She paused briefly: “This place should be where dreams and reality converge!”
Dreams are born from reality, just as all things have reflections in water. The convergence between these two realms might only be a thin line—but that was enough. The limited overlapping area between dreams and reality was also known as the Isolated Land. It was so inconspicuous that Feng Miaojun had never paid attention to it during her dream journeys, yet she never expected that whoever sealed the Heavenly Demons would have such an ingenious concept, sending this once-invincible race to the Isolated Land.
“Convergence?” The Prince of Yan savored these two words in his mouth before finally pointing at the scenery below and asking, “So the reality lies beneath this barrier?”
“Yes!” Feng Miaojun affirmed decisively. “I’m seventy percent certain that if we break through this barrier, we can return to reality!”
This was the true purpose behind the Heavenly Demons’ attack on the city—to return to reality.
They had been trapped in the dream version of Yingshui City for hundreds of years. If they could break through this final obstacle, they would return to the real world and regain their freedom. With such an enormous temptation before them, which Heavenly Demon wouldn’t give their all?
Their fundamental goal wasn’t to conquer Yingshui City but to break through the barrier and return to the human realm. Unfortunately, the ancestor of the Haoli lineage had foreseen this and directly used the entire royal capital and the nation’s accumulated fortune to block the demons’ only escape route.
The Prince of Yan fell silent, and after a while, he gave a bitter smile: “If even the Heavenly Demons couldn’t break through this barrier, how could we?” In reality, he would certainly have confidence in his cultivation level, but in this illusory realm, soul power determined everything. Who in the world could match the soul power of Heavenly Demons? If they couldn’t break through the barrier with the strength of their entire race, how could he and Feng Miaojun succeed?
“How will we know if we don’t try?”
The Prince of Yan raised an eyebrow, looking at her: “What do you propose?”
“Let’s follow their example. The Heavenly Demon leader used the Divine Seal to pry open a gap in the barrier. We could also attempt—”
The Prince of Yan suddenly interrupted: “The one who infiltrated Yingshui City back then was the leader of the Heavenly Demons?”
His voice carried astonishment.
“Yes. I witnessed it with my own eyes,” Feng Miaojun said softly. “I also memorized the seal pattern she drew. I can replicate it. But with my power alone, I probably can’t break through this barrier.”
“So you sought my help.”
“Yes,” Feng Miaojun spoke quickly. “And we must move even faster. Before long…”
Before she could finish, the Prince of Yan suddenly interrupted: “I’m afraid I’m not the one you’ve been looking for all this way.”
He suddenly smiled, his expression somewhat eerie. Feng Miaojun looked at him, a sense of unease rising in her heart: “Hmm?”
“—Is it this?” He turned his left hand over, opened his palm, and revealed a small ring resting there. It was blood-red in color, but simple in design—just a red circle.
So it had fallen into his hands! Feng Miaojun’s heart skipped a beat, but her face showed a puzzled expression: “What is that?”
“Whatever this is, I can sense the surging soul power within it,” the Prince of Yan said languidly. “You just said that everything in this illusory realm is false, and only the barrier is real. So how did this object remain?”
Indeed, in this isolated space cut off from the world, every “real” thing was indescribably precious. Without waiting for Feng Miaojun to speak, he continued: “After I entered, I recalled something. The Heavenly Demon once told me that when it escaped from its sealed prison, it lost something important and would retrieve it when the opportunity arose.”
“I originally thought this item was in the stone chamber, but I couldn’t find it anywhere.” He exhaled softly, as if relieved. “Who would have guessed I would find such a small thing on the barrier? Tell me, what price would the Heavenly Demon be willing to pay to recover it?”
“Since the bead contains surging soul power, it would help break through the barrier,” Feng Miaojun frowned slightly. “Otherwise, even with our combined strength, our chances would be slim—enough talk, let’s use it.”
The Prince of Yan’s response was to step back, raising an index finger and shaking it: “No. If you want to take it back, you must give me the method of immortality.”
How did they circle back to this starting point again? Feng Miaojun kept a straight face: “I know nothing about any method of immortality!”
The Prince of Yan said darkly: “An exchange, or I take it by force—choose one.”
The situation became tense again.
The strong understand the strong; Feng Miaojun had indeed considered taking it by force. She firmly believed her soul power was somewhat stronger than the Prince of Yan’s, but to break through the barrier and return to reality, they needed to combine their strength.
So she suppressed her anger: “Aren’t you curious why the Heavenly Demons disappeared from here?”
The Prince of Yan obligingly asked: “Why?”
“The seal in the stone chamber has self-repairing capabilities,” she said through gritted teeth. “Even when the Heavenly Demons escaped here, they hadn’t truly left the range of the seal. Or rather, this is merely the second layer of the seal left by Emperor Haoli or perhaps the Heavenly God. After all, no restriction, formation, or trap can be designed as a dead end; there must always be a sliver of hope. So, if the Heavenly Demons can break through the barrier before the seal in the stone chamber repairs itself, they can escape back to reality. Otherwise—”
The Prince of Yan was a clever man: “They’ll be sealed back in the stone chamber?”
“Exactly.” That’s why both the Heavenly Demons and their leader repeatedly mentioned “not enough time” earlier. Her voice suddenly grew stern. “If you keep stalling, your fate will be to get dragged back to the stone chamber, following in the Heavenly Demons’ footsteps! We spent so much effort to break in here—how many times do you want to repeat this? Our soul power is limited, not even comparable to the Heavenly Demons. If we have to go through this again, we’ll fail!”
That was the key point she wanted to make.
The Prince of Yan, however, seemed unconcerned: “If we can’t get out, then so be it. I’m old anyway, and without finding the method of immortality, I don’t have many years left to live.” He even chuckled. “Having the beautiful Queen of Xia as my burial companion—I’m not losing out!”
This was a case of someone with nothing to lose fearing nothing.
Feng Miaojun’s thoughts raced, and she didn’t mind his tone: “Or perhaps you could activate this object, and I’ll just be responsible for drawing the barrier-breaking seal!”
The Prince of Yan’s mouth twisted into a gloomy smile: “The method of immortality—that’s all I want!”
His focus was unwavering, fixated solely on this.
Looking at the undisguised obsession and madness in his eyes, Feng Miaojun knew that this man’s fixation on immortality had driven him to extremes, and any further reasoning would be futile. Yet at this critical moment, her most urgent concern was how to escape from this desperate situation.
“Fine,” she finally nodded. “I’ll give you the method of immortality.” They would take things one step at a time.
As soon as the words left her mouth, the Prince of Yan took a deep breath, his gaze burning: “What must I do?”
“First, when your lifespan is nearly exhausted, you must change bodies. I can teach you the secret technique of the Heavenly Demons, which will prevent the rejection between body and soul during the body-snatching process.”
So she did possess this secret art. The Prince of Yan’s eyes lit up.