Chapter: Chapter 322
As the dream world and the real world gradually intertwined, Leticia felt wave after wave of discomfort. She was currently in a spiritual form, and if the dream world were to truly merge with the real world, this place would likely collapse in an instant.
Under normal circumstances, the divine being should have already obtained enough energy to perform the ritual, so the collapse of the dream wouldn’t have much impact on the overall situation. In fact, the energy fluctuations caused by the dream’s collapse could even provide a final boost to the divine being.
But what’s the situation now? Those who know, know. A divine being forcefully performing a ritual wouldn’t pass up this opportunity to increase the success rate. She intended to drag this dream into the real world and watch it be squeezed and destroyed by reality.
The scattered energy would then be converted into the power to turn her key.
However, if the divine being truly accomplished all this, the people slumbering in the dream would never awaken again, as their spiritual bodies would be destroyed in the real world. Under the rules of the real world, this would signify true death.
Brain death.
“You lunatic!” Leticia realized this. While she might not care that much about the people still slumbering in the dream, she cared about herself!
If she were to be dragged into the real world along with this world, she would die along with its collapse. After all, she was just a mortal; withstanding the impact of world collapse was impossible!
It was now impossible to break through the divine being’s defenses and stop her actions. Even if she gave her all, she couldn’t interrupt the divine being’s casting before the convergence. Leticia was keenly aware of this.
But she wasn’t entirely without options. Her goal wasn’t to stop the divine being from performing the ritual but to prevent her from dragging this dream world into the real world.
To achieve this goal, the divine being herself was not important!
What Leticia needed to do was to play tug-of-war with the divine being, to compete for control of this world. As long as she could pull harder than the divine being, she could keep this world within the dream.
Playing tug-of-war with a divine being… this was truly an unprecedented experience.
Leticia stopped attacking, stood quietly in mid-air, and closed her eyes. In her spiritual vision, the large orb of light representing this dream was being pulled by an unusually thick rope towards a faintly discernible world in the distance.
That should be the real world. She had to prevent this large orb from being pulled over.
With that thought, Leticia looked down at her hands, then at the rather large orb of light, and felt a sense of helplessness. Was she really going to pit her small arms and legs against a divine being?
Hiss, it seemed a bit difficult, but trying wouldn’t hurt.
Relying on instinct, Leticia summoned a colorful rope. One end was held by her, while the other end transformed into countless thin threads that pierced into the dream orb.
Gripping the rope, Leticia felt an extremely strong pulling sensation. The divine being was desperately trying to drag the dream towards reality. Upon sensing someone on the other end preventing her, the divine being immediately increased her strength.
Leticia was caught off guard by this sudden surge. By the time she managed to stabilize herself, the dream was only a tiny distance away from the real world. If Leticia let go now, this dream would likely fall into the real world within seconds.
But Leticia held on. She temporarily managed to control the speed at which the divine being was pulling the dream to an almost imperceptible level. The cost, however, was the extremely rapid depletion of energy within her, a rate far exceeding any recovery the dream provided.
In at most half a minute, she would be drained!
What could be done in half a minute? Could Leticia find a way to turn the tables?
Leticia shook her head. She didn’t believe that a mere half a minute would allow her to suddenly have an epiphany and find a way to deal with a divine being. Her foundation was ultimately insufficient. Even with the abilities within the dream as a backup, she couldn’t outlast the divine being.
She was able to hold back the divine being before because the divine being wasn’t going all out then. Once she started fighting with all her might, the gap between the divine being and Leticia was immediately apparent.
Especially in a situation that required direct confrontation, Leticia could have run away before, but now she couldn’t. She had to hold this dream, to prevent it from falling into the real world.
“Why am I fighting so hard for these humans? Damn it!” Even Leticia wanted to complain about herself. She was clearly a demon. Wouldn’t it be a better choice to directly detach from the dream and return to the real world at this moment?
Yet, she remained here, using her half-baked strength to compete with a true divine being. It was almost a joke.
“Ugh, damn it, I can’t hold on much longer.” In the mental world, Leticia couldn’t stand on solid ground, but she was indeed using all her strength. Yet, she still couldn’t match the divine being.
It was like someone about to lose in a tug-of-war. Leticia was desperately pulling the rope, but could only watch as she was gradually being pulled over.
Was she going to fail? Could she really not save this dream orb? Leticia thought to herself.
If this orb entered the real world, wouldn’t more than just the orb be destroyed? Wouldn’t the landing spot be leveled as well?
No, what’s the point of thinking about this now? She could barely hold onto the orb, was she trying to add drama for herself?
Maybe she should just slip away while she had the chance, to avoid affecting herself here if this dream fell into the real world.
Should she leave or fight the divine being to the last moment? Leticia gritted her teeth and decided to give it one more try.
Giving up was not her style. If she didn’t fight to the end, how would she know if victory was possible? She had even defeated Bai Ling, so was she going to be afraid of a mere divine being?
No, she wasn’t afraid!
With that thought, she tightened her grip on the colorful rope and, against all odds, managed to hold the orb steady again.
This wasn’t because Leticia had suddenly broken through. It was because, behind her, where she couldn’t see, threads extended from the dream orbs suspended in the mental world, enveloping her wrists along with the threads extending from the large dream orb.
It was precisely because of this that Leticia was temporarily able to stalemate the divine being again.
