Chapter 1 The True Face of the Dark Domain

Standing on the shattered ruins of the Founding Star, all that could be seen was the true face of the Dark Domain.

A cosmic space enveloped in chaos and darkness – normal cosmic space was of course also dark, but here, darkness was no longer a state but a tangible, palpable entity.

The celestial fragments left after the Founding Star was torn apart floated at the center of this space, its remaining powerful energy still maintaining the structure of this debris field even after ten thousand years. Therefore, those fractured continents did not dissipate into the deadly void, and the polluted atmosphere was bound by some kind of energy field around the debris field, shrouding these already desolate ruins in an even more desolate haze – like a shroud draped over a corpse.

But the Dark Domain was not only composed of these things.

After seeing the distant, equally torn-apart planet, Hao Ren began to scan the entire sky to find more wreckage and ruins, and he indeed saw some hazy shadows in the dark chaos. These shadows were shrouded in abnormal black fog, making it difficult to discern their true distance. Some of them resembled torn celestial bodies, while others looked like giant palaces or warships, and Hao Ren also noticed that they were not all solid: some shadows showed obvious signs of translucence, an abnormal phenomenon indicating that most of the things that had been dragged into this dark domain along with the Founding Star had probably suffered a terrible fate.

Recalling the Gate of Sluun, which had also been dragged into the Dark Domain and then miraculously returned to the prime material world, Hao Ren voiced his opinion: "This space should be much wider than we thought, but the observable range is very small. Many things are probably shrouded in that black fog. Maintaining a material form within the Dark Domain doesn't seem to be easy."

"But there are also lucky ones who can return to the prime material world and reshape their forms," Vivian said softly, looking up at the sky, "Like the Gate of Sluun, right?"

"Looks like the red moon you summoned in that Raqhreian world can't shine in this place," Hao Ren glanced at Vivian. "No wonder Nolan's broadcast beacon failed before… The most insurmountable obstacle in the world is the barrier between reality and dream, and if that dream is cast by a god, it's even harder to deal with."

Just then, Nolan sent the long-awaited report: "Boss, detected a stable divine power release point, right near you."

"Looks like we've finally found that sleeping god," Hao Ren smiled slightly, looking at his friends. "Hopefully, the goddess doesn't have any morning crankiness – after all, we violently kicked her out of her dream."

Lily bared her teeth at Hao Ren: "You two were the ones who woke her up! It has nothing to do with me."

As expected, after falling into and escaping from the dream, the "landing point" for everyone was near where the Creator Goddess was sleeping. This distance was so close that the goddess's location was actually on the floating land under their feet.

Guided by Nolan, Hao Ren and his group crossed a small hill, climbed a charred mountain peak, and finally arrived at a place that was out of place with the surrounding environment.

A ring of rocks, raised like a crater, circled a clearing, and in the center of the clearing, there was actually a touch of green. It was a lawn only a few meters long and wide. On this already dead god's planet, there was still this last bit of life lingering, which left Hao Ren dumbfounded.

And in the center of the lawn stood a rock less than half a person tall, and a woman in a white dress leaned quietly against the rock, sleeping peacefully in this posture.

The woman in the white dress had a face extremely similar to Leah's, and even her height and build were almost the same. The difference was that she had a head of silver-white hair that could spread out on the grass, and even in her sleep, her face faintly carried an unspeakable sense of holiness.

Of course, this was useless to Hao Ren – ever since he learned that Raven 12345 would install a holy and solemn expression pack for herself in order to cope with inspections from her superiors, any transcendent and worldly appearance could no longer shake him…

A lawn of a few meters square, a cold stone, a shattered death planet, and the boundless dark chaos, this was where the Creator Goddess, who had once sealed the Lord of Mad Whispers, created the idyllic era of the Dream Plane, and made the entire universe vibrant and thriving, finally slumbered.

Hao Ren had imagined countless times what circumstances he would meet this god under, but now he realized that all his previous assumptions were meaningless.

Vivian gently touched his arm and pointed upwards: "Is that… the temple you saw in the illusion back then?"

Hao Ren looked in the direction Vivian was pointing and saw a scattered pile of architectural ruins floating in the sky. Those ruins could still vaguely show the magnificent and glorious appearance of the past, and between those pillars and reliefs, he seemed to be able to identify some familiar lines.

"Yes, those temples used to float on the Sea of Origin, and now the Sea of Origin has disappeared, and the place where we are standing is actually the seabed of the past," Hao Ren nodded, and while leading everyone slowly towards the Creator Goddess, he said in a low voice, "Divine power bound the wreckage of this planet, allowing them to roughly maintain their former structure after the explosion, so the remaining parts of that temple floated here, just like they used to float on the surface of the Sea of Origin."

They stopped at the edge of the lawn, and Lily looked hesitantly at the still-sleeping Creator Goddess: "Landlord… shouldn't she already be awake? Why does it look like she's still asleep?"

Hao Ren didn't say anything, just waved his hand, signaling the others to stay where they were. He came to the sleeping goddess, bent down, and made his face level with the other's: "Being immersed in a dream can indeed be comforting, but I know you definitely didn't choose that dream to escape reality – it's over, whether it's an accident or not, the end of the dream is a fact, and there's no point in forcibly continuing it."

