Mei Ziqing watched as the large bird swooped down. Before she could dodge, the bird had already pierced through her body.
She knew perfectly well that this wasn't real, that it was the work of the mind, but she was completely powerless to resist it. This Mental Power was so strong, far beyond the reach of human beings.
A tremendous force pulled her out of her body.
She watched helplessly as she left her body, the surrounding space distorting and strange light appearing.
In that instant, she remembered the legends about the Holy Land.
As the last glimmer of light vanished, like the taillight of a spaceship speeding away at the speed of light, she was left behind in the depths of space.
Mei Ziqing quickly fell into deep fear. She didn't know where she was; all around her was endless darkness, darker than the depths of the universe, without any light, without any particles or dust, not even darkness itself.
She could feel her own presence, but that was all.
This fear and bewilderment could drive a person mad, but she couldn't go mad because she had no body. Yes, she existed, but she had no body, nothing to lean on, not even the simple act of hugging herself tightly.
She was merely a consciousness, drifting in a space devoid of physical form.
There is no time here, only an eternal, deathly silence and the stillness of the Tushu.
Am I dead?
She wanted to shout.
But apart from this thought, she couldn't utter a sound. She had no vocal organs, nor any medium for sound to travel.
She drifted like this for tens of thousands of years, or perhaps for a fleeting moment, until she finally became numb to fear and forgot about it. Then she saw a faint light in the distance.
A dead heart is suddenly rekindled, hope is rekindled, and fear is reborn.
She struggled and ran toward the light, as if she were passing through an endless tunnel without any light, the light at the exit right there, but forever out of reach.
She remembered her father's notes mentioning the " Holy Land Road," which some in the Alliance also called the " Dream Corridor."
These corridors once connected all the Holy Land, forming a spiritual network. But later, for some unknown reason, this network disappeared. The paths either vanished or became dead ends, as if a protracted war had left only devastation behind.
If this is a dead end, then she will never be able to escape this dimensionless space.
But the light ahead undoubtedly gave her hope. Because where there is light, there is an exit.
In the light, it seemed as if countless faces were flashing, waiting for her, just like when she was a child, her father would stand in the distance with open arms, and she would toddle towards him.
The road was so long, so nerve-wracking.
"Old man..." she called out into the distance.
The father's face flickered and disappeared, then it was replaced by the mother's, and then by someone else.
Familiar faces flashed by one by one, finally settling on one face.
"Professor!" she called softly.
As she shouted, her consciousness made some inexplicable connection with the distance, and she saw a bright light; the tunnel exit was right in front of her.
Overjoyed, she ran out.
In a dazzling white light, Mei Ziqing saw Mei Yiqiu smiling at her, a pipe dangling from his lips.
"Professor, were you waiting for me?" she asked.
"Follow me." The professor turned and walked away.
Mei Ziqing followed him.
The world around me is white; there's nothing but white. When everything is white, there's no difference between white and black.
She felt as if she were back in the endless dark void, searching for a way out, but now, with the professor leading the way, she was no longer afraid.
"Professor, where are we going?"
"You found light from darkness, and now we return from the light to darkness."
Why return to darkness?
Light and darkness are inherently one; without darkness, light is also darkness.
The two of them were like two shadows on a blank sheet of paper, walking in a two-dimensional world.
After an unknown amount of time, a black light appeared ahead, illuminating the white world and shining upon them.
Mei Ziqing saw a long white shadow trailing behind the professor.
Then, black and white merged, and blurred, gradually changing light and shadow flowed in the space, revealing some three-dimensional things, like someone creating a traditional Chinese ink painting on paper.
Mountains and water make up the earth, clouds and moon paint the sky, and on the mountains and under the moon are stretches of forest, with babbling streams flowing through them.
The water babbles, fish swim in the water, crickets chirp in the grass, and wildflowers laugh at the sounds.
A small bird flew across the sky, leaving the sound of its wings cutting through the wind.
The sound of the wind stirred a zither hidden somewhere, and it began to play a heavenly melody.
Mei Ziqing walked up the mountain path, her feet on the cool stone steps covered with moss.
She had never breathed such fresh air, nor felt so comfortable and at ease.
"Professor, where is this?" she asked.
"This is my dream," Mei Yiqiu said.
"Your dream..." Mei Ziqing suddenly understood, "This is the Dream Guide. This is the world you created within the Dream Guide. Your dream was so beautiful!"
"Everyone's dream is beautiful."
What about nightmares?
"Nightmares, those are the sins of the human heart!" the professor said. "Those without sin do not have nightmares."
"Are there such people in the world, besides you?"
"Me? No, I also have sins lurking in my heart."
"But your dream is so beautiful!"
That's just what you see.
What about what I didn't see?
"There--"
The mountain path came to an end, and they reached the summit. The professor pointed to the back of the mountain and said...
Mei Ziqing saw that the area was filled with dark, heavy clouds, and lightning, like white snakes, crawled through them.
A bridge made of iron chains and wooden planks extends from the cliff at the top of the mountain, reaching deep into the clouds, its destination unknown.
"Want to go take a look?" Mei Yiqiu asked, turning back as he stepped onto the bridge.
Curiosity drove Mei Ziqing, crawling through her consciousness like a worm. She had long wanted to peek into the professor's dreams, but had never succeeded.
"Okay, what could it be there?"
She followed the professor onto the overpass, walking shakily into the dark clouds.
Soon, dark clouds enveloped her body, and lightning crackled around her.
She saw a towering castle ahead, with an iron chain bridge leading to its towers.
The moment they stepped onto the tower, the dark clouds disappeared, the sky cleared again, and the bridge behind them vanished.
A solitary castle, floating between heaven and earth.
From the tower, one can see countless wonders and unusual sights. She couldn't even describe them.
Those bizarre and fantastical worlds seem to form a whole, yet each one also seems to be independent.
She can see every detail clearly and recognize the owner of each independent little world.
Then she saw Bian Ziyuan, and she saw Kronos.
"I understand now. This isn't your nightmare, Professor. This is the center of the Dream Guide —the area I've always wanted to open, but couldn't," Mei Ziqing said with sudden realization.
"That's right, this is the Dream Core. But you may not know that it has another name." Mei Yiqiu paused, and the pipe in his mouth suddenly Mars, a wisp of white hair spilling from the corner of his mouth.
Its name is— the City of Sin.