Southwest of Prit Main Island, the suburbs of Glamorgan.
Under the dark night sky, the waters of Dazzle Star Lake shimmered with faint moonlight. On the vast green lawns by the lake, many citizens were currently strolling in groups of two or three along the lakeside path, enjoying the breeze from the lake while taking an after-dinner walk. The streetlights along the path cast a dim, yellow Light, illuminating the lake's edge.
On a long bench by the lakeside path, Dorothy was currently sitting, using her Spirituality vision to gaze at the faint mist of Spirituality gradually rising above the lake, and couldn't help but sigh inwardly.
'Here they come again... They're quite punctual. They control the entire lake surface every night. It seems they're really determined not to let anyone interfere with their search...'
Looking at the extremely thin blood mist spreading over the lake, Dorothy thought to herself. This invisible blood mist before her had prevented her from exploring Dazzle Star Lake at night for several days. Up until now, Dorothy still had no way to break through the blockade of this blood mist and conduct further exploration of Dazzle Star Lake. She could only watch helplessly every night as the Eight-Pointed Nest occupied the entire lake surface, slowly accumulating their exploration progress, while she remained powerless.
'Based on all the clues gathered so far... the secret of the Mirror Moon Goddess's temple is most likely hidden in Dazzle Star Lake. But now the control of Dazzle Star Lake at night has been seized by the Eight-Pointed Nest. I can't explore the lake during the night, which is a key point for the Mirror Moon faith. Under the shroud of the Eight-Pointed Nest's blood mist, any attempt to enter the lake for reconnaissance will be detected. I can't enter the lake surface while completely avoiding this blood mist... This would be detected by the Scarlet from the Eight-Pointed Nest, just like back at Duke Barret's villa.'
Facing the Eight-Pointed Nest's blood mist before her, Dorothy thought with great difficulty. Although her current reconnaissance ability was very strong, it could not be used casually when facing Extraordinary of the Crimson Tier. The other party likely had various countermeasures. Not only would she fail to detect the specific whereabouts of those Scarlet, but she would also likely be detected by the other party and expose the location of her Corpse Puppet or even her main body, which was a very high risk.
In previous instances where Dorothy successfully conducted reconnaissance and obtained intelligence against Crimson Tier Extraordinary, it was mainly due to various special circumstances. In Adis, it relied on the barrier of Qiwen Temple. In Moncarlo, it was thanks to Little Fox's dream-entering ability, which allowed Dorothy to subtly start with the henchmen around those Scarlet and steal their memories to grasp the Scarlet's intelligence. However, given the current situation, neither of these methods can be used.
Firstly, Little Fox is not in Prit. It's hard to say if she'd be willing to rush over to help now, and even if she were, a cross-country trip here would take too long. Furthermore, although the Mirror Moon Temple might have a half-mile realm barrier, Dorothy would first need to find the temple to enter the half-mile realm barrier. But with the lake surface currently sealed, how can she find it?
Facing the Eight-Pointed Nest's blood mist blockade, Dorothy was momentarily in a predicament. At this moment, she was considering whether to first find a way to locate some of the Eight-Pointed Nest's henchmen hidden in the city and then slowly probe for the Eight-Pointed Nest's intelligence from them. However, she immediately realized that doing so without the dream-entering ability would not be very efficient. Moreover, even if she knew the movements of the opposing Scarlet, she couldn't directly confront them. Glamorgan is not Moncarlo; there are no Scarlet from different factions gathered together. Her opponent is only the Eight-Pointed Nest, so she cannot leverage other forces.
"This is a bit difficult..."
Touching her chin, Dorothy looked at the crescent moon in the sky and couldn't help but say with some distress. After thinking for a long time without coming up with a way to break through the Eight-Pointed Nest's blood mist blockade, a different idea sparked in her mind.
'Perhaps... I can change my approach now. Instead of focusing on how to break through the Eight-Pointed Nest's blockade to reach the lake surface, I should focus on solving the puzzle. That riddle-like prayer still has a lot of content that hasn't been deciphered. Maybe I can try to decipher the rest of the prayer without entering the lake surface. Although the temple is most likely in Dazzle Star Lake, what if there are other entrances located elsewhere? Didn't the prayer mention that there are several doors to enter the temple?'
Sitting on the bench by the lake, Dorothy thought this. Then she shifted her thoughts from how to break through the Eight-Pointed Nest's blood mist back to solving the prayer's riddle, and began to seriously examine the few lines of prayer that had not yet been deciphered.
