Chapter 455: Charging into the Demon Mountain

Chapter 455: Charging into the Demon Mountain

"Haaa..." The Noble One let out a long sigh and slowly sat back down in her seat. "Since you are so intelligent, I will tell you the truth."

Chu Liang thought silently, There's no need to flatter me. Even our resident Hou at Silver Sword Peak wouldn't be fooled by such a trick. In fact, even my esteemed teacher wouldn't fall for it.

"Although the prophecy is fake, there is one thing that is true," the Noble One explained. "The Demon Mountain is a foreign being, so the only ones who can destroy it are people who are foreign beings. No matter what we do, we, the people of the Kingdom of the Dream Immortal, cannot destroy it."

"Why is that?" Chu Liang asked. "Aren't those who cultivate Dream Techniques immune to the Nightmare Specters and capable of restraining them?"

"In the Kingdom of the Dream Immortal, each successive Noble One has passed down a secret, the biggest concealed truth of our kingdom. But I suppose this doesn't count as a secret to you outsiders."

Chu Liang had a rough guess of what the Noble One wanted to say. "You mean..."

"The Kingdom of the Dream Immortal... and the whole world we live in... It's all just a grand dream," the Noble One said grimly.

Her expression darkened slightly.

It was clear that she found this to be an extremely cruel truth. No one would wish for their world to be a mere dream. Everything was an illusion. The view of the world that the Noble One had believed to be true for the first half of her life had collapsed.

Chu Liang, however, was not surprised; this was exactly what he had suspected.

The people staying in the Kingdom of the Dream Immortal had been born here, so they believed everything in the world they had grown up in was the same as everywhere else. It was normal to them, and they never had any reason to doubt it.

However, it had been easy for someone like Chu Liang, who was from the outside world, to figure that out.

"Huh?" Tang Shi was utterly astonished, Her eyes widened with shock as she looked around. "This place is actually a dream?"

It seemed the situation was a bit too difficult for the young lady to understand though...

"The Noble Dream Immortal was a powerful... cultivator from the outside world. That's what you call people like him, right? Cultivators?" the Noble One said. Then she continued, "When his lifespan was nearing its end, he chose to use his lifetime's worth of cultivation energy to create this grand dream, a dream containing his ideal world."

"The Kingdom of the Dream Immortal is indeed an ideal world." Chu Liang nodded in agreement. "The people here live happy, blessed lives. So what if it is just a dream?"

In fact, how could anyone be certain that the outside world wasn't merely someone's grand dream too? The affairs of the world were as fleeting and illusory as dreams; the only things that were real were the emotions that the people felt. As for everything else, who could say for certain what was real?

The Noble One replied, "That was how we lived in the Kingdom of the Dream Immortal, and it was indeed a great way to live. However, that ended three thousand years ago when the Demon Mountain descended. Its true form is a powerful demon called the Nightmare Demon King... It might not be much weaker than the Noble Dream Immortal. Fortunately, the Nightmare Demon King was heavily injured and on the brink of death when it arrived. Otherwise, it would have destroyed our kingdom straightaway."

The Noble One's eyes gleamed with anger. "However, Nightmare Specters are creatures that feed on dreams. By parasitizing the Noble Dream Immortal's dream, the Nightmare Demon King can devour everything within it. The Nightmare Specters that the Nightmare Demon King spawns continually invade the kingdom and slaughter our people..."

"In our world, whenever a person dies, a baby is born, so the population never decreases..." The Noble One looked earnestly at Chu Liang and Tang Shi. "But ever since the Nightmare Demon King descended, our population has dwindled by more than half in these three thousand years."

Chu Liang thought, So, the Nightmare Specters can kill the people of the Kingdom of the Dream Immortal? The elderly physician from the medicinal hall didn't mention this. If this news spread, it would undoubtedly cause massive panic. Those Nightmare Beasts... they truly have the power to destroy this world!

The Noble One continued, "The Nightmare Beasts feed on the people of the Kingdom of the Dream Immortal, and those they kill can never be reborn. After killing our people, the Nightmare Beasts grow even stronger. They are devouring the power of this dream world!"

The more she explained, the more upset she got. "We've worked hard to fight back against the Nightmare Beasts, but people still get killed. If this continues, we won't have many years left until they've devoured the entire world. By then, the dream-devouring Nightmare Demon King will awaken fully and return to the outside world.

"That's why we've tried numerous times to eliminate the Nightmare Demon King, but our Dream Techniques become ineffective as soon as they reach the vicinity of the Demon Mountain. Moreover, our holy envoys are not skilled in combat."

She finally confessed, "That's why only cultivators from the outside world can eliminate the Nightmare Demon King. And the two of you are cultivators from the outside."

Chu Liang and Tang Shi fell silent for a moment.

Chu Liang was contemplating their next move, while Tang Shi was processing all the information they had just received. This much information was probably overloading her little brain.

The two of them leaped onto the Demon Mountain. Black winds howled, and evil entities sprang up all around them! Specters filled with malevolent qi had emerged!

These were Chimei Wangliang[1], the specters residing on the outermost part of the Demon Mountain. They had a mystical dream-manipulation ability, but they were not particularly strong in combat.

Chu Liang summoned the Dustless Sword, and it instantly split into hundreds of sword lights, crisscrossing through the air. In the blink of an eye, all the Chimei Wangliang that had surrounded them were slain.

Tang Shi had raised her long spear into the air, but the fight was already over before she could even make a move.

"Don't worry about it. I'll handle it," Chu Liang said with a smile.

These Chimei Wangliang were evil entities, so killing them would produce phantoms for Chu Liang. They were weak and unlikely to yield anything valuable, but even the smallest gain was still worth something.

After wiping out the Chimei Wangliang, Chu Liang and Tang Shi continued climbing the mountain. Before they even reached halfway up, rumbling rang out above.

A black cloud emerged overhead, blocking out the sky!

No... it was a massive flock of crows!

"Caw, caw, caw!"

The crows' shrill cries ripped through the sky. Those who heard the cries would suddenly feel irritated, so much so that anything they looked at would make them feel angry.

Chu Liang swiftly realized that this was a mystical ability pretty much the same as one of his items, the Chain of Resentment. It made people angry, causing them to lose their sense of reason.

Fortunately, Chu Liang and Tang Shi had the jade pendants protecting them, so the crows' cries didn't have much effect on them. They just found the crows noisy.

So, Chu Liang raised his hand and unleashed a stream of crimson-gold flames that filled the sky! It was Divine Dragon Fire!

In an instant, the sky was ablaze. The flock of crows scattered in an attempt to flee, but it was too late. With the Divine Dragon Fire and the countless sword lights chasing them down, not a single crow could escape this calamity.

Chu Liang wiped them out with a clean finish.

After hearing the crows' screeches of agony, Tang Shi couldn't help but furrow her brows with a hint of pity.

Chu Liang is always so excessive when dealing with such small monsters.

Done with the crows, Chu Liang and Tang Shi moved on and finally reached a cave at the mountain's peak. The Nightmare Demon King's true form was inside this cave...

"Once we're inside, be careful," Chu Liang urged.

Tang Shi nodded firmly. "Understood!"

Then they leaped down!

The cave seemed like a bottomless pit. They fell for a long time... The fall lasted for so long that Tang Shi almost fell asleep before they finally landed.

Thud, thud.

Before they could even take in their surroundings, they heard a surprised voice. "Young Hero Chu, why are you here?"

Tang Shi shifted her gaze toward the voice and found that it belonged to Ji Lingyu.

Chimei Wangliang are monsters of the mountains and monsters of the rivers. ☜