Chapter 1552: Eternal Sky, A Scroll

A soft glow emanated from the depths of the Path of Reincarnation, like a golden sea shimmering and rippling under the morning light, spreading out to cleanse the human realm.

"The heavens and all realms across eternity are but a single painting. You and I are not real; we are all illusions, merely a dream. Now, the dream is over."

Jiudao Yi's voice echoed, tinged with sorrow and a helpless longing for this world, sending shivers down humanity's spine. His words were profoundly impactful, chilling people to the bone and causing waves of dread.

"The dream is over..." Like an incantation, these words unfurled and spread, swirling through the void. It resonated like the tolling of a bell at dawn and dusk, stirring souls and disrupting everyone's dreams. In that moment, many evolutionaries trembled, then seemed to reach a profound realization.

Chu Feng experienced a profound awakening, as if enlightened by a divine revelation. He suddenly felt that he had long been trapped in slumber and was now finally about to awaken.

"Dong!"

As if a mighty bell boomed in his ears, light gradually appeared before his eyes, as if about to pierce through a window pane and reveal the world outside.

"You're awake!" A voice called out near his ear. The scent of disinfectant, not pleasant, filled his nostrils. Chu Feng slowly opened his eyes, which were still blurry. He could vaguely make out white walls. Where was he?

"Chu Feng, you're finally awake, thank goodness!" Someone exclaimed joyfully.

"Traveling alone, venturing to Mount Kunlun by yourself—you have too much guts! This time you accidentally tumbled down a slope; it was quite perilous," someone beside him remarked.

Chu Feng was bewildered. Where was this? Was he in a hospital?

Before him were a few familiar faces. Ye Xuan, a quiet college classmate with whom he often played soccer, was looking at him nervously.

And Su Lingxi, a beautiful classmate who had left a deep impression. She was stunning, with a hint of coolness, always neat and decisive in everything she did, and very carefree.

"Chu Feng, don't overthink this—it's not like you. You two just had an amicable breakup; it wasn't a terrible heartbreak, was it? If something had happened to you this time, people would genuinely think you were distraught and jumped off a mountain. You'd probably make the news: 'During graduation season, a young man named Chu, heartbroken, leaps from Mount Kunlun.' How sensational would that be? People usually jump from buildings, but you chose the Ancestor of Ten Thousand Mountains, the Source of Dragon Veins. Is this glorifying Kunlun, or giving it a bad name?"

Su Lingxi smiled sweetly, deliberately feigning indifference and showing Chu Feng no mercy.

Chu Feng was in a daze; his mind couldn't quite process it. This was Earth, and he was in a hospital? And he had only just graduated, and only recently broken up with Lin Nuoyi?

Ye Xuan said, "The doctor says you're fine. Your head injury isn't severe, and there won't be any lasting effects. But your parents were worried sick. Your uncle and auntie were completely exhausted after taking care of you for a full day and night, so we just convinced them to go get some rest."

Chu Feng felt a slight pain in his temples. After a moment of calm, he looked at the people nearby. Their faces were unchanged, still possessing the youthful appearance they had right after graduation. Why did he always feel as if many years had passed? Yet, they hadn't gained any new signs of maturity, remaining as warm and familiar as ever.

Then, in an instant, Chu Feng was completely stunned. He was in a hospital. He had fallen from Mount Kunlun and had been unconscious until just now?

As if a lightning bolt had struck, countless images flashed through his mind. Then, he quickly activated his breathing technique! But there was no power; he couldn't feel it! Was everything different from what he had imagined? The so-called evolution, the Minor Netherworld, and the Yang Realm, all the bizarre and fantastical creatures, all the divine beings and monsters—were they all fake, merely a dream?!

He couldn't reconcile himself with this. Why had it felt so incredibly real? In his dream, many years ago, his evolution had indeed begun on Kunlun, and the world's transformations had likewise commenced at that very time. Now... it all aligned. All of it was merely his dream, a magnificent yet bloody tale—all illusory. Were those just someone else's joys and sorrows? The reality was that he had suffered an accident on Kunlun and fallen unconscious. Now, his body, driven by instinct and self-preservation, had, at a critical moment, been jolted awake from a vegetative state by terrifying experiences and stimuli within his dream?

Chu Feng's face paled, filled with regret and an unwillingness to let go. In his dream, he had countless friends, so many "stories," and so many partings, reunions, and past events. He couldn't let go; he was truly reluctant.

