V2C158

Parsed with an automated reader. The content accuracy is not guranteed.

There was no wind, there was no light, only a vast expanse of clutching cold water, surrounding the tiny child hovering therein.

It was Sumo who was enticed into it, with his eyes tightly closed, floating in the bottom of the well as if he had been caught in a long dream. Although the child appeared to be sleeping, his thin arms were flapping incessantly, as if he was swimming as hard as he could towards a particular destination, not daring to stop for a moment.

But no matter how hard he struggled, his body was frozen in the same place, not moving in the slightest.

“Where is he swimming to?”

“In the illusionary realm of distance, presumably he is approaching the southern docks of the city in the Jialan Empire.”

“That’s pretty quick… Even in the Big Dream’s timeframe, it’s only been four and a half days, right?”

“Yes, this little one is quite desperate…”

“Pitiful.”

The voice was coming from somewhere above his head, looking down with a compassionate gaze on everything.

Around the deep well, the three Supreme Elders of the Sea Kingdom lowered their heads and together stared down at the child trapped beneath the dark waters, letting out a whispering stream of lamentations. At their feet, countless incantations emitted a brilliant golden light that surrounded the well platform and seemed to entwine the well into a magical cocoon – and within that cocoon, the solitary child was trapped in the illusion that the three elders had joined forces to weave, with his eyes tightly shut and unable to wake up.

“It’s time to let him go ashore, right?” Elder Jian was feeling somewhat uncomfortable, “The boy is getting exhausted.”

“It’s almost the time.” Elder Quan gazed at the child’s expression and lifted his hand.

Where his fingertips touched, the waters of the deep, silent well suddenly rippled slightly, as if the cold moon reflecting the light in the sky had transformed the surface of the water into a magnificent painting: it was the lofty gates of the capital of the Jialan Empire, located in the center of the Mirror Lake, with the bustling and lively crowd of horsemen coming and going at the gates.

“It’s amazing that an illusion can be this real?” Seeing the power of this forbidden spell for the first time, even Elder Qing couldn’t help but exclaim, “It really is hard to distinguish the reality from the illusion.”

“The Big Dream spell does not create illusions out of thin air, but borrows from reality – I am now using the Mirror Lake as a reflection of the scenery of the mundane world under the water.” Elder Quan said to the other two elders, “Only by using the real world as a reflection can we weave the dream world flawlessly. This little one is very smart… If there is the slightest flaw, I am afraid that he will be able to discover it.”

“Well…” Elder Jian nodded, watching the illusion floating in the depths of the water and the child trapped within it with a hint of doubt, “You have mirrored the real Jialan Empire and created the Great Dream Confinement, which is certainly a relief – but what if that person the child wants so bad to see also happens to be mirrored within it…?”

“Don’t worry. Everything that occurs within this illusion will be controlled by us.” Elder Quan said, “This child has so many insecurities and worries inside him, a thousand wounds – we only need to expand the smallest dark side in his heart to break his will and thus sway his thoughts in the illusion”

“That’s good.” The other two elders breathed a sigh of relief.

“Let’s get going.” Elder Quan uttered two words to the sleeping child at the bottom of the well and lifted his finger towards the illusion, “Go and find the one you are looking for… to meet the destiny that belongs to you.”

In the illusion, the waterfront skyline of the Jalan Empire emerged and the pier stood up close. The child in the center of the cocoon’s body trembled, and an expression of joy appeared on his face, as if he was finally reaching the Imperial Capital under exhaustion.

Elder Quan turned back to look at his other two peers with a solemn gaze.

“The Sea Emperor is about to enter his realm of illusion. Are you ready?”

During the same moments, Zhu Yan also drifted into her world of dreams.

Instead of dreaming of Shi Ying, she was dreaming of returning to the Mirror Lake, outside the southern gate of the Jialan Empire. The lake reflected the moonlight and was as beautiful as a speck of silver. The world above the lake was exuberant and reflected on it like an illusion.

She was standing at the edge of the lake, staring in awe, when a strange feeling suddenly rose up within her dream – yes, this scene, something didn’t seem right?

Before she could think what was wrong, something emerged from the depths of the water: it was a fleeting shadow, darting towards her like a swimming fish – what was that? Was it a fish, or… or was a shark? The shark, was it Yuan?

In that moment, that strange feeling grew stronger.

