Qi Xia suddenly turned his head toward an empty space, staring and pondering for a few seconds.
Then, slowly, he opened his mouth and said, “From now on… no one is allowed to mention the name ‘White Sheep.'”
The empty space remained silent, devoid of any response, yet a quiet voice seemed to linger in the air.
“If you must mention someone… mention me instead.”
Still, there was no reply from the emptiness, yet Qi Xia seemed to have received his answer.
“This is the only way you can survive. After all, you have no choice.”
……
**”The Sun.”**
The moment the group heard the words from Tian Gou, they fell into stunned silence.
Though the two words had clearly reached their ears, it somehow felt as though they hadn’t truly understood them.
“This is… the Sun…?” Jiang Ruoxue muttered, pressing down with her feet—only to feel an odd, hard yet elastic sensation beneath her. “We’re standing on the Sun…? What kind of nonsense are you spouting…?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” Tian Gou said. “Look around. We’re in ‘Paradise’ right now.”
The group paused, then slowly turned around—only to see an endless expanse of yellowish-white land stretching behind them. The door they had just walked through floated in midair like a suspended portal.
When they looked up, they realized the pre-dawn sky was devoid of any sun.
Could it really be as Tian Gou said? Were they standing in the “Land of the End,” where the Sun was not in the sky… but beneath their feet?
Zheng Yingxiong kept his hand tightly clamped over his nose and mouth, feeling as though an overwhelming stench was assaulting him. Even with his nose covered, the faint traces of odor still seeped into his mind, leaving him dizzy and unable to think clearly.
“The smell here…” he gritted out through clenched teeth. “No… it’s too strong…”
“You’re a ‘Spiritual Sniffer,’ aren’t you?” Tian Gou glanced back at him. “Seems like you’re far more powerful than Tian Shu.”
The group looked at him, unsure of what he meant.
“Everyone,” Tian Gou pointed downward. “Not only ‘Spiritual Sniffers’ suffer inhuman torment here—even we ‘Spiritual Hearers’ are affected. The overwhelming echoes shake our eardrums… It took me a long time to get used to the deafening noise…”
“Why is this happening…?” Jiang Ruoxue frowned. “What’s so strange about this Sun…?”
“A masterpiece spanning generations,” Tian Gou replied with a rare smile. “Even if I were truly about to die… I had to come here for one last look…”
He stepped forward slowly, his feet landing on the ground as if stepping on a massive drum filled with water.
Baffled, the group followed him step by step.
“What a magnificent illusion…” Tian Gou chuckled. “Even if this ‘Sun’ had been floating above your heads all along, none of you would have noticed anything amiss…”
Yan Zhichun lowered her head, carefully examining the yellowish-white ground—only to spot deep, dark green-black patterns buried far beneath the surface.
The sight sent an inexplicable chill down her spine. It was eerily familiar… as if…
“Is this… a gigantic… eyeball…?” Yan Zhichun murmured. “My god…”
Her words sent a wave of horror through the group. Jiang Ruoxue suddenly felt uneasy standing where she was.
“Zhichun… don’t say something so terrifying out of the blue…”
She wanted to argue, but when she looked down again—was there really any difference between these patterns and the texture of an eyeball?
Not only were they standing on the “Sun”… but also on a colossal eyeball?
“Qinglong and Tianlong have five eyeballs each, ‘Divine Beasts’ have four, and ‘Celestials’ have three,” Tian Gou said as he walked forward. “Why are there such limits?”
The barrage of revelations left the group’s minds in chaos. Numbly, they followed him.
Meanwhile, Zheng Yingxiong struggled to decipher the overwhelming scent flooding his mind—but it was like standing beneath a massive word, unable to discern its shape no matter how hard he looked.
“It’s because we’ve tested it before… Five eyeballs are the absolute limit a thinking human can endure,” Tian Gou said, then crouched down and gently stroked the ground, as if caressing a lover. “The Sun at night doesn’t emit ‘flashes,’ so no one realizes its existence… Only during the day does it glow faintly, like a real sun.”
Zheng Yingxiong stared at the eyeball beneath them, an inexplicable fear creeping in. But upon reflection, he knew exactly where the fear came from.
If he could smell the scent of the eyeball… then that meant he was a “Fragrance Detector.”
Unconsciously, he grabbed Jiang Ruoxue’s hand beside him. She felt his fingers—icy cold.
“What’s wrong…?” she asked.
“This eyeball…” Zheng Yingxiong swallowed hard, his words stumbling out in a jumble. “It’s alive… It’s a living person… A living person floating in the sky…!”
……
Qi Xia froze, then turned his gaze toward another empty space.
“Have you arrived yet…? If the door isn’t closed… you should be able to hear my voice… Surely you’re not *that* stupid… right?”
His neck twisted slowly, as if deep in thought—or perhaps just lost in a daze.
“You need to tell Yan Zhichun the full truth… She’s not insane enough yet, understand? If that doesn’t work… the woman beside her is ‘Causality,’ got it?”
Qi Xia raised his head, his mental state visibly deteriorating.
“If my calculations are correct… yours is the only remaining door on the entire ‘train’ that leads to the ‘Land of the End’… You’ll be the last surviving ‘Celestial’ left. Cherish this final opportunity, understand?”
……
Tian Gou paused mid-step, his expression twitching slightly before he turned back to the group.
“Y-Yeah… this little brother is right… This eyeball *is* a gigantic living person floating in the sky… It’s just that only her eyeball was ‘enlarged’… not her entire body…”
His words sent another wave of revulsion through Yan Zhichun.
Only the eyeball had been enlarged?
Meaning they were currently walking on a living person’s eyeball… Did she… still have feeling in it?
Could she feel the pain of their footsteps? Where was her pupil even looking?
“Don’t worry… She’s no different from the other natives,” Tian Gou said with a strange grin. “She has no thoughts… Even if she’s suffering, she can’t speak… See?”
With that, he began jumping on the elastic surface, each landing producing a deep drum-like sound.
*Thud.*
“Jump! It’s fine! It’s fun!”
*Thud.*
*Thud.*
Zheng Yingxiong glared coldly at Tian Gou. Despite the cheerful act, he could smell fear radiating from him—not fear of the eyeball, but of something far more distant.
“Stop jumping…” Yan Zhichun said, her voice trembling slightly. “What the hell is wrong with you…? Do you think this is funny?”
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