Abundant Martial Arts Virtue
Chapter 192 - 173: The Two Phases of Reality and Illusion

Chapter 192: Chapter 173: The Two Phases of Reality and Illusion

Real world.

Royal Palace.

The Emperor had slept for forty minutes and was now awake.

Wearing a helmet connected to the central intelligence, he sat on the Dragon Throne, yawning and said,

"Everyone’s back, where’s Little Wu?"

People looked towards Xia Huilan.

Her back turned to them, Xia Huilan stared blankly at the screen, silent as if her spirit had wandered off elsewhere.

Xia Ni apologetically said, "Sorry, we’ll be leaving in a moment."

"Haha, no worries, you’re friends of Little Wu, and thus friends of mine, feel free to look around, take your time," the Emperor said with a dismissive wave of his hand.

"Brother Zhao, I have a favor to ask," Li Kunlun said, fist cupped in his other hand.

"Oh? Speak," the Emperor said.

One was a man in his fifties, and the other a teenager, yet they spoke as peers, which seemed rather odd.

Fortunately, everyone present was a professional, and knowing that Li Kunlun was once an emperor from outside the prison, they thought nothing of it.

"I need a lot to eat... I’ve been doing a lot of work before, and I’m extremely hungry," Li Kunlun said.

"That’s not difficult," the Emperor said with indifference, "I’ve already ordered the kitchen. You go to the side hall and wait for the meal, eat as much as you want."

"Thank you."

Li Kunlun lowered his head and turned to walk out of the grand hall.

As he went, he walked breathlessly, always ready to stop—

But until he left, crossed the long corridor, and arrived at the side hall, no one said a word to stop him.

At that moment, he finally let out a long sigh.

"That woman didn’t stop me... Maybe it’s because I’m of no use to her, and I won’t get in her way, so she just left me be?"

"So be it, this actually makes it easier for me to act," Li Kunlun thought to himself.

By that time, several eunuchs had already started serving dishes.

The first were chilled dishes, eight delicacies and eight flavors.

Li Kunlun, without even looking, picked up a plate of crystal pork knuckles and, tilting his head back, poured the entire plate into his mouth.

He ate plate after plate with both hands.

In just a few seconds, he had finished all the chilled dishes.

Facing the terrified looks of the eunuchs, he said softly, "Don’t care about the flavor, just bring whatever is edible, and make sure I get food as quickly as possible by any means."

"Yes."

The eunuchs bowed and immediately turned to fetch more food.

Li Kunlun stood still, waiting quietly.

The so-called "Virtuality and Reality" encompass two aspects; one is the "Virtual Aspect," where one can extract corresponding items based on others’ offhand wishes.

As for the "Real Aspect," he had tried everything over the years but had not managed to awaken it.

He never imagined that after being reborn in this prison and reawakening his abilities, this power began to stir.

Li Kunlun felt a hazy premonition in his heart.

—After eating a few more plates, he could trigger a "Real Aspect" once and see what the second ability of the "Virtuality and Reality" truly is.

He must not waste time!

Zhao Zhibing had said that several unimaginably powerful monsters had arrived in this world.

Xia Huilan’s complexion was also quite poor.

But after she and Little Wu had burned paper together, she seemed more at ease, with a faint sense of relief on her face.

Although he didn’t know what she had burned for Little Wu—

Based on countless years of experience in reading people, she seemed to have given up hope as well.

At this critical juncture, he must find a way to save himself!

That’s what life is like.

At the most critical moments, you can only trust yourself, as everyone else has their own thoughts.

Li Kunlun thought to himself.

At that moment, several eunuchs hurriedly came with trays of food.

They were carrying white steamed buns, spicy beef buns, pan-fried noodles, and steamed dumplings.

One eunuch said, "Sir, these are foods we in the kitchen eat ourselves, not fit for presenting, somewhat beneath your dignity, you see—"

"What’s with dignity at this point? What times are these? You’ve done well!" Li Kunlun said, immediately grabbing the spicy beef buns and eating them one after the other, quickly finishing a whole steamer.

