Chapter 954: Each's Guardian

"When exactly did you learn to fight with these things?" Tian Long asked.

"Is it that hard to understand?" Qi Xia retorted. "This is the only skill I have to survive, so I'm just trying to use it to learn how to fight."

"What do you mean by 'learning to fight'?" Tian Long glanced at the mess inside the room. "Is it retreating while firing off a barrage of bone needles, or instantly creating a living sword to block my fatal strike?"

After hearing this, Qi Xia fell silent and casually tossed the living sword in his hand away.

The sword wriggled like a mouse caught in a grip, then scampered out of the room after hitting the ground.

"Bai Yang... your inner world has only been fully formed for a mere day," Tian Long said. "Yet, you look as if you've been slaughtering people this way for years, which naturally piques my curiosity."

"Maybe I just had a sudden epiphany?" Qi Xia said. "Or perhaps I've long been eager to fight like this, since you know my intent to kill you has lasted for decades, so there's nothing strange about it."

"I don't deny your belief in wanting to kill me," Tian Long said. "I'm just curious about your combat experience, as the two aren't the same. For example..."

With that, Tian Long focused his mind, and countless stone spikes coalesced around Qi Xia, hurtling toward him like a storm.

Qi Xia closed his eyes, and the flesh under his feet churned instantly, forming a wall of flesh that enveloped him. A chaotic sound of blades piercing meat followed, as all the stone spikes embedded themselves in the flesh.

"Bai Yang, it seems you know all my moves and have already devised countermeasures," Tian Long said. "And this is only after a single day—how could I not be curious?"

The flesh beside Qi Xia crushed all the stone spikes, and then he stretched his limbs and said, "Tian Long... I think I'm starting to understand your perspective."

"My perspective?"

"That's right. I feel... what does it matter if you're curious or not?" Qi Xia laughed. "What are you to me? Do I need to care about what you think?"

"Ha, how absurd..." Tian Long said. "Just because you have one skill at your side, you dare to look down on me like this."

"Otherwise?" Qi Xia retorted. "Tian Long, you wouldn't dare use your full power in my dream realm, or else it would take you longer to wake up. And if you get injured, it would affect your physical body too."

No sooner had he spoken than Tian Long's figure slowly rose into the air. He swung his hands forcefully to the sides, tearing an opening in the wall of the flesh house. Though the gap was healing visibly, Tian Long slipped through it and emerged outside.

Qi Xia walked to the window and looked up at Tian Long, seeing him ascending higher, as if preparing a deadly move.

"Bai Yang, 'gods' and 'mortals' are fundamentally different," Tian Long said from mid-air. "Even if you've now touched the threshold, you're still just a paper tiger. What can you do once you leave this room?"

Qi Xia paid no attention to Tian Long's taunts and instead looked down at the display screen in the square below.

Besides "Sheng Sheng Bu Xi," numerous "Hui Xiang" of Tian Long appeared on the screen, making Qi Xia narrow his eyes slowly.

"Original Object," "Qiao Wu," "Li Xi," "Zhi Kong."

"So only these...?" Qi Xia murmured to himself. "And adding 'Ru Meng'... a total of five?"

Tian Long continued to rise, then gently raised his hands, as if welcoming something.

Qi Xia looked up and saw sand gathering above the entire building, materializing out of nowhere and forming an inverted mountain directly overhead.

He knew that with a mere thought from Tian Long, the entire mountain would crash down, potentially demolishing not just the building but the whole street.

"Bai Yang..." Tian Long said from outside the window, "Whether in your dream realm or outside it, when a 'god' is angry, the disasters they bring are beyond what mortals can endure. That's the essential difference between you and me."

Qi Xia took a few deep breaths, then slowly closed his eyes.

...

Qing Long was admiring the fruits in front of the great tree, but he felt something was off.

He could faintly hear the sounds of "Hui Xiang," yet they seemed to come from nowhere, impossible to pinpoint.

But now, it was different... the frequency of "Original Object" grew clearer, echoing from all directions into his ears.

Where was this frequency coming from?

Its intensity was indescribable; throughout the history of "Tao Yuan," only one person had ever reached such a level with "Original Object."

But that person...

Qing Long turned around and saw Tian Long still seated peacefully on the throne, his expression serene, with a faint red mark between his brows.

"Who got you so riled up?" Qing Long laughed. "'Ru Meng' isn't enough—you're even adding full force 'Original Object'?"

With that, he stepped up to the throne and vanished in a flash, reappearing on the armrest of the massive seat.

He slowly crouched down, trying to stare at Tian Long as if he were an ant.

Yet, this person's aura was overwhelmingly powerful, making it impossible to see him as just an ant.

"Tian Long, oh Tian Long..." Qing Long said with a wry smile, "Stop struggling. If you're meant to die, just die... When you do, make sure to tell me, so I can live on with a clear conscience, okay?"

Tian Long breathed steadily but furrowed his brow slightly.

Seeing his expression grow uneasy, Qing Long laughed even more delightedly:

"You have to die... Tian Long."

...

"You mustn't die... you little deceiver."

Qiao Jia Jin stared intently at the sleeping Qi Xia, his fists already raised and ready, as if poised to unleash a flurry of punches at any moment.

But all he saw was Qi Xia wrinkling his brow a few times, looking more like he was uncomfortable in his sleep rather than having a nightmare.

He wasn't sure if he should step in and give Qi Xia a good beating right then, so he kept watching without blinking.

He had seen Qi Xia in the throes of a nightmare before—thrashing wildly, drenched in sweat, trapped in a painful state where he wanted to wake but couldn't.

But today, Qi Xia seemed... too at peace.

Why was he so calm when facing someone as terrifying as Tian Long?

"You little deceiver... that's enough already... what's there to talk about with that kind of person..." Qiao Jia Jin thought worriedly.

In his eyes, someone like Tian Long, who ruled the "End of All Things," was a mad god best avoided—the longer the contact, the more trouble it would bring.

Sure enough, in the next second, Qi Xia's expression tensed up instantly, and his hands and feet trembled slightly.