Translator: Subudai11 Editor: Chrissy

  Wang Lu remembered that he had seen an interesting question a long time ago.

  How could one prove one's existence?

  Because this question had a pre-existing question: you could not prove that anything actually exists, because it could be assumed that everything around you is an illusion, and that all your senses are manipulated by spells of a brilliant cultivator. Everything that you touch, see and hear, are all fabricated, all are nonexistent. Under such circumstances, you naturally could not prove that anything exists.

  So, could one person prove that one exists?

  Towards this problem, there was once a sage who said: I think, therefore I am. It meant that when I thought, the thought itself must exist, and it also must have a carrier, which was the person who thought. Therefore, the existence of my thought meant that I, as the carrier of that thought, must also exist. Thus, I think, therefore I am.

  This reasoning was not absolute, but in this case, it seemed to be an excellent description of what Wang Lu saw.

  I think, therefore I am… The principle of the dream was also the same. If there was a dream, there must be a dreamer. For such a prosperous and developed dreamland of the new demon world to exist, there must be a dreamer who carried on the dream. When Wang Lu guessed that the new demon world was probably a dream world, Wang Lu began to speculate on who actually created this dream. However, he did not expect that the person was not a great demon king with an earth-shattering power, but the millions upon millions of demon race creatures who fell into despair.

  And seeing the magnificent mountain of corpses, many guesses in Wang Lu's heart have been further confirmed.

  "The harmonious new demon world is, of course, good, but suppressing the war-like nature of the demon race is like going against the sky, so there's the wind of destruction, right?"

  The demon king said, "Yes. Every once in a while, the negative emotions such as anger and resentment that are forcibly suppressed by the new demon world would burst out at once. This force is so powerful that it is no less powerful than creating a new demon world itself, and enough to interfere with the real world… Thus, it forms what we often call the black tide."

  "But regarding the sleeping demon race, the black tide is like as if in the middle of the dream, it suddenly turned into a nightmare. Fortunately, when the nightmare is over, the memory of the nightmare will disappear. But during the dream switch, the new demon world actually cease to exist, and all those who can't synchronize their dreams would be swirled away by the nightmare. When the nightmare is over, they won't come back again."

  With that, the new demon king looked at Wang Lu. "A few days ago when the black tide appeared, fortunately you did not leave your courtyard too far. At that time, the courtyard was shaped by your arrival, further away and the dreamland will be completely broken. And if you go too far at that time, you're bound to be swallowed by the nightmare."

  Wang Lu let out a chuckle and then asked another question, "The cycle of sweet dreams and nightmares had lasted for two thousand years, but it should be impossible for this to go on forever."

  The demon king nodded her head. "It is indeed impossible. This beautiful new demon world is contrary to the nature of the demon race, completely going against the heaven. The regular outburst of the black tide is only a temporary solution. In the past one hundred years, the arrival of the black tide has become more frequent. One day, the black tide would probably devour everything. During this period, we have tried many ways to delay this process, such as the massive promotion of the sport of lightning ball, so that the people in the new demon world would channel their passion and fervor to this sport to slow down the frequency of the arrival of the black tide… You see, those rabid fans who are cheering on the stadium, they are unusually excited. As a matter of fact, we have intentionally guided them to release a little bit of darkness in their heart."

  The demon king stretched her finger to point to the more than one hundred thousand fans outside the VIP stand. Wang Lu swept a glance at them and felt that the fans were really caught in an abnormal fanaticism.

  "But this is only a drop in the bucket. The darkness that has been accumulated by the new demon world for two thousand years is already overflowing."

  Wang Lu asked again, "What are the roles that the two of you play during this time?"

  "We are the watchers." The elder sister somewhat helplessly said, "During the great cataclysm period, not all demons fell asleep. At the remains of Eternal Tree, some watchers were left behind, which are our ancestors. The task of the watchers is to strive to survive in the ruins of the real demon world, being the inheritor of the demon world civilization, and also monitor the changes in the dreamland of the new demon world. This dream, which consists of the dreams of hundreds of millions of creatures has unparalleled power. You should also remember the raging black tide, right? That is the fallout of the nightmares of hundreds of millions of creatures. The ancestors did not dare to let their dreams to develop on their own, so they left it to us to watch it. If one day the dreamworld is on the verge of collapse and possible a great disaster may loom, we will wake everyone from their dream."

  "But now, you two are also…" Wang Lu hesitated.

  "We should be regarded as falling victim." The elder sister bitterly explained, "The ancestors left us in the hope that we can monitor the balance of dreams. But as the situation in the demon world gets increasingly worse, the watchers become increasingly desperate. And during this desperation, they would be captured by the dreamland and pulled into it.

