Chapter 368: Surging Forward

Yu Sheng suddenly opened his eyes.

But he saw only a chaotic, hazy radiance—as if something had formed a thick curtain that interfered with everything from sight to hearing to spiritual intuition, blocking all attempts to pierce through and spy; he could not see clearly on the other side, the sounds reaching his ears were a dull roar, and he could only vaguely judge that countless shadowy figures were moving on the other side of that curtain.

He felt himself drifting like wind through countless faceless crowds, yet suddenly his perspective shot upward, becoming a view from above looking down on everything; immediately after, he felt as if he had become one of those people, waiting solemnly and gravely for something to happen.

And all of this was shrouded by the thick curtain.

He saw those blurred figures surrounding an extremely massive object, as if forming a formation, while others commanded something in the air; from time to time, streams of light flew toward that colossal thing, lighting up patterns on its surface.

He heard vague voices coming from beside his ears—

"... Send to the Nine Heavens... If all is well... Wait until the mountains and rivers are reshaped..."

Immediately, the scene before Yu Sheng's eyes shook violently again; the surroundings rapidly grew dark as if night had fallen. While he was still thinking about what had happened, he saw countless fireflies flying toward the sky, and many colossal objects mixed among those "fireflies"; some, by their outlines, looked like towers and palaces, others appeared to be floating mountains and islands, and there were even sky-swallowing beasts emitting long, low moans in the high heavens.

Urgent drumbeats began to sound: boom, boom, boom, boom.

But Yu Sheng quickly realized those were not drumbeats; they were his own heartbeats.

His heart was beating rapidly involuntarily; blood surged against his eardrums, transmitting the phantom sound of "boom, boom, boom," while a powerful "will" continuously rose within his mind, piercing straight into his brain as if crossing time and space—

Hurry, hurry, hurry.

Use every method, use every method; no matter which one works, try it.

The Emperor has issued an order: saturation self-preservation.

Saturation self-preservation, hold up the sky curtain, release the Immortal Ships, sacrifice oneself to merge with the Dao, dismantle tendons and bones to melt into the earth veins, dig holes underground, carve words on stones, leave inscriptions in the planetary core, leave a roar in the world between heaven and earth, fly outward, fly as far as possible; dig downward, dig as deep as possible...

Each performs their duty, each performs their duty; the Emperor has issued an order!

The intense will roared like a wild wind within the mind; the fierce tide of thought formed by hundreds of millions seemed to create some kind of powerful force field, passively "radiating" its power outward.

But Yu Sheng was not affected by this power; he was still trying to observe the surroundings, wanting to pierce through that thick curtain and see clearly what situation lay on the other side.

However, just at that moment, he suddenly sensed something.

His "gaze" instantly fell upon another location outside the curtain.

There was an individual there, an individual that seemed to be acting independently... a "mind."

Yu Sheng was startled in his heart; at first, he thought it was some existence within the curtain that had detected his spying and emerged from history, but very quickly he realized that this abruptly appearing individual was not part of the curtain, but rather a "spy" similar to himself.

Is there someone else here?

The moment Yu Sheng had this thought, he suddenly sensed that the gaze of that "extra spy" had fallen upon him.

The other party had discovered him.

That gaze carried shock; while Yu Sheng was still thinking about who this divine being might be, he heard a "voice" suddenly pierce through his brain and explode directly in his heart: "Who are you?!"

Before he could react, he saw that individual charge straight toward him, carrying intense killing intent and fury: "Do not dare to touch this! How can the Emperor's legacy fall into the hands of petty villains!"

How could Yu Sheng know what situation this was? He only noticed that the other party mentioned the words "Emperor's legacy"; his mind quickly connected this to the various illusions he had just seen within that curtain, but his body was completely unable to dodge the individual charging at him—not because his reaction was slow, but because this was his first time entering this curtain, and he was completely unaccustomed to how to "act" in this confused place.

The next second, he saw that blurred shadow directly "collide" with him.

The other party might have thrust a sword? Or struck with a palm? He could not see clearly; the "curtain" that severely affected perception made the enemy's figure twisted and chaotic as well. Yu Sheng felt that his "projection" here had been pierced by the other party's "projection," yet he felt no pain or discomfort, because what existed here was merely a shadow.

But the one who had crashed into him suddenly retreated a great distance.

Waves of pale smoke rose between him and Yu Sheng; the other party's body seemed to be burning, rapidly eroding within the smoke. This inexplicably attacking figure let out a muffled groan, then, while suppressing the erosion on his body, cast a gaze full of apprehension.

"Excellent!" he spoke angrily, yet with a touch of admiration, "Fellow Daoist truly has fine methods! No wonder you also dare to spy on this Emperor's legacy! Old man has remembered you—but today, what I possess here is merely a wisp of soul and spirit; if Fellow Daoist insists on contending, we shall meet again another day to compare methods!"

As the words fell, this blurred figure turned and left; in the blink of an eye, he seemed to already be a thousand li away.

Yu Sheng was still dazed; he had done nothing from start to finish, had not even spoken a single word, yet the other party had rushed over on his own, crashed into himself and caused internal injuries on his own, and finally, on his own, expressed admiration and left two formal phrases. Who could possibly understand what kind of approach this was?