After a long while, he finally looked at the people before him.

"It's been a long time; I've missed you all." Chu Feng spoke with emotion. After all these years apart—in his dream, it felt like more than a decade had passed. What's more, in his dream, he had embarked on the path of evolution and became a highly notorious "trafficker," impossible to ignore, truly "renowned" throughout the starry sky. To avoid implicating more people, he tried his best to stay away. Ultimately, he had even entered the Yang Realm, separating from them for countless years. Now, seeing them again felt incredibly comforting.

"Why are you acting strange? It hasn't been long since we graduated, and we're meeting again so soon. You're not even old yet, and you're already living in memories?" Ye Xuan teased.

The dream was over, and everything had ended. Chu Feng sighed. Why was he so reluctant to let go of that bizarre and fantastical world?

"Zhuangzi dreamed he was a butterfly, and a butterfly dreamed he was Zhuangzi. I see, I hear, I am seen, I am heard—how do I choose?" Chu Feng murmured, then, exerting every fiber of his being, mobilizing his consciousness and all his physical strength, he let out a low roar. "I choose that this place is the dream, and the exotic realm is not an illusion!"

Then, his body began to radiate light, and white mist flowed in and out of his mouth and nose as he successfully activated his breathing technique. He gently pointed his hand forward, and those friends, those classmates, like fleeting bubbles, shattered and dissipated.

"May you all be well!" Chu Feng cried out, breaking free from the luminous curtain before him.

Then, he revived and returned, standing once again before the Two-Worlds Battlefield. He felt a hint of melancholy, acknowledging that he had been away from Earth for a long time and truly wished to visit it.

Before him, the scene was strange, even terrifying!

Within the Path of Reincarnation, shimmering waves, sacred and immense, spread out to envelop the entire Two-Worlds Battlefield. Everyone present was entranced, lost in a daze. Chu Feng had fully recovered. The recent experience only caused him a moment of bewilderment and brief confusion, as he had encountered similar events before. Yet, what he saw at that moment was that some individuals were indeed fading, on the verge of disappearing!

"This is..." Chu Feng gasped, feeling a chill. A thunderclap boomed in his ear, simultaneously causing excruciating pain in his eyes, almost to the point of bleeding. Was this forbidden, anomalous sight something he was unable to scrutinize?

Deep within the Path of Reincarnation, Jiudao Yi appeared desolate and utterly deranged, proclaiming, "The vast expanse of eternity is but a single painting. We are all false, merely figures within that picture, imprints of history, the grief recorded by time!"

Like a peal of thunder, like a heavenly tribulation, his words were profoundly unsettling, jarring many awake in an instant. Soon, everyone recovered from their unusual state, and the area erupted into a clamor. Chu Feng couldn't see, his eyes throbbing intensely. Many others were in the same predicament; they could perceive blurry figures around them but couldn't make them out distinctly.

"Old ghost who studied time and left behind decayed scriptures, you really are dead too, huh!" Jiudao Yi's voice was heard. Standing deep within the Path of Reincarnation, he gazed at the short old man not far away, the one who had forcibly taken the Martial Madman as his Daoist attendant.

The short old man, momentarily dazed, now regained his composure and retorted, "What nonsense are you spouting? I have comprehended the mysteries of time runes; I am already immortal and imperishable, existing for all eternity!"

"Look, this is the true world." Jiudao Yi pointed at him, and the shimmering waves, like a cleansing tide, enveloped the old man. "Look," he continued, "your face is covered in blood. You died countless years ago. Everything you feel, everything you are experiencing now—it's all false."

"Nonsense!" Time runes bloomed in the short old man's eyes, and his aura surged dramatically, elevating his energy level by a significant margin!

"The time scriptures you left behind have long since rotted away. Didn't that make you reconsider?" Jiudao Yi sighed. "You yourself died; what remained was merely a testament, your final insights and realizations."

"They are all dead, their faces covered in blood, most having lost all vitality." Jiudao Yi let out a long sigh, filled with boundless grief and despondency. Had he truly glimpsed the world's ultimate truth?

"Fellow Daoist, you've gone insane. The mountains and rivers remain, and though life is impermanent, it continues to function," spoke the ghost-like black figure from not far away. He was suspected to hail from the Fallen Immortal Realm. Moreover, some True Immortals believed he might be one of the few legendary beings from the Fallen Immortal Royal Clan who had reached the absolute apex of their power! Furthermore, some Fallen True Immortals considered him to be one of those supreme fallen powerhouses who had irrevocably plunged into darkness, never to return, and never willing to look back on their past.

