Above the Xuanhuang Realm, the skies suddenly shifted. Whether it was the power of the revived Star Sea or the sweeping vista beheld after ascending high above, both were profound mysteries that had once been utterly beyond the reach of the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao. It drew upon them greedily and instinctively in a ceaseless flow.
Corresponding changes also quietly stirred throughout heaven and earth. Yet, this was destined to be a process just as protracted as the revival of the Star Sea itself. Having only just begun, it was still in its embryonic stage, and almost no one in the Xuanhuang Realm could discern this subtle transformation.
As the source of this profound shift—and especially while remaining linked with the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao—Li Fan could naturally take in the evolving changes between heaven and earth at a glance. This was an evolutionary power running completely counter to the Xuanhuang World Extinction Change. Yet it was just as vast and surging, stirring the depths of one's soul.
Li Fan also felt the rapid surge in the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao's favor toward him. Armed with the might of the Star Sea's origin, coupled with the tangible benefits of his generous lectures, his blend of grace and authority caused its favor to rise at a rate that far surpassed even that of the Sacred Emperor in his previous life!
Only when the growth of its favor gradually slowed did Li Fan temporarily bring this lecture to an end. The Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao clung to him, reluctant to let him go, but Li Fan took his leave decisively, returning straight to the Great Qi pocket world and severing the heavenly connection.
As Li Fan's birthplace and the initial site of his teachings in this life, the sky above Great Qi had not been engulfed by a wall of darkness like the other pocket worlds. However, the lecture platform stood towering and majestic, its scale likewise spanning almost the entirety of human habitation. As living beings listened to the Saint Teacher's sermons, their thoughts and insights were simultaneously recorded within the lecture platform for Li Fan to perceive. It was as if billions upon billions of living beings were assisting Li Fan in contemplating the Dao all at once, yielding insights that encompassed every conceivable wonder under heaven.
At present, however, aside from the Great Qi lecture platform, the stray meditative thoughts of all living beings in the other pocket worlds were entirely channeled into the breach in the High Wall. This was precisely why Li Fan chose to preserve Great Qi as it was: to ensure the continued diversity of these contemplative insights.
Inside the Lecture Sky, the simulated heavenly persona—resembling a silver eye—appeared still on the surface. In reality, it rotated more than a billion times every single moment, gazing upon the sentient beings of Great Qi in contemplation, the mountains and trees of the pocket world, and the drifting clouds and flowing waters below. Compared to when this simulated heavenly persona had first been created, the silver eye was far more vivid now. It no longer looked like an artificial creation of a cultivator, but rather like a genuine living creature.
"What, exactly, is a world's Heavenly Dao?"
Cowed by might and fawning over strength—the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao's temperament, bearing an uncanny resemblance to that of a pet dog, remained fresh in his mind. Li Fan could not help but ponder the question.
Opening his left hand, wisps of intangible intent floated within what looked like a golden circular cage. These were the wills of pocket world Heavenly Daos that had dared to resist when he raised the dark high walls across the pocket worlds not long ago. Li Fan had extracted every one of them and imprisoned them here, substituting them with simulated heavenly personas to keep the various pocket worlds running normally.
"What I extracted was not the complete Heavenly Dao of those worlds. They should merely be the Heavenly Personas formed over long years in those pocket worlds, endowed with various temperaments. Once extracted, the pocket worlds revert to a primal state, operating purely by instinct—provided they are not supplemented by my simulated heavenly personas...
"The temperament of a world's Heavenly Persona should correlate with the world's size, its resources, and various other factors.
"Take this wisp, for example. It originates from a disaster-ridden pocket world, so it feels exceptionally cautious, brimming with vigilance toward the outside world. And this wisp comes from a mortal realm of similar size to Great Qi. Complete with all manner of things, it carries quite an upright and dignified air. Setting scale aside, it feels even more 'orthodox' than the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao..."
Li Fan distinguished the various world Heavenly Personas within the cage, then unhurriedly fed them one by one to the silver eye before him.
Though he did not yet know how a world's Heavenly Persona was born or what precise conditions were required, Li Fan was certain that the gestation of a Heavenly Persona itself represented a form of power. Almost visibly, as the silver eye slowly devoured these pocket world Heavenly Personas, it became increasingly lifelike. To Li Fan, it felt more and more "vivid." While it had resembled a living entity before, it had been far from its current state, where it seemed almost identical to a pet with a true soul.
