Chapter 570: The Gate of the Dream Realm

Outside the city of Jinshan Prefecture, two golden dragons were still locked in battle.

This duel between Xiang Yunshu and True Person Qingxu had already been going on for several hours.

One of them was supported by the eight hundred years of destiny of the Great Luo Sect, while the other was supported by the national destiny of the entire Great Lan Dynasty.

That was why they could still keep on exhausting each other!

As time passed, the grand array laid out by True Person Qingxu became increasingly perfected, gathering more and more "human popularity," and the power he could manifest grew stronger and stronger.

From only being able to utilize the power of the metal-attribute dharma image at the beginning, he was now able to utilize metal, water, wood, and fire.

The power of four attributes!

Fortunately, the Dao principle held by Xiang Yunshu was "Analysis."

As time passed, Xiang Yunshu also gained more information through the "Analysis" Dao principle, becoming increasingly familiar with the methods of True Person Qingxu.

The "Analysis" Dao principle was a classic ability that allowed one to grow stronger the more they fought!

The more one understood an enemy's methods, the more targeted one could be.

Therefore, even though the power manifested by True Person Qingxu had grown stronger, Xiang Yunshu had still managed to hold on and had not yet been crushed.

But as Taining City and Shangtang City fell one after another, and the commoners within those cities were blood-sacrificed, the grand array's influence over the Jinshan Prefecture territory increased, and the Son of Heaven's dragon Qi transmitted from Lanling City was affected as a result!

"Xiang Yunshu, how about it? Are you still not giving up?"

The voice of True Person Qingxu exploded in Xiang Yunshu's ears.

Aside from the city of Jinshan Prefecture itself, there were only four key nodes in this area.

Now that two key nodes had already fallen, if any one of the remaining ones were to fall, the Son of Heaven's dragon Qi received by Xiang Yunshu would be further weakened, compounded by the continuously increasing power manifested by True Person Qingxu.

With one side gaining and the other losing, even with the "Analysis" Dao principle, it would be difficult for Xiang Yunshu to bridge the massive gap between the two.

In truth, Xiang Yunshu had not expected Luo Shi and Mu Kairen to fail.

Even with the support of the Imperial Camp cavalry from the Ming Province capital, in his estimations, Luo Shi and Mu Kairen should have been able to hold them off.

It was just that he had not calculated beforehand that the Great Luo Sect's modification of the baleful weapons would be so thorough, even capable of perfectly controlling the minds of the Imperial Camp troops!

This was also a manifestation of True Person Qingxu's array cultivation being the best in the world.

Looking throughout the armies of various dynasties and eras, military morale would waver once battle losses reached ten percent.

Once battle losses exceeded twenty percent, they would collapse entirely.

Those capable of continuing to fight to the death even when battle losses exceeded thirty percent, or even more, were strong armies worthy of being recorded in history!

The Great Lan Dynasty had been established for many years, and decay existed in every region; only the maintenance of the Imperial Camp troops remained relatively good.

The treatment was good, the pay was high, no one embezzled military rations, and the training was rigorous.

Under these circumstances, the combat effectiveness of the Imperial Camp troops had always been maintained at a high level, capable of sustaining thirty percent losses without collapsing.

But beyond that, unless it was the Heavenly Lan Iron Cavalry led by the "Military God" Wenren Zheng, Xiang Yunshu did not believe the other Imperial Camp troops could sustain higher losses.

Yet, the situation encountered by Luo Shi and Mu Kairen was that they did not retreat even with seventy percent losses!

This was where Xiang Yunshu had miscalculated, and it was also something Luo Shi and Mu Kairen had not anticipated.

If Luo Shi and Mu Kairen had known this beforehand, they would never have chosen to fight to the death from the very start!

"How much destiny do you have left in your hands?"

Although the situation was dire, Xiang Yunshu did not yield in the slightest in his words:

"After exhausting yourself until now, can your Dao state still be established?"

In these past few hours, the two were not only competing in Dao techniques but also engaging in a psychological confrontation.

"Are you waiting for reinforcements from the imperial court?"

True Person Qingxu asked suddenly.

