As Yi Xuan sprinted across the forest terrain, the sound of crashing waves could be heard catching up to him.
"Shit! " without having to turn back, Yi Xuan was able to guess the approximate distance Shui Bu was from him, through sound.
"At the speed, he's going he has to have an Immortal Gu or worse an Immortal Killer Move!"
Yi Xuan and his team were only mortals, their assassin group was renowned in the mortal world as their leader was a Rank 5 Gu Master, and the rest of them were no lower than Rank 3.
Yi Xuan himself was a Rank 4 Gu Master that showed promise of becoming Rank 5 or maybe even Rank 6!
Even though Yi Xuan managed to acquire such a large head start, the gap was quickly being shortened.
"Where are you running to?" a cold sinister voice shouted from behind.
Of course, it was none other than Shui Bu.
"Hehe, why did you leave your friends behind?" Shui Bu mocked Yi Xuan in a condescending manner, "You know you really wounded me with that attack, why don't you aim for my head maybe you could finish the job?"
As Shui Bu taunted Yi Xuan, his voice got louder and louder, not because he shouted louder but because he got closer!
After a few more minutes, Yi Xuan could feel the coldness of the water, almost strangling him.
"This bastard…he's just toying with me!" Yi Xuan gripped his teeth and fists together, "If he truly wanted my dead, I would have died a long time ago."
"Arggh!" in a desperate shout of despair, Yi Xuan jumped forward a few steps, turned around and shot his signature Killer Move, One Shot; One Kill, at Shui Bu.
Using the position of the sound of Shui Bu's talking, Yi Xuan was able to aim directly at the head, without having seen it previously, making his attack extremely quick.
Shui Bu could not dodge it in time.
The shot went through Shui Bu's head and out the back.
Seeing the hole in Shui Bu's head gave Yi Xuan a moment of pure joy and relief; for just a moment.
Horror soon replaced Yi Xuan's face as he saw that there was no blood, brain or skull inside Shui Bu's head.
And soon the hole that was formed began to be filled with water.
"Kekeke, ready to die?" Shui Bu jeered.
Yi Xuan dropped to his knees in disbelief and despair.
Shui Bu morphed his hand into a water scythe, ready to take Yi Xuan's head: "Any last words?"
"I lo-" before Yi Xuan could shout his last words, Shui Bu's hands swung down with vicious speed, cleanly severing Yi Xuan's head from his torso.
"Too bad! Kekekeke," Shui Bu laughed maniacally, "Now this Dream Realm should end after I complete his revenge against Zhi An, his wife."
Indeed, Shui Bu was the Dream Realm's owner and he was known as one of the first few Water Path Demons.
And piloting Shui Bu was none other than the Water Path cultivator of Heavenly Court, Shuai Ge!
Just as Shuai Ge was prepared to head back to town, he noticed a strange Pink bug land on the corpse of Yi Xuan.
"Hmm?" Shuai Ge was intrigued by the bug, "I've never seen such an insect before."
It looked like any regular ant but had wings, yet the most striking thing was its unique colour.
The shade of pink that made up the bug was something that seemed so unnatural and yet so alluring.
But Shuai Ge was quickly shocked to find that the insect began devouring the corpse of Yi Xuan!
Shuai Ge was immediately warry, "Is this a part of the Dream as well?"
But he soon found that there were more than just one of these pink bugs, he found a few on the trees and even a few at the cliff where he had slain the group.
The insects quickly multiplied with every bite, and with every multiplication, they could devour more and the more they devoured the more insects they made, rinse and repeat.
In just a few short breaths, they've easily turned into hundreds of thousands.
Shuai Ge tried to wipe them out but the insects devoured his killer moves as well!
"Shit!" Shuai Ge immediately took off, but the insects followed him in pursuit.
Although he was much faster than them, they were nearly everywhere!
They emerged from the surrounding trees, from the skies, and even from the ground!
Shuai Ge had to keep dodging them or slowing them down with Killer Moves, although that only further added to the problem.
"They just keep coming! What is this?! This can't be real it must be some kind of external Killer Move affecting the Dream Realm!" Shuai Ge figured out the trick behind these bugs very quickly.
After all, if such bugs had appeared in reality, with their voracious appetite the whole Gu World would have been reduced to nothing by now.
Fearing that if the bugs ate his Dream self, he would either be injured or worse, Shuai Ge did the smart thing and returned to Heavenly Court using the Killer Move, Returning From Inception To Reality.
In the Painting World,
Tens of Hundreds of Heavenly Court members began appearing one by one.
"What's happening?"
