Chapter 146: Stirring Thoughts

"Foolish child, won't you wake up!"

Though casually spoken, the light sentence echoed in the ears of several people like a roll of thunder.

Xiang Caiyun stepped forward and asked, "Senior Shen Yu, what on earth do you mean?"

Shen Yu ignored her. Gazing at the other two, he asked a baffling question: "What year of the Great Tang is this?"

This was an extremely simple question, yet a bizarre scene unfolded. The individuals present exchanged glances, and not a single one of them could provide an answer.

"The Great Tang... How could there be such a name! What even is the Great Tang?"

The young martial artist seemed to remember something, clutching his head with both hands. His head hurt as if it were about to split open, and he even appeared somewhat delirious.

Pang Zhengyuan wore a blank expression, staring blankly at the scene. After a long moment, he murmured quietly, "Isn't this the seventy-ninth year of the Xia Calendar?"

Something seemed to shatter in the air.

Shen Yu turned his head to look behind him. The moment he spoke these words, the wave of pitch-black darkness capable of swallowing everything had stopped fifty or sixty zhang behind them, and was then blown away by the wind.

Shen Yu sat cross-legged on the ground and explained, "Several hundred years ago, or even thousands of years ago, you were trapped within the nightmare illusion for a long time. In the end, your physical bodies dissipated, leaving behind only a sliver of obsession."

"You mean... I died long ago?"

Pang Huahua clenched his fists tightly, muttering to himself, "Impossible! Impossible, I have no memory of this at all."

Shen Yu thought for a moment and said calmly, "The nightmare utilized your obsessions to resurrect you once more. Perhaps having repeated the experience countless times, you knew the black tide behind you could swallow everything, and thus subconsciously fought desperately to move forward. Of course... actually, all of this was aimed at me."

Shen Yu looked at Xiang Caiyun, who had remained utterly clueless from the beginning, and smiled. "Attempting to use me to change into another identity to leave this place, and upon leaving, erasing them as well to eliminate all traces, reinventing yourself to return to the mortal world—wasn't that thinking a bit too simply?"

Xiang Caiyun maintained her innocent and pure appearance, saying, "Big Brother Shen Yu... Did you misunderstand something about me? I really..."

Sword Qi pierced the air.

Only the sound of a blade piercing flesh could be heard.

Qingqing, the wooden sword in Shen Yu's hand, pierced straight through Xiang Caiyun's heart. It flashed and vanished, kicking up a spray of blood.

Shen Yu's expression remained completely unchanged.

Xiang Caiyun's face turned dull, but she did not fall to the ground. Soon, an unconcealable malice and sneer emerged on her delicate face.

"Just how did you figure it out?" A mocking voice echoed from the woman's abdomen.

Shen Yu looked at the distant, frozen beast horde and said, "There were too many suspicious points. If this were a nightmare illusion and all the disciples were here, how could we walk all this way without seeing a single person? Or take how their two methods of attacking the wind-born beasts and handling them were far too perfect, hitting the weak points of the beast horde with every single move. Even I observed for a bit. Of course... the only thing that truly allowed me to be certain was a minor detail."

Shen Yu paused for a moment and said, "When Pang Zhengyuan asked about my realm, he called it the Divine Spirit Realm, but that is terminology from thousands of years ago. Now it should be called the Divine Travel Realm."

"You certainly know a lot."

Xiang Caiyun sneered. "Could it be that the good-for-nothing from Liubo Mountain was also fake?"

Shen Yu replied, "He was real. He was purely a disciple you deliberately let in to lure me into a trap, which is why you used the bell to make him die so early, wasn't that right?"

At this moment, the figures of Pang Zhengyuan and the young martial artist became ethereal and shifting, like willow catkins in the wind, on the verge of falling apart.

"If as you say... why would I waste effort choosing such a mediocre shell?"

Xiang Caiyun's face completely morphed into a malicious, pale-green imp as she said, "More importantly... since you knew this technique long ago, why bother going to such exhausting lengths?"

