The cold wind brushed through the grass curtain of the ancestral hall, creating ripples in the moonlight.
In front of the back door of the hall, Little Ke Mo tilted his head, looking up at Ying Bing, who stood with her flowing black dress and hair, her eyes shimmering like mysterious stars. She seemed like a fairy who just descended from the bright moon.
Wait, why did Ice Chunk suddenly wake up?
But waking up is good… Little Ke hadn’t caught his breath yet before he felt something was off.
She’s so tiny and cute…
Is she really just waking up now?
Does she remember what happened before?
At this moment, the splendor of the moonlight grew stronger, illuminating the ancestral hall like a silver daytime, while the places touched by the moonlight froze the fierce expressions of the tomb-guarding beasts.
Even that year beast was no exception, morphing into a lifelike silver statue. The difference was that its eyes could still move, and the terror in them had transformed into fright.
But Ying Bing didn’t look at it; she turned her gaze back.
“Ice Girl…”
Next to the ancestor’s statue, Ying Xuliang and Ying Qi stared wide-eyed at the elegant figure standing tall.
The girl in the painting and their little daughter’s silhouette seemed to overlap slowly at this moment, like reality and dreams were merging.
The couple’s stunned expressions shifted to something complex, and then melted into relief, basking in gratitude.
“We’ve… already died, this is a dream…”
“Our daughter has grown up healthy, hahaha, good, good… that’s enough.”
Once those words fell, silver light began to emanate from them, and, like the other members of the Ying family, their figures seemed to blend into the moonlight, fading away.
Reality is the end of a dream.
They were about to vanish along with this dream.
“Y-You, have you been awake all along?!”
“It’s only been ten years, and you’ve already reached this point! You…”
The black year beast’s shimmering light developed cracks, as its head struggled free, incredulously stuttering.
Huh?
Ke Mo leaned back slightly, and a little question mark popped up over his head.
Ten years?
He keenly caught those two words.
The year beast knew that Ice Chunk was dreaming, and it even knew this was her ten years later self?
How could a disaster beast residing in a dream possibly say such a thing?
Unless…
A thunderclap flashed through Ke Mo’s mind as he recalled Zou Yongfeng mentioning that he had seen a dark figure in the Ying family’s old residence.
This year beast came from the outside world!?
So Fengzi didn’t see wrong that day!
This year beast, like himself, was able to slip into others’ dreams through special means. No wonder its first reaction upon seeing him was shock, as if it never thought it would see itself here!
The year beast didn’t recognize that the dream was about to end, nor did it begin to dissipate along with it.
This was the best evidence!
“Crack—”
Suddenly, the shimmering light on the year beast shattered, exploding into a sky full of brilliance.
It realized that the girl in front of it was no longer the little girl from ten years ago; she was even more than ten years older.
This ability to command the Taiyin, even in a dream, was not something someone in the Observation Realm could possess. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be so weak even in another’s dream.
Ke Mo only saw the black year beast morph into a black wind, rolling back toward the blankness of the dream.
Buzz—
A sword’s cry rang out.
A shadow of a sword suddenly pierced through the Taiyin, and the black year beast was faster… but its speed seemed absurdly slow.
It felt like that sword just appeared, and in the next moment, it swung down. This was something that just happened, but it felt like it had happened long ago.
It felt like one stroke from thousands of strikes all happening at the same instant.
This sword seemed to emerge from the crevice of time.
“Ahhh!!”
The year beast let out a wail, its surrounding black mist surging, while that sword, like a shadow from the moon, pierced through its body.
“You’re looking for me, but am I not looking for you too?”
Accompanied by the girl’s voice.
Ke Mo watched the sword light burst forth in the swirling black mist.
Stunning, cold, and piercing.
“How could I d*e in a dream?!”
The desperate roar of the year beast echoed through the ancestral hall.
From the wounds created by the sword strikes, streams of black malevolence seeped out, colliding with the moonlit sword light but still being utterly crushed.
…..
Outside the world.
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Back in reality.
On a moonless, windy night, it finally brightened a little, as the moon peeked out from behind the clouds, slowly coming into view.
