220 The Struggle is Real (1/2)

Infinite darkness filled Leon's field of vision. He could not see anything. He seemed to have been robbed of all his senses, all except his own existence.

He felt incredibly cold, not from his body but from the recess of his soul like he was fading away from existence. He felt helpless and couldn't do anything. He was just like a subconscious thought mindlessly drifting through the endless cold void without control.

'Did I fail?' Leon thought.

He could fill his own consciousness slowly slipping away.

'No, that shouldn't be the case… This dark void is different from that deathly monochrome void. I should have already left the dreamscape and returned to my real body.'

'…Then was I too late?'

Leon could not think of any other reasonable explanation for his current state. It seems like his perception of the outside world has been sealed off and he was trapped in his own subconscious space.

He was still conscious of his own thoughts, but it was waning with time.

'This must be the moment of clarity before death…'

Leon was disappointed. It seems his body had already died. The reason he was still conscious of his own thoughts was that he had just returned to his body. It was just a matter of time before he was dead in both mind and body.

'I did what I could… There's no use crying over spilled milk now…'

Leon felt death creeping closer to him with open arms, but he did not repulse it, nor did he have the strength to. He was tired. He just wants to sleep for eternity.

His soul shook when he thought along such dangerous lines.

'No! I cannot fall asleep! If I give up now, it will really be over!'

His mind screamed. His journey had barely started. He still had people to see and things to do! He refuses to be laid to rest here!

'Fight it! I must fight against this feeling!'

Leon thought determinedly. He would grit his teeth if he could.

'If there's a will, there's a way!'

What he needed to do right now was think, think of a solution to get himself out of his current predicament!

Leon began wracking his head anxiously. It was a race against time.

One should remain calm in dire situations to make clearheaded and correct choices, but how can he do that when he knows he will die if he does not do something?

In Leon's anxiety, he had forgotten one simple truth. His body was mortal. Only after overcoming Divine Damnation and reaching the Divine Origin Realm, would his soul be strong enough to survive without a living body for a period of time.

Although his current soul had a higher starting point and he had retained his divine sense ability, he was far from the same level as when he was still in the Divine Origin Realm.

Drip…

The sound was very soft and sudden, but within the quiet subconscious space of his mind, Leon heard it clearly no matter how subtle it was. It was just a single drop of blood, but it was like the thin veil over his eyes had been lifted.

His blood had not run dry just yet. It was still bleeding. Leon was pleasantly surprised. For him to only hear a drop of blood now implies that his body was bleeding at an incredibly slowly.

Furthermore, it also would not have been possible to hear his blood dripping if his body wasn't positioned in a way that allows for it to happen.

'Should I say my luck is good for such a coincidence? Or should I say it's bad for landing myself in such a situation in the first place?'

Leon despondently thought. Nevertheless, he was pleased to know he was still alive.

'It seems my perception to the outside has not been completely cut off and had only been sealed inside as a form of self-preservation mechanism of the body, allowing me to hold out longer by conserving energy.”

'This should be what it feels like to be in a pseudo-death state... but the chances of a person being conscious in a pseudo-death state, I'm probably the first due to a strange string of events and happenstance.'

Leon continued wryly. He didn't want to sound arrogant, but he had not heard of such precedents in all his time as a doctor.

Maybe one day when he had settled down somewhere, he should write a book about his life experience…

Leon shook his mind.

'While I am not dead yet, I'm also not far from it and eventually will be if nothing is done to stop it. I cannot wait for someone to come save me; I can only rely on myself. I doubt anyone else can enter after I succeeded in escaping the dreamscape.'