Watching the slowly opening hidden door, Angel couldn’t help but show a hint of surprise in his eyes.
It’s important to know that when he first entered this treehouse, he immediately checked the surroundings with his spiritual power and found no signs of the transcendent.
There were neither any mechanisms nor Magic Patterns present.
Yet now before him, whether it’s the self-lit bird treating itself as a lamp or this hidden door leading to unknown places, everything indicates this place is not as ordinary as it seems.
But why couldn’t he detect any anomalies here before?
"You need not be surprised; even the Sage didn’t discover the mechanism here on his first visit," Laplace said softly. "If I hadn’t mastered this space, even I wouldn’t know where the mechanism is."
Angel hesitated for a moment: "Even you didn’t discover it, could it be that... the mechanism is actually mobile?"
Laplace paused for a moment, looking at Angel with interest: "How did you guess the mechanism is mobile?"
Angel: "Earlier, without finding any traces of the mechanism, either I lacked the power to discover it, or the mechanism wasn’t here originally."
"Given that even the Wise Sovereign didn’t find it on his first visit, the answer can only be the latter."
This indeed was Angel’s reasoning, but the reason he thought of it so quickly was that not long ago, when he went to Snook Base, he encountered a mobile mechanism. If he hadn’t taken over the base’s laboratory Magical Energy Array, he might have been trapped there.
Having just learned a lesson, despite any lack of wisdom, he wouldn’t forget so soon after turning the page.
Laplace showed a thoughtful expression: "Your quick thinking is very similar to the Sage’s. The Sage also immediately deduced that the mechanism is mobile."
After a word of praise, Laplace said: "You’re right; the mechanism itself is mobile. It’s hidden within the roots of the great tree, and only when the Bird Lamp lights up does the tree lift the mechanism from the imperceptible root to the Bird Lamp’s location."
As Laplace spoke, she walked towards the hidden door: "Although that’s the situation, I still don’t clearly understand how the tree achieves this mechanism. Based on my and the Sage’s mutual conjecture, we concluded that perhaps the tree possesses Spirit Intelligence in reality."
"The Mirror Domain can bring in energy and unenlightened objects, but enlightened life, unless actively brought in by others, cannot be reflected."
"When I discovered this mirror memory, it had already been floating in the Sea of Void Mirror for some time, and it’s impossible to directly use the mirror memory to pull the corresponding life’s location into the space."
Laplace expressed regret: "If the tree truly has Spirit Intelligence, being able to bring it into the Mirror Domain might reveal the secrets here."
Laplace was regretting at this moment, but if a situation arose where life could be drawn into the Mirror Domain, it would mean violently bringing real-life creatures into the Mirror Domain.
This would require strong underlying power.
Moreover, Laplace "plays away," trying to pull a "home-field" life into the Mirror Domain inherently weakens her position in terms of power comparison.
Angel didn’t know how strong those special life forms were, but if it really came to a fight, it might not be possible for Laplace to bring them back to the Mirror Domain.
Laplace: "However, even though the tree’s Spirit Intelligence isn’t brought into the Mirror Domain, this place still adheres to some unique rules. As long as the Bird Lamp lights up, the mechanism will activate."
Simply put, it doesn’t matter if there’s no Spirit Intelligence controlling the mobility of the mechanism; muscle memory alone allows the mechanism to continue operating correctly.
...
Angel followed Laplace into the hidden door.
Behind the door was a spiraling staircase leading upwards.
Walking ahead, Laplace explained: "You should’ve noticed earlier, there are quite a few tree holes outside. Inside these tree holes, the setup is similar to the room we’ve just seen."
"Most tree holes have mechanisms that can connect to a hall."
"This is it."
Laplace stopped, her gaze fixed ahead. Angel followed Laplace’s line of sight to see that the spiraling staircase had come to an end. In front was a narrow path about five or six meters long, leading to a spacious hall.
The hall was still dark, making it hard to discern the specifics, but Angel suspected the so-called "mural" should be in this hall.
"There are five such halls inside the tree trunk. They’re similar in size and interior setup, with the only difference being the murals inside."
Angel: "So, adding to the tree top mural, there are a total of six murals?"
Laplace nodded: "Yes. So despite the many outer tree holes, they all actually connect to these five halls, with only six murals."
At least you don’t need to run around to see the murals, nor spend too much time.
With that said, such an arrangement likely has some significant implication.
Angel proposed this idea, to which Laplace concurred: "The Sage mentioned something similar. His guess was that perhaps a certain tribe living on the great tree holds a common belief, and the hall connected from the home tree hole is their shared ritual site."
"Of course, it could also be that these halls serve different functions, like ritual, trade, communication, or even social gatherings."
Overall, these five halls are public places for the tribe living on the great tree.
But the specific functions remain unknown for now.
With these thoughts in mind, Angel and Laplace walked into the first hall.
After entering, Laplace gently gestured, and numerous small birds riding a pale-yellow wind flew in through the path they came from, jumping into the shell lamp grids on the walls, transforming into Bird Lamps.
Numerous Bird Lamps lit up together, brightening the hall exceedingly.
As the lights came on, Angel saw the so-called "mural."
Unlike the murals Angel had imagined, this mural is only on one wall. Moreover, it has an exquisite wooden frame, appearing like an ordinary piece of art.
This piece of art is quite large, occupying nearly three-quarters of the wall space.
Regarding the contents... as usual, it’s abstract and incomprehensible.
However, one notable detail is that the mural is carved, causing the image itself to have relief. Similar to the tree top mural, it can generate apparent light and shadow.
While the tree top’s light and shadow rely on the celestial light source, the mural here gets its light and shadow from the wall’s densely arranged Bird Lamps.