Chapter 820: Karmic Fire

"The last Reincarnation Mirror Fragment!" This had been my goal from the very moment I entered the Deep Dream Layer. Eyes red, I snatched it up without hesitation.

As I pulled my arm back to tuck this final Mirror Fragment into my pocket, Butcher's drooping hand suddenly shot up and clamped around my wrist.

"I know you have a way out." The rice-sized crystal was quickly absorbed by the cyclone in Butcher's sea of consciousness. As small as it was, the energy it contained far exceeded my expectations. Butcher, who had been half-dead moments before, actually stabilized. His pale lips parted as he whispered, "I am willing to pay any price, as long as you take me back to reality with you."

With the final Reincarnation Mirror Fragment in hand, this dive into the dream was a complete success. Pulling out now was the best move.

I had the Dream Wing Gu and could freely enter and exit the Deep Dream Layer. Taking the severely injured Butcher with me wasn't impossible, but someone like him could never be my friend. He was a venomous snake. If I wasn't careful, he might even turn around and bite me. After all, I was the one who had killed his sub-will in reality.

Butcher seemed to see me weighing my options. He knew exactly how to persuade a live show streamer. "Once we return to reality, I'll give you five Upper Vehicle Talismans, and I promise I won't make a move against you for ten years!"

"Not enough." I glanced at the cyclone in Butcher's sea of consciousness. The rice-sized crystal had already been completely absorbed. "Tell me how you absorb energy from those crystals."

This involved his deepest secrets. I expected him to refuse, but to my surprise, he answered the moment the words left my mouth. "Absorb? This crystal is my own will to begin with. I control the seven emotions and six desires, so I split my will into eight paths. The main will nurtures the six desires, while the remaining seven sub-wills represent the seven human emotions. To maximize my will, I usually send these seven sub-wills into the bodies of ordinary people to temper them. Once they are successfully tempered, a will crystal forms. Together, the seven sub-wills account for half my strength. If I hadn't been schemed against and forced directly into the Deep Dream Layer without time to recall them, it's not certain who would have won!"

My expression remained unchanged, but a flurry of thoughts flashed through my mind. To think that the seven crystals I had secretly hoarded were actually Butcher's seven sub-wills, containing the seven emotions and making up half his power!

If I could absorb all the energy within those seven crystals and make it my own, my strength would advance by leaps and bounds.

Unfearing of exposing my hand, I kept my tone unyielding and pressed Butcher again. "I asked how to shatter a crystal's outer shell to absorb the energy inside. Think carefully. The answer to this question determines whether you leave the Deep Dream Layer or not."

Under someone's eaves, one must bow one's head. Butcher seemed to realize something, and his expression turned somewhat ugly. "It's useless for anyone else to get those crystals. To break the outer shell, you first need to gain the acknowledgment of my sub-will, or experience the same scenarios and comprehend the seven emotions."

If he hadn't been pushed to this breaking point, Butcher never would have confessed this to me. "I've told you everything I have to. Our enemy is Destiny. Take me out of here..."

Destiny was like a sharp sword hanging over our heads. I nodded. No matter what Butcher had done in the past, at least when it came to fighting Destiny, we were on the same side.

Pulling my arm back, I dropped the final Reincarnation Mirror Fragment into my pocket. All the mirror fragments fused together, the cracks on the glass slowly vanishing.

"This is the reliance of my 2.6 billion reincarnations. The answers to all my secrets can be found in this mirror." Captivated by the Reincarnation Mirror, I failed to notice the new changes unfolding in the city in the night sky.

Iron chains stretched across the expanse. All kinds of desires polluted the pure will of the people, corroding gaping holes into the will of the masses.

The Traitors and Black Robe stared intently at the sky. The thin membrane holding up the city was on the verge of collapse, and the city in the night sky was falling into the breaches inch by inch.

"Desire truly is the most effective weapon against willpower." Black Robe's gaze was profound, piercing right through the Deep Dream Layer. He looked at the sky in reality, his lips suddenly parting. "Destiny is finally making its move."

At the same time, Xiao A and the Man in the Colorful Robe both retreated beyond the city blocks. Only a few of us remained on the altar.

In reality, fiery red clouds surfaced at the edge of the night sky. To ordinary people, they would look like normal clouds.

But it was these very simple clouds that made everyone feel an unprecedented threat.

The clouds avoided the city. Seemingly bound by some rule, they couldn't enter the Deep Dream Layer directly. Instead, they poured down through the gaping holes corroded by desire, clinging to the black iron chains and spreading rapidly toward the Deep Dream Layer!

The unease in my heart grew stronger. I pushed my Judging Eye to its absolute limit before I could see clearly. What was pouring from reality into the Deep Dream Layer wasn't red clouds at all, but clusters of roaring flames filled with agonizing wails!

"It's Karmic Fire!"

I had heard of this from Master Tianxin before. The Buddhists say that evil karma harms the body like fire. This Karmic Fire was the fury of all living beings. Once it touched you, it would never go out, burning until your flesh split apart and your blood and bones were reduced to ash.

"Dream Wing!" I didn't dare linger here a second longer. The moment that ocean-like Karmic Fire appeared, I instantly understood Destiny's plan.

The Deep Dream Layer was the forgotten Third World, the deepest secret buried in the human heart. Not even Destiny could interfere directly. It was using Black Robe and the Traitors' plan to open the heavens to piggyback its way into the Deep Dream Layer, intent on burning down this place that had slipped from its control.

The boundless Karmic Fire in the sky was the best proof. Destiny had prepared for this exact moment a long time ago.

Dazzling butterfly wings stretched out to both sides. Grabbing Butcher with one hand, I leapt straight off the edge of the building.

"Stay. I need someone to share the fury of the masses with me." Black Robe shot me a sidelong glance, as if he had expected this all along. With a wave of his hand, he tossed a small Compass onto a corner of the altar.

The mystic needle of the Compass pointed squarely at me. Around us, more than a dozen iron chains surged toward me like living things. At first, the Dream Wing Gu could still dodge them, but slowly, the number of chains multiplied until nearly a hundred of them sealed off my path in the air. Getting tangled in chains wouldn't be a big deal on its own, but the real issue was the boundless Karmic Fire burning upon them. Chains of fire pierced through both worlds, hurtling straight for the Deep Dream Layer!

'Calm down, there has to be another way!' As the Dream Wing Gu darted left and right, our room to maneuver shrank. I forced myself to focus and suddenly noticed a detail. No matter which direction the Dream Wing Gu flew, the needle on the Compass kept pointing at me. This scene felt incredibly familiar.

"The Compass? This is the exact same method Xu Yan used back then, using a Compass to track the Yang Talisman's position." Inside the endless staircase, I had once obtained a Blue Dream Path Talisman the size of a fingernail. I had placed that talisman on Wang Shi, and Wang Shi was currently inside my Ghost Ring.