Chapter 1565: Dominating the Inner Realm, Dreaming of Oneself (First Update)

There's an ancient saying, 'A single glance back, a hundred charms bloom,' which describes a woman's beauty. But in the woman in white's glance back, there was no smile, subtly altering the meaning of that look.

That glance was very unfamiliar.

The woman in white's gaze swept over Wang Lin, without a hint of familiarity, as if looking at a complete stranger.

Withdrawing her gaze, the woman in white turned and, treading on a gentle breeze, drifted far away.

Wang Lin stared blankly at her, watching her gradually disappearing back until she was completely out of sight.

A glance back, a stranger's longing… Wang Lin closed his eyes, and after a long time, let out a soft sigh.

"In this life of mine, everyone I've met in my dreams has given me that indescribable sense of familiarity… Zhou Rui was like this, Xu Fei was like this, Liu Mei was like this… The Sects I've visited and the dream Cultivators I've seen in the nineteen years since I left the State of Zhao have all been like this… Only she, only she alone…"

Wang Lin's face grew even older. He leaned against a withered tree, opening his aged eyes. In silence, confusion emerged within his gaze, but more than that, there was a complex realization.

With a bitter feeling, Wang Lin walked forward aimlessly.

He didn't know how far he had walked; he couldn't see the sunrise or sunset. On the vast land of the Fire Burn Country, he left no footprints, yet his body moved farther and farther.

Day after day, month after month… The complexity in Wang Lin's eyes deepened, yet he still used that confusion to mask the complexity, to mask the truth he had almost fully realized. It wasn't that he didn't want to believe; it was that a sliver of hope, a sliver of self-deception that even he didn't believe, still lingered.

Until one year, one day, a mountain appeared before him!

This was a dead volcano; perhaps at some point in the past, it had roared and erupted, spewing endless magma, scattering countless碎石 and releasing billowing black smoke into the sky.

But now, it was dead.

The ground was covered in circular craters, and all around, scattered black stones lay everywhere. A deathly aura lingered here; for hundreds of miles, there was no sign of human habitation.

At the foot of this dead volcano, Wang Lin's steps halted. He stared blankly at the mountain for a very long time, until the confusion in his eyes shattered. His entire body trembled, and he subconsciously retreated a few steps.

"It's it…" Wang Lin was familiar with this mountain; it was precisely the erupting peak he had seen in the illusory world on the vast ocean back then!

The two Dragon-Snake Rifts on the mountain, intertwined like a mark of life and death, an eternal and indestructible mark, told Wang Lin of its existence!

Looking at this mountain, Wang Lin could no longer deceive himself, no longer hide the realization he had long known. The scenes on the sea and the scenes before him now seemed to overlap in his mind.

The illusion on the sea and the reality before him merged at this moment, forming an invisible power. This power surged into Wang Lin's body, causing his mind to roar. The strength of this power shattered Wang Lin's deception of over fifty years, making him truly face himself and this world for the first time!

"I should have understood back then… but I wasn't willing to believe it. Wang Lin, I, too, deceived myself just like you, but don't forget, I also know the Dao of Deception… You can deceive yourself, but can you deceive yourself…?" Wang Lin pointed at the dead volcano and burst into laughter, his laughter tinged with sorrow.

"Only she… she had no familiar feeling towards me, that glance was very unfamiliar… Wang Lin, oh Wang Lin, if today's me is a past life, and if the future me will be with Li Muwan, then am I meant to return and sever the Karma with Li Muwan…? If today's me is a Reincarnation, then at the end of this Reincarnation, am I to erase Li Muwan's existence within it, making her a true stranger to me from now on…? If today's me is a dream, and if that cultivation life in the dream is real, then am I, in my slumber, due to sorrow, due to my feelings for Li Muwan, meant to make her forget me in this dream…? Is all of this so that in a future life, or in Reincarnation, or in the world after Awakening from the dream, she will no longer have to endure that painful and long wait, no longer face the helpless exhaustion of Lifespan, no longer experience two thousand years like a living dead person?

So that she can live a happy and peaceful life, just as she did before meeting me? Perhaps she will have another marriage, perhaps another Dao Companion, and in her life, there won't be a Cultivator named Wang Lin who makes her wait and makes her confused… Is that it…?" Wang Lin laughed, and as he laughed, tears streamed down his face.

The more he understood, the more he vaguely grasped everything in this world, seeing through the life of birth and death, truth and falsehood. Perhaps it would make one confused, but at this moment, what surfaced in Wang Lin's heart was an indescribable, piercing pain.

"Wang Lin, do you really want to do this…? Can you bear to let her forget you…? Do you truly want another you to sever this Karma that has accompanied you for over two thousand years?!" Wang Lin's voice was sharp with anguish.