Before devouring the Heavenly Personas, the silver eye had merely carried out Li Fan's orders faithfully, monitoring and sensing the thoughts of the living beings within the Great Qi pocket world. Now, however, the silver eye would occasionally observe Li Fan in secret, its divine gaze unmistakably carrying an ingratiating intent.
When Li Fan met its gaze, it seemed emboldened, rolling its eye playfully in a show of coaxing affection.
"Interesting."
From its look, Li Fan could read its yearning for more Heavenly Personas. Remaining impassive, Li Fan gave a slight beckoning wave. The silver eye proactively drifted closer, nestling against Li Fan's outstretched hand.
In an instant, countless thoughts from the Great Qi pocket world—both past and present—appeared around Li Fan, categorized with immaculate precision. The silver eye had thoughtfully organized and classified them all to facilitate his review. With a single thought from Li Fan, the silver eye sensed his intent instantly, categorizing, sorting, and presenting precisely what he required.
"Compared to before, it is undoubtedly far more intelligent and convenient.
"No wonder during the ancient era of cultivation, they were so fond of refining an entire realm into a magic treasure. This world Heavenly Persona is practically the pinnacle of an artifact spirit." Looking at the silver eye before him, Li Fan fell into deep thought.
"It is a pity that even after devouring so many pocket world Heavenly Personas, this silver eye still feels a considerable distance away from the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao.
"Hoping to replace it with this seems somewhat unrealistic for now.
"What, then, is the key factor governing its qualitative leap?"
If he could use his own creation to replace the consciousness of the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao, it would undoubtedly be a milestone of immense significance. Only by thoroughly forging the Xuanhuang Realm into an unshakeable bastion belonging entirely to him could it serve as a bridgehead for exploring beyond the High Wall.
As Li Fan contemplated the thoughts of living beings transmitted by the silver eye, he continued to ponder. Suddenly, a piece of information highlighted by the silver eye sprang forward.
Li Fan's gaze sharpened slightly. It was the synchronized perception of the experiences of Sun Erlang, Wang Xuanba, and Yue Zhenwei.
Previously, guided by Li Fan's subtle hints, they had ventured toward the territory of the Five Elders Association in search of a Nascent Soul grotto-heaven. Yet after a series of twists and turns, they had wandered into the Carefree Paradise by mistake. Trapped in a dream world teeming with man-eating demons, they had finally discovered a way to break through and escape, but they had not left the Paradise. To unravel its secrets, they had been forced to proceed toward the remaining two dream boundaries.
"After all this time, they should have discovered something by now.
"The Carefree Paradise..."
With a shift of his thought, countless flickers of light and shadow surged toward Li Fan. The recent trials of Sun Erlang and the others surfaced in an instant.
Having the experience of clearing the first dream world, Sun Erlang's group had originally assumed the remaining two worlds would be considerably easier. But reality proved that they had vastly underestimated the perils of the Carefree Paradise.
The second dream world they entered was a terrifying apocalypse unlike anything they had ever heard of. In the vast Star Sea, civilization lay in ruins and vitality had withered. A horrific species of alien bugs had become the true overlords of the cosmos. Wherever the swarm passed, it devoured all living beings across the land, leaving behind nothing but hard, indigestible stone.
When Sun Erlang and his companions arrived, all they saw was a desolate earth mired in dead silence. Their mission was to survive for six months under the relentless siege of the swarm army that had yet to evacuate the surface.
This second dream world was entirely different from the first. There were no riddles; the moment they entered, the mission prompt and the method to leave the world surfaced automatically in their minds, complete with mission rewards. Initially, Sun Erlang and the others did not think the task would be particularly difficult. But once they clashed with the sky-blotting swarm, they realized how wrong they were.
Even having received teachings from the Saint Teacher's phantom and mastering numerous combat divine abilities, they experienced helplessness for the first time in the face of an overwhelmingly superior swarm. The bugs were simply impossible to wipe out. No matter how many they slew with their arts, countless more quickly burrowed out from beneath the earth, filling the void.
Having suffered bitter setbacks, the trio promptly shifted their tactics, fighting while retreating. Yet the swarm spanned virtually every corner of the world; wherever they fled, an endless tide of insects pursued them relentlessly. In less than seven days, the three were pushed to the brink of despair. Wang Xuanba cursed loudly, convinced that the task was fundamentally impossible to complete.
Fortunately, Sun Erlang had learned the spirit-devouring art of the boar demon statue in the previous dream world. In the midst of the bitter struggle, he finally attained basic mastery over it. From then on, he fed upon the corpses of the swarm, sustaining battle through battle. With an endless supply of resources and no fear of depletion, their situation improved considerably.