Subsequently, an illusion appeared before Xiang Yunshu's eyes:

Over a dozen martial arts masters and True Persons, leading a group of Great Luo Sect disciples, left the Great Luo Sect and departed in three different directions.

Ming Province bordered three other provinces simultaneously, so if reinforcements from the imperial court were to come, they would only arrive from these three directions.

"You should be able to tell the truth from the falsehood of this illusion."

True Person Qingxu said calmly.

Xiang Yunshu was silent.

He possessed the Analysis Dao principle and could see the causality behind the illusion provided by True Person Qingxu directly.

Therefore, he could indeed tell that this illusion was not fabricated by True Person Qingxu, but was a fact that had already occurred.

In the past few hours, True Person Qingxu had not only been dueling with Xiang Yunshu but also reintegrating the power of the Great Luo Sect.

Originally, there were quite a few people who supported him within the Great Luo Sect, and in the current situation, there were naturally those willing to follow him to take a gamble and establish the eternal glory of the Daoists!

The power True Person Qingxu could mobilize was not just the Imperial Camp troops of Ming Province, but also half of the Great Luo Sect!

The overall power of the Great Lan Dynasty was certainly far stronger than the Great Luo Sect, but it was too scattered.

Xiang Yunshu knew clearly that the high-end combat power the imperial court could hastily mobilize from the other three provinces was actually limited, and it was not certain they could overcome the experts True Person Qingxu had sent out.

"The personnel you placed in Chongcheng are only at the Dao Foundation stage, right? Do you think they can stop my Imperial Camp troops?"

True Person Qingxu attacked his heart once again.

The chess match between the two had now reached the most critical moment, and the piece Xiang Yunshu had placed in Chongcheng was clearly the weakest, which was currently the biggest flaw!

True Person Qingxu had made it clear that he intended to use this as a breakthrough point—

Checkmate!

……

Chongcheng.

Everyone was still unaware that this place had become a breaking point for this incident.

Li Fei was in his room regulating his breathing, recovering the Innate One Qi he had consumed earlier.

Currently, the total number of blood souls in his Myriad Blood Bead was 559, and there were 638 blood souls stored in the blood spring!

In that previous battle, he appeared to have suffered little injury, but each clone had to consume at least 10 blood souls to convert the baleful blood Qi, and he had ultimately lost over thirty clones, consuming a total of 427 blood souls.

However, this battle also brought Li Fei significant gains.

The baleful Qi of the Imperial Camp troops was also a combination of intent power and virtual thought; a round of fighting allowed Li Fei to realize quite a few things, which was very helpful for his study of that notebook by Lin Tianyi.

Besides that, the baleful Qi condensed by the Imperial Camp's military formation was high-quality energy, even higher than the Dao force of Dao Foundation stage experts, which caused the "progress bar" for the Myriad Blood Bead's upgrade to rise significantly.

Li Fei consumed the poison he concocted himself every day to increase the energy value of the Myriad Blood Bead, and the current progress was an increase of about 30% in energy value per month.

Added to the energy gained from the battle, the current energy value of the Myriad Blood Bead was at level 21, 67%.

Li Fei's final gain was the stimulation of his implants.

【Flame Core】 had not yet triggered a core-level extraordinary ability, but after this battle, Li Fei felt that 【Flame Core】 had become much more active and had undergone some subtle changes.

According to past experience, this was a precursor to being about to trigger a core-level extraordinary ability!

"If I can have one or two more battles of this intensity, I should be able to trigger a core-level extraordinary ability."

Li Fei thought to himself.

A single 【Shadow】 had already qualitatively improved his combat power, so he was very much looking forward to his third core-level extraordinary ability.

After regulating his breathing for several hours and recovering the consumed Innate One Qi, Li Fei converted his mental power into virtual thought and then took out the Dream-Like Order from his bosom.

His current realm had reached the late stage of God Transformation, and theoretically, he already possessed the possibility of breaking through to the Possession stage and becoming a Great Mage.

From the God Transformation stage to the Possession stage, there were several keys:

First, the virtual thought must be sufficiently powerful and condensed; otherwise, it would not be enough to remotely control external implants from a distance.

