Chapter 454: Dream Network: Collective Awakening

At this very moment, a strange thing happened—two cores suddenly floated up on their own, slowly moving toward the center of the energy pool. No one touched them, and no one was even near them; they just hovered in the air like that, as if pulled by some invisible force.

"Director Xu! The cores!" someone exclaimed.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at this incredible scene. The two cores finally stopped at the very center of the energy pool, hovering about one meter above the water's surface. Suddenly, they erupted with dazzling light simultaneously, one pure Yang and one pure Yin, the lights intertwining to form a perfect Taiji Pattern.

Immediately after, the energy throughout the entire cavern began to resonate, the pool water churned violently, and countless energy particles rose from the water, circling around the Taiji Pattern to form a brilliant energy vortex. The light was so intense that it was impossible to look directly at it, and everyone had to cover their eyes with their hands.

In that brief moment of blinding radiance, the team members seemed to see an inexplicable sight—in the center of the Taiji Pattern, two blurry human silhouettes vaguely emerged, one male and one female, flickering in and out of existence. Although not clear enough, everyone who had seen Lin Xuan and Xiao Yuan could be certain that it was them!

Across the globe, a peculiar phenomenon was quietly spreading.

From Tokyo to New York, from Cairo to Sydney, countless people began having similar dreams at night. In the dreams, a man and a woman stood amidst multicolored light; their faces were blurry yet inexplicably familiar, as if they were trying to convey some important information. After waking up, these people could not clearly recall the entire content of the dream, but they all felt a strong sense of mission and urgency.

At the Cultivation Science Headquarters, Xu Feng was reviewing the latest statistical data. On the holographic screen in front of him, countless colored lines represented dream reports from all over the world, converging into a massive network that covered almost the entire surface of Diqiu.

"Since this month, the number of reports has increased by 457%," data analyst Li Wan reported to Xu Feng, "and the number of people having similar dreams every night is growing exponentially. According to our analysis, the vast majority of these people are ordinary individuals who provided support to the cultivation world through collective consciousness during the Battle of Yage."

Xu Feng pondered for a moment: "More and more people have established a connection, and the content of the dreams is becoming more specific. Lin Xuan and Xiao Yuan are becoming increasingly powerful."

Ever since discovering the Mount Fuji Spiritual Vein, Xu Feng had established a specialized database to collect and analyze these dream reports. Tens of thousands of new reports poured in every day, and the team could barely process them.

"We need more precise information," Xu Feng said, "these scattered dream fragments are not enough to help us understand the complete message that Lin Xuan and Xiao Yuan want to convey."

To this end, Xu Feng assembled a joint research team composed of psychologists and spiritual energy experts to extract more details from the dreams through hypnosis and spiritual energy detection techniques. This team was led by senior psychologist Professor Chen Minghua, who had outstanding achievements in the field of spiritual energy psychology.

"According to our research," Professor Chen displayed the latest results at the meeting that afternoon, "Lin Xuan and Xiao Yuan are not just passively appearing in people's dreams. They are actively constructing a 'Collective Dream Network,' connecting thousands of consciousnesses through this network and attempting to gather this power to create conditions for their own Spiritual Body Reunion."

The holographic projection in the conference room displayed a model of this "Collective Dream Network"—millions of tiny light spots represented every individual who had experienced the special dream, and they were connected to each other by countless glowing lines, forming a huge, constantly expanding network. At the center of the network, two special light spots were exceptionally bright, representing the spiritual body cores of Lin Xuan and Xiao Yuan.

"This phenomenon is unprecedented in human history," Professor Chen continued to explain, "they are not only building a network, but also striving to transmit information. Through a comprehensive analysis of thousands of dreams, we have extracted a key message—'When light and shadow intersect, the day the Seven Stars Return to Position'."

"What does this mean?" someone asked.

"We asked astronomers to analyze it," Professor Chen clicked the remote control, and the holographic projection switched to an astronomical model, "they confirmed that a rare partial solar eclipse will occur in two months, and on that day, the seven major planets of the solar system will present a special alignment, which ancient astronomers called 'Seven Stars Return to Position'. This celestial phenomenon is rare in a century; the last time it appeared was in 1923."

Xu Feng immediately understood the implication: "Lin Xuan and Xiao Yuan are telling us that this is the best time for the Spiritual Body Reunion!"

Professor Chen nodded in confirmation: "Exactly. According to our speculation, this special celestial phenomenon will generate a unique energy field, which is conducive to the spiritual bodies returning from a state of void to physical form. We must seize this opportunity, because the next time might not be until the next century."

The news spread rapidly through the headquarters, and various research teams immediately adjusted their plans, centering all work around the critical moment two months later. The Indian team accelerated their research on the "Lotus Life Mandala," while the Japanese team began preparing the Array to channel energy from the Fuji Spirit Vein.

At the same time, an unexpected phenomenon was quietly emerging on a global scale—more and more ordinary people, even without any cultivation background, began to sense the call of Lin Xuan and Xiao Yuan. They organized themselves spontaneously, forming various grassroots groups called "Lin Xuan Xiao Yuan Watchers," preparing to provide their own consciousness support at the critical moment.

These groups used social networks to expand rapidly, and within just one week, more than ten million people had joined. They meditated at fixed times every night, attempting to establish a closer connection with the Dream Network. Strangely, this collective action did indeed produce results; the Dream Network was expanding every night, and its coverage was becoming wider and wider.

Xu Feng felt both surprised and gratified by this: "The collective consciousness of humanity is awakening; this may be one of the plans of Lin Xuan and Xiao Yuan."

In a special laboratory at the headquarters, the Seven Cores were placed in precision energy containers, receiving round-the-clock monitoring. Since the trip to Mount Fuji, the two Yin-Yang Dual-Colored Cores had become unusually active, often glowing on their own, with the Runes on their surfaces constantly changing. Even more surprisingly, the other five cores also began to show similar phenomena, as if echoing something.

"The core activity is completely synchronized with the expansion of the Dream Network," energy monitoring expert Zhang Hai said, pointing to the data chart, "whenever the network undergoes large-scale expansion, the cores react strongly. There is some kind of connection between them that we have yet to understand."