Chapter 583 Pretending to be Dead
Typhon's Sons are spread throughout the world; some are demons, while others are Ancient Evils.
The former's power is similar to that of giants; they are not gods and have no Authority, yet they possess unique abilities no less potent.
Those whose abilities are so strong that even gods find them difficult to decipher are the famous Great Demons.
In contrast, while the Ancient Evils roaming the world also possess different abilities, they often lack that absolute quality.
Or, more precisely, those Ancient Evils are not 'mechanism monsters.' Their only shared powerful ability is perhaps a strong immortality derived from the source of power.
Sphinx is a demon, and therefore it only has the unique abilities of a demon, but not the powerful vitality of an Ancient Evil; it is not a god, so it cannot absorb the faith that has accumulated on it over thousands of years.
Golden light emerged inch by inch from its body, and the Life and souls given by the heroes who had died in the past were all transferred here.
However, Heracles chose not to accept those departed souls, but instead let them scatter with the wind.
A warm sensation emerged on his body… but just like Sphinx, he also could not utilize the accumulated power of faith.
They lingered around Heracles, just like Pandora once did… And after losing all vitality, the Sphinx's body began to change.
From tail to foot, from waist to head.
Before long, a massive stone statue replaced the former demon.
Like the masterful craftsmanship of nature, it was formed naturally, without any trace of human intervention.
From this moment on, another of Typhon's Sons died at Heracles's hands… but unlike before, defeating such an opponent did not make the Great Hero happy.
"Clang—"
A crisp sound of metal striking stone, and looking down, he saw an ancient and exquisite golden balance fall to the ground before Heracles.
He didn't need to investigate; his intuition told him that this was the legendary artifact, the golden balance, on whose two sides anything could be measured.
The tangible, the intangible; the physical, the conceptual.
Stepping forward to pick up this golden balance, Heracles didn't know why it had appeared here.
This was the wager between the Goddess of Justice and Sphinx, and since the demon was dead, shouldn't it return to the Goddess's hands?
Even if it didn't return, why would it come before him?
"Perhaps this is a reward, a tool lent to you."
Prometheus, who had remained silent during the previous questioning, stepped forward and explained.
"Perseus was also like this; more than one god lent him artifacts."
"The merits you have achieved far surpass his; it's not strange for you to receive similar treatment."
"Is that so…? Then I understand."
Nodding slowly, the Great Hero put away the golden balance.
He didn't know what use he would have for it, but it was, after all, a powerful artifact.
Having put away the item, Heracles surveyed the valley.
There was nothing else here that required his attention; next, he should continue forward…
"So, Dionysus, is there anything else you want to do here?"
The Great Hero asked, waiting for a moment.
But to his surprise, the other party did not respond for a long time.
Turning to look, the handsome young man was leaning against a large tree at some point, eyes closed in contemplation in the shade.
Taking a few steps forward, Heracles was about to say something. However, only when he got close did he realize that Dionysus's state was somewhat strange.
"Is he… asleep?"
A flash of bewilderment crossed his eyes; was his duel with Sphinx so long, and so boring?
Unable to understand for a moment, the Great Hero still decided to wake him up.
It was time to leave, and besides, even if he wanted to sleep, there was no need to sleep here, right…
Shaking his head slightly, Heracles reached out and shook Dionysus's shoulder.
······
"Hey, wake up!"
"Wake up… Can't you move?"
"Poke… poke… I poke, poke, poke…"
…
The Dream Spirit Realm, the Dream of the Ancient God.
The Sky is bright, the earth is dim.
Twelve stone pillars support the Sky and the earth, and taut chains maintain their connection to the Sky and the earth.
More like gigantic tombstones than pillars, they stand on the desolate, tomb-like earth, reflecting a Sky like a holy land.
In the center of the earth, in a massive, bottomless pit, the white dragon folded its wide dragon wings, its eyes curiously fixed on the young god 'lying dead' in the pit.
Its sharp fingertips poked the seemingly unconscious god repeatedly, but even as blood spurted, the other party remained unresponsive.
