CHAPTER 64: TIME TO WAKE UP FROM THE THOUSAND-YEAR DREAM

Nantian Wan'er could no longer care about anything else. She rushed forward and threw her arms tightly around Lu Chen.

She pulled out the latest chapter from her gown and slowly unfolded it in front of him. "Lu-gege, look! It's not fake. This is our story. I've already written it down."

Lu Chen stared at the script in her hands. His emotions began to settle. "Is this... the latest chapter?"

Nantian Wan'er didn't answer. Instead, she focused all her efforts on reaching out to the Heavenly Pool.

Within the pool, the black and white twin fish responded to her call. Two lights—one dark and one bright—rose from their meridians.

The yin-yang twin-fish diagram emerged over them. Finally, their yin and yang merged into one.

The energy from the diagram shattered the illusion's barrier. A gateway to the Heavenly Pool tore open in midair.

Nantian Wan'er looked up at the newly revealed portal and began circulating her spirit qi. The pool stirred with a rhythmic pulse, flowing in harmony.

Tears streamed down her face. "We did it, Lu-gege."

She raised both hands, one supporting the Green Sovereign Divine Tree, and the other gripping the Hunyuan Greatsword. "Look. It's all real. Everything you experienced was part of the trial."

Lu Chen looked at the tree in her hand, then slowly reached out to touch one of its branches.

The Green Sovereign Divine Tree extended a vine, gently brushing against Lu Chen's hand.

Feeling the warmth and affection from the tree, Lu Chen slowly started crying. "It's real... It's really real... Is it truly real?"

For two hundred years, hope had come and gone, only to be crushed again and again. Even now, disbelief still lingered in his heart.

He looked up, wanting to ask Nantian Wan'er something.

Perhaps sensing that Lu Chen's sorrow was too intense, Eggy suddenly flew out and landed on Lu Chen's shoulder.

It rubbed against his hair, partly out of curiosity and partly to comfort him.

It leaned close to his ear and chirped softly, "Squeak... Creak..."

Lu Chen gently stroked the little creature. "Eggy... Then all of this should be real, right?"

The more evidence he saw, the more he started to believe, and his emotions gradually settled.

He stepped forward. A gleam of clarity flashed in his eyes as the foul and decaying aura around him began to fade.

He began channeling the spirit qi of the Heavenly Pool to cleanse himself. "I remember now. This is the truth. These are my memories, and this is my life."

Eggy called out again, confirming Lu Chen's words. "Creak... Squeak..."

Seeing the change in his aura, Nantian Wan'er broke into tears and laughter. "You're finally back, Lu-gege."

Lu Chen gave her a gentle smile and reached out to wipe away her tears. "That's right, I'm back. This illusion was far too real. It trapped me for two whole centuries."

When Nantian Wan'er had seen Lu Chen lost in the illusion realm, she had rushed in without finding out how to break it. Now, facing the overwhelmingly realistic illusion, she felt a surge of guilt.

"I was so anxious to get to you that I didn't stop to ask how to break the illusion. Now that we're both inside it, I... I don't know what to do."

Lu Chen noticed the guilt on her face and gently patted her head. "Since we now know it's an illusion, then there must be a way out. Those two hundred years weren't in vain."

In that moment, Lu Chen's spirit qi surged. He rapidly advanced through several realms in one go—from Qi Drinking and Qi Regulation to Qi Condensation, then finally stopping at the Sunken Core Realm.

"Hunyuan Greatsword! Green Sovereign Divine Tree!"

With a shout, Lu Chen raised the sword in both hands. A one-zhang-long glow of spirit qi enveloped the Hunyuan Greatsword.

The divine tree's vines wrapped themselves around him, weaving into a full-body armor.

In that instant, Lu Chen regained his peak strength, now at the fifth level of the Sunken Core Realm.

He clenched his fists and felt the power flowing through him. "This strength is incredible... though I suppose it only works within the illusion."

Remembering that he woke up from the illusion beneath the ancient parasol tree, Lu Chen quickly pulled Nantian Wan'er toward it, shielding her behind him as he released his divine sense to search for flaws in the illusion.

Eggy cried out in alarm, "Creak... Creak..."

It transformed into a planetary jade token and snapped tightly onto the Hunyuan Greatsword.

A surge of blue light instantly spread out from the sword and enveloped both Lu Chen and Nantian Wan'er.

Just as he looked down at the sword, about to speak, the flow of time beneath the parasol tree abruptly accelerated.

Everything around them began to age in fast-forward—wilting, crumbling, decaying.

Lu Chen tightened his grip on the sword as he cautiously scanned the surroundings. "Why?"

Nantian Wan'er shouted, pointing at the tree, "Lu-gege! There's a flash of light on the ancient parasol tree!"

"That must be the formation's core. Wan'er, step back. I'll break through it."

Lu Chen leaped into the air with the Hunyuan Greatsword and slashed directly at the formation's core.

However, the strike failed to damage the tree at all. Instead, it triggered what looked like a defense mechanism. A blood-red wave of murderous aura surged up from the ancient parasol tree's crown.

In the span of a single breath, murderous sword qi solidified in the air and shot straight toward the center of Lu Chen's brows.

Seeing the incoming attack, Lu Chen swiftly dodged with his movement art and pressed the first button on the planetary jade token.

