Courtyard House: Time Traveler Not Yet a Ghost

They walked for about half an hour, the passage becoming wider and the light brighter. Chen Xueru suddenly felt a little hot. She touched her helmet and found that the visor was fogged up. "Brother Damin, I think I'm a little hot."

He Damin stopped and reached out to touch her helmet: "There's air in here, and the temperature is normal. Take your helmet off."

Chen Xueru unbuckled her helmet, and a warm breeze filled her nostrils, carrying a faint sweet scent, like spring grass. She took a deep breath, feeling her chest expand. "There really is air!" she exclaimed in surprise, "And it's not stuffy at all!"

He Damin also took off his helmet and shook his hair. "Looks like the life support system here is still working." He looked up at the eerie blue fluorescent tubes above him. "I wonder how many years these lights have been burning."

The two removed their heavy spacesuits, leaving only their thermal undershirts. The light at the end of the tunnel grew brighter, and the faint sound of flowing water could be heard. After walking for another ten minutes or so, the space suddenly opened up ahead.

Chen Xueru covered her mouth with a "Wow!"

Before me lay a vast underground space, so large that its boundaries were invisible. Above me was a pale blue dome, studded with countless luminous points of light, as if the entire starry sky had been brought in. Above ground were neat streets, wide enough for ten cars to drive side by side, lined with bizarrely shaped buildings—some like inverted pyramids, their surfaces covered with translucent materials that revealed the shimmering light within; others like giant seashells, their spiral walls etched with incomprehensible patterns; and still others were simply platforms suspended in mid-air, suspended from the dome by glowing chains.

"This...this is a city?" Chen Xueru's voice trembled. She pinched herself hard; it hurt, she wasn't dreaming.

He Damin was also stunned. He had lived for so many years and seen many secret realms, but he had never seen such a magnificent sight. This city exuded an ancient and mysterious aura, and the style of those buildings was completely beyond human comprehension.

"Come on, let's go inside and take a look." He took Chen Xueru's hand and stepped onto the street.

The street surface was white, like some kind of jade, and made no sound when stepped on. Some of the buildings on both sides had their doors wide open, while others were tightly closed. Chen Xueru walked to a building that looked like a seashell and looked inside through the translucent walls. The inside was empty, with only some strange metal frames covered with a thick layer of dust.

"It looks like no one has lived here for a long time," she said softly.

"Hmm." He Damin's divine sense swept across the entire city, finding no signs of life, only faint energy fluctuations flowing slowly. "But there must have been people here before, and a very powerful civilization at that." He pointed to a metal pillar half-buried in the ground by the roadside, its surface covered with densely packed symbols. "These symbols are somewhat like the runes used by ancient cultivators, but not quite the same."

The two walked along the street, and the closer they got to the city center, the taller the buildings became. Sculpture-like objects began to appear on both sides of the street, some resembling people, others animals, but all were bizarrely shaped—some had three heads, some had no legs, and they floated in mid-air. Chen Xueru felt a chill run down her spine and gripped He Damin's arm tightly.

"Don't be afraid, they're all made of stone," He Damin comforted her, though he himself felt a little uneasy. The eyes of these sculptures stared blankly ahead, as if they were looking at something, yet also as if they were looking at nothing at all.

In the city center was a huge square, in the center of which stood a tall, black tower. The tower was hundreds of meters high, reaching straight to the dome, and its body was covered with intricate patterns that flickered in the dim blue light.

"Brother Damin, look at that tower!" Chen Xueru pointed to the tower, "Those patterns are moving!"

As He Damin approached, he realized that those were not ordinary patterns, but an array composed of countless tiny runes. He recognized some of the runes, which were used for defense; he had seen similar runes before, which were the basis of spatial teleportation arrays; and some runes were twisted and intertwined, emitting energy fluctuations that he could not understand at all.

"This is a complex formation," he muttered to himself, "and its level is frighteningly high." He circled the tower and found that the formations on the four sides of the tower were different, each corresponding to the five elements of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth, yet they subtly formed a whole, continuously absorbing energy from the ground.

