Embers Ad Infinitum

Translator: CKtalon

After muttering to herself, Zhou Yue looked at Jiang Baimian, Shang Jianyao, and the others. As she pondered, she said, “If it’s simply a Superior Heartless having the ability to create illusions or Zhang Jin seeing a dragon during his mental breakdown, it wouldn’t be too surprising. However, it’s indeed a little coincidental when the two are combined.”

“There are other explanations. This isn’t conclusive evidence.” Shang Jianyao was just short of having a pipe in his mouth.

Zhou Yue wrote it off as him being usually like that, so she didn’t mind. She nodded slightly and said, “Indeed. It’s possible that Zhang Jin has heard our preaching; it’s also possible that the Superior Heartless had a certain level of interest in the Old World’s dragon culture before it contracted the Heartless disease. But no matter what, I have to report this matter and see what the Dream Protectors think.”

Jiang Baimian deliberated over her words and asked, “We don’t wish to come across as doubting your Church; we just find it a little coincidental.”

“No.” Abbess Zhou Yue flicked her sleeve and said rather coolly, “Even I have some doubts after hearing your description.”

Jiang Baimian tersely acknowledged her words and didn’t continue the topic. She then said, “Abbess Zhou, our main purpose in coming here is to seek consultation. If we enter the mountains to investigate the Superior Heartless, how should we deal with the illusions?”

Zhou Yue’s gaze swept across the four Old Task Force members’ faces, and she nodded slightly. “Illusions come under a large domain. I only have a relatively superficial understanding of it. If you don’t mind, I can give a simple explanation.”

As the Clam Dragon Church’s highest-ranking clergyman in Tarnan and Nanke Convent’s abbess, Zhou Yue couldn’t claim that she didn’t understand illusions.

This word permeated every angle of their teachings.

“We don’t mind,” Shang Jianyao immediately replied.

At a time like this, saying that you don’t mind will give people the impression that you’ve considered whether you should mind. You—who value manners—should’ve just said ‘please go ahead…’ Jiang Baimian criticized silently, but she didn’t say anything else.

Zhou Yue looked around and lowered her voice. “This world itself is an illusion; it’s a dream dreamed up by the Kalendaria. Our Clam Dragon Church’s main goal is to please the Kalendaria, Shattered Mirror, and make ‘Her’ retract this painful illusion and present the real and beautiful new world in front of us.”

Whoa, as expected of the abbess. She’s taking the opportunity to preach… Jiang Baimian found it funny, but she pretended to listen attentively.

At this point, Zhou Yue raised her body again and lifted her hands slightly to salute a certain existence in the void. “Clam Dragon, thou art supreme.”

After bowing, she continued speaking. “Our daily routine is to deal with illusions. If I say that I don’t know what an illusion is or how to deal with it, I will definitely be lying to you. However, you can also see that I’m still lingering and suffering in the dream.”

Zhou Yue exhaled. “The most intrinsic problem with illusions is that they are ultimately illusions. Even if they are real in all aspects, there are definitely fake aspects. As for how many of them there are, you can crack the illusion once you figure it out. Of course, at the Kalendarium level, the dream ‘He’ created is indistinguishable from reality. It’s not something humans can see through by themselves.”

“Then, how do we find what’s fake?” Jiang Baimian asked.

The more she listened, the more she felt that the Clam Dragon Church’s philosophy was a little similar to that of the Eternal Time Sect. Zhou Yue and Daoist Galoran also had a certain level of commonality in terms of bearing and handling matters. However, one relied more on a deity, while the other cared more about their own experience and insights into the Dao. This resulted in many differences.

The most typical point was that Zhou Yue’s performance always gave off the feeling that it was all a dream, so there was no need to be so serious. Galoran favored ‘following one’s fate’ and ‘going with the natural flow.’

Zhou Yue smiled. “I need a volunteer.”

Just as she said that, Jiang Baimian, Shang Jianyao, and Bai Chen looked at Long Yuehong at the same time.

“…” Long Yuehong’s expression stiffened for two seconds.

Since the group had already decided, he could only choose to accept it. He took a step forward and said, “I’ll do it.”

Regardless of what it was, he had to pretend that he had volunteered.

Zhou Yue nodded and pointed at one of the black armchairs in the corner at the back. “Touch it.”

That simple? Long Yuehong suspiciously approached, bent down, and carefully stretched out his palm.

After coming into contact with the chair, he felt the texture of the wood, the solidity, and the unevenness of the surface.

“How was it?” Zhou Yue asked with a smile. When she smiled, her eyes narrowed into lines.

“There’s nothing wrong.” Long Yuehong truthfully expressed his feelings.

“Have a seat then.” Zhou Yue made another request.

Long Yuehong wondered how ‘simple’ it was again. He then turned around and slowly sat down.

Just as he was about to touch the chair, there was nothing below.

Although he was mentally prepared, he still couldn’t control the momentum that came from sitting down, and he fell to the ground with a thud.