Poke—
Puff…
Seeing another 'small fountain' appear on the body before her, Iserania's clear, large eyes showed a hint of displeasure.
In her perception, this fellow in front of her was clearly awake, but for some reason, he kept pretending to be asleep.
After all, in the entire Dream Spirit Realm, there are only conscious beings and beings in slumber; there is no third possibility.
Even for outsiders whose true bodies enter this place, once they fall unconscious or into slumber here, they will only materialize their own dreams under the omnipresent rules of Dream, perhaps even surfacing on their bodies to form a new dream bubble, eventually enveloping themselves.
So, since there were no traces of dreams around Dionysus, and he was easily pulled into this Ancient God's Dream, one of the few that could contain the white dragon's power, his wakefulness was self-evident.
"So… is this what mortals call 'playing dead'?"
"If he were truly dead, I could still revive him; this is my territory!"
"But I remember that human named 'Nu' told me that no one in the world can wake someone who is pretending to be asleep… So, by analogy, I can't revive someone who is pretending to be dead forever."
With a serious expression, looking at the 'corpse' on the ground, Iserania suddenly had a flash of inspiration.
She felt she had discovered a loophole, and it seemed quite viable.
"Hmm…"
"Someone pretending to be asleep cannot be woken… That means only someone who is truly asleep can be woken."
"So if I want to wake someone who is pretending to be asleep, the best way is to first make them truly fall asleep, and then wake them up."
"It's hard to wake someone who is pretending to be asleep, but it's easy to make someone who is awake fall asleep—by analogy, it's hard to revive someone who is pretending to be dead, but it's very simple to beat someone to death."
"To wake someone who is pretending to be dead, the best way is to first beat them to death, and then revive them, so they can't pretend anymore!"
"Indeed, I, Iserania, am the smartest dragon in this world!"
The excitement in her eyes almost overflowed—this was not a metaphor, but a description.
In the world of dreams, emotions themselves can become tangible.
And looking at the god lying in a pool of blood before her, the white dragon decided to act immediately. But just as she was about to do something… she slumped back down, dejected.
Damn it… how exactly was one supposed to beat someone to death? She seemed to have never done such a thing before.
This was no joke, because although the white dragon was not one who had never taken a Life, she had indeed never killed any living being with the explicit purpose of 'killing'.
If someone died because of her, it was merely a collateral consequence caused by the white dragon.
After all, in its eyes, the concepts of Life and death were inherently somewhat blurred. Dreams recorded the traces of all the dead; as long as she wished, any Life was akin to eternal Life.
"Hmm… I've got it!"
"I don't know how, so I'll learn."
"Anyway, those rare dreams of gods all say the same thing: he is the most brutal god in this world."
Nodding vigorously, at the pit in the center of the earth, the white dragon looked up at the Sky.
The Ancient God's Dream was vast and boundless, and compared to the twelve stone pillars standing in the human world, Iserania's figure was so tiny as to be almost invisible.
An immensely heavy and dilapidated aura vibrated between heaven and earth, stirring up infinite pressure… but the white dragon paid no heed.
Because in the dream, she was the true master.
"Yi——ya——!"
A soft cry shattered the boundless clouds.
Nine layers of clouds shattered in succession, and under the action of some invisible force, they began to rotate, eventually forming a vortex connecting the Sky and the earth.
The center of the vortex was directly above the white dragon's position, and in Iserania's eyes, a figure as vast as the Sky, with the starry Sky on its back, looked down upon the myriad beings on the earth.
No… there were no living beings on the earth of the Ancient God's Dream.
There was only the earth itself, and those twelve pillar-like tombstones.
In the distant past, the supreme God King shattered the divine mountain, casting his rebellious sons into sculptures, to be eternally suppressed beside their Mother.
He should be awake, because the second layer of the dream realm had not been born in the Ancient God's Dream; yet he was not awake, because his slumber originated from the backlash of a fragmented symbol, from the balance of a Great Power.
The current Dream Spirit Realm cannot contain his complete dream, so he appeared here, but he has never truly awakened.
