Chapter 82 Obtaining the Star Key: A Lush, Hopeless Situation...
A lush, boundless forest appeared before them, and amidst that verdant greenery lay a shimmering, silvery-white lake.
That place is the Floating Mirror Lake, and it is also Sang Zhitao's destination.
And now they stand atop a mountain that almost reaches into the clouds.
Sang Zhitao turned to look at Tou Lan.
Others also turned their attention to him.
Tou Lan pursed her lips, walked to the edge of the cliff, took out a knife from her pocket and slashed her palm. Blue blood flew out from the wound, drawing a beautiful arc in mid-air.
"What are you doing?!" Sang Zhitao and the others were startled and quickly grabbed his hand to bandage it.
Tou Lan waved his hand before explaining, "The blood of the Mirror Clan can open the passage."
"You should have told us, you scared us to death," Sang Zhitao couldn't help but scold.
Tou Lan didn't say anything, and turned to look at the air in mid-air.
Sang Zhitao followed the gaze and discovered that a set of steps could be faintly seen there.
"This is...?" She turned around abruptly to look at Tou Lan.
Tou Lan nodded: "Yes, once the staircase solidifies, we can leave."
Seeing this, Sang Zhitao said nothing more, nodded, and waited for the staircase to materialize.
Soon the silver-blue staircase was completed, extending from their feet all the way to the floating mirror lake.
"Let's go." Tou Lan said, stepping onto the stairs and taking a few steps down.
The others followed suit.
The steps looked far away, but they were actually quite close. They walked for about three to five minutes and arrived at the edge of the Floating Mirror Lake.
The floating mirror lake is bigger and more beautiful than I imagined.
Silvery-white mist floats on the Mirror Lake, which resembles a full moon, with tiny creatures the size of beans flying and moving within it.
"Open the door first." Tou Lan looked at the lake, a trace of sorrow flashing in her eyes before disappearing again.
Before Sang Zhitao could reply, he continued to cut his palm open, letting the blood drip into the lake, and silently chanted a spell while clasping his hands together.
Sang Zhitao wasn't far from him, but she still couldn't hear what the incantation was.
As the incantation was recited, the mist over the floating mirror lake gradually dissipated, revealing a massive and magnificent silver building in the center of the lake.
With the appearance of the silver building, a floating bridge-like road stretches from the middle of the lake to the shore.
"Let's go." Tou Lan's face was a little pale, and she swayed as she lifted her foot.
"Tou Lan!" Tou Hui and the others rushed forward to support him, and even the usually calm faces of the Jing Qian sisters showed a hint of anxiety.
"It's nothing," Tou Lan waved her hand. "Don't worry, it's just that I lost a little blood."
Having said that, he said no more and led his men into the main hall.
Surprisingly, the hall was empty.
The crowd was somewhat surprised and couldn't help but look at Tou Lan, since he was the one who possessed the most memories of the Mirror Clan.
Tou Lan was also somewhat surprised. He looked around and then shook his head regretfully: "I don't know why it's like this either."
Sang Zhitao wasn't surprised, after all, it was something she had written in her book.
Recalling the plot of the book, she walked to the center of the main hall.
The others watched her actions with suspicion.
Sang Zhitao took out a small knife and, imitating Tou Lan, cut her palm.
Silver blood, unlike the translucent blue, flowed out, dripped onto the ground, and was absorbed.
“This is…” Tou Lan frowned as she looked at the constantly flashing pattern.
Sang Zhitao didn't reply to him, and continued to squeeze out a few more drops of blood.
The pattern flashed faster and faster until it finally formed a silver pattern on the ground, like a magic circle.
"This is... a royal totem?!" Tou Lan exclaimed in surprise.
"Take a few steps back." Sang Zhitao pulled them back to their starting position.
The light of the totem grew brighter and brighter, and soon a high platform rose in the center.
"The key!" Tou Lan exclaimed in surprise.
Three keys of different colors and shapes float on the high platform; these are the three Starlight Keys that Sang Zhitao is looking for.
The key seemed to beckon Sang Zhitao; her eyes were glazed over, and she subconsciously reached out to take it.
"Watch out!" Tou Lan sensed something was wrong and tried to stop her.
Unfortunately, Sang Zhitao completely ignored him, only reaching her hand up to the platform with a fascination.
"Sizzle." Like water being poured into a pan of oil, the light surrounding the key burned from Sang Zhitao's fingertips to her arm.
"Blue Star!" Tou Lan wanted to go forward and wake up Sang Zhi Tao, but in an instant, a blinding light burst out from Sang Zhi Tao's body, making it impossible for him to get close.
"Go back first. She's Princess Stardust; the key won't hurt her." Being a few years older, Touhui was the first to react and quickly pulled him back.
Tou Lan looked at Sang Zhitao with concern, and only when she saw that Sang Zhitao's expression was normal did she breathe a sigh of relief and take a few steps back.
Sang Zhitao grabbed the three keys and pulled them close.
As the key left, the light shield on the platform shattered suddenly, the surrounding totems disappeared instantly, and Sang Zhitao regained consciousness.
"Ouch, that hurts." She looked at her translucent skin, which showed no abnormalities, but she could feel a needle-like pain.
"You just reached right out of the protective shield and pulled the key out, of course it hurts!" Seeing that she was alright, the others breathed a sigh of relief, and Tou Hui even felt like joking.
"Huh? I'm that amazing?" Sang Zhitao raised an eyebrow and couldn't help but tease her.
"That's right, very brave, worthy of being Princess Stardust." Touhui continued to joke.
"Alright, stop talking," Touhuang interrupted them. "How do you use this key?"
Sang Zhitao looked at the key in her hand, thought for a moment, and then said, "Just eat it."
"This is edible?!" Everyone stared in disbelief at the metal-like key in their hands.
