Chapter 197: Entering the True Realm of Illusory Dreams
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Translated by Frog in the Well
Read more at Nineheavens.org
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When Jin So-myeong went to the meeting place, Chae Yeon-bi, who had arrived first and was waiting, bowed her head.
“Have the others not arrived yet?”
“Yes. Not yet.”
Jin So-myeong, who nodded to receive her greeting, crossed his legs in a moderately distant spot.
‘The True Realm of Illusory Dreams… He said it was a space made of dreams and memories.’
Although he was worried and curious about what situation Hong Seol was in currently, there was nothing he could know before entering the secret realm.
In the end, he quietly closed his eyes and meditated.
He repeated the jade slips left by Yeo Mu-rin in his mind, researching whether they could be applied to his existing spells.
How much time had passed?
So Ye-rin, who had the appearance of a young girl though her actual age was unknown, arrived.
Settling quietly in a corner, she kept glancing toward him. As if she had something to say, he directed his gaze at her, and she opened her mouth as if waiting for it.
“Did you know that Cultivator Jin is extremely famous within the Myriad Cultivators Alliance, no, among rogue cultivators?”
“Pardon?”
“Well, of course, since you are a Spell and Body Dual Cultivator. There are many people who are curious about how a rogue cultivator who cannot even receive help from a sect learned body tempering.”
“Mmm…”
“Is there perhaps a secret? Actually, I also tried body tempering cultivation, but I gave up because it required too many cultivation resources. Oh, by the way! Of course I will give you compensation for the information.”
A secret? Naturally, it was the Secret Realm of the Mind derived from the Supreme Great Ability.
If not for the Secret Realm of the Mind that continuously provided spirit stones, he would not have cultivated as easily as he did now.
However, since he could not tell her about the Secret Realm of the Mind, he simply brushed it off with a smile.
“Well.”
Whether because it was not the answer she wanted, So Ye-rin slumped her shoulders in disappointment and did not pry any further.
While he focused on meditation again, before long, Mu Hwi-rang and Ju Gwang returned one after another.
“Everyone has arrived. You likely already know, but because it is important, I will explain again. The True Realm of Illusory Dreams is divided into dreams and memories. You cannot interfere with memories, and it is only possible to watch.”
Unlike dreams, memories cannot be interfered with.
It was said that he would know immediately what that meant once he went and experienced it.
“What we must find is Daoist Hong’s dream. It would be fortunate if there is no problem, but she is likely in a state of being bewitched by a dream. We must wake her to regain her sanity.”
“Understood.”
Ju Gwang, who advised them on several precautions, took the lead, and they soon arrived at a canyon shrouded in thick mist.
A mist so thick that even his Divine Sense was blocked, preventing him from seeing even an inch ahead.
This place was the real entrance leading to the True Realm of Illusory Dreams.
“…”
Just as everyone lost their words at the inability to see ahead and the instinctive fear given by the unknown.
“Let us enter.”
Jin So-myeong’s voice rang out from among those who hesitated, and everyone nodded.
Step, step…
How long had they walked?
He knew not exactly from when, but even the footsteps that had continued regularly vanished without a trace.
Looking down, the ground was not visible.
Yet he was still walking. Was he even moving forward?
The moment a doubt arose.
Light poured from all directions. Startled, he scanned his surroundings and saw an astonishing landscape.
‘Stars?’
Like space.
Something with a circular form sparkled in the endlessly unfolding dense mist; it felt like standing in the middle of a pitch-black space, looking at stars filling all directions.
“Hah.”
“So this is the True Realm of Illusory Dreams.”
As those who moved so closely that their shoulders brushed looked around in astonishment, Ju Gwang, the only one in the group who had experienced the True Realm of Illusory Dreams, spoke.
“Each and every one of those things shaped like stars is someone’s memory or dream.”
“…It is somewhat beautiful. Like the night sky.”
Those who were looking around as if possessed regained their senses one by one. Since the purpose of coming here was clear, they must not look away.
“Let us scatter individually to inspect the surroundings.”
“Do we just need to choose one of those starlights and make contact?”
“Yes. Since this is the place we arrived at by entering together as those related to Daoist Hong, she is highly likely to be nearby.”
“…It will not be easy to find her.”
The starlight filled the surroundings densely, so numerous that it was impossible to count.
