Chapter One Hundred Eleven: The Corrupted Persona

Time passed day by day.

The manhunter circle’s crackdown on the Full Essence sect had reached an intense critical point.

The most absurd thing was that the Full Essence sect, led by the Four Madmen, unexpectedly launched a fierce counterattack against the various sects pursuing them, catching their pursuers completely off guard.

For a while... the entire supernatural circle was shaken violently, followed by an even fiercer wave that further complicated the situation.

During this period,

Longhu Mountain, the spark of the whole incident, remained sealed off, and the venerable Heavenly Master stayed behind closed doors, maintaining no contact with the outside world.

As the planner of the event and regional head, Xu Si naturally had to return to the company to report.

Although Xu Si left Longhu Mountain with Zhang Chulan and others, before departing, he left Xu San and Li Ziyuan behind to take care of Ye Yan’s daily life.

“Third Uncle, partner is like this, how long do you think it will take for him to get better?” Li Ziyuan poured some water and wiped Ye Yan’s cheeks and exposed skin, then looked at Xu San nearby with some confusion.

As an outsider, Li Ziyuan didn’t really understand what had specifically happened. He only knew that shortly after the Luo Tian Great Sacrifice ended, Ye Yan fell into this deep sleep state, which puzzled him.

“I don’t know either.”

Hearing Li Ziyuan’s question, Xu San shook his head helplessly. “He’s been cursed, and it’s a very strange curse. Even the Heavenly Master and Director Deng—powerful experts—are helpless.”

“That serious?”

Li Ziyuan was startled and then looked at the quietly sleeping Ye Yan with deep worry.

“Will partner be okay?”

Although they hadn’t been together long, Li Ziyuan’s initial impression of Ye Yan—gentle and friendly, handsome—had been completely overturned. She was truly concerned.

“That’s hard to say.”

Xu San put down his phone and sighed. “The Heavenly Master said the curse on Ye Yan is strange; outside help can do little. Whether he can wake up depends entirely on himself...”

Xu San repeated what the Heavenly Master had said to Li Ziyuan.

Seeing her worry, Xu San gently ruffled her hair. “If you’re really worried about Ye Yan, why not pray for him? Who knows, maybe that will help him recover faster.”

Seeing Xu San say this, Li Ziyuan’s gloom lifted, and she nodded solemnly.

“Third Uncle, don’t worry. Whenever I have the time, I will definitely pray for partner.”

...

...

Enclosed darkness.

A dream from which one cannot escape.

Fragments of memories flow by.

Repeated scenes over and over again.

Ye Yan had lost count of how many times he had watched the scenes imprinted in his mind.

He could even recite many details clearly.

Perhaps due to the initial novelty, he could endure watching at first, but the longer he stayed in this dark world, the more repetitive the scenes became, and an inexplicable irritation began to rise within him.

Under the weight of this restless emotion, his mind could no longer think clearly or calmly; it felt as if something inside was about to burst forth.

It unsettled him greatly.

Never before had Ye Yan experienced such feelings. His first thought was that this might be a countermeasure the nightmare was using against him, but he wasn’t sure.

He sensed he had been in this space for a very long time yet still had not seen the nightmare itself. Perhaps the enemy only wanted to imprison him in loneliness within this space.

Ye Yan remained uncertain.

Maybe it was loneliness, maybe something else, but in any case, his troubled mind felt he could no longer think calmly. He felt strange.

He sensed a voice whispering persistently in his ear... murmuring something, to the point that Ye Yan felt almost split in two mentally.

“How do I get out?”

Being trapped in such darkness for so long undoubtedly intensified the mental toll on Ye Yan.

In this environment, he couldn’t even count seconds accurately; if this continued, he felt he might not withstand the external pressure and would eventually break down.

“Damn it.”

“I can’t go on like this.”

Being dragged into this space by the nightmare didn’t mean he would remain passive.

Previously, he thought the way to leave the dream world might relate to these memories, but he had exhausted them all and was close to nausea, finding no clue on how to escape.

This made Ye Yan anxious.

He didn’t know exactly how much time had passed or the situation outside.

He knew that within these few days, the Full Essence sect would soon begin their assault on the mountain.

Now that he was trapped like this, even a fool could guess that Wang Ai, that old dog, wouldn’t miss such a golden opportunity to turn the tide.

“I have to get out quickly.”

Just as Ye Yan was growing restless with such thoughts,

Suddenly... a faint, intermittent voice sounded beside him,

“Darkness... bloodline... awakening... come and... merge with me.”

As the broken voice echoed, Ye Yan felt the restless emotion inside him intensify, as if something inside was about to burst through his body.

With this voice, it felt as if his body was being torn in two.

Outside his physical form, a pitch-black force peeled off, forming thick, dark mist, which coalesced on the ground into a humanoid silhouette.

At first, the outline was vague, purely made of black mist. Gradually, features appeared on the face: eyes, nose, mouth; hands, feet, clothing. Even the hairstyle and eye color were exactly the same as Ye Yan’s, standing face to face with him.

Two Ye Yans of identical height and build, indistinguishable at first glance.

If there was any difference, it was that one’s eyes were bright green, while the other’s were deep, hollow, as if containing an abyssal prison.

Though Ye Yan didn’t understand why this other self suddenly appeared, there was no doubt—it was himself.

“What’s going on?”

Ye Yan cautiously studied the figure opposite him. At that moment, the other spoke lazily:

“What are you so nervous about?”

“Who are you?” Ye Yan asked warily.

“I told you, don’t be nervous.”

The hollow-eyed Ye Yan raised his hand, pointing at Ye Yan’s original form.

“I am Ye Yan, and you are Ye Yan. We are originally one.”

Gǔ Tōng.

