Falling.
Falling again.
Falling endlessly.
"Bang——"
Startled awake.
Gu Shen opened his eyes and found himself standing atop a vast and boundless wilderness, with blades of grass swaying in the wind, the sky pushed low by dark clouds, thunder murmuring hidden within the leaden cloud layers, silent and desolate, like the quiet before an impending apocalypse.
This place is...
Memories emerged, halted at that final point where Senior Sister Luo had gestured towards him.
"This is a Dream crafted by a Spiritual Transcendent,"
a familiar voice rang out.
Gu Shen turned his head in astonishment, seeing the much-longed-for white dress, its hem lifted by the wind, revealing the girl's tender, pink legs.
Seeing Gu Shen's astonished expression.
Chu Ling brushed a lock of hair from her temples, smiling as she asked, "What's the matter, you weren't hoping to see me?"
"No, no, how could that be?!"
Gu Shen quickly waved his hands, carefully choosing his words, he slowly said, "I just never thought... that I'd meet you here."
He felt a tinge of sadness.
If this was a Dream imposed on him by Luo Er, then was everything he was experiencing now merely his own imagination?
"Though this is a Dream, everything that happens will become your real memories," Chu Ling said seriously, "Reality and illusion are two worlds with blurred boundaries, the Spiritual Consciousness that controls our flesh cannot paint a precise entity, shape... yet it truly exists. And in such Dreams, Spiritual Consciousness can manifest in tangible forms."
Gu Shen was reminded once again of his first encounter with Chu Ling.
That "001" train... was that also a Dream?
"As for why I appear here... the specifics are not yet meant to be explained," Chu Ling softly said, "Gu Shen, you only need to remember, even without Deep Sea, I can form a 'Spiritual Link' with you. So..."
"Whenever you need me, I will appear."
She looked towards Gu Shen, "Definitely."
Gu Shen stared at the girl, in this world transformed by the Dream, everything was so vast, an endless wilderness beyond sight, a sea of leaves that could engulf the youth, dark clouds looming so low they seemed almost about to collapse.
In this world.
One person is so insignificant, and so alone.
But with someone else by your side, you are no longer insignificant, nor alone.
"Hiss..."
Gu Shen felt a headache coming, he said in a low voice, "I remember now, the reason I came here is because Senior Sister Luo wanted to show me something... what is that 'thing'?"
To that question.
Chu Ling just smiled and did not reply.
Gu Shen realized, the answer to this question... he had to uncover it himself. He reached out to grab a piece of swirling grass, everything here felt so real, the leaves even had residual ice and frost upon them, as if not fully thawed yet.
Crushing it firmly.
The ice and frost crumbled into water.
More and more blades of grass took flight, some shedding their snowy shrouds, some unfurling tender green shoots. The world, once grey and desolate to the eye, started to turn vibrant under the canopy of thunder, like a painting slowly being filled with color.
In an era torn by electronic torrents, one seldom saw such scenery; the steel jungles were replete with cold, rough monsters of skyscrapers. A sprout of new grass would be quickly bent and broken, a fresh patch of land swiftly excavated... and even untouched wastelands rarely revealed expanses of open fields.
As the painting stretched out, desolation and ruin were swept away. The rolling thunder grew more intense as though an invisible tide pushed forward from afar—
Gu Shen seemed to see all living things reviving; the winter's end shattered, spring arriving, countless grass blades sweeping in, the snow and frost shaken and shattered.
He subconsciously adjusted his breathing.
All sounds became clear, including his own breathing... Time, too, seemed to slow down at that moment.
An invisible force guided Gu Shen to sit down, turning into a tiny blade of spring grass on the wilderness. The moment he sat, his hair iced over with a thin layer of frost, but it was quickly dispersed by the wind—
Many grass blades were stirred into the air.
Yet he remained unshaken.
At that moment, it seemed that many words infused his mind, as if a series of continuous virtual images, shattered lines, painted colors—
Accompanied by a boom from the dome of the sky.
The spring thunder sounded.
Information exploded in his mind.
The light continuous rain fell, not heavily, but enough to cover the entire wilderness; the falling raindrops did not make one feel cold… on the contrary, they brought a feeling of warmth.
It was a spring rain, carrying the whole world away from the cold winter.
The grass blades fell, landing on Gu Shen's eyebrows, shoulders, hair strands.
The youth forgot everything, his breath steady as a rock, in this Dream, Gu Shen seemed to enter into an even deeper Dream, his spiritual power was slowly increasing, with each second that passed, he felt more grounded, more at peace.
The girl in the white dress sat beside him, smiling and keeping him company, watching in silence.
Countless grass blades whistled past, beaten down by the rain, yet when they fell near Chu Ling, they turned into broken digits, adding to this perfect real world a small patch that couldn't be touched or felt—a slice of illusion because of the girl's presence.
...
...
Who knows how much time had passed.
Gu Shen slowly opened his eyes, feeling his own transformation.
He felt as though he had slept a long and deep sleep. This world of Dreams, on the contrary, seemed as real as ever.