Chapter 166 — The Sleeper Eternal

So the "existence" quietly watching from the sidelines had finally lost patience.

Gao Yang smiled, watching that orb of light grow ever more solid, ever nearer, until at last it became a figure draped in a pure white robe, a smooth white mask upon its face, its sex impossible to discern. From beneath the mask came a low voice equally impossible to identify as male or female: "Duke Gao Yang Cecil, you are more patient than I imagined, and more composed. Truly worthy of the great hero of seven hundred years ago—this temperament of yours is something I have never seen in anyone else."

"Your patience falls far short of what I imagined," Gao Yang said indifferently. "I thought you would wear me down here for a hundred or eighty years."

"Please do not bear resentment. My method of inviting Your Lordship may have been somewhat crude, but my fundamental purpose was only to have a proper talk with you. Perhaps a change of setting would make you more comfortable?"

As the white-robed, white-masked figure spoke, he gave a casual wave of his hand, and in an instant countless colors and lines surfaced in the dark space around them. These colors and lines then swiftly assembled into all manner of things. Gao Yang found himself standing in a garden full of life, surrounded by dense flowers and low shrubs. Servants whose faces he vaguely recalled moved busily to and fro through the garden, and not far off the tall main structure of a castle could be seen.

All of it looked somewhat familiar.

Gao Yang thought for a moment before finding the corresponding images in the original owner's memories of this body. He gave the white-robed figure before him a suspicious look. "What is the meaning of this?"

"Could it be that my recreation is lacking?" the white-robed figure said with feigned surprise. "I have worked very hard to restore this place according to those fragments of ancient memory. Look—those servants, are their faces not familiar to you? Most of the castle's scenes were extracted from their memories. Look at those plants, and those buildings... how do they differ from Xuanque Castle as you remember it?"

Before Gao Yang could answer, the white-robed figure went on of his own accord: "Ah, memories extracted from dreams may indeed be distorted. A castle so at odds with the facts might instead displease you. Then what of an environment like this?"

As the white-robed figure's words fell, the scene before Gao Yang's eyes changed once more. The Xuanque Castle and garden of seven hundred years ago vanished, replaced by a platform set high in the sky. Upon the platform were exquisite, magnificent round tables and chairs; on the tables were all manner of pastries and tea. And beyond the platform, one could look down upon a magnificent city.

The city was filled with countless splendid white buildings, towering mage towers and floating crystals adorning every part of it. Streams of blue light, brimming with magical radiance, flowed among the structures, making the whole city seem a heavenly kingdom on earth. Above the city, one could faintly make out an enormous translucent shield, countless runes drifting upon it. And farther still, one could see a pillar of blue light rising from beyond the city, linking heaven and earth, piercing the sky like the Tower of Babel of earthly legend...

The ancient Gondor imperial capital, and... the Deep Blue Well?!

"Does this scene suit your taste a little better?" The white-robed man sat down beside the round table. There was no expression to be read on that smooth, pure-white mask, yet a smile lingered in his voice. "After all, you are a man who lived through Gondor's age of glory. Perhaps you would prefer to recall the magnificent spectacle of the human empire at its height?"

"Sorry, but during Gondor's golden age I was nothing but a knight's apprentice on the empire's northern frontier. I wouldn't know the first thing about what the splendid imperial capital looked like," Gao Yang said carelessly, plopping himself down at the round table across from the white-robed man. "Still, the view really is fine. I even get to see what the Deep Blue Well looked like back in the day."

"Then I am relieved," the white-robed man said cheerfully. "The Sleeper has already paid you its respects. What comes next is your turn to show some cooperation."