Chapter 449: The Real World?
Chapter 449: The Real World?
For a being at the Creator of the vast world level, promises equal contracts. The Giant Snake understood that after reaching Zuo Meng’s stage, little could bind him anymore. All it needed was his vow.
“Good luck.”
The Giant Snake lifted its head, making the ground tremble. The platform world rippled like boiling water. As a Daoist being bound to this door-world, the serpent couldn’t fully control the gateway. Chains emerged across its body as it strained, each link shimmering with golden light.
Crack! Crack! Crack!!
The door creaked open just enough for one person.
“Xiao Meng!”
“Xiao Meng!!”
The instant the door opened, clear voices pierced through. Zuo Meng finally confirmed the source of the sound – the door itself! That inexplicable pull and unease drove him to act.
He flashed forward, vanishing through the gap.
The world outside blurred and dissolved as he entered…
Both the Giant Snake and platform world disappeared. When Zuo Meng turned, no door remained behind him – only a vast empty hall blending Eastern and Western elements. The left side featured traditional wooden doors with paper windows, ancient furnishings visible through the gaps.
The right held twelve crumbling temples. Each housed bizarre stone deities – one eating, another sleeping, some locked in battle, others headless.
After brief consideration, Zuo Meng chose the left side.
His memories told him he was Eastern.
Creeeak!
The wooden door swung open.
The simple wooden bedroom seemed ordinary compared to the temples. This very plainness made Zuo Meng wary – what’s visible is just the surface; true terror hides in the mundane.
Xiao Meng… Xiao Meng…
The call resumed. Zuo Meng’s eyes locked onto an unfurled bamboo scroll on the table.
Blank at first, characters now flickered across its surface in endless cycles – appearing and vanishing in a death loop. Only two words repeated: “Xiao Meng.”
“This caused the voice?”
Finding no immediate danger after long observation, Zuo Meng picked up the scroll.
The instant he touched it, the death loop shattered. Characters froze, then transformed into new text:
‘He’s here.’
Before Zuo Meng could react, inky words erupted from the scroll like frenzied insects, burrowing into his body. The invasion lasted mere moments. As the characters merged with him, his mind instantly warped.
Reality twisted before his eyes. A deafening buzz filled his ears. Blood seeped from every facial orifice. Through the haze, he sensed messages from high positions…
REAL!!!
BOOM!
Zuo Meng’s consciousness stretched beyond breaking point. Darkness swallowed him as the black words kept pouring in, dragging his awareness into an incomprehensible dimension.
Only a Creator of the vast world’s body could endure this. A weaker being – even the Giant Snake – would’ve exploded instantly under this onslaught.
“Zuo Meng, you finally woke up!”
A middle-aged village woman hugged the thin young man on the bed, tears falling freely.
Xiao Meng?
Zuo Meng’s mind swam. Hazy memories from endless chaotic eras were pushed down by an unseen force, replaced by fresh ones.
He was Zuo Xiaomeng, a hunter’s son. Three years ago, a Black Bear attacked him during a mountain hunt, leaving him in a vegetative state. Village physicians said he’d die, but his mother refused to abandon him, caring for him daily for ten years.
Every day, she’d speak to him.
The voice calling “Xiao Meng” had been hers.
“This is reality? Something feels wrong.”
Zuo Meng lifted his hand, struggling to recall his dreams. The memories felt blurred, separated by a thin veil. Yet his Creator’s core remained, anchoring him – stopping him from fully becoming a mortal lost in reincarnation.
“Zuo Meng?”
The woman watched him nervously. Years of dawn-to-dusk care had aged her beyond her thirty years. But to her, it was worthwhile – her son had awakened.
“Just tired.”
Zuo Meng glanced at the plain-faced woman and sighed softly.
He wasn’t truly her son. The village doctor had been right – her child’s consciousness had died long ago. Only a mother’s stubborn love anchored him here. Without Zuo Meng’s arrival, both mother and son would’ve perished when her strength failed.
“Rest! I’ll be quiet.”
The woman panicked at his words. Since the Black Bear took her husband years ago, her son was her entire world. She tucked his blanket hastily before retreating, closing the wooden door behind her.
Alone, Zuo Meng stared at the thatched cottage’s rough walls, disoriented.
Was this truly the real world? Where was he? His Creator instincts lingered, though he couldn’t shape reality anymore. His power now only worked internally.
“Low world energy? Even three Origin Rules can’t penetrate this place.”
He tested his remaining abilities. Though Creator memories faded, three primal forces lingered in his flesh – Five Elements, Six Desires, Pollution. The Origin Rules.
Straining brought no results, just dizziness and a nosebleed.
He shut his eyes, breath shaky. Exhaustion crushed him.
This vessel…
Was too fragile.