Sang Zhitao nodded: "It looks like metal, but it's actually a special gemstone that only royalty possesses."
After hearing her explanation, no one said anything more.
"I'll eat it a little later, and I expect it will awaken soon. Be on guard, the Dark Duke will definitely find us," Sang Zhitao reminded them after thinking for a moment.
"Don't worry, we know," Tou Lan said with a smile.
Sang Zhitao nodded, said nothing more, and swallowed the three keys clean, just like she would any other gemstone.
The same white light emanated from her body as before, only it wasn't as dazzling.
Soon, white light enveloped her in a cocoon.
However, Sang Zhitao's consciousness arrived in a familiar memory space.
"This is...isn't this..." She looked at the familiar white space and the memory spheres floating in mid-air, somewhat surprised.
Watching the memory orbs fly around, Sang Zhitao reached out and subconsciously grabbed a few.
These memories were mostly from her time at the base after she handed them over. Not long had passed, and she hadn't forgotten them at all. On the contrary, she found them fascinating and would occasionally let out a knowing smile.
After looking at about seven or eight memory orbs, she suddenly felt her feet sink and her whole body plummeted downwards.
When she came to her senses, she found herself in the palace on the floating mirror lake, surrounded by her busy companions.
"Blue Star, you're awake." Tou Lan was the first to react as the white light disappeared.
The others turned to look at Sang Zhitao, who had clear, clean skin, long silver hair that reached her ankles, and light purple eyes beneath silver eyelashes that looked at them with indifference.
"...Blue Star?" Tou Lan excitedly stepped forward, but was startled by the coldness in her eyes and unconsciously took two steps back.
Sang Zhitao looked at him for a while, her purple eyes softening with a familiar warmth: "What's wrong?"
“…It’s nothing.” Tou Lan thought for a moment, then said nothing.
Seeing this, Sang Zhitao did not ask any further questions. Instead, she produced a ball of light from her hand and said to the crowd, "Stand still, I will purify you."
Upon hearing this, everyone quickly lined up in two rows, looking at her with excitement.
Except for the one with lighter indigo contamination, the body color of everyone else was close to that of a solid object, which is a sign of deepening contamination. A healthy gemstone person must be like Sang Zhitao, completely transparent.
Sang Zhitao closed her eyes slightly, opened her arms and faced upwards, and soon a ball of light appeared in each hand.
With a slight flick of his hand, the ball of light flew back and forth toward the crowd, suddenly exploding above their heads, with 30% of the thousands of light points flying into their bodies.
Two more orbs of light appeared in Sang Zhitao's hands, flew to their heads, dispersed, and entered their bodies.
After five or six repetitions, Tou Lan and the others' bodies returned to a beautiful, transparent state.
The two sisters, Jingqian and Jinglan, curiously reached out to release their healing abilities.
Seeing their enhanced abilities, the two couldn't hide their excitement and held them up for Tou Lan to see.
Tears welled up in Tou Lan's eyes. She nodded and then looked at Sang Zhi Tao.
Just as Sang Zhitao was about to say something, a loud rumble rang out.
Her expression changed: "They're here."
"Come with me." Tou Lan's expression changed, and she pulled them towards a room on the left.
Opening the door, there was a downward staircase leading directly to a wooden door.
Without saying much, Tou Lan pushed open the door and entered the room.
He locked the door, then gently opened the wound on his palm and dripped the blood into a slot.
A rumble shook the room.
The group quickly helped each other up, cautiously looking around.
Tou Lan, however, looked relaxed and turned to the group, quickly explaining, "We've already left."
As soon as he finished speaking, four windows appeared around the room, and the room lights turned on by themselves. Looking out the window, they were already flying into the air.
"This is...?" Sang Zhitao asked in surprise.
"This is a hidden spaceship of the Mirror Clan. Don't worry, ordinary spaceships can't see us," Tou Lan quickly explained.
"Did you use this to pull it out back then?" Sang Zhitao asked curiously as her tense heart relaxed.
Tou Lan shook her head, then nodded, and finally explained to her puzzled look, "It happened too suddenly. The spaceship needs to be prepared in advance to start, and we simply didn't have time."
"I was just being playful that day, and I secretly opened a spaceship, which allowed me to escape with a few companions." As she spoke, Tou Lan looked at Tou Qing and her sister. "After we fell into the garbage city, we fell into a coma. When we woke up, my sisters were gone. That's why I haven't left the garbage city since then, in order to find them."
"Where's the spaceship?" Sang Zhitao continued to ask.
Tou Lan shook her head: "This was a one-time use spaceship. It was scrapped back then. I was too young at the time and hadn't learned how to repair spaceships yet."
Looking at Tou Lan's face, which appeared to be seventeen or eighteen years old, Sang Zhitao suddenly asked curiously, "Speaking of which, how old are you exactly?"
Tou Lan paused for a moment before saying, "I am twenty-two this year, my sister is twenty, Tou Qing is twenty-five, Tou Hui is thirty-five, Tou Huang is twenty-eight, Tou Zi is seventeen, and Tou Lü is sixteen."
Sang Zhitao's lips twitched, and she said speechlessly, "So, apart from Tou Lü who's about my age, you're all older than me?!"
Thinking about how Sang Zhitao had always cared for them like an older sister throughout the journey, Tou Lan couldn't help but reply, "So you always thought you were older than us?"
"Otherwise what? If I knew you were older than me, I wouldn't have given you the food I found in the garbage city!" Sang Zhitao shrugged helplessly.
What else could Tou Lan say but feel speechless at this farce?
Unbeknownst to them, something happened at the mine they left that was closely related to them: Mingcai, the one who had tricked them into entering the mine, was gazing into the distance with a deep, unfathomable look on his face covered in blood.
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