Chapter 10: The Star and the Flower
Xu Xunyue looked at where the snow wolf was for a while and figured that Zhu Hui had probably gone to rest.
During mental soothing, a Sentinel didn’t actually need to do much, just relax, let go of all their vigilance, and turn off all their barriers and self-protection mechanisms that would attack outsiders.
If they could do all that, mental soothing was a meditative ritual that relaxed the Sentinel’s body and mind. It would be very comfortable, and they might even get sleepy.
So, at this moment, under this vast sky, only Xu Xunyue was left.
The deep black shadows sank into the accumulated snow, first soaking it through, then slowly pulling away, taking all the original filth with them.
The collapsed and dilapidated wooden cabins were rebuilt one by one, and the trees on the distant mountain grew even more lush.
Xu Xunyue gazed at the mountain, at the green leaves dancing in the wind on the branches of the trees, but in the end, he still did not walk in that direction.
Forget it.
He had already promised Zhu Hui. This time, he wouldn’t look at his memory palace.
Xu Xunyue took a deep breath and felt that the air quality in Zhu Hui’s spiritual landscape seemed to have improved a little.
Withdrawing his gaze, he was about to get up when he noticed that the plant he had propped up earlier had undergone a slight change.
The leaves of this plant were like a lotus seat, covered in fine hairs, a bluish-green color. Its stem, which had been rather short, had now grown much taller, and a small cluster of oval flower buds, which hadn’t been there before, had appeared at the top.
It was still changing. The flower buds were blooming at a speed visible to the naked eye.
For a plant, this rate of change was incredible, but a human’s spiritual world, like a cataclysm zone, did not follow reason. The landscapes within did not obey the laws of nature.
It seemed… it was about to bloom.
Realizing this, Xu Xunyue stopped to continue observing.
A small wisp of shadow had floated over at some point and stopped at Xu Xunyue’s feet, also watching.
The flower stalk of the plant gradually elongated, and the flower buds swelled. The outer layer soon split open, revealing pale sepals, and at the very top, a bit of even more tender blue unfolded.
Xu Xunyue suddenly felt that this plant looked a little familiar.
It wasn’t a product of the spiritual landscape’s owner’s imagination, but something that existed in the real world, a rather famous flower. It hadn’t been obvious when it hadn’t bloomed, but now that the petals were unfurling, it jogged Xu Xunyue’s memory.
A sky-blue Meconopsis.
The Meconopsis grew in low-temperature, high-altitude regions. It was beautiful and could be used as a medicinal herb. It had been endangered due to over-harvesting and ecological degradation, but its tenacious vitality had allowed it to become one of the few plants from the pre-Cataclysm era to survive.
The Cataclysm had brought terrifying snow and rain to the land, causing temperatures to plummet and sea levels to rise. Cities in low-altitude areas were all submerged, and 80% of the old buildings were still underwater to this day.
The remaining humans had to move to high-altitude areas to survive. If they were lucky, they might see a Meconopsis in their lifetime.
It was called the “flower of a rare age.” A single plant could live for several years, but it only bloomed once in its lifetime, and that one time would last for a month.
But how long could a Meconopsis in a spiritual landscape bloom?
There was no precedent. No one knew.
Perhaps even Zhu Hui himself didn’t know that this flower had bloomed.
A spiritual landscape was a self-contained little world. When it was healed by mental soothing and its state gradually improved, some of the elements within it would naturally change.
The next time I enter here, I’ll remember to come and see it, Xu Xunyue thought.
The Meconopsis before him had already entered its full bloom. The petals were brilliant and bright, and because they were sky-blue, they had a touch of the gentleness of clouds, making the snowy ground where it bloomed seem to glow.
The shadow lingering at Xu Xunyue’s feet was getting restless, and a wisp of it was about to wrap around the petals.
Xu Xunyue’s fingertips lifted slightly, stopping his spiritual body’s little move.
But then he reached out and was the first to touch the petals of the large, sky-blue flower.
The silky smooth touch brushed against his fingertips—cool, soft, making one subconsciously lighten their touch, forgetting its tenacious vitality, afraid of accidentally crushing it.
For as long as Xu Xunyue touched the flower, he listened to the shadows’ protests.
Since they usually liked to pretend to be profound and introverted, Xu Xunyue actually rarely saw them flustered. At this moment, he felt a little mischievous and deliberately said, [Didn’t you want the little wolf? Then the flower is mine.]
A torrent of voices instantly crashed into his mind. Another Guide would probably have gotten tinnitus from listening.
[So greedy.]
[Greedy.]
[He is yours, the flower is yours. You have two, it’s not fair.]
[Exactly, not fair.]
Xu Xunyue found it even more amusing. [But the wolf is his, and the flower is his too.]
The shadows: …
Just as the simple spiritual body was being led into a dead end of thought by the malicious Guide, the surroundings suddenly dimmed.
Looking up, he saw that the gray-white sky had turned the color of night.
In addition, a very conspicuous star hung in the center of the night sky. It was very bright, but compared to ordinary stars, it contained some changing images.
