Chapter 757 – 57. Pseudo-Deity
“Whoosh!”
The space around suddenly shattered, causing the most basic elements of the dream to disperse. Fisher felt the waves of crimson mist surging toward him like a tide, with immense power sweeping through the spirit realm, causing the robes on his body to flutter wildly.
Struggling, he raised his hand to shield himself from the howling of the dream’s destruction. At this moment, the robe formed at the intersection of dream and reality became increasingly unstable, on the verge of turning to ash and completely obliterating.
“Teacher Fisher!”
“Crack, crack, crack!”
In the thick and chaotic crimson mist, Tang Zeming Asuka, with her flowing black hair, continually shifted in form as she ran wildly toward Fisher. Her hair constantly changed between blue and black, sometimes resembling Jasmine and at other times Asuka.
However, as she ran, the blue-haired Jasmine seemed to gradually separate from the black-haired Asuka. An invisible force radiated from the dense crimson mist, as if becoming countless tearing hands that dragged Jasmine and Asuka back.
“Jasmine, Asuka!”
Fisher’s expression changed, and he hurried forward to grab Jasmine’s hand.
At the same time, it felt as though the entire world began to reverse, twisting the red mist like a collapse, with Jasmine and Asuka as the center, rushing toward them. But no matter how hard it was fought over, Jasmine could not be taken from Fisher’s grasp.
“No!!!”
Amidst the crimson mist, a sharp and twisted voice suddenly erupted, its pained howl seeming to distort and diminish in the immense noise of the dream’s destruction.
Fisher knew that it was the consciousness of an extraordinarily powerful Outer God outside the barrier.
[Crimson Dream].
“Boom!”
In Fisher’s astonished gaze, the crimson mist that could engulf the entire spirit realm completely shrank at this moment, reducing to the size of a small singularity, taking Jasmine and Asuka’s figures completely out of sight.
Around them, the shape of the spirit realm had already restored, proving that Fisher and the others had left the dream and returned to reality.
David, Gouwen, Xu.
All the real people swallowed into the dream now floated unconsciously in the void of the spirit realm, with only Fisher still awake and standing alone.
Renee should still be with Hela, but now he could not see where she went. Hela was also missing without a trace, as if lying in wait in the dark.
Everything fell silent as the dream shattered; all seemed to have calmed down.
The crimson mist gradually dissipated, revealing the quiet and deep spirit realm outside, showing for the first time in thousands of years the uncorrupted appearance of the spirit realm, allowing one to only see the extremely bright Sea of Souls.
“Haha.”
Fisher gasped and temporarily released his grip on the Fluid Sword, but in the next second, he seemed to sense something and whispered,
“Hela, you have failed.”
“Step.”
He did not turn around, but the golden-haired figure that had appeared at an unknown time behind him paused slightly. She smiled and clasped her hands behind her back, looking at Fisher’s back, which held the unconscious Jasmine, and replied,
“Very good, you’ve realized so quickly that you are the critical point of Asuka’s sweet dreams.”
Fisher slowly turned his head. Meanwhile, in the air of the spirit realm, the power fluctuations of several deities began to become evident.
“Buzz, buzz, buzz!”
The golden-glowing Anebatos, surrounded by chaos as if hundreds of blurry faces of Ramastia were present, and the barely waking, still weak Dalasgon.
Fisher’s gaze lowered a bit and then lifted again, looking at Hela, who was smiling before him,
“In the dream, you didn’t have time to take the nature within me. Now that you’re facing the deities, your incarnation alone should be unable to do it, right? Tell me, where is Renee?”
Hela nodded and replied honestly,
“That’s right. As for Renee, don’t worry. She is battling with another one of my incarnations, and those little brats should be able to sense that she is safe and sound right now.”
Fisher glanced at Ramastia above and found that they were all looking in a certain direction, obviously where Renee’s battle was taking place, confirming that Hela was telling the truth.
