"You’re a smart person, you should understand that we’re not possible."
Dou Yanlan said calmly to the boy, not quite understanding why he was interested in her. With a slight smile, the boy glanced at Qi Chen and said
"How do you know if you don’t try?"
"Hey! Don’t be too much!"
Watching the trio argue, Feng Yuan, with his hands behind his head, said to Agunas
"Shall we go to the B&B we’ve booked?"
"You’re not going to deal with them?"
"No worries, he won’t succeed anyway. We’ll deal with it if we have to."
Feng Yuan wasn’t at all concerned about that guy. True, with the protection of the Wolf Tooth necklace, it was quite difficult to simply erase him with the Power of Time. After all, neither Dou Yanlan nor Qi Chen would accept such measures. However, a minor adjustment in time so he had never seen Dou Yanlan was not a big issue.
He had not mentioned that earlier because it wasn’t necessary. Although the other party had made no secret of his intentions, he hadn’t done anything too extreme; he was just pursuing Dou Yanlan. They certainly wouldn’t intervene unless asked.
Feng Yuan looked at Dou Yanlan and Qi Chen with some surprise. Since that tag-along hadn’t followed them, it meant that the matter must have been resolved. Nodding her head without any particular emotion, Dou Yanlan said
"He was probably just whimsical. Maybe he wanted to experience the feeling of a prince courting an ordinary girl? Giving him a new target would divert his attention."
Feng Yuan scratched his head, not quite understanding. Dou Yanlan said calmly
"Like tying with General Chang in battle, or even surpassing her."
"Eh?! Are you saying to shift his goal onto Chang Nianyun? But isn’t the age gap a bit big?"
Feng Yuan was taken aback. Chang Nianyun might be a famous genius commander, but she’d been well-known for a long time and was now in her thirties. The boy clearly looked about the same age as them. While attraction sometimes defied reason, this seemed a bit too...
"No, his teacher apparently doesn’t like Chang Nianyun, so he won’t take a fancy to her. It’s merely about competing with her in her area of expertise."
Feng Yuan nodded in understanding. If that was the case, he could comprehend it. Glancing at Feng Yuan, Dou Yanlan said
"Speaking of which, do you have any history with him?"
"How could I? I don’t even know his name. What made you think that?"
Feng Yuan asked, puzzled. Naturally, he didn’t think Dou Yanlan was talking nonsense; she wouldn’t joke about such things. Qi Chen thought for a moment and said
"Actually, after learning that your weapons are Sickle and Greatsword, he seemed very interested in you and inquired about a lot of your information."
Feng Yuan stroked his chin also feeling puzzled. He was certain that he didn’t know the boy, who definitely couldn’t be an acquaintance since he had hardly ever left Maomu City before. If it was someone he’d met recently or a relative or friend of someone he knew, there was no reason to be gathering information about him secretly. Moreover, he hadn’t used the Sickle in a while.
"Could it be a friend from before you joined our school, like a childhood buddy?"
Qi Chen speculated offhand. Although he was curious, he wasn’t intent on getting to the bottom of it; it was just a casual remark. After all, they hadn’t shared anything particularly private with that person. As for anything public, even if the other party didn’t learn it from them, they could find out through other means, so it wasn’t a big deal.
Feng Yuan dismissed the possibility without a second thought. A childhood buddy? In any world, that would be impossible.
"Let’s forget about him. Do you want to go for a walk nearby?"
After dinner, Li Xiaowei had left alone, saying she was going to live stream the evening view of the ’Sea Mirage’ Island. The island where they were currently staying was a tourist island in Lake Bai Dao, named after the frequent appearance of various ’sea mirages.’ Though it didn’t have any special local products, relying on this unique phenomenon, the island’s economy ranked quite high among all the islands in Lake Bai Dao.
"There shouldn’t be any sea mirages at night though, right?"
Qi Chen looked out the window, somewhat puzzled. Shaking her head, Dou Yanlan said
"That’s not the case. The sea mirages here don’t quite seem like natural wonders. They’re unaffected by celestial events and the things they show are very random, sometimes even including scenes from other continents."
"That’s pretty wild..."
