Chapter 229: Sixth Volume: Dream Realm, the Dark Region

Luo Feng's avatar in the Dream Realm usually remained in the outer layers, where the influence on the mind and will was weakest.

At this moment, a weak avatar led the way ahead, while a powerful avatar followed behind. This powerful avatar possessed one percent of the energy reserve of a World Lifeform True Body.

"Huh." Luo Feng's two avatars moved silently, passing through individual spaces until they finally reached the deep layers of the Dream Realm.

"Deep Dream Realm."

Luo Feng became even more cautious.

In the long years past, Luo Feng had already attempted to enter the deep layers of the Dream Realm! Every ordinary creature here possessed the power of a Return-to-Nothing Emperor, and some leaders were even at the Emperor level—danger lurked everywhere.

"Huh? The Master of the Ten Thousand Laws has come to find me too?" Luo Feng paused, halting his advance.

…

The Battle for the Territory of the Food Nation had fully proven Luo Feng's strength! Though the Origin Continent teemed with powerful beings, Luo Feng's publicly revealed power was already among the strongest below the Emperor level.

After the Time Old Devil, the Master of the Ten Thousand Laws personally came to meet Luo Feng and offered similar terms.

"The Master of the Ten Thousand Laws truly lives up to the rumors—quite friendly toward us native cultivators." Luo Feng thought. Of the three outsiders, the Two Worlds' Sovereign was tyrannical, the Time Old Devil was ruthless, but the Master of the Ten Thousand Laws was benevolent and compassionate.

The Master of the Ten Thousand Laws even willingly taught many Divine Kings how to cultivate.

"Of the four treasures, they valued the first two most: relics of special lifeforms and secret techniques." After speaking with the Master of the Ten Thousand Laws, Luo Feng's avatar in the Dream Realm resumed its advance.

"Relics of special lifeforms exist in only two places: the Dark Region of the Dream Realm, and the deepest depths of the Pillar of Heaven Realm. The Pillar of Heaven Realm is completely sealed—so to find relics of special lifeforms… only the Dark Region of the Dream Realm remains possible."

The Pillar of Heaven Realm was sealed by two ancient nations; Luo Feng had no confidence he could oppose both alone.

The sealing of the Pillar of Heaven Realm was likely a joint decision by the ancestral founders of the two ancient nations.

Huh.

After a long time, Luo Feng finally reached the very end of the Dream Realm's deep layers.

"Ahead lies the Dark Region." Luo Feng stared at the darkness ahead—only his mental awareness could penetrate and probe it.

"Go in."

With a single thought.

The weak avatar entered first; the powerful avatar waited a moment before following.

The Dark Region enveloped Luo Feng's mind and will with invisible, terrifying force, constantly dragging at it—should he fail to resist, he would sink utterly into dreamlike slumber.

"I need to devote roughly fifty to sixty percent of my mental energy to resist the Dark Region's influence." Luo Feng thought.

His mental awareness probed the surroundings.

The darkness around him was immensely heavy—even Luo Feng's mental awareness, surpassing Divine King level, could only perceive a radius of ten thousand kilometers.

"Puff."

The weak avatar ahead suddenly flashed with light—and the light pierced straight through it.

Luo Feng's weak avatar vanished instantly. Yet, thanks to the extraordinary vitality of the Twenty-Four Forms World Lifeform, it reformed from nothingness—only to be obliterated again moments later by another flash of light.

"I saw it." As his weak avatar reformed, Luo Feng clearly perceived the shape of the "light."

It resembled a silver shuttle.

But it was too fast—within the ten-thousand-kilometer range Luo Feng could observe, a single flash meant certain impact.

"That silver-shuttle weapon struck twice—and my weak avatar was gone?" Luo Feng was stunned. "My weak avatar, though low in energy, is still a Twenty-Four Forms Lifeform. Compared to my powerful avatar with the Ten Directions World Form, the difference is minimal. Even an Emperor should withstand two or three strikes."

Luo Feng advanced cautiously.

He no longer split off a weak avatar—within his ten-thousand-kilometer observation range, detecting an enemy meant instant death.

"Huh."

Within the Dark Region, Luo Feng's exploration revealed a ground forged from black, strange metal, covered in countless secret patterns.

Walking across this black metal expanse, Luo Feng searched for relics of special lifeforms.

"Huh?" Luo Feng suddenly tensed.

At the boundary of his ten-thousand-kilometer mental observation, a flash of light appeared—and it pierced straight through Luo Feng's body! So swift was its speed that he had no time to react.

Yet this avatar contained one percent of energy reserve—equivalent to thirty percent of a perfect Divine Body's storage! Its energy was vast, its body resilient.

Though the light pierced his body, his form rapidly regenerated.

"One strike erased roughly one ten-thousandth of my energy reserve?" Luo Feng's mind shifted—his robes spread outward, transforming into countless rivers, forming a vast, roaring silver river.

The silver river surged, enveloping the surroundings.

Luo Feng stood at the center of the silver river.

"Shhh."

A flash of silver light came from beyond his observation boundary—flashing once, it pierced through the roaring river, then pierced Luo Feng's body, and flew out from the opposite edge of his observation range.

"I can't block it. I can't trap it. I can only take the hits." Luo Feng sensed the gap. "It's too fast—when it strikes, time itself seems to pause."

This silver light pierced tens of thousands of kilometers in the instant time froze.

"I want to influence the surrounding cosmic rules."

"Even my mighty body cannot hinder it."

Luo Feng was utterly helpless in an instant.

Native Dream Realm creatures were immune to all mental attacks—Luo Feng's mental assaults had zero effect on this "silver shuttle."

His most powerful technique, the Great Annihilation Style, hadn't even begun to form before the light flashed—from one edge of his observation range to the other! He couldn't even lock onto a target.

