finally surfacing.
Yet Xu Zhenguan is thrown into confusion after the brief delight:
"Why is it different this time? If it’s said that the reason for the change is that I’ve become a genuine Heavenly Human, then last time, and the time before that... I’ve been inside several times during these days, why are they all the same as before? Only this time, there’s a difference?"
The Empress, at this point, is like a cautious player exploring a game for the first time without a guide, relying on exploration, not letting any suspicious point slip.
"Surely something happened affecting The Human World... could it be the brief fluctuation in the south?"
Xu Zhenguan immediately recalls the changes in the celestial phenomena sensed in the direction of Linfeng not long ago.
Considering this, she immediately rises, her long skirt trailing the ground, walking out of the Primordial Ancestor Temple, heading back toward the Palace.
Planning to urgently gather intelligence, but, unfortunately, the distance is vast, no matter how fast communication is, it takes time.
But just when she returns to Yangxin Hall, a female official rushes up, hurriedly saying, "Your Majesty, the Director of the Imperial Observatory has entered the palace, requesting an audience for an urgent matter!"
Astronomical Observatory? Xu Zhenguan’s expression changes slightly, saying, "Where is the person?"
...
...
"Eunuch, stop feeling around, just say... ahem, just say a few words." Zhao Douan stands bemusedly in the tranquil courtyard.