The chisel pierced the heart. The carving knife sliced through the bones. Gao Ming looked at the hole in his stomach. His blood capillaries were connected to the red buildings.
“Have I become the blood city? This is the perspective of the city!”
Gao Ming thought once he used his organs to fill up the blood city carving, he would be inside the statue. However, his line of sight was greatly elevated. He saw the divine glow above him and kneeling cultivators on the seventh floor. He saw the trampled corpses and himself. His tattered body lay inside the stomach of the divine statue, embraced by everyone’s desire.
The sounds of praying, sutra and wishing became colourful bubbles. They were not enough to fill up the holes in human hearts. More desire gathered. As everything was about to be consumed by desire, the expanding desire suddenly exploded to become a scary force. This force was far beyond Gao Ming’s understanding. It could turn the fake into the truth!
“The Soul Temple’s power comes from desire?! Is this the power of faith?”
When everyone inside the Soul Temple believed in one thing, that thing would become real. Not one ray of light could be seen in this black tower anymore. It could hide in the dark and freely edit the world outside. The secret of ascension, the divine palace above, and the tests on each floor were supported by the power of faith. Everyone’s desire constructed the divine palace, and they were enslaved by the divine palace. Gao Ming challenged the foundation of the nine-story soul temple. The divine light formed a whip and lashed the Blood City statue.
“No wonder you became more like Zhang Mingli when I thought you resembled him. Once people start to hesitate, they become cultivators. They have managed to convince no one but themselves.” Gao Ming understood everything. “While we’re inside the Soul Temple, if everyone thought the divine palace was real, then you would become the real divine palace. If everyone believes you are the final hope for Dream Break Town, you’ll be the ending for all the stories.”
The whip shattered the buildings, but soon, new buildings appeared. Gao Ming’s mind was connected to the blood city. He smiled with death and despair. “It’s a shame that you got greedy. Dream Break Town’s gods and demons are not easy to deal with. That group of crazy people won’t believe in themselves. Will they believe in you?”
All the cultivators shuddered. Gao Ming became more lawless. He accidentally stumbled upon the energy the blood city needed the most: faith.
Desire flowed into the dead city. Gao Ming guided it and had it believed that the blood city was the divine palace. Faith was a simple word, but it required a lot of preparation to be effective. Everything the Soul Temple had done manifested greatly in the blood city. No one thought the blood city was a dead city. Even though it radiated death and had no living citizens, all the cultivators had faith that this was the divine palace. The faith of one person was not that effective. When a group of people collected their faith, they could shake the falsehood. When everyone believed in one thing, the truth didn’t matter anymore.The desire that contained the power of the Soul Temple changed not only the blood city carving but also surged into Gao Ming’s heart. It entered Gao Ming’s nightmare. This turned the boundary of Gao Ming’s world blurry. The nightmare felt more real than the real world.
The divine mist in the Soul Temple dissipated. The divine glow dimmed. The nine-story soul temple noticed that the desire was rapidly declining. The glow surrounded the blood city carving like a giant python. Strange characters lit up. Nine cracks buried beforehand in the divine statue opened. The nine-story soul temple would abandon the seventh floor and destroy the divine statue to stop Gao Ming from gaining more desire.
“It’s true. Everything in the nightmare is real. The blood city is real…” When the statue shattered, the blood city tattoo on Gao Ming changed without warning. The shaped statue crumbled, but the shapeless spirit transferred to Gao Ming.
The divine statues buried in Gao Ming’s acupoint made seals. The sealed room in the heart absorbed life’s desire and summoned Gao Ming!
With 18000 Yang Gods outside the body and 18000 Yin Gods inside the body, the dead city really became a divine palace on his body!
The desire bubbles burst into fog and condensed into water. It washed away the blood on the dead city. The tattoo on Gao Ming started to fluctuate with a power that frightened even the Gods.
Even the nine rays of light couldn’t tear Gao Ming apart. They could only try to ‘ascend’ him again. However, when the rays touched the tattoo, they started to melt. Gao Ming felt his body fly up for a moment before he descended. The divine glow within and without his body receded.
“Am I finally becoming an immortal? I wish to see what this divine palace looks like.” Just as this thought appeared in his mind, Gao Ming felt something knock on his back. It was not painful. It emitted an earthly fragrance. After some time, Gao Ming’s eyes refocused. He could see the divine palace nearby.
“The patterns on the heavenly gate are closer on this floor. I should have ascended to a higher floor.” Gao Ming couldn’t move. He could only twitch his neck. He heard the sound of running water and caught sight of many plants. There was a timid deer checking him out.
“So big…”
Gao Ming had no idea where he was. He couldn’t see the boundary. He could only see a few strange buildings. All the buildings were very high. They were like fingers of desire, reaching towards the divine palace above.
Since Gao Ming hadn’t moved, the adult deer became curious. It cantered and paused until it stopped before Gao Ming. The tough tongue licked Gao Ming’s arm. It caused Gao Ming to hiss in pain. The deer also jumped back in fear.
The deer tilted its head. Its eyes reflected Gao Ming’s recovering body. After a few more tries, it returned to Gao Ming’s side. It examined Gao Ming’s chest with curiosity.
It was not Gao Ming that grabbed his attention, but the fading divine glow within Gao Ming’s body. It lowered its head to lick it, but it only came back with Gao Ming’s blood.
The deer was drunk on the thick meat fragrance. Its head shook. Thankfully, its antlers weren’t sharp, so Gao Ming wasn’t hurt.
A few minutes later, the deer’s golden eyes burst with blood vessels. Before this, it was like an elf in the forest. Now, it became more realistic.
It mewled twice at Gao Ming. After drinking Gao Ming’s blood, it treated Gao Ming as its ilk. It used a lot of effort to carry Gao Ming on its back.