Changing of Eras

Inside a dream bubble, a white-haired hunter quietly appeared on the street. "Those idiots at the Celestial Eye Bureau sounded so certain, yet there wasn't a single lead. What a waste of my time," Gerard cursed under his breath. "It hasn't even been a year—how could the Four Pillar Cult rekindle their ashes so quickly? Did Yaxiu Heath come back with a death wish or something?" As an exceedingly rare prophecy agency in the Blood Moon Country, the Celestial Eye Bureau was not technically superior to the Sin Hunting Hall in rank, but the Sin Hunting Hall was required to fulfill any directive issued by them. In particular, after the Celestial Eye Bureau prophesied that the Four Pillar Cult was rising once more in Kaimeng, the Sin Hunting Hall had to work overtime day and night to ferret out every potential threat. In the end, Gerard didn't find shit. Setting aside the total absence of blood sacrifices, murders, or kidnappings, an evil cult at least had to hold large-scale prayer gatherings, didn't they? Yet when Gerard and his subordinates combed through all intelligence on mass gatherings over the past half year, aside from busting a pyramid scheme den, they turned up nothing else. It wasn't as if the Sin Hunting Hall hadn't considered the possibility of the Four Pillar Cult putting on a legitimate front to assemble and pray through legal avenues. But they had already investigated every gathering that brushed the edge of suspicion, and the rest were simply beyond doubt—it was impossible that anime conventions, celebrity fan clubs, and patient support groups were evil cults, right? After running around busy for days, Gerard finally had time to enter the Distant Sky Realm. He looked up, glancing toward the distant Dream Heaven, wondering if he should get involved, but it was so late now that he probably wouldn't even catch warm shit... Crack. Gerard turned his head and saw a fissure bursting through the space beside him. ...What? Crack, crack, crack. Gerard watched helplessly as everything around him collapsed and vanished. Almost instantaneously, he flew out of the dream bubble and rushed toward Dream Heaven with all his might. He glanced back, only to realize that it wasn't just the dream bubble—the entire Distant Sky Realm was crumbling. The distant space was rushing away like a roaring waterfall, yet no black voids or anything of the sort appeared. Instead, Gerard saw an immense expanse of twisted radiance sweeping across the perimeter, as if space had turned into a scroll painting and all he was seeing was the canvas being rolled up! Any so-called tsunami, avalanche, or volcanic eruption paled into complete insignificance before this. Gerard transformed into a streak of blood and fled at breakneck speed. Everywhere his eyes fell, Sanctuary sorcerers were in flight, dream bubbles shattered one after another, and the entire world was twisting and collapsing inward. Even without knowing why this was happening, as a Sanctuary sorcerer, Gerard could still sense that he was likely witnessing a monumental shift of the era. If this cataclysm did not cease, and all of space ultimately converged completely... Then the next time he stepped through the Gate of Truth, he would probably behold a brand-new third layer of the Void Realm... *** "The Distant Sky Realm... is about to cease to exist," Yaxiu murmured. As sorcerers who had walked the Path of Origin, he and Diya both understood the implication behind those words. It didn't mean the third layer of the Void Realm was vanishing, but the so-called Distant Sky Realm had been nothing more than a grand dream of the Prime Angel from the very beginning. Now that the Prime Angel's rainbow imaginary wings had been completely snapped, it could no longer reach the third layer of the Void Realm, making it naturally impossible to sustain the vast dream that was the Distant Sky Realm. The third layer of the Void Realm would still exist, but it would no longer be the Distant Sky Realm. This great sacred ground, which had weathered thousands upon thousands of years of seasons, trodden by countless sorcerers and altered by countless sorcerers, would now usher in both ruin and rebirth before the eyes of countless witnesses. Even a mudblood sorcerer like Yaxiu couldn't help but feel a sweeping sense of both immensity and insignificance, as though bearing witness to the birth of greatness, and equally to its demise. Accompanied by violent tremors, they saw a ruby crystal wall rumbling upward on one side of the sky curtain, while the other side shimmered with white light. A distinct boundary ran between them, as if two realms that had never touched were finally joining together. "Just as I thought," Lehuai mused. "What? What