Fisher sighed in relief and shifted his gaze back to Hela, who was close at hand.
Perhaps this was the closest they had been, not in the physical sense.
Fisher’s gaze was complex. After a long silence, he spoke to Hela,
“So, Hela, let’s talk, right in front of them.”
Hela smiled, remaining silent, while Ramastia and Anebatos began to slowly descend to the void beside Fisher. Dalasgon silently pulled all the scattered people nearby to his side, preventing them from falling towards other parts of the spirit realm.
Ramasatia then looked at Hela, who had her hands clasped behind her, and quietly said,
“Dear Ocean, it is an honor to converse with the legendary you here.”
“…”
Hela remained silent, merely turning her gaze to Ramastia. She noticed all the countless chaotic faces closing their eyes, withdrawing their expressions and gazes in respect to the ocean.
But at this point, the current situation required them to speak out what needed to be said, and what needed to be discussed.
Fisher narrowed his eyes, gently lowered Jasmine, who had lost consciousness, walked to Hela, looking at her and saying,
“The nature within me was foolishly stolen by the gods, it originally belonged to you. You took it away and then leave this place, preserving this world. Let’s put aside our past grudges, shall we?”
“We are willing to pay the price of our lives and authority for our offenses.”
Ramasatia and Anebatos simultaneously spoke sincerely to Hela,
“But this world is our painstaking work, our ideal. Please spare Dalasgon, Ouyun, and Heya. Spare this world that holds our dreams.”
Hela, who had originally been looking at Fisher, smiled upon hearing the voices of Ramastia and Anebatos. She shook her head and said with a smile,
“Oh, weren’t you certain of victory? Why not just discuss with me to kill my incarnation and close the barrier?”
“…Besides the three incarnations that have been discovered, you have always kept another incarnation concealed. Objectively speaking, even if those three incarnations are killed, it won’t lift your gaze from this world, hence we chose to negotiate for a resolution. As for Fisher,
“He sincerely wishes to talk to you.”
Ramasatia’s words were realistic, as Fisher actually did not know that another incarnation had been found by Ramastia and the others.
Hela smiled slightly, looking at Fisher, and softly said,
“Alright, give me the authority within you, and I will leave.”
“…Okay.”
Actually, upon hearing Hela’s agreement, which was clearly the most appropriate answer, a faint sadness inexplicably arose in Fisher’s heart.
He had long known her goal was the nature within him, yet there still seemed to be an expectancy within him for other coexisting answers, even if just a little.
For if this were the case, wouldn’t that mean everything he had once devoted to her was false, and her response was also false?
Perhaps this was just a joke of a deity, and when the jest ended, nothing would remain.
Fisher thought this but still pretended to remain calm, nodding and walking toward Hela, saying to her calmly,
“Come on.”
“…”
Hela smiled as she lifted her hand and placed it on Fisher’s heart.
The heart seemed to be the place where that precious nature resided.
She did not act immediately, which made Fisher a bit puzzled,
“What are you waiting for?”
Hela shot him a reproachful glance and simply replied,
“Extracting the nature without harming you requires a long process, and without wrapping that nature in the soul, it cannot be extracted.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes, after all, that nature is very precious.”
Hela caressed Fisher’s chest as she spoke,
“Are you ready?”
“Mm.”
“Then I want to—”
“Thud!”
Fisher’s pupils widened gradually as a sharp pain shot through him, but it did not come from his chest.
He dully looked down, only to see a seemingly substantial crimson mist piercing through his lower abdomen, then pushing through and penetrating Hela’s body as well.
This is
The dream?
He suddenly turned around, only to discover with horror that countless delicate crimson tentacles had burst out around Asuka, ensnaring Ramastia and Anebatos nearby and pinning them down.
How is this possible?
This power…
Is the power of the dream coming?
Hela’s eyes widened as well. She opened her mouth, but blood began to flow more and more,
“Fee—”
“Hela!”
“Whoosh!”
