Over two thousand years ago.
Deep within the boundless abyss of the Dream Treasury, a speck of green light suddenly emerged. The point of light rapidly multiplied and divided until it formed the petite, exquisite figure of a young girl.
She was petite, bare-shouldered and barefoot, with emerald-green eyes and messy, grass-green hair trailing down to her waist, making her look like a little witch from an ancient forest.
"Finally in..." The Senluo Azure Lord wiped nonexistent sweat from her forehead. "The threshold here is ridiculously high. Besides me, probably only the Nightmare Angel of old could ever discover this place, right?
"Looks like raising Dream Heaven was only the Nightmare Angel's first step. Quite the ambitious one, wasn't he... Still, only a sorcerer whose ambition blinded their mind would covet Dream Heaven. Dream Heaven has existed ever since the Void Realm was born, yet in tens of millions of years, not a single divine lord has dared lay their hands on it. With just a little thought, anyone should realize what a hot potato it is."
The Senluo Azure Lord looked up at the vast expanse of collections filling the air, and with a swift turn of thought, understood the underlying mechanism here. She reached out to touch a collection bubble, but it actively veered away and drifted off.
She blinked, curiosity fluttering across her brow and eyes. Transforming into a streak of flowing light, she shot forward, only for the collection bubbles to scatter wherever she went, refusing to let her touch them at all.
"Stingy," she said, both annoyed and amused. "I went through so much trouble to get in, and you won't even give me a tiny reward!"
The Dream Treasury remained dark and profound, tens of millions of collections floating in silence.
"You're being far too wasteful like this... Dreams are the spiritual energy born alongside civilization. Over time, dream resources will only grow more and more vast. Yet you hoarded them all away just to refine these arts, without even using up a hundredth of them. All the other resources are left here to gather mold... Resources don't give birth to little babies on their own, you know!
"The Dream faction doesn't even have a single natural god. You suppressed it so thoroughly that I had to start from scratch when learning the Dream faction. Strangling an entire faction all by yourself—only you could possibly pull that off."
Thinking up to here, the Senluo Azure Lord couldn't help but feel a twinge of bewilderment. "But why did you do this...?"
Any sorcerer with even a passing understanding of the Source Angel and the Distant Sky Realm would believe the Source Angel's behavior was a natural phenomenon, an embodiment of nature much like the sun, the moon, and the stars. Yet once a sorcerer gained deeper insight—like the divine lords—they would realize that the Source Angel did indeed possess a will of its own.
That made things truly strange. The Source Angel could have easily left the third layer of the Void Realm alone, letting it evolve naturally through Dream Heaven. Yet it insisted on dreaming up the Distant Sky Realm. The sole consequence of doing so was halting the development of the Dream faction, blocking the great wheel of history for tens of millions of years.
At that moment, a collection bubble drifted in front of her. Looking closely, she saw it was an iridescent collection: the Hand of Billions of Radiances.
"The Four Pillar Gods? You think the Dream faction would let the Four Pillar Gods run rampant?" The Senluo Azure Lord had a sudden revelation. "Of course. Right now, the Four Pillar Gods still need feelers to interfere with reality. But with dreams as a far superior medium, their wills could reach mortals directly..."
"Mm... that makes sense." She nodded, looking out at the sky full of collections. "I originally planned to carve out a loophole so my kingdom could become the cradle for the Dream faction's rise. But if that's the case, the Dream faction had best remain sealed away for now.
"Still, the kingdom I've envisioned truly needs the power of dreams. Besides, letting these dream resources sit idle like this is such a waste when it only takes a tiny seed to create a god of the Dream faction." The Senluo Azure Lord's eyes danced. "How about this? As compensation for me not smashing your treasury to pieces, open the Dream Treasury to my dream kingdom so I can borrow some of this dream power. Every now and then, I'll send you a few god seeds to help you burn through these dream resources and create a win-win. What do you think? Brilliant idea, isn't it?"
Even the collection bubbles froze for a second. What kind of win-win was that? You win twice?
"If you don't object, I'll take it as an agreement," the Senluo Azure Lord declared with a wave of her small hand. "Look on the bright side: from now on, you won't have to dream all alone anymore. I'll accompany you in slumber.
"Time to go, or that annoying pest Weaver will find me." Her figure began to fade. "Goodbye, Source Angel. The next time we meet...
"...will probably be the day you die."
