Chapter 1569: Dominating the Inner Realm, Awakening from the Dream! (End of Mortification)

"Why did you bring her… too…" The white-haired youth drank another mouthful of wine and closed his eyes.

"She is right here. If you can sever it, then go sever it!" Wang Lin picked up the wine pot, took a sip, and spoke slowly.

The white-haired youth remained silent until he had drunk all the wine in the pot.

"Are you blaming me…?"

"You are me, and I am you. If I blame you, I am blaming myself." Wang Lin smiled calmly.

"I am still asleep at this moment. This dream, woven with the art of Deceiving Dao, is not something I can control. Instead, it is self-deduced according to the mixed Dao Concepts within the three Dao Fruits…" The white-haired youth said softly.

Wang Lin did not speak.

The two, or rather, one person, sat on this painted boat, in this world where everything had paused, drinking wine sip by sip.

Time did not flow; the willow catkins still floated motionlessly, but the two had drunk too much wine.

"How has this life been…?" The white-haired youth asked softly after a long time.

"Why do you ask me? My feelings are also your feelings." Wang Lin put down the wine pot.

"Are you ready…?" The white-haired youth sighed, looking at Li Muwan, his eyes gradually blurring.

"You go." Wang Lin turned to look at Li Muwan, his eyes filled with deep reluctance. But even with such reluctance, he understood that he had to leave… This dream was about to end… There were still many things waiting for him to do, and many people waiting for him.

"Wait for me, Wan'er, I will make you awaken…"

The white-haired youth's eyes also showed reluctance. He silently stood up, came before Li Muwan, lowered his head, and lightly kissed her forehead. The reluctance in his eyes was hidden, replaced by sorrow. He then abruptly turned around, raised his right hand, and grabbed towards the sky. Immediately, a pot of wine appeared in his hand.

Gently setting it down, the white-haired youth sighed and took a step forward. His figure transformed into a white bird, soaring straight into the sky, gradually disappearing.

Although he left, everything in this world remained paused, without the slightest change. Only that pot of wine remained there, as if waiting to be picked up, drunk, and ended.

Wang Lin remained silent. Time had stopped, no longer flowing, but a very long time passed. Wang Lin came to Li Muwan's side, sat next to her, placed his hands on the Ancient Zither, closed his eyes, and slowly began to play.

No zither music echoed, but zither music permeated Wang Lin's heart, stirring waves of sorrow and longing. A dream zither song eventually ends, but the yearning for love is hard to forget.

"That year, that day, we met in the Fire Burning Country outside the Cultivation Devil Sea. A pursuit, a desolation, a calling voice, and a glimpse when I looked down.

Year after year, several cycles of Reincarnation, we were in two corners of the Mortal dream world. How many years passed? We each fumbled through the human world, perhaps meeting, but vaguely brushing past each other.

Our final reunion was also the moment of awakening from the dream. Even if reluctant, even if reluctant…"

The music ended. Wang Lin opened his aged eyes, his right hand trembling as he picked up the remaining pot of wine. Gazing at the wine pot, he looked at Li Muwan. This gaze was like eternity, like the drying of seas and crumbling of rocks.

This gaze was the awakening from the dream.

With a silent smile, Wang Lin held the wine pot to his lips, gazing at the world, at this world where he had existed for over seventy years, and drank the entire pot of wine in one gulp!

The wine was like water, not spicy.

But it was like fire, burning fiercely as it entered Wang Lin's stomach.

"What is Karma…? My open palm is the cause, my closed grip is the effect…"

Heaven and earth roared. The boat Wang Lin was on directly vanished. Along with it, the river water, the stone bridge, the countless painted boats on the river, and the boundless willow catkins floating motionless in the sky, all disappeared.

An invisible ripple seemed to spread outwards from Wang Lin. All the houses in Sucheng vanished in an instant. Not just Sucheng, but also the State of Zhao, and all those mountains, rivers, sects, and that mountain village, and that official road—everything, in this instant, turned to smoke and vanished.

The State of Zhao, and beyond the State of Zhao—whether it was the Soul Refining Sect, the Snow Region, or various other nations—all the scenery of heaven and earth collapsed simultaneously.

And the endless sea, the roaring waves, and the other side of the sea, that other continent, Li Muwan's hometown, also vanished simultaneously in this instant. Whether it was the Fire Burning Country or the Xuanwu Country, and the Cultivation Devil Sea, and the home of Wang Lin and Li Muwan, that valley, also turned to dust and collapsed in this instant.

Everything on the earth scattered simultaneously… What remained were only those Mortals and Cultivators maintaining various postures, they did not disappear, but remained calmly in various parts of this world.

Just like Li Muwan and Da Fu by Wang Lin's side at this moment.

"What is life and death…? My left hand is life, my right hand is death…" Two lines of tears fell from Wang Lin's eyes. The moment his words were spoken, thunder roared in the sky, lightning intertwined, filling the entire Vermilion Bird Star.

The moment those words fell, Li Muwan, who was closest to Wang Lin, seemed to be swept by the wind, turning into a wisp of ash and dissipating. Not only her, but the countless Mortals on the vanished river channel, and the Mortals remaining in Sucheng after the earth disappeared, all vanished into thin air.

