Chapter: Chapter 314
“You’re saying there’s another me in that palace?!” Hearing her sister’s words, Leticia couldn’t help but exclaim in surprise. This outcome was far too unexpected.
Could Kira have seen wrong? That was Leticia’s first thought.
She was certain that the “herself” standing here was the real “herself,” so the “herself” in the palace was very likely a fake.
“Yes, and although I can’t sense your aura, sister, I can still confirm that the sister in the palace is also the real one,” Kira said with utmost seriousness.
She believed what Leticia had just said, that this world was illusory, a grand dreamscape created by a deity.
But she couldn’t understand why there would be another sister here. Although in her memory, that sister hadn’t moved for a very, very long time.
“I don’t know what’s going on either. Perhaps I’ll only understand when I reach the imperial palace,” Leticia scratched her head. She could guess at other things, but when it came to herself, she truly couldn’t figure it out.
At this moment, Miss Bai, who had been lost in thought, posed a question from another perspective: “If everything is going according to this so-called script, then Qianqian should be imprisoned and sleeping in the palace now, shouldn’t she?”
In Zai Meng’s story, neither Leticia nor Bai Ling existed. Their current identities were both derived from their younger sister’s deductions.
Xiao Ya was the prince (or princess). As Xiao Ya’s older sister, it was normal for Bai Ling to be the empress, right?
Kira was also a princess. Then Leticia’s identity should be the empress of the sleeping empire. That was also fine, wasn’t it?
So, in Zai Meng’s script, the only conscious native in the sleeping empire was Kira.
When Leticia entered the dreamscape, she should have appeared directly in that palace, becoming the sleeping empress. But now, Leticia’s starting point was outside.
“Your brain is actually quite sharp…” Leticia looked at Bai Ling with surprise. To be able to ask this question meant that Miss Bai’s intelligence had reached a passing grade, a world of difference from the brute who only thought about fighting before.
“But even if you ask me, I can’t give you an answer.”
Leticia wasn’t omniscient. She wasn’t a god, and not even gods were omnipotent or omniscient, let alone her, a slacker demon lord of many years.
The best way to find out why there were two of herself was to directly ask the Dream God. She would definitely know what was happening in the dream.
But the Dream God would definitely not answer Leticia right now. The “herself” in the palace was undoubtedly a tool the Dream God would use against Leticia.
It was impossible for the sleeping “herself” to be beneficial to Leticia. If it were, the Dream God would have already acted to eliminate this threat.
Unless that guy currently couldn’t reach this dream.
The possibility wasn’t high. It was better to proceed with the assumption that she was a contingency left by the Dream God.
The worst-case scenario was that “she” was an enemy, possessing all of Leticia’s abilities. However, with Bai Ling on their side, Leticia wasn’t very worried.
Based on Bai Ling’s previous performance, she was confident that she wouldn’t last more than a few moves against this Bai Ling.
It was ridiculous that her strength had increased after losing her memory.
“Let’s hurry to the imperial capital. Only by getting there can we know the reason for all of this and crush that god’s conspiracy.”
…
Outside the dreamscape, more than half of the entire central city was already shrouded by a colorful sky curtain. An indestructible, colorful barrier separated the area covered by the sky curtain from other places, preventing the heroes who wanted to enter the covered area to provide support.
Now, under the vast sky curtain, only one life remained standing.
A maiden, enveloped in a seven-colored radiance, stood quietly in the center of the sky curtain. She felt the energy continuously gushing from the immense dreamscape. This immense power gave her an illusion, as if she were the ruler of heaven and earth, the true god at this moment.
Shaking her head fiercely, the maiden suppressed this incredibly arrogant thought in her heart. She hadn’t even unsealed herself yet, so how could she be a true deity?
More than half of the energy needed to break the seal had accumulated. In another half an hour, she would be truly free.
The shackles that hindered her actions would completely disappear, and she would be the first deity in this world to attain freedom!
The thought made her slightly unable to contain her excitement. That was freedom! Freedom that had been restricted for so many years. Her desire for freedom was unimaginable to anyone.
“Hurry, hurry, I can’t wait any longer!” The maiden spread her arms and shouted towards the sky, as if this would make the energy accumulate faster.
With her cry, the projection of the illusory dream world became a little more solid, and the maiden’s hair gradually took on a hint of color.
If observed closely, one could even notice slight changes in the maiden’s appearance. Zai Meng’s appearance was fading, and the deity’s appearance was manifesting.
When the deity’s body truly solidified, and when the dreamscape and reality completely merged, that would be the moment the deity broke through the shackles and attained freedom.
“It will probably take another three days for the dreamscape to operate… Soon, very soon.” Sensing the existing energy within her body, the deity accurately calculated how much more energy she needed.
The passage of time in the dreamscape was far faster than in reality. A few minutes in reality could be a day in the dreamscape. This was a time difference the deity could manipulate.
The faster the passage of time in the dreamscape, the faster she would gain energy. Even if this would make her lose most of her control and perception of the dreamscape.
Because the time flow disparity between reality and the dreamscape was too great, the deity’s current control over the dreamscape was already very low. She could only sense how the dreamscape was operating but couldn’t perceive if anything strange was happening within it.
To avoid becoming completely blind, the deity had left her pawns in the dreamscape.
For example, the current report was coming from a pawn.
“My lady, the princess of the Starfall Empire is advancing towards the imperial capital. Do you require me to dispose of her?”
The princess of the Starfall Empire? The deity showed an understanding expression. It was Zai Meng’s annoying good friend, wasn’t it? That girl was destined to complete her mission in this world, so there was no need to worry about her.
