Chapter 353: The Truth

Longyuan snorted coldly. "Back then, you held Supreme Heaven and threatened the other first-generation kings, declaring that if anyone dared to enter, you would immediately sacrifice everything you had to Supreme Heaven and obliterate them."

Su Mu was somewhat surprised. "You backed down that easily?"

"Backed down?" A flash of resentment crossed Longyuan's face. "Who could ignore a madman's threats? We all knew you would actually do it. On top of that, the Land of Origin exuded an extremely dangerous aura. Nobody knew what was inside, let alone if anyone could come out alive. In the end, we let you go in."

"Then what was inside the Land of Origin?"

Longyuan didn't answer. Instead, he asked, "Do you think you would have told us?"

"No."

"Hmph. As long as you know, don't ask."

Su Mu couldn't help but laugh. His past self really had been awful. This was just great—he had set it up so his present self couldn't find out, either.

"When you came out of the Land of Origin, you told us the truth of the world. You let us know it was fake. We still didn't believe it at the time, not until you used the ability you gained from the Land of Origin to open the Two Worlds Passage and took us to the Abyss."

He had opened the Two Worlds Passage?

Su Mu's eyes flickered. If his guess was right, his own dream world had most likely been brought out of the Land of Origin. A dream world that could infinitely elevate his mental strength was absolutely not something a Gold King could possess.

"After learning the truth, we all unanimously chose to give up our fighting. Everything had lost its meaning. If the world was entirely fake, what was the point of dominating it?"

Longyuan laughed self-deprecatingly. "Not only that, but you brought back even worse news. The reason nightmare creatures constantly invade the Present World is actually because Gods are driving them from behind.

"The Gods of the outside world are forcing the nightmare creatures to invade the Present World. Their goal is to destroy the world."

"Is the Land of Origin also what those outside Gods are after?"

"Perhaps. They certainly never told me."

Su Mu was left speechless.

Do you think you're funny?

"You might wonder why the Gods don't invade directly since they are so powerful. I'll tell you the reason: because the world is fake, and the Gods are real. They fundamentally cannot enter the dream world, so they can only drive the nightmare creatures to invade.

"You should also be able to sense that the boundary between dream and reality in this world has long been shattered. Many living beings have been affected, existing somewhere between reality and illusion. However, this cannot affect the supreme Gods. They are eternal and real. Precisely because of this, they cannot enter the Present World the way the nightmare creatures can."

Su Mu remained silent. So this was the truth behind the Nightmare Invasion. The Gods were the ones pulling the strings.

"The Present World holds something they want. Since they cannot enter, they have no choice but to destroy it. We previously considered leaving this fake world and going to the real world outside. Unfortunately... it was useless."

"Why was it useless?" Su Mu felt slightly confused. "What the Gods want is the Land of Origin. That has nothing to do with you."

Longyuan gave him a deep look and said heavily, "Because you and I are both people in a dream. When the dream awakens, what do you think happens to the people in it?"

Su Mu couldn't help but recall the time loop dream world from before. When that dream shattered, the people inside...

"It doesn't matter where the people in the dream flee. When the dream shatters, they still die. We possess real flesh and blood, but we also possess the traits of people in a dream. We exist between illusion and reality."

"Wait, then what is going on with the Nightmare Apostles? Why do they go to the Nightmare World after falling asleep? Could it be..." Su Mu suddenly thought of a possibility.

"That's right. The Nightmare Apostles aren't falling asleep at all. They are... waking up!

"When the traits of reality upon us dream-dwellers reach a certain critical point, we wake up from the dream and arrive in the real world—the Nightmare World. However, because our illusory traits still exist, we cannot stay awake for long and will eventually return to the dream world. The more we come into contact with reality, the longer we can stay awake, until we remain in the real world completely."

Su Mu grew even more puzzled. "Then why don't the Nightmare Apostles go directly into the Black Fog? Why do they enter other dream worlds instead?"

"Going to other dream worlds is just a transition. The final destination for Nightmare Apostles is the real world, the so-called Hell. This involves the concept of authenticity, which is very hard to understand at your current realm.

"Simply put, because the boundary between reality and illusion has been broken, many things possess both traits simultaneously. Nightmare Apostles are people whose internal authenticity is too high. They gradually wake up, jumping step by step from dream worlds of low authenticity to those of high authenticity, until they completely return to reality.

"The Present World is the known dream world with the lowest authenticity. It is the one closest to pure illusion.

"You can think of it like this: the Present World is the bottom floor of the eighteen levels of Hell. If the ghosts inside want to return to the living world and become human, they must climb up from the eighteenth level, layer by layer."

At that moment, Longyuan's expression suddenly changed, and his body grew increasingly transparent. "Not good, I can't hold on much longer. There's no time to explain too much. Listen carefully. If the Present World is destroyed, everyone will die. It's useless even if you descend into reality. If you don't sever the connection between yourself and the dream world, you won't survive anywhere.

"Don't ask me how to sever the connection. If I knew, I wouldn't be like this right now. I would have run away a long fucking time ago.

"The curtain of light you see is the Seven Kings Barrier. It is a barrier established by the seven first-generation kings at the cost of their lives. Its purpose was to protect the world and isolate it from the Nightmare Invasion.

"Back then, the Land of Origin appeared and allowed the outside Gods to sense its aura. They went increasingly mad, constantly driving more nightmare creatures to invade, even including quite a few at the Saint Grade. Humanity was bitterly holding on. At that time, you proposed establishing the Seven Kings Barrier to isolate the world.

"Of course, the strength of just the seven of us definitely wasn't enough. You said the Seven Kings were only the catalyst, and what would truly take effect was the power of the Land of Origin. Therefore, you used Supreme Heaven to sacrifice all of us, and then channeled the power of the Land of Origin through the Seven Artifacts of Royal Authority.

"Although the Seven Kings Barrier was completed and ended the Nightmare Era, it cannot last for too long."

"Sacrificed all of you?" Su Mu caught the blind spot.

Longyuan nodded anxiously. "That's right, all of us. You didn't sacrifice yourself."

"Then what about me?" Su Mu stared blankly.

"Nobody knew what you were going to do. You said you would sacrifice everything you had, including your very existence, and then be reincarnated. You claimed you would return after finding a way to save the world. Now you've come back. So, where is the solution?"

"I don't know." Su Mu shook his head with complete honesty. He truly had no idea.

Longyuan flared up in anger. Just as he was about to speak, Su Mu added, "However, based on my understanding of myself, I think... you guys were probably scammed."

"You fucking—"

Longyuan began to spew a string of vivid curses.

He cursed for a long time before finally stopping.

Su Mu looked at Longyuan's rapidly dissipating body, unable to help but marvel at the man's endurance. He kept saying he was going to dissipate, but he had managed to keep bitching for so long without actually fading away. Perhaps this was just a terminal burst of lucidity.

He let out a heavy breath.

Longyuan took a deep breath and suddenly calmed down, even revealing a faint smile. "Forget it. I've been dead for a long time anyway, and my remnant soul is about to dissipate too. The upcoming mess will be all yours. It has nothing to do with me.

"Sacrificing my life to establish the Seven Kings Barrier back then was only to protect my family and friends. Calculating the time, they've all long since died off. If the world wants to be destroyed, let it be destroyed."

"You're certainly taking it in stride. By the way, how much longer can the Seven Kings Barrier hold?" Su Mu asked with a smile.

"Three."

"Three years, or three months?"

"Two." Longyuan began to count down the seconds.

Su Mu stared in disbelief.

"One."