Under the Pure summer night starry sky, amidst a vibrant garden, at the top of a white jade pavilion, a young and wealthy father held his adorable Little Queen, enjoying the cool breeze and stargazing, teaching his daughter to learn about the universe—a perfect picture of familial bliss.
Even standing by, Yu Lian could feel the happiness of the father and daughter, and his mood involuntarily brightened, his lips even curling up unconsciously.
If he hadn't sensed the strange flow of psychic energy in this scene, and if he hadn't seen similar scenes before, he might have genuinely shown a warm and kindly aunt-like smile.
Yu Lian took two steps forward, not deliberately concealing his footsteps. Then, the 'father and daughter' turned their heads and looked at him. Their appearance, form, and spirit were exactly like those in the painting, which looked extremely vivid on a flat canvas, but in motion, it was a rather terrifying sight.
An inexperienced rookie would probably have been scared out of their wits, but Yu Lian continued forward indifferently, walking all the way to the stargazing platform.
And the 'father and daughter' continued to accompany Yu Lian, watching him, looking more and more unsettling.
Yu Lian leaned in a bit, scrutinizing them from head to toe, and clicked his tongue in wonder: "This kind of ability can be achieved by both a Cartographer Master and an Alchemist Master. However, the method of breaking it is quite different, so..."
Thinking of this, he directly condensed a ball of psychic energy and slapped the Little Queen across the face with a 'pah'.
At that instant, Yu Lian even saw the smile on 'Salwen's' face stiffen for a moment. 'His daughter' also seemed somewhat bewildered, but then, the Little Queen's face suddenly contorted, her jaw dropping open into a huge, snake-like maw, letting out a heart-wrenching roar.
A Soul Refining Demon? Yu Lian shrugged, performing a tactical lean-back and leap. The spot where he had been standing vanished, turning into a void, as if it had been erased by some higher entity.
So, this wasn't a Cartographer Master's 'Spiritual Blueprint', but an Alchemist Master's 'Mental Vault'!
By this time, the 'Little Queen' had completely transformed into an amorphous black mist, without discernible facial features, head, or limbs, yet an ominous and malevolent aura still assailed him.
Immediately after, that mass of malevolence began to solidify, obscuring the starry sky, destroying the garden, and everything around vanished without a trace. In that instant, Yu Lian felt as if he had been sucked into a black hole, where time, space, and matter seemed to lose all meaning.
At this moment, even a single breath would cause him to be completely disintegrated into the smallest particles in the universe.
However, Yu Lian had already determined the nature of this place and the true identity of his opponent, so there was nothing left to fear.
The so-called Mental Vault, as its name suggests, is a dimension formed by an Alchemist Master's condensed spirit in Abyssal Space. Everything that happens here will not affect reality.
However, simply disbelieving, ignoring, and not being led by the nose through such a three-pronged approach will not solve this maze. Since your soul has entered this world condensed from spirit, you must adapt to its rules and utilize them.
Yu Lian suddenly thought of the grand scenes he had once witnessed. He saw tens of thousands of battleships burning at the edge of a Star Gate, the Continuous sea of fire seemingly eclipsing the light of a star; he saw the Star Dragon King awakening in the shadows of the stars, its wings of annihilation about to take flight; he saw the warships of young heroes falling in the star sea of Orion; their final rays pierced the firmament, dimming even the brilliance of the Dawn Angel, illuminating the darkness for a fleeting moment before vanishing.
All the Past had been lost in time. Just like Yu Lian's previous life, the last time he left Earth, he let his tears blend into that great rain.
He stood in the endless darkness, took a step forward, then stretched out his hand, gathering psychic pulses and throwing them into the invisible vastness.
The darkness receded, and the amorphous mist gathered again. The mist swayed once more, then re-solidified, turning back into the Little Queen from before, her face still wearing an innocent smile.
Soul Refining Demons are spiritual derivatives of Mental and Creation-type Psychic Masters, a type of psychic active entity whose classification as a living being is uncertain. To contend with such an existence is, in essence, to contend with the creator of this 'Vault', relying on confidence in one's own will and spirit, and on one's imagination and understanding of the universe and oneself. If you cannot believe in yourself, it is the strongest; if you can firmly believe in your will, it is the weakest.
The 'Little Queen' returned to 'Salwen's' embrace. The protagonist of the painting once again sat back in his chair, a smile on his face.
"Look, Teresa, our universe, our stars!"
Yu Lian frowned slightly. Before this, he had already thoroughly reviewed Salwen's life. This cultured nobleman, overall, had a rather happy life; he achieved success, and his wife and children were dutiful. His only tragedy was that his youngest daughter died at the age of three due to an unknown illness.
A distinguished imperial nobleman, a top-tier Environmental Engineer and Biologist, yet he was powerless to save the life of his Little Queen.
And that daughter, it seemed, was named Teresa.
Yu Lian looked at the Little Queen again; she appeared to be about four or five years old.
Perhaps, this was Salwen's imagined happiest scene, which is why it ended up on paper?
"Daddy, what's behind the stars?"
"Our homeland, and everything!"
