Chapter 351: Between Two Worlds

Hearing Yu Sheng's words, Luna seemed to understand their meaning in an instant and quickly accepted and adapted to the situation.

Seeing her reaction, Yu Sheng's guess was quickly confirmed—his judgment was correct; this "Artificial Saintess" had indeed undergone some fundamental change after her resurrection.

"I saw the entirety of your battle just now," he said to the female knight before him, "I mean, your battle on the 'other side'."

As he spoke, he simultaneously recalled the scenes he had "seen" through the blood connection while fighting those black-robed cultivators just now.

While engaging those enemies, Luna had simultaneously opened two battlefields.

In the dimension of the living and the material, her enemies faced a ghost-like "Artificial Saintess," while in the other dimension belonging to souls, Luna and her Brass Knight Order simultaneously launched an attack on the enemies' souls; in terms of the result, this ability was obviously eerie and deadly.

There is probably no one in this world who could easily adapt to such an eerie fighting style, or rather, normal people simply cannot imagine facing such a bizarre situation—even cultivators with immense strength, no matter how much their souls and willpower exceed those of ordinary people, would find it difficult to react immediately; the tearing of their minds and perceptions would leave them unable to accurately judge where they currently were, and before they figured out the situation, either their bodies or their souls would already be defeated.

And Luna's ability clearly did not appear for the first time today; as early as when Yu Sheng first saw the figure by the bonfire in that nameless wilderness, she had already been "over there," and now it seemed she might have been in that wilderness all along, never leaving since that day—including when she was moving around in the real world in the guise of an "Artificial Saintess."

But no one discovered this, because Luna herself never mentioned it, until today.

"I always felt like I was simultaneously in two worlds," the knight maiden holding the holy sword slowly spoke, "one world is gray but peaceful, with vast plains, wind blowing through unknown tall grass, and the river of souls reflecting in the sky like a great river, while the other world is bright and noisy, with many new friends; you are over there, and Hu Li, and that noisy little dwarf..."

Yu Sheng had been listening seriously, but upon hearing the last sentence, he couldn't hold back: "Watch your words on that last part! If Erin hears it, she'll probably curse so badly... you two fight eight hundred times a day..."

Luna laughed upon hearing this, her eyes flashing with the mischief that should naturally belong to her age when teasing friends: "The little dwarf is interesting; poke him and he jumps."

A subtle expression appeared on Yu Sheng's face; looking at Luna's eyes at that moment, he suddenly understood something: "So you usually provoke her on purpose?"

"Yes," Luna nodded, "who else but her for bullying me about being slow to react all the time?"

Yu Sheng instinctively turned his head to look at the two Einers standing not far away—two small dolls frozen in the black-and-white-gray world background, still maintaining the posture from the instant the Vision of the Dead descended, looking utterly silly.

He turned his head again to look at Luna, who was smiling proudly before him, and for a moment felt it was somewhat unreal.

Mainly because he was used to the other party's slow, occasionally freezing "Artificial Saintess" form; now suddenly the other party's mouth was quick, her face had expressions, and her movements were smooth, and he was quite unaccustomed to it.

"So your inner monologue is usually so rich," Yu Sheng muttered a complaint, and then instinctively looked at Luna a few more times, murmuring as if talking to himself, "... so what is the principle behind this?"

"I don't know," Luna slowly shook her head, "when I awoke from the Holy Coffin, the world before my eyes was already like this."

"Have those 'knights' always been with you?"

"Yes, in that wilderness, I guarded the bonfire you left behind with them." Luna nodded very seriously.

"What about the river of souls reflecting in the sky you mentioned just now?" Yu Sheng pondered for a moment and asked curiously again, "Is that also in that wilderness?"

Luna looked as if it was the most natural thing in the world: "Yes."

Yu Sheng frowned.

He realized that the world in his eyes and the world in Luna's eyes were still different.

Even though they were looking at the same wilderness, even though this "female knight" had now stepped into the Vision of the Dead just like him.

Such things did not seem to be happening for the first time—the same thing presenting different appearances in his eyes and in the eyes of others; over time, he even felt that this "difference in vision" seemed like some fundamental rule of this world, and even felt... this world just operates this way.

"... Yu Sheng? What's wrong?" Luna, seeing Yu Sheng suddenly fall silent, broke the silence with some concern.

"... Nothing." Yu Sheng waved his hand; he knew there were countless secrets in this world, and there were always many strange, inexplicable things around him, but obviously there was no time to research these now.

His attention was still focused on the "dead" in this black-and-white world.

Approaching the black-robed cultivator, Yu Sheng extended his foot and kicked the other party's body.