Second, one must prepare the materials for refining a magic treasure.

Third, one must prepare the implants for refining the magic treasure.

Li Fei's virtual thought was already powerful enough, fully meeting the requirements for breaking through the realm, and he already had a ready-made magic treasure—the Dream-Like Order.

Therefore, he had already met the requirements for breaking through, and what he needed to do next was to continuously refine the Dream-Like Order so that his virtual thought would be completely familiar with this magic treasure.

Once he could use his virtual thought to produce a resonance with the Dream-Like Order, enabling his virtual thought to output more efficiently while also allowing the Dream-Like Order to be triggered to release greater power, he would have truly broken through to the Possession stage.

The Possession stage was a two-way achievement where both the person and the magic treasure were simultaneously amplified.

Using a ready-made magic treasure to break through to the Possession stage was a shortcut, but it would also make the "resonance" more difficult because this magic treasure was not refined bit by bit by himself.

And if one relied on oneself to refine a brand-new magic treasure from scratch, the "resonance" part would indeed be easier to achieve, but refining a magic treasure itself was very time-consuming, and the difficulty of cultivating an implant within an artifact was much greater than cultivating it within a human body.

Therefore, there was no distinction of superiority between these two methods of breaking through; it depended on which one was more suitable for oneself.

Li Fei already held a True One magic treasure in his hands and had no reason to abandon such a powerful artifact to refine a new one himself, so he decisively chose the first method of breaking through.

After breaking through to the late stage of God Transformation, he had been concentrating on "Dream Analysis," and subsequently encountered the rebellion of the Great Luo Sect.

Now that he was finally free, he finally had the time to properly study the Dream-Like Order.

Aside from helping Li Fei accelerate his cultivation speed, this True One magic treasure had another very important function—opening the Gate of the Dream Realm!

The "Dream Realm" was a concept proposed by the founding ancestor of the Nightmare Sect.

The other party believed that corresponding to the real world, there was also an illusory world.

That illusory world was composed of everyone's subconscious.

That founding ancestor believed that the dreams of every person in this world were a manifestation of the subconscious, and that every person's dreams could form connections within that ocean of the subconscious.

He defined that ocean of the subconscious, which gathered all living beings in the world, as—the Dream Realm!

Thus, based on this theory, the founding ancestor of the Nightmare Sect created a series of arts related to dreams, among which the most core and legendary art was called the "Gate of the Dream Realm."

The art of the "Gate of the Dream Realm" could help a practitioner open the door to the Dream Realm, thereby going to roam in the ocean of the subconscious!

To perform this art, one needed at least the cultivation of the Possession stage.

And to explore the Dream Realm relatively safely without being completely lost in that ocean, one needed at least the cultivation of a True Person.

The True One magic treasure, the Dream-Like Order, could allow Li Fei to perform the "Gate of the Dream Realm" in advance, and the Dream-Like Order itself was the best boat for roaming the ocean of the subconscious!

This is the true value of this True One magic treasure.

After Li Fei broke through to the late stage of Spirit Transformation in the 【Illusion Leaf】 realm, he finally met the minimum requirements to cast the "Gate of the Dream Realm."

This also meant that he could use the Dream-Seeking Order to explore the Dream Realm.

Injecting his virtual thoughts continuously into the Dream-Seeking Order, Li Fei then activated the technique he had imprinted within his own virtual thoughts.

One can imprint techniques into virtual thoughts at the mid-stage of Spirit Transformation, and strengthen them at the late-stage; besides the "Dream Control Technique," the second technique Li Fei imprinted and strengthened was the "Gate of the Dream Realm."

Injecting sufficient virtual thoughts into the Dream-Seeking Order, Li Fei activated the "Gate of the Dream Realm" imprinted upon his virtual thoughts.

The next instant, the scene before his eyes changed completely:

There were no rooms, no Chongcheng, no sky, and no earth.

Everything was colorful, constantly twisting and changing.

Li Fei was protected within a transparent circular shield, which prevented him from being distorted by this bizarre and grotesque world outside.

He knew that this transparent shield was the protection provided to him by the Dream-Seeking Order; because of this shield, he was able to explore the Dream Realm with his current cultivation base.

