Negotiation
In the infinite astral plane, the Magus World and the World of Gods were like the two ends of an hourglass. They were both extremely formidable, yet there were numerous smaller worlds in between them.
Among these worlds were large-scale worlds such as the Purgatory World, Icy World and the Shadow World. Although they couldn’t be compared to the big two, these worlds were still plentiful in origin force.
Dreamscape, however, was even more marvelous. It didn’t have a fixed form yet it spanned across many worlds, as though it was everywhere at once.
At its peak, dreamforce was comparable to the energy of the Magus World. However, this strange yet terrifying world was now at its lowest point because of how weak dreamforce was right now.
This characteristic of Dreamscape was evidently exploited by numerous beings. They used it as a bridge for communication and interaction. This was especially so for the Snake Dowager, who had mastered dreamforce.
“Since it’s an invitation, I’ll go!” Leylin smiled and suddenly disappeared from his laboratory. He was confident in dreamforce himself, and although he couldn’t defeat the Snake Dowager in his current state, he was strong enough to buy himself the time to escape Dreamscape.
With such a premise, it was naturally impossible for the Snake Dowager having come to attack him. She likely wanted to make peace.
After all, no matter how unwilling the Snake Dowager was, Leylin had already broken free of his bloodline shackles and had even advanced to become the primogenitor of a new bloodline. This was an undeniable fact!
The Snake Dowager had the ability to live for countless years, and she had even successfully survived the final ancient war. It was impossible that she was still unable to accept this reality.
A scarlet flame flickered as a huge door appeared on the plain, and Leylin’s figure emerged from the door frame.
“Is this... still Dreamscape?”
Leylin raised his eyes and gazed into the distance. What he saw was all withered trees and dried up streams and lakes. The entire world seemed to be an arid wasteland, and there wasn’t even a trace of life.
Although he long knew that the entirety of Dreamscape had also entered a dreary phase in the wake of the value of dreamforce dropping, such a situation surprised Leylin.
“By the looks of it, I’m afraid that perhaps the entire Dreamscape has fallen in the hands of death...”
Leylin frowned slightly. He recalled the time when he was still at rank 5, and all the aboriginals he had come across in Dreamscape.
“I wonder what happened to little Gillian and their community? I’m afraid that things probably didn’t end well for them...”
The Dreamscape aboriginals that Leylin had met previously were from the most lowly community in Dreamscape. Even though he had imparted his teachings to them previously, it probably only gave them a little more power to defend themselves.
In the face of the Master that was natural disaster, this tiny bit of power was like an ant, the difference being that it was just slightly bigger.
The deterioration of dreamforce was something that even those lords that could cause calamities had to defend against. Judging by Gillian’s community’s capabilities, it was likely that they were unable to survive.
“However, seeing how Dreamscape can be so strange and beyond belief, it’s not that Gillian’s community didn’t have any hope of surviving at all, just that such a possibility is so small that it’s practically negligible enough to be disregarded.”
Leylin shook his head and didn’t think further.
“The degradation of the world... exemplifies the fundamental truth of the astral plane. Even if I am a being of laws, I cannot escape from my final destiny, which is to perish... Forefather of Targaryen... What do you think?”
The surrounding land turned into nothingness, and the entire wasteland seemed to have transformed into a boundless sky in an instant.
A ball of snakes appeared like a star, and the heads of numerous giant snakes hissed angrily, revealing the Snake Dowager’s charming face.
“It’s precisely why it’s able to excite me and vow to pursue eternity and to transcend worldliness, and I will abide by this even till death! Oh Snake Dowager, if you’re of this level, you don’t have to put up an act in front of me.”
Leylin laughed gently and took a step forward with his boot.
*Snap! Snap!* Jet black cracks started to appear in the starry sky, and made horrifyingly loud sounds.
Shortly after, many of smaller cracks started to extend like a spiderweb. Numerous spatial storms rippled across the surface, and the entire sky shattered under Leylin’s feet. The surrounding environment reverted into the original Dreamscape.
The Snake Dowager looked on as Leylin trampled the sky into smithereens. Her beautiful eyes shone with a profound radiance, and it was a good while before she spoke slowly, “Leylin! Your current strength is worthy enough for me to meet you head on!” Her voice had an inexplicable charm to it.
Of course, the Snake Dowager was expressing her natural bloodline abilities, which had long lost its effect on Leylin.
“The premise of a relationship is to have equal strength.” Leylin had already understood this principle earlier, thus his facial expression did not change. He then asked unhurriedly, “I don’t think you invited me here to discuss this issue, right?”
“Yes...” The Snake Dowager’s voice was melodious.
“To have a being like you among my descendants is my luck, and also my misfortune. But since the bloodline origin has already been taken from me, it will be of no use to be entangled with you.”
“So it seems that you have a method to resolve this?” Leylin was evidently ridiculing her, but the Snake Dowager didn’t seem to feel it.
