The forest no longer felt like part of the mortal world.
Trees rose like ancient pillars supporting the heavens themselves, their trunks wider than castles, their bark shimmering faintly beneath drifting sheets of silver mist. Their oots coiled through and across the earth like sleeping serpents, shimmering with glowing moss.
Above it all, the Lake of Avalon hung in the sky. It was not merely visible now. It felt... present.
It dominated the heavens with impossible beauty, vast cosmic clouds suspended among stars and auroras, its surface rippling like liquid crystal distorted by distance and light. The cosmic lake no longer appeared far beyond the clouds.
It felt close enough to touch.
Even Jin Huang could not take his eyes off of it for quite a while.
The atmosphere itself had changed.
Every now and then, faint droplets of glowing water fell from the sky despite there being no rain. They vanished before touching the ground, dissolving into sparkling particles midair.
Qin Shuyue caught one on instinct. The moment it touched her palm, she froze.
"...There's some kind of energy in them."
Shen Wuyou looked upward uneasily, "There's some kind of energy up there, too. I couldn't feel it before but, now..."
"It isn't the same as internal energy," Lu Chen soliliquized. "It almost feels like-"
"Like Jin Huang's energy," Cho Yanshi concluded.
The item spirit, Lin, walked beside them with his hands folded in front of him, unusually solemn.
"This... is magical energy. Abundant and raw. I've never felt this much concentrated in one place, not even during my creation..."
Lin paused, "There is only one possible explanation for this."
Han Jianyu peered upwards. "Merlin?"
"Merlin." Lin confirmed.
Ahead, Shen Wuyou abruptly stopped walking. The pale youth stood completely still, his black-and-white hair drifting gently despite the absence of wind.
"We are being..." he muttered slowly.
His fingers trembled as he willed the dice to spin in his palm.
Sixes.
Shen Wuyou stared ahead. "Whatever we're meant to find, something wants us to find it."
Jin Huang blinked. "Something?"
Shen Wuyou swallowed hard, his dice clicking together as he shut his palm. "Something powerful. "
The mist parted soon after, and the forest ended. All about them only tall stones, marked in black with all sorts of symbols, could be seen.
The aura of 'magical energy' only grew more apparent.
As they continued, the stones appeared more and more frequently until eventually... they stood before an enormous ring of ancient stones.
It resembled the ruins of some forgotten civilization, yet the structure radiated a pressure so old and vast that merely looking upon it made the air feel heavier.
Monoliths taller than fortress towers formed a massive circular formation around a raised stone platform.
The stones themselves were covered in spiraling markings and druidic runes that pulsed faintly with blue-green light.
At the center of the platform was a colossal black symbol engraved into the rock.
A circle, roots, stars and flowing lines that resembled both rivers and constellations simultaneously.
Even staring at it for too long made the eyes unfocus.
"The druids," Lin murmured.
Han Jianyu narrowed his eyes. "You recognize this?"
"A little." Lin stepped forward slowly, studying the markings with visible disbelief.
"The old Druids followed Merlin- Emrys himself- after he was formally recognized. They were scholars, mystics, astronomers..." His gaze lifted toward the cosmic lake overhead.
"And servants of Magic itself."
Lu Chen folded his arms. "So what would a servant of magic know about the Sword Dao, anyway?"
Shrugging, Lin snapped his fingers and Excalibur freed itself from Jin Huang's spatial ring with a chime.
"I have no idea, but he was largely responsible for forging this sword. If anyone can answer Han Jianyu's questions, it's him."
"Hm," Lu Chen nodded.
Hei Shisan whistled softly. "So basically, that 'terrifying old man' trope is true to life."
Jin Huang laughed at that.
"I believe they built structures like this to channel power from Albion itself, but I could be wrong. Arthur did not spend much time with the Druids."
Qin Shuyue noticed something and pointed ahead.
At the center of the black symbol stood a massive vertical indentation carved into the stone platform.
A narrow shape, long, straight and too precise to be natural. It almost resembled a keyhole, but surely not even an idiot would make a key that size.
"What is that?" she asked.
Han Jianyu stepped closer, the sword cultivator's eyes sharpening instantly.
"Looks like... a blade mark."
Everyone looked at him as they approached. Han Jianyu crouched beside the indentation, fingers tracing its edges.
