A faint pulse flickered within the Illusion Origin Star deep in his private realm, answering the scene before him. After a heartbeat, Jared shook his head.

“This one is real.”

“Thank the void!” the Vermilion Demon Lord barked, relief cracking through his harsh voice. “So the Eye of the Return-to-Void really does hide a world.” He drew a measured breath, then scowled. “But it’s quiet—so quiet it hurts my ears.”

Jared nodded. The same unease needled beneath his ribs.

The beauty was skin-deep. The cranes’ eyes held no spark, and the spirit-deer moved like clockwork toys wound too tightly. Beneath it all, he could taste an immense, nearly invisible field—part prison, part rulebook—woven through every inch of sky and soil.

He slipped the Guiding Talisman from his sleeve again.

Instead of pointing, it throbbed with a feverish pulse. The shifting runes blinked on and off, as if something in the valley were answering it.