novelnext Chapter 387 - 339: Source of the Dream Eye, the Final Land (Part 2)
Chapter 387 - 339: Source of the Dream Eye, the Final Land (Part 2)
It was split in two like a flimsy piece of paper, completely unable to slow the ship’s advance.
The bow cut through the water like a blade through ice. The waves churned and parted, sending up high plumes of spray that looked like two white curtains in the darkness.
Just moments later, the island in the distance—a journey that should have taken three days—rapidly grew larger before his eyes.
...
Atop a mountain peak in the very center of the island.
Wei Fan stood alone beside a Cold Pool.
The water was a dreary, gray color, as if stained by an endless gloom. Wisps of chilling air drifted up from its surface.
It seemed to seep into one’s very bones.
Above the Cold Pool, a ghastly white coffin floated silently on the surface.
It radiated an ominous aura, as though it were some unholy object that had risen from the Hell Abyss.
[What are you waiting for? Push it open, lie inside, and you will be reborn!]
Just then, a line of crooked, eerie script quietly materialized on the Bone Luo Token in Wei Fan’s hand.
Wei Fan merely glanced at it, paying it no mind.
His gaze fell upon the coffin, brow furrowed, his eyes filled with suspicion and wariness.
Joss paper was scattered across the top of the coffin, looking particularly bizarre in the sinister atmosphere.
Outwardly, it seemed no different from an ordinary coffin.
Wei Fan, however, knew better.
This was, in fact, a primordial Dream Eye known as the Rebirth Coffin.
Its sole Ability was to cause anyone who lay within to undergo a bizarre transformation, turning them into a "dead person."
This "dead person" wasn’t a corpse in the literal sense.
Instead, it transformed the person into a special type of Dream Eye.
Once inside, upon completion of the metamorphosis, one would no longer have to worry about the Dream Eye’s awakening and could unleash its power to the fullest.
But Wei Fan was hesitant. ’Ever since I stepped into the Deceitful Painting, everything has gone far too smoothly.’
’I haven’t encountered any danger or obstacles; I just appeared right here.’
’It feels like an invisible hand has been guiding me, which is inexplicably strange.’
’According to the information I have...’
’...the fragments of the Deceitful Painting have been collected before.’
’But those who entered never came out again.’
’They were clearly trapped inside.’
’So, there’s no way this place is completely safe.’
As someone who had been framed and killed in a past life before being reborn, he was especially wary of things going this smoothly.
BOOM!
Suddenly, a faint but clear vibration traveled from the distance.
[He’s coming! If you don’t go in, you will die!]
Another line of text appeared on the Bone Luo Token. The script was blood-red, looking as if it might seep right off the surface.
Standing on high ground, Wei Fan looked toward the source of the commotion.
He saw a streak of golden flame shoot out and slam into the island’s edge.
A swath of trees collapsed as dust billowed and mist rolled.
He was all too familiar with that light. It was the same technique used by the Saint Son of the Sun God Sect.
’Damn it, he made it in here after all!’
Wei Fan had expected this, but not so soon.
’And from the looks of it, he didn’t just appear on the island like I did. He fought his way here from somewhere else.’
The thoughts flashed through his mind, but he was out of time.
Wei Fan looked at the white coffin, gritted his teeth, and stepped forward. He pushed open the lid and climbed inside.
He knew he had no other choice: either successfully transform and kill his pursuer, or stay here and be killed.
This world within the Deceitful Painting was a sealed space; escaping wouldn’t be easy or quick.
As he lay down, the coffin lid, which had been ajar, began to close on its own, as if pushed by an invisible hand.
Then, the coffin slowly sank, gradually submerging into the Cold Pool. Strange ripples spread across the water’s surface before it fell completely still.
...
「A few seconds earlier.」
The ship shot onto the island like an arrow loosed from its bow.
It skidded for several thousand meters across the ground before crashing violently into a massive tree trunk seven or eight meters in diameter with a tremendous BANG.
The impact sent out a deafening roar. The hull shuddered, its planks splintering and groaning as the powerful force finally brought it to a halt.
Hu Qi surveyed his surroundings.
In stark contrast to the pitch-black, lightless sea, the island was as bright as day, bathed in a faint glow.
A white mist permeated the air, its tendrils winding around everything as if alive. It was cold and damp, raising goosebumps on the skin.
The trees were towering, their branches gnarled and deformed, their trunks covered in tumor-like growths.
Their branches reached for the sky like withered, twisted arms.
The leaves were a dull, purplish-red.
A viscous sap oozed from them, dripping to the ground and eating away small pits in the earth.
White bones, the remains of some unknown creature, were faintly visible in the grass, where eerie green will-o’-the-wisps also flickered.
They illuminated the dense mist suffusing the forest.
Strange flora glowed faintly.
Some had petals as large as a human face and were colored with an unimaginable splendor, but where the pistil should have been, a serene, closed face grew instead.
At that moment, Hu Qi could sense a thick malevolence radiating from the entire island.
Suddenly, Hu Qi’s figure flickered, and he vanished from his spot.
The next second—
SCHLICK!
The very instant he vanished, the spot where he’d been standing—the ship’s bow and the adjoining steel deck—were sliced apart as if they were fragile tofu.
They were split in two without any warning, the severed edges as smooth as a mirror.
TAP... TAP...
Just then, the clear sound of approaching footsteps echoed, each one seeming to land on his very heart.
Following the sound with his gaze, he saw an old man in his eighties slowly approaching.
He wore a faded traditional white jacket and black cloth shoes.
In his hand, he clutched a rusty executioner’s blade.
The rust mottling the blade looked like dried blood.
Clearly, he was the one who had just attacked.
At the same time, figures began to emerge from the mist-filled woods like specters.
No, to be precise, they weren’t living people. They were the dead.
There was no sign of life about them. Their skin was a ghastly blue-black, a color that seemed stained by darkness and death, and they exuded an aura of decay.
Their expressions were numb, their hollow eyes utterly devoid of emotion, as if their souls had been torn out, leaving only walking corpses.
Shockingly, the Nightmare aura they emanated was incredibly powerful. A cursory scan was enough to determine that they were all, at minimum, at the Controller Level.
A quick glance revealed nearly a hundred of them—men and women, old and young.
Hu Qi’s gaze lingered for a moment on their clothes and accessories.
’If I’m not mistaken, these must all be Dream Masters from different eras.’
They didn’t waste any time on words after they appeared.
They all lunged at Hu Qi, each employing a different, bizarre technique.
Faced with such a situation, any other Dream Master would have met a dead end.
Yet, faced with this onslaught, the corner of Hu Qi’s mouth merely twitched into an icy smile.
"Fine. You want to play? Then I’ll play with you until you’ve had your fill."
His last shred of patience was gone.
His figure vanished.
The next moment.
An ink-black shadow fell like a curtain, enveloping most of the island.
The figures froze, their heads snapping up reflexively.
What met their eyes was a Giant, a full ten thousand meters tall, that had appeared before them.
It stood between heaven and earth like a majestic, Immortal Ancient Divine Mountain, having appeared out of nowhere.