Abnormal paradise

The Sinful Territory of Suffering is located in the northern part of the ancient god's world, and the extremely cold land is located at the northernmost point of the Sinful Territory of Suffering. The cold wave rages for more than half of the year. Not to mention humans, even snow beasts find it difficult to survive, so there is "severe cold" Although the destination of Ember's trip, the Shennu settlement, is located on the southern border of the extremely cold land and is built on the basis of an active volcano, it cannot resist the overwhelming and biting coldness.

"It's so cold here!"

As she spoke, the puppet girl breathed out mist. She had reached the epic realm with the help of the World Ascension Ceremony. She was not really afraid of the cold, but the strange environment outside the settlement made her feel very uncomfortable.

Standing on Lingya Baiye's back and looking down at the earth, all he could see were totem sculptures with angry fangs, and each sculpture was surrounded by a circle of kneeling figures, as if they were performing some kind of sacrificial ceremony.

This large-scale sacrificial sculpture starts from the outer wall of the tribe at the foot of the volcano and stretches for an unknown number of miles. Viewed from a high altitude, it looks like a godless eye staring into space.

But that's all. At best, the number is staggering, and the denseness can easily cause trypophobia.

What really made the puppet girl feel uncomfortable was the material the kneeling figure was made of!

It is completely different from the totem sculptures that can be made of solid ice, sand, stone and wood and other conventional materials. The kneeling figures with purple skin are actually dead human beings whose bodies are sealed by ice. A rough estimate is that at least There are millions of people, invisibly emitting overwhelming resentment, which makes the puppet girl with astonishing telepathy feel chills all over her body. She wonders why the human condition is so bad.

"Is this the world of the ancient gods?" The puppet girl was a little moved and asked the only answer she could think of.

"Um."

Ember nodded slightly. Only when he had truly seen the tragic situation of mankind in the ancient god's world could he truly understand why the Pope of Suffering had made such a great wish to save mankind from the sea of ​​suffering!

"However, there seems to be no fundamental change in the Sin City protected by the Pope of Misery. Is the resistance here really that terrifying?"

With doubts, Ember ordered the huge spirit crow to drive straight into the white night and fly into the undefended and undefendable God Slave settlement.

The spirit crow Bai Ye, who has become a legendary creature, has further improved its stealth characteristics. Only when the detection ability reaches a level comparable to that of a puppet girl can the traces of the spirit crow be seen. According to the information given by the creator, the two epics who are in charge of the divine slave settlement There is no such condition, so Yi Yan is completely allowed to ride on the spiritual crow Baiye and quietly search for the location of the singularity in the settlement.

…

"Here's your warm stone, take it."

"Master Overseer, this warm stone is too small. It's not big enough for the night!"

Snapped!

There was a crack of a whip and a scream.

"Dig for a day and exchange for a flint. The rules are fixed. Do you dare to break the rules? Get out of here. I'll beat you to death. If you don't have enough time to spend the night, wake up early. If you move your hands and feet, you won't kill anyone!"

"Yes Yes……"

Holding a flint that was only half the size of the normal size, the mining slave "Ananda" endured the pain of being whipped and limped out of the volcano mine.

He knew that the burly mine supervisor must be laughing at his humble begging for mercy, while other mine slaves who had the same experience as him would be indifferent to this.

Because all the workers in the mine are slaves, most of the output from a hard day's work must be turned over to the leader of the settlement and the slave owners who send them to the divine slave settlement. Under the influence of tangible whips and invisible teachings, the concept of resistance has long been forgotten. The only thing every slave cares about is whether he can survive until tomorrow. Isn't this the case for Ananda? Therefore, he didn't hate the fact that no one showed sympathy, and he was already used to the feeling of despair.

Hunger, pain, cold and exhaustion made Ananda just want to return to the small residence that could barely be called "home" as soon as possible, forget the fatigue of life through deep sleep, enjoy all the beauty imaginable in his dreams, and relieve the stress of real life. It's too heavy. When I wake up tomorrow, go to the mine to fill my stomach, I will continue to live like this for another day.

Throughout the entire settlement, human slaves like him abound.

With a full meal and a sweet dream, you can live a muddle-headed existence until your body becomes unable to support the weight and cannot get up again. Eventually, the body is picked up by the undertakers and turned into a kneeling figure outside the settlement.

