Return to Reality

"Forget it. We'll talk about it later."

After putting away the two guns, Xu Tianming did not make any further fuss. He turned to look beside him. Xiao Hongchen, Meng Hongchen, and Ye Guyi's eyelids twitched; they were about to wake up.

At that moment, the entire Rift Realm began to shake violently.

The dark purple clouds in the sky churned fiercely. The Star Crystals on the ground began to crack as well, and large swathes of spatial fragments peeled away, exposing the outline of the Jingyang Mountain Range outside.

The Rift Realm was collapsing.

Without the Rift Realm Core—the Radiant Flame Dragon—this Reflection Space no longer had an anchor to sustain its existence.

Two streaks of light flew over from afar. Jing Hongchen and Shangguan Weier landed nearby.

When they saw the devastation all around them, the three unconscious children, Xu Tianming as the only one still standing, and the pile of Star Crystal debris left behind by the Radiant Flame Dragon, both of their expressions changed drastically.

"What happened?"

Jing Hongchen walked over to Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen, checking their pulses. Only after confirming that they had merely fallen unconscious did his tense shoulders ease slightly.

Shangguan Weier also hurried over and picked Ye Guyi up, carefully examining her.

Xu Tianming opened his mouth to explain, but Jing Hongchen suddenly looked up at the collapsing sky.

"Leave first!"

"The Rift Realm Lord has already been killed by us. This Rift Realm is about to collapse!"

He did not let Xu Tianming speak. Grabbing him by the shoulder, he unleashed the Soul Power of a level ninety-four Titled Douluo as metal wings spread behind his back.

Shangguan Weier picked Ye Guyi up as well. With a beat of her silver-white wings, she transformed into a streak of light and shot toward the opening in the sky.

Looking out through the rift, they could see the dense forests of the Jingyang Mountain Range and normal sunlight. Held in Jing Hongchen's grasp, Xu Tianming turned back to watch the collapsing Rift Realm, the corners of his lips lifting slightly.

The timing of the Radiant Flame Dragon's sacrifice happened to match the time when Jing Hongchen and the others killed the Rift Realm Creations, so they mistakenly believed that the Rift Realm Creation they had slain was the Rift Realm Lord.

That was good too. It saved him a lot of trouble.

Above the Jingyang Mountain Range.

A silver-white beam of light shot out from the rift. Jing Hongchen carried Xu Tianming and the Hongchen siblings, landing steadily in an open space halfway up the mountain.

Shangguan Weier followed close behind, with the unconscious Ye Guyi in her arms.

The instant the two of them regained their footing, the spatial rift behind them abruptly contracted. Dark purple light flaked off along its edges, turning into countless specks of starlight that scattered around them.

Then a dull boom sounded from within the Rift Realm. The entire space collapsed along with it, finally shrinking into a thin line before vanishing into the air.

The mountain wind blew once more.

It carried the fragrance of grass and trees, along with the faint burnt scent of scorched earth. The land that had been corroded by the Rift Realm was recovering at a visible rate.

After the gray-black Star Crystals fell from the ground, they turned into purple mist and drifted into the sky. The twisted branches straightened again, and the withered leaves returned to green.

Even the stream that had been polluted by the Rift Realm became clear again. Moreover, the natural energy in the air was far denser than before the Rift Realm appeared. Spiritual energy flowed into their bodies with the mountain wind, and the circulation of Soul Power became smoother as well.

Everything indicated that the Rift Realm had been completely destroyed.

"We did it!"

Shangguan Weier let out a sigh of relief, then lowered her head to look at Ye Guyi in her arms.

"They still haven't woken up."

"Soon."

Jing Hongchen put away his flying Soul Tool. The moment he finished speaking, a groan came from beside them.

"Mm..."

Meng Hongchen's fingers trembled slightly.

She frowned first, then abruptly sat up. Her aqua-blue eyes flew wide open, and her hands flailed instinctively in front of her.

"Where's the dragon?"

Xiao Hongchen's voice came from nearby. Meng Hongchen turned her head and saw her brother lying on the ground, a few withered leaves still stuck in his silver-white hair. He looked even more bedraggled than she did.

Xiao Hongchen pushed himself up from the ground with both hands, though his mind was still not entirely clear.

"This is... Jingyang Mountain?"

He looked around. Familiar trees, familiar mountain winds, and smoke and dust in the distance that had yet to fully disperse. Yet according to his memories, they should still have been inside that dark purple Rift Realm, with a massive dragon before them.

The giant dragon let out a roar, and its dragon might descended.

Then...

He remembered nothing else.

"Did I just have a dream?"

Meng Hongchen rubbed her head, her expression growing increasingly unpleasant.

"I dreamed of a dragon."

"It wasn't a dream."

Xiao Hongchen spoke in a low voice. Once he recalled what he had seen before losing consciousness, his face immediately darkened.

"That dragon was real."

At that moment, Ye Guyi woke up as well.

Shangguan Weier set her down. Ye Guyi propped herself up into a sitting position, her pale golden hair spilling over her shoulders. She first glanced at Shangguan Weier, then at Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen, her emerald eyes filled with confusion.

"Did we get out?"

"We did."

Shangguan Weier nodded.

"The Rift Realm has been destroyed."

Ye Guyi lowered her head to look at her hands, as though recalling what had happened before she lost consciousness.

She only remembered that dragon might being terrifying. She also remembered Xu Tianming standing before her without falling.

As for what happened afterward, she had no idea.

Jing Hongchen looked at Xiao Hongchen.

"What happened before you lost consciousness?"

Xiao Hongchen sorted through his thoughts and recounted what had happened.

"At the time, we were inside the Soul Guidance Shield. First, we were attacked by a group of Rift Realm Creations. After the Soul Guidance Cannons wiped them all out, we heard the sounds of your battle in the distance."

"Not long after, the ground nearby began to shake. We saw a dragon-shaped Rift Realm Creation walking toward us from afar. Then it unleashed its dragon might, and we lost consciousness."

As Xiao Hongchen spoke, he raised a hand to touch his forehead.

"We don't know what happened after that."

Jing Hongchen and Shangguan Weier then both turned their gazes toward Xu Tianming, because he had been the only one who had not passed out.

Xu Tianming said calmly,

"My teacher prepared a protective Soul Tool for me, so I did not lose consciousness. At the time, the Soul Guidance Cannons my senior brother set up had already locked onto that Rift Realm Creation. After a barrage of attacks, they had beaten it half to death."

"But the Soul Guidance Cannons had also reached their limit."

"That Rift Realm Creation charged through the cannon fire to the vicinity of the protective barrier. It first destroyed the Soul Guidance Array, then smashed through the protective barrier."

Meng Hongchen immediately asked, "Then how did we survive?"

Xu Tianming pointed at himself. "The protective Soul Tool on me activated by itself and killed that injured dragon-shaped Rift Realm Creation."

"Fortunately, my teacher had left me a protective Soul Tool. It activated when I was in danger. Otherwise, we would all have been in grave danger."

The explanation was perfectly reasonable.

After hearing it, Jing Hongchen showed no surprise. Xu Tianming was of imperial blood and also a disciple personally accepted by Kong Deming. It was entirely normal for him to possess a protective Soul Tool.

As for how exceptional that protective Soul Tool truly was, Jing Hongchen did not ask. Everyone had their own secrets, especially children of the imperial family.