Chapter 1357: Dreamwalk
After the momentary "Eternity," Celestial Dragon slowly opened his eyes.
Before him stood a strange yet familiar city of flesh and blood.
Qi Xia was sitting face to face with him, expressionless, as if he had merely dozed off casually.
The two seemed to have been separated for a long time, yet also entangled for a lifetime.
Just as they were staring at each other in silence, Qi Xia spoke softly:
"Good morning, Celestial Dragon."
Celestial Dragon paused, then spoke in a hoarse and weak voice: "What a bold assumption. You gambled that I would use 'Dreamwalk' to create a world in reality, so in my dream, I would chaotically use 'Crafty Artifact' to create a world. You gave me the most real dream, making me create a real world in the void of the third station... You had already prepared both the previous and next stations of 'Taoyuan' within 'Eternity,' just waiting for me to step into the trap."
"After all, I knew you could do it," Qi Xia replied. "The entire 'Taoyuan' is so fragmented, with buildings from various eras. Isn't that because you extracted everyone's memories and built it? 'Taoyuan' wasn't originally like this, was it? I have to say, the world you built is perfect—the only flaw is that it's completely empty."
"Heh... Imposing 'Endless Rebirth' and the strongest 'faith' upon me, borrowing my 'Dreamwalk' to activate 'Crafty Artifact,'" Celestial Dragon said with a bitter smile. "You created a real world that belongs solely to them. What a madman... To let that man named Chu Tianqiu touch me... how many preparations did you make...?"
"Oh?" Qi Xia said softly. "Do you want to see it again?"
Celestial Dragon stared at Qi Xia for a long time again, then finally lowered his head: "You indeed arranged an ending for every so-called 'god.' The four divine beasts were defeated by the five elements they represented, and I..."
"Defeated by a dream," Qi Xia said.
"Absurd..." Celestial Dragon smiled bitterly. "Truly absurd..."
"Is that meant as a compliment?" Qi Xia asked.
Celestial Dragon no longer knew how to describe his current feelings. He could only smile bitterly.
He had once thought that if he could know the plan in advance and kill everyone, he would win.
Win?
How to win?
Where to even begin to win?
"You tricked me again..." Celestial Dragon said, his eyes twitching. "You said... if you wanted to create a world, this step wouldn't need me at all... but you completely borrowed my power..."
"Yes, Celestial Dragon, I lied to you. So what?" Qi Xia nodded. "You had many chances to see through me, but you didn't. Aren't you even a little curious... why every time I start recovering my memories, there are so many blanks in my mind? Why can't I recover all my memories no matter what?"
Upon hearing this, Celestial Dragon gradually fell silent. Yes, he had had the chance to realize it. The sheer volume of Qi Xia's memories made it impossible for him to retrieve them all in a short time.
But even if he had realized it, what could he have guessed? He had already felt a strong sense of adhesion when activating 'Dreamwalk,' but he never expected that someone would have laid out a dream from such a distant past.
At this moment, Celestial Dragon felt as if everything truly had been nothing but a grand dream.
Qi Xia let out a light laugh, then stood up, gently dusted off the accumulated dirt from 'Eternity,' and walked off into the distance.
The entire expanse of flesh-and-blood ground began to churn at that moment. The many ferocious beasts in the amusement park stared menacingly at the building where Celestial Dragon was.
The first insurmountable death tribulation on Celestial Dragon's path to godhood was about to arrive.
"Qi Xia," Celestial Dragon called out just as Qi Xia was about to leave the building.
Hearing Celestial Dragon say his name for the first time, Qi Xia stopped and turned to look at him.
"Why aren't you leaving?" Celestial Dragon asked.
"Leave?" Qi Xia mused. "Go where?"
"As long as you want to live in that world, nothing can trap you here, can it?" Celestial Dragon said. "Are you really prepared to spend eternity here?"
Hearing this, Qi Xia seemed to regain a bit of interest in Celestial Dragon. Smiling lightly, he said, "Celestial Dragon, no matter how strong a person's will is, under the influence of the hustle and bustle, they will gradually come to believe that the world they live in is real. So subconsciously, they will begin to experience birth, aging, sickness, and death. They will be surrounded by real family, which will increasingly weaken their identity as a 'Zhongyan Land participant,' and one day they will return to normal life."
"And then?"
"So do you think that I, who have experienced 'Eternity,' who have a terminal illness, who am as mad as a demon, who am half good and half evil, who am woven with divinity and humanity, who have no real family in the real world—should I go through birth, aging, sickness, and death like an ordinary person, or should I live forever like a god in that world?"
Just as Celestial Dragon was about to ask, "Why not live forever?" he suddenly remembered what Qi Xia had once said.
He had said that the world he created never needed a god.
The answer to this question seemed to have been given long ago.
If Qi Xia tried to force himself to become a normal person, washing away all memories of 'Zhongyan Land,' it would be tantamount to losing his mind. Then he would truly be dead.
"By choosing this path, I am destined to be alone," Qi Xia said. "I cannot settle the lingering thoughts left in my heart after experiencing 'Eternity.' I cannot step into the life that a normal person can enter. So I can only choose this place as my final destination."
"So the world you need to return to..." Celestial Dragon's lips trembled slightly as he spoke. "Needs 'Yunian'... 'An'..."
"Unfortunately, lingering thoughts have always been hard to settle, and I..." Qi Xia smiled bitterly, then turned his head again and walked toward the exit of the building—
"Celestial Dragon, good night."
After stepping out, a deafening roar of giant beasts erupted behind Qi Xia.
He didn't know if Celestial Dragon was resisting, but it wouldn't change the outcome either way.
There was a whole world waiting for Celestial Dragon to kill. If Celestial Dragon could really kill the entire world—
Then he would just create another one for him.
Qi Xia walked out of the amusement park and looked up at the blood-red sky.
What was he feeling now...?
Just a sense of loss now that everything had been settled.
Having achieved all this, his cause and effect with those people had ended.
He didn't need to receive any feedback.
Walking along the path paved with flesh and blood, Qi Xia also showed a bitter smile.
That distant world... could he really return to it??
"Unless..."
Qi Xia shook his head.
No, that kind of "unless" doesn't exist.