Chapter 2017.6.2 Late at Night

On the night of June 2, 2017, Su Zhou flew to the top of a rain cloud in the stratosphere above Xijing.

At this altitude of several thousand meters, he found a relatively flat spot. Then, he took action, reinforcing the surrounding clouds with his spiritual power. Afterwards, he comfortably lay down on the cloud bed, which felt like an air cushion.

He felt the surging thunder within the clouds beneath him, as well as the turbulent airflow like ocean waves. The crimson little snake crawled down from the top of his head, coiled around his chest, and also lay down comfortably.

Together with Yala, Su Zhou placed his hands behind his head, looked up at the starry sky, contemplated the image of the distant stars, and his own future. And thus, he prepared to fall asleep.

In theory, those at the Ruling Tier didn't need to sleep. In fact, once one reached the Transcendent Tier, the need for sleep became optional.

This was even more so for someone like Su Zhou, who had a dual-state brain structure similar to that of a dolphin. He possessed inexhaustible energy, and day and night made no difference to him.

However, recently, Su Zhou had learned a new skill in the application of transcendent power. This skill allowed his spiritual power to circulate and flow on its own under certain conditions, regardless of whether his own mind was clear or not.

To put it simply, Su Zhou was trying to make himself stronger even when he was idle.

In even simpler terms: the Law has its own spirit.

In fact, it wasn't just cultivation. If Su Zhou could make the spiritual energy in his body circulate on its own, then when he was injured, he wouldn't need to divert his attention to repairing the wounds during battle. When trading blows with an enemy, he wouldn't need to waste energy on actively defending himself, or constantly keep his body under some kind of spell.

To cultivate to this point required extremely high control over spiritual power, and an extremely stable and orderly cycle of spiritual power within the body. Su Zhou met these conditions, so he learned very quickly.

And now, to verify his skill, Su Zhou planned to sleep on the clouds—if he fell down, it would mean that after he fell asleep, he couldn't maintain the spell that strengthened the clouds. He hadn't completely achieved the realm of ‘the Law has its own spirit.’

If Su Zhou slept comfortably, until the daytime he had planned for, then he would have succeeded.

The starry sky was beautiful. Away from the neon lights of the city, Su Zhou could see the summer Milky Way—he had always liked such scenery, especially after personally beating up the creations of aliens some time ago. He liked to gaze at the stars even more, thinking about what kind of life they might harbor, and whether they would also look up at the starry sky.

But such thoughts didn't last long, because Su Zhou fell asleep.

Immediately afterwards, came the dream.

In the dream, Su Zhou felt like he was transmigrating. He clearly felt that he was constantly flying upwards, flying into the high sky, flying into the universe, flying out of the universe, and arriving at the frozen void he had glimpsed in the crack of the spacetime gate created by the Celestial Abacus.

It was a crystallized void, like a frozen ocean. In the stagnant nothingness, countless brilliant crystals bloomed with their own light, illuminating each other's magnificent and surreal exteriors.

But such shining brilliance was equally deathly, indifferent, barren, and silent... Although at first glance it looked bright and beautiful, a closer look revealed that among the light of countless worlds and stars, there were only many lifeless ruins.

This was the prison of the defeated, the asylum of the denied, the place where the ashes of the burned-out settled, the frozen void.

Everything trapped here was nothing more than a prisoner of fate. The great seal enveloped everything, and not an inch of land could be called free.

So desolate, so hopeless, the silence of the void was deafening. Only the unwillingness and sorrow that settled after the ashes remained. Even if one wanted to roar in anger, one could not even feel the vibration of exhaling.

But in the unbearable silence, a sound suddenly rang out, shaking the myriad worlds.

【Still unable to admit defeat?】

In the dark, such a voice sounded.

Like boiling water being poured on iron-like solid ice, the frozen void began to slowly melt—although only for a moment, the void trembled.

A huge, infinitely symmetrical radiating line originating from a single point lit up from a magnificent world ruin. Its radiating lines were projected towards the endless distance, and no matter how far one looked, one could not see the end. No matter how far one went forward, one could only see the endless ‘horizon.’

Su Zhou couldn't see its full appearance. Perhaps no one could. It seemed to represent the ‘boundary between what is within and outside of sight,’ the ‘difference between the known and the unknown.’ If one said that a life's perception of all things was a circle, then it was the line that drew the circle.

It was not a person, nor any other life. It was not any thing or concept.

It was a ‘Great Existence.’

The endless lines radiating outwards seemed to want to penetrate the endless void, connecting all the worlds, but the great seal blocked it, rendering all its actions futile.

But even so, the already broken great seal became even more dilapidated—but it was still stable, adapting to the changes, just like how hot water could melt solid ice for a while, but if there was no endless hot water to melt it, then its power would only slightly change the shape of the ice, or even become a new layer of ice.

Seeming to realize that its actions were meaningless, the infinite radiating lines dissipated, no longer trying to break through. Immediately afterwards, the voice in the dark rang out again.

【Awaken, you prisoners who have long been defeated.】

The great will spread throughout the entire realm, and all existences that should hear its will would surely know: 【Wake up from your miserable dreams, wake up from the ashes of past glory and correctness.】

【Admit your failures, admit your mistakes—then wake up, break the cages and shackles.】

【Wake up.】

But strangely, the last sentence was not spoken by that unknown Great Existence, but by Yala's voice.

The spirit snake's somewhat tired voice lingered in his ears: "Wake up."

And so, Su Zhou woke up, startled from his dream.

Then, he discovered that he was falling in the clouds.

Boom—the Arashi Seed surged out from his side, the gale stirred, bringing a trace of electric arcs in the surrounding rain clouds. The awakened Su Zhou stopped his downward trend in the first instance, and then rubbed his forehead, falling into thought.

"Frozen void..."

He murmured: "Great Existence."

"A strange dream."

Although he said it was strange, Su Zhou knew very well why he had this dream.

"A Great Existence has awakened, just like you and the Lord of Silence."

Supporting the little snake coiled around his arm on his shoulder, Su Zhou turned his head and said with a solemn expression: "It attempted to break free from the seal, and after failing, announced it to you and all other Great Existences—I overheard it along the way."