They were taken to see the Lord of the Gate City after a night.
Even in her short sleep, Yaleriga still felt Jing Huang walking around in the room, stirring up weak air currents. He didn't say a word, but those two characters seemed to be hidden in the ticking steps of the clock. Two unfamiliar syllables, sometimes four numbers with a faint blue luster, were swirling in her restless dreams, with long and lingering echoes.
She dreamed of her mother. The missing man parted from her in her adult days, for it was not helpful for two evangelicals to be together. The last news she heard was that the man was on his way back to a distant paradise. She rarely thought about her after that, nor did she think about the mortal dangers that would be on that road. Sometimes, when she wakes up on a cold morning, the remaining dreams take her back to her childhood, and she mistakenly thinks that she is still that little girl, following her mother on the road. Or sometimes she dreams that she has become a mother and is about to leave her child, who has grown up independently, in the village as the morning light approaches, to embark on that destined long journey alone. Stretching from her ancestors to her, they share a fate, but can only be separated again and again.
Then she woke up. In the brief moments before the guardian arrived, she looked around the makeshift prison. Jing Huang no longer walked around, but sat quietly in the corner to rest. The white paper handed to him by the messenger was now neatly folded, and was held in his right hand along with a measuring stick with four rotating leaves. This complex ruler is often used by mages to draw some basic spell symbols. She had never seen anything like it drawn by Jing Huang, but before he gave up resistance and allowed the Golden Guardian to take them away, the ruler was the only thing he asked for.
He stood on the steps and measured the white paper with a ruler for a while, and then he seemed to think that there was no need to stick to it any longer. The white rope was retracted into his sleeves, and Yaleriga and the other three trapped persons were released and placed unscathed on the scale walkway known as the Soul Scale.
"The Lord of the Gate City will summon you tomorrow." The black-headed messenger announced. It then recited a long and polite speech, condemning their atrocities in a beautiful rhythm. However, the master of the city forgave them with a noble heart and planned to understand it in the interview tomorrow. The reason why he did such horrific evil. All in all, the messenger concluded, they were allowed to supper first.
Jing Huang expressionlessly grabbed the ruler and white paper, not looking very hopeful.
He and Yaleriga were escorted through the blue door at the end of the stairs, and then locked into a stone courtyard covered with thick moss. Throughout the process, he showed a completely opposite resignation than before, as if the piece of paper was everything he was trying to gain. And Yaleriga also keenly discovered that even though they were still regarded as the same gang and imprisoned in the same place, Jing Huang never had any eye contact with her again, as if he was just caught alone.
This was not a good sign, but Yaleriga did not ask for the reason. She maintained her lazy attitude on the surface, and when Qiaoqiao Tianyi quietly leaned in her ear and whispered that she should be moved to a separate cell, she still refused. The ancient stone courtyard looks spacious enough for two people to live comfortably - naturally, you have to ignore the stone fences surrounding the courtyard that emit a strange violet halo. All these stone railings are carved with withered and abstract heads, staring sadly and desolately at the stone house in the middle of the courtyard.
The golden guardians used long poles with runes to push open the stone fence and put her and Jing Huang in, but no one followed. Qiaoqiao Tianyi stood outside the stone fence, looking at Yaleriga without hesitating to speak. She waited for Jing Huang to walk into the stone house alone, and then quietly said to Yaleriga: "He is a bit unstable."
Yaleriga thinks this is undeniable.
"What race is this child's father? Fire element? I heard that they can combine with material life under very rare circumstances..."
"I don't know." Yaleriga replied.
"you do not know?"
Yaleriga smiled slightly and used her racial characteristics to blur the matter. She wasn't going to open up the misunderstanding - given the current situation, she felt it was a good thing for people to think she had control over Jing Huang, even though that wasn't necessarily the case. She was still in the same room as Jing Huang, but that didn't mean that what happened between them was over. No, if Yaleriga learned anything from what happened to Debovilal, it was to never ignore any signs of danger out of fondness. She still stayed in the same room as Jing Huang because she believed that living in isolation did not guarantee safety. When the green sparks were fluttering, a wall or a spacious open space would not give her any substantial protection. If she didn't want to be affected by the disaster, the only thing she should do was to make sure that Jing Huang didn't lose his mind.
This is a short-term strategy, she thought as she lay in bed. To think about it in the long term, when they get out of this storm, maybe it's time for her to think about how long this relationship should last - not right away, but there should be a deadline.
In the early morning, when a team of golden guardians appeared resoundingly outside the stone courtyard, Yaleriga saw Qiaoqiao Tianyi wearing a tailor-made snow-green cloak and standing elegantly outside the courtyard. Next to her was a man also wrapped in a half-cloak.
They walked into the courtyard, crossed the violet-colored stone fence, and came all the way to the house in the middle. Jing Huang had moved from the corner to the table, waiting silently in the seat at the back. Yaleriga sat on the other side of the square table.
Qiaoqiao Tianyi walked around to the right side of the traveler, took two steps back, and slightly bent her neck. Now she looked as holy and majestic as when she first met.
"Please allow me to introduce you." She said, "This is the master of this place, the keeper of thousands of gates, the great mage in the golden garden..."
"I guess there's no need to waste time on these titles," said the man under the cloak.
His voice changed slightly, making him sound like a different person. But Yaleriga recognized him from his unique tone of voice. He took off his cloak, and she saw a slightly altered face - he still had the same eye and hair color, but his skin was now a bluish gray, his nose was unusually sharp, and his eyes were There is a bulge similar to that of a bird. These subtle adjustments are enough to make a stranger unrecognizable.
"This face is more like your voice," she said. "Countless people pass by here every day. What kind of thing makes you go to the Outer Harbor to talk?"
The visitor, who was also the host, showed a sarcastic look on his new face.
"I think among the countless people who have passed through this, not many will have the ability of the Gospel Clan."
"Everyone has their own abilities." Yaleriga replied, "I can't open the doors of tens of millions of worlds in one place."
"Even so, something like yesterday might not happen many times in tens of millions of worlds. Ancient Law, who had not been granted land rights, beat the guards to pieces. If this happens every day, If it happens, I think I have no choice but to seal all the doors to the ether."
Yaleriga stopped arguing with him. They all looked towards the culprit of the chaos.
Jing Huang kept staring at the owner who walked into the stone house. Even though he destroyed a large number of Golden Guardians the day before, he didn't look hostile now. At least in Yaleriga's opinion, his expression was more confused than alert.
"You are not the Mahawisdom Yabo," he said.
The host sat down opposite him. "I've never heard you use that word."
"You are not a heavenly being." Jing Huang said again.
The master paused while adjusting his sleeves. He asked with that fake smile: "Can you tell me the reasons for your judgment?"
"You have no image."
"Maybe." The master said, "But I do own this place and control all the structures here. This is the only fact. I have this power because of blood or other reasons. This is important to you. ?"
Jing Huang was still surprised, but he slowly shook his head. He put the white paper he always held in his hand on the table, revealing the two characters on it.
"I'm looking for this person." He said, "Ji Xun."
