Chapter 613: Faith
“The butcher is an important Yong God of Dream Break Town. He is responsible for preparing all the animals for the rituals. However, I didn’t expect the person to care about the animals the most to be the butcher.”
The big stone at the village entrance was covered in names. The old night-watcher only cared about protecting the citizens. He didn’t care about the animals. Only the butcher had records of them. Thinking back to the first time he met the butcher, Shopkeeper Wang was bullying a black donkey. It was the butcher who tossed the shopkeeper into the mill and saved the donkey that was transformed from a tester.
“Fu Shu was right. The butcher was indeed the most honest person he could find in this town.” Gao Ming picked up the pig’s mask. He thought about it. Even though the butcher had been chasing him, he never really harmed Gao Ming. If anything, he helped Gao Ming solve many issues. “However, Dream Break Town is indeed a scary place to be able to push an honest man to the butcher’s crazed and murderous state.”
Gao Ming didn’t get it. How could an Iyashikei game become like this in the end?
Ever since the divine ghosts figured out the heavenly gate was real, they seemed to lose control. They did everything within their power to prepare for ascension.
“Dream Break Town has seen its share of Soul Temples. However, they were taken over by the ghosts and turned into their residence. This nine-story Soul Temple has been collaborating with the Water Dragon King and hid itself underwater. It appeared at the last moment. It will not be that easy to deal with.” Gao Ming was not blinded by greed. Plus, he didn’t care about the gate. As a tester, he had many ways to leave the nightmare. “This fight is theirs.”
Holding the mask, Gao Ming signalled for the deer to leave. They moved away from the divine waterfall and hid among the mounds of leaves and paper money. The waterfall that was sliced by the butcher soon recovered. The jade buildings in the palace didn’t appear damaged. Only the heavenly gate had a new butcher’s knife stuck to it. Compared to the massive gate, the blade was incredibly small. However, no one could ignore it. It was like a nail on the soul temple’s heart.
The wind blew away the paper money. A mourning song rang for the unknown. An arm reached out of the cracked soil. The flesh rotted away to reveal the bones within. As the dirge became louder, sets of skeletons crawled out of the ground. They used each other’s bodies to construct a staircase that led towards heaven. This divine ghost was proud and arrogant. It would make its own path to the divine palace.
South of the bone ladder, the soil churned. A giant grave appeared on the ground. The wind turned into fluttering soul banners around the grave. The wind paused. The underground river started to flow in reverse. The black river water gushed towards the west. The water couldn’t touch the sky, but they turned into wisps of black smoke amidst the sad music. They looked like incense smoke. The smoke spread quickly. It came into contact with the divine fog above. The two mixed together. The divine mist slowly turned murky.
“The town’s Ji God has made its move. This is a massive undertaking!”The presence of death pierced through the sky from three sides. The divine palace appeared to be under its control.
“You maggots that feed on the dead. How dare you call yourself a divine ghost?” Inside the moonlight palace, a voice that was very familiar to Gao Ming uttered.
Gao Ming’s face twitched. “Zhang Mingli?” When he had that thought, the voice resembled Zhang Mingli’s voice even more.
“Dream is an Unmentionable. Since you are in his dream, there is only one ending. That is destruction. You can only escape that fate by becoming a divine immortal and accepting new birth.” Zhang Mingli’s voice clarified. However, Gao Ming became more suspicious.
“Zhang Mingli is worried about the return of Dream, but he would never use that as an excuse to accept divinity.” Gao Ming came to a decision. “This is not Zhang Mingli. The Soul Temple is using him as a disguise!”
Actually, he had another consideration. What if the person who built the Soul Temple was Zhang Mingli?
He was there to save Zhang Mingli. The latter had a conflict with Immortal Pharma, but that didn’t mean Gao Ming had to align himself with Zhang Mingli’s philosophy. Zhang Mingli was worried that Dream might take over his body and resisted Dream’s power. However, Gao Ming didn’t care. He desperately needed the ability to change everything. It didn’t matter if the ability came from Dream.
“Everything in Dream Break Town comes from Dream. I am born in Dream’s heart. You trapped me and tortured me, but how does that change anything?”
The bone stairs reached the edge of the divine palace. It inched towards its destination.
On the other hand, something appeared to be bursting out of the giant grave. Everyone ignored Zhang Mingli.
“You view everything in this dream as ants. You spread fear and feed on memory. None of you are qualified to achieve divinity. All of you are nightmares.” The gate of the divine palace swung open. Zhang Mingli, with stitches all over his body, appeared. He wore simple clothes, and with each of his words, the divine palace filled up with more divine aura. The ground under his feet rippled like water. It turned into a giant mirror. It allowed everyone on each floor to witness what was happening.
“Everyone can be divine. I am willing to ferry all the cultivators to the other side… All will receive my blessings… except you nightmares!” Zhang Mingli’s voice was powerful. It rang like thunder. “You are the culprits that the divine don’t act with divinity! Without eliminating you, our path will never be clear.”
He lowered his palm, and the divine glow showered down. However, the divine ghosts ignored him.
Zhang Mingli smiled with his eyes as he closed his palm. “Dear cultivators, are you willing to help me take down the culprits?”
At that moment, the divine glow morphed into sharp blades.
“Haha. I’ve succeeded!”
Zhang Mingli waved his sleeves. The galaxy started to spin. He appeared to hold the stars in his hands. He manipulated the night sky that had never changed. The divine palace became corporeal at that moment. Starlight flowed down the eaves and turned into the galaxy. It washed away the bone stairs.
“It has become real?!” Gao Ming widened his eyes. The impact from the galaxy couldn’t be blocked. The white bone stairs crashed. With the Gods of past and future in his eyes, Gao Ming stared at the mirror under Zhang Mingli’s feet. He saw the cultivators on the other floors.
The paper dolls, citizens and animals knelt on the ground. They surrendered their faith and power to Zhang Mingli. The divine ghosts and Gao Ming didn’t believe in the divine palace, but the others in the Soul Temple had already been brainwashed. They had suffered enough. They placed their hope on ascension.
The Soul Temple didn’t force them. In fact, they wanted more than the Soul Temple to believe that everything was real. Compelled by desperate wishes, the power of the Soul Temple was raised to its maximum. This was the scary part about faith.