Chapter 326: The Third Layer

Time returns to ten minutes ago.

The world.

It is like space that has been layered and folded together.

The same dilapidated buildings, the same brick surfaces made of human faces, the same fleshy intestines growing eyes that connect from the sky to the earth.

The difference is that this is a gray, hazy world.

On an empty street, a beautiful young girl with twin tails walks quietly upon the brick surface.

Her expression is pained, her brows tightly furrowed, as if she is struggling to walk.

Like a zombie, she keeps walking, and walking, wanting to leave this world.

Here.

Is the third layer of the Dream Abyss.

Countless whispers and illusions filled with distortion and grotesquerie crowd San Jin's mind.

Filled with pain, she takes out her own withdrawal token, trembling, as if a powerful force is preventing her from pressing the withdrawal button.

"Give up, fall into this endless Dream Abyss, and you will be rid of all pain forever."

A voice full of seduction rings out in San Jin's ears.

At this moment, it is as if a strange power has controlled San Jin, preventing her from pressing the withdrawal button, and instead making her fingers clench tightly.

Crack, crack, crack...

This withdrawal token belonging to San Jin is crushed by San Jin herself.

The next moment, San Jin's eyes return to clarity; she looks in panic at the fragments of the withdrawal token scattered on the ground and falls into silence.

She has lost her chance to leave.

The College Entrance Examination Secret Realm.

The Dream Abyss.

In the past, examinees would compete for the massive points contained within the Dao-Slaying Sacred Fruit on the first layer.

Almost no one would come to the second layer, let alone fall to the third.

But San Jin came, deceived into this place by Yu Changsheng.

That Yu Changsheng is extremely strange, as if he were the master of the Dream Abyss.

The moment she arrived, the third layer of the Dream Abyss swallowed San Jin.

Now, the withdrawal token belonging to San Jin has also been destroyed.

No anger or despair appears on the face of the girl with twin tails; she simply walks forward slowly like this.

She is gifted and wants to use her own ability to leave this place.

As she continues walking like this, several blurry figures suddenly appear in the gray, hazy world.

They seem to be pointing at San Jin.

"She is the daughter of Zong Huang and Ji Yanqing."

"Ji Yanqing, that bitch betrayed our Great Xia Military Guard, tens of thousands of soldiers were ambushed and killed, all because of her!"

"Zong Huang is Lu Xunyang's left adjutant after all, how could he be deceived by such a woman!"

"The daughter of a beast, what face does she have to live in Great Xia!"

"What face does Zong Huang have to continue serving as Lu Xunyang's adjutant? It's useless for him to cut off his own arms and kneel before the city; he is a sinner, and his daughter is a sinner too!"

…………

Sounds of angry rebukes rise up, and San Jin's face turns deathly pale.

This is everything she experienced in her childhood, the nightmare she never wants to face again.

But here in the third layer of the Dream Abyss, this scene from her childhood has actually appeared.

She lowers her head and hurries away.

In the gray, hazy world, in front of a dilapidated hotel.

The figures of Xia Hanzhou and the young San Jin appear.

"Grandpa Hanzhou, when can I see my daddy?"

The young San Jin says to Xia Hanzhou.

Since she was born, she has never seen her father.

"Soon!" Xia Hanzhou laughs loudly:

"Your father followed Lu Xunyang to defeat the Ji Clan Legion at the Iron Province border and achieved a heavenly merit!"

San Jin laughs out loud; her father is a hero.

Over these years, those voices harboring hatred for her father have also become fewer and fewer.

The scene changes to inside a room.

"San Jin, hurry and hide, your father is coming back soon." Xia Hanzhou laughs loudly as he rushes into the room, pointing at a cabinet:

"Hide in the cabinet, I will conceal your aura. When your dad arrives later, you come out, and you will give your dad a big surprise."

The young San Jin nods heavily; she hurriedly runs into the kitchen, carries a bowl of dumplings she made herself, and hides in the cabinet.