'Among the remaining lines of prayer, the most important point lies in those few doors: the Door of the Sickle Blade, the Door of the Longbow, the Door of Abundance... What do these doors represent? Are they some unique mystical symbols of the Mirror Moon cult? Is it impossible to interpret them without a thorough understanding of the Mirror Moon cult?'
Dorothy thought this to herself. At this moment, she began to try her best to put herself in the perspective of a Mirror Moon faith follower, observing the meaning of these prayers from the unique perspective of the Mirror Moon cult's night worship and moon worship. Looking at the incomplete moon disc in the sky, Dorothy suddenly had some ideas in her mind.
'Sickle blade... Could the names of these doors be referring to the state of the moon itself? More precisely... they are referring to the lunar phases.'
'The moon of this world's Earth seems to be like the one in my previous world; it doesn't emit Light on its own but illuminates the night sky by reflecting the sun's Light. This is consistent with the Mirror Moon Goddess's symbol of a mirror, and the Night Sky Empress might have become associated with the concept of mirrors for this reason. If moonlight is essentially reflected sunlight, then different lunar phases will inevitably arise due to the relative changes in position between the Earth and the moon, and the lunar phases might be related to the doors in the prayer.'
'The current state of the moon in the sky is a crescent moon. Its crescent shape is perfectly suited to be compared to a sickle blade. If this holds true, then the so-called Door of the Longbow refers to the half-moon phase, whose semi-circular state resembles an unstrung longbow. Following this logic, the slightly full state represented by the Door of Abundance refers to the gibbous moon. And the final Door of the Jade Wheel corresponds to the full moon...'
Dorothy pondered carefully in her mind. The idea that the lunar phases corresponded to the doors in the prayer, which had just occurred to her, instantly excited her. Then she continued to think along this line of reasoning.
'That riddle-like prayer said, 'Glamohmir's bright mirror reflects the divine realm of the night sky, which is also the door leading to the Saint's Hall.' Here, the bright mirror refers to Dazzle Star Lake. If the different doors are related to different lunar phases, then the so-called divine realm of the night sky should refer to the moon itself in the sky, and the location of the so-called door should be the reflection of the moon in the lake water.
'Combining this with the Silver Peak mentioned in the prayer, the full meaning of the prayer should be,'Standing on the mountaintop that produces silver, gazing at Dazzle Star Lake, the projection of the moon reflected on Dazzle Star Lake is the door to enter the Mirror Moon Temple.' According to the different lunar phases, the shape and position of the moon's Shadow reflected on the lake surface also differ. According to the description in the prayer, there are a total of four such doors, corresponding to four different lunar phases.
'This means that I only need to go to the top of Mount Guanhu to observe the lake surface, and then record the positions where those lunar phases are reflected on the lake surface at the peak of the four lunar phases. Once I reach that position, perhaps I can search for the key clues to enter the temple.'
Looking at the incomplete moon disc in the sky, Dorothy thought through a series of deductions. For now, this idea of lunar phases corresponding to the doors is the most consistent with the prayer's description. If all these deductions are correct, then this riddle-like prayer is practically deciphered. With a surge of excitement, she couldn't help but stand up from her seat and look at the Shadow of the crescent moon on the lake surface. After staring at it for a while, her eyes narrowed again.
'No, that's not right. If the reflection of the lunar phase on the lake surface is the door to the temple, then don't I still have to go onto the lake surface to have a chance to enter the door? The entire lake surface is completely sealed by the Eight-Pointed Nest at night. I don't even dare send in a mosquito Corpse Puppet. How am I supposed to get to the location of the reflection on the lake surface?'
Although deciphering the Mirror Moon cult's prayer seemed to lift Dorothy's spirits, when she realized that she would ultimately still have to find a way to get onto the lake surface, her expression immediately darkened again, becoming very serious. This conclusion was undoubtedly bad news for her. She had initially thought that after deciphering the prayer, she could find a way to bypass the lake and enter the temple, but in the end, she still had to go onto the lake surface.
If Dorothy's interpretation just now was correct, then the door to enter the temple would exist at the positions in Dazzle Star Lake where each lunar phase is perfect, as seen from the top of Mount Guanhu. This means that I only have a chance to find the door by going to the correct location on the lake surface after dark, but this is simply too dangerous.
