460 Waking From a Dream (2/2)

”Baole… how do you know about Chen Qing? Did someone tell you, or did you… see him?” Ming Kunzi stared at Wang Baole and spoke slowly, in an extremely low voice.

Wang Baole was shaken. He grew more confused.

”I saw him. Didn't you see him too, Master…” When Wang Baole said that, his eyes suddenly widened. An incredulous thought suddenly rose in his mind.

”So you saw him…” Ming Kunzi murmured. He raised his head and looked around him.

”That's interesting, but Baole, this Dark Dream was something your master created for you specially. There is truth and there is illusion, but regardless of which it is, within this dream… there shouldn't be someone called Chen Qing!”

Ming Kunzi's words made Wang Baole gasp violently. That was what he had guessed, and his master just confirmed it. The shock he was feeling intensified.

”No such person… then why did I see… Senior Brother Chen Qing even taught me how to paint the Corpse Face. He told me his secret…” Wang Baole muttered to himself, and Ming Kunzi suddenly laughed aloud.

”Baole, this senior brother of yours is indeed extraordinary. While I've been casting a Dark Dream for you, he's been… casting one for me!” Ming Kunzi seemed to have thought of something. He lifted his face skyward and laughed out loud. His laughter was tinged with memories and complicated emotions. Finally, he raised his right hand and tapped Wang Baole on the forehead.

”Baole, the fates dictate that our path ends here. As for your future path, simply follow your heart's desires. Now… it's time to wake up!”

Wang Baole shuddered. He felt heaven and earth turn upside down. Everything became a blur, and the sound of mirrors shattering rang in his ears. His consciousness seemed to have left his body as it flew towards the starlit heavens. During its flight, time appeared to pass at a different speed. It sped past, as if compressing millennia into a single moment!

He saw the starfield where the Dark Sect had been located. Many years later, a great battle took place. He saw the Emperor of the Never-Ending Clan and countless other powerful cultivators instigating a galactic war.

The war was but a blur in his eyes. Then, the entire Dark Sect… was reduced to dust.

The shattering of mirrors in his ears grew louder until the noise reached an extreme. Wang Baole's vision turned black. In the next moment… in the Solar System, beneath the Martian soil, in the underground world within the Dark Artifact, in the pitch-black abyss, sat cross-legged on a solitary black boat, an asleep Wang Baole suddenly shook and opened his eyes!

As soon as his eyes opened, the Dark Fires inside him immediately rumbled, and a chill erupted from them. It was as if everything that had happened in the Dark Dream had been brought back with him! Within the blink of an eye, his Dark Fires increased multifold and compressed together to form a Dark Core. Wang Baole's cultivation erupted!

At the same moment, beyond the Solar System, in the depths of this endless universe, there was a region that had been marked as one of the ten forbidden areas in this Never-Ending Universe! It was filled with spatial tears and fractures, countless bones, and star-destroying hurricanes. Any living thing that entered stood little chance of leaving alive!

At present, within this region, amongst the countless bones, the ruins of a stone monument drifted gradually in space.

Standing beside this damaged stone monument was a middle-aged man. His hands were behind his back as he stared silently at the stone monument. He wore an ancient-looking black robe, and his cultivation couldn't be discerned. When the terrifying spatial tears came into contact with him, they imploded. This mere display showed that his cultivation must have reached an incredible and unfathomable realm!

The stone monument before him exuded the aura of age. It seemed to have existed for too long a time. There might have been many names carved on its face. However, now, they had all dimmed in brightness. Only one name remained bright and shining with a strange light.

The name was… Chen Qing!

If Wang Baole were here, he would have recognized the stone monument to be the Dark Child Monument of the Dark Sect. The middle-aged man was his senior brother, Chen Qing, in his Dark Dream. Except for the changes that came with age, he looked almost exactly the same!

This person was Chen Qing!

Chen Qing stared at the stone monument and at his own name for a very long time. Then suddenly, he raised his right hand. With his finger, he carved, stroke by stroke, three characters next to his own name.

It was… Wang Baole!

As soon as the name appeared, it sparkled for a few moments then immediately dimmed. It was as if the stone monument didn't recognize and approve of it. Just as Wang Baole's name was to disappear, Chen Qing spoke casually.

”You didn't approve of my name then, and I destroyed half of this monument, half of your form. Now, you can try to erase my junior brother's name. Try it, and see what that'll get you!”

After Chen Qing said that, the stone monument immediately trembled. After a long while, with great resentment, it seemed to have chosen to compromise. Wang Baole's name was no longer dim. It began to sparkle with a bright light!