“As long as you assist me in seizing the Shadow World, I can write off all the previous incidents in one stroke, and even help you to become the other origin of the Ten Thousand Snakes. Together, we can share the power of the Shadow World.”
The Snake Dowager bit her lip, as though she was making a huge sacrifice. Such a lovely and pitiful posture would make any male creature go crazy.
Leylin, however, was not enchanted by her graceful bearing. Instead, he was astonished at how fearless the Snake Dowager was.
“Seize the Shadow World? Mighty Snake Dowager, you have such an enormous appetite!” Leylin drew in a deep breath, and at the same time also recalled an intelligence report regarding the Snake Dowager.
“But that’s right! You initially made use of shadow force to cultivate your own laws and form paths of laws, hence you would covet the Shadow World more than anyone else. You tried to capture the entire Shadow World in the ancient times, but unfortunately, you failed...”
The path taken by rank 8 beings was to exploit some kind of medium, continuously refine their own laws, and form a path that was exclusive to them only.
If one was able to achieve this, they would reach the peak of rank 8! They would be able to spy on beings in the rank 9 realm, such as the Mother Core, for instance.
The Snake Dowager’s previous attempt failed, thus she had no choice but to migrate out of the Shadow World along with her descendants, and arrived at the Purgatory World.
But the origin of the Shadow World was crucial for the Snake Dowager to achieve the peak of rank 8, therefore she couldn’t give it up.
Consequently, it was highly normal for her to launch an offensive once more. What Leylin didn’t see coming was that her actually approaching him for assistance.
“Aid you in seizing the Shadow World? I’m afraid I’m impotent!”
Leylin was understood the level of the Shadow World thoroughly. It was a powerful world, much like the Purgatory World, and possessed numerous law beings.
In other words, if he was on the same camp as the Snake Dowager, he would have to take on many other law beings one on one. Leylin even strongly suspected that there was an extreme being similar to the Mother Core within the Shadow World, otherwise the Snake Dowager’s plans wouldn’t have been thwarted.
In such a situation, wouldn’t it be suicide to form an alliance with the Snake Dowager?
“In reality, there aren’t as many law beings in the Shadow World as you think! Besides, you inherited my bloodline. The same additive effect applies to your strength in the Shadow World as well. The assistance that the Shadow origin will provide you with will definitely go beyond what you imagined...”
The Snake Dowager evidently knew Leylin’s considerations. For beings like them who had reached this level, most of her crafty conspiracies had already lost their effect. The only effective way was to tempt him directly with benefits.
“Does the Snake Dowager actually have so much confidence in seizing control over the Shadow World?” Leylin couldn’t help but ask this question directly upon seeing her self-confidence.
“I almost succeeded the previous time! All I lacked was an assistant of the same origin.”
The Snake Dowager shot Leylin a profound look, yet it made his scalp go slightly numb.
“An assistant of the same origin? Makes sense. We are, in fact, beings of the same bloodline origin. Even our powers can work in harmony and complement each other! If she really missed by only a hair previously, then coupled with my powers, perhaps...”
Leylin’s pupils twinkled as he quickly analyzed the situation.
Of course, no matter how the Snake Dowager made it sound like a deluge of heavenly flowers, he wouldn’t fall for her trap.
Just a vague and insubstantial agreement that she would write off all their previous grudges in one stroke, coupled with a promise that they would share the profits together, and she wanted him to sacrifice his life for someone else? What kind of joke was this?
What was more dangerous was that he was still a semi-rank 7. If they were in the Magus World, even if the Snake Dowager came down personally, he was confident of making sure that she would land herself in serious trouble. But if they were to fight for the controlling rights of the Shadow World, it was inevitable that he would have to make the trip using his actual self and descend within the Shadow World.
Since it was a foreign world, and also the Snake Dowager’s home ground, Leylin wasn’t foolish enough to deliver himself up straight into her mouth for free.
In all likelihood, the Snake Dowager might gobble him up straight away even if she couldn’t capture the Shadow World, to properly make up for it.
“My apologies, I’m still incompetent when it comes to matters like these.”
After much consideration, Leylin immediately rejected her without hesitation.
The moment the words left his lips, he could feel the surrounding space come to a standstill. The Snake Dowager’s beautiful pupils nearly became as narrow as a straight line, as a horrifying sensation dissipated from the ball of snakes.
Leylin, however, was not fearful. The gigantic Targaryen phantom appeared behind him and started hissing at the Snake Dowager in anger.
Large amounts of bloodline energy seemed to begin to grow restless, and was about to fly out from the Snake Dowager’s body.
Having already extricated himself from her control over his bloodline, not only was Leylin no longer under the Snake Dowager’s control at all, but his body even had an odd restraining ability towards her.
No matter how mystical this force was, it still didn’t have any effect in the face of such a tremendous difference in terms of strength.
But there was absolutely no problem for Leylin to break away from the Dreamscape during this short amount of time.
And the Snake Dowager could only grudgingly choose to reach a compromise upon seeing this.