Beholding the Stars (End of Volume 3)

The Thousand Wishes Heaven. Inside the Wishing Pool, Xiaomeng lay upon an inflatable swim ring, drifting aimlessly across the water. Gazing up at the sky divided into three distinct colors, she opened her mouth wide and yawned, her five tails swishing back and forth. "When will the masters come back...?" In truth, she was not quite as bored as she appeared. As the Dream-Waking God of the Dream school, all knowledge concerning dreams across the entire world could flow through her domain. Aside from the few deities that skirted the fringes of the Dream school and shared in the spoils, she claimed the lion's share of the school's progression, growing in value with every passing second. Best of all, while the Dream school was not as universally applicable as the Gluttony school and sorcerers rarely slept, the vast majority of ordinary mortals still dreamed. Whenever they dreamed, they advanced the development of the Dream school. Even if the progress was subtle and slow, the immense population and enduring duration more than made up for it. Thus, even if no one actively cultivated the Dream school from now on, with the Dream-Waking God aggregating this knowledge, the Dream school would continue to march forward. Gods and the development of sorcery schools were inextricably linked. If a sorcery school had not developed sufficiently, a god could not be born; when a school flourished and grew mighty, the deity's power expanded in tandem. However, hardly even demigod sorcerers knew this, let alone the common masses. The real reason Xiaomeng looked forward to her masters' return was that she was feeling a bit gluttonous. While she was not starved enough to hinder her functionality, going this long without feeding on dreams made her grumpy. Even the dream of a beast or a plant would do! Yet the Thousand Wishes Heaven held only sorcery spirits. Sorcery spirits did not dream, and neither did gods. Just as Xiaomeng was wallowing in discontent, she suddenly noticed a colossal portal of light appear not far away. The familiar auras emerging from within sent her flying immediately, throwing herself forward like a swallow diving into a welcoming embrace— "Male Master is back!" Meeting the mildly questioning looks from Igola and Tamashi, Yaxiu calmly fed Xiaomeng two source crystals and asked, "Have you finished the homework I assigned you earlier?" "Finished!" Xiaomeng waved her hands and tucked the source crystals into her wand. "It was way too easy for me!" "Then cast it once on each of these two fellows." Yaxiu pointed at Igola and Harvey. Xiaomeng nodded. Although she would not leave with any single master unless all four masters took her together, as long as it was merely casting spells within the Heaven, she would obey the orders of any master. With a cheery "Hey!", she tapped the heads of the deceiver and the necromancer with her wand. "..." Igola murmured pensively, "Are you using a god to give us a welcome beating? What does it do?" "You'll find out later," Yaxiu said. Just then, the portal of light rippled, and a woman flew out from within, tumbling across the ground several times before coming to a stop. Yaxiu immediately sent a Joy Sword over, stepped forward to examine her briefly, and said, "She's unconscious too." She was not the first visitor. A young man wearing the uniform of the Gemini Cult had entered along with Yaxiu and the others. Yet both were the same—even after arriving in the safe Thousand Wishes Heaven, they remained in a dead faint. Physically they were mostly unharmed, bearing only a few scrapes. "Atmospheric density is normal, suitable for human survival." Harvey crouched down and crushed a clump of soil between his fingers. "Practically no different from reality." "They were washed over by the torrent of destiny for too long, bringing their bodies to the brink of collapse. They didn't even need to hit the ground; merely descending to the eighteenth floor would have shattered their souls and bodies to dust. They will need some time to rest and recuperate before recovering." Tamashi hesitated slightly. "For now, they can't even serve as laborers, so we can only trouble you..." "Not trouble at all!" Before Yaxiu could speak, Xiaomeng stared ravenously at the two sleeping figures on the ground. "People who sleep are simply wonderful! Everyone ought to sleep together!" "Regarding food, we should be able to provide some seeds, but you'll still have to rely on your own Earth and Wood sorceries