Chapter 3193: Flashing Stars

Ye Chen heard the words, and without caring for his splitting headache, he lifted his head and looked toward the direction where the aurora appeared.

Only to see that the aurora, which had originally been like waves hanging vertically between heaven and earth, suddenly seemed to be acted upon by some force, and began to twist gradually toward the same direction like a vortex; the originally continuous aurora seemed to have been shattered into molecules, as countless points of light began to slowly rotate in midair.

Ye Chen watched in astonishment, and Lin Waner beside him blurted out: "This... this aurora suddenly looks as if it were transformed from countless fireflies..."

Ye Chen said in strong agreement: "Miss Lin described it very aptly; this originally vast expanse of aurora now truly looks like countless fireflies transformed, and now those 'fireflies' have begun to scatter and rotate around a center—truly baffling as to why this would happen..."

Lin Waner said with a solemn expression: "Like fireflies, yet not fireflies; this aurora is like ocean waves—though waves are composed of countless water droplets, the droplets could never possibly violate the physical laws of waves—this seems rather off..."

As they spoke, Lin Waner suddenly pointed at the rotating green vortex in the sky and exclaimed: "Young Master, look quickly! The aurora seems to be about to change form!"

Looking again at the vortex, it was no longer rotating vertically between heaven and earth.

The vortex seemed to have gained life; it began to continuously tilt toward the horizontal plane until it was completely parallel with the sea level.

Ye Chen and Lin Waner, down below, watched the vortex spin endlessly, so astonished they could not utter a word.

Ye Chen could not help but grab Lin Waner's hand, and the two of them, on the hilltop, sprinted all the way toward the spinning vortex.

Though Lin Waner was panting, she dared not delay in the slightest, following Ye Chen's pace with all her strength.

After a moment, the two arrived beneath the vortex, looked up, and saw the vortex composed of green light points silently rotating overhead. Ye Chen had never seen such a magnificent sight, and he could not help but say: "This... looks just like the Milky Way..."

"Yes..." Lin Waner beside him, holding Ye Chen's hand, looked up and exclaimed in awe: "Countless light points silently rotating in midair—this feeling is truly like when I viewed the Milky Way on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, vast and magnificent..."

Having said that, she asked Ye Chen: "Young Master, what exactly is causing this? I feel this certainly cannot be a natural phenomenon; there must be some power influencing the aurora!"

Ye Chen blurted out: "Just now I felt as if something had shot out from my mind—I don't know if it was an illusion."

Speaking, he hurriedly reached for the ring Lin Waner had given him, only to find the ring still there, not having disappeared.

Moreover, at this moment the ring showed no movement whatsoever; it felt as if this aurora had nothing to do with it.

Seeing Ye Chen pull out the ring, Lin Waner hurriedly asked him: "Young Master, do you feel any change in the ring? Or any fluctuation?"

"No..." Ye Chen said: "It is now lifeless and inert, with no movement at all—does not seem related to it."

Lin Waner quickly asked: "Then do you still have any other treasures on your person?"

"Treasures?" Ye Chen chuckled awkwardly: "I do have a Startling Thunder Command, made from the thunder-struck wood of the mother of common tea from years ago, though it seems it also has no movement."

Lin Waner asked again: "Besides that, is there nothing else?"

"Nothing..." Ye Chen said: "True magical artifacts are extremely precious; the ones I have obtained so far that are truly meaningful are only two: one is the ring you gave me, and the other is the medicine cauldron that the headmaster of the Tai Zhen Dao lost to me."

Lin Waner asked: "Young Master, do you have the medicine cauldron on your person?"

Ye Chen smiled bitterly: "That thing is about the size of my head, and it's not convenient to carry around; besides, I fear that if villains saw it, they might develop ill intentions, so I left it in Jin Ling."

Lin Waner nodded and said: "Not the ring, not the medicine cauldron... then what exactly is influencing the aurora?"