"No. Not a mark." His pupils narrowed. "A receptacle."
Silence followed, then every head slowly turned toward the sword in Lin's hand.
The boy blinked twice before he seemed to understand. "Oh, right."
He offered the sword to Jin Huang, who brought it over to Han Jianyu.
Staring, Han Jianyu decided to step aside and allow Jin Huang to do it.
When it came close to the receptacle, the sword instantly reacted. Golden runes illuminated the length of the blade.
The massive stone ring trembled as the Lake of Avalon rippled violently above.
For the first time, those cosmic waters seemed to visibly move, their waves spreading across the heavens.
The sky darkened and the air hummed, that magical aura deepening to an insane degree.
Lin's expression changed completely. "Impossible."
Jin Huang looked between the sword and the keyhole-shaped indentation. "So... you think this goes in there?"
"No," Lin said immediately, in a state of panic.
Then he paused.
"Actually, yes."
Jin Huang scoffed in amusement, "Very reassuring, Lin."
Han Jianyu stood on the side, but his gaze remained fixed on the sword. Unlike before, Excalibur no longer felt dormant.
Something within it had woken up, and there was a vague sensation of something calling to him. In his own mind, something reacted.
Jin Huang slowly moved the sword closer, the druidic symbols beneath him brightening as he did.
The moment he truly reached it, the black symbol surrounding the indentation ignited with blinding blue light.
Wind exploded outward, the mist from the forest recoiling violently.
Overhead, the Lake of Avalon suddenly seemed unimaginably close. As though the sky itself had descended.
"This energy is too vast," Lu Chen gasped, evidently shocked.
"I've never felt something so deep and powerful," Cho Yanshi struggled to catch her breath.
"Be careful, Jin Huang," Qin Shuyue bit her nails.
Jin Huang inhaled slowly, then inserted Excalibur into the stone. There was a click as the sword fit perfectly into the keyhole.
Then, the world stopped.
Every rune across the stone circle erupted into radiant light. A deafening hum shook the heavens.
The enormous monoliths surrounding them began rotating slowly despite weighing thousands of tons. Blue energy surged between the stones like lightning.
The black druid symbol beneath Jin Huang expanded across the entire platform as though it had come to life.
Then the sky split open.
Qin Shuyue stumbled backward. "What the hell is happening?!"
"HUANG!" Hei Shisan shouted.
A massive beam of multicolored light descended from the heavens and engulfed the entire group.
The sensation was indescribable.
Weight and sound instantly vanished.
The landscape of Albion disappeared beneath them in an instant.
They rose upward faster and faster, soaring directly toward the cosmic lake overhead.
Clouds parted around them like oceans, rivers of starlight flowing past their bodies.
Entire celestial constructs drifted nearby, covered in glowing energy. Flittering past even those, the approached the surface of that 'water,' making to burst through from below.
And burst through they did.
In the next moment, the group landed violently upon soft grass.
No, this wasn't grass, but something softer and luminescent. The ground itself glowed faintly beneath their feet.
Jin Huang slowly lifted his head, then froze. The sky above was no longer a normal sky.
It swirled with impossible colors; violet, gold, deep blue, crimson, looking like paint drifting through water.
Massive cosmic clouds stretched endlessly overhead, illuminated from within by drifting stars.
Enormous trees with silver leaves towered across rolling hills. Rivers floated through the air like winding dragons of light, strange beasts wandered peacefully through fields of glowing flower with not a care.
In the distance stood tribespeople clad in druidic robes and animal pelts, watching silently from atop stone terraces and bridges woven from roots and crystal.
And at the center of it all, standing not too far from where they landed, a tall old man waited for them.
His grey robes drifted gently in the wind.
He leaned upon a wooden staff crowned with a brilliant emerald that illuminated the surroundings like a miniature star.
Long grey hair flowed down his back, his eyes shone with impossible wisdom.
And the moment those eyes landed upon Jin Huang, the old man smiled faintly. "So you've come again, Arthur."
Jin Huang's eyes shone with a peculiar light. As for the others, they sensed in Merlin something indescribable that both terrified and amazed them.
Only Han Jianyu was out of it and, thus, completely unfazed.
"Or, should I say..." Merlin shifted, moving his staff to point the emerald at Jin Huang, "Supreme Immortal."
For the second time, shock overcame them.