The green mountain was no longer there… It had become a bare and dead mountain.

The water was no longer clear and gave off a foul smell...

Even the wind that blew by was filled with sorrow and the smell of decay.

Also, the intricate pavilions were covered in dust. They had lost their sense of vitality and looked fallen.

The stone steps that led up the mountains were mostly damaged. The howling wind played a sad tone.

Those Dong Lin Sect disciples Wang Lin had seen walking through the sect became skeletons scattered across the square, pavilions, and stone steps. They had long decayed and only skeletons remained.

The Dong Lin Sect disciples inside the residences that were sitting there cultivating were all the same. They were merely skeletons...

This was a dead sect!

There was no trace of vitality and it was filled with a powerful death aura...

But there was a dream that existed over this powerful death aura. This dream contained the illusion of the countless people that had died here. It was as if the disciples of the Dong Lin Sect didn’t know they had died...

They were still cultivating in that dream.

This was also why when Wang Lin and Liu Jinbiao stood there, all the Dong Lin Sect disciples just walked past them. It wasn’t that Wang Lin didn’t exist, but they didn’t exist.

It would not be appropriate to call them ghosts, because Wang Lin saw no ghosts. It was only a dream that didn’t know death… In this dream, even if an outsider came, they would find it difficult to notice. It was as if they had become part of the dream and had integrated with it.

This place had been destroyed for countless years. He didn’t know how long it had been… But he understood that people came without noticing that this was a dead sect. They stayed as guests and then left….

But it was impossible for him to the first person to see through this place!

Because he saw that there was a large temple at the center of the Dong Lin Sect, and a powerful vitality filled with sadness silently existed there.

That vitality was filled with loneliness and sorrow. It was like a child that had lost their family and all relatives. After crying for a long time in the ruins, the child silently guarded this place.

With no one to accompany them, all they had left were the ruins and the dead bodies. In that loneliness and sorrow, a dream was formed. In this dream, the mountain was green and the water was clear. The sect was filled with the vitality of the Dong Lin Sect disciples to accompany them...

If Wang Lin had come here before he comprehended his own ethereal essences, he wouldn’t have been able to see anything. But at this moment, he saw it and he let out a sigh as he closed his eyes.

When the wind passed, he opened his eyes and the death and decay disappeared from the Dong Lin Sect. Instead, it was filled with life as the countless disciples moved about.

“Let’s go,” Wang Lin slowly said and then walked forward. Liu Jinbiao couldn’t see the change here, but he could feel that something was wrong. He followed behind Wang Lin.

Moving forward, ripples echoed around Wang Lin. Other people couldn’t see these ripples. This was Wang Lin allowing himself to become part of the dream.

When he and Liu Jinbiao landed, two rays of light flew over from the distance, revealing two cultivators, one man and one woman.

These two cultivators were very young. The man was very handsome and quickly showed his respect. The woman next to him was very beautiful and looked at Wang Lin with a curious gaze.

“Senior, Junior came under orders from the ancestor to invite Senior to the Dong Lin Temple.” The young man smiled and clasped his hands. His words were very respectful and so was his expression.

The woman beside him also clasped her hands, and her gaze swept by Wang Lin.

Wang Lin looked at the two Dong Lin Sect disciples before him. He let out a sigh in his heart as he revealed a gentle expression and nodded.

Under the guidance of the Dong Lin Sect disciples, Wang Lin flew toward the center of the Dong Lin Sect. The Dong Lin Sect was very large, and along the way, Wang Lin saw the Dong Lin Sect filled with vitality.

He also saw many cranes flying in the sky. On the ground, whether it was the alchemy yard or the residences, there were disciples sitting there, cultivating or chatting.

When the wind blew, it was filled with dense celestial energy, as if it was a paradise.

Along the way, Wang Lin saw Dong Lin Sect disciples who passed by him introduce themselves and clasp their hands at him.

The people of the Dong Lin Sect were very gentle and very polite, as if Wang Lin was a treasured guest.

When they got close to the Dong Lin Temple at the center, two rays of light closed in. When they arrived before Wang Lin, a hearty laughter echoed.

“Dong Cun, Xiao Yan, the two of you can leave.” The laughter echoed as two cultivators were revealed inside the two rays of light. The speaker was an old man, and beside him was a middle-aged man who smiled and clasped his hands at Wang Lin.

The two of them were Golden Exalts and extraordinary. The old man’s hearty laugh echoed as he clasped his hands toward Wang Lin.

