The darkness began to slowly creep up his fingertips and around his wrists.
Feng Zhiming gritted his teeth and tried to utilize any of his techniques, Qi manipulation or abilities, but it was all useless. This was all in his head so any form of resistance was useless.
“What I seek, you mean the creature?” he asked in a calm and collected tone.
The scholars of darkness began to speak in unison.
“You who have been touched by the abyss, become the one who will spread truth in this world.”
Feng Zhiming frowned, just what the hell was this?
If it was a matter of killing him or forcing him to do something, a being that could invade his dreams was powerful enough to do it instantly.
But they didn’t kill or force him.
A smirk appeared on his face when something clicked in his mind, he was being exposed to this for some kind of reason.
His will to resist was so intense that despite the excruciating pain trying to break his mind he managed to hold himself together.
“You can’t force me.” he concluded as the darkness struggled to climb up his elbows.
The scholars of darkness all condensed into one before speaking.
“There is no coercion in beneficence.”
The figure had long dark hair and had something that looks like glasses grafted into his skull and around his eyes.
Within his hands he held something that looked like a scroll.
“I was once in your position, unborn one.”
The darkness that had been trying to encompass Feng Zhiming stopped and remained stationary on his skin.
“What do you mean by unborn one, and who are you? What is this place and who is this Bestower of Truth and Veracity?”
Feng Zhiming had too many unanswered questions.
“Being unborn refers to your current state, I am the Scholar of Darkness, this place is the realm of Astra and dreams, it is where I reside. The Great bestower of Truth and Veracity is not someone you are qualified to know yet and I hope you will not casually speak his name, not that you can.”
Without him even noticing it the environment had shifted back to the library and Feng Zhiming found himself sitting in a leather couch he nearly sank into.
He carefully thought about everything the so called Scholar of Darkness had told him.
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“I can see you thinking, analyzing, calculating and conniving. As the Scholar of Darkness wrought forth by the Great one who bestows truth, I cannot lie.”
“You can’t lie? Swear to the Dao.”
He couldn’t just take him at his word.
The Scholar inhaled slowly.
“I cannot lie and this is why I’ll tell you, in this space I can fake an oath without any repercussions and without any way to tell it is a false oath. This realm of Astra exists outside the purview of the Dao thus any oaths do not hold.”
This was a difficult situation for Feng Zhiming but unexpectedly he found himself believing the Scholar. He had no reason to tell him about the Astra realm, he could have lied and sworn an oath but he didn’t.
“Earlier you said you knew what I was looking for, the creature.”
Feng Zhiming carefully tried to navigate his way around the situation.
“The creature is not an enemy of yours, in fact it is vital you meet it. But that is not what I meant, my Lord has bestowed unto me wisdom, within that wisdom therein lies your true motivation.”
The scholar slowly stood up and walked over to Feng Zhiming.
“He knows of your shame, of your sins, of your sleepless nights, your obsession and your guilt.”
Feng Zhiming felt his heart drop to his stomach.
“He knows you seek divinity.”
…
“Slap him across the face.” Lyra spoke as she stood behind Anissa who held Feng Zhiming’s sleeping body.
Anissa had flown him down onto the main deck of the ship, blood had begun to seep from his eyes and nose.
“This is no time for jests.” Ellia spoke as he observed the blood fall onto the hull of the ship.
The black blood had been evaporating the moment it touched the ground, vanishing into nowhere.
It was unlike anything he had ever seen before.
Anissa tried to observe Feng Zhiming’s body with Qi, there was nothing wrong with him physically.
Other than the fact that his core was unusual, it had streaks of darkness running through an otherwise white core.
Her hands began to tremble slightly as she continued to run out of ways to help him, cultivators didn’t get sick, unless they were poisoned. She did not know how to cure poison.
She even tried slapping him to wake him up, but to her dismay it didn’t work either, panic began to take hold of her.
“What happens if he dies? Where do I go? What should I do?”
Her mind became jumbled with ideas as she thought of all sorts of possibilities. It was happening again, she was powerless to do anything.
“He seems to be dreaming.” Lyra spoke as her eyes glowed a purple color, as if she had been looking though his head.
“There's a great amount of Qi revolving around his hippocampus, the part of the brain responsible for dreams.”
It was part of the witches training to learn of the mortal's art of medicine, especially for witches who specialized in alchemy. Although Lyra wasn't one of those witches she still had a basic understanding.
She got closer to Feng Zhiming as she tried to help, she didn’t really care if he died. But the compass was linked to him now, if he died the compass would shatter.
“He might have been pulled into the Astra Realm. I’m not terribly familiar with it but my previous master told me that only the greatest of witches were able to access it.”
She explained that it was a place of dreams and dream walkers who could pull people into eternal comas.
“Is there any way to wake him?” Anissa asked, her voice renewed with hope.
“In theory it is possible, if one has precise enough control over Qi they need to find the strand of Qi connecting the other person's hippocampus with the Astra realm and sever it. Unfortunately I am not at that level.”
Precise control of Qi, they all thought in unison about someone who fit that criteria.
Eventually all of their gazes fell upon Dolly who was looking at the sleeping Feng Zhiming, a worried expression evident on her face.