Discovering that she could no longer easily drag the dream orb, the divine being became even more enraged. She had already lost a considerable amount of energy in this tug-of-war. If the stalemate continued, her chances of success would truly become zero.
She absolutely couldn’t delay any longer; she had to pull the orb over in one go!
The divine being “tightened” her grip on the rope, exerting even more force than before. This surge once again pulled the dream orb a little closer to her. However, Leticia quickly countered with a similar burst of power, stabilizing the situation once more.
“Damn, damn, damn!” The divine being truly couldn’t understand why that girl possessed the ability to confront her, the god of this dream. Within the dream, shouldn’t she be invincible?
Why could that girl restrain her?
The divine being genuinely didn’t understand, but she knew that the girl’s existence had nearly ruined her escape plan.
Perhaps the best course of action now was to abandon the original plan and kill the girl directly. At least then she could vent her anger.
But the divine being still held onto a sliver of hope. Rather than seeking revenge, she desired freedom more.
Under the pull of two extremely powerful forces, the dream, which served as the focal point of the power, began to buckle slightly. It was already a patchwork monstrosity forcibly pieced together, its stability was questionable, and it was certainly not very sturdy.
When two people play tug-of-war, if the rope is not of good quality and both individuals are extremely strong, a rather rare outcome could occur.
Neither of them would lose, because the rope would break.
At a certain moment, the already unstable dream could no longer withstand the torment of these two powerful beings. With a groan of being overloaded, it was directly torn in half.
The dream, split in two, would collapse within a short period. The individuals dreaming within it would then awaken in reality. However, the experience of waking might not be pleasant, at least some dizziness and disorientation would be unavoidable.
But a short period still required time, and there was no time left for the people in the dream to awaken.
The half of the dream orb on the divine being’s side was immediately pulled into the real world by her. Leticia didn’t even have time to react.
By the time she reacted and tried to do something, that half of the dream orb had already fallen into reality. An incredibly terrifying mental storm swept through the mental space near the black void, completely blocking Leticia’s pursuit route.
Helpless, Leticia could only do her best to stabilize the remaining half of the dream orb in her hands as much as possible. This backup energy was quite important to her at the moment. If she were to wait nearby for certain things later, she would still need these dream energies to fight.
Leticia had succeeded in half, and the divine being had also succeeded in half. Although she hadn’t dragged the entire dream orb into the real world, half was enough for the divine being to initiate the ritual.
As half of the dream fell into the real world, the dream world was instantly crushed and destroyed by the laws of reality. The immense energy released by the dream’s destruction was guided by the divine being towards a giant lock, visible only to her, in the sky.
“That is…” Before the dream fell, Bai Ling, realizing the danger, quickly distanced herself. Even so, she was almost caught in the destruction caused by the falling dream.
Now, she could only stand in place and watch as the divine being guided a bright and mystical colorful light beam towards the sky.
She couldn’t stop it. She was, after all, just a mortal.
The colorful beam struck a point in the air, shattering a transparent barrier. The true body of the lock then appeared before the divine being.
The lock didn’t resemble a lock; it looked more like an altar, surrounded by eight massive pillars. A large number of golden chains extended from the pillars, tightly binding a colorful orb at the center of the altar.
That colorful orb was the symbol of the Dream God.
“Now, it’s time to insert the key into the keyhole.” Before the dream world collapsed, the divine being deliberately protected Zi Meng’s soul for this very moment.
The colorful maiden began to split in the air. A mass of colorful substance detached from inside the maiden, and the colorful aura receded from her body, revealing the maiden’s original appearance.
In a daze, Zi Meng opened her eyes. She felt as if she had experienced a very long, long dream, so long that she almost forgot who she was.
She looked up at the sky and down at the ground, and Zi Meng felt as if she might still be dreaming.
Why was the sky above her colorful? Why was there air beneath her feet? This couldn’t be the real world, right?
As she was still lost, she suddenly felt a push from behind, and then Zi Meng found herself flying rapidly. At the same time, a massive altar appeared in her vision.
If her estimations were correct, she would crash directly into the center of the altar.
At this speed, she would die, right? She definitely would!
Closing her eyes in despair, she waited for a long, long time. However, the expected pain never came. Zi Meng opened her eyes in confusion and discovered that she was actually suspended above the altar.
And before her, a colorful figure appeared.
“Who are you?”
The colorful figure did not answer Zi Meng’s question. She merely raised a hand and pointed at Zi Meng. With her movement, several chains from the giant pillars shot out, wrapping around Zi Meng’s limbs and neck.
Thus, the key had been inserted into the keyhole. Now, all that remained was to provide energy to turn the key. She wondered if her remaining energy would be sufficient.
The divine being took a deep breath and poured almost all of her power into Zi Meng’s body.
These powers, with Zi Meng’s body as a transfer station, sent the divine being’s power into the giant pillars. As energy was continuously injected, one of the pillars began to flicker. The chains extending from that pillar gradually lost their golden sheen.
After all the chains lost their golden luster, this pillar also dimmed. Then, like an illusion, the pillar disappeared into the air.
The pressure on her body suddenly decreased. A flicker of elation flashed in the divine being’s eyes. Indeed, this method was correct, and the ritual didn’t need to be completed all at once. She could first unlock a portion of the restraints and then find opportunities to unlock the rest!
Excellent! Her choice was not wrong!
Consumed by joy, the divine being failed to notice that in the distant west, a violent spatial anomaly was erupting. This spatial anomaly would deliver a heavy blow to her already riddled plan.