"How do I fight?" Luo Feng was dazed.

This silver shuttle's technique seemed simple—just one move, back and forth. Yet it was more terrifying than most Emperors.

"Fortunately, my body's recovery is extremely strong." Luo Feng thought. Each time one ten-thousandth of his energy was erased, the lost energy quickly reassembled and restored—recovering nearly half of it.

"Shhh." "Shhh." "Shhh." "Shhh." "Shhh." "Shhh." Suddenly, six flashes of light pierced his observation range in an instant. This time, the silver shuttle creatures attacked without pause—continuously darting, frenziedly shredding.

"Six silver shuttle creatures?" Luo Feng's face changed—he turned and fled without hesitation.

But in speed, he was far inferior to these strange silver shuttle creatures.

Luo Feng had barely flown for a dozen breaths.

The six silver shuttle creatures had launched over twenty thousand attacks.

"Huh."

Luo Feng barely escaped the Dark Region's boundary, returning to the deep layers—the six silver shuttle creatures did not pursue.

"My avatar still has one-third of its energy reserve left." Luo Feng felt a chill—he cared deeply about energy reserves! Even if his small universe absorbed fully, it would take one eon to gather the energy of a single perfect Divine Body.

The energy lost in this encounter would take roughly two-tenths of an eon to recover.

This was why Luo Feng rarely used his True Body.

The Dream Realm's environment was this harsh.

!.

The more powerful the avatar, the greater the cost of death. Emperors and Sovereigns without avatars dared not enter dangerously hostile realms.

"The Dark Region—I entered once and encountered six silver shuttle creatures? Each one had Emperor-level power." Luo Feng thought. Six Emperors coordinating a frenzied assault—even without forming a formation—was terrifying.

"Try another entrance."

Luo Feng considered.

Immediately, this powerful avatar turned back to replenish its energy.

Then, again using a powerful avatar with one percent energy reserve, Luo Feng entered the Dark Region from another point in the Dream Realm's deep layers.

…

Only moments later.

"My heavens."

This time, Luo Feng's powerful avatar did not escape.

"The creatures in the Dark Region this time were too strong! Far stronger than the silver shuttles." Luo Feng trembled—it was a colossal creature, burning with flames, its body forged of black metal.

The creature was so massive that within Luo Feng's ten-thousand-kilometer observation range, he could see only part of its head.

It lunged—and Luo Feng had nowhere to flee.

Its collisions and clawing tore at him—he was grievously wounded.

But when it swallowed Luo Feng whole!

Inside its body, the crushing annihilation reduced Luo Feng's avatar to nothing within mere breaths.

"After being swallowed, it felt like entering a vast prison—with no escape. Only waiting to die. This exceeds the power of normal Emperors and Sovereigns." Luo Feng was speechless.

He had entered twice.

Once, he encountered six silver shuttle creatures, each Emperor-level.

Once, he encountered the Dark Flame Creature—and it was far stronger than the six silver shuttles combined.

"How do I explore the Dark Region? I can't!" Luo Feng realized—even his True Body entering here would face death or lose most of its energy reserve if it met the Dark Flame Creature. "My power is still insufficient."

"The only technique approaching Ultimate Realm level is the Great Annihilation Style—and I dare not bring in ultra-powerful artifacts! Relying purely on my body, my power falls far short of native creatures; in every other aspect, I'm even weaker."

"I need to become more comprehensive!"

"I need more Ultimate Realm techniques—movement, defense, domains… I must be more well-rounded before I can even consider exploring the Dark Region." Luo Feng thought, then suddenly felt puzzled.

"These three outsiders know the Dark Region contains relics of special lifeforms—meaning some powerful being must have retrieved them from there."

At this moment, Luo Feng understood: beyond him, there were still greater beings.

Even on the Origin Continent, many were stronger than him.

"At my current power, entering the Dark Region means death. I'll explore the deep layers instead. The celestial treasures there should far outnumber those in the middle layers." Luo Feng thought.

The relics of special lifeforms in the Dark Region were of absurdly high value—but he lacked the ability to obtain them.

So he lowered his goal: first, explore the deep layers.

"After all, Origin Continent's powerful ones mainly explore the middle layers. Some treasures there are worth millions of merit points. The treasures in the deep layers are worth even more."

"You might even obtain a rare treasure worth over a billion merits."

Treasures worth over a billion merits are precisely what the Three Alien Races and the Two Primordial Ancestors seek—and what they have been buying all along.

With such rare treasures, I should also be able to exchange for what I need.

"The Dark Zone... one day, I will come and thoroughly probe your true nature." Luo Feng's dream-domain avatar began cautiously exploring the deeper regions! The danger level in the deeper regions had clearly plummeted sharply.

Most of the creatures here were merely at the level of the Return-Null Emperor.

Even the more powerful leaders were still at the Emperor level, and they operated alone—Luo Feng's powerful avatar could easily escape.

Of course, if he encountered an overwhelmingly powerful clan or a terrifying leader, his avatar still risked annihilation.

In the days that followed, Luo Feng occasionally explored the deeper regions of the dream-domain, but primarily focused on cultivation.

Because exploring the dream-domain carried risks.

If he died, he lost one avatar containing one percent of his energy reserve, which required slow cultivation to restore—so he had to limit exploration frequency. Moreover, he needed his true body to grow even larger; the rate at which his miniature universe absorbed energy must exceed the rate of consumption from dream-domain exploration.

Every rare treasure Luo Feng acquired in the dream-domain was delivered to his outer-layer avatars for storage.

When the Wheelhouse Team arrived in the dream-domain, Luo Feng would send a powerful avatar inside; when the team departed the dream-domain, he would have them carry away all the rare treasures he had accumulated.

(End of Chapter)