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XH 281 -  Prophecy Dream

Once upon a time, there was a bright star born in the Guilin Kingdom, blessed by the heavens. 

The hero grew up to be a righteous person and became a prince that gave salvation to the Guilin citizens, with countless praises heaped onto him. When he reached adulthood, he met a beauty like a fairy that possessed talented hands and an intelligent brain.

He proposed marriage to her and she agreed. The golden couple was well matched in every aspect and subject to everyone's admiration. 

The hero's dream was to be an Emperor, which was then fulfilled after going through difficult and taxing ordeals. His strategy and strength had also helped in fulfilling his biological parent's revenge on the evil Emperor that indulged in his greed and lust for beauty.

The previous Emperor and Empress died under the hero's hands from the takeover.

The tyrant Crown Prince had long died due to machination planned by the hero. The weak Third Prince died from a poisonous meal prepared by the hero's wife. The helpless Princess died during her attempt to flee from the Kingdom. 

Thus, the royal bloodline was no more, replaced with a new bloodline to rule the Guilin Kingdom.

The sky that had long ago been cloudy was finally pierced by bright sun lights, lifting the heavy atmosphere from the citizens. 

Their days after their battle to achieve his dreams were happy and fulfilling, but his wife grew stranger as day passed. She started to demand for strange things, but the hero, as a loving and doting husband, never failed to bestow those things to her.

Until one day, his beautiful wife asked for something rare and invaluable. The phoenix's blood. 

The hero once again donned his battle armor and charged at the phoenix's lair. After days of exhausting battle, the hero dragged his worn out, but triumph body and presented the phoenix's blood to his Empress.

Everyone was touched by the hero's dedication towards his wife. 

But on the night the hero gave his Empress the phoenix's blood, she ran away from the palace.  

The hero does not know where his wife was going, but did not hesitate to chase after her, in hopes to bring her back. 

Like a slippery eel, his wife always managed to flee from his grasp, yet slow enough to let him continue following after her tracks. 

The hero does not stop to ponder his wife's unusual actions, for his heart and mind were united in worrying over his beloved wife.

He had also abandoned his duties as an Emperor of his Kingdom, placing his wife as his main priority.

After days of chasing, the hero finally found his wife stopped running. She was standing before a gate, which was the tallest and largest one he had ever seen or dared to imagine. He disregarded the ominous feeling from it and paid all his attention to his wife.

"Please, come back to me," The hero pleaded on his knees.

But the heroine was no longer the wife he remembered, because someone had possessed his wife's body.

It was a person with a deep grudge against the world and humanity that could not be erased.

With a manic grin that sent chills down the hero's body, his possessed wife ripped apart the seals on the gate with demonic energy. With a hair raising laugh, the demon welcomed the disaster to fall onto the world.

The world immediately went dark, with no sunlight able to pierce past the thick, dark clouds. 

The gate opened and screams of tortured souls acted as cheering to send off the demons into the human realm, searching for suitable bodies to possess.

In just less than a day, one-third of the world was destroyed, along with one-third of the human population.

The hero could no longer see his wife that had stepped past the gate with a peaceful expression, bypassing the hungry demons that swarm into the human realm. 

The moment she stepped into the demon realm, the hero knew that his wife was gone. 

Forever.

On the third day, only Zhu Que Kingdom, Bai Hu Kingdom and XuanWu Kingdom were still standing thanks to their defense barrier formed by spiritual energy left behind by the celestial beasts.

The hero found out that the Guilin Kingdom had fallen quickly because he had killed the previous bloodline royalty, leaving behind none of their descendants to activate the defense barrier.

The hero could not even find his parents' remains back at the destroyed Guilin Kingdom.

Regret was a bitter medicine to swallow.

The hero wondered that if he had paid more attention to his wife, would he be able to save his wife from being possessed by the demon?

He wondered if he had not agreed with the decision to send the poisonous last meal to the Third Prince of Guilin, whose death had sent the sole princess to flee from the Kingdom, will his parents still be safe behind the defense barrier?

It was too late to hope for a better future.

However, even the defense barrier surrounding the remaining three kingdoms does not last long, and there was no more safe place for people to hide.

The world changed so quickly without warning, the air grew thick and dirty with smoke.

Everywhere smells of Death. 

Screams always filled the hero's ears everywhere he went and eyes of desperation and pleas always pinned at his back as he left them behind. He dodged the dirty hands that begged him for help and did not do anything when Death claimed them.

The hero had lost everything he treasured and was weak against the immortal enemy. He has no suitable weapon or strength to fight against the demons.

Even the great monks and strong cultivators could not fight against numerous powerful demons and were swallowed by the darkness, extinguishing the last light of the world. 

Without anything to look forward to, he only wishes to reunite with a person. His wife, his love, his everything.

In the midst of his self loathing and depression, there was a voice in his head, offering him redemption and a way to close the gate of disaster.

The hero accepted without a thought and started glowing like the sun that everyone had nearly forgotten how it looked like after days of living in darkness and fear. 

Discarding his human shell, he transformed into a large, yellow dragon, radiating light that pushed the darkness away.

The Yellow Dragon let out a thunderous roar that reached all around the world and its roar had the White Tiger, Black Turtle, and Vermillion Bird come to it.

The Azure Dragon failed to turn up, as it failed to recover its energy through its vessel and fell into a deep slumber after the demon invaded its land.

The four celestial beasts decided to reseal the gate. However, the gap left behind by Azure Dragon needed to be filled.

The only way was for the hero to sacrifice his life and would be unable to enter the cycle of reincarnation. But the hero agreed to it without hesitation. 

This was his own way of redemption for his sins.

The gate finally closed and sealed once again, stopping more demons from crossing over. But those demons that had crossed over could not be dragged back to their realm and their remaining number was enough to create a disastrous chaos.

This was how the world got destroyed, turning the human realm into another demonic realm.

There was not a single human alive.

With a stifled gasp, Liang Shan sat up on his bed in a hurry as if to escape from something. His hands clutched onto his thick, rough blanket tightly, using the touch to ground himself to reality. His breathing was uneven and his whole body trembled like a tiny leaf against the harsh wind.

The dream he had was not an ordinary dream. His inner senses told him that it was real, that the disaster would happen if his plan to kill the Emperor and his descendants had succeeded.

The knowledge that he had escaped from doing the thing that the him in the dream's most regretted action shocked him to the core.

"Liang Shan, are you unwell?"

Liang Shan smoothed his breathing, easing the deep frown on his face and climbed out of his bed. 

"Liang Shan had disturbed senior. This junior just had a dream."

It was considered to be treated well that Liang Shan could share a room with a senior monk without crowding with other juniors in a smaller room.

It was all thanks to Liang Shan's dedication in Buddhism and his talent that allowed him to promote faster. 

The temple will not bury talented one but nurture them well. 

The senior shook his head and poured a cup of water for Liang Shan. "I have not slumber deeply in contemplation. Do you wish to share your dreams?"

Liang Shan fell into a thoughtful silence. The dream had also told him that the monks played an important role in fighting the demons. 

"Senior, do you know about the nameless village?"

The senior monk stiffens for a second before easing up. "You will need to speak to the high monk about this matter."

Unbeknownst to anyone, at the same time Liang Shan pulled himself out of his prophecy dream, Xiao Hua woke up, dazed, and finally knew what happened after the novel ended.