Him and their stars.

Chapter 2035 Do you love me? Do you love them?

Yu Lian stood as still as a mountain, staring directly at the giant eye encased in geometric fragments. Now, the illusory creature, seemingly manifested from the abyss, had become increasingly twisted and bizarre. It was devouring light, devouring temperature, devouring human spirit, and it also seemed to be devouring ether.

However, he knew that the distorted energy was the core of the Void Realm Lord. As long as he could find the pattern within that disorder, he could find His true form.

At that time, He became it.

But in fact, isn't this excessively frequent distortion and rhythm precisely the panicked reaction of the Void Realm Lord? He has already sensed it, hasn't he? He has sensed that he has actually been completely locked in by the Phase Space.

Yu Lian did not draw his sword. Against this kind of enemy, there really wasn't much to draw.

However, he extended his finger and beckoned to the other party naturally: "Come on! Big Eyeball! Come and kill me head-on! If you kill me, this phase space will collapse. This space, this island, will all be your reward. So you'll know that at least the grass in the Grand Arena really did come from the material universe. Let me feel it..."

Before he finished speaking, the "eye" at the core of the vortex suddenly contracted, as if it had regained focus.

Thus, even the constantly changing and splitting geometry seemed to freeze instantly, as if it had transformed from shattered glass fragments into a solidified ice crystal mirror.

The mirror reflected light from an unknown source, casting it into the space of the grand arena.

There were no earth-shattering beams of energy, nor any violent mental shocks. There was only a hazy, dreamlike, soothing light, the kind of light most suitable for a date.

The soft light shining in the small garden is perfect for a confession of love.

The soft glow flowing through the amusement park perfectly complements the melody of the carousel.

Of course, if there were such light in the gauze curtain, it would be perfect for holding one's own girl...

"Hey, hey," Yu Lian coughed twice, quickly pulling himself back from his escaping train of thought.

Through the temperature changes as their fingers intertwined, he immediately sensed her emotional shift.

"You've become ugly, really ugly," she said, frowning.

Yu Lian suddenly became interested in the scene the girl was seeing, but he knew he couldn't ask her anything right now.

Just as a moment of doubt flashed through his mind, the surrounding space—or rather, the space that Yu Lian "perceived"—began to collapse.

He felt the arena floor beneath his feet crumble. The natural grass that his senior brother and the others had brought from the material world seemed to be caught in an invisible flame, spontaneously combusting.

The grass disappeared amidst a sudden, crackling sound, and Yu Lianhe felt the intense heat wash over him.

However, before his skin and muscles burned, his psychic energy flowed through his palms to the girl. Transparent crystals composed of psychic particles appeared on his skin like dragon scales, resembling a dome shield supported by every single hair.

Thus, the high temperature was easily blocked from being perceived.

However, beneath the ashes of the grass, the actual ground had long since vanished.

The hazy, luminous light, so reminiscent of first love, began to darken and intertwine once it touched one's feet.

He felt as if he were inside a kaleidoscope shattered by a mad mathematician, where every step could lead him into an incomprehensible, misaligned dimension.

He had lost his sense of distance and space. Fei Fei was right there in front of him, yet her figure was being pulled further and further away by countless fragments of mirror images.

Yu Lian had to admit that this was a truly terrifying scene for him, and it made him quite panicked.

“Feifei…”

But then, Yu Lian sensed the girl's response.

"I've already said it, I'm here, and I'll always be here."

"Yes, I shouldn't doubt that."

"You can never doubt it. No matter where we are, no matter who I am."

Yes, in the virtual world, in the small world of the virtual world, and in the phase lock formed in this small world, physical fragmentation is of course impossible.

What's truly terrifying is perhaps the collapse of logical structure. However, this should be based on the invasion of thought.

As he made this judgment again, the shimmering, intricate kaleidoscope beneath his feet ceased its natural pulsation. His vision suddenly cleared.

He returned to the Great Arena and to his comrades.

He saw his Sword Saint sister.

She held a murderous spirit sword in each hand, one blue and one red, one icy and one fiery—the very same Cold Soul and Disgusting Light she had seen before.

However, above her head floated a sword formed from pure starlight. Compared to the eight-sided Han sword she held in both hands, this slender sword was only half an arm's length long and its blade was no more than two fingers wide, yet it exuded an aura of fierce killing intent that was impossible to look directly at.