Hearing the hollow-eyed Ye Yan say this, Ye Yan seemed to realize something and exclaimed,

“You’re... my darkened state? No, that can’t be. If it were a darkened state, how could you have independent consciousness?”

Just moments ago, when he saw those hollow, profound eyes, an unexpected answer suddenly surfaced in Ye Yan’s mind.

“Maybe you’re right, but it’s not absolute.”

The darkened Ye Yan shrugged and smiled, “The darkened state is just a stepping stone to advancing to Dominator. You can think of it as a state, an incomplete one.”

Ye Yan could understand this explanation, but he couldn’t figure out why his darkened persona appeared so abruptly.

Besides, he had just tried; his ‘darkened’ state was currently unusable.

This meant everything the darkened self said was true.

Darkened Ye Yan didn’t care what Ye Yan was thinking, instead spreading his arms, gesturing for Ye Yan to look around.

“Look around, what is this? What do you see?”

Around them?

Ye Yan looked up in confusion.

All he saw was blackness—black, dead silent, suffocating darkness that chilled the heart and inspired dread at a single glance.

Following darkened Ye Yan’s prompt, Ye Yan suddenly connected the dots and looked sharply ahead at the darkened version, his voice tinged with shock,

“You mean the Dominator?”

“Looks like your brain’s still intact.”

Darkened Ye Yan crossed his arms and regarded the original with interest.

Ye Yan was stunned by this sudden revelation. If before he was shocked, now he felt a dizzying excitement.

Advancing to Dominator.

What he had sought for years by every means, and never achieved, was now presented so easily before him.

This...

Ye Yan felt as if he were dreaming.

Unbelievably real.

Well...

He really was in a dream.

Darkened Ye Yan suddenly raised his left hand, and between his two fingers appeared a cigarette out of thin air.

He brought the cigarette to his nose and sniffed, then produced a lighter and slowly lit the cigarette.

Once it burned, he said slowly,

“The method to advance to Dominator is actually simple. The path you sought isn’t wrong, but the refined direction is mistaken... It’s your inner emotions.”

“Loneliness, helplessness, desolation.”

“That’s the core of advancing to Dominator, the part you’ve neglected.”

“Though Dominators wield great power, they’re ultimately just solitary lost souls in the darkness. Those close to such souls are mostly flag demons...”

Darkened Ye Yan smoked as he explained the core philosophy of advancing to Dominator.

Ye Yan gradually felt his restless heart calm in this darkness. He looked up seriously at his darkened self and asked,

“What should I do?”

“What to do?” After finishing his cigarette, the darkened Ye Yan lit another and slowly said, “The method is simple: eat me.”

“Eat you?”

Ye Yan was taken aback.

Darkened Ye Yan looked at him indifferently.

“I’m the embodiment of your negative emotions. Eat me, and you’ll gain a complete Dominator persona. Sounds easy, doesn’t it?”

Ye Yan said nothing.

But hearing this, he indeed felt advancing to Dominator seemed easier than he thought.

At least easier than he had imagined.

His expression was unguarded, yet the darkened persona immediately saw through his thoughts.

The latter stubbed out the cigarette and sneered,

“Bloodline awakening is easy. What’s hard is whether you’ll lose your true self in the endless darkness.”

“That’s the real test.”

Ye Yan repeated those words silently, unable to explain them.

“I’ve told you the method. Whether you try it or not is up to you. It’s time for you to choose.”

Darkened Ye Yan handed the choice to Ye Yan. Or rather, the initiative had always been in Ye Yan’s hands. Whether to become Dominator was purely his decision.

However, darkened Ye Yan believed Ye Yan would most likely choose to ascend.

Because besides this path, he had no other options. Without Dominator’s power to break this space, Ye Yan had no way to leave.

Either be imprisoned and fall into eternal ruin,

Or fight with all his strength.

After pondering for a while, Ye Yan did not immediately ascend but asked the question weighing on his mind,

“If I choose to merge, you will disappear, right? That doesn’t seem good for you. Have you never thought about controlling this body yourself? To be a living person?”

Ye Yan thought that since the darkened persona had its own will, how could it not have ambitions to take over? After all... this dark, confined space was far less appealing than the vibrant world outside.

So, he was cautious.

Hearing this, the darkened persona sneered disdainfully, looking at Ye Yan as if he were a fool.

“You watch too much nonsense. I’m just a vessel for your emotions, a darkened persona on your path to advancement. Take over? Are you nuts?”

“If you’re gone, I disappear too.”

“So what’s the point of me taking over the body and killing you? Mutual destruction?”

“You don’t want to live, but I do.”

“...”

This outburst left Ye Yan stunned. He had never considered these things.

Mainly because he had seen many cases where secondary personas or clones tried to seize control.

So when faced with such a situation, his first thought was those possibilities.

But the darkened persona’s reaction was unexpectedly straightforward.

Still, Ye Yan was puzzled.

“Aren’t you supposed to be the darkened persona? Aren’t darkened personas perfectly calm? Why are you...”

Before Ye Yan finished, the other interrupted roughly,

“You wanna know why I’m so irritable? Not calm at all, unlike a proper darkened persona, right?”

“I’m calm my ass. You don’t even have a complete Dominator persona yet, so don’t talk about absolute calm. You’re fantasizing. Before you open your full Dominator persona, the darkened state only boosts your physical abilities...”

Being scolded by one’s own persona was a strange feeling.

But hearing this explanation, many things suddenly made sense. For example, when entering darkened mode, Ye Yan felt calmer, but under extreme circumstances, he could still easily break through emotional barriers.

Seeing Ye Yan fall silent, his irritable persona lazily yawned,

“Hey, you useless original, dragging your feet on ascending to Dominator. Are you going to or not? If not, I’m going back to sleep. No time to play with you.”

Ye Yan: “...”

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