to become self-sufficient. At worst, once a portal leading to the Gospel Kingdom refreshes, you can relocate," Yaxiu said. "Administration is the tricky part. I could have the Dream-Waking God help, but she isn't suited for governing." "Less than one in ten survived, and their cults have naturally fallen apart," Tamashi said. "If you're worried about trouble, I will keep them in line. I promise." Yaxiu nodded, gesturing for Xiaomeng to take good care of the people coming through next, and then the four of them turned back toward the light portal. Xiaomeng hurried over to clutch Yaxiu's sleeve, asking pitifully, "Master, are you leaving again?" "I'll be back soon," Yaxiu said. "Maybe I can even bring you a little sister." Xiaomeng blinked, and an overwhelming sense of crisis instantly surged through her—the Thousand Wishes Heaven had only one facility, the Wishing Pool! If there was a new sister, who would manage the Wishing Pool?! No, no, no! She had to squeeze the sorcery spirits in the Wishing Pool and make them work overtime so the master would recognize her contributions! ... Returning to the Senluo Kingdom, the rushing doomsday winds made Yaxiu and the others feel a twinge of discomfort. If the Thousand Wishes Heaven was ruins left after a collapse, Senluo was a building actively collapsing in real time; the former was desolate, but the latter was perilous. "How is it?" Yaxiu asked. "The administrative authority has returned," Tamashi said. Yaxiu felt a stir in his heart. The other vessels had fled, yet the administrative authority had not transferred away, which meant... "I am probably the Azure Lord's sole remaining vessel," Tamashi shrugged. "Even so, I still intend to leave." He looked down toward the light portal below and said calmly, "At the very least, I must find a way to let the remaining Senluo people live on." Igola asked, "Have the rules for the light portal been set?" "Once the Empty Door ends, both the Wish Hub and the Empty Door sorcery spirit will be automatically ejected to the other side of the door—into the Thousand Wishes Heaven," Tamashi said. "We can just wait inside the Thousand Wishes Heaven from now on. There's no need to remain in this dangerous place." Harvey said, "Then there is only one last problem left for us to resolve." Everyone turned their heads toward Little Silver Lantern, who was floating in midair holding a doll and watercolor markers, engrossed in reading a book. "Silver Lantern." Yaxiu flew up in front of her. "Can you really not enter the light portal?" Little Silver Lantern closed her book and dropped straight down above the light portal, but her short little legs couldn't step in at all. She looked up at Yaxiu and shook her head. "If she truly ascended from Silver Lantern, it's only natural that she cannot leave Senluo, because she isn't a true god." Tamashi rubbed his temples as if digging knowledge out from within. "The progression of Sorcerer to Grand Sorcery to God requires deep involvement of the dreamscape's rules at every step. Thus, an ascended god is deeply bound to the Senluo Dreamscape. Only within the dreamscape does an ascended god possess divine authority. "They are like grafted plants; an ascended god simply cannot separate from the dreamscape. You cannot take her away." Hearing this, Yaxiu's heart stirred. He vaguely felt as if he had forgotten something, yet he couldn't put his finger on it. "Give it up, Yaxiu." If anyone here understood the bizarre relationship between Yaxiu and Silver Lantern best, it was undoubtedly Igola. The deceiver said, "She lived for her ideals, and she died for her ideals. Since that is the case, let her be buried alongside this world." Yaxiu stared blankly at Little Silver Lantern. Her expression was serene, as if she cared about nothing. Perhaps this was destiny. Although Yaxiu had still harbored fantasies of digging some treasure out of the silver light, Weise had been crisp and decisive in everything throughout her life, and her funeral was no exception. She had severed all lingering attachments and told him there was no need to pursue her any further. "Can we only leave her behind in this world...?" Yaxiu murmured. A look of hesitation surfaced on Tamashi's face, immediately caught by Igola. "What insights does our God Lord Trial Officer have?" "The world is collapsing too quickly." Tamashi looked upward. "There are still quite a few people on their way, but before they arrive, the sky will likely collapse and destroy everything." Igola