The Azure Lord Is Dreaming of Me

Yaxiu had assumed dropping these two blockbuster revelations would stir up a tempest, but not only Tamashi, even Igola and Harvey reacted with utter indifference, wearing expressions that practically said, "You sounded so serious, yet that's all it was?" Igola merely asked whether the Wish Hub could teleport them at any time and had no further questions. Yaxiu couldn't help asking, "Aren't you surprised that I inherited the Thousand Wishes Heaven?" Tamashi remarked, "The Thousand Wishes Heaven must be very impressive." Harvey said, "Oh." Igola asked, "Four black-robed sorcerers inherited the Thousand Wishes Heaven, didn't they? Aside from you, the other three were all women, right?" "How did you know?" Yaxiu asked, startled. "You talked in your sleep these past few days, and I happened to hear it," Igola replied casually. "I even heard that you want to pursue dreams together with them, live together with them, reproduce together with them..." "Impossible, absolutely impossible! Don't you try to fool me, Igola," Yaxiu said, waving a hand dismissively. "I don't even have dreams." Tamashi suddenly remembered something. "Is she one of those three black-robed sorcerers?" Though Tamashi's question came out of nowhere, Yaxiu knew he was referring to the Sword Princess they had talked about back in Black Robe Town, so he nodded. "Yes." Tamashi gave a slight nod, lowering his head, lost in thought. "What's the plan?" Igola asked. "What do you want to do?" Naturally, neither Igola, Harvey, nor Tamashi cared about Yaxiu possessing the Thousand Wishes Heaven. Tamashi had no concept of its true weight, Harvey simply didn't care, and Igola had already figured it out long ago. A sanctuary like the Thousand Wishes Heaven was beyond precious; the deceiver had assumed Yaxiu would keep it secret forever and hadn't expected him to disclose it voluntarily just to save everyone... Even if unexpected, it wasn't at all surprising coming from him. "Since none of us will be pulled in by the world-ending rite, we can fly directly into the fissure and deploy the Empty Door, allowing the falling Senluo people to cross over into another country," Yaxiu explained. "Even if they encounter greater dangers in a foreign land, it's still better than dying here." His plan was crude to the point of naive: wasn't the apocalypse essentially opening a water reservoir so the Senluo people flowed like water into a sewer (the Void Realm)? Conveniently, an Empty Door sorcery spirit could open a passage to another country. By setting up the Empty Door inside the fissure, they could catch the surviving Senluo locals and let them pass through to an alternate realm. Yet thinking it over, this truly was the most viable plan available. Moreover, even if they didn't rescue the Senluo people, Yaxiu and his companions had originally planned to attempt crossing into other countries anyway. The Thousand Wishes Heaven was merely a fallback option of last resort. As Yaxiu had pointed out, even if they entered the Thousand Wishes Heaven, they would still have to find a way out eventually. After all, the Thousand Wishes Heaven was utterly barren, and unless Harvey could summon a massive horde of undead to till the soil, surviving there would be a daunting challenge. "Since we have an escape route that allows us to withdraw at any moment..." Igola looked at the other two. "I have no objections." "I'm rested enough." Harvey stood up and stretched his limbs. Tamashi looked at Yaxiu, the corners of his mouth curving faintly, his eyes seeming to sparkle. "You are still my Inquisitor," he said. "I will follow you, all the way to Hell." "Still, this is the first time you've actively taken the initiative to do something for complete strangers, Yaxiu," Igola offered as a bit of 'well-intentioned deflation.' "You don't actually believe that just because you've grown stronger, you can do whatever you please, undo every tragedy, and resolve every dilemma, do you?" "Of course not," Yaxiu said. "It's just that the apocalypse is right before our eyes, and we possess a theoretical solution. If we didn't try, I wouldn't be able to live with myself. Besides..." "In every sense, this apocalypse is connected to me." Yaxiu glanced back at Little Silver Lantern. "I'm not arrogant enough to think destroying the world is my fault, but if I do nothing, then this memory will hold nothing but the bitter regret of standing by helplessly." "I want to do what I can to salvage this world she destroyed." Igola looked at Little Silver Lantern, who was clutching a doll, watercolor pens, and a book. "Who is she?" Everyone had noticed Little Silver Lantern earlier, but they had been waiting for Yaxiu to explain. "She is Silver Lantern," Yaxiu said earnestly. "Both the zealot Silver Lantern and the god Silver Lantern." The others nodded slightly. They all understood there must be an extraordinary tale behind this, but with time pressing, whatever story lay between Yaxiu and Silver Lantern would have to wait for later. Harvey had the ghoul Alice lie back inside the coffin, then stowed it into a spatial ring. This was a spatial ring Chikala had crafted himself; before entering the Silent Spiral, he had finally finished Igola's commission. Yaxiu hoisted Tamashi onto his back as usual. For some reason, Tamashi felt unusually heavy this time, and he pressed his entire body against Yaxiu's back, letting out a languid yawn. "Are you sleepy?" "Perhaps I'm just exhausted," Tamashi murmured softly. "Strange... I didn't feel sleepy even after three days and