Watching Hela’s incarnation fade in strength before him, Fisher wanted to reach out to her, but at the same time the crimson mist that pierced through both him and Hela suddenly withdrew, releasing Hela while pulling Fisher toward Jasmine.
“Hehe… Hehe.”
From the increasingly dense crimson mist surrounding Jasmine, a distorted voice gently echoed,
“Did you think that once the dream shattered, I would completely disappear? The moment the dream shatters also means that the damned Tang Zeming Asuka’s suppression of me is fully lifted. Her power has completely disappeared, but I can now take over everything inside the barrier.
“Previously, I learned some interesting things from Heya. The treasure of the ocean is actually within you, so I pretended to be defeated by you. Now, a treasure infinitely more precious than Azanros’s hidden one is in my grasp.”
Fisher covered his lower abdomen, which was bleeding profusely, yet continued to stare at the distant Hela’s incarnation that was gradually turning to ash.
This incarnation felt different from the one killed by Hamon Hamon at the angel’s sanctuary; this incarnation
Was truly dead.
Fisher gritted his teeth, looking at the suppressed Ramastia and Anebatos around him. No, they were not the only ones; even the Dalasgon in the sky…
But why?
Is the pollution of the dream really that strong?
“Even if you seize the treasure here, do you think you have killed the ocean? Its true body is still beyond the barrier; do you think you can challenge it? Even if you seize the nature now, you will gain nothing.”
“Yes, but are you really not curious why I can easily suppress these guys now?”
The voice of the dream emerged faintly amidst the crimson mist, yet with its hint, Fisher suddenly discovered something. He turned to look at the position of the barrier and saw that the gap at the end was unprecedented in its size.
And beyond that gap, a crimson giant shadow, resembling a planet, had a crimson sun-like eye fixed firmly on the spirit realm within the barrier.
That was the true body of the dream.
“The Ultimate. Why is Ouyun here?”
Fisher suddenly saw that beside the Ultimate, the Ouyun, which was supposed to guard the expanding barrier, was actually wielding a massive hammer for forging stars and ruthlessly smashing it against the edge of the barrier, causing the shattered barrier to become even more fragile.
Through that continually enlarging gap of the Ultimate, the dream’s power outside the barrier could completely overcome its lockdown, streaming continuously into this barrier.
So, is this why the crimson mist beneath him possesses such powerful strength?
“The barrier is a cage. After being contained for so long, as the forger of this world, they each have their own ideas about destruction. Ouyun has seen all his creations at the material boundary destroyed in the myth war, making him the most despondent deity among all. He entered here for a shared ideal, but ultimately, his ideal was the first to be sacrificed.
“He has long been in contact with me; he has long betrayed this world. It’s just a pity that aside from your creator, this group of little brats believing the barrier was the ironclad may not have discovered anything!”
After finishing, the crimson mist of the dream spread further within Fisher, searching for that precious nature.
Subhuman Girl Enthusiast
Discovered Ouyun’s betrayal?
Ramasatia, who was being suppressed, slightly stunned, and from the countless faces, the figure of Trans emerged, her long hair disheveled.
That woman chuckled and meaningfully recounted a fable before Ramastia,
“Ramasatia, don’t you understand? This world is a great ship, and the beings on it are its passengers. You are the captain, the first mate, the second mate, the helmsman, and so on. As the ship sails across the endless sea, the Grim Reaper suddenly appears, teasingly telling the captain and first mate a prophecy—but no one can comprehend what the prophecy specifically says; they only know one thing: this ship is doomed to sink. But where and how it sinks is a mystery.
“The captain says: ‘Since this is so dangerous, let’s hurry back to our starting point!’ But the first mate says, ‘Wait, captain, what if the place our ship sinks is back where we started? We should press on forward and find a nearby landing spot!’ The second mate says, ‘Ha, isn’t it possible that it could happen during the search for a landing spot?’ The third mate says, ‘We should keep heading to the destination without deviating from the course!’ The helmsman says, ‘Why don’t we just wait for death?'”