At least hundreds of millions.
Literally as many as the stars in the night sky, and there were also some moving like comets.
If Hong Seol was trapped in one of these countless stars, they could not find her in a day or two.
“Oh, right! If you wake Daoist Hong, make sure to send a signal. That way, others can also escape from the True Realm of Illusory Dreams.”
“Understood.”
“Everyone be careful not to lose your mind from being bewitched by a dream… Let us set off.”
Those who nodded scattered. Each moved to a suitable spot, trying to make contact with the surrounding starlights.
However, it was not easy.
The True Realm of Illusory Dreams was a place where space was unstable to the point of having no ground. They could even walk properly and only flailed their limbs.
Jin So-myeong was also similar.
He singled out an exceptionally sparkling starlight and tried to advance toward it, but spun in place like a person flailing in water.
Just as he was moving earnestly while adapting to the bizarre space.
Ju Gwang, who had set off first, touched a certain starlight and was sucked inside it in an instant.
At that strange sight, he hesitated for a moment and the moment he deployed the Lightning Insight Spell-Breaking Eye.
‘Ugh!’
A pain as if both of his eyes were burning was felt. Was it the price of looking at something he could not handle?
He hurriedly closed his eyes and poured in the Myriad Flows Restoration divine ability.
Only after a long time had passed did he barely escape from the pain and carry a bitter smile.
It had been a truly long time since he had suffered a backlash while observing something with the Lightning Insight Spell-Breaking Eye.
‘They say the True Realm of Illusory Dreams is a True Immortal’s dream…’
He knew not if it was true, but it was certain that at least with his current strength, he could not analyze it.
While adjusting his breathing, he checked the surroundings, but the companions had vanished before he knew it.
It seemed they had been sucked into the starlight just like Ju Gwang.
He could not just stay still alone.
Just as he was moving diligently toward the starlight he had singled out earlier.
‘Huh?’
Far away, a starlight flying like a comet closed in rapidly.
He tried to avoid it reflexively, but it ended up grazing him…
Flash—!
His vision, no, the entire world changed.
‘Ah.’
Once his mind and vision, which had grown hazy for a split second, cleared up, a fairly wide cavern came into view.
‘Is it underground?’
Because objects emitting light were embedded in the ceiling like lamps, it was not dark, but he felt the characteristically dry and musty air of the underground.
He was about to frown when he realized. Currently, he did not possess a physical body…
An invisible man. No, should he say it felt like only his soul remained to watch?
He could look around and his five senses were vivid, but that was all.
‘This is… a memory.’
The True Realm of Illusory Dreams could be divided into dreams and memories, and the most clear difference was whether one could intervene in the illusion.
One could only watch memories; intervention was impossible.
At any rate, where was this, and whose memory was it? Just as a doubt arose about the unfamiliar location.
Muscular men with pickaxes slung over their shoulders trooped over, approaching a middle-aged man who was inspecting a wall in a corner of the cavern.
“Hey, Beom Chang. Are you not going today either? A newcomer has arrived, so we should have a drink in a nice place.”
Beom Chang?
At the familiar name, Jin So-myeong traced his memories.
He recalled the gatekeeper of the Red Yang Sect whom he had met during his Qi Condensation days when he had just begun cultivating. He remembered how the man had tried to employ him as a slave, so he had turned it back on him.
‘Now that I look, they look alike.’
It seemed that if Beom Chang, who had been a youth at that time, aged, he would look exactly like that middle-aged man.
His connection with Beom Chang was in a way a bad karmic tie, but seeing him after a long time made him feel somewhat glad. It was also fascinating.
Should he say it felt like seeing a hometown person in a foreign land?
‘So he was working in a mine.’
Although he had not cared particularly after leaving Red Yang Market, he had not expected to learn Beom Chang’s news, which had been buried on the other side of his memory, this way.
Just as he was surprised to see Beom Chang who had become a complete middle-aged man.
“It is fine. I will mine more spirit stones, so go and enjoy the brothel by yourselves.”
When Beom Chang refused resolutely, the men who trooped over clicked their tongues.
“Working to death every day. Just what pleasure do you live for?”
“Take it easy and enjoy life. We are only treated as miners here. Once we go outside, are we not no different from emperors?”
