Chapter 1358: "Entering the Dream"

Chapter 1357: Ru Meng

After the momentary Yong Heng, Tian Long slowly opened his eyes.

Before him was a strange yet familiar city of blood and flesh.

Qi Xia sat facing him, his expression blank, as if he had merely dozed off for a moment.

The two of them seemed to have been apart for ages, yet entangled for a lifetime.

As they sat in silence, Qi Xia said softly:

"Good morning, Tian Long."

Tian Long paused, then spoke in a hoarse and weak voice: "What a bold assumption. You bet that if I used Ru Meng to create a world in reality, I would chaotically use Qiao Wu to build one in the dream. You gave me the most realistic dream, leading me to create a real world in the third stage’s void… You’ve already prepared for the stops before and after Tao Yuan in Yong Heng… Just waiting for me to enter the game."

"After all, I know you can do it," Qi Xia replied. "The entire Tao Yuan is so fragmented, with architecture from various eras—didn’t you draw from everyone’s memories to build it? Tao Yuan wasn’t originally like this, was it? I have to say, the world you created is nearly perfect, except for one flaw: it’s completely empty of people."

"Heh… Imposing Sheng Sheng Bu Xi and the strongest Xin Nian on me, then using my Ru Meng to activate Qiao Wu," Tian Long said with a bitter laugh. "You’ve crafted a real world just for them, you madman… To let that person named Chu Tian Qiu reach me… How much preparation did you make…?"

"Oh?" Qi Xia whispered. "Do you want to see it again?"

Tian Long stared at Qi Xia in silence for a long time before finally lowering his head: "You’ve truly arranged an ending for every so-called ‘god.’ The four divine beasts fell to the elements they represented, and I…"

"Fell to a dream," Qi Xia said.

"Absurd…" Tian Long laughed bitterly. "Truly absurd…"

"Is that a compliment?" Qi Xia asked.

Tian Long no longer knew how to describe his feelings; all he could do was laugh bitterly.

He had once thought that if he could learn the plan in advance and kill everyone, he would win.

Win?

How could he win?

Where could he even start to win?

"You’ve deceived me again…" Tian Long said, his eyes twitching. "You said that if you wanted to create a world, you wouldn’t need me at all… But you ended up using my power completely…"

"Yes, Tian Long, I deceived you. So what?" Qi Xia nodded. "You had many chances to see through me, but you didn’t. Aren’t you curious at all… Why do I always have so many blanks in my memory when I start recovering it? Why can’t I recover all of it, no matter what?"

Tian Long fell silent upon hearing this. Yes, he could have realized it—Qi Xia’s memories were too vast for him to retrieve all at once.

But even if he had realized it, what could he have guessed? He had felt the strong adhesion when activating Ru Meng, but he never imagined someone had been plotting a dream from such a distant past.

In that moment, Tian Long felt as though everything had been just a grand dream.

Qi Xia chuckled lightly, then stood up, brushing off the dust accumulated from Yong Heng on his clothes, and walked toward the distance.

The entire blood-flesh land began to stir, and the various fierce beasts in the amusement park eyed the building where Tian Long was with predatory intent.

The first insurmountable deadly trial on Tian Long’s path to godhood was about to arrive.

"Qi Xia." Tian Long called out as Qi Xia was about to leave the building.

Hearing Tian Long say his name for the first time, Qi Xia stopped and turned to look at him.

"Why don’t you leave?" Tian Long asked.

"Leave?" Qi Xia pondered. "Leave for where?"

"As long as you want to live in that world, nothing could trap you here, right?" Tian Long said. "Are you really planning to spend eternity here?"

Qi Xia seemed to take a renewed interest in Tian Long and said with a smile: "Tian Long, even the most resolute person will gradually realize their world is real under the influence of everyday life, so their subconscious will lead them to experience birth, aging, sickness, and death. They’ll be surrounded by real family, causing them to slowly forget their identity as participants in the ‘end place,’ until one day they return to normal life."

"So what?"

"So, do you think someone like me—after experiencing Yong Heng, carrying a terminal illness, driven mad like a demon, a mix of good and evil, with divinity and humanity intertwined, and no family in the real world—should go back to living as an ordinary person, aging and dying, or live eternally like a god in that world?"

Just as Tian Long was about to ask, "Why not live eternally?" he suddenly remembered Qi Xia’s earlier words.

He had said that the worlds he created never needed a god.

The answer to that question seemed to have been given long ago.

If Qi Xia forced himself to become normal and erase all memories of the "end place," it would be like losing his thoughts—he would truly be dead.

"By choosing this path, I’m destined to be alone," Qi Xia said. "I can’t settle the lingering thoughts left from Yong Heng, and I can’t enter the life of ordinary people, so I have to make this place my home."

"So the world you need to return to…" Tian Long said, his lips trembling slightly, "needs ‘lingering thoughts’… ‘peace’…"

"Unfortunately, lingering thoughts are hard to pacify, and as for me…" Qi Xia said with a bitter smile, turning away once more toward the building’s exit—

"Good night, Tian Long."

As soon as Qi Xia stepped outside, roars from colossal beasts echoed behind him.

He didn’t know if Tian Long was resisting, but whatever happened, it wouldn’t change the outcome.

An entire world awaited Tian Long to slaughter it, and if he truly managed to kill the whole world—

Then he would create another one for him.

Qi Xia walked out of the amusement park and looked up at the blood-red sky.

What was his mood now…?

Just a sense of melancholy, as if all matters had finally settled into dust.

After accomplishing all this, his connections with those people had come to an end.

He didn’t need any feedback.

Walking along the road paved with blood and flesh, Qi Xia also smiled bitterly.

Could he really return to that distant world…?

"Unless…"

Qi Xia shook his head.

No, there was no such unless.