“Ah, and I, the mouse on this ship, am exceedingly clever; I just happened to eavesdrop on the Grim Reaper telling the captain their prophecy and inadvertently deciphered what that prophecy truly meant.”
Ramasatia did not know who the captain and first mate represented; perhaps she had always thought of herself as the captain, but she clearly had no intention of returning. No thought of leaving the barrier and returning to the outer world.
Only at this very moment did she realize that the Trans had been reminding her that a [traitor] had emerged among them.
A [traitor] wishing to [return].
“No, no.”
Ramasatia understood that the Trans had been closely monitored by the ocean, forced to hide, hovering on the edge of madness, always on the brink of danger, and had even considered suicide many times, making many things unspeakable.
If only she had been a bit smarter, not so ignorant, and could understand the hint outside her words.
“Ouyun!!”
Ramasatia let out a reluctant howl, but at the ultimate point of the barrier, the gap had grown large enough for the dream to transmit most of its power.
The dream mockingly lifted Fisher, gazing at him filled with hatred, and softly stated,
“Though it is still not my full power, still merely my despicable imitation, it can only be deemed a [pseudo-deity]. But, it is enough to deal with you little brats.
“Aren’t you curious how I will survive after offending the ocean? I’ll tell you the answer right now.”
At that moment, the crimson tentacles tightly gripping Fisher’s body began to take on substance, and in his ear, a sound reminiscent of a distant bell began to ring,
“Namo Morotianzi.”
As if innumerable devout saints were chanting, crimson lotuses began to bloom all around the void, with the sound of wooden fish resonating softly, nearly dragging Fisher’s thoughts into the ground.
But what he received upon landing was not peace, but an unprecedented frenzy.
“Ugh!”
Fisher clutched his head in agony, struggling to lower it, only to see the spirit realm’s void had, at some point, turned into a pool of crimson blood and lotus flowers.
“Namo Morotianzi. Between the worlds of the deities and the Brahman, there exists a magical celestial palace, stretching six thousand leagues. The palace walls are seven layers thick, with seven layers of balustrades, seven layers of nets, and seven layers of trees, leading to countless birds singing in harmony.”
The haunting melody continued to recite, accompanied by the trembling voice of the entire world, stirring the ripples of the crimson lotus pool beneath Fisher.
“Boom!”
In the next moment, a massive figure slowly emerged from that lotus pool.
It was a black-haired woman, adorned with a glorious appearance, her law wheel spinning behind her. Her hair was styled in an elaborate bun, with a holy, cream-white cloth fluttering, framing her slightly narrowed, compassionate black eyes.
She looked exactly like Tang Zeming Asuka, resembling an enlightened sage, a bodhisattva.
Her hand, massive as a mountain, rose from the crimson lotus pool, yet it did not touch the dust. Her fair skin glimmered with a faint luminescence, one hand kindly holding a jade bottle, while she looked down from above at the extremely tiny Fisher, firmly gripped in her other hand.
“Ha.”
That sacred, compassionate gaze resembled that of a deity, but her words were exceedingly venomous,
“I will slaughter all those little brats who betrayed me and their remnants, leaving them nowhere to hide and no refuge to return to.”
“And then, I will usurp their place, enter the barrier, using the barrier to form a protective wall around me until I completely grasp that unbelievably precious nature within you.”
The dream chuckled softly, narrowing her eyes, speaking with a semblance of sanctity,
“I have a hunch that nature can rival the ocean.
“An existence of no duality.”
But hearing the words from the dream at this moment, Fisher’s heart suddenly tremored.
A voice, as light as death, echoed in his mind, reminding him,
The Apocalypse Prophecy has yet to be resolved!
[The pseudo-deity from within the barrier will make the remnants of the thief nowhere to hide, and no refuge!]
(The End of this Chapter)