Shen Yu gently raised his right hand, and the wooden sword Qingqing instantly flew into his palm. "Because you knew very well that thousands of years ago, your strength could not yet recover to its former realm, and you were even more aware of the strength of those fellows outside. You had no way to break out of the Jade Pool. Therefore, you had long since planned to abandon your physical body, hiding within Xiang Caiyun's body in an attempt to escape with me. Of course, you told me this yourself back at the Immortal Burial Tombs, because as long as your divine soul remains, you can nurture an undying physical body anew. As for why I went to such lengths..."

Shen Yu fell silent for a moment and said, "Who said I was wasting my effort?"

As his voice fell, radiant golden light simultaneously erupted around Pang Zhengyuan and the young martial artist. Pain and confusion vanished from their faces, replaced by a sense of liberation.

It was as if they had completely broken free from the shackles of this world, their entire beings soaring toward the sky. The looks they cast at Shen Yu carried unspeakable gratitude.

Xiang Caiyun froze slightly, and then an uncontrollable expression of amusement crossed her face. Clutching her stomach with both hands, she burst into loud laughter, unable to hold it back any longer. "This is hilarious, hahaha... After being busy for so long, you merely ended up releasing their obsessions! Is there really someone as pedantic and foolish as you in this world? Hahaha, are all members of the Dao Sect this adorable?"

Shen Yu did not speak, his expression serene.

Having seemingly laughed enough, Xiang Caiyun regained her composure, her face carrying unspeakable mockery. "Yet do you know that even though you lifted their obsessions and allowed them to enter the cycle of reincarnation, as long as I wish it, I can pull their souls back from the river of time at any time and place!"

The nightmare extended a single finger and said smugly, "This is the true innate talent of my nightmare clan—commanding the laws of time. Within the illusion inside my body, I can manipulate time at will, immortal and indestructible! I am invincible!"

The wound on Xiang Caiyun's abdomen, previously pierced by the Qingqing sword, began to heal—no, perhaps it should be called a reassembly. The blood, muscles, tissues, and everything else began to regenerate.

Much like time flowing backward, the wound recovered to its original state almost instantly.

Shen Yu wore no expression as he raised his right hand high, once again forming a sword seal. His intent was self-evident.

Xiang Caiyun let out a cold snort, and an endless stream of black Qi erupted from her body. The scenery all around began to collapse with a roar. Those distant mountain cliffs, dense forests, beast hordes, and the earth all turned into nothingness, leaving only the open ground between the two of them safe and sound.

At the same time, a pair of giant eyes appeared in the sky, looking down at Shen Yu.

Endless resentment surfaced on Xiang Caiyun's face. "Those good-for-nothings outside tried their utmost to suppress my physical body, but who could have known that as long as my divine soul remains undying, I can endlessly regenerate? I originally intended to use this skin to leave the Jade Pool first, but since you saw through it, keeping you is useless. Go die!"

Xiang Caiyun's right arm was enveloped by black Qi, forming a giant claw that smashed straight toward Shen Yu's head.

"Slaughter the Netherworld!"

Shen Yu murmured softly. A slight tremor was visible in his right hand as sword Qi surged forth. The giant claw instantly shattered, and Xiang Caiyun's entire body disintegrated into fragments, clattering as they fell to the ground.

"It's useless. Even if the masters of the nine sacred lands gathered here, what could they do to me?"

A voice filled with serene fearlessness rang out. Xiang Caiyun's fragments began to gather slowly, instantly 'resurrecting' to reform a complete person.

Shen Yu watched for a moment and said, "It seems you are very confident in your ability to command the river of time."

"What a joke! Three thousand years ago, I faced the siege of so many human sages and did not die, let alone in the world today!"

Xiang Caiyun smiled sinisterly. "Your body seems quite good. Since you intend to destroy the shell I prepared for many years, you can use your own body as a replacement. Hehe, the body of an Innate Dao Body... it really does seem quite good."

Shen Yu suddenly raised an eyebrow. "You want to take control of my body?"

Xiang Caiyun asked, "Afraid?"

Shen Yu shook his head and said calmly, "You can't."

Xiang Caiyun laughed as if she had heard the greatest joke in the world. "I control time here and am immortal and indestructible. Just by you?"

In the mortal world, Daoist arts and magical treasures concerning the word 'time' are invariably the most supreme under heaven.

For instance, that Master of the Academy: a single thought knows the world, a single thought knows antiquity and the present, traversing a thousand years back and forth with absolute freedom.

Such heaven-defying methods earned him the reverence of millions.