"My entire life has revolved around the two words Karma, this Karma… Karma… Wang Lin, you can't see through it! Even if you cultivate for a lifetime, even if your cultivation is heaven-shaking, even if you are the Supreme of the Sealed Realm, you still don't understand what Karma is!

You swallowed three Dao Fruits, you returned two thousand years in the past using the Art of Dream Dao, and with your own thoughts, with the mixed Dao Concepts of the Dao Fruits, with the power of Dream Dao, and with your own memories, you wove this world!" Wang Lin staggered and sat on a nearby stone, his hair disheveled, as if insane.

"You wove this world, everything here is imagined by you. Do you really think I don't know, that I can't see through it?!" Wang Lin's laughter became even more shrill.

"You made everything incredibly real, you wove everything too perfectly. You even learned Liu Jinbiao's Dao of Deception in the Dream Dao, deceiving yourself, making yourself forget all of this, forget all memories, forget that this is within the Dream Dao… But you underestimated me, and you underestimated yourself!"

"You are Wang Lin, the Supreme of the Sealed Realm, with cultivation reaching the heavens. Even before reaching the Third Step, you could slay a Third Step mighty figure. Now you have overcome the great tribulation of life and death, and are about to advance to the Supreme Heavenly Dao, entering the empty realm of Third Step mighty figures that has existed since ancient times!

But I am also Wang Lin. Although I haven't cultivated, I comprehend the heavens and earth, understand principles, and my vast Qi can shock ghosts and gods. So what if you are before me!

You deceive yourself, immersing yourself in this world you've woven. You mistakenly believe that through this method, by borrowing the power of those three Dao Fruits, you can create a realm of your own, a Reincarnation of your own, and within your own Reincarnation, weave what you consider to be repeated cycles of Karma!

Don't I understand such things?!"

"You wanted to meet a great scholar, someone who would ultimately enlighten you about the heavens and earth, so Su Dao appeared… You wanted to sever the Karma with Liu Mei, so I met Liu Mei twice, and Liu Mei gave me Medicinal Pills!

Before entering the Dream Dao, you heard about Hong Die's matter, so you brought Hong Die's story into your own Reincarnation Dream Dao, completing a cycle of Karma in this dream you wove.

You even knew about the past of Soul Refining Sect's Nian Tian, so you similarly presumed to complete the Karma of the Soul Refining Sect. Don't I know? At first, I truly didn't know, I was truly confused, but from the moment I met the lunatic, at the instant the bonfire extinguished, at the moment I saw the handprint on the lunatic's right wrist, I understood!

"I deceived myself, I didn't let myself think too much, but fifty years have passed, I deceived myself for fifty years, and today, I don't want to deceive myself anymore!"

"Do you think this is Karma…? I tell you, you are wrong, completely wrong. Other matters aside, you want to sever the Karma with Li Muwan. This, I cannot accept!

You think this is for her own good, to spare Li Muwan pain, to give her a complete life, but all of this is woven by you, all of it is false. What is real, what is false, you don't understand as clearly as I do! Aren't you going to Awaken?! Aren't you going to realize?!

Do you think you can sever it, can you sever it!!! Can you sever it!!!!" Wang Lin's aged voice let out a roar towards the sky.

As he roared, the heavens and earth rumbled, endless thunder echoed, and lightning intertwined, filling the sky, forming a single expanse. This scene was like the wrath of heaven.

At the instant of this heavenly wrath, a massive Vortex suddenly appeared in the entire sky. This Vortex spun with a rumbling sound, as if it wanted to tear open this world, and within it, an endless dark world emerged.

In that dark world, a wisp of red light appeared. Within that red light were two corpses with closed eyes. One of the corpses had white hair, and its closed eyes showed signs of struggle, as if its mind was shaken and its Soul was struck by Wang Lin's roars and shouts, showing signs of Awakening.

"You can't sever it!" Wang Lin pointed his right hand at the huge Vortex in the sky, his white hair fluttering. A vast Qi directly spread out from his body and rushed into the sky.

"Since you can't sever it, don't interfere with me. This so-called Karma of yours, in my eyes, is like child's play!" Wang Lin flicked his wide sleeve. The sky thundered, and as the huge Vortex spun rapidly, it gradually shrank, eventually disappearing, turning into a white dot. It was the white bird, flapping its wings, circling in the sky for a long time before slowly flying away.

Wang Lin had long understood everything; as a great contemporary scholar, how could he not understand!

"What is Karma, what is life and death, what is truth and falsehood? I came for these three questions. In this world, no one understands them better than I do. From now on, whether it's Dao Fruits, memories, or this false world, do not interfere with me!"

Today, the first update!