said, "That can't be helped. It's impossible for us to save everyone." "True, but there is now a way to delay the speed of the world's collapse," Tamashi said. "The Azure Lord mentioned in his memories that Senluo's original rules were established with the aid of gods. Because gods represent the essence of rules, imprinting with a god requires far less effort than creating something out of nothing. "Therefore, we can use the Silver Lantern God to formulate new rules to delay the collapse of the world," Crow Cull said. "Furthermore, if Silver Lantern truly can purify the green beasts, it might even... allow the Senluo Kingdom to be reborn." Yaxiu asked, "And the price?" "Herself," Tamashi said. "Unlike fusing the Empty Door sorcery spirit with the Wish Hub, sustaining a world expends far too much energy, which the Senluo Dreamscape absolutely cannot support. Therefore, only by consuming her entire divine foundation can new dreamscape rules be established." Having stated the pros and cons, Tamashi fell silent, showing no intention of urging him. Yaxiu fell silent for a moment, then crouched down to look at Little Silver Lantern. Though he knew there wouldn't be any real response, Yaxiu still asked instinctively, "Are you willing?" Little Silver Lantern shifted her gaze from the book, looked at him, and reached out her hand to stroke Yaxiu's cheek. "Don't cry, don't cry," she said. ... Having settled the final matters, the four of them flew into the Silent Spiral, preparing to return to the Thousand Wishes Heaven. "Do you plan to tell Lisi about the Thousand Wishes Heaven?" Igola asked. "Behind her stands the Omniscient Weaver." Yaxiu hadn't made up his mind yet. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." "Why not simply use the Senluo people to develop a kingdom of your own?" the deceiver chuckled. "Have you thought of your divine title as God Lord?" "Yaxiu's Kingdom?" Harvey perked up as well. "Can the Corpse Disposal Department be handed directly to me?" "Whenever you two become demigod angels, I'll become the kingdom's God Lord," Yaxiu replied offhandedly. "We haven't even solved the food problem in the Thousand Wishes Heaven, yet here you are pondering how to govern a kingdom. A sorcerer's imaginative leaps only ever advance this dramatically when it comes to insatiable greed..." Boom! Suddenly, a burst of flames exploded within the Silent Spiral! Almost by instinct, the sorcerers expanded their sanctuaries to protect themselves, but they instantly realized the flames were not meant to harm them; rather, they sought to spread through the fracture layers of the Silent Spiral! The scorching radiance of the roaring blaze seemed to penetrate their skin, illuminating their internal organs, marrow, blood vessels, and souls! These bizarre flames... Yaxiu finally remembered what he had forgotten! At this moment, a figure was hurtling toward the light portal at breakneck speed, as if trying to enter the Thousand Wishes Heaven ahead of them! The Spectre Prophet, Weixi! This fellow hadn't left yet! When Tamashi mentioned that an ascended god could not be taken away, Yaxiu had vaguely realized Weixi might still be in Senluo. That insatiably greedy and wicked wretch would taste a passing manure cart just to check its saltiness; having finally gotten his hands on a precious god, how could he bear to give it up? He had surely chosen to stay behind to find a way to steal the Knowing and Guarding Fire! And now Weixi's sudden ambush had an equally obvious objective: use the Knowing and Guarding Fire to obstruct Yaxiu and the others from performing spatial transit, then dive into the Thousand Wishes Heaven to claim both the kingdom and the Dream-Waking God for himself! Yaxiu knew he had been exposed. Weixi had witnessed the birth of the Dream-Waking God with his own eyes; it would be strange if he didn't covet it. If he couldn't keep the Knowing and Guarding Fire, he would seize a Kingdom of Heaven and a god instead! However, in all likelihood, Weixi hadn't overheard Yaxiu and Tamashi's conversation. If he had heard, he would never have dared clash with Yaxiu and the others in Senluo. Because Senluo right now was Tamashi's personal amusement park to act with utter impunity! "Shelter"! Time slowed infinitely, and Weixi's silhouette froze completely. Under the protection of Shelter, the three of Yaxiu spread their void wings and rapidly closed in on the Spectre Prophet. Meanwhile, Tamashi glanced at the surrounding flames and selected a