three nights without rest..." "It could also be that your back has a hypnotic effect," Igola quipped. "Next time you take a liking to a girl, just rush over and carry her off on your back. She won't dare resist." "Are you talking about hypnosis or kidnapping?" The four of them flew up toward the fissure in the sky together, with Little Silver Lantern following closely behind. Their gaze could pierce through all eighteen levels of the Silent Spiral directly to the ground, where they could see people still plunging toward the abyss. The sooner they established an Empty Door, the more lives they could save. Yet this turned out to be the most grueling phase. Yaxiu and the others quickly identified an ideal location for the Empty Door, an area roughly thirty percent of the Senluo people were bound to pass through. But when they activated their Empty Door sorcery spirits, they found that fate had not only slapped them across one cheek, but also demanded they offer the other. The first Empty Door opened to Void Realm turbulence. The second Empty Door opened to Void Realm turbulence. The third Empty Door wasn't turbulence, but it was impassable—solid underground rock strata. The fourth Empty Door gushed seawater; it led to the deep sea, with water pressure sufficient to crush a person into Lalafell mince. The fifth Empty Door opened to Void Realm turbulence. ... Yaxiu and the others had originally planned to spend a month inside the Silent Spiral, waiting out the cooldown of the Empty Door sorcery spirit to sustainably refresh passage coordinates. Now, in their rush to find a viable path, they had no choice but to drain the pond to catch the fish. Empty Door sorcery spirits shattered one after another, yet not a single usable passage appeared! Even though a hit rate as high as fifty percent was thousands of times better than on the surface, their goal was to find a way out for themselves and the Senluo people. What point was there if they couldn't reach a normal realm? Before long, they were down to a single Three-Wing Empty Door sorcery spirit. In their earlier refreshes, the best result had merely positioned a door three hundred meters in the sky. While Yaxiu and his companions could handle that height, for ordinary Senluo people, falling from that distance was no different from death! A Three-Wing Empty Door sorcery spirit could be used consecutively twice; on the third use, it would self-destruct. The four exchanged glances. Yaxiu took a deep breath and activated the sorcery spirit. The first attempt: not Void Realm turbulence! But immediately afterward, molten magma surged out from the Empty Door, instantly extinguishing all of their hopes. It was over. It was truly over. To be safe, this Three-Wing Empty Door sorcery spirit had to be preserved so that after reaching the Thousand Wishes Heaven, Yaxiu and the others could still use it to journey toward another country. Therefore, this Empty Door sorcery spirit could only be used once more. If the next attempt failed to open a proper passage, they would be completely out of options. By a rough estimate, roughly a tenth of the Senluo population had not yet fallen, still sliding along the path down. Yet let alone rescuing them all, Yaxiu and his companions couldn't even save a single one. Even if they caught the falling Senluo people, those people would merely pop like foam and disperse like water. "It's enough that we did our best," Igola said. "Neither our luck nor that of the Senluo people has been very good." Yaxiu sighed. He glanced back at Tamashi on his back, only to find that Tamashi had already fallen asleep. In sleep, he didn't look like a judgment warrior who had slaughtered countless wicked crows; his sleeping face was as tranquil and sweet as a small animal's. Perhaps this was for the best. At least he wouldn't have to face the moment when their final hope was snuffed out. Just then, someone happened to plummet toward their sector. If this Empty Door succeeded, that person would be saved; otherwise, that person and all the Senluo people behind them would have no choice but to plunge into the singular torrent of destiny. Empty Door sorcery spirit! Yaxiu practically poured all his sorcery mana into driving the Empty Door sorcery spirit. Yet after scouting through it, helpless dismay washed over his face—beyond the door lay Void Realm turbulence. There was no miracle waiting to turn the tables on a desperate gamble. In this world, miracles were forged by sorcerers themselves, not bestowed by fate; he should have understood that long ago. Just as the falling figure was about to hit the bottom and Yaxiu was preparing to withdraw the Empty Door, a crisp snap of fingers echoed through the Silent Spiral. The wind halted. The falling figure froze in midair. Shattered stones and dust locked in place. The passage of time across the entire world slowed to a near-infinite crawl. It was the effect of Shelter. Yaxiu and the others turned their heads to look at Tamashi, who had snapped his fingers. Tamashi rested against Yaxiu's back. After a long silence, he said slowly, "It seems I'm... No, it seems people like me are reserve vessels used by the Azure Lord to revive." "Even if the world is destroyed, we remain unaffected, and then the Azure Lord will revive from among us." "Before the Azure Lord revives, administrative authority over Senluo will be transferred to our hands." Tamashi lightly tapped Yaxiu's cheek, turning him into the red-haired Sword Princess for a single second—the effect of Kaleidoscope. "The Azure Lord is dreaming of me."