And the nightmare, favored by the heavens and blessed with unique endowments, naturally possessed the capital for such pride.

The giant eyes in the sky slowly began to open, their gaze pouring down onto Shen Yu.

Everything around them stagnated.

The gale across the earth, the spiritual Qi of the surroundings, and the sun in the sky all seemed to become lifeless objects at the exact same moment.

Shen Yu felt the gaze from the sky and raised his head to meet it.

An overwhelming, pitch-black divine sense entered his mind, and within his eyes, a radiant river could be seen flowing across the starry sky.

That was the legendary river of time.

Shen Yu knew the nightmare was searching his past history for the weak points of his Dao heart, intending to magnify them a hundred or a thousand times and ultimately seize his body.

...

Everything around began to blur, and his five senses were entirely blocked off.

This was the moment his consciousness began to sink, signaling that the nightmare's divine soul was beginning to contend with his primal divine soul for control of his body.

Yet for some reason, a trace of a smile appeared at the corner of Shen Yu's lips.

If anyone familiar with him had witnessed his actions throughout this illusion, they would have found his behavior very odd.

For Shen Yu was never a man fond of talking much. Even if he understood something, he would never explain it point by point.

If he spoke at great length, it could only prove one thing.

He was waiting for something.

Until this very moment, when the nightmare stirred the intention to seize his body, Shen Yu finally smiled.

Yes, upon entering the illusion and realizing the nightmare's intentions, Shen Yu had been waiting for this exact moment.

The laws of time were formidable, but they were also extremely dangerous.

Shen Yu was about to execute a perilous maneuver; if this move failed, it might lead to his true and thorough obliteration.

He did not know whether it would succeed, yet he felt no hesitation.

...

The nightmare's consciousness drifted within that illusory river of time. Upon beholding Shen Yu's various pasts, its expression turned to shock and even astonishment.

"Who on earth is he? Who on earth is he?!"

This thought filled the nightmare's mind, driving it impatiently to the very end of Shen Yu's sea of consciousness.

This was a boundless starry sky, where countless massive stars of indescribable scale drifted, permeated by a chaotic aura.

At that moment, the starry sky began to brighten.

The nightmare finally caught sight of a figure from behind.

That imposing figure was incomparably tall, hands clasped behind his back, standing at the very edge of the starry sky. For some reason, it emanated a sense of solitude.

A wave of immense terror suddenly flooded the nightmare's heart, causing its entire body to shiver and tremble uncontrollably.

It seemed to have seen him before.

The next moment.

The nightmare's divine sense began fleeing backward frantically. It considered itself an ancient fierce beast of heaven and earth, immortal and indestructible, yet at this moment, it acted like a mere ant, fleeing without a single moment of hesitation.

"It turns out to be you... It turns out to be you... An existence like you is still not dead!"

A frantic, shrill scream erupted from the nightmare's mouth as its entire form transformed into a streak of light, plunging far away.

...

Within the nightmare illusion, Shen Yu sat cross-legged on the ground, as still as an abyss, entirely out of place with the surrounding illusion.

Under the current circumstances—and indeed across the entire world—very few people could directly eliminate the nightmare, but 'he himself' happened to be one of them.

The nightmare illusion was a divine ability, but in Shen Yu's eyes, it was a bridge connecting to the river of time.

"Obliterate."

Shen Yu spoke.

This divine thought arose from the depth of Shen Yu's heart like the simplest character, crossing the river of time, crossing three thousand years of history, and landing upon that starry sky.

That imposing figure stirred slightly, and the stars revolving around it began to tremble, tiny cracks spreading across them.

The entire starry sky began to shake.

The towering figure turned around, a light murmur escaping its lips as it cast a glance into the distance.

"No...!"

Having fled back to its physical body, the nightmare felt the incoming aura of obliteration. It lost all its composure, its face filled with infinite terror and disbelief.

A wisp of faint, pale Qi pursued it from behind, thin as a hair.

The next moment.

Time collapsed, and the long river severed its flow.

The starry sky vanished from heaven and earth as well.

A single thought arises.

All things perish.

...

The nightmare illusion collapsed starting from the vault of heaven.

Shen Yu sat cross-legged within it, eyes slightly closed, completely transformed into a bloody figure.