fantasy affix suited for this situation: "Incombustible"! All things are incombustible! Yet just as Yaxiu and the others closed in on Weixi, a loud pop erupted from Weixi's body, and the effect of Shelter abruptly shattered—Weixi actually possessed a defensive miracle specifically countering Senluo fantasy constructs! Then they would overwhelm her with numbers! Illusions surfaced in Igola's eyes as countless Godslayer Yaxius slashed toward Weixi. Miracle: Visualization Superposition! Harvey didn't have time to activate his cold flowing fire, so he had no choice but to use genuine flames. His long fingernails raked five bloody gashes across his arm; the blood dispersed with the sweep of his nails, transforming into five fiery arrows that shot forward! The Blood Flame sorcery spirit and Flame Arrow sorcery spirit left behind by Chikala! Yaxiu gripped Honeyed Words with a Dagger tight and activated "Singular Devotion." Immediately, black sword light manifested across the blade, striking toward Weixi as though bound by heavy chains! Miracle: Hate Sword! A dozen explosive cracks burst from Weixi's back in an instant, remarkably blocking all the assaults. Only Yaxiu's blade struck directly from behind; left with no choice, she could only turn and block the sword light with her sleeve! "Ah?!" Yaxiu looked utterly shocked. "Fire Cat... No, you're Weixi!" The person appearing before Yaxiu right now was not the sinister young man from before, but an elven girl strikingly resembling the Fire Cat God. Yet unlike Fire Cat's spirited vitality, every passing second in her eyes radiated deep, venomous malice. She hissed coldly, "You ruined my plans!" Weixi had actually discarded her original body and been reborn through the Fire Cat God? With a moment's thought, Yaxiu instantly grasped the cause and effect—Weixi's original body was likely that of a Senluo native as well. As a native of Senluo, that body would be pulled by the world-ending ritual. If Weixi couldn't escape, she certainly wouldn't be able to hold out within the ritual. Furthermore, the Knowing and Guarding Fire God could not be taken away, and she happened to know how to reincarnate using a sorcery spirit or god, so she had reincarnated through the god! Yet none of these details mattered! "Weixi, you die today!" Yaxiu pressed Weixi relentlessly, roaring in a low voice. Weixi pressed her lips tight; she did not seem to be one for shouting. Seeing her final flames of Knowing and Guarding easily dispersed by Tamashi, a look of resolute determination showed in her eyes. By now, they were very close to the light portal. However, Tamashi flicked a finger lightly. Just as he had expanded the portal earlier, he could naturally shrink it now! The light portal rapidly contracted, and what lay beneath Yaxiu and Weixi was no longer the portal, but the bottom floor of the Silent Spiral! Right at that moment, Weixi suddenly manifested an Empty Door beneath herself and cast her final divine miracle upon Yaxiu: Daydream! Even without the aid of Prophetic Dream, Daydream could force the target to continue their current course of action for a duration! During this process, the target would awaken upon taking any attack, but its control priority ranked at the pinnacle of demigods! Thus, Weixi effortlessly shook off Yaxiu. A cruel smile spread across her face as she watched this wretch who had ruined her plans plunge straight into the unknown Empty Door! Even if I am merely a destitute demigod remnant soul, I am no target for a mere mortal sorcerer to bully! Seeing this unfold, Tamashi immediately expanded the light portal again, positioning it to cover right in front of Yaxiu—so that Yaxiu would plunge into the Thousand Wishes Heaven instead of entering an unknown portal. However, the light portal and the Empty Door happened to sit on the exact same plane. When the light portal expanded across, it collided directly with the Empty Door. Before this, no two Empty Doors had ever overlapped; even if a sorcerer attempted it, the Empty Doors would shift slightly on their own, never intersecting. Only someone like Tamashi, possessing world administrative authority and able to arbitrarily alter the effects of sorcery spirits via fantasy, could bring about such an extraordinary phenomenon. As the light portal collided with the Empty Door, subtle spatial energies began to intertwine, immediately churning up towering waves of power. Tamashi instinctively retracted the light portal, but the Empty Door had already