Yu Lian gazed at the starry sky. The starry sky, which was merely a backdrop in the painting, now became incredibly clear. The shimmering starlight, against the black firmament, actually displayed a Star Chart.
And within that Star Chart, there was one most brilliant star, as dazzling as the Qiming Star, clear and unmistakable at a glance.
"Tsk..." Yu Lian sighed, realizing upon comparing it to the Star Chart. The location of that star system was the New World.
At this moment, Salwen revealed a gentle smile, much more pleasant than when he had been watching Yu Lian. He slowly said, "I've seen C-rays pass through Tanghauser Gate. I've left everything there."
Tanghauser Gate, at least in this timeline, was a natural wormhole in the Andromeda Galaxy discovered over three hundred years ago through astronomical observation by an Imperial scientist (called a Star Seer in the Empire) named Tang Huaiser.
As for C-rays, they refer to the highest-energy light beams currently observed by the Milky Way Civilization, with destructive power even greater than gamma rays, yet they are (perhaps) naturally occurring. To date, even the Alliance, with the strongest technological capabilities, has not yet mastered this power.
In other words, Salwen hid his legacy in the New World, in the star system where Tanghauser Gate is located? Or perhaps, behind Tanghauser Gate? However, as far as Yu Lian knew, Alliance exploration ships had reached that star system more than a decade ago and confirmed that this natural wormhole had begun to contract, with extremely unstable internal structure and energy, making it impassable for current spacecraft.
More importantly, when Salwen was alive, the Qiming Star Gate had not even opened, so how could he have hidden his legacy in the New World?
The more he thought about it, the more terrifying it became!
So, this scene was probably what Shirley saw too, right? Which means she went directly there? Is that why the Shared Foundation got a lead on her whereabouts at Gibraltar Starport?
...Should I say, it truly is you, Shirley, Little Queen! Considering that even forty or fifty years later, you're still quite impulsive at heart, this still somewhat fits your character.
...Heh, Shirley, you just suffered from a lack of knowledge!
Tanghauser Gate, of course, could correspond to the natural wormhole discovered by that scientist, but it also carried other meanings.
Yu Lian looked up at Salwen opposite him.
He had fallen into complete silence, holding the 'Little Queen', resuming the exact same smile and posture as in the painting. This was probably the entire secret of this "summer night starry sky" painting.
Yu Lian suddenly felt a subtle sense of detachment from everything before him. If he wanted to leave immediately, he could at any time. However, he walked directly down from the stargazing platform, circled the area several times, and carefully examined the patterns on the foundation.
The sense of detachment and incongruity grew stronger and stronger. Yu Lian knew that this was the 'Mental Vault' reacting by repelling him.
Time was of the essence. He pressed his hand on the foundation, touched it, and found that the paving stones forming the patterns were indeed movable.
Indeed! This stargazing platform had looked a bit out of place earlier; rather than an Imperial court-style building, it seemed more like an Enlightener-style divine temple.
Hmph, the Empire always claims to be a great indigenous civilization, having developed to this point through the arduous efforts of countless ancestors, but who would believe that they weren't influenced by various Enlightener shenanigans?
He worked like he was doing a puzzle, rotating hundreds of bricks slightly.
As the fragments of the patterns on them were inverted, rotated, or shifted, they quickly formed a completely different, yet still very ornate, pattern.
Yu Lian placed his hand on the central stone slab of the pattern, and with a gentle probe, his hand sank directly into it, forming a secret compartment. Reaching in again, he pulled out a small silver-white sphere.
"This is a Fa Fu'er Dragon Eye?"
A surge of ecstasy flashed through Yu Lian's heart, and he quickly clutched the item tightly in his hand. No sooner had he done all this than everything before his eyes suddenly blurred, and the ground beneath his feet lost its support. He began to fall, fall, plunging into an unknown abyss, and even his consciousness seemed to blur.
However, Yu Lian, who was already prepared, made his psychic energy circulate through his body. He shuddered, then felt a sharp pain in his thigh.
Yu Lian sprang from the sofa, and just then, he saw the ice bucket, already mixed with purple-red hot sauce, tilting. He quickly used his Psychokinesis Magic Eye to steady it. Only then did he let out a sigh of relief.
So, this was returning to the real world! Yu Lian looked at the painting still laid out before him, thinking that the builder of this Mental Vault was most likely Salwen himself. That guy was definitely not some simple cultured man, but a treacherous old bastard who deserved to be killed a hundred times over; even his vault was layered within layers. And that's not all; if one obtained the core treasure within the vault, the main body of the vault, constructed with psychic energy and mental architecture, would begin to collapse, and if one wasn't prepared, the soul that entered it would also collapse along with it.
However, the harvest was quite abundant. And he gained one more layer than Shirley. Yu Lian raised his left hand. The smooth silver metal bead, without any discernible patterns or undulations, did not shine under the indoor lights; instead, it appeared somewhat dull and unremarkable, no more ornate than those found in any small steel ball shop.
This was a Fa Fu'er Dragon Eye, or rather, a 'Psychokinesis Magic Eye' psychic artifact!