"Brother Da Min, look here!" Chen Xueru suddenly discovered a groove at the bottom of the tower. The groove was oval-shaped, just big enough for two people to stand in, and its inner walls were covered with runes, denser and more complex than those on the tower itself.

He Damin squatted down and placed his hand on the edge of the groove. A powerful suction suddenly came, and his true energy uncontrollably surged into the groove. "Not good!" He tried to pull his hand back, but found that his body was firmly sucked in.

"Brother Da Min!" Chen Xueru was so frightened that her face turned pale. She tried to pull him away, but was blocked by an invisible force.

"Don't come any closer!" He Damin gritted his teeth, trying to resist the suction. But the force was too strong; he felt his true essence rushing wildly into the groove like a floodgate bursting. Just when he was about to give up, the runes on the inner wall of the groove suddenly lit up, emitting a blinding white light.

"Xue Ru! Come in here quickly!" He Damin shouted. He suddenly realized that this groove required the energy of two people to activate, one cultivator and one... He looked at Chen Xue Ru. Although her cultivation level was not high, her physique was special and just met the requirements.

Although Chen Xueru didn't know what had happened, she trusted He Damin. She gritted her teeth, squeezed into the recess from the side, and tightly grasped He Damin's hand. The instant she stepped in, the recess lit up completely, and white light engulfed them like a tide.

Chen Xueru felt as if she had been thrown into a washing machine; the world spun around her, and her internal organs seemed out of place. She clung tightly to He Damin's hand, afraid to let go. The wind howled in her ears, and all she could see was a blinding white light; she couldn't even feel her own body.

After an unknown amount of time, the spinning force suddenly disappeared. Chen Xueru fell heavily to the ground, wincing in pain. She opened her eyes and found herself lying on a lush green lawn, with a blue sky overhead, a few white clouds drifting by, and the sun shining warmly on her.

"Brother Damin?" She struggled to sit up and saw He Damin lying next to her, who had just woken up as well.

"Are you alright?" He Damin rubbed his arm and sat up, looking around. They seemed to be in a valley, surrounded by tall trees, with a stream flowing gently in the distance, and the air filled with the fragrance of flowers and the scent of earth.

"Where am I?" Chen Xueru stood up and brushed the grass clippings off her clothes. She realized she was still wearing the inner lining of her spacesuit and was still tightly holding He Damin's hand.

He Damin's expression was somewhat solemn. He released his divine sense and discovered that this world was astonishingly vast; his divine sense could only cover a few kilometers around it. Moreover, the spiritual energy here was incredibly dense, ten times stronger than any blessed land on Earth.

"We might... have traveled through time," he said uncertainly.

"Time travel?" Chen Xueru's eyes lit up. "Like in novels?"

"Maybe," He Damin said with a wry smile, "but this place doesn't look like ancient times, nor does it look like an alien planet." He pointed to the distant mountains, "Look at that mountain, there seem to be buildings on it."

Chen Xueru looked in the direction he pointed, and sure enough, there were faint shadows of pavilions and towers on the distant mountaintop. "Someone's there?" She was a little nervous, but also a little excited.

"We don't know if they're friend or foe." He Damin pulled her up. "Let's head that way first, find a place to stay, and then find out what's going on."

The two walked uphill along the stream. The grass was soft, rustling underfoot. Colorful wildflowers bloomed along the roadside, and small animals they had never seen before hopped and skipped by. Chen Xueru's mood gradually improved; she picked a small purple flower and tucked it into her hair.

"Brother Damin, do you think it looks good?" She twirled around, her skirt fluttering.

He Damin looked at her and suddenly smiled. "Beautiful." He reached out to straighten the crooked flower for her. "No matter where we go, as long as you're here, that's enough."

Chen Xueru blushed, lowered her head, and secretly tightened her grip on his hand. The wind blew through the valley, bringing with it the distant chirping of birds, and sunlight filtered through the leaves, casting dappled patterns of light. Although she didn't know what the future held, as long as this person was by her side, it seemed there was nothing to fear.

Their journey has only just begun.

After walking for about an hour, the mountain path became increasingly steep. Chen Xueru, her forehead beaded with sweat, leaned against a crooked tree, panting, "Brother Damin, listen, I hear water!"