"Hey, wait!" Yu Sheng stared at the direction where the figure had vanished and couldn't help but shout loudly, "Who are you?!"

The moment his voice fell, that blurred figure truly "whooshed" back again, dragging half a body still smoking, and bowed to Yu Sheng: "Old man is Yun Qingzi."

Yu Sheng: "..."

That smoking figure turned and left, vanishing once more very quickly.

Yu Sheng stood there blankly for a long while, unable to react, feeling only that the other party's mind seemed very abnormal.

Then he shook his head, preparing to leave this inexplicable place.

But just as he was about to open a door back to reality, that smoking figure suddenly rushed over again.

Yu Sheng was instantly startled and instinctively assumed a defensive posture—although the other party's previous collision had caused him no harm, who wouldn't be afraid seeing such a neurotic figure charging recklessly through the mist?

However, that figure merely stopped a few meters away, staring straight at Yu Sheng through the hazy curtain: "I was in a hurry just now and forgot to ask—who are you?"

Yu Sheng: "..."

He finally confirmed completely that this fellow in front of him really had a mind that was not quite right.

"My name is Yu Sheng," he said casually.

Yu Sheng did not hide his name—not because of some reason like "since the other party has already introduced themselves, one must respond to be polite," but simply because he did not care at all.

"Good, remembered." The figure calling himself "Yun Qingzi" nodded, bowed to Yu Sheng again while dragging his smoking body, and then turned to leave.

Yu Sheng watched the direction of the other party's departure with a mix of helplessness and amusement, discovering that when one is utterly speechless, one really does laugh.

But suddenly he felt a bit curious—would the other party return again?

With this somewhat strange thought arising in his mind, Yu Sheng instead temporarily halted his action of opening the door to leave, waiting right there on the spot.

He didn't even know what state of mind he was in now.

In the end, after waiting for a long time, the other party did not appear—it seemed that Yun Qingzi had truly left this time.

"Alright, seems he isn't completely mad."

Yu Sheng muttered, shook his head, and finally opened the door to leave.

The next second, he felt a dizziness in his mind; the five senses of the real world rapidly returned to his body, and upon opening his eyes again, he found himself already back in the living room of No. 66 Wutong Road.

He discovered that at some unknown time he had become lying on the sofa, with Hu Li's tail under his neck, holding the tail in his arms, and even covered by two fluffy tails.

Hu Li was curled up on the yoga mat beside the sofa, also hugging one of her own fluffy large tails, sleeping soundly.

Yu Sheng rubbed his eyes, rolled over and sat up, organizing his somewhat chaotic mind.

He recalled the scenes he had witnessed in the "Vision," confirming that they were by no means so-called "dreams."

Including that twitchy "Yun Qingzi" who appeared at the very end.

Were the visions he saw behind the veil the so-called "Legacy of the Sovereign"? Or clues to the "Legacy of the Sovereign"?

What was the deal with those intense collective thoughts? They seemed to be preparing to resist an apocalyptic catastrophe… was it the "Annihilation" tribulation?

Was it information from the old world leaking through again?

Why was he seeing these things?

And what was the background of that "Yun Qingzi"?

Yu Sheng frowned, thinking it necessary to mention this matter to True Person Yuan Ling.

Just then, a voice from across the coffee table interrupted Yu Sheng's somewhat jumbled train of thought.

"Bro, you're awake?"

Yu Sheng looked up and saw the long-haired Princess sitting across the coffee table—and her dreadful pile of holiday homework.

Yu Sheng was stunned on the spot: "…You still haven't finished that last hundred characters?!"

"It's the last hundred characters of the essay!" Long Hair's face looked as though the sky had collapsed, her brows knit as if they could wring out water, "I've already tried hard to stuff in commas and 'de di de,' even taking up six spaces for every ellipsis, and I'm still four lines short…"

Yu Sheng: "…"

After a moment, he glanced at the empty cushion beside Long Hair: "Where's the mermaid?"

"Cinderella came to find her, and the two of them took a bunch of the little kids to the orchard for an outing," the long-haired Princess said, and at this point her tears were almost falling, "Red Hood won't let me go, says I have to finish the last four lines first, says I'm already in the first year of high school, and an essay has to be written at least once."

Yu Sheng listened to the girl's nagging with a mix of exasperation and sympathy, and finally sighed. He pulled out his phone and edited a message to send to True Person Yuan Ling, saying he had something to attend to and would come find him later, then walked over beside Long Hair: "Fine, let me look at your essay."

"Oh, great!" The long-haired Princess's mood instantly cleared from overcast to sunny, and she quickly held up the language test paper, "You just help me make up three lines! I've already thought of the last sentence myself!"

Although she could tear apart demons with her bare hands, she was still a child after all.

Yu Sheng sighed this to himself instinctively, then took the test paper, his gaze falling on the essay at the end.

Essay title:

"My Brother Yu Sheng."

The first line:

"My brother Yu Sheng often suffers from terminal illness, but he is always strong and optimistic......"

After a brief silence, Yu Sheng lifted his eyelids and looked at the long-haired Princess sitting by the coffee table, beaming up at him.

That look was the spitting image of an old, color-faded golden retriever, the scheming kind.

"Long Hair."

"What's up, bro?"

"Write it yourself!"

(End of chapter)