"Vying for authority over the dream world, is it...?"
The moment Diya burst her tenth bubble, she felt a tenuous connection form between herself and the Dream Treasury.
Though she couldn't contact the Gospel god, the information currently available was already enough for her to piece together the truth.
The devils couldn't possibly be here for the collections; the only thing worthy of their attention was this world itself.
Yet compared to fighting over a world, Diya was far more astonished to realize that this place was actually the very Dream Treasury Yaxiu had used before.
That Yaxiu harbored secrets was something everyone tacitly understood. Or rather, at the beginning, they had all wanted to claim his secrets for themselves; it was just that along the way, their appetites had grown, no longer satisfied with mere secrets.
Thus, none of them were in a hurry. Once the person belonged to them, his secrets would naturally fall into their hands as well.
It had to be said that while genuine affection was the fundamental reason, Yaxiu's status as a trophy had undeniably stoked the operators' competitive drive.
*Did Yaxiu foresee this very moment, and that was why he let us use the Dream Treasury in the past?*
The ten bubbles Diya had burst were all collections she had equipped back then. This advantage put her ahead of the vast majority of sorcerers and even gave her a shot at the Dream Treasury's world authority, all thanks to Yaxiu.
On second thought, however, she realized that couldn't be right. If Yaxiu had known, he definitely would have told them. He hadn't known; this was all merely a fortunate coincidence.
By now, Diya was already beginning to feel uncomfortable. Absorbing ten collections in a row had placed a considerable burden on her consciousness, and she estimated her limit was around thirty to forty collections.
Advantaged as they were compared to other sorcerers, their actual strength simply couldn't shoulder such an immense opportunity. Their appetites were too small; taking in this modest amount was just enough to fill their stomachs, but taking any more would burst them wide open.
*This is fine.*
Diya relaxed. Sifting through an ocean of collections to find the ones she had once equipped would inevitably take time. She might not get completely full, but at least there wouldn't be any danger.
When she had first realized she could absorb collections with ease, she had thought she could take whatever she wanted here.
Faced with gains beyond imagination, it was nearly impossible for a sorcerer to suppress their greed, to say nothing of how desperately they lacked the strength to protect the person they loved. Diya asked herself: if she could absorb collections without restraint, she would definitely...
Push herself beyond her limits...
*Buzz—*
Like a spike piercing through his soul, Yaxiu's white orb of light froze in midair and slowly began to disperse. Only after several seconds did it coalesce again, restoring his consciousness.
Clutching his head tightly, he rested for a few seconds before decisively popping another collection bubble drifting past. *Boom!*
Yet another wave of knowledge assaulted him. Yaxiu felt as if he had plunged ten thousand meters into the deep sea, the crushing water pressure threatening to compress him into foam. Trembling all over, he held fast to that single spark of awareness in his heart, barely keeping his consciousness from shattering.
Thirty-five.
He clearly realized that thirty-five collections was his absolute limit. If he continued, his mind and memories would be swallowed whole by knowledge—the knowledge contained in these thirty-five collections stacked up to be heavier than his entire twenty-odd years of life.
He was simply too young.
Yaxiu was utterly certain that Weixi's result would be several times, if not ten times, greater than his own. Not only did Weixi possess a vastly deeper life experience, but the Spectre Prophet's willpower had been tempered by the ages, brilliant as a diamond, dazzling, radiant, and unfading.
Silver Lantern would undoubtedly perform far better here as well. From childhood, she had carried the heavy mission of destroying the world, willingly concealing her true name and betraying everything for the sake of the hope in her heart. Youlan Weise's will was a silver lantern that even darkness could never overshadow.
The Witch was no slouch either. Though she had once been frail enough to split herself into sisters for mutual warmth, she had also been strong enough to surrender her wish for the sake of Gospel's people and don a heavy crown. Lisidiya was not just his daughter, his sister, and his comrade-in-arms, but an empress revered by hundreds of millions of living souls.
And Sword Princess...
Steadying his mind, Yaxiu popped another collection bubble and fought tooth and nail against the torrent of knowledge!
Perhaps because he had once possessed the Dream Treasury, he could pop any collection here without restriction.
