Chapter 2752: Only Bliss and Tranquility, Eternal and Free from Fatigue and Pain

Ge Mu could stride a hundred zhang in a single step; logically, half a step should bring it right before Shangguan Biao.

But this time, for some unknown reason, no matter how hard it pushed itself to run wildly, the distance between it and Shangguan Biao could not be narrowed by even a single chi!

It refused to believe it, leaping again with all its might, yet after landing, it still remained more than ten zhang away from Shangguan Biao—neither near nor far.

What is going on?

"You stone-headed blockhead, you're truly single-minded." Shangguan Biao laughed, "Before you exert all your strength to leave the underground, don't you even think about what place this is above?"

Since it couldn't close the distance, Ge Mu stopped its steps, lashed out with two heavy punches onto the ground, intending to shatter the entire valley.

With its brute strength, let alone a mere valley—it could collapse an entire mountain range.

The valley trembled violently, startling countless butterflies into flight.

The butterfly swarms fluttered gracefully across the entire valley, blotting out the sky and sun.

In all of Ge Mu's experience, it had never seen such a vast butterfly swarm.

Was it a million, or ten million?

It seemed as if every butterfly were purple, identical in appearance.

As they fluttered, they shed butterfly powder from their wings.

The entire valley was soon showered with falling purple powder, like pastries dusted with purple sugar.

It was perfectly even—every corner of the valley was touched by the butterfly powder.

Ge Mu's body, too, inevitably became stained with the purple powder.

This scene felt dreamlike and illusory, yet in Ge Mu's eyes, it was strangely inexplicable.

Soon, the butterfly swarm flew to Shangguan Biao's rear and rapidly coalesced into a colossal purple Butterfly King.

Its form was so vast it could cover nearly half the valley.

Ge Mu also noticed that the valley had not cracked open; the fissures in the ground existed for only a dozen or so breaths before sealing themselves automatically.

Moreover, the chasm it had leapt out of had vanished as well!

The ground behind Shangguan Biao was as flat as if it had been planed by a blade.

The ground fissures had been smoothed over.

What in the world is this place!

Catching Ge Mu's gaze, Shangguan Biao tilted his head slightly:

"That fissure below is your dream! It has been striving to protect you, yet you, its master, are bent on escaping it with all your heart."

Ge Mu started in shock: "What did you say!"

Isn't that underground realm Shangguan Biao's void domain? It refuses to believe it.

Not a single word of Shangguan Biao's can be trusted!

"To fall for this so easily—no wonder you've been toyed with by Shangguan Biao for thousands of years." Shangguan Biao's words unexpectedly shifted into a female voice, "Now rest well. Look, in my Purple Flower Dream Mirage, there are also Golden Dew Lotuses."

Ge Mu stared intently—amidst the endless mountains and valleys of flowers, where was the alfalfa? Unbeknownst to when, they had transformed into Golden Dew Lotuses!

As the wind blew, the golden lotuses nodded repeatedly, their soothing fragrance drifting to every corner of the valley.

"Who are you!" Ge Mu actually felt its mind grow unusually heavy, unsure whether it was from inhaling too much floral scent or carrying too much butterfly powder—it felt a bit dazed, "You are not Shangguan Biao."

"Shangguan Biao has already died at the hands of Jiuyou, but he can always revive in my world." "Shangguan Biao" slowly approached Ge Mu, its form shifting simultaneously—growing taller, its figure becoming somewhat graceful, yet due to backlighting, Ge Mu could not see its face, "I am Huan Le. Welcome to my Dream Realm!"

Dream Realm? Ge Mu lunged forward and swung a fierce punch at the figure, but discovered its punch wind dissipated after less than one zhang.

At the same time, the figure's form loomed ever larger in Ge Mu's vision. Ge Mu even had to crane its neck upward to look at it!

Had Ge Mu shrunk, or had the figure grown?

Now, from its perspective, the absurdly vast butterfly wings behind Huan Le unfolded slowly, gently flapping, and in an instant covered half the sky.

With each flap, a gale erupted!

Ge Mu could not withstand it, raising its arms to block the wind. Meanwhile, the purple snow in the valley swirled down and completely settled upon it.

Miscalculated—it had miscalculated again!

Ge Mu truly wanted to raise its hands and slap itself hard. It now finally understood: the underground world was its own dream, and the enemy Huan Le had been trying all along to lure it out of the depths, while it had foolishly walked into the trap.

The underground world had exerted all its strength to retain Ge Mu, precisely to protect its master—hence those chains had pulled it back with all their might.

It was its own stubbornness, treating itself as a ravine, insisting on breaking free from its own territory, leaping into the enemy's snare!

Now Ge Mu's own dream had already sealed shut—it could not return.

At this moment, what Ge Mu hated most was itself:

Having dealt with Shangguan Biao and Jiuyou for so long, why hadn't it properly learned their arts of illusion and reality, truth and falsehood?

Shangguan Biao is a master of manipulating Secret Realms; Jiuyou needs no further mention. If they were here, how could they have so easily fallen into the enemy's trap?

"Sleep." Huan Le's divine voice entered Ge Mu's ears, growing soft and gentle, "Sleep in peace. The Purple Flower Mirage holds only bliss and tranquility, eternal and free from fatigue and pain."

￥￥￥￥￥

Mingke Xianren was monitoring the two armies clashing outside Kunlong Gully when a small stone figure suddenly emerged from the side, its eyes flashing red light:

"Alert! Three uninvited guests have appeared outside the Panzhe Ruins!"

"What?" Mingke Xianren startled, "Let me see."

The Ge Mu Plain still retained a few ruins; originally, He Lingchuan had used the Panzhe Ruins to disguise a sea island on land while scheming against the Lingyun Palace immortals and demons. It lies in the southeastern corner of the Ge Mu Plain.

The small stone figure pressed its hand against the stone wall, and the wall surface instantly turned illusory, revealing a scene:

Outside the ruins, three figures were sprinting rapidly, all appearing unfamiliar.

Though only an image, Mingke Xianren still sensed ill intent from them.

How did these three get in?

"Seize them! Is the No-Fly No-Escape Barrier still active?"

"It is active."

The Mother Earth Plain has its own barrier; aside from those born with wings, no one can fly within it.

At the same time, once an outsider intrudes into the barrier—whether a demonic beast or a cultivator—it is very easy for the avatar left by Mother Earth to detect them.

That is why Immortal Mingke finds it strange: how did these three enter the barrier silently and without triggering an alarm, only to activate the little stone men upon reaching the ground?

When they attacked Yujing City back then, he followed He Lingchuan in stealth, knowing that any barrier rule would have loopholes, impossible to guard against completely. So these three must have thoroughly studied the barrier's loopholes to infiltrate.

In other words, they came prepared.

And that barrier cannot be deciphered in a short time, so these three have been secretly calculating all along.

Upon realizing this, Immortal Mingke said to the Lord of Mature Earth:

"Those who come ill-intentioned—bring fifty more people. And be extremely careful."

The Lord of Mature Earth was about to agree when the little stone man spoke again: "From three people becoming thirty, thirty-nine, forty..."

Just as it began speaking, Immortal Mingke turned to look, only to see the person in the center of the image seemingly take out a magical artifact and shake it lightly a few times, whereupon more than ten people appeared beside him; shaking it a few more times, another dozen or so appeared!