'That human...'
The blue figure slightly raised his head, allowing the external light to illuminate his face.
That face had eyes as large as gongs, a square nose, and a mouth as huge as a giant basin. Two ivory-like teeth protruded from the corners of his mouth.
On both sides of his cheeks were reserved folds, very similar to the gill slits of a shark.
A mess of blue hair fell freely, covering most of the skin on his upper body.
He was the magical beast Gatekeeper guarding the gate of the [Great Wall]… Blue Shadow.
"After all, Ancient Claw crossed the line first." Blue Shadow lowered his eyelids slightly, looking at the red figure in the mirror who bore a forty to fifty percent resemblance to himself.
"No, it was that human who crossed the line first."
The red figure was Blue Shadow's elder twin brother, named Red Shadow. His viewpoint clearly differed from Blue Shadow's.
"But Ancient Claw did not act according to the 'regulation'. Therefore, he overstepped. Moreover, his failure under those circumstances is a disgrace that cannot be washed away no matter what." Blue Shadow's tone was flat, as if discussing something unrelated to himself.
"You're still the same as ever." Red Shadow said helplessly.
Blue Shadow silently watched his brother in the mirror.
Red Shadow also fell silent afterwards.
After a moment, Red Shadow spoke. "Within the clan, some members are attempting to sway the 'regulation'. If you wish to return to the clan lands, I will make arrangements."
Blue Shadow quietly gazed at the gill slits on his brother's cheeks and did not respond. Instead, he asked, "Which side are you on?"
Red Shadow fell silent.
This silence also gave Blue Shadow his answer.
"According to regulation, I am the Gatekeeper."
"According to regulation, I have the duty of guiding."
"According to regulation, I must carefully choose the level of 'warning'."
"According to regulation, I have nowhere to go and can only stay here."
Listening to Blue Shadow's words, Red Shadow's face remained calm.
Blue Shadow looked at his brother's tranquil face and continued, "This is a gate, not a wall. It has no right to deny entry to all living beings. If the clan wishes to replace me, it must be done according to regulation..."
A trace of a helpless smile appeared on Red Shadow's composed face. "See, you're always like this. No matter how many years pass there, you haven't changed a bit."
"But you have changed." Blue Shadow stated.
Red Shadow paused, then said, "I will contact you again."
As soon as the words were spoken, the image in the mirror rippled apart like waves, finally turning into an ordinary mirror reflecting Blue Shadow's visage.
Blue Shadow, expressionless, raised his hand and lightly touched the mirror's frame. As if pressing some switch, the mirror transformed into smoke-like life force and flowed back along his fingertip to the location of his heart.
Clearly, this was a mirror conjured from life force.
After retrieving the mirror, Blue Shadow stood up and walked outside the tree house.
This tree was over a thousand meters tall, inferior to the World Tree sapling, but the view was extremely open.
Standing here, one could see the vast land inside the city wall and the lush green forest outside the wall.
North of the continent, vitality thrived, filled with endless resources.
South of the continent, barren lands stretched for countless miles, rarely seeing signs of life.
Blue Shadow stood on the platform at the edge of the tree house, quietly gazing at the green forest to the north, as motionless as a stone sculpture.
…
Dark Continent, a certain area full of rocky mountains.
The mountain bodies were like needles, thick as a disc at the base, growing finer towards the top.
Such needle-like mountains densely covered the area, forming a mountainous region resembling a forest of needles.
Several openings had been carved into the base of each needle mountain. Each opening was easily over ten meters in height and no less than five meters in width.
The gaps between mountains were relatively spacious, with numerous torches standing within the region.
These so-called torches were actually trees only as thick as a human arm, about ten meters tall.
From the bottom of the tree, one could see exposed roots, but the top of the tree perpetually burned with flame, endless, literally a fire tree.
Viewed from above, the lines formed by the converging torches combined into a six-pointed star array.
The interior of one needle mountain was neatly and ingeniously carved with channels and rooms.
In one room, the roots of the fire tree spread across the rocky walls, sprouting bright silver flowers that illuminated most of the area.
Where there was firelight, there were shadows.
In a corner of the room, a set of stone table and chairs was placed.
A tall figure sat there, with the light from the silver flowers blending with the shadows of the dimming area covering his body.
Thud...
The figure stood up, easily pushing the heavy stone chair back, producing a muffled sound.
On the table before the figure stood a mirror upright.
The style of this mirror was surprisingly similar to Blue Shadow's mirror.
The only difference between the two was the color of the mirror's frame. Blue Shadow's mirror was blue, Red Shadow's mirror was red.
And this figure was Red Shadow.
He reached out and lightly tapped the mirror frame.
Then, the mirror transformed into smoke-like life force, flowing back along his fingertip to the heart.
Nen Abilities born from the same womb like this were extremely rare, not to mention that their Nen was interconnected.
Red Shadow retrieved the mirror, turned around, and looked outside the open stone door.
Perhaps noticing Red Shadow's movement, a half-figure peeked in from outside the door.
The head and face of this figure were covered in golden fur. Its facial features resembled an ape's, and the teeth protruding from its mouth were structured like claws.
"Your stubborn, inflexible little brother is quite a problem," The ape-faced magical beast sneered.
"When the time comes, he won't have a choice but to comply."
Red Shadow glanced at the ape-faced magical beast and walked towards another stone door.
The ape-faced magical beast watched Red Shadow's departing back and said coldly, "Letting him stay guarding there is fine. Once the 'regulation' is abolished, the clan will naturally dispatch a purge team to guard the landing point."
"Those foolish humans who ignore the warnings should be exterminated one by one."
Red Shadow stopped, turned his head, and stared at the ape-faced magical beast. He said flatly, "Ancient Claw, whether the regulation can be abolished depends on the outcome. Before that, we must act according to the regulation."
If Law were here, he would surely recognize the identity of this being named Ancient Claw… he's the magical beast who once attempted to use [Wither] to eliminate him.
Ancient Claw met Red Shadow's gaze and said coldly, "So that's why you didn't inform your brother about the humans' arrival again?"
"I have no obligation to inform him."
Red Shadow left this last sentence and departed the room.
Ancient Claw snorted coldly and took out a basketball-sized red orb from the pocket of his plant-woven pants. On the surface of the orb was a slightly open seam, with a severed root stem below.
This was an [External Object] he had obtained from a clan member, called a True Sight Ward.
…
Late at night.
Law, lying on a rock on the mountaintop, slowly opened his eyes.
To his left and right were Biscuit and Cookie-chan respectively.
Law sat up straight and immediately opened his Aura Nodes to continue his training.
Bisky glanced at Law, who was like a training maniac. At this moment, she had a facial mask on and was holding a magazine in her hand.
Because the space inside Knov's Hide-and-Seek was large enough, it allowed her to store these things that had no substantial use for exploration.