Ananda knew very well that after being sent to the God Slave Tribe by his slave master, his fate was already doomed, but he was still working hard to live, living for the sweet dream after falling asleep! Therefore, the real reason why Ananda complained to the miners that the flint was too small to stay overnight was not because he was afraid of freezing to death, but because he did not want to leave the dreamland too early.

"O [Dream Picker] who dominates dreams, may you protect the devout believers without fear of cold or hunger. I am willing to pay the price of sinking into dreams and serve at your feet for all my life..."

Ananda walked all the way and recited it back and forth in his heart, and the "Dream Picker" in his mouth was the lower ancient god who dominated the cold land. Every night when night fell, he would send dreams to all believers. Sweet dreams, therefore, the harder the life of slaves, the firmer their belief in the Dream Pickers becomes. The too-real dreams satisfy all the slaves’ fantasies and make them willing to devote their lives to the Dream Pickers.

"Are you...really...prepared?"

Suddenly, a ethereal call that seemed to come from nothingness appeared in Ananda's mind.

He paused in his steps to confirm that he was not hallucinating due to excessive hunger, then he knelt down on the spot and said with a sob: "Yes, the dream picker who dominates dreams, believer Ananda, is ready."

"Dream...in the dream...you will come to me..."

"yes!"

After receiving permission, Ananda's dull eyes bloomed with brilliance, and the fatigue in his body seemed to disappear all of a sudden. He clutched the flint and strode towards his residence. He wanted to fall asleep immediately and respond to the call of the master of the dream.

However, God did not follow his wishes, and Ananda was stopped by someone in the Shennu Square that he had to pass through.

"Come with us!"

"No, I refuse, the great Dream Picker is waiting for me!"

"Then you should come with us. The [Dream Picking Priest] is going to hold a ceremony for the Lord of Dreams and needs some devout believers to recite prayers."

The several figures who stopped Ananda looked at Ananda with the eyes of a dead person. The leader said in a seductive voice: "If you can read the prayer, the master of the dream will be very happy. Then you will enter the dream again." Can get a higher position.”

"Really? Okay, I'll go!"

Ananda agreed immediately, and was immediately taken away by several people. The slaves who noticed this scene in the square were all envious of Ananda's good luck. Not only was he inspired by the dream picker, but he could also follow him at a closer distance. At the left and right of the dream master.

But insiders sneered at Ananda's naivety. The reason was that the so-called inspiration was just a dream master whose real name was "Dream Eater". He felt that Ananda had been "fed to maturity" and wanted to take Ananda's The dream is eaten together with the brain, and the reason why the dream picker priest happened to find Ananda was purely because he received the inspired "food" of dying. He could rely on contact with the soul of the dream picker to resist the influence of reciting the prayer. Crazy effect.

The number of insiders is of course very small, and they will not wantonly publicize the terrifying truth that shrouds the cold land. Otherwise, the slaves who promote the operation of the settlement will not be able to produce flint, and they will also lose their huge source of wealth.

…

"How great it would be if there were two more dead ghosts who openly responded to the call of dreams. We brothers wouldn't have to brave the cold wind to find sacrifices... Damn it, why is it snowing again? This weather is really bad. Human life! Move quickly, move quickly, if we can’t find the remaining two dead ghosts before nightfall, the priest will get angry!"

After sending Ananda to a temple specially built for the ceremony, several men of the Dream Picker Priest continued to search for suitable targets in the settlement where the cold wind was raging. At the same time, Ling Ya Bai Ye also stopped without noticing. Above the temple.

At this moment, fine snowflakes floated in the sky, but it did not break the invisibility ability of Ling Ya Bai Ye. This is because the invisibility effect is no longer limited to changing colors. Even the embers on the back and the puppet girl can completely blend into the surrounding space, making it Snowflakes all over the sky passed through the body.

"Is this right here?"

"Well, the divine reaction here is the strongest, so it shouldn't be wrong."

"Then let's go in now? There seem to be only a few legendary humans inside. I use the snow umbrella to increase my will shield and hide it from their eyes."

"good!"

After the discussion, Ember, who was wearing the black robe of the plague doctor, jumped from the air, followed closely by the puppet girl holding a snow umbrella. With the shield of will at the epic level, no one could see through the true identity even if he was separated from the White Night of Spirit Crow. The two of them were able to quietly walk into the temple built for the Dream Pickers.