Just as she had a breakthrough idea, she quickly encountered an obstacle again. For a moment, Dorothy felt unusually troubled. Facing the crescent moon in the sky and its reflection in the lake, she began to meditate deeply.
'Lunar phase... Night... Reflection... Lake surface... Sky... That's right...'
As she thought, a thread of thought arose in Dorothy's mind. Pondering this thought, her eyes couldn't help but widen slightly.
...
A few days later, southwest of Tivian, Glamorgan.
During the daytime, in the suburbs of Glamorgan, on the west side of Dazzle Star Lake, at the summit of Mount Guanhu, there were still many citizens gathered on the observation deck for outings and sightseeing. And Dorothy's Corpse Puppet had once again blended in among them.
On the grass in a small grove somewhere by Dazzle Star Lake, Dorothy, wearing a light-colored dress and a sun hat, sat with one of her Corpse Puppets, slowly enjoying the toast from the picnic basket placed in front of them, just like an ordinary family girl brought out for a picnic by her father.
At this moment, Dorothy was eating her picnic while using the Corpse Puppet's vision from the top of Mount Guanhu to gaze at the calm surface of Dazzle Star Lake, looking at the small boats rowing on it and the reflections of the mountains and the sun, as if searching for something.
"So... let me see, where could it be? The invisible Shadow on the lake..."
After taking another bite of the toast in her hand, Dorothy murmured softly. Currently, she was searching for the reflection of the moon disc on the lake surface, attempting to find the door leading to the temple within the moon's Shadow in the lake.
Although it was daytime now, looking around, the entire lake surface was illuminated by the direct sunlight from the sky. The lake surface reflected the surrounding mountains and the clear sky, and not a single trace of the moon's Shadow could be seen. Only the shining sun in the sky emitted dazzling strong Light, with no sign of the moon whatsoever.
It wasn't nighttime yet. Logically speaking, even if Dorothy wanted to find the moon's Shadow on the lake, she shouldn't be looking now. If she wanted to see the moon and its Shadow in the lake, she should wait until nightfall.
Of course, this is what ordinary people would think. From Dorothy's current perspective, there was indeed a moon's Shadow on the lake surface. However, this reflection was almost invisible. This was precisely the invisible moon Shadow leading to the invisible door mentioned in that prayer.
'If... each door in the prayer corresponds to a lunar phase, then what does the first door, the invisible door, correspond to? The full moon is the Door of the Jade Wheel, the gibbous moon is the Door of Abundance, the half-moon is the Door of the Longbow, the crescent moon is the Door of the Sickle Blade... Then the only phase left is the new moon. The so-called invisible door can only correspond to the new moon phase.'
'The new moon phase, or the moment of conjunction, is the empty lunar phase opposite the full moon. In the night sky on the day of the new moon, not a single trace of the moon can be seen. This is because the moon has revolved to a position between the sun and this world's Earth, preventing people on the side of the planet facing away from the sun, in the night regions, from seeing it.'
'However, the moon being invisible does not mean it doesn't exist. The moon during the new moon phase is between the Earth and the sun, on the daytime side of the Earth. People on the night side of the Earth naturally cannot see it, and people on the daytime side of the Earth cannot see the moon because the sun's Light is too strong and dazzling. The sun obscures the moon's presence. Only when the sun, Earth, and moon are at a suitable angle, with the sun and moon simultaneously near the ecliptic nodes, and a solar eclipse occurs, can the moon be perceived during the day.'
Dorothy thought this to herself. At this moment, she slightly pulled down the sun hat on her head, partially shielding her eyes from the strong Light in the sky as she looked towards the daytime horizon. She seemed to be looking at the moon that was already there but could not be perceived. The divine realm of the Night Sky Empress was currently submerged in the Light of the Supreme Lamp.
"Being invisible doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Being without Shadow or form doesn't mean complete emptiness. At the moment of conjunction, not seeing the lunar phase in the night sky doesn't mean there's no lunar phase; it's just that this lunar phase doesn't exist at night, only during the day. And because the sun's Light is too dazzling during the day, it simply cannot be seen directly."
"Similarly, the new moon phase is not without a reflection on Dazzle Star Lake; it's just that the sunlight shining on the lake is too strong to be seen. The invisible Shadow of the lunar phase guides the location of the invisible door... Through here, I can also cross the mirror surface."
Lowering her head, Dorothy looked at the scene on the lake surface and whispered softly. At this moment, she was about to begin searching for the location of the invisible door within the most dazzling Light reflected by the lake surface.