Chapter 146 I cheated on you?
In front of me is a huge and empty plain. The sky is covered with a film of water that is shimmering with a faint blue light, as if I am under the vast starry sky.
The plain was covered with knee-high meadows. On the meadows, unknown small flowers emitted a faint blue light in the night. The light stretched for miles and almost connected with the sky.
Many huge beasts as tall as hills were scattered on the meadow in twos and threes, strolling leisurely.
These giant beasts have strange appearances. Some have the body of a leopard but have five tails; some look like cows but are pitch black with a single horn on their heads; and some look like horses but have wings.
Although they don't look very cute, the atmosphere here is extremely peaceful.
In the distance, there is a light gray church with a towering spire and long windows inlaid with stained glass reflected on the mirror-like lake in front of the church.
Ai Wanxin took a tentative step forward but did not trigger any attacks. She gritted her teeth and walked quickly towards the church.
Along the way, the giant beasts saw her figure, bent their front knees, and lowered their huge heads, as if they were saluting her.
Ai Wanxin wrapped her hood tightly around her to hide the surprise in her eyes.
Her long cloak brushed against the swaying flowers as she passed unhindered around Mirror Lake and arrived at the door of the church.
The church is taller than it appears from a distance, with an old and simple wooden door that is thirty meters high.
On both sides of the gate, stone knight statues that were almost as tall as the gate raised their swords, and the blue gems inlaid on the swords emitted a faint light.
The knight statue saluted with his sword raised, then turned aside to make way for the door.
The wooden door slowly opened in front of Ai Wanxin.
"You're here." An old and hoarse voice came from the church.
Ai Wanxin didn't say anything. She dodged and squeezed in through the gap in the door that was wide enough for one person.
Looking up, the interior of the church is extremely tall, deep and wide. A hazy light shines down from the center of the dome and lands on a golden round platform in the middle of the church.
The transparent spring water flows silently from the Udumbara basin on the round table.
A hunchbacked old man walked out from the shadow of the church, leaning on a scepter.
The old man had his eyes closed, his temples were gray, his face was full of wrinkles, and he was wearing an old robe that dragged on the ground.
The hand holding the scepter was like a dry branch. She held the golden scepter tightly in her hand and walked to Ai Wanxin step by step.
The old woman stopped half a meter in front of her. Ai Wanxin then realized that her tightly closed eyes were sunken and there were no eyeballs in them.
The old man asked hoarsely, "Have you thought about it?"
Ai Wanxin had no idea what she was talking about and could only say "hmm" vaguely.
The old man didn't know if he was senile or not, and he didn't question Ai Wanxin's voice.
She sighed slightly and said hoarsely, "Sacrificing kinship, friendship, and love in exchange for three prophecies from the Nebula Well, I really don't agree."
"You know, your life—"
"What?" Ai Wanxin couldn't help but interrupt her, "What in exchange for what?"
The old man tilted his head slightly, frowning his light and messy brows: "Last time you came to me, you wanted to use your kinship, friendship and love to exchange three prophecies from the Nebula Well. I asked you to go back and think about it carefully, because once you do this, your endless life will only be filled with endless loneliness..."
"Are you okay?" Ai Wanxin frowned and said, "Other scammers may cheat people out of money, but why do you cheat people out of their feelings?"
The old man was stunned for a moment, then said, "I...I lied to you?"
"Yes, you want my family, friendship and love to be told my fortune three times. Isn't that just cheating on my feelings? Isn't that inappropriate?"
"There are codes of conduct for thieves and there are licit behaviors for cheating. I think you're going a bit too far." Ai Wanxin said disapprovingly.
"But, this is your own request?" The old man was confused by her.
"Then I'm definitely not sincere." Ai Wan said firmly.
"How about this, you tell me the three prophecies first and let me see if they are worth exchanging, and then I will decide whether to change them or not." She generously forgave the old man's abruptness and gave a perfect solution.
The old man finally reacted and said puzzledly: "You look a little strange today..."
"Now is not the time to study me. I'm telling the prophecy now. Don't interrupt." Ai Wanxin took the initiative and said.
"What do you think of the prophecy?" she asked.
The old man's decrepit face turned toward the golden altar in the center of the church.
Ai Wanxin followed her gaze and walked to the golden round platform that was shining with golden light. She stepped onto the golden steps and looked into the inside of the Umbelliferous flower-shaped basin.
In the basin with a diameter of about one meter, the well water was so clear that you could see the bottom, as if there was nothing in it.
The bottom of the basin is a gorgeous deep blue, with countless colorful nebulae and bright cold stars suspended in it.
Ai Wanxin reached out her hand and lightly touched the water surface. The two gorgeous spiral arms of the unknown spiral galaxy close to her fingertips suddenly accelerated their rotation.
This must be the Nebula Well that the old people mentioned.
"How can it predict things?" Ai Wanxin turned around and asked.
The old man didn't care about her strange words and actions.
The old woman looked weak, but she easily lifted the six-pointed star scepter made of pure gold that was three fingers thick.
The golden scepter gently brushed across the Well of Nebula, and the galaxy that had just been disturbed by Ai Wanxin returned to calm.
The tip of the scepter moved upward, and its cool touch touched Ai Wanxin's brow.
"Since you have made up your mind..." the old man murmured, with an unconcealable sadness on his face.
"You know, endless loneliness will destroy a person's mind, even if that person is you."
Ai Wanxin said puzzledly: "I didn't--"
The sound stopped abruptly, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't make any sound.
Ai Wan felt something was wrong and wanted to get down from the golden round platform, but she couldn't move.
She couldn't help opening her mouth, but what came out was not what she wanted to say.
She heard the voice coming out of her mouth.
What it said was: “Let’s get started.”
The golden scepter lifted Ai Wanxin's hood, and she couldn't even take a step back.
The old man's wrinkled eyes opened slightly and looked at her with his empty eye sockets.
A stream of light smoke emerged from between Ai Wanxin's brows and slowly flowed into the Nebula Well as the golden scepter moved.
Ai Wanxin widened her eyes and screamed in her heart: I didn’t agree, so don’t do anything stupid!
But the old man could hear nothing.
Soon, a dazzling nebula rose from the water.
The old man's dry branch-like fingers trembled as he brushed over the nebula.
She turned to Ai Wanxin and murmured, "The first prophecy about the future..."
"A knight will betray you..."