Chapter 320 Returning to Reality

Looking back and re-examining Chang'an's attitude, one can sense some discord.

From Silver Moon's perspective, all he needed to do was make me think, "If you want to save Chang'an, you can't destroy Silver Moon." However, he said some unnecessary things to me, seemingly trying to deny my friendship with Chang'an.

This approach is not beneficial to him; the more I care about Chang'an, the more advantageous it is for him. It's clear that although he's expressing Chang'an's inner thoughts out of context, he's also driven to some extent by his own misinterpretation of emotions, wanting to question my friendship with Chang'an. Is it because he actually has other deeper meanings, or is the burn on Yin Yue's soul truly that severe, hence his contradictory attitude?

"What do you mean by saying you can't erase Chang'an's memories?" I asked.

“Because this is a very important memory, I cannot delete it,” Chang’an actually said.

"In your eyes... in the eyes of a monster who has lived for countless centuries, your life as Chang'an, which lasted less than twenty years... is something very precious?"

Even I found it unbelievable when I said those words.

"Don't misunderstand, the emotional exchanges between you humans are worthless to me. What I value is 'my own' memories," "Chang'an" said. "I have investigated the historical records of Moonshadow Mountain and seen your battles with the Water Master Xuanwu. I never imagined that you would actually be a Primordial Spirit, that Primordial Spirits actually exist..."

“True spirits, dreams, reincarnation, and manifestations... these legendary states are all more or less related to ‘self-verification.’ Although your manifestation is not a true manifestation in the traditional sense, you should have some basic understanding of your own state.”

"If my body has been destroyed and my soul no longer exists, then where am I? And besides myself, what else in this world can I trust?"

“I see… I understand what you mean.” I seemed to grasp the true meaning he was trying to convey. “You are a demon capable of turning illusions into reality… or rather, you possess the power to treat the real world as a dream and arbitrarily modify it. Therefore, from your perspective, everything in this world is fleeting, and only the self is real and authentic…”

"Chang'an" said in a deep voice, "I wasn't always able to turn illusions into reality. In my weaker period, all I possessed was the power to create illusions."

"Later, I challenged the path of self-proving the true spirit and gradually comprehended the meaning of formlessness and formlessness. Only then did I evolve the ability to create illusions into the ability to turn illusions into reality."

"And so I realized that the world we live in is nothing but a grand dream, that matter is nothing but illusion, and that only our own consciousness is real... No, even our ego may very well be a falsehood..."

Towards the end, he actually revealed a sense of fear.

I cannot understand his words. During my time without body and soul, my deepest realization was that "the self is self-evident." Although there is no way to prove its existence, nothing is more credible than the existence of the self. This principle applies not only to me and Silvermoon, but to everyone in this world. Yet he says that even the self cannot be trusted—what does that mean?

"...In short, I can accept the demise of my own life, and even, depending on the circumstances, I can accept the demise of myself, but..." Chang'an took a deep breath.

“This doesn’t make sense,” I questioned. “I heard the Ancient Moon God say that your most fundamental wish is the most basic desire of a living being, which is survival, or rather, the continuation of the self… yet you say you can accept the demise of your own self?”

"So that's why Gu Yue can't become my incarnation. The most basic desire of a living being is survival? She's not even a living being, just a phenomenon, a spirit of faith, which is why she misunderstands what the most basic desire of a living being is." He sneered. "My most fundamental wish is indeed the most basic desire of a living being, but that desire is not survival, but reproduction."

"In order to pass on their genetic material, some males will feed themselves to females, while others will consciously die when they grow old to free up resources for younger ones. Once an organism has completed its reproductive mission, its survival no longer becomes truly necessary for the group."

"For me, the so-called 'reproduction' is not about passing on my genetic material, which is just a fleeting material thing. What I want to pass on is the spiritual things I have accumulated, that is, memories."

"Therefore, I will absolutely not allow the memories I have accumulated to be lost, and I will never actively make any deletions. Even 'I' may be fake, only memories can become the 'genetic factors' that symbolize me."

The falsehood of the self he speaks of doesn't seem to refer to the real Silvermoon being dead and him being merely another Silvermoon, but rather to some more fundamental fear—which seems to be related to his so-called "path to self-proving the true spirit."