Was she deliriously in a dream? How many times did she experienced that dream, didn’t she just had it not long ago?

As the shadow got closer, she subconsciously took a step backwards.

With a loud noise, the surface of the water shattered and something floated out. Swimming under the water turned out to be a child, no more than six or seven years old, small, thin and gloomy, with bright eyes, looking at her standing on the shore and calling out in surprise, “Sister!”

“Sumo?” She recognized the child and was taken aback, “What are you doing here?”

“Sister!” The child hurriedly floated to the shore and shouted at her, “Sister!”

“Sumo!” She leaned down in a hurry and tried to grab his hand, “Come up here!”

Yet strangely enough, the grasp fell short.

Her fingers passed through Sumo’s hand as if it was an illusion. In that moment, she fell into the lake as a result of the effort exerted, and she couldn’t pull herself out!

“Sumo!” She shouted before drowning, “Sumo!”

“Sister!” The boy was also shrieking, swimming over, trying desperately to grab her hand – yet something bizarre happened, they were already so close, their hands meeting several times, both desperately trying to hold on to each other, but her hand went right through his tiny arm several times, as if it gripped just nothingness.

What was this? She was right next to the child, but she couldn’t reach him!

Fear and anxiety overtook her and Zhu Yan recklessly reached out towards the child, stretching out her hands in a haphazard manner, but nothing could be touched – it was as if an invisible wall had separated them, and they could not cross it any further. The cold water of the lake poured into her seven orifices, drowning her senses.

Sumo reached out to her desperately, shouting, “Sister… Sister!”

“Sumo! Sumo!” She yelled from the water, but no matter how loudly she screamed, it was as if Sumo couldn’t hear her at all – a heartbeat away, but the child waving desperately, trying to grab her, was unable to reach her.

A transparent wall stood in between, separating them.

“Why is she in here? Quickly separate them!”

In a trance, a voice echoed from some unknown corner, and reached her ears vaguely, “I can’t believe she managed to enter here… that’s bad, we must not let them meet in the ‘mirror world’! “

Who was it? Who was speaking?

She was being controlled by a strange force, as if she had fallen into an invisible, thick and muddy quagmire, unable to help herself out, struggling desperately but only sinking deeper and deeper, distancing herself further and further from Sumo. The water flooded her mouth and nose, making it progressively impossible to breathe and bringing her closer to her doom.

All her senses became blurred and distant. The sensation was one of imminent death.

No… no! She had an appointment with her Master… she must not die here!

In that very instant, with a strong cry coming from within her, it was as if her entire body became able to move. She struggled as hard as she could, crying out for help, when suddenly a bolt of lightning came down from the sky and swiftly split the chaos!

The drowning force instantly receded and she felt her breathing instantly flowing smoothly.

“Sumo!” Zhu Yan shouted out of breath, struggling to stand up.

The next instant she woke up in her room, shivering all over and coughing violently. The familiar surroundings were still in place, but outside it was already sunny. An inexpressible, eerie dreariness surrounded the room, and she found her entire body glistening with sweat, as if she had been rescued from water, and coughed up a faint stream of blood from her throat.

What’s going on? Did she… just have a terrible nightmare?

Zhu Yan sat in a daze, unable to come back to her senses for a while. Feeling a flash of light above her head, she looked up and saw that it was actually the Jade Bone that she had properly placed in front of the dressing table before going to sleep.

The spiritual hairpin had flown of its own free will, suspended in the void, and was fluttering around her, glowing brightly – the lightning bolt from earlier, could it possibly have been coming from it? Was it the one that saved her from the enclosure of the nightmare? What was going on here…? Was she just having a dreadful dream?

But this dream was just too unusual.

Zhu Yan panted alone on the bed for more than half a day, covered in cold sweat, recalling everything in the dream and feeling apprehensive: what was wrong with Sumo? It had been months since that little brat disappeared. And she herself had undergone a life and death catastrophe in the past few months, unable to take care of herself and unable to go out and search for him properly.

Is it an ominous premonition to have such a dream happening now? If something really happened to that little brat, then…

The Jade Bone kept jumping brightly and furiously in her palm, just like her anxious heart.

If you loved my translations, help me to keep up with the good work!

Your contribution is highly appreciated, Thank you!

NOTE: This translation belongs to me. It is prohibited to copy / Re-translate / Re-distribute my translations without my prior permission. Thank you.

Like this:Like Loading...

Related