The collective dreamscape she had created was built upon Zai Meng’s story. And in this story, Zai Meng’s friend’s role was to be the prince who would save the sleeping empire’s princess.
When that annoying little girl entered the dreamscape, she would naturally embark on her journey. This was nothing surprising.
If Xiao Ya did not embark on this path, the deity would actually feel perplexed, as it would mean that girl had escaped her control.
Either the girl didn’t enter the dreamscape at all, or after entering, she didn’t act according to the predetermined trajectory. Either situation would make the deity feel a bit uneasy.
Previously, that girl was taken away by another black-haired girl, and the speed of the black-haired girl was not enough to escape the influence of the deity’s spell before it took effect.
This meant that when the hypnosis spell was cast, the girl named Xiao Ya was definitely within the spell’s range of influence.
And if the above situation occurred, that is, the Xiao Ya in the dream did not embark on the predetermined storyline, it would mean something had gone wrong.
Either a powerful entity, undetectable by her, had taken Xiao Ya away before the spell took effect, or Xiao Ya still had conscious awareness after entering the dreamscape.
Either of these situations was not good news for the current deity.
And now, Xiao Ya was behaving normally, much like everyone else who had been forcibly dragged into the dreamscape. This dispelled the deity’s uneasiness, making her feel that her plan was progressing smoothly.
“Continue to monitor her. There’s no need to make any unnecessary reactions,” the deity sent a message to her pawn in the dream.
If the story continued along that storyline, it would take Xiao Ya considerable time to reach the imperial capital. The deity’s power was already prepared for that moment.
As long as the seal was broken, the dreamscape would not be that important anymore.
“Hoo, everything is going smoothly. It seems today is my lucky day… As for the other annoying fellow, I hope she’ll like the surprise I’ve prepared for her…”
…
“No reaction is necessary?” Hearing the voice in her ear, the white-haired girl looked at the colorful maiden sitting by the city wall not far away, feeling that her master’s answer might be somewhat incorrect.
In the current situation, was it really just necessary to wait and see?
Due to the communication delay between the two worlds, the inquiry the girl had sent out yesterday only received a reply today.
And now, the sun was already high in the sky.
Zai Meng had returned late last night, and judging by her appearance upon her return, she hadn’t won a decisive victory.
Her normally calm aura had become exceptionally chaotic for some reason, and the expression on her face showed a bewilderment that had been impossible before.
The girl tried to ask Zai Meng, but the answer she received left her completely confused.
“Are you real?” Zai Meng said to the girl.
Am I real? Did that even need to be asked? Of course, she was real.
Completely unable to understand what Zai Meng was thinking, the girl could only blame the princess of the Starfall Empire. It was because Zai Meng had met with that princess that she had become like this. It was all the princess’s fault!
Originally, she had planned to sneakily kill the princess to prevent future trouble, but the order from her master left her unsure of what to do.
Just waiting like this, she felt that things would not end well.
No, she had to inform her master of the specific situation here and also ask for instructions on whether to eliminate the princess.
With this thought, the girl turned around, intending to go to a place where no one would notice to relay a message to her master.
However, a sudden attack prevented her from doing so.
A deafening sound shattered the city’s silence. Accompanied by rumbling noises and flying dust, a section of the city wall in the imperial capital of the Sleeping Empire collapsed.
The wall was brought down by a terrifying sword light. Even the city wall of a national capital seemed like tofu in front of this sword light, shattering with a single strike.
“What… what is that?!” The girl looked in astonishment towards the direction of the collapsed city wall. Although the city’s protective barrier had not been activated, and this wall could only rely on its physical strength when facing an attack, this did not mean the wall was truly fragile.
Her full-strength strike on this wall would only create a shallow notch, but that attack just now had destroyed the entire wall in one go.
This was simply beyond the girl’s imagination. Was there truly anyone in this world who could do something like this?
Yes, of course, there was. The one who accomplished this was a maiden with long white hair, holding a beautiful long sword in her hand. Her long hair was tied into a neat high ponytail, and she exuded a dashing aura.
“Beautiful!” Seeing the huge city wall slowly collapsing before her eyes, a black-haired girl hiding in the distance waved her fist vigorously, seemingly very satisfied with this outcome.
“To be able to say such a thing happily after seeing your hard work shattered by someone else in a single strike,” came a helpless voice from the pendant around the neck of another black-haired girl beside the black-haired girl. “Although these things are completely unrelated to you in your eyes.”
The speaker was naturally Kira, and the girl cheering for the white-haired maiden’s performance was Leticia, the nominal empress of this city and country.
The idea to destroy the city wall was also proposed by Leticia. After being carried by Bai Ling and enduring a long period of arduous travel, she had felt a little despair upon seeing the city wall, which was as large as a small mountain.
Before, it was merely speeding, but now it might become a roller coaster. For the sake of her own life, Leticia decisively made a straightforward suggestion.
“There should be quite a few passive trigger formations on that wall. I suggest you just cleave the wall with your sword.”
Leticia’s statement was indeed accurate. That magnificent city wall indeed had a large number of passive trigger formations, with effects including, but not limited to, reconnaissance, automatic counter-attack, and reinforcement.
Except for the shield that could cover the entire city, which, for various reasons, had not been deployed, the other functions of the city wall were actually quite sound.
But, even under these conditions, the city wall still couldn’t withstand Bai Ling’s sword.
With her own power, shattering the city wall, which had 100% integrity of a capital city, with a single sword strike, it was hard to believe that Bai Ling was just a mortal.
“Even a god might not be able to do that.” Even Bai Ling herself was startled by the power of that sword strike.
