Chapter 1358: “Entering the Dream”

In the fleeting “eternity,” Tianlong slowly opened his eyes.

Before him stood a city of flesh and blood—strangely familiar yet alien.

Qixia sat facing him, expressionless, as if merely waking from a casual nap.

The two seemed as though they had been apart for ages, yet also as if they had been entangled for a lifetime.

As silence stretched between them, Qixia spoke softly:

“Good morning, Tianlong.”

Tianlong paused, then replied in a hoarse, feeble voice: “A bold assumption indeed. You gambled that if I used ‘Dreamwalk’ to shape the world in reality, I would chaotically employ ‘Crafting’ in dreams. You gave me the most vivid dream, forcing me to forge 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 your trap.”

“Because I knew you could do it,” Qixia answered. “The entire ‘Taoyuan’ is so fragmented, its architecture drawn from every era—isn’t that your doing, extracting memories from everyone? ‘Taoyuan’ wasn’t originally like this, was it? I must admit, the world you crafted was nearly perfect. Its only flaw was being devoid of people.”

“Hah… You imposed ‘Endless Life’ and the strongest ‘Conviction’ upon me, then borrowed my ‘Dreamwalk’ to activate ‘Crafting.'” Tianlong chuckled bitterly. “You created a world uniquely theirs—utter madness. Just to let that man named Chu Tianqiu touch me… How much preparation did you actually do…?”

“Oh?” Qixia murmured. “Would you like to see it again?”

Tianlong stared at Qixia in prolonged silence before finally lowering his head. “As expected, you’ve arranged an ending for every so-called ‘god.’ The Four Divine Beasts fell to the elements they represented, while I…”

“Fell to a dream,” Qixia finished.

“Absurd…” Tianlong laughed darkly. “Utterly absurd…”

“Is that praise?” Qixia asked.

Tianlong no longer knew how to describe what he felt—only bitter laughter remained.

He had once believed that if he knew the plan in advance, killing everyone would mean victory.

Victory?

How could he win?

Where would he even begin?

“You deceived me again…” Tianlong’s eye twitched as he spoke. “You said… if you wanted to create a world, you wouldn’t need me for this step… Yet you borrowed my power entirely…”

“Yes, Tianlong, I lied to you. So what?” Qixia nodded. “You had many chances to see through me, but you failed. Weren’t you even slightly curious… why there were always gaps in my memory whenever I started recovering? Why I could never retrieve all of it?”

Tianlong fell silent. Yes, he could have realized—Qixia’s memories were far too vast to be fully restored in such a short time.

But even if he had noticed, what could he have guessed? He had sensed the overwhelming adhesion when activating ‘Dreamwalk,’ yet never imagined someone had been laying the groundwork for a dream from such a distant past.

Now, Tianlong truly felt as if everything had been one grand illusion.

Qixia chuckled softly, then stood, brushing off the dust accumulated from ‘eternity’ before walking away.

The fleshy earth began to churn, and the beasts lurking in the amusement park fixed their predatory gazes on the building where Tianlong stood.

The first inescapable death trap on Tianlong’s path to godhood was about to arrive.

“Qixia,” Tianlong called as Qixia neared the exit.

Hearing his name spoken for the first time by Tianlong, Qixia halted and turned to face him.

“Why don’t you leave?” Tianlong asked.

“Leave?” Qixia mused. “Where to?”

“If you wished to live in that world, nothing could trap you here, could it?” Tianlong said. “Do you truly intend to spend eternity in this place?”

Qixia seemed mildly intrigued, smiling faintly. “Tianlong, no matter how strong one’s will is, the constant flow of life in that world would eventually convince them it’s real. Their subconscious would make them age, sicken, and die. Surrounded by real family, they’d gradually forget their identity as ‘participants of the Terminal Land,’ returning to ordinary lives one day.”

“So?”

“So, do you think someone like me—who has endured ‘eternity,’ carries an incurable illness, is half-mad, half-virtuous, entwined with divinity and humanity, with no family in the real world—should live among them as a mortal, experiencing birth, aging, sickness, and death? Or should I remain in that world, immortal as a god?”

Just as Tianlong was about to ask, “Why not immortality?” he suddenly recalled Qixia’s past words.

He had said the world he created never needed a god.

The answer to this question had been given long ago.

If Qixia forced himself to become ‘normal,’ erasing all memories of the Terminal Land, it would be no different from losing his mind—then he would truly be dead.

“Choosing this path meant accepting solitude,” Qixia said. “I can’t quiet the remnants of ‘eternity’ in my heart, nor can I step into the life of an ordinary person. So this place is my only refuge.”

“Then the world you need to return to…” Tianlong’s lips trembled slightly. “Requires ‘remnants’… ‘peace’…”

“Yet remnants are never at peace, and I—” Qixia laughed bitterly, turning once more toward the exit.

“Goodnight, Tianlong.”

As soon as he stepped outside, a deafening roar of beasts erupted behind him.

He didn’t know if Tianlong was resisting, but nothing would change the outcome.

An entire world awaited Tianlong to slaughter—and if he truly managed to destroy it all—

Qixia would simply craft another.

Leaving the amusement park, Qixia lifted his gaze to the blood-red sky.

What did he feel now?

Only a hollow ache, as if everything had settled yet left him with nothing.

After achieving all this, his ties with those people were severed.

He needed no further answers.

Walking along the path of flesh, Qixia smiled bitterly.

That distant world… could he ever truly return?

“Unless…”

He shook his head.

No. There was no ‘unless.’