Turning Illusion into Reality

The sudden upheaval caught everyone present by surprise. Void Supreme, in particular, looked so grim his face seemed ready to drip water. The Void Realm was his personal domain, sealed off from all perception from the outside world. In theory, no one should have been able to find it, let alone force their way in. The exterior of the Void Realm was far more fragile than its interior. To breach it from the outside required at least the strength of Venerable Yiqi—meaning the late Tribulation Transcendence stage. Sensing the flickering marks on the palms of Fu Ling and her sister, he understood. The intruder had left markers on the two sisters and traced them here. Although Void Supreme had no idea what the Twin River was or how these sisters were connected to it, anyone who stepped into the Void Realm had to leave their life behind! Anyone entering the Void Realm might discover the ability of his rudimentary Dao fruit, and thus could never be permitted to leave alive! Once that ability was exposed, opponents would devise counter-measures, drastically diminishing his future advantage. Whether this tall, gaunt bamboo pole was at the late Tribulation Transcendence stage, Tribulation Transcendence peak, or even a half-immortal, he was confident he could keep him here forever! "The Twin River?" Hearing the familiar name, Lu Yang asked Immortal Fairy, "Fairy, is that the Twin River you created, the one that makes people give birth to twins when they drink from it? Were the Fu Ling sisters born because their mother drank from the Twin River?" Lu Yang recalled what Fu Ling had mentioned: their mother had gone to Gulin Temple to seek a child from an eminent monk named Master Yuxin. What happened during the process was unknown, but in the end, she gave birth to the twin sisters. So had Master Yuxin given their mother water from the Twin River to drink? "Now that you mention it, that's entirely possible." Immortal Fairy let out an inquisitive murmur and examined the sisters closely, but saw nothing unusual. "Fairy, can't you tell whether the sisters are products of the Twin River?" Immortal Fairy rolled her eyes. "Who could tell? It's not like I gave birth to them! But if these two girls really are tied to the Twin River, it might be possible to follow their trail to find it." "How do we find it?" "That's simple enough. I can just cast a little spell to trace origins back to the source. But only I can use that trick—the tall, gaunt bamboo pole who just showed up definitely doesn't know it." "Then what's his method?" Lu Yang stole a glance at the two figures confronting each other in midair. Both were haughty figures fully confident in their own might; this confrontation would hardly be resolved with a few civil words. "Beings born from the Child-and-Mother River or the Twin River share a trait: upon death, their souls dissolve into formless energy and return to the river, becoming part of it once more—the so-called falling leaves returning to their roots. But there is a prerequisite: they must die very peacefully." "Why is there such a requirement?" Lu Yang didn't understand. "Mortals are born without inherent good or evil, and the Child-and-Mother River and Twin River must maintain absolute purity. If someone dies with regrets or deep resentment, it pollutes the river and affects future lives born from it. That's why I added that restriction." "I see." Lu Yang nodded. It appeared Immortal Fairy had actually given thoughtful consideration when creating the two rivers. "That skinny bamboo pole probably wants the girls to die happily in a dream. When that happens, their true spirits will return to the Twin River, leading him straight to it. But he only managed to leave his marks on them and wasn't ready to pull them into a dream before this Void brat dragged them all into the Void Realm together." Immortal Fairy's guess was spot-on. Just as Void Supreme was gripped by murderous intent upon seeing an intruder, the tall, gaunt bamboo pole was in no better temper. He had expended immense effort in his search for the Twin River. After awakening, he had heard about Master Yuxin's miraculous ability to grant children, realizing that Master Yuxin must have known the river's whereabouts. Unfortunately, by then Master Yuxin had already passed away from old age, leaving no leads to follow. He had been forced to settle for the second-best option: tracking down the last scions of the Twin River, the twin sisters. Killing them outright would fill their true spirits with resentment, preventing them from returning to the river. Yet he could not afford to wait a hundred years for them to die of old age. Moreover, as scions of the Twin River, they were blessed with immense karmic fortune, making them difficult to kill by ordinary means. The only viable path was to let them pass away in their dreams. He had tracked the sisters down, intending to have them live out an entire lifetime in a dream tonight and peacefully pass away in their sleep. Who could have foreseen that this incident would erupt before nightfall? This was the Twin River, an immortal creation, a legendary relic and ancient supreme treasure crafted by Immortal Ying Tian! Its value rivaled immortal artifacts, embodying Immortal Ying Tian's supreme divine abilities and the dao charms of heaven and earth. Anyone who stood between him and the Twin River was an irreconcilable enemy! "I am taking these two with me," the tall, gaunt bamboo pole said coldly, regarding Void Supreme with utter disdain. Void Supreme bristled at his commanding tone. "Fellow Daoist, isn't that looking down on me a bit too much?" "Will you hand them over, or not?" Against anyone obstructing his fortuitous encounter, the tall, gaunt man offered not a shred of courtesy. "And if I say no?" "Then we let our fists do the talking!" Both possessed unyielding pride, and neither would concede an inch. Besides, Void Supreme had never intended to let the intruder leave alive. "Myriad Creations!" With a mere thought from Void Supreme, a dizzying array of magic treasures materialized—nearly a hundred varieties, every single one coated in incurable, lethal poison that promised certain death at the slightest touch! "Void Collapse!" The space beneath the tall, gaunt man's feet distorted violently into a quagmire from which he could not break free. Faced with the swarming treasures, there was nowhere to dodge! The Void Realm was Void Supreme's home turf; he held absolute command here! Confronted by this lethal, inescapable onslaught, the tall, gaunt man knitted his brows. He had not expected the other party's ability to be conjuring matter from nothing. He uttered softly, "Enter Dream." With those two words, the entire Void Realm sank into a hazy state suspended between reality and illusion, as though everything were false, yet everything were real. A veil seemed to fall over everyone's minds, dulling their thoughts. Even Venerable Yiqi was slightly affected, though his clarity returned an instant later. Only two individuals present remained entirely unaffected: Void Supreme and Lu Yang. "Fairy, what is going on?" Immortal Fairy wore an intrigued smile. "Now this is getting interesting. It looks like this bamboo pole's rudimentary Dao fruit is tied to dreams. Right now, he has fused the Void Realm with a dreamscape. All of you are both inside a dream and in reality at the same time. "In the outside world, the most he could do would be dragging everyone into a dream. But this is the Void Realm, not a true world. Here, his rudimentary Dao fruit can exert even greater power, allowing the dream to directly influence reality. He is not far from the realm of 'turning illusion into reality.' "And that isn't even the most fascinating part. Do you know what is?" "What is it?" "One of their rudimentary Dao fruits creates a void realm, while the other creates dreams. Both belong to the lineage of 'turning illusion into reality'—and that lineage has never produced an immortal. Do you remember why Immortal Kirin, Lianyi, and Xiaoling fought that great war?" Lu Yang's pupils contracted as the meaning struck him. "You mean... only one of them can achieve immortality?" "Precisely. The struggle for immortality is a battle to the death!" Venerable Yiqi, a beat slower, realized this was a dreamscape as well, and his heart gave a sudden jolt. He did not understand the true stakes behind the struggle for immortality, nor that these two were locked in a fight to the death. But he had pieced together the tall, gaunt man's identity. "Dreams... a dream rudimentary Dao fruit... Could he be the Nightmare Supreme?!" The Nightmare Supreme, a figure from the late Great Qian era who wielded the rudimentary Dao fruit of dreams, had once contested the world against the founding Emperor Yu, suffering a narrow defeat.