A portal appeared in front of him, and the sword qi vanished into it.

Watching the sword qi disappear, Lu Chen gave Nantian Wan'er a small smile and prepared to return the Hunyuan Greatsword to his Heavenly Pool. Just then...

Nantian Wan'er's pupils dilated as she pointed behind him. "Lu-gege, behind you!"

Lu Chen caught the reflection in her eyes. Another portal had opened behind him, and the murderous sword qi shot out once more.

He gripped the Hunyuan Greatsword tightly and turned around quickly to block.

Boom!

The Hunyuan Greatsword was blasted from his hands. The sword qi came at him again.

Seeing the deadly sword qi surge toward him, Lu Chen raised a spirit qi barrier and summoned a defensive enchanted artifact, reinforcing it with the divine tree armor to protect himself.

However, the difference in power was too significant. The sword qi tore all layers of defense apart one after the other.

The sword qi pierced forward, heading straight for Lu Chen's forehead.

"Creak!"

A sharp cry rang out from the planetary jade token embedded in the Hunyuan Greatsword. Eggy's power surged, and blue streams of light started flashing rapidly across the blade as time itself began to condense.

Eggy tried to use its temporal power to save Lu Chen, but it was still a moment too late.

The murderous sword qi had already reached the center of Lu Chen's forehead.

However, what followed was neither the expected burst of blood nor a shattered skull. The sword qi was instantly deflected, and Lu Chen remained completely unharmed.

Lu Chen opened his eyes and looked at the sword qi in front of him. "That was it?"

Just as he let out a breath of relief, the temporal power on the Hunyuan Greatsword exploded.

Tens of thousands of blue threads of light surged from the planetary jade token, interweaving in all directions and dividing the entire illusion realm into countless neat and orderly grids.

Lu Chen sensed the apocalyptic force within each grid. He quickly shielded Nantian Wan'er between his arms and tried to stop Eggy. "No!"

Unfortunately, Eggy didn't hear Lu Chen's cry. It let out another sharp shriek, "Creak!"

Then it unleashed its temporal power, directly tearing the entire illusion realm apart.

"Top-tier temporal power? How is that possible..."

On the cliff, Blindman Lu coughed up a mouthful of blood. Little Pup quickly supported him while collecting all the blood to prevent it from harming the continent.

Once Blindman Lu regained his breath, he circulated his spirit qi. A radiant multicolored light spread out, wrapping around Lu Chen and Nantian Wan'er, shielding their bodies.

***

When Lu Chen opened his eyes again, he found himself lying at the center of a giant stone formation.

He sat up and pulled Nantian Wan'er into his arms, carefully checking her injuries. "Wan'er, it's so good to have you. I'm so glad you're here."

After experiencing the despair of loss, the joy of regaining what was once lost became all the more precious.

Nantian Wan'er asked softly as she looked at Lu Chen's anxious face, "Mm... Lu-gege, did we make it out?"

Lu Chen withdrew his hands and looked around. "Yes, we're out. That battle was a close call, but the rewards were worth it."

Not far away, Wind Dragon was still chained to a stone pillar, while the four chieftains stood nearby.

Sensing Lu Chen's presence, the four approached with smiles on their faces. They said nothing and simply watched him hold Nantian Wan'er.

They didn't know what had caused the illusion realm to shatter so suddenly, so they waited for Blindman Lu's instructions.

On the cliff, Blindman Lu kept his gaze locked on Lu Chen, his brows tightly furrowed.

Temporal power continued to surge from Lu Chen's body.

Blindman Lu tried to deduce something with his spirit qi, but was unable to see anything.

"Heh... the perfect fusion of time and space. Even in the Outside, few can wield it. How fascinating... It seems this grand game is about to take yet another unexpected turn."

He stopped circulating his qi and transmitted a compressed secret message directly into Flame Demon's ear.

Flame Demon gave a slight nod toward the cliff and slowly made his way toward Lu Chen.

Seeing Flame Demon coming closer, Lu Chen became alert. "What do you want?"

His spirit qi activated on its own, forming a protective layer around him. It was an instinct honed through more than two hundred years of cultivation.

His cultivation hadn't advanced directly during those two hundred years in the illusion realm, but thanks to it, he had gained far more.

He had mastered countless new techniques, his understanding of martial arts had deepened, his mental state had matured, and his comprehension of the path had grown richer by two full centuries.

From now on, as long as he accumulated enough spirit qi, he could step into the next realm without any bottlenecks.

Once he finished digesting all the insights he had gained, his combat power would undergo a complete transformation.

With his exceptional cultivation foundation, Lu Chen was already unmatched among his peers.

Challenging people at higher realms wouldn't be out of the question. This situation was precisely the foundation Blindman Lu had planned for Lu Chen to be ready for the next stage of the plan.

Lu Chen asked calmly as he stood with Nantian Wan'er in his arms, "How did we get here? What's the next trial?"

Flame Demon explained, "There's no next trial. It doesn't matter what method you use. As long as you passed the heart-tempering trial, you would have earned our recognition. What comes next isn't truly a trial. It's more like a gift from us to the Beast King."

As his voice fell, the four chieftains took on human form and knelt on one knee before Lu Chen, speaking in unison: "From this day forward. You are our king—the new Beast King of the continent."