Everyone left.
The river continued to flow and the clouds continued to drift among the mountain peak.
The dream was about to end.
Standing on the riverside, Gu Qing Shan felt a bit troubled.
He released his inner sight all around the Barren Cloud Heaven’s Grotto and easily located a young girl staying on the Barren Cloud Master Peak.
It was Xie Dao Ling.
Gu Qing Shan swiftly moved, dashed across the surging and flowing river, then flew towards the Barren Cloud Master Peak.
A young girl was sitting on the stairs of the Daoist temple with her hands holding up her cheeks, silently watching the clouds drift above the river.
A young, tiny figure.
Sitting alone within this vast dreamscape.
Her father had already passed on.
And the one who took on his entrustment, Shen Yang, had probably already lost his life in the real world as well.
The standard of the cultivation world in the future was enough to prove the truth of this statement.
Otherwise, when Xie Dao Ling woke up, Shen Yang would have already taught her the knowledge of Barren Cloud Heavenly Palace’s many inheritances.
But in the future, the only things that were passed on were the Earth sword and the Heavenly Palace jade disk.
It wasn’t until much longer later after Xie Dao Ling had made progress on her cultivation that she used the Heavenly Jade disk to travel to the Primordial Heaven Realm and learnt the ancient secret techniques there.
Before that, although she had talent so great that even the Divinities felt jealous, she was still only an orphan without a place to belong.
She had to struggle to survive in this world by herself.
Gu Qing Shan sighed, pulled up the hood of the Silent Dusk Cloak to conceal his face and prevent her from ever seeing his face.
He landed from the air and sat down next to Xie Dao Ling.
The two of them sat there, looking at the scenic view from the mountain top.
A few moments later, the young Xie Dao Ling finally turned and asked curiously: “Who are you?”
Gu Qing Shan replied: “I am your father’s disciple”
“My father?” Xie Dao Ling became joyful and asked: “It’s been a long time since I last saw him, why hasn’t he come to see me recently?”
Gu Qing Shan fell silent.
This place was only a dream, while Xie Gu Hong’s strand of his soul, despite being weaker than him, was still a real thing. If he got too close to his daughter’s soul, it might disturb her and make this dreamscape collapse.
And if the dreamscape collapsed, the preparations that humanity left behind here would also cease to exist.
Because of that, Xie Gu Hong could only occasionally come to see his daughter, but never stay for too long.
“Your father is undertaking a journey to a faraway place, before he left, he told me to inform you that your dream would soon be over”
“Really? So you mean I won’t be able to meet him any time soon?” Xie Dao Ling asked in blankly.
“Yes” Gu Qing Shan replied.
Xie Dao Ling looked back towards the drifting sea of clouds and softly muttered: “When is he going to come back?”
Gu Qing Shan paused.
After a long while, he struggled to give her the reply: “It might be a very long time, I’m not sure if you will ever see each other again”
“Why did he abandon me?”
“No, he didn’t abandon you, he gave you the greatest gift that he could”
“Gift? What is that?”
“A long time from now, you will no longer be forced to stay within this dream. You will be able to enjoy a peaceful slumber, until one day when the horrible curses that afflicted you would be removed, you will be able to wake up and obtain a new life”
“A new life? But I would rather stay here, as long as I can see him”
Gu Qing Shan silently sighed, then suddenly recalled something.
Xie Gu Hong had also entrusted me to do another thing that I still haven’t completed.
With that in mind, he asked: “Do you know your name?”
The little girl sorrowfully sobbed: “Father never told me, I don’t know who I am”
Once a person knew their own name, their consciousness would be triggered and would form a wondrous connection to the real world around them.
For this reason, most evil creatures insisted on hiding their true names, while Buddhist disciples were taught to chant the name of Buddha to form a connection to him.
Once Xie Dao Ling knew her name, this dreamscape would probably be nearly impossible to keep up.
So Xie Gu Hong had never told her.
But now…
Gu Qing Shan pulled the hood over his face, crouched down right in front of the little girl, and softly spoke:
“Listen to me, no one can live forever in a dream. This is a cruel thing to say, but you must understand that the outside world is the true place for all to experience”
“One day, when you wake up from your sleep, you would find that you are no longer tortured by any curse. You will walk your own path, experience countless wonderful places and meet all sorts of people. You will experience the joys and sorrows as well as every possible taste that life has to offer, this is the reality that one born as a human should experience. More importantly, this is the life that your father bet his everything in order to protect”
“Protect?” the little girl asked in confusion.
Gu Qing Shan replied: “Indeed, of all the living beings of countless worlds, a fulfilling and enjoyable life of one person is usually obtained through the protection of countless others who had paid greater prices to achieve, and your father had protected you in this way”
The little girl lowered her head as tears began to well up in her eyes.
She whispered: “Father…”
Gu Qing Shan looked at her and muttered in a soft voice: “Regardless of what kind of hardship you face later on, you must remain firm and strong, because your father has given his all in order to protect you, and he is always with you”
When he said this, the river and mountains around were starting to fade away.
Knowing that the dreamscape was about to end, Gu Qing Shan continued: “Your father gave you a very pleasant name”
“Remember well, you are Xie Dao Ling”
The little girl was stunned.
“I have a name…” she muttered.
“And also” Gu Qing Shan already couldn’t hold back the bitterness in his heart, but he tried to maintain a smile and continued: “Your father is called Xie Gu Hong”
Boom
The dreamscape abruptly shattered.
As Gu Qing Shan could no longer remain here, he immediately triggered the jade disk in his hand.
“Go!”
An intense pulling force appeared from the jade disk.
A few seconds later, a large hole broke open in the void of space and sucked him inside.
Boundless darkness.
Darkness.
Darkness.
And then light ahead of him.
The jade disk brought him inside.
The world was filled with light again.
The Sky Beyond Heaven.
The Grand Divine Palace.
Gu Qing Shan suddenly opened his eyes.
He found himself still sitting in a corner of the palace while Shannu was standing in the middle of the Grand Divine Palace, guarding the surroundings.
She was protecting him.
Just as Gu Qing Shan opened his eyes, Shannu noticed him.
“Gongzi, you’re awake”
She sent her voice.
“I am, thank you for protecting me” Gu Qing Shan stood up and stretched his body a bit.
Shannu’s voice came again, this time it sounded like she was smiling:
“Gongzi, I’m your sword y’know. If I won’t protect you, who would?”
Gu Qing Shan was a bit surprised, but then gradually smiled.
“Shannu, we have work to do”
“Save the Earth sword?”
“Correct”
“Do you already have a solution, gongzi?”
“Yup”
Shannu’s voice turned prideful: “Hmph, I knew gongzi would be able to do it! Just now, Fairy Luo even doubted and said that you shouldn’t be sleeping at this point in time, I didn’t want to waste time explaining too much to her”
Fairy Luo…
Gu Qing Shan looked towards Luo Bing Li.
Luo Bing Li now also noticed that he had woken up and sent her voice angrily: “You are already a Three Thousand Worlds realm cultivator, yet you decided to sleep at such a crucial moment, or do you feel like backing down already?”
“No, I desire to obtain the Heaven sword even more than ever right now”
“And I have already made the preparations to go after it”
Gu Qing Shan looked straight at her and emphasized every word while sending his voice: “But before that, I want to know exactly who you are”