"Wake up, we've been chatting beside you for so long, and you still don't plan to open your eyes?"

The "corpse" lying on the ground remained motionless at first, but Yu Sheng waited patiently—he knew not all the dead would cooperate with his conversation; the Angel cultists before had even resisted him with their will after death, but as time passed, this resistance would eventually gradually weaken.

After a moment, that cold shell finally twitched slightly.

The dead awoke; the black-robed man, who had been struck down by Xuan Che using the doctor-patient relationship correction palm, stiffly sat up, his eyes beneath the mask filled with confusion and shock.

He seemed not to have grasped the situation yet, but a few short seconds later, the memory and cognition of death came like a tide, washing over the remaining mind in that shell.

A muffled, hoarse voice came from beneath the mask, sounding like an angry curse, or perhaps just the delirium of the dead speaking unconsciously.

"Answer a few questions, and eternal peace will be left for you," Yu Sheng spoke in a low voice, guiding the dead man's muddled mind, "Who are you? What is your purpose?"

The black-robed man slowly raised his head; beneath the mask, a pair of eyes looked as if they were immersed in mud, completely turbid; he was still resisting, making strange, hoarse "heh-heh" sounds from his throat; after repeating several times, Yu Sheng finally heard a few broken words clearly: "... Legacy of the Emperor... gradually awakening... seeking opportunity..."

"Legacy of the Emperor?" Yu Sheng instinctively captured the most critical part of those words from the other party, "What does 'Legacy of the Emperor' mean?"

The black-robed man's throat emitted hoarse "heh-heh" sounds again; it seemed some words had become taboos in his spiritual intelligence; even after death, the corresponding information was still tightly imprisoned deep within his remaining reason, difficult to speak out.

Yu Sheng could only try to guide the dead man to continue revealing information: "This foreign realm, does it hide some kind of 'legacy'? Did you come for that legacy?"

The dead man's body trembled; he nodded with difficulty, but the next second he started shaking his head, and the words he spoke were confusing—

"If he awakens... the world will be utterly destroyed..."

Immediately after, the voice coming from beneath the mask became muffled and hoarse again, difficult to hear clearly.

Yu Sheng asked a few more questions, but could basically only hear some broken delirium—the mind of this cultivator was indeed resilient; even now, he was still desperately resisting the guidance and questioning of the "conversation with the dead," and this strong resistance in turn rapidly consumed his remaining soul; watching as his "body" showed signs of gradually falling apart.

Judging that the time for questioning was running out, Yu Sheng could only quickly ask the final question: "The entrance to this foreign realm has been sealed; how did you get in?"

As soon as this question was asked, the black-robed cultivator's shell cracked open with terrifying fissures, and dust rose from within; accompanying the dead man rapidly turning to ash, a final, indistinct whisper finally came from beneath the mask: "... Emperor's Illusory Dream... not just one place..."

The next second, the monotonous black-and-white-gray world quietly shattered; the conversation with the dead ended.

Yu Sheng looked up, seeing the colors in his vision rapidly restore, hearing the wind sound again beside his ears; the golden-haired maiden knight disappeared before his eyes, while the tall "Artificial Saintess" not far away slowly turned her head and waved toward this side.

On the pale metal face, that smile seemed to have warmth as well.

Erin ran over first, grabbing Yu Sheng's clothes and climbing up: "Hey hey hey, Yu Sheng, what did you get out of them? Did the dead confess? There are still a few lying over here; why don't you ask them too? It's just that these few were killed by the C-type clasp, their deaths weren't very peaceful, so I don't know if they can still be used. Over there is one Hu Li stepped on; he's a bit flat, but he has arms and legs..."

The little doll's noisy voice was like a sandstorm blowing in a gentle spring day, instantly blowing Yu Sheng out of the overly silent and cold atmosphere of the "Vision of the Dead"; he casually pressed Erin onto his shoulder, then turned his head to look at Xuan Che, who was showing curiosity on the side: "Have you ever heard of the term 'Legacy of the Emperor'?"

Upon hearing this, Xuan Che was stunned: "Legacy of the Emperor?"

Then he thought carefully and slowly shook his head: "I have never heard of it."

"Then it seems we'll have to ask your master when we get back; the most valuable intelligence I got from that dead man's mouth is this term," Yu Sheng said, exhaling lightly, "Also, I might know how these black-robed cultivators managed to sneak in even after you sealed the entrance to the foreign realm."

Xuan Che's expression immediately became serious: "How did they get in?!"

"This person spoke mystically, but if I understood correctly, this 'foreign realm'... probably has more than one entrance."

(End of Chapter)