Ye Chen asked her: "Could it be some magnetic effect?"

Lin Waner shook her head: "Not likely; the formation principle of auroras would make it impossible for them to take on such a form..."

As they spoke, Lin Waner suddenly exclaimed again: "Young Master, look quickly! The aurora has changed again!"

Ye Chen focused his gaze and saw that the original Milky Way-like vortex of light spots suddenly began to split like a cake into four parts; the light points within each region began to converge toward the region's center, and as the convergence sped up and density increased, a shape like two crossed Z letters suddenly appeared in midair.

Lin Waner's expression turned to utter shock, and she murmured: "Young Master, the aurora... how could it turn into a swastika?"

Ye Chen was saying how familiar this image seemed, when he realized it was the swastika—"卍"—used by multiple religions.

At this moment, the swastika's shape had been fully formed, and thereafter it slowly rotated above their heads.

Lin Waner stared, dazed; having been a devout Buddhist since childhood, seeing the aurora suddenly present such a marvel, her piety compelled her to immediately kneel on the ground, palms together, and silently recite in her heart: "I, Lin Waner of the Lin family, born in the second year of the Nan Ming Long Wu era in southern Yunnan, have devoted my life to Buddhism and to doing good; may the Buddha bless Young Master with vengeance fulfilled and great undertakings accomplished..."

Just as Lin Waner was praying in her heart for Ye Chen to receive the Buddha's blessing, Ye Chen looked up at the slowly rotating swastika in the sky and suddenly said: "This pattern, viewed from below, is the religious swastika, with a good meaning; but viewed from above, wouldn't it just become the Nazi Germany logo? The two symbols are exact mirror images, and since this thing keeps rotating, you can't tell whether it's slanted or upright—if someone saw it from an airplane, they might think heaven was letting the Nazis rise again..."

Lin Waner had just finished praying for Ye Chen in her heart, was about to rise, when she heard this, her whole body lost balance and she nearly fell over; Ye Chen quickly reached out to support her, and she whispered softly: "Young Master, from now on, you must never joke about the Buddha."

Ye Chen looked aggrieved: "I wasn't joking about the Buddha; I merely meant that the swastika, when viewed straight on and when viewed in reverse, really does have two different meanings..."

Lin Waner said helplessly: "We are already near the Arctic Circle; it's unlikely any aircraft would fly over, so this sight is naturally meant for people on the ground—in other words, it must be meant for us to see."

Ye Chen asked her: "You mean, this sight is someone intentionally wanting us to see it?"

Lin Waner said: "Whether intentional or not, I don't know, but I believe this is certainly related to Young Master."

Although Ye Chen also felt this phenomenon should have some connection to himself, he could not for the moment sort out any clue.

Just as he was puzzled, the rotating swastika in the sky spun faster and faster; many scattered light points were even flung outward by the high-speed rotation, and the entire swastika became like a spinning firework, continuously scattering bright, dazzling light and shadow outward until it burned itself out.

Immediately afterward, those light points scattered into the sky began to flash alternately at different frequencies, and for a moment it resembled the countless stars twinkling on a summer mountain peak—dreamlike and illusory.

And as the flashing frequencies of those light points varied, Ye Chen suddenly noticed that accompanying a certain flash, the light points that lit up simultaneously in the sky happened to form an image—resembling a large hand making an unfathomable gesture in midair.

Then, as the flashing light points continued, the previous gesture disappeared; a few seconds later, another new gesture appeared.

Ye Chen asked Lin Waner: "Miss Lin, did you see those gestures?"

Lin Waner shook her head and asked him doubtfully: "Young Master, what gestures are you talking about?"

Ye Chen pointed to the third gesture appearing in the sky and said: "Just this one—look, those stars flashing at the same time, don't they resemble a kind of gesture? I admit my description may be somewhat abstract, but if you use the mindset of observing constellations to view these stars, you'll see they indeed form a pattern!"