*
Fourteen hundred years ago, a pale-white soul suddenly emerged from the depths of the darkness. After a moment of silence, a fierce gale whipped through the Dream Treasury. Countless collections converged into the pale-white soul, and in an instant, a handsome young man wearing a white feather-patterned trench coat and a white top hat stepped forth.
The god Pierce Qingji was born.
Seven hundred years ago, a red soul drifted out from the deep darkness. Reconstructed by collections, a red-haired cat-eared girl leapt out from within.
The god Knowing and Guarding Fire was born.
Three hundred and fifty years ago, a cyan soul flew out from the deep darkness. Reconstructed by collections, a long-legged, mature beauty with cyan hair and white feather robes emerged.
The god Wish-Fulfilling was born.
Three months ago, a silver soul drifted into the treasury from the depths of the darkness.
That time, the Dream Treasury stirred up a storm of collections far surpassing the previous three. Collections shattered into pure color, and the darkness overflowed with brilliant rainbow blossoms—like a grand greeting, yet also like a magnificent farewell.
Then, a little girl with five silver tails walked out from the silver radiance. Carrying a silver lantern in her hand, she had long blue hair tucked beneath a white bonnet, a dark-red shawl over platinum priest robes, long black gloves on her hands, and round spectacles on her face.
The god Silver Lantern was born.
From that moment on, the Senluo Dreamscape plunged into darkness...
...
"Little Zhan's hidden card?! Impossible, she's already dead!"
Yinzhi shook her head vigorously. "At most, I might fail to deduce something, but I can never deduce it wrongly! Unless someone's Prophecy realm surpasses mine, it's impossible to interfere with my judgment!"
"Just a minor accident." Taking a deep breath, she told herself, "No matter what, Little Zhan is no longer here."
To the divine lords, it had long been no secret that the Senluo Kingdom was a dream kingdom. And among the world secret realms related to dreams in the Void Realm, the most famous were clearly the Distant Sky Realm and Dream Heaven—or more precisely, the dreams of the Source Angel.
Yet what even Yinzhi hadn't anticipated was that the Senluo Azure Lord had secretly excavated the Dream Treasury as well.
Had the Senluo Azure Lord still been alive, she would have possessed methods to drastically interfere with the Dream Treasury; no one would have been able to outcompete her. But the problem was, she had already fallen.
Even if she had left behind a thousand trump cards, as long as they couldn't be activated, they were irrelevant to the grand picture. As for whether she had a successor... her incurable wounds, the civil strife in her divine kingdom, and the two centuries of the Senluo wasteland era were all thanks to everyone's collective efforts.
Even if she had a successor, it was too late for them to partake in this feast.
Settling her mind, Yinzhi focused on sensing the ongoing struggle for the Dream Treasury.
After plundering more than a hundred collections, she had established a more stable connection with the Dream Treasury. Not only could she tell how much authority she had gained, but she could also faintly perceive the competing efforts of others.
At present, she had seized 2,000 collections, securing roughly 2% of the Dream Treasury's authority. This did not mean the treasury held only 100,000 collections; 2,000 collections likely accounted for merely one ten-thousandth or one thousandth of the total.
The problem was that the Dream Treasury was already on the verge of collapse.
The true load-bearing pillar of the Dream Treasury had been the Source Angel. Now that the Source Angel was gone, it relied on its massive accumulation of collections to temporarily sustain the dreamscape. But that was like losing your main pillar and using countless small sticks of timber to prop up the house. Now that people were willing to serve as its load-bearing pillars, it naturally couldn't wait to hand over authority so the devils could bear more of the strain.
The ratio between the number of collections acquired and the treasury's authority was not linear, but exponential. The further one went, the easier it became to acquire more authority. By Yinzhi's estimation, 2,000 collections granted only 2%, but 10,000 collections would likely yield 100%.
However, obtaining 100% authority was impossible for her.
Yinzhi clearly sensed that besides herself, four others had surpassed the 1,000-collection milestone, having acquired authority of roughly 1.6%, 1.4%, 1.35%, and 1.01%.
The first three were probably the other devils, while the last one with the lowest percentage was clearly the Spectre Prophet.
Still, that was likely the Spectre Prophet's limit as well.
For the Spectre Prophet to claim over 1,000 collections had already far exceeded Yinzhi's expectations; she had assumed this demigod from the old era would cap out at a few hundred.
Yet the main course to follow was destined to be enjoyed only by devils like them... Hm?
At that moment, Yinzhi suddenly noticed the appearance of a sixth competitor who had acquired over 1% authority.