Although she has never seen her father, she knows her father likes eating dumplings the most.

She practiced for a long time; when she comes out later, she wants to give her father the most delicious dumplings.

She hides in the cabinet, and Xia Hanzhou's voice rings out from outside the cabinet.

"My Great Xia Divine General has returned, hahaha!!!"

"Greetings, King Xia Yue!"

A sonorous and powerful voice rings out.

"The title of Divine General is only worthy of Venerable Lu; I, Zong Huang, am far from worthy."

Inside the cabinet, San Jin's heart was thumping; this was her father's voice.

"Hey, you are already not much worse than the generals of the past; fighting three Seventh-Rankers of the Ji Clan alone, killing two and severely wounding one—this is a monumental merit!"

Xia Hanzhou laughed loudly.

Inside the cabinet, San Jin's little face was flushed red, feeling very excited.

Father is truly amazing.

"Compared to Venerable Lu's merit, my battle record is not worth mentioning!" the man said in a muffled voice.

"You..." Xia Hanzhou was quite helpless; he was too rigid.

"King Xiayue, what business do you have with me?"

The man's voice sounded again.

"It's like this, you haven't come to see me since you returned, and little San Jin has been..." Xia Hanzhou said with a beaming smile.

Inside the cabinet, San Jin's eyes were wide open, sparkling with the light of surprise like bright stars.

In the plate in her hands, the fragrance of dumplings was pungent.

"That little beast is still alive!"

A voice, cold to the extreme and even containing endless killing intent, slammed into San Jin's face like an endless cold wind.

The little girl sat dazed in the cabinet, her body stiffening.

"Zong Huang!" Xia Hanzhou was furious; he also hadn't expected Zong Huang to say such a thing.

But the man named Zong Huang spoke:

"That demoness Ji Yanqing harmed tens of thousands of my comrades, stole the secrets of our Great Xia, and made me, Zong Huang, a massive sinner.

If not for the rescue by Chief Commander Lu, I would have already perished by my own hand on that day I knelt before the city gate!"

He was full of anger and self-reproach, and endless killing intent could seep from between his teeth:

"As long as that little beast exists for one day, I will never be able to forget the scene of tens of thousands of comrades wailing as they died before me."

Xia Hanzhou roared:

"This is Ji Yanqing's problem, why do you blame San..."

"King Xiayue, it is your business if you raise that little beast, but do not let her carry my Zong family name!

The stain on me alone, I will bear alone!

Do not insult the name of my Zong family again!"

The man left; even though Xia Hanzhou was incomparably furious and kept scolding him, he did not turn his head back.

The moment Xia Hanzhou opened the cabinet door.

Inside the cabinet, the cute-looking little girl was covered in tears, grabbing dumplings and stuffing them into her mouth, speaking incoherently:

"Dumplings, not... delicious."

This scene that had appeared before, struck again.

Within the gray world, San Jin's breathing trembled; the sorrow and despair felt that day seemed to strike a thousand or ten thousand times over.

Her expression became completely lost.

Her body stumbled, as if she had lost the strength to go on.

She walked lost through one street, then another.

Another illusion appeared.

The little girl sat in a corner, and the man named Zong Huang appeared.

He came before the terrified girl, squatted down, and said full of guilt:

"Little San Jin, yesterday was my fault, my fault."

The man cried with immense sorrow, causing the little girl to go dazed.

She looked at this man who made her fearful, feeling somewhat uneasy.

Clearly, yesterday she was a little beast in this person's mouth, why today...

The bean-sized teardrops could no longer be stopped.

San Jin hugged the man in front of her tightly, crying:

"Daddy..."

She became happy, incomparably happy.

Her father had returned.

It was as if the gray world had suddenly become incomparably bright.

Until one day.

She came to the door of Brother Xia Qi's room, just as she was about to enter.

A voice sounded from within.

"Grandpa Hanzhou, is it really okay for you to lie to San Jin like this?"