Within the entire State of Zhao, those figures, some strange, some familiar to Wang Lin, all disappeared in this instant.

Liu Mei, originally standing atop a mountain peak, now stood as if in the midst of heaven and earth after the mountain disappeared. At this moment, the wind came, her figure blurred, and she drifted away with the wind.

Xu Fei and Zhou Rui, these two women, were originally flying in the sky. Now, as time solidified and the wind blew, their bodies turned into ashes and were swept away.

Wang Zhuo, dressed in black, stood on Mount Hengyue. At this moment, the wind stirred, and his figure collapsed.

And Immortal Master Huang Long, and the Teng Family Old Ancestor, and countless Cultivators of the State of Zhao, and even outside the State of Zhao, Zhou Wutai was looking at a young man in front of him. That young man was his Disciple.

Looking at that Disciple, Zhou Wutai and he both dissipated into heaven and earth as the wind blew.

And Yun Quezi, and Nian Tian and Dun Tian of the Soul Refining Sect, and Vermilion Bird Son. Whether it was this continent or the other continent at the end of the sea, everyone, all disappeared without a trace.

At this moment, this world had no earth, no living beings, only the sky remained.

The only ones who had not disappeared were Wang Lin, shedding tears, and Da Fu by his side.

In this world, only the two of them remained.

Li Muwan's dissipation, Wang Lin's tears, gently fell and sank into the endless Void Realm, to an unknown destination. The thunder and lightning in the sky intertwined and roared, forming a huge Vortex. Within that Vortex, in the bloody light amidst the pitch black, the white-haired youth, who had been lying there eternally, also had tears flowing from his closed eyes.

He was reluctant… but dreams, after all, have a moment of awakening. This moment would come sooner or later. Today, after completing his appointment with himself, after drinking that pot of wine, the dream shattered.

"What is real and false…? My Wang Lin, open eyes are real, closed eyes… are false…" The moment these words were spoken, Wang Lin's right hand, holding Da Fu, overlapped with the golden mark on his wrist. His aged eyes slowly closed.

The instant he closed his eyes, scenes appeared before him, scenes that he could not forget, that he was reluctant to part with. But in the end, after appearing, they all dissipated one by one into heaven and earth, only to be found in memory.

In the scenes, he saw himself, Li Muwan, and Da Fu sitting on the painted boat, time frozen in that instant.

He saw a carriage, traveling on the official road in the wind and snow, slowly heading towards his old mountain village home in the snow.

He saw himself and Li Muwan, in their home in that valley, under the zither music, in happy times. Their gazes, meeting each other, seemed to become an eternal memory, but when he looked back, he could no longer see clearly.

He saw himself sitting on the bluestone of that mountain peak, comprehending heaven and earth, with countless Cultivators for thousands of miles around bowing in worship. Among those crowds, he saw Liu Mei's tears.

He saw himself by the dying volcano, roaring and shouting at the sky. He could endure anything, he could use anything to deceive himself, but he could not deceive himself into severing the Karma with Li Muwan. He could not do it. He pointed at the sky, pointed at the white bird, and roared, asking himself.

Can you sever it? Can you sever it? You cannot sever it!!!

He saw a merchant ship struggling in the raging waves on the vast sea. He saw everyone on the ship singing the ancient sea shanties, and he saw a kind of defiance between life and death!

He saw a woman holding a baby outside a pavilion in the rain, her entire body exuding a cold aura that could turn rain into ice.

He saw Liu Mei's bewildered eyes at the border of the State of Zhao, and the Medicinal Pill she left with a smile.

He saw his father close his eyes in his arms, saw the autumn leaves carrying souls on the rooftop, drifting further and further away… He saw his mother's eyes that never opened again, and the smile on her lips, as if dreaming of his father, departing with him.

He saw himself in Sucheng, glaring at the attacking Cultivator, startling him away with a single word!

He saw Su Dao, saw his burial ground, and saw that year when willow catkins danced, he was still young, with Da Fu, waiting on that painted boat for an appointment with himself.

What he saw last was a simple inn by the official road. On a table inside the inn, a drunk young man was slumped. He saw the young man's side, where a young waiter, frowning, pushed him again and again.

"Little brother, wake up… Alas, this scholar is truly drunk after just two cups. My inn is about to close, please wake up quickly…"

He saw the drunk young man raise his head, and with hazy eyes, said something with a silly smile.

"Let me tell you, I just had a dream… I dreamed I became an Immortal…"

All the scenes, the moment the word 'Immortal' was spoken, turned into blurry fragments.

Wang Lin's eyes completely closed. The instant he closed his eyes, the sky collapsed, and everything in this dream dissipated.

The dream had ended… In the pitch-black Void between the Inner Realm and Outer Realm, which Old Ghost Zhan called the Mansion Wall, in the bloody light, the white-haired youth who had lain there eternally, opened his eyes.

"Originating from emptiness, true emptiness is wondrous existence… I understand…"

Today is my birthday, and the Mortification has ended. I've had a toothache all day. The wisdom tooth at the back, that tooth broke before, and recently the nerve was exposed, causing unbearable pain.

Half my face is swollen. If there are any Fellow Daoists in dentistry, please tell me what medicine I can take to relieve it or kill the nerve without extraction. I'm about to collapse today.