is it?" "If you're willing to hang out with big sis, I wouldn't mind telling you what's going on," Yinzhi said with a smile. Before Yaxiu could speak, Diya quickly hugged his arm and chirped, "The red crystal wall in the sky is Ruby Mountain, and the white light is the White Bull!" Only then did Lehuai take a proper look at the Witch, then glanced at Yinzhi. Noticing the striking resemblance between them, realization dawned upon him. Yinzhi sighed. "Asking Gospel is worse than asking me. Honestly, if you'd just begged me a little, I would've told you. After all, this beautiful maiden is a blabbermouth who can't keep a secret—I never hide anything." Lehuai snorted with a loud burst of laughter, dripping with derision. "The red crystal wall is Ruby Mountain, and the white light is the White Bull..." Yaxiu looked at the seam where the two met in the sky curtain and asked uncertainly, "So as things stand, Ruby Mountain and the White Bull have joined together?" "Actually, from the very beginning, Ruby Mountain and the White Bull were connected. It was the Prime Angel who forcibly created the Distant Sky Realm, thereby severing Ruby Mountain from the White Bull," Yinzhi explained leisurely. "Think about it. Even though the Void Realm is divided into layers, the Knowledge Sea and the Time Continent are physically connected. Yet the Distant Sky Realm isn't connected to the Time Continent, nor is it connected to Ruby Mountain. It's obvious that it wasn't formed naturally, but originated from the Prime Angel's will." When Yaxiu thought about it, it truly was so. He couldn't help but ask in confusion, "Why would the Prime Angel do that?" "Who knows?" Yinzhi said. "Maybe it liked dreaming. Maybe it didn't want anyone disturbing it on Ruby Mountain. Or maybe..." She shrugged. "It didn't want anyone to trigger the Hell Trial." Yaxiu looked at the fading rainbow pillar of light ahead and asked, "Now that the Prime Angel no longer sustains the Distant Sky Realm, what will become of the third layer of the Void Realm?" "Why is Dream Heaven, such a colossal world secret realm, found only in the Distant Sky Realm?" Yinzhi countered. "Why isn't there one in the Knowledge Sea, the Time Continent, or Ruby Mountain?" "Because the world secret realms in other places were stolen by the Divine Lords," Yaxiu answered without missing a beat, and Diya nodded repeatedly in agreement. They no longer harbored any doubts about the shameless greed of the Divine Lords. Ruby Mountain had been stripped bare, and the culprits were obvious at a glance. "...You're not entirely wrong, but Dream Heaven can serve directly as the cornerstone of a Kingdom of Heaven. The world secret realms elsewhere aren't nearly this vast," Yinzhi said. "Dream Heaven was the original third layer of the Void Realm. "With the Distant Sky Realm gone, the Void Realm will naturally expand Dream Heaven into the new third layer. It's actually quite fascinating: while the Distant Sky Realm provided sorcerers with a place to study the space faction, it also suppressed a faction that should have emerged for countless years." Yaxiu caught on immediately. "The dream faction?" Yinzhi nodded. "The mind and dreams are inherently the mental forces most accessible to humanity. The mind faction has flourished, while the dream faction has remained dormant to this day, all because Dream Heaven was left idle all along. "You should know that the River of Flowing Gold originates from the time generated by all things in the world. In truth, all sorcery resources are the same—fire, water, lightning, mind, space... all forms of sorcery exist because sentient beings explore the world, prompting the Void Realm to birth corresponding concepts. But for humans to delve deeper into a concept, the Void Realm must resonate with them. "Such resonance doesn't bring only benefits. For instance, without the River of Flowing Gold, everything in the world would grind to a halt, yet it would also achieve eternal immortality." Yinzhi continued, "Once Dream Heaven becomes the third layer of the Void Realm, it will resonate with all living beings. An inundation of dreams will alter the lives of countless people. "Some will be frightened to death by terrifying nightmares; some will obtain an entry ticket to the prophecy faction through prophetic dreams; others will swap souls with someone else because of dreams. Opportunities and risks coexist, but mortals will largely suffer the risks, while sorcerers can calmly reap the opportunities. "What follows next... will be the golden age of the dream faction." Yaxiu suddenly remembered a saying: no matter what happens, it is always the absolute weakest who pay the price, and the absolute strongest who reap the rewards.