The floating ship continued through the darkness for another two hours before Mo Yuxin finally opened her eyes.
She had been leaning against the window, one hand still wrapped around Su Yubing's hand. The little girl was asleep across from them, curled beneath the cloak Su Yubing had placed over her. Outside the ship, the strange worlds and broken stars that had filled the earlier journey had gradually disappeared. The darkness beyond the window had become ordinary again. There were still stars, but they looked like normal stars. There were no ancient cities hanging between worlds, no giant eyes watching from beyond the heavenly gate, and no impossible roads made of light.
Mo Yuxin stared outside for a while.
Then she said, very calmly, "I think we've gone far enough."
Su Yubing looked up from her shoulder. "Far enough where?"
"Far enough from the Southern Continent."
"We are supposed to be traveling toward the Southern Continent's heart."
"Yes."
"And somehow we left it."
