章 62: Like a Dream
Blinded by the flash of light, Zhang Baichi was unable to react to the formation's activation at his feet.
It took a short moment for his eyes to regain their focus, but n just that instant, his surroundings had changed tremendously.
Before, he stood within the underground chamber in front of the small room containing the formation written in the language of the True Dragons.
Yet now, he stood underneath a beautiful blue sky, with clouds strewn across the horizon; Far above him, all around the sky, even close to the ground and surrounding multiple small buildings.
The ground beneath his feet was hard, grey stone. Polished and smooth, but still crude compared to asphalt or concrete from his previous world. Obviously, the stone had been worked on by hand, not by specialized machines.
Still, as far as his eyes could see, the ground was plastered with these slabs of smooth stone. Zhang Baichi could not even imagine how much time it must have cost to build just this floor.
A short distance away from him stood several buildings of various sizes, though all still relatively small. They were made with beautiful, polished limestone, ornated with gems and precious metals, well-maintained and cleaned.
Clouds wound around the buildings, up high and down low, even drifting around on the ground and around Zhang Baichi's feet.
An imposing and stoic atmosphere surrounded this whole place, but Zhang Baichi could neither see nor sense any source for this atmosphere. It was as if he was standing in the kingdom of God; He, a mortal, blaspheming this place with his mere presence.
Zhang Baichi vigorously shook his head; These weren't his thoughts. He had already met a god-like cultivator in the Black Heaven Great Sage, so there was no reason for him to belief there to be any true gods.
'This place… it's influencing my thinking like something's invading my mind…', he rationalized his feelings of awe and piousness, and carefully looked around.
Yu Hao and Lu Zheng were missing. It was clear that all three of them had indeed stepped into a teleportation formation, but he was alone in this place.
Zhang Baichi figured that they might either be in a different place, just far away from him, or that this whole place is an illusion.
Whatever it was, Zhang Baichi knew that he had to find the other two; He might be able to resist these feelings, but he could not be sure about Lu Zheng's and Yu Hao's ability to do the same.
In the worst case, they might come to worship this newfound God, much like Gu Liang held a fanatic belief in the so-called Dragon God.
'System, scan my surroundings. Is there any powerful being around?', he quickly commanded in his head.
Still, even after multiple seconds, no answer came from the system. Zhang Baichi frowned. 'System? Hey, answer me, you junk software.'
Nothing but silence. Zhang Baichi took a deep breath. It was impossible for something to take the system away from him. Even if that Dragon God was real, it was impossible for him to be stronger than the Black Heaven Great Sage, who was an Empyrean standing at the peak of the universe.
'So, is it an illusion? The reason that I can't contact the system is probably because my mind is somehow compromised.' Surprisingly, Zhang Baichi was very calm.
He understood the predicament he was in quite well, but if someone or something was powerful enough to pull him into such an illusion, it was also powerful enough to kill him.
Since he was alive and well, there must be something more to this situation. Else, he would have already died.
'For now… Let's see what these buildings hold.', Zhang Baichi thought to himself, as he walked towards the small collection of beautiful and intricate buildings.
There were no doors, so he was able to simply step into the first building after walking for a few hundred metres.
The interior was, once again, laced with beautiful, intricate ornaments of gems, gold, and other precious metals. Everything seems grand and sombre.
He saw a few more symbols on the walls, as well as murals.
'Those depictions… are the same?', he frowned.
The murals and symbols were identical to the ones he had seen on the foot of the Dragon Peak, aboveground and dead centre in the Mystic Realm.
He had no idea of what this meant, and Zhang Baichi could only leave the building, and head to the next.
Again, he saw writing and murals depicting the same scenes he saw on the Dragon Peak.
Each building contained a single, grand mural that was accompanied by rows of symbols written in the language of True Dragons.
He combed through five buildings, revisiting the five great murals depicting the rise to power for both humans and Demonbeasts, as well as the central piece depicting an offering to the Dragon God.
Zhang Baichi's eyes fell onto another building at the back of the small village he was in. This was the sixth and last building he saw, and it was a lot bigger than the previous five. At least five to six times bigger.
'I've already seen all the murals I've seen before. There will be something different within the sixth.', he mused while walking towards the building.
The building did not have a door either, but it was impossible to see inside, even when Zhang Baichi stood right at the doorstep.
He took another step forward, entering the building, and finally saw the insides.
Rows and rows of bookshelves stood in front of him, built from beautifully smooth, white wood. The floor and walls of the building were once again laced with ornamentations, all in a style that Zhang Baichi had never seen before, just like the other five buildings.
With no one in sight, nor any writing or mural at the entrance, Zhang Baichi simply walked over to one of the shelves, browsing through the books.
Unfortunately, he could not understand what was written on any of the book covers, nor within the books.
"This whole place… must contain thousands of books, if not more. Yet, all of them are written in the language of True Dragons. What is this place?", he muttered to himself.
Since he could not read any of the books, he could only scour through the place by himself. We walked through each row of books, hoping to find any clue as to find out what to do.
There was a hallway leading up at the side parallel to the entrance, something that Zhang Baichi had been unable to see from afar. 'Strange. This building shouldn't have an upper floor.'
He stood at the foot of the staircase, which was build from the same beautiful, white wood that the bookshelves were made from.
He could not find any other way – not on the sides of the building, nor in between the bookshelves. The only way leading anywhere was the staircase.
Zhang Baichi decided quickly; Since there was no other way, he could only move forwards.
His foot landed on the first step, and he pushed himself up. His backfoot rose from the ground within the library and by the time it landed on the second step, Zhang Baichi's surroundings had changed once again.
He reacted quickly and looked around in shock; The building behind him was gone.
The only thing that remained was a pure white, wooden staircase endlessly leading downwards through a beautiful blue sky filled with clouds.
In the other direction, the same staircase endlessly led upwards.
Zhang Baichi stood in the sky, only the staircase with him. On his left and right, there was only a small railing raising up to his hip. '…The illusion changed?'
He stood still for a moment, trying to see and sense anything in his surroundings, but could not find anything amiss. 'This illusion is terrifyingly strong… Where does this staircase lead me?'
A few moments of deliberation later, he decided to walk up the staircase. It simply seemed more reasonable compared to walking downwards.
Zhang Baichi moved, continuously trying to find anything amiss with the illusion, but he was never able to find anything.
Unknowingly, he had been moving up on the staircase for multiple hours…
He was not growing tired, nor hungry. His head was clear, with his mind and wits as sharp as ever.
Yet not even then did Zhang Baichi notice that his mentality was slowly changing.
Endless ardour and anticipation welled up in his mind and heart the more and longer he walked.
Three days passed in this state, and Zhang Baichi was still climbing the stairs at the same speed as before, without any rest, without any doubt.
Unknowingly, his clothes had changed.
He was no longer wearing the light cyan coloured martial artists attire characteristically worn by the disciples of the Fleeting Storm Sword Sect, but a plain white robe instead.
It was tightly fitted to his body, as if tailored only for him to wear; Plain, yet exquisitely made from the finest fabrics.
Zhang Baichi breathed deeply, and a smile formed on his face; His eyes glistering with excitement; he was totally at ease and content. "Just a bit further… and I'll be able to finally meet the Dragon God!"
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