Chapter 393: Measuring Heaven and Earth
Just as Ji Hongli was making threats, Lin Wan was not idle.
At this moment, she stood before the window of her room on the top floor of Mengxian Tower, gazing out at the night.
Using the excuse of being unwell, she had refused to entertain guests tonight. Of course, this was against the rules, but with a minor spell, she made everything perfectly reasonable.
The entire Mengxian Tower was still a scene of revelry, a world of drunken dreams, and no one noticed the departure of their own top courtesan.
Lin Wan gently pushed open the window, her figure flashed, and she leaped out, hovering in mid-air.
The night wind brushed her sleeves as she looked up at the high heavens, a trace of inquiry in her eyes.
Just how large was this so-called dream of the Zhulong?
—She would measure heaven and earth.
...
With a light tap of her toes, Lin Wan's form rose as if on a feather, and in an instant, she was suspended a hundred zhang high.
Chang'an City below unfolded in the night. The central street was like a flowing river of stars, the markets on both sides brightly lit as if it were midday, and the lanterns of taverns and teahouses swayed gently in the wind, casting a warm glow on the bluestone paths.
In the distance, the silhouette of the Imperial City looked exceptionally majestic under the moonlight, the chiwen beasts crouching on the upturned eaves silently overlooking the mortal world.
"So beautiful... although it's not the Great Tang of my world..."
She couldn't help but murmur in admiration.
The sound of bells from a Hu dancer drifted from the night market, mixed with the camel bells of a Western caravan.
The sound of sheng and xiao flutes drifted from the boats on the banks of the Qujiang Pool, the reflections of lights on the water shattered by the sound of oars, only to quickly mend themselves.
In a certain deep alley, a night watchman passed, striking a wooden block and startling a stray cat napping on a eave.
While the dazzling neon of a modern metropolis was brilliant, this night, supported by countless candle flames, had a unique and vibrant flavor of its own.
She reached out to catch a locust blossom blown up by some unknown wind, and she recalled a line of poetry whose source she had forgotten—
In Chang'an this night, a thousand years pass as one.
...
After admiring the night view, Lin Wan began to ascend continuously. The Chang'an City below gradually shrank, its lights scattering like stars.
She flew through the clouds,穿过 the thin mist, until she felt an intangible resistance.
She reached out to touch it, and a faint sense of repulsion came from her fingertips.
"The heavens are three thousand zhang high..." she murmured to herself, a flicker of disappointment in her eyes. "It seems the scope of this dream is not large."
She had thought the Zhulong's dream would reproduce the vastness of the primordial world, the breadth of the Four Great Continents, or even the magnificence of the Thirty-Three Heavens.
But now it seemed this dream was confined to a corner of the Nanzhan Continent, and even just revolved around this single mortal dynasty of the Great Tang.
"In other words, the Zhulong's regret... is within this mortal realm?"
...
Lin Wan did not stop but turned to fly in all directions.
She flew east, over mountains and rivers, towns and villages. She flew across a thousand li of plains, then through layer upon layer of mountain ranges, until before her appeared a hazy mist.
The mist was like a wall, stretching across heaven and earth.
She approached the mist and immediately felt a force of repulsion, as if warning her not to cross it.
"A boundary..."
She reached out to touch it, and a faint stinging sensation came from her fingertips.
This feeling was all too familiar—after all, she had done this sort of thing before entering the Spirit World.
However, the mist she laid down herself was mostly meant to make people lose their way, not to harm them.
The mist here was much simpler and more brutal, its main purpose being to inflict harm.
Still, feeling the intensity of this repulsive force, if she wished, breaking through this layer of mist would not be difficult.
Presumably, after breaking through, she could exit this dream smoothly.
But she did not force her way through. Instead, she withdrew her thoughtfully.
Since the area was so small—it meant the Zhulong's regret was indeed within this Great Tang.
...
Lin Wan did not continue to test the boundaries but turned back.
She flew back along the path she came, returning silently to the window of Mengxian Tower.
Inside, it was still quiet, and no one had noticed her departure and return.
She gently closed the window, the corner of her lip lifting.
Since the scope was small, the matter had actually become simpler. She might as well see if she could unravel the mystery. Her own father had also said that before being completely exposed, it was best to accumulate as much power as possible. If she could earn a favor from the Ancestor of Ten Thousand Demons, it might not be making another friend, but at the very least, it would mean one less enemy.
...
When Lin Wan pushed open the door to her room, a lampwick in the window "pop" and burst with a spark.
Ji Hongli was leaning on a soft couch, idly playing with her own long hair. Hearing the sound, she didn't lift her head, only gently tossed the lock of hair over her shoulder.
"How was it?" Lin Wan closed the door behind her, a smile on her lips.
"Tomorrow, this place will be ours."
The candlelight reflected on Ji Hongli's profile; her eyes carried a hint of languor, as if she were speaking of some trivial matter.
And indeed, it was.
Lin Wan gave a light laugh and walked to the dressing table to sit down. The bronze mirror reflected the two of them, one sitting, one standing. She removed the jade hairpin from her hair, letting her black tresses cascade down like a waterfall. "Did anyone give you trouble?"
"Just a bunch of mortals," Ji Hongli finally lifted her eyes.
The two women looked at each other for a moment and laughed at the same time.
Lin Wan looked at Ji Hongli in the mirror and said, "Actually, I really didn't expect you to choose a place like this."
"The places with the most news in the mortal world are nothing more than taverns, teahouses, and brothels," Ji Hongli stretched. "The first two are too noisy, and the latter—" she suddenly leaned in, her breath brushing Lin Wan's ear, "is at least pleasing to the eye."
Lin Wan turned her head to avoid it, a faint smile on her lips. "You have a point."
Since she wasn't choosing to forcefully break the dream, it was better to go with the flow—handle things according to the rules here.
"By the way," Lin Wan said, "I just went to measure heaven and earth."
...
"The heavens are three thousand zhang high, the earth is three thousand li wide," Lin Wan said softly. "This dream is much smaller than I imagined."
Ji Hongli raised an eyebrow. "Indeed, very small. Is it centered on Chang'an City?"
"Yes," Lin Wan nodded in confirmation.
Ji Hongli fell into thought. If the Zhulong's dream was limited to this, then his obsession must be related to this mortal dynasty.
"By the way, there's something else," she suddenly said. "I saw Baili."
Lin Wan's hand paused slightly for a moment. "That little fox? What is she doing here?"
"Yeah," Ji Hongli walked back to the soft couch and lay down lazily. "I'm not sure, but she's already forgotten herself completely. Now she's been sold into Mengxian Tower, looking pitiful."
Lin Wan's interest was instantly piqued. "That is a rare sight. What are your plans?"
Ji Hongli closed her eyes to rest, but the corner of her lip lifted slightly. "That little fox has annoyed me for many years. For now, let her be like this. Let her suffer a bit, and I'll take her with me when we leave."
The candlelight flickered, and the room fell silent for a moment.
Outside, the clamor of Chang'an City gradually subsided, with only the faint sound of the night watchman's wooden block drifting in.
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