Chapter 72: The Power of the Divine Cup |
In the pyramid temple, light shone through the colored glass windows, causing the curtains within to dance. Yin Shen stood motionless for a long time.
He stood by the window, not looking at the scenery outside, but at the Divine Cup in his hand.
He thought of Polo and Redlichia.
He also recalled when he still had a body, waving to his friends and laughing with them while chatting about everything under the sun.
The girl behind him held a pot of flowers, closely encircling him, as if wanting the fragrance of her beloved flowers to constantly reach the god’s side.
Suddenly, Yin Shen spoke, addressing Shelly.
“Shelly,” he said.
“Redlichia said I am eternal. He said mortals will ultimately lose even what they gain, and only the eternal god can possess everything.”
“But why do I still feel like I’m constantly losing?”
Shelly did not respond.
She only moved a step closer to Yin Shen, pressing against him a little more.
A faint smile appeared on Yin Shen’s face, though it was unclear whether he truly felt warmth or was mocking himself for calling out Shelly’s name despite essentially talking to himself.
After that, he ceased moving.
His consciousness entered a trance-like state.
It seemed as if he had truly merged with the sunlight, completely becoming a still shadow.
He was like an overexposed spot of light in a photograph, frozen in a single moment.
As a being that existed outside the universe and time, the effect of time upon him was like a film he could rewind at will.
He slowed down his perception of time, and the outside world sped forward like a slideshow.
Clouds and moon alternated, sun and crimson glow lingered.
Tides surged, rain and clear skies exchanged places.
In the divine flower garden of the God-Given Land, filled with blooming Sun Cup Flowers, the number of Dream Spirits also increased.
From a dozen to several dozen, then to over a hundred.
The garden became more and more lively.
The Dream Spirits usually hid in the flower sea, difficult to find. But as soon as one let out a cheer, countless giant Sun Cup Flowers would close up, transforming into spirits that rushed out.
The Dream Spirit Hila descended from the pyramid, and hundreds of Dream Spirits rushed out to surround her, spinning in circles.
They obediently lined up, and Hila pointed at them, counting their number and calling out their names.
Every time a new Dream Spirit appeared, she would do this once.
“One… two… ten.”
“One hundred.”
“Finally, one hundred.”
A trace of joy appeared on Hila’s serene face. She still walked with quiet steps at her own pace back to the temple, but her body swayed slightly involuntarily, conveying her happiness.
She came before Yin Shen and looked up at him.
“God!”
“God!”
“It’s time.”
That shadow, frozen like a spot of light in a photograph, moved.
In this trance-like state, two hundred years had passed for Yin Shen.
The Dream Spirit Hila saw Yin Shen awaken and continued,
“The seeds of the dream world in Lord Polo’s Divine Cup have grown, and the Dream Spirits now number one hundred. We also have the God-Descending Technique that Lord Polo sought.”
“All three conditions have been met.”
Yin Shen said, “Too few.”
He was referring to the number of Dream Spirits.
The Dream Spirit Hila knew she had been a bit impatient, but she so desperately wanted Yin Shen to awaken a little sooner. Hearing him say this now, she was momentarily at a loss.
But Yin Shen continued, “However, we can attempt it once.”
The Dream Spirit Hila nodded and said to Yin Shen,
“I will make the arrangements immediately.”
—
In the spacious temple, Yin Shen stood upon the altar while the Dream Spirit Hila slept at the foot of the divine statue, cradling the dream egg.
Over a hundred Dream Spirits in golden robes stood together, their robe hems connected as if holding hands, singing a joyful tune.
“La la la la la!”
The power of dreams emanated from them. One by one, they flew into the dream egg. As beings of dreams, they disappeared from reality and entered the realm of dreams.
The dream bubble of the Dream Spirit Hila grew larger and larger.
Larger and larger.
The edge of the dream expanded beyond the steps, beyond the God-Descended City, reaching the shore.
Finally, it enveloped the entire God-Given Land.
The dream bubble was complete. On the bubble’s surface, various magnificent scenes floated in the drifting, colorful neon lights. It was about to sublimate from a dream bubble into another form of existence, becoming a fragment of the dream world.
But all of this still required one more thing to carry them. Without this vessel and coordinate, all dreams were merely illusory, rootless duckweed.
Yin Shen asked, “Are you ready?”
The spirit, sleeping while cradling the dream egg, nodded in her slumber.
Yin Shen grasped the Divine Cup, fully unleashing its power.
“Boom!”
The entire God-Given Land, enveloped by the dream bubble, began to distort, gradually becoming ethereal with the power of dreams.
In an instant, it vanished, disappearing into the realm of dreams.
The dream bubble sank into the Divine Cup, merging with the seeds of the dream world left by Polo, creating a dream world.
This was the power of the Divine Cup.
It could pull all mature dream fragments into the dream world, summoning one dream after another like coordinates, then creating an illusory realm of dreams.
The God-Given Land vanished, becoming part of the dream world, becoming an existence straddling the illusory and the real.
The Dream Spirits that had just disappeared from reality reappeared, holding hands and encircling mid-air in the temple, still singing that cheerful tune.
And the divine shadow upon the altar called out,
“Projection.”
“Descend.”
Yin Shen’s shadow gradually became more real. That outline, like an illusory shadow, grew more and more intense, turning the entire temple into a sheet of blazing white.
A celestial body, like a star, squeezed in from outside the universe. His power became increasingly materialized.
Time began to stagnate and even became chaotic.
Some places started to accelerate violently, while others even began to flow backward.
The entire dream world rumbled with intense noise, as if it could collapse at any moment.
When it reached the critical point of being unable to endure, the intense light emanating from the altar slowly dissipated.
Yin Shen gave up on descending.
“It’s still too early,” Yin Shen said, though with a tinge of disappointment.
He had been looking forward to entering the dream world.
Even if he couldn’t set foot in the real world, even if it was only in the world of dreams.
To feel the wind, to feel the rain, to smell the fragrance of flowers.
He would have been content.
But the entire universe was rejecting him. Even the bizarre realm between illusion and reality, the dream world, could not accommodate the descent of his will.
The Dream Spirit Hila knelt before Yin Shen. “God, it was I who was too impatient,” she said softly.
Yin Shen knew it wasn’t her fault. He, too, had wanted to give it a try.
“It’s not your fault, and there’s no need to be anxious or afraid.”
He looked at her gently. “Hila, someday, we will succeed. It’s only a matter of sooner or later.”
Hila looked up at the divine. “Have You already seen the future?”
Yin Shen lowered his head and looked at Hila.
“There is one benefit to being an eternal existence. As long as there is a possibility of success for something, one can wait indefinitely.”
His voice grew soft, almost a whisper. “Even if it’s at the end of time.”
Yin Shen’s words were spoken lightly, but the Dream Spirit Hila trembled all over upon hearing them.
The god had no fear or dread, but she saw incomparable darkness and despair.
It was a sadness she could hardly imagine or describe.
The Dream Spirit Hila said to Yin Shen, “The dream world is still too weak to bear the weight of the god’s will.”
“The power of dreams also needs the support of the memories of life to grow stronger.”
“Let the Dream Spirit race leave the God-Given Land and bestow the power of dreams upon the Trilobite Men!”
“The god’s blessings will make the civilization of the Trilobite Men even more prosperous.”
Yin Shen looked at Hila. “Power can lead a civilization to prosperity, but it can also lead them to destruction.”
Hila met his gaze, her voice filled with conviction. “God, I believe the world and civilization will surely move in a better direction.”