"Did you encounter a massive swarm of pink bugs as well?"
"Yes! They devoured everything, not even my Killer Moves were effective!"
"What are they?"
As the Immortals discussed amongst themselves.
A loud voice suddenly boomed out, "Attention!"
All the discussion immediately quietened down as they recognised the voice.
It was Genesis Lotus!
He was on a ledge, next to him was a man dressed in a deep red robe.
Who else would it be but Red Lotus!
"Attention all," Genesis Lotus addressed the crowd, his voice was carried throughout the entire Painting World, "I know you all have your questions and I will get to answering them."
"But first," Genesis Lotus waved his hand and a large screen appeared for all the Gu Immortals to see.
The screen was depicting various scenes of the Pink Bugs devouring Dream Realms.
"Take a good look, inscribe this feeling of hopelessness, powerlessness and despair into your hearts, this is the number 1 enemy of Heavenly Court, the Heaven Refining Demon Venerable; Fang Yuan!"
!!!
Shocked gasps could be heard, followed by faint murmuring.
Genesis Lotus continued, "The Heaven Refining Demon Venerable is an expert in just about every path, and after his trip into the Grand Dream Realm, it is safe to assume that he is a Grandmaster in every Mainstream Path, at the bare minimum."
The murmuring grew louder.
"In addition, he is also a Pseudo-Dao Emperor with one of the most complete Dao Fruits in the entire Gu World, just shy of advancing to the mythical Dao Emperor stage."
Red Lotus then stepped in and addressed the crowd, "Are you scared? Do you feel defeated before even fighting? Let me tell you that even with the combined strength of Star Constellation, Genesis Lotus, Heaven and Me, we can only hold him back or force him away, but we cannot defeat him!"
The crowd was silent.
"Do you want to give up?"
Those words began to seep into the crowd.
Maybe they should give up, maybe they should surrender to Fang Yuan and let him do as he please, maybe that would allow some favourable terms that allow them to keep some resources or at the very least their lives.
But even though the words sounded reasonable, there was a strange discomfort in the hearts of every Heavenly Court member.
Something that would not let them surrender, something that pushed them to keep fighting, but they all seem to have forgotten…
"Never!" a stern and rugged voice shouted out from the crowd.
Everyone turned to face this man, he was a man that towered over everyone, his back was straight as an arrow and his face had a look of wisdom.
The way he carried himself was upright and righteous, and he looked extremely dependable.
His horns curved upward and he had scales covering parts of his arm.
It was none other than Duke Long!
Duke Long's voice was amplified by Genesis Lotus and he addressed the crowd of Heavenly Court members.
"I know you all feel it just as much as I do, the fear and trepidation at staring down against such a mighty foe, the temptation to surrender and no longer live a life of burden, but I also know that all of you feel some kind of compulsion to fight, to stand up, to not give in, but you can't identify what it is."
He then flew up towards the perch with the Venerables and stood in front of Red Lotus, as he continued talking to the crowd below, "I too could not remember why, but I felt it, I felt so strongly that I would not yield, no matter what! But I couldn't figure out why, until now."
"The answer is compassion! We are sacked with the heaviest burden of all, love for our fellow man, we want to protect Humanity and carry on the spirit of ancient times, how our forefathers fought for a better world for the next batch of humanity, how a father would lay down his life for his son, how a leader would sacrifice himself for his people and," Duke Long looked affectionately at Red Lotus, "How a teacher would give his all for his student…"
Duke Long took a bow in front of Red Lotus, "After all this time your master finally understands why. Forgive me."
Red Lotus had a veil of tears in his eyes, "When did you regain your memories?"
"When you tried to instil despair in the Heavenly Court members so that they could rise up, but I saw that within you were carrying that despair all by yourself and that's when it hit me."
The master and disciple finally, after a million years, reconciled.
A loud clap could be heard coming from above,
"Well said Duke Long," a woman who was bathed in starlight, her hair seemingly containing the galaxiesz planets and stars floated down.
"Star Constellation! You're back…" Genesis Lotus greeted her but he noticed something different, "Y-you did you attain a Dao?!"
Star Constellation merely smiled, she did not answer and turned to face the members of Heavenly Court: "You were all once members of Heavenly Court yet due to my mistake and your selflessness, have been reduced to shells of your former self."
She continued, "You were once filled with a grand dream of protecting humanity, and even now, that is still buried deep within your hearts."
With a wave of her hand, beautiful starlight began descending down onto each and every Heavenly Court member, "For your services I return to you your legacies!"
Dao Killer Move --------- The Stars Have Seen Your Deeds; Glorious Heroes Return!