He then dipped the white buns in chili sauce, poured pan-fried noodles into his mouth, and gulped down the steamed dumplings without hesitation.

The eunuchs were stupefied.

This man’s eating was extremely fast, as if a devil with a sharp blade stood behind him, forcing him to swallow at full speed.

But Li Kunlun paid no attention to that.

The more he ate, the brighter his eyes glowed, the more overwhelming his aura became, and streaks of light started to emerge around his body, vaguely beginning to take shape.

Royal Palace main hall.

"Anything else? Tell me about it," the Emperor asked.

"Demons from a parallel world are about to pour into ours, our world might not be salvageable," Zhao Zhibing said.

"Bing Er, are you saying—the world is going to be destroyed?" the Emperor asked in surprise.

"Yes," Zhao Zhibing said.

The Emperor was stunned for several seconds.

"Not just that, some incredibly powerful evil beings have infiltrated our world, and no one can deal with them," Zhao Zhibing said.

The grand hall fell silent.

Xia Huilan stared at the screen, as if sleepwalking.

Zhao Junyu’s face was ashen.

Zhao Zhibing clenched her fingers, her eyes flickering as if she was still thinking of a strategy.

The Emperor, furrowing his brows, thought for a few moments, then suddenly slammed the table and said,

"The world’s going to be destroyed, huh! Then there’s no need for me to worry about state affairs anymore—someone, change my clothes, prepare my carriage, I’m going to visit the nightclubs!"

"Wait, Your Majesty, we still have one last chance," Zhao Zhibing said.

"What chance?"

The Emperor, who was in the process of shedding his dragon robe, paused his movements upon hearing this.

"As long as those few incredibly powerful beings don’t intervene—we can fight the demons for at least a while longer," Zhao Zhibing said.

"And then we still die in the end?" the Emperor asked.

"Maybe more people will awaken their Soul Power, and then humans might be able to fight for a part of the world to thrive and reproduce," Zhao Zhibing said.

"That’s a big ’if,’ assuming those strong and evil creatures don’t get involved," Zhao Junyu said.

"Right, we can only make such an assumption—they’re too strong, our world didn’t even warrant a visit from them," Zhao Zhibing said.

"How can we make this assumption come true?" the Emperor asked.

Zhao Zhibing shook her head.

Zhao Junyu saw the situation and spread his hands in helplessness.

Suddenly, a female voice rang out:

"There’s only one method that can make this hypothesis possible."

Everyone turned their heads to look.

They saw Xia Huilan standing in front of the screen, her expression calm and serene.

"What method do you have?" Zhao Zhibing asked.

"If His Majesty hands over control of all the empire’s nuclear weapons to me, I have a way," Xia Huilan said.

"Yes, I’ve already linked up with the empire’s central network. Just give me the authority, and I guarantee those Demon Gods won’t move," Xia Ni spoke up.

Her expression was exactly the same as Xia Huilan’s, only her face was a bit younger, and the two spoke one after the other almost as if they were the same person.

"You want to use nuclear bombs to kill those monsters? It’s useless!" Zhao Zhibing said.

"Anyway, we’re all going to die. Give me the authority and let me try—what’s the harm in that?" Xia Huilan said slowly.

"You’re Little Wu’s sister, an ordinary person who created a revolutionary mecha, so I do trust you," the Emperor said.

"Thank you, Your Majesty," Xia Huilan said.

"Tell me, if I give you the control over the nuclear bombs, what do you plan to do?" the Emperor asked with interest.

Xia Huilan smiled faintly, and just as she was about to speak, a sudden change occurred—

Boom!

Someone broke through the wall and charged in from outside.

—It was Li Kunlun!

He rushed toward Xia Huilan like a madman, slid to the ground in a tackle, and rolled to kneel in front of her.

"Don’t do it! Sister of Little Wu, please don’t do it!" he shouted loudly.

"What? Do what?" Xia Huilan was confused.

Not just her; no one understood what Li Kunlun was talking about.