Confusion stirred within her. Four devils plus the Spectre Prophet made only five people. Even if anyone else had the means to burst bubbles rapidly, their willpower wouldn't be able to withstand the massive torrent of knowledge. Only great souls who had set foot in the divine realm could lay claim to this angelic legacy.
Who else had entered the fray?
Still, Yinzhi didn't pay it too much heed, because no one could rival her. Her 2% authority led the pack, and due to exponential growth, her advantage would only snowball, potentially allowing her to claim over 50% of the authority. Those a step behind her would have to divide whatever remained of the other 50%.
Yet right at that moment, she saw the silver radiance originating from the far end of the darkness growing ever clearer, like a silver bridge spanning the vast gloom. Light overflowed, painting the world. Countless collection bubbles reflected the dazzling silver shimmer, and in an instant, the brilliantly glowing Dream Treasury turned into an ethereal wonderland of silver foam.
A foreboding premonition flared stronger and stronger in Yinzhi's heart.
Because she saw a pure-white figure of light appear at the far end of the silver bridge.
The moment the pure-white figure stepped onto the Silver Rainbow Bridge, silver-white radiance spread like frost and cast out like a spiderweb to ensnare nearby collection bubbles, silvering them and absorbing them at an astonishing speed!
Yinzhi watched helplessly as the pure-white figure absorbed over 1,000 collections, swiftly overtaking her 2% authority progress—and without showing the slightest sign of slowing down!
Even Yinzhi had to rest briefly before absorbing more collections!
At this point, who the sixth competitor was no longer mattered, because if this continued, the rest of them would be left with mere scraps. The Dream Treasury would be devoured whole by this fortunate soul favored by the silver light!
Without hesitation, Yinzhi flew straight toward the silver bridge. She wanted to test if she could step onto the silver bridge too, or at the very least gather information on the pure-white figure to see who dared snatch food from the jaws of the devils!
Many others shared her thought. A sky full of light orbs surged toward the silver bridge. Yet as they drew near, the silver light grew increasingly fierce. One after another, they felt their consciousnesses beginning to melt like snow under the sun and were forced to halt outside the bridge, watching the pure-white figure stride toward the far end step by step, feeling as wretched and insignificant as mere lackeys.
The majesty of a god! This silver radiance originated from a god!
Furthermore, Yinzhi could discern that the silver light contained the power of Truth and Dream. That was likely why it could help burst tens of thousands of bubbles while dissolving the torrent of knowledge for the pure-white figure.
Yinzhi was utterly numb.
Devils like them had to rely on themselves, yet someone here could actually lean on a god?! For the first time, she realized her backing wasn't as solid as someone else's.
Why was there a god in the Dream Treasury? Why would a god favor a single person so exclusively? If it were a god of the Senluo Dreamscape—wasn't the Senluo Dreamscape already a ruined realm of absolute annihilation? Even if a god could endure, where would it find the energy to persist?
And don't forget: no matter how many loopholes this Angel Hunt had, the ironclad rule was that only mortals could enter. Barring exceptionally rare cases like the First Gospel, mortals couldn't wield gods. Thus, Yinzhi was absolutely certain that the pure-white figure and the god were not in a master-servant relationship!
Yet if not master and servant, why would a god manifest its radiance for him?
Unless enslaved, a god—no matter how close its relationship with a sorcerer—would at most exert 1% of its might to assist them, because exceeding 1% would deplete its divine origin, which was equivalent to suicide.
Yet this god of silver light was unleashing virtually 100% of its power to help the pure-white figure absorb collections and dissolve the deluge of knowledge! Otherwise, absorbing them as effortlessly as breathing would have been impossible!
Just what kind of relationship could make a god sacrifice everything for a mortal?
For the very first time, Yinzhi had not only lost despite being fully prepared, but she didn't even know how or where she had been bested.
"Is he a divine lord?" came the bewildered murmurs of nearby sorcerers. When confronted with miracles beyond comprehension, their immediate reaction was that this must be a miracle wrought by a divine lord. "Which divine lord could it be, though?"
"It's definitely the Blood Moon Prime Lord!" "Hmph, it's definitely our Boundless Abyss Lord!" "It's absolutely the Lord of Joy!"
"The Omniscient Weaver is the answer!" "The Divine Lord of Stars is bound to be the sole victor!"
Yinzhi quietly retreated to continue absorbing collections, turning her head to see a few other light orbs also rapidly bursting bubbles. Exchanging a glance, they tacitly flew off in different directions to carry out their own scavenging.
Chapter 936