“What kind of life is that…?”

Heavenly-Ox smiled bitterly: “In order to survive in the past, how much suffering did I endure… don’t I know that myself? How could it be that after coming to ‘Taoyuan’ once, after being ‘Heavenly-Ox’ once, when I go out again my life suddenly becomes smooth sailing…?”

After finishing speaking, Heavenly-Ox raised her hand and pointed at the air, asking with a face full of sorrow: “Qinglong, you tell me, does ‘Taoyuan’ look like some kind of holy land that can make all our wishes come true…? How could this not make people suspicious?”

Under the dim lighting, everyone’s expressions began to fill with despair. Although everyone present was “Heaven-level,” they were still as insignificant as ants.

“But what difference does it really make?” Qinglong asked.

“What…?”

“You all live a lifetime in a dream until you die of old age, versus returning to the real world and living until you die of old age… what essential difference is there?”

Qinglong’s words left everyone seated stunned for a moment. They all seemed to want to say something, but couldn’t find a reason to refute him at first.

Yes… what difference was there really between these two kinds of lives?

“In any case… I cannot understand.” Qinglong said. “For all of you, it’s just finding a place to live. Isn’t a perfect, flawless life more enticing than your reality full of holes? Where did I go wrong? Where did Heavenly-Dragon go wrong?”

“How could it possibly be the same…” Heavenly-Ox lost some of her confidence. “In a dream, it’s still a dream after all… there’s still a difference from reality…”

“But Heavenly-Dragon’s dream-entering is extremely powerful.” Qinglong said. “Even in a dream, you can still feel pain and pleasure. You can experience all emotions of joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness. For you all, there’s fundamentally no difference between the two.”

“But… but our lives… wouldn’t be this smooth…” Heavenly-Ox still opened her mouth to refute weakly, “It’s precisely because life has its ups and downs… that we wanted to go back and see…”

“Ha ha ha ha ha!” After hearing this, Qinglong suddenly burst into loud laughter.

The enormous laughter caused everyone in the room to look toward him.

“You…”

“Don’t you all strive in the real world precisely so that your future days will be smooth sailing?” Qinglong’s voice grew increasingly high. “Who ever told you that life must only involve suffering?”

He slowly walked to Heavenly-Ox’s side. At this moment, Heavenly-Ox looked like she had completely lost the strength to refute.

“Heavenly-Ox… if you think your life is too smooth… then why not directly have Heavenly-Dragon give you a life full of holes?” Qinglong smiled as he placed his hand on Heavenly-Ox’s shoulder. “If you suffer enough hardships in the dream… would you then think it was real? Would you then be able to never wake up?”

“I… I…”

“Your thinking isn’t wrong, but perhaps the real life is smooth sailing.” Qinglong slowly brought his mouth close to Heavenly-Ox’s ear and said softly to her, “All the suffering is the dream.”

After hearing this, Heavenly-Ox’s eyes flickered for a while, then she slowly lowered her head.

“Do you want to die?” Qinglong asked softly in her ear again. “Everything now is a dream. If you die, you’ll be liberated.”

Seeing Heavenly-Ox’s psychological defenses collapse step by step, the newly awakened Heavenly-Pig couldn’t sit still any longer and hurriedly opened his mouth to change the subject.

“Qinglong… when can we move around freely?” he asked.

The sudden question brought Heavenly-Ox back to her senses instantly, and Qinglong also showed a displeased expression at this moment.

“Move around freely…?”

“We can’t just sit here the whole time.” Heavenly-Pig said. “Why don’t you just be honest with us about your thoughts? Perhaps some of us would be willing to help you. This way, those who oppose you die, those who obey you live—what do you think?”

After hearing this, Qinglong nodded: “That does make some sense…”

“So are you going to tell us what exactly you’re planning?” Heavenly-Pig asked again. “I can state my position first. Since you liberated me from my slumber and let me return to reality, you’ve shown me kindness, so I’ll stand on your side.”

After hearing this, Heavenly-Sheep timidly raised his head to look in Heavenly-Pig’s direction. Countless inner voices from the other party all transmitted into his ears.

How ridiculous Heavenly-Pig was. The voice in his heart didn’t sound like he was standing on Qinglong’s side at all—it was more like he wanted to kill Qinglong and Heavenly-Dragon to claim credit.

“Unfortunately, I’m not stupid…” Qinglong paced slowly through the room and soon arrived behind Heavenly-Tiger. “The reason you’ve all been able to sit here until now, bearing the title of ‘Heaven-level Zodiac,’ is precisely because you’re all extremely shrewd. Even Heavenly-Tiger, this kind of small child wearing a bellyband with a bare bottom…”

He reached out and slowly stroked Heavenly-Tiger’s head, while Heavenly-Tiger very tactfully remained silent.

“…is already a fifty or sixty-year-old old monster, right?” Qinglong smiled. “Facing all of you, ordinary lies and promises have completely lost their effect. Only supreme power can suppress you all.”

After hearing this, Heavenly-Pig moved his fingers. Due to sleeping for such a long time, his body control had gradually become rusty.

But how could everyone contact Heavenly-Dragon now?

They had spent so much time climbing to this step—no one wanted to die.

Even though neither Heavenly-Dragon nor Qinglong were good people, only Heavenly-Dragon could check and balance Qinglong.

The reason the two had coexisted peacefully for so long relied on mutual checks and balances. Once one of the rulers turned traitor, the situation here would become even more dictatorial, and all that awaited everyone would be even deeper despair.

“Rest assured.” Qinglong said again. “My requirements for you are very simple. Just like I said at the beginning, as long as you sit here obediently, no one will have any problems. I never wanted your lives from the start, but the premise is that you don’t seek death yourselves.”

After hearing this, Heavenly-Sheep felt something was slightly odd. After all, just a moment ago, he had seen very concrete killing intent in Qinglong’s eyes, yet now he said he didn’t want to kill everyone.

“After all, you are ‘Heaven-level.'” Qinglong said again. “We’ve all worked together for decades. Even ‘colleagues’ in the real world couldn’t possibly persist for so long, so I still have some minuscule feelings for you all.”

After hearing this sentence, Heavenly-Monkey and Heavenly-Rooster simultaneously raised their heads to look at Qinglong, and asked in unison: “We really won’t have any problems?”

“Yes.” Qinglong said. “But at the same time… you must also keep your mouths completely shut about what happened tonight in front of Heavenly-Dragon. This can buy your lives. Understand?”

The various “Heaven-level” individuals knew they had no bargaining chips to negotiate with Qinglong now, and could only agree one after another.

But Heavenly-Pig still seemed to have some ideas. His eyeballs turned, then he slowly closed both eyes.

At this moment, Qinglong’s ears moved slightly, and he turned his head to look at him.

“‘Puppet’…?” He smiled. “Heavenly-Pig… didn’t I say… not to play any little tricks?”

“I…” After hearing this, Heavenly-Pig hurriedly shook his head. “It’s a misunderstanding. I just haven’t used my ‘immortal technique’ for too long… I wanted to see if it’s still there.”