Astral Pet Store (WN)

Su Ping didn't stop; he kept on moving further away.

The noises gradually faded into the distance, until they couldn't be heard anymore. Su Ping didn't know when Manager Tan would take him away; she must have sensed that her lingering thought had already been triggered. His mind would be freed if she took him out of the Sea of Illusions.

Something is wrong about this trip. Did the Loulans not do any reconnaissance work? I heard that the best AI of the Federation has been monitoring the Sea of Illusions; it sends out alarms if anything goes wrong…

Su Ping's eyes flashed. He noticed that the color of the fog was off; it was slightly dark, as if contaminated by ink.

It was then that the illusion of the tree and the old man reappeared. The old man waved at Su Ping.

"My young friend, the Tide of Filth is coming. Come here."

Joanna appeared next to the old man before Su Ping replied. She looked at him quietly, with anxiety in her eyes.

Su Ping's expression changed ever so slightly, then walked away without saying anything.

"My young friend, are you really that unwilling to trust us?" the elder shouted at Su Ping's back.

Su Ping didn't look back. But then a majestic throne appeared in front of him, where an awe-inspiring skeleton sat. It looked down at Su Ping proudly. "I didn't want to show up, but you're just too stubborn. Can't you tell what's true and what's not?"

Su Ping's pupils were constricted. He was too familiar with the skeleton and the throne; it was the horrifying lord he had encountered in his first trip to the Chaotic Realm of the Undead, just after he acquired the system. The bloody crystal he had the Little Skeleton consume was stolen from that lord.

"Trust us. We won't harm you," said a young man as he appeared next to the skeleton king; he had a less horrifying and more familiar look. It was none other than the young mentor who had taught Su Ping in the Archean Divinity's Heaven Path Institute.

"If you don't trust them, can't you trust the Heaven Path Institute? You would have already died if we wanted to kill you!" said a rather intimidating voice, and a majestic illusion surfaced behind the young man's back, no less fearsome than the horrifying skeleton lord.

Su Ping's expression changed. The illusions he had seen in the cultivation sites shouldn't be there, and yet they felt so real. Their auras were giving him goosebumps, as if he were facing them in real life.

Why are there this many people inside my mind? I've only met them once. They should have sent my parents or my sister, or even my pets if they wanted to fool me… Su Ping's expression changed. He didn't say anything, simply choosing to take another path.

The skeleton king and the hazy figures behind him let out cold voices as Su Ping turned around. Some sounded extremely disappointed, while others shook their heads and sighed.

"That's the most outstanding successor? Ha!"

"We've waited for billions of years. To think we saw him as our ray of hope. How disappointing!"

Su Ping didn't look back; he kept on moving forward.

The heavy fog around him suddenly surged like a tide, as if pushed by something.

Su Ping was caught unprepared; he tried to resist, but the fog crashed into him like a wall. The experience was suffocating, as if he had fallen into a deep sea—he could see nothing but darkness around him.

Su Ping heard shrieks and roars that sounded like the cries of certain creatures from the depths of the fog.

He struggled to clear the fog around him, but more and more fog gathered. He would occasionally see some hideous and bloodcurdling shadows passing by.

There were hoarse creaks akin to those made by insects approached from his back.

Su Ping condensed a sword with his mental power and slashed in their direction. He seemed to have hit something as a cry burst out. The creature seemed infuriated; the fog surged again and a gigantic shadow lunged at him.

Su Ping saw a scary mouth pushing the fog away and trying to swallow him whole.

He hurriedly condensed another mental sword and slashed at the mouth.

The mouth was quick to react, crushing the mental sword to pieces.

Su Ping's body was about to crash into the mouth, but then his wrist felt cold. A cool and soft hand grabbed his wrist and pulled him aside, saving him from the vicious maw. He then felt that his body was pulled in one direction by the hand's owner.

Is this Manager Tan? Su Ping felt dazed, as he could sense that the hand belonged to a female.

The two of them moved at a very fast speed; the heavy fog buffeted his face as they moved. Su Ping didn't know why Manager Tan was there, nor could he confirm her identity. Still, she had indeed saved him from that monster, so she couldn't have malicious intentions.

The fog pressed close from the rear. Su Ping could hear the shrieks of the monster as he was being quickly pulled forward. The shrieks were soon left behind; Su Ping felt that he was moving at an unimaginable speed.

Soon after, his savior gradually stopped.

The swirling fog gradually slowed down. Su Ping quickly thanked her and asked with uncertainty, "Are you Manager Tan?"

The fog in front of Su Ping gradually dispersed after a good while passed, showing the profile of a beautiful woman with blond hair. She was none other than Joanna.

Su Ping was stunned for a moment, but then felt rather creeped out.

A warm voice came from somewhere near Joanna's back. "You don't need to be scared."

The heavy fog dispersed, revealing figures that had been hidden thus far. They were all blond gods. The one at the center was a giant woman who wore a luxurious robe, with a train so long it resembled a phoenix tail; the other gods next to her were as small as her hands. Su Ping was even able to see every wrinkle on the old woman's face with clarity.

The gods next to the old woman were whispering.

"Is he the successor?"

"He's so weak. He can't be, can he?"

"Him being weak at the moment is of no relevance. Don't forget him."

Su Ping was torn between shock and suspicion. Was he hallucinating, or was it real?

Su Ping looked at Joanna and couldn't help but ask, "Who are you exactly?"