“My name is Xu Tiannian, the head elder of the Dong Lin Sect. I’m on the ancestor’s order to invite Senior to the Dong Lin Temple.”

“Junior is He Dao, the Dong Lin Sect’s sect master. Greetings, Senior.” The middle-aged man smiled and was very polite.

Looking at the two of them, Wang Lin’s eyes were filled with sadness. What kind of loneliness would make someone create a dream to accompany them...

Wang Lin sighed and said to the two of them, “Let’s go.” 

The two Golden Exalts accompanied Wang Lin and gave him respect worthy of his status. They came to the center of the Dong Lin Sect, the holy land of the Dong Lin Sect - the Dong Lin Temple!

The old man clasped his hands at Wang Lin and respectfully said, “The ancestor is inside. We don’t have a summon and therefore can’t go in, so, Senior, please proceed on your own.” 

Wang Lin nodded and looked at the door of the Dong Lin Sect. In truth, after he had seen through the dream, he could have come here himself and walked through the ruins to this temple filled with sorrow.

There was no need for him to talk to some illusions from the dream.

But he didn’t do this, as he could feel the sorrow and loneliness. He respected the Dong Lin Sect’s old ancestor, and what he got was the respect of the Dong Lin Sect’s old ancestor.

“Jin Biao, wait for me outside,” Wang Lin softly said before walking toward the Dong Lin Temple.

Liu Jinbiao respectfully nodded and subconsciously looked around. He felt like something about this place was strange, but he couldn’t tell what was wrong.

Wang Lin slowly walked toward the Dong Lin Temple. Once he completely entered the temple, an ancient voice filled with loneliness and sorrow echoed inside.

“You came…”

In the temple, directly before Wang Lin, there were three large statues of two men and one woman. They were all looking toward the east with smiles, exuding an aura of pride.

Under the statues, there was an old man wearing a grey rob. His face was filled with brown spots, like a mortal who was in his twilight years. His expression was miserable and was filled with endless sorrow.

Aside from the sadness, there was a powerful aura buried deep inside his body. This aura was beyond that of any Empyrean Exalt Wang Lin had met.

“I’m here…” Wang Lin let out a sigh and walked up to the old man. He sat down and waved his right hand to take out a jug of wine.

“Want some?” Wang Lin handed the wine jug to the old man.

The old man silently pondered for a while. He then took the wine jug and took a sip.

“I feel a familiar aura from you. It should not be your first time here.” The old man looked up at Wang Lin.

“I came in a dream.” Wang Lin took out a second wine jug and took a sip.

The old man looked at the great temple in the distance and slowly said, “Perhaps… I have sat here for a very long time. Perhaps you really came here in your dream.”

The old man softly asked, “Was the Dong Lin Sect in your dream the same as now?”

“The same.” When Wang Lin looked at the old man, he could feel his sadness.

“Thank you…” The old man closed his eyes. Two lines of tears flowed down his cheeks. With his cultivation level, he should not know what tears were, but when Wang Lin said “the same,” the tears just flowed down. 

“I have been sitting here for a long time. You’re the only one who has given me a sense of familiarity… This is my home… I left a long time ago, when I became an Ascendant Empyrean, and when I came home, it was already like this…” The old man opened his eyes, and they were filled with dense pain and sorrow. 

Wang Lin silently pondered.

“I don’t know who did it… I can’t find out. Not even Grand Empyreans can find out… I can only sit here with my memories and create this dream- allow this dream to accompany me and let the Dong Lin Sect to exist… until the day I die…” the old man whispered, his voice turning hoarse.

Wang Lin looked at the old man and didn’t speak.

What kind of emotion could make a person like this? What kind of sadness could make one deceive themselves with a dream? What kind of loneliness would make a person create an illusion to accompany them?

“If Wan Er still can’t awaken… If Ping Er can’t open his eyes… If Planet Suzaku was destroyed… Perhaps I would be like him. A person sitting in the void in his own cultivation planet, numbing myself with a dream. In that world, there would be my parents, me, Wan Er, Ping Er, and all the faces I’m familiar with...

“If that day really comes, perhaps I will do the same…”

The  old man suddenly spoke, and what he said caused Wang Lin’s heart to tremble! “Lock down the fortune of heaven and seal the underworld. Those who do not achieve the true dao will sink into a sea of suffering and forever lose the path of the true dao. Walk the path of true dao!

“This was written on a stone tablet with the blood of my Dong Lin Sect by the culprit…”