"You are the master of dreams...well, my head hurts..."

"hurry up!"

"It's the True God of Dreams... uh..."

"Why did you stop! Can reciting prayers be so difficult?"

"It is the beginning and end of all dreams..."

"Continue, your performance at the festival will receive the great Dream Picker's full attention!"

Accompanied by intermittent chanting of prayers and deep scoldings, the two people walked into the temple and observed the details of the temple. They looked up along the white stone pillars and found that the top of the stone pillars also existed on the outskirts of the settlement. Unique totem sculptures.

In addition to the tentacles commonly possessed by ancient gods, this totem sculpture suspected to be a dream picker does not have the same common eyes, but has a long trunk similar to an elephant. According to the information provided by the creator, the dream picker is Through the proboscis, "feeding" sweet dreams to believers, and finally devouring them.

"From this point of view, it is quite appropriate to say that the Dream Picker is the starting point and end point of dreams. After all, it is he who gives us beautiful dreams, and he eats them when they arrive."

Yi Yan raised his eyebrows, and then scanned the various tools specially prepared for the festival. From the perspective of an art worker, he couldn't help but nodded, because each of these festival supplies stained with unknown black marks had an original and wild style. , giving people a strong weird feeling.

If you watch too much, the game mechanism will vaguely produce vision hallucinations, causing the ancient god totems engraved on the ritual supplies to begin to shake, making it even more terrifying.

"Uhhhhh... I can't read anymore! My brain is going to burst!"

A scream interrupted Yi Yan's professional habit of appreciating art. He and the puppet girl quickly entered the inner hall of the temple. They saw a slave vomiting blood, holding his head and rolling on the ground. There were people standing around him. Slaves with indifferent expressions and clergy with sullen faces.

Ananda, who had just been sent to the temple, was one of the slaves who ignored him indifferently.

"Hmph! You don't have strong faith in the master of dreams, that's why you feel a splitting headache! Go aside and rest first, don't delay other people's training!"

A certain clergyman whose strength reached the legendary level was completely unaware of the two extra eyes and watched silently. He glared fiercely at the slave on the ground, then looked at the other slaves, and happened to choose Ananda to get familiar with them. incantation.

"Are you literate?"

"I know a little bit." Ananda said with some anxiety. Before being sold as a slave, he had learned common writing for a few days.

"Okay, come here and recite the prayer. If you don't know how to do it, you can ask me!"

Upon hearing the order, Ananda hurriedly stepped forward, stretched out his hands and took the ancient sheepskin with the prayers written on it.

I don't know if it was an illusion, but the moment his fingers touched the sheepskin, he had a feeling of exhaustion as his soul was taken away. At this time, the dazzling candlelight lighting up the temple also turned dim, and the long nose on the totem sculpture , then began to sway gently, as if calling Ananda to come closer, and also seemed to encourage Ananda.

Ananda did not feel panic. He firmly believed that his absolute loyalty to the Dream Picker would enable him to break through all obstacles. He closed his eyes suddenly, looked straight at the universal text on the parchment, and read out the first few words. Black writing.

"You are the master of dreams..."

Suddenly, Ananda paused, but the reason for the pause was not a headache. Although as he read, the words began to dance like a long snake, and the candle flames swayed wantonly, he did not feel any discomfort, just surprised. There was an inexplicable noise in his own voice.

"This is definitely not my voice." Ananda thought.

Digging all day long, drinking and eating little, had long since made his voice hoarse and rough, but the appearance of that murmur added a bit of magnetism out of thin air. The clergy who were supposed to urge him to recite faster showed their anticipation for the first time. The look in his eyes is a piece of ironclad evidence.

"Thank you, Lord of Dreams, for your favor."

The devout Ananda thanked the dreamer from the bottom of his heart, and once again sunk his mind into the parchment on which the words danced wildly: "... is the true god of dreams, the starting point and end of all dreams, your eyes will come true in the dream Time will open, and before that, thousands of believers will overlook the world for you..."

As if there were gods helping him, Ananda could recite some words that he didn't recognize smoothly. As the "noise" gradually increased, his voice affected the candlelight of the temple in reality, causing several people to recite it. The priests showed excited eyes in the flickering firelight, and they were all convinced that the best container for the Dream Collection Ceremony had been found!

Thanks to fellow Taoist [Deputy Leader of Beifeng Shen Cult] for your monthly ticket support.