The moonlight illuminated the ruins of the Ying family’s old residence, shining on the dilapidated ancestral hall.
A large black shadow was now sprawled inside.
It looked exactly like the black year beast from the dream, but it wasn’t as large as in the dream world.
“Ow, it hurts….”
“Let me out… let me out!”
The year beast rolled in pain, crashing through the wall beside it.
Even with such frantic movements, it couldn’t wake up from the dream.
Moreover, various vicious wounds began to appear on its body, seeping with thick black malevolence, making it look like it was deflating as its shape shrank rapidly, becoming smaller and smaller.
Gradually, it became only the size of a calf, motionless.
bl**d, black as night, flowed across the ground.
……
Inside the ancestral hall.
The once terrifying black year beast now lay on the ground, submerged in silver moonlight, disappearing from existence.
In the dream hall, the commotion of it and the tomb-guarding beast had completely vanished, leaving an extraordinary silence.
“Dead?”
Li Mo had a premonition that this thing didn’t just d*e in the dream; it was unlikely to fare well in reality.
Huh?
He suddenly discovered that his perspective looking at Ice Chunk was no longer one of looking up; it had turned back to what it used to be.
Li Mo realized it.
This dream was becoming increasingly ‘real.’
Thus, he no longer looked like a child but had reverted to his youthful appearance.
The bustling New Year scenes that were so lively a moment ago disappeared, along with the Ying family members, while the surroundings grew blurry and began to collapse.
The only ones left were Ying Xuliang and Ying Mother, clinging tightly in reluctance.
But the ones clinging weren’t them; it was…
“Ice Chunk….”
Li Mo looked over at Ying Bing and noticed her face had paled a bit.
Ice Chunk’s Taiyin divine intent was related to the passage of time.
Now, she was maintaining the dream, delaying its rapid fall into reality.
“Dad… Mom…”
The couple gazed at their grown daughter and the boy from the Li family, their eyes brimming with unspoken words, yet they could only smile:
“Daughter, the moon will set, but the sun will still rise. No matter how beautiful the dream, it will eventually wake.”
“When you wake up, if it’s a sweet dream, that’s enough, that’s enough…”
Their figures were beginning to break down into sparkling silver light, dissipating into nothingness, even their faces starting to blur.
But Li Mo distinctly felt that Uncle Ying and Aunt were watching him.
“Thank you for being in Ice Chunk’s dream…”
……
More than ten years ago, on an ordinary day.
The sun rose as usual, brightening the Ying family courtyard during the moment just after dreaming.
Some family members practiced in front of the ancestral hall, while others sat on the doorstep slurping noodles, basking in the morning sun, welcoming the new day.
Sunlight pierced through the room’s bed, and Ying Xuliang awoke drowsily. He looked outside at the morning light and murmured:
“My dear, I feel like I had a really long dream…”
“A dream where Ice Girl fed me dumplings, a dream where she grew up, a dream where… she was standing with a boy, like the Li family’s boy?”
“Me… me too.”
Ying Mother also woke up, wiping her tear-streaked face, realizing she had been crying at some point.
“You had a dream too?”
“Yeah…”
“Haha, it seems our couple will no longer have differing dreams.”
Ying Xuliang burst out laughing.
“Such deadpan humor…” Ying Mother stifled her tears with laughter, shooting him a glare.
“My dear, let’s make some dumplings today and take them to Brother Li’s house to see if that boy is as clever and mischievous as in the dream.”
“I’ll ask Ice Girl if she wants to go out.”
….
P.S.: Dreams are the continuation of reality, while reality is the conclusion of a dream. Little Pudge has kept this in mind for a long time.
Ice Chunk’s subsequent divine abilities are tied to this too, and even to this day, she’s still not in her fully realized state, not just in terms of realms.
The reason for her rebirth won’t be brushed over in one go; it’ll be gradually revealed as both their realms rise higher, and a fluent story will certainly be more engaging than a straightforward revelation.
I’ll be going out for a Mid-Autumn Festival dinner tonight, and there will be two more chapters later. It might not be on time.
Wishing all the audience a Happy Mid-Autumn Festival in advance, may we long endure, sharing the moonlight across the miles. 030.
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