With a slight flick of her wrist, her mind shifted, and the sword's edge blossomed as if transforming into an indestructible sword aura, drawing all the illusory ghosts within her sight into its attack range.

Or rather, she and her sword had become a vortex of another spiritual force field, drawing all the enemies who had invaded the Grand Arena into a range under her control.

She took the initiative and led away all the henchmen.

Even at this time, they did not forget to support themselves.

Yet, the starlight, like fireflies, danced amidst the ice and fire, and the strikes, transcending the rules, seemed to traverse nine heavens and hells, rushing towards the information vortex in the distant cosmos.

...and then, it was swallowed up.

Well, Gongsun Qing's every strike is, of course, grounded in reality, and his attacks on the Void Realm Lord are all effective.

However, compared to the distortion of the Eye of Paradox, the Sword Saint's order is far too insignificant. At her current output, it would probably take her months to wear down the enemy's distortion.

However, attitude is still very important.

It is precisely this suspended spirit sword that better fits the stereotypical image of the weapon wielded by a sword immortal.

It's out! The Three Swords Style has appeared twenty years ahead of schedule!
Yu Lian felt that his memories from his past life were encouraging him again. The reason it was encouraging rather than offensive was naturally because it was good news.

Under his influence, Xiao Qing's cultivation level is not worth mentioning, but his combat power is clearly as if he has evolved by an order of magnitude!
If she joins the Knights now, she's guaranteed at least a Knight Commander position. She might even be able to compete for the future Grand Master position.

However, on another note, wasn't that "flying sword," which seemed to be crafted from starlight, the family treasure of the Earl of Yongdi, Gongsun? Why did it fall into the hands of this traitorous young lady so quickly?

...This countess's daughter's name is still in the Imperial Household Agency's golden register, and the Empire has been paying her annuity for many years. She can certainly be called a "traitor."

Did she steal this from her "family," or was it delivered through some special channel? So, she doesn't want Yongdi Planet with its thirty to fifty million inhabitants anymore? And she doesn't want the Gongsun family's few dozen members in the empire either?
Yu Lian suddenly felt that the Earl of Yongdi's attitude vaguely represented a certain trend of thought within the empire. Perhaps the reason he had come to the Dragon's Nest was for a similar reason.

In that fleeting moment of shifting thoughts,
Wherever the sword light passed, those shrieking, pupa-like faces coalescing, those miniature black holes devouring light, or those ferocious, clawing phantoms, melted and dissipated instantly, like snowflakes thrown into boiling water. Her sword slashed at the very concept of "abnormality"!

The magnificent starlight rose once more from the gaps between the flames and the frost, and instantly plunged back into the core of that distorted vortex of information.

Yu Lian vaguely heard the sound of glass shattering.

The strange reflections spreading around the vortex even began to crack.

Yu Lian decided to retract his judgment. Based on the current output, it should only take a few days.

He also heard Yani's voice: "Nodes, more nodes are in your perception! I will show you everything. Note, do not look into its eyes."

Yu Lian raised her head and looked in the direction of the sound. She saw Princess Rainbow Rose, transformed into a gigantic being, filling the starry sky above the dome. Her power and will seemed omnipresent, already dominating the universe.

Her radiant face stood at the edge of the starry sky, overlooking the grand arena, and also gazing down at herself.

Yet, with an expressionless face, he resembled a solemn deity. Only divine majesty and awe-inspiring presence remained.

So all that big sound and light effects are just for supporting purposes?
Yu Lian tried to sense his senior brother's location, but could only detect countless instances of him. Even though he could no longer see him at all, his presence was truly scattered here and there.

Good, at least he didn't disappear.

Some were distorted, some stable, some fleeting, and some cold and somber. Of course, there were also curses brewing with malicious intent.

"I am the true leader of the Spiritual Research Society!"

"I wish you were dead!"

"My disciples died in the Ring of Miracles, died on Earth. Our sect was destroyed by the Imperial Army's bombing. They shouldn't have suffered such destruction. Yu Lian, if only you were dead!"

"This was never my war!"

To be honest, calling it a psychological attack is far too simplistic.