shattered, releasing a spherical burst of spatial turbulence that swallowed both Yaxiu and Weixi whole! Igola, Harvey, and Tamashi stared blankly at the scene, unable to react for a moment. Yet in the very next second, the necromancer flew straight into the spatial turbulence without the slightest hesitation! Seeing this, Tamashi moved to dive down as well, but Igola blocked him: "The Heaven! You must guard his Thousand Wishes Heaven!" "Why not you?!" Tamashi roared. "I'm not even a sorcerer!" "Because I'm faster than you." Tamashi froze. With a wave of his hand, the deceiver's illusion before him dissolved into nothingness. He remained suspended in the midair of the Silent Spiral, shoulders trembling, mind lost in unknown thoughts. Only after a long while did he pull a new crow mask from his waist pouch and slip it back over his face. ... "Weixi!" Yaxiu snapped awake from the Daydream, immediately tightening his grip on Honeyed Words with a Dagger to fight to the death. Yet the only ones appearing before him were Igola and Harvey. "Our luck isn't bad. The spatial turbulence actually led somewhere normal." Igola examined the passage ahead and behind. "This is probably a subterranean tunnel. Judging from the air currents, it shouldn't be far from the surface." Yaxiu asked blankly, "Where's Weixi?" "Gone," Igola said. "She probably slipped away while you were still dreaming." Yaxiu looked at the two of them, exhaled a long sigh, and sheathed Honeyed Words with a Dagger. "You two really never leave me alone," he said. "Couldn't you be a bit calmer like Tamashi...?" Igola said, "At a time like this, all you need to do is kneel down and kowtow in overwhelming gratitude. No need for so much nonsense." "Let's go," Harvey said. "Let's head outside first to see what the situation is." The three followed the air currents along the passage. The tunnel was narrow and long, yet did not resemble a mine shaft. Although they had arrived in an unknown country, the sorcerers were not particularly worried. After all, with the Empty Door sorcery spirit, crossing between countries had become possible. Furthermore, their strength was all at Sanctuary or above; unless they ran into a Legendary sorcerer, they could roam unhindered even in a strange land. "Could we have arrived in the Gospel Kingdom?" Yaxiu guessed. "If so, then everything is resolved." "Blood Moon works too," Igola said. "I'm actually rather looking forward to meeting some 'old friends.'" "Is it possible that we're already dead and this is Hell?" Harvey offered a rather creative hypothesis. "Impossible, absolutely impossible." Amid their brief discussion, they soon reached the mouth of the cave. Yaxiu was somewhat surprised. "Is it daytime outside?" The light at the cave mouth was bright, yet their bodily senses told them it should be night. Two possibilities existed: one was an artificial light source, and the other was that this country had a significant time zone difference from Senluo... Yet when they stepped out of the cave, they discovered a third possibility. Stars filled the night sky, constellations spread in orderly brilliance, and the Milky Way hung suspended like an inverted river, shining bright as day. It was the most magnificent starry sky they had ever seen. ... Within tottering Senluo, a shaft of silver light pierced heaven and earth, becoming the final pillar of this realm, propping up the crumbling and collapsing kingdom. Amidst the silver light, a little girl lay prone on the ground clutching a doll. She spread open her sorcerer's handbook, took out watercolor markers, and scribbled across the pages. Whenever she finished a page, a new page would appear, as if the sorcerer's handbook continued on indefinitely. Behind her, an illusory dragon seemingly formed from countless shattered mirrors silently watched her creation. Around her lay over a hundred source crystals. Before these source crystals were depleted, she had no need to expend her own energy. Guided by the beams of light, the green-crystal rubble flowed toward the Silver Lantern, but the moment the silver light shone upon them, they dissolved into flying ashes and found release, leaving behind only silent echoes. As time flowed past, Senluo gradually settled into stillness. All colors faded completely away, plunging the world into an endless, quiet solitude. In the pitch-black night, an immature voice whispered softly: "I am Yulanweise..." Amidst the boundless darkness, only a single silver lantern endured. (End of Volume 3)