The only thing limiting him was his own endurance.
When he burst the tenth bubble and formed a connection with the Dream Treasury, Yaxiu knew this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Stealing an entire layer of the Void Realm—though he had no idea just how massive the benefits would be, a fortune coveted even by divine masters would surely drastically lower the difficulty of the Hell Trial!
It was also at this point that Yaxiu couldn't help pondering why he had drawn "Aurora's Dream Treasury" from *Aurora's Sorcerer Handbook* in the first place. To say he had never suspected something fishy about the handbook would be an outright lie; he had simply been too lazy to dwell on it, and lacked the qualifications to do so anyway.
Source crystals were precious resources coveted even by demigods, and sorcerers forming parties in the Void Realm was an unimaginable miracle. Yaxiu was still just a mortal; asking him to study the handbook was like telling a tea-egg vendor to research the atomic bomb—either way, they'd just end up researching a big fat egg.
All he needed to know was that the handbook provided him with help.
Yet coming across the Dream Treasury now, Yaxiu couldn't help wondering whether drawing "Aurora's Dream Treasury" back then had been preparation for this very day.
More precisely, was entering the true Dream Treasury an inevitable milestone in his life? Had he never truly held the reins of his own destiny, with everything he had experienced up to now being nothing more than the machinations of some unknown entity?
However, this metaphysical musing quickly came to an end. It wasn't that Yaxiu gave up thinking, but rather that he immediately found counter-evidence—he had nearly died several times!
In the Gospel Nation, if the Witch hadn't sacrificed herself of her own accord, he would currently be Empress Yayin (Male) of Gospel; it had truly been that close!
In the Senluo Nation, if Silver Lantern hadn't forged a bond with him, he never would have been able to pierce the darkness with the Silver Lantern god, ending up as a sacrificial burial companion for the Senluo Azure Lord instead!
Beyond that, there was Freya, Igola, Harvey, Gwen, Chikala, Tamashi...
He had not survived those tribulations through his own strength alone, nor by relying on the handbook, but by relying on the people he cherished.
His life couldn't possibly be controlled, because his life didn't belong to him alone—he had already exchanged portions of his life with so many others.
Clearing his mind, Yaxiu stopped worrying over such trivialities, focusing instead on utilizing this advantage to carve out a future for himself and everyone else.
But he truly had reached his limit.
Clasping his head tightly, his thoughts broke and hitched, the knowledge echoing in his brain like screeching static. He knew he had already done his best, but he still wanted to do better.
Because he had seen Sonia's swordsmanship reach the legendary realm.
He had also seen Diya train in the soul faction in an effort to break free of her dependence on her sisters.
Yaxiu could accept that they were stronger than him—he was even happy for them. But that didn't mean he would comfortably sit back and accept it. He knew full well just how much effort they had to pour in to achieve such heights, which was why he had to seize opportunities like this and catch up to them as much as possible.
He didn't want to squander their trust; he wanted to prove he was worthy of their devotion.
Opening his eyes, Yaxiu cleared away the clutter of noise and reached out toward a collection bubble once more. *Boom!*
Faced with a knowledge storm capable of drowning his memories, Yaxiu clung fiercely to that inner spark of awareness, grinding down the raging tempest bit by bit. Yet perhaps he truly had hit his limit. For a long while, the knowledge storm continued to engulf his consciousness, showing no sign of weakening.
*Is this as far as I go...?*
Just as a sigh rose in Yaxiu's heart, he suddenly realized a beam of silver light was piercing through the storm of knowledge. Seizing the opening, his consciousness regained control over his dream vessel.
Yaxiu opened his eyes and looked along the direction of the silver beam, gazing blankly toward the far reaches of the deep, abyssal dark.
This silver light—he had seen it before.
At the same time, every sorcerer saw the radiance reaching out from the depths of the darkness. The overwhelming majority wore bewildered expressions; only a select few, such as Igola, vaguely sensed something, though they still couldn't comprehend what was happening.
Only the devils' faces drained of color. "How is this possible...?"
Yinzhi's expression was grim to the extreme. "Inside Little Zhan's dream... there's still someone else?!"
Chapter 935