However, does hearing such voices mean that one actually thinks that way? Or at least, does such a subconscious thought exist within one?
After confirming this, Yu Lian was somewhat saddened. He realized that he did indeed have a tendency to judge others by his own petty standards, and he resolved to reflect on himself constantly from now on, and never let those teachers and friends who trusted him be ruined by his own dark side.

Just as Yu Lian made this decision, the curse from his senior brother immediately stopped.

Although he was still scattered about, one could sense that he was stabilizing the phase barrier and suppressing all the ethereal ghosts trying to leave the Great Arena.

His voice resounded through the heavens, like a demon-suppressing incantation. As it flashed across the sky like thunder, malicious information and energy trembled, and Gongsun Qing's fierce and ruthless aura grew even more imposing.

That said, this kind of thunderous sound used to suppress demons seems more like a Buddhist method.

Indeed, Buddhism is the Tao!

Yu Lian felt relieved, thinking it was all good news. However, when the sinister curse transformed into thunderous sound that subdued demons and calmed the mind, the murmurs that had been lingering in his head suddenly rang out again.

The malice that directly affects the soul is amplified a hundredfold or a thousandfold in an instant, once again stripping away one's other senses.

“Gurgle… denial…existence…proof…gurgle…everything exists…gurgle…everything is reasonable…” His voice was like a dark tide washing over his eardrums, almost drowning out all his rational thoughts.

That couldn't possibly be a sound; it was an impact that was negating one's own spiritual anchor.

If it weren't for those wonderful onomatopoeic words, I might have already given in to them.

Yes, the massive amount of contradictory and utterly useless information, like a flood engulfing the world, directly assaulted the dam of his spirit. Yu Lian's cognitive boundaries were the dam of his spirit, and his anchor point for understanding reality was the line of defense for his soul.

As for the concept of psychic energy, whether it's a mental labyrinth or a fortress of will, it becomes meaningless under such an impact.

Yu Lian can no longer even sense the existence of spiritual energy. He is just a weak and helpless ordinary person, barely managing to maintain his existence.

The silver imaginary dragon that once resided within his spirit, serving as his last line of defense and warrior countless times, had long since vanished without a trace, as if it had never existed.

“Fish…” Fei Fei’s voice pierced through the chaos, like a lighthouse anchored. The feeling of their intertwined fingers was warm, and also the greatest source of spiritual strength.

"Fish!" Her voice suddenly distorted, as if it had transformed from a gentle spring breeze into a biting cold wind.

Yu Lian frowned slightly.

He looked in Fei Fei's direction again. But this time, she was no longer in his sight, and even the familiar warm touch was gone.

Intertwined with his own fingers was a pitch-black shadow, its humanoid torso stretched into a strange, elongated shape. Hundreds upon hundreds of tendrils extended from its limbs, wrapping around his wrists and pulling them forcefully. The facial features were reduced to distorted holes.

She asked, "Do you love me?"

Yu Lian carefully examined this indescribable, gloomy gathering, as if trying to etch every change in the shadows into his memory.

"Yes, I love you!" He nodded vigorously.

"What about them?"

More arms sprouted from behind the coalescing shadow—the arms of a fair-skinned, slender, and shapely woman. Those were, of course, Fei Fei's arms. Yu Lian slept with his girl every night and was already intimately familiar with every part of her body.

However, even if Fei Fei had twenty arms, it would still be enough to challenge her limits.

More importantly, each arm carries a bloodied head.

Their faces were stained with soot and blood, and their eyes were filled with the pain, regret and despair of dying, their faces naturally distorted.

However, Yu Lian could see that it was Yani and Bulin.

No, it's not just them, but also Gongsun Qing, Zhi Xia, Liu Li, and even Selena and Frederica, who are completely unrelated to them.

They faced Yu Lian directly, their eyes fixed on them with resentment. Though their focus was completely lost, their eyes, frozen in pain, resembled a vortex of nightmares.

"Do you love them? Even now?" Her murmurs became clearer in Yu Lian's ears, and her voice even returned to its former tone.

Okay, although it's also a psychological attack, this is much harder to deal with than the previous one.

Yu Lian said seriously, "Darling, we've already discussed this. Much of it is just rumors, and much of it is misunderstanding. Ultimately, we can't punish ourselves for the past, nor can we judge our actions in reality based on dreams. It's all the fault of quantum entanglement!"

“Very good, wrong answer!” The indescribable Fei Fei let out a bright, light laugh.