Following the techniques of the Nightmare Sect, Li Fei began to visualize, allowing his consciousness to gradually calm down.

Soon, the colorful, twisting world around him began to change, gradually ceasing to be distorted and taking on concrete forms.

This was the first thing that needed to be done after entering the Dream Realm—Fixing Thoughts.

Not knowing how much time had passed, Li Fei found himself hovering above Chongcheng.

However, apart from a very small number of places, the rest of this Chongcheng was blurry and indistinct.

The scene outside the city was the same.

This was Fixing Thoughts; based on the information Li Fei knew, it presented his perception of the outside world one by one within the Dream Realm.

At this moment, the parts of Chongcheng being presented were the places Li Fei had been to and the things he had seen.

"With this technique, I will never have to worry about missing any details again."

Li Fei sighed with emotion.

The human brain automatically filters out a lot of information, but this information is actually stored in the subconscious.

For example, Li Fei only took a glance at the streets he passed by; if he were asked to recall them in reality, he certainly wouldn't be able to restore all the details.

But now in the Dream Realm, through Fixing Thoughts, Li Fei could even restore a tiny scratch on the door of a certain shop!

So-called photographic memory is nothing more than this.

And this was merely one of the marvelous uses of the Dream Realm.

With a thought from Li Fei, dense points of light appeared within the Chongcheng below, mainly concentrated near the West City Gate.

These points of light represented the subconscious of all the living beings he could perceive!

Through these points of light, Li Fei could sneak into the subconscious of others to probe their inner hearts!

Often, people may not even understand themselves, but a person's subconscious is definitely a manifestation of their true inner feelings.

By probing the subconscious, one can unearth the secrets hidden deep within a person's heart!

Of course, this did not mean Li Fei could know all the secrets of everyone.

Because everyone's subconscious is like a deep sea; what one can salvage from this ocean depends on Li Fei's mastery of the Dream Realm techniques.

Moreover, the higher a person's cultivation realm, the more dangerous their subconscious is; exploring rashly carries the risk of capsizing!

Li Fei suddenly felt something and discovered that a point of light had also appeared above his own head, and this point of light was moving rapidly.

The aura presented by this point of light was very weak, even weaker than that of an ordinary human.

So Li Fei chased after this point of light and used the Dream Realm technique to sneak into it.

Exploring the subconscious of others carries risks, so for his first exploration target, he had to choose one with a relatively weak aura.

One must be steady.

When Li Fei snuck into this point of light, countless fragments came one after another, appearing in his consciousness.

"This is... a peregrine falcon?"

Li Fei finally knew why the aura of this point of light was so weak; it was because he had snuck into the subconscious of a peregrine falcon.

This peregrine falcon happened to be flying over Chongcheng, so it was 'captured' by Li Fei.

As long as it is a living creature, it possesses a subconscious, so the point of light for this peregrine falcon also manifested in the Dream Realm.

Birds do not have as complex thinking as humans; its subconscious is not like an ocean, but more like a small pond. Li Fei could easily reach the bottom and explore most of the information.

"Strange knowledge has increased again."

After exploring for a while, Li Fei couldn't help but sigh.

This exploration was a 'test of the waters' for him, practicing his swimming skills first to prepare for 'going out to sea' in the future.

Just as this peregrine falcon was about to fly out of Li Fei's perception range, Li Fei suddenly saw a fragment in the other's subconscious:

Under the night, a train was traveling; through the carriage windows, one could see warriors sitting inside wearing full sets of armor, their eyes blood-red.

This is the Imperial Guard controlled by the Great Luo Sect!

In the room, Li Fei opened his eyes abruptly.

The steam trains of this era travel at a speed of about 60 kilometers per hour, while the peregrine falcon Li Fei 'captured' had a flight speed exceeding 100 kilometers per hour.

Therefore, this peregrine falcon arrived in Chongcheng one step ahead.

Li Fei took a deep breath, stood up, and looked at the night outside the window.

It was already past six in the morning, the darkest moment before dawn.

PS: One update today, will make up for it tomorrow.

(End of this chapter)