During this process, he saw himself sink into the black chair, but he didn’t feel anything else. When he hurriedly stood up and looked back, the black chair was intact.

“Th-this is an illusion?” he exclaimed.

Before sitting down, he felt that it was real from every angle.

Zhou Yue smiled and nodded. “Yes. Therefore, as you can see, no matter how real it looks, it can’t replace real things. The real can’t be fake, and the fake can’t be real.”

Jiang Baimian thoughtfully replied, “To determine if it’s an illusion, we have to start with the actual effects and not the feedback from our senses?”

“This is an effective method, but it’s not a panacea to the question,” Zhou Yue said very cautiously.

At this moment, Shang Jianyao raised an idea. “If the four of us enter the mountain hand in hand, we won’t have to worry about being affected by hallucinations and treating our companions as monsters?”

Jiang Baimian understood what he meant: The ones holding hands were their companions.

This should be effective, but it feels strange imagining that scene… Jiang Baimian imagined Shang Jianyao’s description of the situation and felt like it was a game that children played.

Zhou Yue tersely acknowledged his words. “In theory, yes. However, won’t the two in the middle lose their combat strength?”

Both hands were held.

“I can fire with my foot.” Shang Jianyao gave a solution.

Zhou Yue was momentarily at a loss for a response. After some thought, she said, “This isn’t completely safe.”

Upon seeing that Long Yuehong and the others were confused, she further explained, “This doesn’t guarantee that the person you’re holding won’t suddenly ‘disappear.'”

The meaning of ‘disappearing’ in her words was to disappear from one’s senses, not to disappear from reality. When one couldn’t see a person, hear their voice, or obtain a sense of touch from their hand, it was equivalent to them ‘disappearing.’

Shang Jianyao had already expected this. He looked at Long Yuehong and confidently said, “I’ll pinch him the moment he disappears.”

“…” There was only one thought echoing in Long Yuehong’s mind. Why pinch me?

He then came to a realization and found a flaw. “Even if the person being pinched screams in pain, you shouldn’t be able to hear them. You won’t feel anything when you pinch them either. No…”

As he spoke, Long Yuehong suddenly understood Shang Jianyao’s true meaning.

Even though his companion might appear to have disappeared, Shang Jianyao’s hand couldn’t sink too deep when pinching down because something real was in the way.

“That’s a solution.” Abbess Zhou Yue agreed. She then added, “This depends on which domain the Superior Heartless is good at. He might be able to make you make mistakes in your judgment of distance.”

“I see…” Jiang Baimian realized that she had too little understanding of hallucinations.

After conversing for a while, she politely bade farewell on behalf of the Old Task Force.

After Zhou Yue—who was wearing a white robe with a hemp rope tied around her waist—watched them leave, she turned around, faced the shrine with the dragon symbol, and muttered to herself, “What a strange matter…”

Whoosh!

A gust of wind blew across the impluvium and entered the hall.

The rows of black chairs and a few praying believers beside Zhou Yue instantly vanished.

This place became empty. Apart from the shrines, wooden beams, pillars, and abbess, there were only a few dark-blue mats.

…

The moment Shang Jianyao sat down in the jeep outside, he said, “Those people are fake.”

Upon seeing Long Yuehong look over in surprise, he added, “There was no human consciousness.”

“There’s no corresponding electric signal either.” Jiang Baimian nodded and smiled. “Abbess Zhou’s hallucination abilities are still relatively crude.”

She then said, “From this, we can infer that her hallucinations were created with her own cognition, not by triggering our memories and making us hallucinate.”

If the source of the hallucination was themselves, Jiang Baimian would definitely ‘sense’ an electric signal. Shang Jianyao would also ‘discover’ human consciousness.

Long Yuehong quickly recalled what had happened and couldn’t believe that the believers with closed eyes were hallucinations.

But since his team leader and Shang Jianyao were so certain, he didn’t doubt them. He couldn’t help but sigh. “As expected of the Clam Dragon Church…”

Most of the people and objects in the convent were fake and illusory.

Upon seeing Bai Chen start the jeep, Long Yuehong casually asked, “Where are we going next? Do we enter the mountains?”

Long Yuehong believed that he now had a certain level of understanding regarding illusions.

Jiang Baimian immediately laughed. “What for? Play a monster-killing game with the Ruin Hunter team from before?”

Upon seeing that Long Yuehong was a little dazed, Shang Jianyao helped ‘explain.’ “You can pew pew pew at them, and they can also pew pew pew at you.”

“That’s true…” Long Yuehong came to a realization.

When the two teams met in the mountains and were affected by the hallucinations, they would definitely treat the people opposite them as monsters.

In such a situation, it was impossible not to respond. What if it were a real monster?

Jiang Baimian then exhaled. “Let’s talk about it when they return. Even if we want to enter the mountains, we have to ensure that we’re the only team entering.”