Chapter 959: Apple
Azure Dragon only felt that the Celestial Dragon before him had once again grown quiet, his breathing also becoming steady.
The slight frown on his own face smoothed out at that moment.
“Who could have made you so angry in whose dream?” Azure Dragon grinned. “Can he actually hurt you?”
The Celestial Dragon naturally couldn’t answer Azure Dragon’s question. He simply sat quietly on the throne, leaning to one side, propping up his cheek with his hand, always asleep.
Just as he had been for the past few decades.
Seeing him like this, Azure Dragon’s expression softened slightly.
“‘Original Object,’ ‘Ingenious Object,’ ‘Separation’…” Azure Dragon said with a bitter smile. “Celestial Dragon, you drove yourself into this corner… waking up once every ten days… then exhausting yourself and falling asleep again—this is all your own doing. Who else can you blame?”
With that, he stood up, left the side of the throne, and walked to the tree beneath the steps. He looked up at it.
“I told you long ago… what is the most important thing in a world? Is it these three ‘Immortal Arts’ you chose?” Azure Dragon shook his head. “You truly deserve the name ‘Dream Entrant’—your whole life spent dreaming… Look at the three ‘Immortal Arts’ you picked. From the very beginning, you set out to create a perfect world, and all it got you was endless exhaustion.”
Azure Dragon stared at the red fruit on the tree and said, “You claim you can create everything in the world… but this fruit grew on its own. It was never affected by your ‘Immortal Art.’ So do you understand now…? The most important thing in this world isn’t the ‘world’ at all—it’s ‘people.’ Where there are people… infinite possibilities can be born.”
After saying this, he turned back, fixed his gaze on the Celestial Dragon’s sleeping face, and continued, “Countless times, the facts have proven to you… ‘creating a world’ cannot control everything. Only Immortal Arts like ‘Spiritual Hearing,’ ‘Silence,’ and ‘Soul Snatching’—those that can control ‘people’—are effective. Only by manipulating the human heart can you obtain what you want… However, it seems we’re both dealing with a ‘monster.’”
The Celestial Dragon’s silence spilled through the room.
Azure Dragon’s expression gradually darkened. “Remember the last time you used your ‘Immortal Art’ to produce that foul-smelling apple that carried the scent of ‘Peach Blossom Land’…? You told me to throw it away, but I took it to the Celestial Serpent instead. I picked an ‘ant’ with ‘Transformation’ abilities—guess what I turned it into…? Just an apple… Guess what happened to it in the end?”
The Celestial Dragon’s silence echoed back.
“Guess what you’d call a person transformed from an ‘apple’?” Azure Dragon asked again, his face full of anticipation. “Isn’t this idea of mine brilliant?!”
What awaited him was still the room’s echoes and an uncomfortable silence.
Perhaps in all of ‘Peach Blossom Land,’ only the Celestial Dragon could have a conversation with Azure Dragon as an equal, but Azure Dragon never got that chance.
He could only talk to himself.
“What a wonderful idea this is… and yet I have no one to share it with…” Azure Dragon lowered his head, trembling. “Since this place already has the overwhelming interference of ‘Endless Life,’ we might as well add a person into it. As long as that person believes herself to be a ‘participant’… she will join the army of ‘Endless Life’ without any reason. If this idea can be realized… what need do you have for ‘Endless Life’? We could clearly turn everything in the world into people…”
“Celestial Dragon… we were both wrong. If we had understood from the start that ‘Immortal Arts’ are tied to one’s own strength… how wonderful would it have been to choose ‘Transformation’? We could change anything at will, including people. No—”
Azure Dragon shook his head again. “If we truly could have known everything from the beginning… how nice it would have been for us to remain two independent people. Why did we have to end up like this…”
…
A fat, old middle-aged Earth Monkey stood in the corridor of the ‘Train.’ He reached into his pocket, pulled out a cigarette, and put it between his lips.
But when he patted his pockets, he couldn’t find a lighter.
At that moment, an empty hand reached out, hovering before him. Then the fingers moved slightly, and a lighter appeared out of thin air, a flame flickering to life.
The one who had arrived was a Human Monkey.
“Damn…” the Earth Monkey cursed. “If you’re giving me a light, just give it. What’s with the show? Kid, you’d better use your magic tricks less on this ‘Train.’ If someone mistakes it for an ‘Echo’ one day, you’re dead.”
After cursing, he leaned forward and lit his cigarette with the flame.
“You’re joking, Teacher,” the Human Monkey said. “A lot of people here know I’m a magician. Why would they make trouble for me over a lighter?”
He tossed the lighter up and down before handing it to the Earth Monkey.
The Earth Monkey took it without courtesy, stuffed it into his coat pocket, then craned his neck to keep looking down the other end of the corridor.
The Human Monkey knew that at the far end was the ‘front car’ area where the Celestial Dragon resided, and besides the Celestial Dragon, there were also many ‘Celestial-levels’ there.
“Teacher…” the Human Monkey called out. “You’re standing so far away… what are you looking at?”
“Damn…” The Earth Monkey exhaled a puff of smoke and said, “Don’t ask what you shouldn’t ask. What’s it got to do with you?”
“Alright, I won’t ask.” The Human Monkey nodded tactfully. “I just wanted to ask if you’d like to go back and grab something to eat.”
“Fine… let’s go.” The Earth Monkey glanced once more into the depths of the corridor, his expression growing hesitant.
He had a very bold idea in his mind that he wanted to discuss with someone, but that person had to be able to sense ‘Immortal Arts’ as well.
Whether it was ‘Spiritual Hearing,’ ‘Spiritual Smell,’ or ‘Spiritual Touch’—anything would do… Unfortunately, people with ‘Immortal Arts’ were already extremely rare on the ‘Train,’ let alone these rare ones.
“Human Monkey…” the Earth Monkey called out, turning his head.
“What is it, Teacher?”
“When you’re outside… have you ever seen a ‘participant’ who could distinguish other people’s ‘Immortal Arts’?”
The Human Monkey paused for half a second at the question, then smiled naturally. “What kind of ability is that? Sounds amazing. Would anyone have an ‘Immortal Art’ specifically for identifying other people’s ‘Immortal Arts’?”
“Forget it… you wouldn’t understand anyway…” The Earth Monkey held his cigarette and scratched his fat face. “How strange…”
“What’s wrong, Teacher?” the Human Monkey said. “Even though I don’t understand, if something’s bothering you, you can tell me. Maybe I can help?”
Though the Human Monkey replied lightly, caution was written all over his face.
“Ha.” The Earth Monkey gave a false smile, his eyes filled with contempt. “I suspect… these so-called ‘Inspirers’ lose their abilities on the ‘Train.’ Now that’s really strange.”
“What…?”