Joanna gazed at him gently. Su Ping had never seen such an expression on her face before. Was it some sort of desire deep in his heart? But the sensation when his wrist was grabbed felt all too real.

Were the illusions from that place so real that they were indistinguishable from the real thing?

However, he was sure that Joanna was in his store; she couldn't possibly be there.

With that in mind, everything he saw was an illusion.

Still, Su Ping couldn't understand why she could touch him; the only explanation was that his senses had also been blocked by the illusion.

Some illusions could cause pain or even death. If the brain died in the illusion, it would also die in reality; the brain would think it was dead and would pause all the bodily functions.

If this is an illusion, what about all these people I don't know. Why are they in my subconscious mind? Was the battle between the Black Swallower and the mysterious young man real or not?

Su Ping became suspicious about everything that had happened.

The old man stared at Su Ping gently and said, "Kid, don't be scared, this place is safe. Those spirits won't dare approach. You may return when the waves subside; we'll capture some spirits for you to absorb. All you need to do is to cultivate here."

Su Ping watched coldly, still silent.

The old woman was quite vivid, yet he took her as an illusion; he didn't believe anything she said.

Is this the horror of the Sea of Illusions? No wonder Celestials also think twice before entering this place. Su Ping's eyes glittered.

The Federation had such a huge population that countless people would be sentenced to death in every solar system. If those people were sent as scouts, they would be able to explore any unknown areas. Besides, the Federation had an army and many scientists; it was perplexing to know that the Sea of Illusions remained unconquered.

Concentrate. Nothing is real.

Su Ping calmed down and his anxiety disappeared. He slowly focused his attention.

A few gods appeared in the fog after a good while, carrying two spirits.

Su Ping slowly opened his eyes. He took a deep breath and thought of a lot of things as he looked at the lifelike gods and Joanna who were standing before him.

What was real and what was false?

Those false things were producing real feelings.

And yet, certain things that were real were as intangible as the moon reflected on the water.

Illusions… Illusions…

Are all of these things part of my imagination?

He felt silent upon looking at the bodies of those two spirits. If illusions were as real as the reality itself and could bring forth real feelings, then… Were they illusions?

What was the distinction between illusions and reality?

Was reality the place for true existences?

Then, were such existences subjective feelings, or objective facts in the universe?

If they were subjective feelings, everything he was seeing was real!

If they were objective facts in the universe, was the universe real? How could he confirm that the universe was real? Based on his subjective feelings, or imagination?

Su Ping lowered his head and stared at the two bodies for a long time.

The gods around him were looking at him in silence.

A long while later.

A long while later…

Su Ping didn't know how much time had passed. He kept asking himself questions, gradually tapping into an amazing new concept.

Illusions are real too. Reality and illusion are the same.

The reflections in the water seemed to be illusions, but they do exist in reality. They are only 'views', but not objects themselves…

If there's another world beyond reality, that would be the world of illusions!

The reflection of the world…

Su Ping understood something all of a sudden: he realized how to condense a second small world!

An illusory world!

A world based on illusions!

Boom!

His mind shook right when the epiphany arrived; he then felt that his body was getting hot. The feeling was quite unreal, as if there was a membrane covering his skin. He was sensing those physical changes, but something seemed to be stopping him.

Everything is false. Everything is real…

In a subtle and gradual transition, his eyes became clearer and sharper. He looked at the two bodies on the ground, then extended his hand; a vortex that looked like a black hole appeared in his palm, which absorbed the spirit bodies and transformed them into a significant amount of energy. He could subtly feel how his senses were truly being improved.

Even if all of this is an illusion, so what? I can also resurrect if I die in an illusion!

If my body can be fooled into killing itself in an illusion, it can also be fooled into living an eternal life!

However, my bodily functions do require real energy. The energy of the illusions can fool my mind, but they can't improve my body in reality. I cannot obtain real energy from this illusory place… So where is the energy coming from? The universe? Or maybe this Sea of Illusions?

While in a trance, Su Ping felt that he was approaching the core truth of the Sea of Illusions.

Maybe the Sea of Illusions was everywhere in the universe, except that it couldn't be perceived through normal methods.

It was like people being unable to capture oxygen until the corresponding equipment was invented, but human beings themselves had been living off of oxygen since the primitive times.

Just because something couldn't be seen or detected didn't mean that it didn't exist!

Is that power the real energy hidden in the Sea of Illusions? Su Ping's eyes glittered.

He couldn't confirm his speculation without leaving that place.

He looked at the gods before him and asked, "Are there more spirits?"

The old man put on a big smile and quickly nodded. "Yes, of course. You, capture a few more. It doesn't matter if they're big!"

"Okay," said a few well-hidden gods and left.

Their auras surpassed the Ascendant State; Su Ping felt that they were similar to his master, or even stronger.

"Where's the way out? You must know, right?" Su Ping asked with a smile, as if no longer scared of anything.

The old woman said with a smile, "Of course. If you want to leave, we can escort you at any time. It's truly dangerous for you to come to this place with your current level. It is fortunate that we're still in the borderlands and those guys didn't notice you. Otherwise…"

"Those guys?"

Although he knew she was an illusion, Su Ping still happily chatted with her.

"It's best that you don't know their names, or you'll eventually be detected by them. You'll catch their attention even if you just read their names…" said the old man in a low voice.

Su Ping chuckled, deciding not to ask further. According to what he understood, all of those things existed in his subconscious mind, but he had no idea why that unknown woman and the strange gods were there.