Inside the room, the little boy sat on a chair, looking at the light screen in front of him and saying earnestly:

"San Jin cannot live in lies forever; you disguised yourself as General Zong to deceive San Jin, which indeed brought her happiness.

But her happiness will eventually disappear the moment she sees General Zong."

Inside the light screen, Xia Hanzhou gave a bitter smile.

He, a dignified King Xiayue, was actually having trouble dealing with this kind of matter.

Just as he was still thinking, he suddenly saw San Jin behind Xia Qi.

"Brother Xia Qi, I..."

Little San Jin opened her mouth, tears streaming down uncontrollably:

"I want to go... want to go..."

What she wanted to go do, she had forgotten.

Within the world shrouded by gray fog, this scene appeared, then dissipated.

Only the girl named San Jin walked with difficulty.

Scene after scene from the past eroded her heart like poison.

And it was at this very moment that she walked.

Within the world, a figure appeared.

It was a young man wearing a General Star uniform, with handsome features and a slender build.

A faint golden light emerged all over his body, and the Third-Rank General Star medal on his shoulder was exceptionally bright.

The young man walked, his body colliding with San Jin's.

But a peculiar thing happened.

The young man's body passed through San Jin's body.

The two seemed as if they were not in the same world at all.

San Jin kept her head lowered the entire time, not seeing the young man's figure.

But the young man seemed to sense something, his body pausing.

He turned his head slightly and saw a hair salon beside him.

Inside, there was a girl tied to a chair by tentacles, and an Ancient God Beast with a pig's head.

The young man walked inside, and battle radiance suddenly erupted within the hair salon.

However, all of this had nothing to do with San Jin.

Layer upon layer of dreams and illusions arrived one after another.

She walked in this gray, misty world like a walking corpse, her mind and spirit gradually dissipating into nothingness.

At the corner of the street, blurred figures appeared once more.

"What, General Lu has entered the Ancient God Forbidden Land!"

"Heavens, it's over!"

"What do we do, what will happen in the future, our Xia Kingdom's God General has gone to the Ancient God Forbidden Land!"

"Zong Huang has entered Jin Prefecture, what is he trying to do!?"

"Zong Huang seems to have had a big falling out with the State Overseer, he is very angry."

"Zong Huang is also going to the Ancient God Forbidden Land, this..."

Sounds of wailing and bewilderment arose.

The entire Jin Prefecture was in chaos.

At the Xia Yue Prince's Mansion, San Jin had not spoken for a very long time.

She practiced gloomily, ate gloomily, and slept gloomily.

For a long, long time, she had not paid attention to anyone.

But on this day, she still walked out of the Prince's Mansion and looked up at the high sky.

It was said that Zong Huang was about to set off for the Ancient God Forbidden Land.

It was quite ridiculous.

She had seen him on computers, in books, and on statues.

Yet, in the real world, she had never once seen her own father.

On this day.

Endless blood-red light surged up from above Jin Prefecture.

A long golden dragon soared into the air from the State Overseer's Mansion.

A majestic, tall figure stood atop the ice dragon, hands behind his back.

Zong Huang, Head of the Zong Clan, was going to the Ancient God Forbidden Land to bring back General Lu!

High above, powerful existences appeared one after another to converse with him.

Even the State Overseer and Prince Xia Chen appeared.

At the Xia Yue Prince's Mansion, San Jin watched the figure on the golden dragon, her heart pounding.

If only that person would look over here just once.

But he never did.

Prince Xia Yue appeared, locking eyes with Zong Huang atop the golden dragon.

San Jin watched from afar; she saw that man knit his brows, looking somewhat displeased.

Then, he looked toward her side.

It was a gaze that San Jin would never be able to forget for the rest of her life.

Indifferent, disgusted, and icy cold to the extreme.

As this look fell upon her, she felt icy cold all over, struggling to breathe, unable to extricate herself.

He left, and then never appeared again.