Li Kunlun, gasping for breath but speaking hurriedly, said:

"You persuaded Brother Zhao, then arranged the nuclear bombs in the sequence pattern of the Ancient Sealing Array and detonated them all. This will blast a hole through the depths underground, release all the sealed Demon Gods, and destroy the world."

Xia Huilan’s eyes widened: "I don’t know what you’re talking about."

"It’s meaningless to do that—"

Li Kunlun’s voice suddenly rose as he shouted, "Don’t let us die here for no reason—Wu Xiaode will be back soon!"

"Is that so? What is he busy with, do you know?" Xia Huilan said, staring into his eyes.

"You think he went to a parallel world, but he didn’t! He only accepted the past he already had and won’t deceive himself to live it all over again—"

Li Kunlun roared, "He’s going to come back to fight!"

Xia Huilan was taken aback, then after a moment she nodded slightly, "You’re right... he might indeed do that."

Li Kunlun’s voice lowered, almost in a pleading tone, "So please don’t die, and don’t let all of us be buried with you. You don’t need to destroy the evidence of his existence; he will come back to fight."

Xia Huilan lowered her head, falling into silence.

But Xia Ni said with a smile, "Strange, how do you know so much?"

"My ability is ’Dual Phases of Reality and Illusion.’ The illusory phase retrieves the items others need, and as for reality—"

Li Kunlun said solemnly, "It allows me to travel back from the future. Yes, I’ve traveled back from the future, attempting to tell you all the truth."

"Such an ability exists... then tell me, what happens next," Xia Ni said.

"In two minutes, a few Demon Gods will come here to visit."

Li Kunlun turned to look at the Emperor and continued, "Brother Zhao, you still need to give Miss Xia control over the nuclear weapons. Only she is qualified to repel the Demon Gods."

"Is that so? Are you sure?" the Emperor asked.

"Believe me, as emperors, you should know I want to live a few more years," Li Kunlun said.

"Demon Gods will really come here in two minutes?" the Emperor asked.

"Now it’s one minute," Li Kunlun said.

"Then we’ll wait one minute," the Emperor stated.

Everyone fell silent.

After a dozen breaths.

Suddenly a person appeared inside the great hall.

He was dressed in a dark green T-shirt and jeans, sported a beer belly and a bearded face, and looked to be in his mid-forties, with a face full of interest.

"Ah, you must be the tastiest, but unfortunately, you’re not my target," he sighed.

Li Kunlun groaned, "Now’s the time, give the authority to Xia Huilan, or we’ll all die."

"Done!" said the Emperor.

Xia Ni sensed something and her smile deepened a bit.

She looked at the middle-aged man in a disheveled state and said softly, "Don’t bother us, or else I’ll punch through the earth and let out another one of you."

The middle-aged man paused.

He looked at Xia Ni carefully, then turned his gaze to Xia Huilan.

"So you’re a reckless fanatic... why is such a traveler in the prison of sin?" the middle-aged man complained.

"Because I’m always ready to die, can’t you see?" Xia Huilan said indifferently.

The middle-aged man spat on the ground and cursed, "I warn you, don’t mess with my business—such bad luck, I’m outta here!"

He retreated into the Void and disappeared in an instant.

Unmoved, Xia Huilan looked at Li Kunlun, "Since you can time travel, then you should know what I want to ask."

"Don’t worry," Li Kunlun said, "I’ve already made contact."

Only then did Xia Huilan breathe a sigh of relief, "That’s good."

...

Elsewhere.

In the Death Realm.

Wu Xiaode was squatting on a towering rock, quietly watching the battle not far away.

Suddenly.

A burning piece of spirit money fluttered into his hands.

"Who’s that, did Sister Lan burn spirit money for me?"

Wu Xiaode muttered, catching the burning paper in his hands.

The spirit money burned to ashes.

A small note then unfolded in Wu Xiaode’s hands.

It was written in a very hasty hand:

"Don’t come back!"

"Don’t come back!"

"Don’t come back!"