With Sun Erlang holding the line, Wang Xuanba had a stroke of luck, discovering an exceedingly powerful treasure inside the belly of an alien bug. It was capable of summoning a mechanical puppet thirty zhang tall. At first, the puppet remained motionless upon being summoned. But after some experimentation, Wang Xuanba uncovered its true usage. Transforming his body into phantom light, he entered within and achieved complete unity of body and mind with the colossal puppet, utilizing its immense might to slaughter the swarm.
Though matters appeared to improve, facing an inexhaustible sea of alien bugs still drove Sun Erlang and the others toward despair. Having persevered bitterly for nearly three months, their bodies and wills had nearly reached their limits. Considering that they would not truly die in a dream anyway, they almost entertained the thought of giving up.
At the critical juncture, it was the meticulous Yue Zhenwei who noticed that while the swarm appeared to act on pure instinct, their movements consistently conformed to a certain hidden pattern—as though something were orchestrating them from the shadows.
This discovery reinvigorated their spirits. Once they confirmed that Yue Zhenwei's finding held a high degree of probability, the three resolved to stake everything on a single gamble. Spared no expense, they used themselves as bait and ultimately drew out the mastermind behind the swarm.
They had originally assumed the master would be a higher-ranking entity among the alien bugs. But when it finally revealed itself, it left Sun Erlang and his companions completely dumbfounded. For the entity commanding the swarm was unmistakably a cultivator's creation: a purple-gold gourd densely inscribed with unfamiliar talismans. Perched atop the gourd stood a carved wooden boy.
He pointed a finger at the besieged trio. Below him, the purple-gold gourd emitted eerie lights of various colors, driving the myriad insects into a frenzy as they threw themselves at Sun Erlang and the others without regard for their lives. The three knew that as long as they defeated the wooden boy and seized control of the purple-gold gourd, they would gain command over the swarm, making the task of surviving six months an effortless feat.
Thus, they launched a desperate struggle. Wang Xuanba transformed into the mechanical puppet to draw the swarm's attention, while Sun Erlang shot forward like a sharp arrow, charging straight for the wooden boy regardless of his own safety. Meanwhile, concealed in the shadows, Yue Zhenwei—the weakest among them—delivered the final blow, shattering the wooden carving.
By the end of the battle, all three were battered and clinging to life, deeply trapped in the boundless insect tide. But as Yue Zhenwei gripped the purple-gold gourd in his hand, the ferocious insects froze in place, as if encased in ice. From that point on, completing the survival mission was no longer in question.
Two months later, the second dream world was cleared.
Upon leaving the dream, not only were their injuries fully healed, but Yue Zhenwei had also brought the purple-gold gourd out with him. Contained within the gourd were no fewer than nine trillion, nine hundred ninety-nine billion, nine hundred million Star-Devouring Bugs!
Naturally, at the Golden Core stage, Yue Zhenwei could not unleash the treasure's full might; he could only mobilize the weakest nine hundred million Star-Devouring Bugs. As his realm advanced, both the number and strength of the bugs he could deploy would steadily rise.
Despite obtaining such a supreme treasure, Yue Zhenwei and the others showed little joy. Instead, boundless confusion and dread welled in their hearts. Nearly ten trillion Star-Devouring Bugs was a force capable of devastating heaven and earth even within the true Xuanhuang Realm. Yet now, such power was wielded by a mere Golden Core cultivator. Although it was only within a dream and uncertain whether it could be brought back to reality, it still felt utterly absurd to them. They had achieved such a haul after only a short time in the dream; it was truly hard to imagine what kind of accumulations those who had stayed in the dream indefinitely might possess.
Filled with trepidation, they rested briefly before setting out toward the third dream.
With a treasure like the purple-gold gourd and the aid of nine hundred million Star-Devouring Bugs, clearing the third world should have been a breeze, right?
Yet upon entering the third dream world, reality struck them another heavy blow. The instant they entered, all three were transformed into immobile, speechless straw men. Their spiritual power and treasures had vanished without a trace, leaving them able to converse only in the simplest manner via the dream's inherent power.
This time, there were no attacks from demon beasts or swarms of bugs. Nor was there any mission prompt from the dream. There were only three straw men lying quietly upon a black rock that seemed perched atop an immense mountain peak, enduring the scorching sun, biting wind, pouring rain, and crashing thunder.
Unable to move, the three initially spent every day contemplating what the condition for completing the mission might be. But as the days drifted by, their resolve began to crumble.
Chapter 1355