Looking up at the Sky, this scene was enough to fill any living being on the land of Chaos with bone-deep dread.
However, in the white dragon's eyes, that was merely a tool that could 'kill people' for her.
"Hmm… indeed, it looks very scary."
"You're it! Come, beat this guy to death!"
With a joyful voice, the white dragon picked up the 'corpse' on the ground, preparing to fly high into the Sky.
But at this moment, the 'corpse' seemed to finally realize something was wrong and hastily opened its eyes.
Damn it, this white dragon is truly looking for trouble.
And him, is this the Sky God King recorded in the ancient history of this world?
Even if it's just his dream, a few symbolic images and the might of the primordial God King still remain… Such an existence is actually a complete failure… No, I cannot come into contact with him, at least not now.
His mouth twitched, looking at the supreme being in the Sky of the Ancient God's Dream, 'Dionysus' was utterly helpless.
There was no way; if he were to directly touch something related to the God King's own Authority now, he might very likely be locked onto by Chaos and be forced to prematurely become one of the 'local spirits' with an identity.
Logically speaking, becoming a 'local god' is not bad; the flesh mother tree of the Outer Gods next door is also like that, and he plans to do the same in the future.
However, even joining depends on the person, the timing, the state, and especially the strength of the joiner.
Whether there's value or not, how much value, and what the other party's current situation is—these all matter.
When others… or the Mother Tree… join, they bring their complete power and essence; when he joins, his power is already the spoils of others, and he himself is merely a fragmented existence with an empty Authority.
Given this, there's no need to even think about what kind of treatment he would get… But frankly, his existence should not be discovered by someone of her level, and even if there was a sensation, it would at most be a slight feeling of disharmony.
Under these circumstances, why was she clinging to him?
He didn't know, but putting himself in her shoes, and recalling her astonishing Wisdom from earlier, 'Dionysus' felt that the white dragon definitely had a bit of a mischievous streak.
Would anyone truly speak their thoughts aloud and act as innocent as a blank slate? Even if they did, it would probably be a whitewash.
"Cough, cough… Wait, I'm awake now… Where is this?"
With a series of coughs, 'Dionysus' awoke from the white dragon's claw.
He seemed unaware of what had just happened, his eyes filled with bewilderment.
"Oh, you're finally not playing dead?"
Somewhat surprised and regretful, the white dragon looked down.
On her dragon claw, 'Dionysus' was still spurting blood.
"Hmm… It's such a pity, I was going to test my scheme… But never mind, I won't blame you."
"Hello, I'm Bai, you can also call me Iserania. This is my domain—an uninhabited Ancient God's Dream, one of the few dreams that can accommodate me, so I often come here."
"Now it's your turn, who are you, did I know you before?"
"…Me?"
The young god smiled bitterly and shook his head, then introduced himself:
"As for me, you can call me Dionysus—"
"Liar!"
Poke—
Another hole, fortunately this was a dream.
In a dream, as long as one believes they are alive, they won't die no matter how severe their injuries.
So 'Dionysus' merely twitched the corner of his mouth slightly, with no other reaction.
"Cough, cough… Esteemed Dragon, as Dionysus, my friends all call me that, and I have no other name. You say I'm lying… on what grounds?"
"I don't know, isn't intuition enough?"
Righteously, Iserania retorted.
"…"
Speechless, lying in the dragon's claw, 'Dionysus' didn't know what he had done wrong; perhaps he was being targeted by the hidden destiny of this world?
First, there was Medea, the witch of Silvermoon City, and now the Dream Spirit Realm's white dragon, Iserania. At least the former was somewhat reasonable, while the latter purely acted on mood.
Phew… The only good news was that the Dream Spirit Realm's master didn't seem to be here; he should still be busy cleaning up the mess.
Like the will of Chaos, although the other party possessed the ability to discover, truly perceiving his existence was not that simple.
That supreme characteristic was enough to isolate everything… Even this white dragon only felt that Dionysus was off, but never discovered any trace of him.
Otherwise, 'Dionysus' would have long given up this crucial position and directly chosen another path to 'naturalize' into Chaos.