What exactly was it?
The star was too high and too far away. Without the Super-sensory Burst talent of a Sentinel, it was impossible to see clearly.
However, as Xu Xunyue looked at it, he had a gut feeling that Zhu Hui’s figure was inside.
Then, this star was at least not something like the memory leaves. After all, the face of the memory’s owner would not appear in the images of a memory leaf.
This kind of intuitive judgment came from a high-level Guide’s talent, “Instantaneous Analysis.” It was often used in moments when information was missing or precision was required—combining known information with the cognitive level below the surface of consciousness to deconstruct and analyze a target in all aspects, at a speed far exceeding normal thinking ability.
He thought he knew.
It seemed… it was like this?
It must be like this.
Xu Xunyue retrieved a passage he had once heard from his memory.
At that time, he was only about ten years old and had not yet awakened. It was his Guide father holding a book from the pre-Cataclysm era, reading to him and his sister in a gentle voice:
“A spiritual landscape is not unchanging. When a person’s emotions fluctuate dramatically, their spiritual landscape will change accordingly. And when a person has a beautiful dream, a Dream Star will be born in their spiritual landscape.”
“A star is a peaceful paradise, a star is the home of the soul. A Dream Star will show the dream that the dream’s owner is having.”
“A star is very precious. Cherish every second of its appearance. If a person can witness the birth of a Dream Star, then that person is the star’s owner’s way home, and is also blessed by the star.”
His sister asked, “Why is a Dream Star so precious?”
“You can only see a Dream Star in a spiritual landscape by entering it. A spiritual landscape is a very fragile place. For a second person to be inside, and for the star’s owner not to be awakened, and even to be able to have a beautiful dream—isn’t that a very rare thing?”
The Guide with the blurry face in his memory said with a smile.
“I understand. So, has Dad ever witnessed the birth of a Dream Star?”
“Of course I have. I’ve seen your mother’s Dream Star.”
“Then what kind of dream did she have?”
“I don’t know, I couldn’t see it. But I know I was definitely in it.”
His sister said, “I was definitely in it too.”
So it really was like that.
It was a Dream Star.
A star that represented peace and home, a star that represented a way home and blessings.
Xu Xunyue looked at the sky and simply changed from crouching to sitting, one leg straight and one bent, staying quite casually beside the Meconopsis.
He was a little surprised that he actually remembered so many of his family’s conversations. Over the years, as the number of names he needed to remember grew, he had rarely thought of them.
Perhaps people always thought they would forget certain pasts, but their senses and instincts actually always remembered.
Remembering the taste of the soup, the starlight of the dream, the vivid and real throb rooted in the heart.
Even if you weren’t aware of it, you couldn’t forget it.
Zhu Hui had fallen asleep during the mental soothing.
How could Zhu Hui fall asleep so easily?
What kind of dream was he having?
At this time, the snowfield had long since returned to its flawless appearance. The shadows had nothing to do and were even hiding in the snow wolf’s shadow to play hide-and-seek with it, causing the already cute-looking sub-adult to chase its own shadow in circles.
Xu Xunyue had been planning to leave, but now, he suddenly didn’t want to leave right away.
He just sat there at the edge of the snowfield, with a star in the sky, a sky-blue Meconopsis beside him, and two spiritual bodies playing in the distance.
A not-so-harsh wind blew across his cheek, also causing the leaves of the green trees on the high mountain to sway.
…
Time flew by.
The sky changed from gray-white to black, and then from black back to gray-white.
Until the twinkling, extremely bright star began to show signs of dimming.
Xu Xunyue knew that the dream was about to end.
He stood up, said goodbye to the snow wolf and the Meconopsis, and withdrew from Zhu Hui’s spiritual world with his spiritual body.
The sky in the spiritual landscape had changed twice, but time in the real world had passed very slowly. It was still pitch black outside, with a heavy, intimidating snow falling. The fountain in the courtyard had long been filled.
In comparison, Xu Xunyue suddenly felt that the snowfield he had cleaned up was truly beautiful.
Clear, vast, and dotted with flowers, more beautiful than any snowfield in the real world.
The required textbook was right. Performing mental soothing was indeed a very fulfilling experience.
He looked at the Sentinel in his arms and, not surprisingly, saw a still-sleeping face, his breathing even, probably sleeping very well.
The disappearance of the Dream Star only meant the end of the dream, not that sleep would end immediately. Usually at this time, consciousness would go through a process of changing from blurry to clear.
Before entering the spiritual world, they were kissing. After he left the spiritual world, Zhu Hui’s lips were still lightly brushing his cheek.
Xu Xunyue just glanced over and saw that the lips, which had been very thin, seemed a little red and swollen.
But the chapped skin at the corners of his lips was gone.
“…”
Xu Xunyue looked for a few seconds and found that he actually felt a subtle sense of satisfaction.
He didn’t know how to describe it.
He should probably push Zhu Hui away now, not let him be so close to him. But this time, he felt one hundred percent certain—
No matter how close they got, he would not receive any threat or attack from the other party.
