Chapter 446 - 211: Soul-Catching and Dream-Planting, A League Ahead
Chapter 446: Chapter 211: Soul-Catching and Dream-Planting, A League Ahead
Everyone looked up.
Countless people stood with their mouths agape, unable to utter a single sound.
The scene before them, which defied the very limits of imagination, had stunned them into utter silence.
Lin Ye withdrew his war blade and, with a casual toss, sent it flying precisely back into Hu Dahai’s sheath.
He held out his hand.
Light converged.
A cube, glowing with a golden radiance and seemingly containing infinite mysteries within, hovered silently in his palm.
"This is what we came in here for, wasn’t it?"
"The Ark Fire Seed Source... If I wanted it, it would be mine for the taking."
As he spoke, Lin Ye closed his fingers. The Ark Fire Seed Source, a figment of his own creation, was easily crushed, dissolving into a shower of brilliant motes that filled the air.
Immediately, the surrounding cosmos shattered, and the scene shifted in a blur.
The next moment, they found themselves standing in a grand hall that was both incredibly familiar and profoundly solemn.
This was the headquarters of the Firewood Martial Hall!
Countless legendary figures, people they had only ever heard of in stories, now stood below the stage. Their gazes, fanatical and reverent, were fixed on them—on Lin Ye, who stood at the very front.
Deafening cheers and applause erupted from all sides.
An endless tide of praise and glory washed over them, threatening to drown them.
A few of the younger Xinhuo members even wore intoxicated expressions, as if they had truly completed their mission.
They had even gone a step further, winning the championship in the final Peak Competition between the two Martial Halls.
They stood upon the highest victor’s podium.
However, the scene changed once more.
This time, they were in the true vacuum of space.
Massive, barren planets drifted slowly past them.
And directly before them were countless Celestial Abyss Rifts, tearing through the fabric of space like hideous scars!
An endless tide of the Celestial Abyss Race poured madly from the rifts.
It was a sight that would drive any human Martial Artist to despair.
But Lin Ye merely lifted his hand.
Then, he gave a soft snap of his fingers.
SNAP.
Time seemed to freeze.
The next instant, the countless Celestial Abyss Rifts, along with every member of the Celestial Abyss Race within them, vanished without a sound—like a drawing erased by an invisible hand, they simply collapsed and dissipated.
In an instant, they were reduced to nothingness.
The entire universe fell silent and pure.
Lin Ye was like a creator god.
He had made a true playground of the Dream World.
He was using the most brutish, direct, and unreasonable methods possible to show everyone that in a dream, he could truly do anything.
Lin Ye looked at the astonishment on their faces and waved his hand again.
The surrounding scenery receded like the tide.
They were back in the vast, empty, subterranean space, back beside the lake of acid that emanated an ominous aura.
It was as if none of it had ever happened.
Lin Ye’s gaze swept over their completely numb and dazed faces as he spoke slowly.
"Now, do you have any dreams that can’t be fulfilled in reality?"
"With a flip of my hand, I can make them come true for you."
The cavern fell into a dead silence.
After a long moment.
"Heh..."
A soft chuckle broke the silence.
It was Hu Dahai.
He started with a low chuckle, but his laughter grew louder and louder until he was roaring, clutching his stomach as tears streamed down his face.
"I believe it! I fucking believe it now!"
"This goddamn... this really is a dream!"
His laughter seemed to be contagious.
One by one, the Xinhuo members stared at him blankly before breaking into wry smiles themselves.
It was true.
’How could reality be this absurd?’
’Slicing a planet in half with a single strike?’
’Wiping out the Celestial Abyss with the snap of a finger?’
’If this was reality, then what was the point of humanity’s centuries-long war against the Celestial Abyss?’
At that moment, no one doubted Lin Ye any longer.
Everyone accepted it from the bottom of their hearts, one hundred percent—the fact that they were in a dream.
And at the very instant their thoughts aligned...
The seven or eight members of the Kunlun Martial Hall who had been facing them down suddenly began to twist and contort. Then, with a soft PUFF, they dissolved into wisps of black smoke and vanished.
Then, the entire world followed!
The platform beneath their feet began to crumble, its fragments falling into the void.
The distant rock walls dissolved like melting wax.
Countless cracks spiderwebbed across the sky overhead, spreading rapidly!
Everything was like a shattering mirror.
The entire Dream World, deprived of the conviction that sustained it, was rapidly collapsing into ruin!
...
WHUMMM—!
A violent wave of vertigo washed over him.
Lin Ye’s eyes snapped open!
Cold, damp, dark...
The familiar sensations and environment made him realize in an instant that he was fully awake.
They were still in the massive, deep vertical shaft, surrounded by thirty-odd Xinhuo members who were also just opening their eyes, their faces still dazed.
"Lin Ye! It’s... Li Zhe!"
"The Black Nightmare Race... it’s in him!"
Almost at the exact moment he awoke, a frantic shout came from nearby!
Zhang Daoxuan’s face was pale as a sheet, his forehead drenched in cold sweat. He had spent the dream testing and eliminating suspects one by one, and now, finally, he shouted out his conclusion!
A chill ran down everyone’s spines as they whipped their heads around to look.
Hu Dahai’s pupils contracted sharply!
Li Zhe!
The brother who had scouted ahead for them, the one who had been severely injured!
Wracked with guilt, he hadn’t immediately activated Li Zhe’s Space-Folding Device to teleport him out of the mission.