The goddess, who seemed to be asleep, suddenly opened her eyes after hearing these words, as if she had never been asleep and had always been alert. A pair of ruby-like, clear, and bright red eyes quietly looked at Hao Ren: "Dreams always come to an end – of course I know this, but I never thought it would end in this way. I'm curious, how did you discover the truth? That dream… in a sense, it was almost a real world. I can't figure out what loopholes it had that could be seen at a glance, especially when you were already deep in the dream."

Lily not far away: "Wow! She's awake?! So the goddess was pretending to be asleep just now!"

Nangong Sanba quickly rolled this reckless guy to the side…

Hao Ren ignored the sound behind him, nor was he surprised by the goddess's sudden awakening. He was just curious that the other party's first question was not to ask about the origins of his group: "I thought you would be more interested in our identities."

"Because that's not important," the silver-haired, blood-eyed goddess said quietly. "Although I'm very weak, I can still sense something from you… so at least I can be sure that you're not 'it's' pawns. So, I'm even more curious about how you saw through that dream."

Hao Ren straightened up and sighed: "You're right, that dream was indeed almost real – and for the creatures in the dream, it's not impossible to say that it was a real world. But a dream is a dream, at least the one you shaped… it's still traceable."

"Since entering that world called 'Raqhreian', I've never dreamed, and I asked my friends, and they were the same. This was the first point that made me suspicious – now that I think about it, this should be because we can't dream again in another person's dream."

"The subsequent clue was the Raqhreian's strange ecosystem. All the species in the entire Dream Plane lived there, and they originated from your memory, right? But this was enough to arouse my suspicion. Of course, the abnormality of the ecosystem is not a very important reason, because I know that the Divine Kingdom once had a species preservation library. On this basis, the abnormality of the ecosystem can be explained. However, the abnormality in history is difficult to justify…"

"Those ruins, all kinds of ruins, including those of the Godslayers, if I'm not mistaken, they also originated from your memory, but were added to the dream unconsciously, right? That's why the scholars of Raqhreian called those ruins the 'Anno Ruins' and considered them to be the greatest unsolved mysteries. Even if those scholars exhausted their entire lives, they couldn't explain the origins of those Anno Ruins, because in your dream, there was no corresponding explanation arranged for those things.

"In the Great Pit Road, those fragments, fragments that don't conform to the scale, floating in endless space… They reminded me of the subconscious layer. Both the expression form and the operation rules are very similar, but it is difficult to recognize the abstract subconscious layer at the first time after it is transformed into a concrete alien space. But for me… I have been dealing with similar abstract things almost all the time in the past two years, and I am too sensitive to them. Those are the deepest part of the dream, the most trivial and disordered corners of your memory. They constitute the cornerstone of the dream world of Raqhreian to a certain extent, but on the other hand, those information that directly reach the truth of the world and are frantically chaotic are the most dangerous for the residents of Raqhreian, because for a dream, facing the truth means the end of the dream. Therefore, the Great Pit Road has become the most dangerous place in the world view of Raqhreian, and it is even so dangerous that scholars all over the world must make wrong explanations for it, and these wrong explanations were not corrected until an external observer – that is, me – saw the memory fragments in the Great Pit Road with his own eyes."

"But none of these things are decisive. They can only make me guess that 'the Raqhreian world is either an illusion or a dream'. What really made me sure it was a dream was this little guy…"

As Hao Ren spoke, he beckoned to Vivian.

Vivian understood and released the Little Chick.

Accompanied by a burst of black and red blood mist, the Little Chick condensed her figure in mid-air and flew around Hao Ren unsteadily. Then she saw the Creator Goddess in front of her. Based on instinct, she thought that this strange fellow needed to be "biu"-ed.

So she "biu"-ed.

The Creator Goddess casually dispersed the powerless energy arrow, and looked with interest at the Little Chick who was baring her teeth and claws at herself, with a hint of curiosity in her tone: "What I'm most curious about is actually her… What exactly is she…? Why is it she that made you confirm that Raqhreian is just a dream?"

"It would take a long time to explain her origins, but I can answer your second question," Hao Ren said with a slight smile. "Although this little guy is very weak, she has a characteristic that no one else has, at least at this stage: she is a chaotic creature, a conceptual-level chaotic creature. Therefore, she will not enter any rational dream at all. In short, it is incompatible. Her paste-like spiritual world is completely unable to be affected by an orderly dream like Raqhreian. So…"

Hao Ren looked at the Little Chick who had fallen to the ground and started to pull grass hard, with an expression that was both funny and helpless: "She has never entered Raqhreian from beginning to end. She didn't dream, and she couldn't see or perceive that dream. The world in her eyes has always been this real Dark Domain, and in her eyes, we have been in a daze or sleepwalking from beginning to end… Now I am very grateful that this guy has no brain, so I don't have to worry about being laughed at by her."

"So, after seeing her easily enter the Great Pit Road and move freely in the Great Pit Road, I understood everything."