"What are we?!" Jiudao Yi peered into the profound depths of the Path of Reincarnation, then turned his gaze to the vast outer territories. "What are we," he questioned, "if not figures within a painting, splattered with ink, leaving only shadowy imprints?"

From afar, Chu Feng was shocked. What had he just heard? Jiudao Yi was muttering like a madman, as if he had suffered a profound shock. And he hadn't finished speaking, still growling softly. According to Jiudao Yi, the eternal sky was merely a scroll painting, and all its mountains, rivers, landscapes, and living beings were simply painted onto it. This was utterly horrifying, inspiring profound dread!

"You've truly gone astray," the founder of the Time Scripture, the short old man who had revived from the renowned mountain, stated gravely. "Look closely at this world; it is so vibrant." He was unsettled, but even more, he was unwilling to accept it, pressing further to discern the truth hidden deep within the Path of Reincarnation.

"Perhaps I'm overstating it, but this analogy isn't far off," Jiudao Yi's voice was low and heavy with dejection. "I'm slowly starting to understand why *that one* is neither in ancient history nor discernible in the future. You and I are both dead. The entire world has perished. Perhaps we are all... merely conjured by *that one*!"

It was an absolute thunderclap, making everyone's ears ring. This was too dreadful, too appalling, causing the evolutionaries on the Two-Worlds Battlefield to feel chills from head to toe, their hair standing on end. Chu Feng's scalp went numb, followed by a tingling sensation in his very brain. A cold shiver ran through him, then a jolt like an electric current. This was utterly terrifying, beyond imagination, shaking his soul to its core. He considered many possibilities: Earth was in a cycle of reincarnation, certain past events continually repeating, and he had been born on Earth. What did all of this portend? He didn't completely believe Jiudao Yi's words, but he accepted parts of the dubious truth.

"We, who once existed, have all died, leaving behind only faint traces, not even worthy of being called imprints. Could it be that *that one*, in their true form, is enacting reincarnation to reverse everything, and we are merely figures in a painting conjured by them along the way?" At this moment, Jiudao Yi muttered, constantly speculating, continuously hypothesizing about something. Jiudao Yi was certain of one thing: he himself should truly be dead. He, who was once just a soldier, might have perished in battle many eons ago. But what about *that one*? After their true body entered reincarnation, have they not yet returned? Or did they suffer an accident and dissipate? Or have they once again transcended and departed?

At this moment, millions of miles away, in the mysterious void beyond the Yang Realm, both the Dog Emperor and the Corrupted Corpse's faces went blank. They then exchanged glances, feeling waves of heart-pounding fear. They both turned their gaze towards Jiudao Yi, always feeling a chill.

"Woof, that old skin is mad!" the black dog snarled. "He might be dead, but how can he claim that all the heavens and myriad realms are dead too? At least I'm still alive!"

"You're merely clinging to life, dog!" The Corrupted Corpse cast a glance at it, then, invoking immense divine power, whispered a telepathic message to Jiudao Yi deep within the Path of Reincarnation. He wanted to understand the situation.

"Dog, and you dead, fat Corrupted Corpse Daoist," Jiudao Yi replied, "you are all figures in a painting, all conjured by others. And if you ever truly existed, you died long, long ago."

"Bull... *immortal qi*!" The Dog Emperor roared in fury, quickly correcting himself mid-sentence. How could it possibly accept the notion that it was dead!

"You and I are both colors splattered onto a scroll painting!" Jiudao Yi shook his head.

"Unleash... this Emperor's... *immortal qi*!"

"This is an illusory realm; nothing is true. The entirety of ancient history is like this," Jiudao Yi sighed deeply, looking up at the sky.

"Absolute nonsense!" the Dog Emperor demanded fiercely. "If what you say is true, then are the three Heavenly Emperors of history, the supreme existences, also false? Were they, too, merely conjured into existence, just like you and me?!"

"Perhaps. I don't know," Jiudao Yi sighed gloomily. Finally, he looked at the Two-Worlds Battlefield, gazing at the shadowy evolutionaries. The faces of some beings were caked in thick blood, appearing ghastly and grim. In the distance, a blood-red moon hung horizontally, and the heavens and earth were inverted.

Jiudao Yi's mood was incredibly low, saying, "Hell is empty, and all the devils are here."