  A few hundred years ago, more and more watchers became attracted to the dreams and became members of the new demon world, enjoying their wonderful dream life, completely forgetting the responsibility of the watchers. Until our generation. Even from the moment we were born, some of us were pulled into the new demon world and played the corresponding role. We must rely on the power of the remnant of the Eternal Tree to resist the gravitational-like pull of the dreamland and maintain our self-awareness. Unfortunately, in order to send you out of the demon world, we lost the protection of the Eternal Tree and finally fell completely. At this point, the watchers of the demon world are already extinct."

  Upon hearing this, Wang Lu became somewhat surprised. "… Are you blaming me?"

  The elder sister shook her head and said, "Even without your presence, my sister and I could only hold on for at most a few years… Actually, when I think about it now, perhaps we should have let go of our persistence, so that we can enjoy a few years of dream life. But now, the collapse of the new demon world is no longer distant. In another ten years at most, the alternation between the new demon world and the black tide will completely collapse, and this time, no one can awake us. We can only watch as the black tide break through the cage of dreams and devour everything, including the demon world and an even bigger area."

  Wang Lu waved his hand and said, "Enough, it doesn't have to be that far. Let's just cut to the chase. Do you want our help?"

  "You guys are the only one who can prevent this from happening." The elder sister said, "There are no longer living beings in the demon world. We have already been completely incarnated as the creature of dream, so it's impossible for us to wake up and change our destiny on our own. But you guys are different. You guys are still living people. As long as you guys wake up from your dreams, you can wake us all from the outside and end the black tide."

  "And the specific methods on how to do it?" Wang Lu said, "The space barrier of the new demon world is unbreakable. Obviously, this was done by your ancestors while constructing the dream world in order to maintain its stability. If we want to regain consciousness from this dreamland, the only way possible is to rush our cultivation until we soar into immortality."

  "If it's the complete state of the new demon world, indeed there's only that possibility, but… there is a flaw in the transition between the new demon world and the black tide. If you can catch this flaw, you can break through the shackles of the dreamworld and regain consciousness in reality."

  "… Seizing the flaw in the transition between the new demon world and the black tide? Is there any specific method on how to do it?"

  "We're not clear either." The elder sister, as the great demon king, irresponsibly shook her head. "We are just creatures of dreams, how can we know how to wake up from the dream? We can only provide you clues, which are what I said just now, but the next step depends on your own effort."

  With such a reply, Wang Lu was too lazy to complain. Thus, he directly stood up and said goodbye.

  Thereupon, the great demon king stretched out her finger and erase the gray space, so that the time outside flowed again. Wang Lu's ear then heard the shocking loud voice and the demon king sisters behind him at the VIP stand have already disappeared.

  —


  When he returned to his original seat, the song and dance performances in the center of the stadium was not yet over. Aba and his four bird demon friends yelled and shouted with red eyes. Their mind was stimulated by the titillating performance of the dancer that they were completely oblivious to Wang Lu who returned with a solemn face.

  "What's wrong?" Zhou Mumu was an attentive person. In a single glance, she immediately knew that Wang Lu was worrying about something.

  "I have just experienced an unexpected encounter…" Wang Lu sighed, and then he told them about what just happened.

  When they learned that the essence of this new demon world was actually a dream world, they could not help but feel inconceivable even though as the lead disciple of a super sect, each of them was well informed. However, the more important thing was the next problem—how could they grasp the gap between the transformation of new demon world and the black tide?

  "According to the previous situation, the transition between the new demon world and the black tide does indeed leave a slight gap." After hesitating for a long time, Qiong Hua opened her mouth and said, "Previously, when we used the sentry guard to probe the outside world, at the moment just when the sentry guard was destroyed, it captured the image of a skeleton of the spirit of the dead. I think, that's the flaw the demon king mentioned about."

  Wang Lu said, "The timing is certain, but in that blink-of-an-eye moment, we need to do something to wake up from the dream, and this is the problem."

  "It's very simple." Qiong Hua once again opened her mouth, "We catch that moment and use the Kill Immortal Sword to cut our way to the Nine Regions."

  "… Senior Sister Qiong Hua is indeed Senior Sister Qiong Hua, truly simple and crude."

  "The simplest thing is often the most effective. Moreover, do you remember how we entered this world? We were originally on the edge of the demon world but were unknowingly pulled into the dreamworld. The dreamland of the new demon world has inflated to an incredible point in the past two thousand years that it will soon devour the entire demon world. When we entered the demon world, we were unable to leave, it's mostly because of this layer of interference. Then, even if we manage to wake up from our dream, it's nothing more than once again returning to the demon world, and we would still be trapped. So, if we do it, we will do it in one go, directly breaking free from this cage of dream and return to Nine Regions."

  Wang Lu said, "The idea is good, but Senior Sister Qiong Hua, if I'm not mistaken, your Kill Immortal Sword only has it in there the creatures of demon world, thus you can only open up a path to the demon world. How could you open the path to the Nine Regions…"

  In response to this, Qiong Hua merely smiled.

  That smile was especially chilling.