Following the sound, we turned around the mountain pass, and suddenly a waterfall like a white ribbon appeared before us, cascading down into a clear pool. The spray from the water created rainbows in the sunlight. On the bluestone path beside the pool, several men dressed in coarse cloth and short jackets were carrying buckets and chatting. When they saw us approaching, they all stopped and stared at us.

"Who are you?" The leader, a thin, dark-skinned man, put down his carrying pole, his hand resting on the machete at his waist. "Why are you dressed in such strange clothes?"

He Damin stepped forward, cupped his hands in greeting, and said with a smile, "We are travelers from afar, lost and wandering here. May I ask, brother, what place is this?"

The men exchanged glances, scrutinizing each other's undershirts. A round-faced young man couldn't resist reaching out and poking He Damin's sleeve: "This material feels cool to the touch, is it silk?"

"This is special fabric." He Damin didn't want to explain further, so he took out half a compressed biscuit from his storage bag and handed it over. "A little bit of dry food, nothing special."

The men's eyes widened at the sight of the silver-foil-wrapped biscuits. The thin, dark-skinned man took one, squeezed it, and smelled it, asking in bewilderment, "This is... a biscuit? I've never seen it wrapped like this before!" He broke off a small piece and put it in his mouth, his eyes widening instantly. "My goodness! What a divine taste!"

Seeing this, the others gathered around, begging for food, and began to tell each other about the place. It turned out that this place was called Qingyun Valley, isolated from the outside world for generations. The people in the valley made a living by farming and hunting, and had never seen outsiders.

"Where are you going?" the dark-skinned, thin man asked, wiping his mouth.

"We'd like to find a place to rest," He Damin said. "I wonder if there are any inns in the valley?"

"There aren't any inns," the man scratched his head, "but if you don't mind, why don't you squeeze into my place? My wife makes plenty of corn cakes!"

Chen Xueru's stomach was growling with hunger, so she tugged at He Damin's sleeve. The two followed the men toward the village in the valley, where they could see wisps of smoke rising from chimneys and hear the sounds of chickens and dogs, as if they had traveled back to an ancient pastoral scene.

Under the old locust tree at the village entrance, several children were chasing and playing with wooden swords. Upon seeing their strange costumes, they stopped and timidly hid behind their adults, peeking out. He Damin gazed at this peaceful scene, but a vague unease stirred within him—why was this secluded place so rich in spiritual energy? What secrets did the pavilions and towers atop the mountain hold?

As the blinding white light receded like a tide, He Damin instinctively closed his eyes tightly. The lingering light spots on his eyelids still flickered, and his mind buzzed, as if a string of lit firecrackers had been stuffed into it. One second they were inside that colossal bronze array filled with mysterious runes inside the moon, and suddenly the ground beneath their feet cracked open into a bottomless abyss, countless fragments of stars spewing out from the fissures, engulfing him and Chen Xueru as they plummeted into the unknown darkness.

"Hiss—" He gasped, not from the pain, but from the sensation under his feet.

It wasn't cold metal, nor hard rock, but damp, soft soil with a few blades of grass clinging to it. He tentatively stepped on it, the soil slipping through his fingers, the grass roots tickling the soles of his feet.

"Brother Da Min?" Chen Xueru's voice rang in my ears, hoarse from just recovering from dizziness.

He Damin suddenly opened his eyes.

The sight before him stunned him.

Above, the sky was a clear, washed blue, with large, fluffy white clouds drifting lazily like freshly fluffed cotton. In the distance, rolling green hills stretched out, their peaks shrouded in wisps of mist, layered with shades of dark green, emerald green, and tender green. Nearby, a babbling brook flowed gently, its water so clear that the round pebbles at the bottom were visible. Sunlight shone on the surface, creating dazzling, shimmering specks of gold.

A breeze blew in my face, carrying a sweet scent. It was the fragrance of flowers, mixed with the aroma of green grass and damp earth, warm and cozy, like a quilt that had been sun-dried on a spring afternoon back home.

This is not the interior of the moon.