Just as I was about to ask more questions, suddenly, the surrounding scenery changed, and an unknown force was surging in from the edge of my vision.

I reflexively assumed that "Chang'an" was manipulating the dream, trying to take advantage of the moment when she was distracting me with words to do something that would help her escape her predicament. However, without even observing closely, I realized that the truth was definitely not like that. Because the sudden appearance of the unknown power was clearly not something that Silver Moon could wield.

What emerged from all directions was a gray fog.

Like dry ice gas being sprayed from a stage device, gray mist surged out from all directions, surrounding me and "Chang'an".

This is the gray mist of the illusory realm!

Even Chang'an himself showed surprise, then said thoughtfully, "...Is it him? Even now, he still won't let me go..."

The gray mist seemed to be trying to drive me out of this dream.

The power of the illusory realm does not appear out of nowhere; it is most likely that Ying Lingyun used the power of the fragments of the divine seal to invade this dream realm through some means.

But... this doesn't make sense. Why would Ying Lingyun's divine seal fragments manifest at this moment?

If he has a way to directly channel the power of the Divine Seal fragments into Silver Moon's spiritual world from the outside, it means that Silver Moon has never escaped his grasp from the very beginning. Although it is unclear to what extent he can use the power of the Divine Seal fragments, the mere presence of the gray mist, sufficient to seal all supernatural powers, would make capturing Silver Moon relatively easy.

Judging from the fact that the naval master Xuanwu could accurately locate Moonshadow Mountain, Ying Lingyun could certainly determine Silver Moon's whereabouts based on his understanding of her. Therefore, he might not even need to hire the naval master Xuanwu; he could capture Silver Moon alive himself. Although, considering his past deeds, it's hard to believe that he truly possesses the ability to manipulate gray mist at will.

Putting all that aside, could it be that Ying Lingyun took advantage of my invasion of Silver Moon's spiritual world to do something to Silver Moon from the outside? I immediately went to observe the outside world, but it seemed that I was affected by the gray mist and was unable to connect smoothly to the flames and heat outside.

At the same time, I immediately unleashed my full power of flames, attempting to dispel the surrounding gray mist. The sea of ​​fire roared and engulfed the dark area, entangled with the gray mist. Within the flames, the gray mist, capable of sealing supernatural abilities, actually paused for a second or two, before the flames, unable to withstand the onslaught, were extinguished within the gray mist.

Even with the power of the Great Impermanence Domain, it was still helpless against the gray mist power of the Divine Seal.

The gray fog gradually obscured my vision.

Finally, "Chang'an" spoke to me.

“Ah Cheng, just as you said before, your complaints are only a small part of all my feelings,” he said. “But on the other hand, those complaints are also my real troubles.”

"Although it only occupies a corner of my heart, it is like how my spirit as Silver Moon cannot be complete if I cannot kill you. Faced with such a behemoth as Silver Moon, any crack as thin as a hair on my Chang'an side will be magnified ten thousand times and turned into an insurmountable chasm."

"So, Ah Cheng..."

"After that, I'll put in extra effort to make that damn fox Silvermoon suffer more. You absolutely have to remember to help your brother out!"

Chang'an's shameful voice rang out loudly through the gray mist. I was certain it was either Silver Moon or Chang'an. I was momentarily stunned, then loudly replied, "Is that even a question?"

Chang'an seemed to smile.

Then, the gray fog completely engulfed me.

-

When I opened my eyes again, the scene had returned to the devastated summit of Moonshadow Mountain. Silver Moon had vanished from my sight, leaving me utterly alone on this mountainside.

Where did Silver Moon go?

She couldn't have left on her own; that means someone took her away.

How could such a thing be? Although I had focused all my attention on Silver Moon's mental world, with my current intuition and perception, if someone took advantage of this time to get close to Silver Moon, even if they were inside her mental world, I should have been able to detect the abnormal changes happening outside.

Even if it were Ying Lingyun himself, or even another Silver Moon at her peak, she wouldn't be able to steal someone away right under my nose. How can I possibly... possibly manage this?

Stay calm; it's not time to give up yet.

There should still be some warmth left by me inside Silver Moon's body.

I closed my eyes and carefully sensed the thermal energy marks I left inside the other person's body.

(End of this chapter)