Qi Chen only knew of its existence, but wasn’t clear on the specifics. Now hearing Dou Yanlan mention it, Qi Chen began to wonder if the phenomenon could be caused by some Spirit Beast. Seeing both of them looking toward him, Feng Yuan shrugged his shoulders and said,
"I don’t know. With so many types of Spirit Beasts, how would I know if it’s a special phenomenon caused by a particular kind of Spirit Beast?"
"Hasn’t anyone researched it?"
Dou Yanlan was somewhat perplexed. How could it be that no one had looked into something clearly abnormal?
"It’s not very meaningful, and the locals aren’t keen on it either."
After all, the mystery was what attracted tourists. Many tourists didn’t actually think the phenomenon was particularly beautiful; they were just intrigued by the unsolved mystery of the mirages at the Spirit Island. They liked to take a trip around, snap a photo of the mirage, and share their own guesses—that’s what the tourists enjoyed the most. If there was a definitive answer, the number of tourists would certainly decrease.
"That’s also true..."
Without the mystery, there would be no controversy, and those islanders would never allow that to happen. Looking out at the quaint wooden buildings outside the window, Feng Yuan yawned and said,
"Even so, the allure of Spirit Island seems to be declining. Even without an answer, in another year or two, it won’t really matter anymore whether there is an answer or not."
"Maybe then, the truth will come to light?"
Feng Yuan wasn’t particularly interested in Spirit Island, but it was still early, and he didn’t want to cooped up in his guest room. Picking up Pomiti, Feng Yuan looked at Qi Chen and Dou Yanlan and said,
"Shall we go out for a walk?"
"No thanks, I’m a bit tired from the continuous high-intensity battles today."
Dou Yanlan declined with a smile. Qi Chen didn’t feel that bad, but he wasn’t keen on wandering around aimlessly with Feng Yuan either. Seeing this, Feng Yuan didn’t say much more, and left the guesthouse with Pomiti and Xiao Ji in tow.
Due to the Lake’s Brave Ones event, most of the hotels and guesthouses on Spirit Island had been booked in advance by the participants. Like Qi Chen and the others, after a day of high-intensity fighting, they hardly had the energy to stroll around.
"Seems like there’s hardly anyone around."
Looking around at the deserted streets, Feng Yuan said somewhat helplessly, and Agunas raised his head, glanced around and said,
"Most of those staying here are participants, and they’re not in the mood to wander."
"Really? What about Li Xiaowei?"
Feng Yuan said with a mischievous grin. Agunas rolled his eyes and replied speechlessly,
"She’s a streamer, not quite the same as the regular participants."
"Still went through a day of high-intensity battle just the same."
"Could we go check out the Spring of Mirror?"
"The Spring of Mirror?"
Feng Yuan looked at Agunas with a touch of confusion. Agunas was examining a tourist map of Spirit Island he’d picked up at the guesthouse entrance. Hearing the name, Feng Yuan guessed what Agunas was thinking.
"Are you still concerned about the Eye of the Mirror?"
"Yeah, It wouldn’t do something meaningless, and that pattern does look familiar..."
"A relic from the Mythical Era? Could it be related to these ancient ruins? But what exactly was the Eye of the Mirror during the Mythical Era?"
"I don’t know, I don’t remember hearing about anything like that back then."
Agunas said, puzzled, as he flicked his tail. If it was something he recognized that would be one thing, but he indeed had no memory of such a structure in his recollections.
"Moreover, it’s strange, this title of Netherworld God..."
Agunas looked at Feng Yuan, feeling the matter somehow related to him. Shrugging his shoulders, Feng Yuan said helplessly,
"Couldn’t it be from a Netherworld God of the Mythical Era? Maybe these ruins are Netherworld God relics from the Mythical Era? Doesn’t the Eye of the Mirror make sense then? Using a mirror to travel back and forth to the Netherworld, so that’s why it’s called the Eye of the Mirror, right?"
"You believe that explanation?"
Agunas stared at Feng Yuan incredulously. The birth of the Netherworld occurred after the destruction of the Mythical Era; there was no such thing as the Netherworld or anything similar during the Mythical Era.
"What else can I do if I don’t believe it? Why don’t you go ask Gladys? Maybe she’ll tell you?"
Feng Yuan said nonchalantly. In any case, he wasn’t too worried about everyone’s safety. After all, Agunas was there too, right? It’s unlikely that whatever it was would make an appearance and wipe out Lake Bai Dao in an instant,