“Gathering spirit stones with such difficulty, where on earth do you plan to use them?”
Whether nagging or worry. Beom Chang, who listened to the pouring words silently, picked up his pickaxe.
“Where else would I use spirit stones? Naturally, I use them for cultivation.”
Along with his brief answer, he floated the pickaxe in the air.
Thud!
The pickaxe injected with spiritual power flew and struck the wall of the underground cavern, and a large heap of earth crumbled down.
The spirit stones buried inside the earth hard as stone floated into the air and were sucked into Beom Chang’s storage pouch.
The miners, who shook their heads at his skilled mining of spirit stones, opened their mouths one by one.
“Cultivation? Are you by any chance sincerely trying to challenge the Golden Core stage?”
“Haha. That was not a joke but sincere?”
“Look here. Even if we talk about your lifespan, you only have about a hundred years left. If you only cultivate during that time and fail to become a Golden Core in the end, how much will you regret it?”
“With your aptitude, it is impossible. A person must know their place to not suffer.”
Beom Chang did not even respond.
As he focused only on mining spirit stones, the miners’ tone grew increasingly sharp.
“Tsk, boring fellow.”
“Did that fellow not always go to brothels in the past? When did he change like that?”
“It seems to have been quite a while.”
“Ah! I remember now. It was from when he heard rumors of Senior Jin. He has been that earnest since then.”
The youth who looked the youngest in the group tilted his head.
“Senior Jin? Are you perhaps speaking of the one who ascended to the Nascent Soul stage as a rogue cultivator?”
Because Jin So-myeong was a sword cultivator who cleaved a Nascent Soul during his Golden Core days, and a genius who reached the Nascent Soul stage without sect assistance, he was an object of envy among rogue cultivators.
“Ah, you have not been here long, so you would not know.”
The giggling miners curled up the corners of their mouths.
“That bastard Beom Chang once made a fuss claiming Senior Jin was his sworn younger brother.”
“Y-you are blood-related to Senior Jin, who is at the Nascent Soul stage?”
“Blood-related? Not that… he said something like sworn brothers.”
“Ah!”
As the shocked youth politely gathered both hands and was at a loss, the miners burst into laughter.
“How naive! How can you believe a boast literally? Of course it is nonsense.”
“Ah… but is it okay to sell Senior’s name so carelessly?”
“No way. That fellow Beom Chang was beaten up several times because of that matter. Even so, he absolutely did not back down. He is secretly persistent.”
The miner, who clicked his tongue, shouted loudly toward Beom Chang.
“Hey. Since you have a senior who ascended to the Nascent Soul stage as your younger brother, why work so hard? Just go to your brother and ask for a Golden Core spiritual object.”
At the openly mocking tone, another miner chimed in as if he had been waiting.
“It is already too late. I heard Senior Jin entered a secret realm and could not emerge. Probably by now… tsk, tsk.”
Beom Chang, who had been silently mining spirit stones, paused, but the conversation continued.
“Hah. A pity for Beom Chang. If he had benefited from his outstanding younger brother, he could have at least become a Golden Core Sage.”
Everyone shook their heads as if in regret, but a sneer was visible in the slightly raised corners of their mouths and their eyes.
“Let us go now.”
Ending with Beom Chang who froze stiffly as if shocked by the news of Jin So-myeong’s death, the scenery before his eyes blurred.
Jin So-myeong, who returned to the mist filled with starlight before he knew it, flinched.
‘…It is a strange feeling.’
It was difficult to distinguish accurately, but from some moment, his consciousness had grown hazy.
Without any thoughts. He blankly stared at the scene unfolding before him, and when he suddenly regained his senses, he was here.
‘If one is bewitched this way and completely loses their mind, do they get trapped inside the starlight?’
But something was strange.
Usually, if it is a memory, should it not normally be composed of a single person’s perspective? Yet it was not so.
‘It seems Beom Chang’s memory is central, but…’
It seemed some memories of other people who were nearby were also mixed.
Should he say it felt like watching a world reconstructed through multiple memories from a step away?
Jin So-myeong, who reflected on what he experienced while contacting the starlight, turned his gaze. The starlights densely filling all directions looked slightly different.
‘I roughly get it.’
Certainly, experiencing it once brought home what kind of secret realm the True Realm of Illusory Dreams was.
That each and every starlight was someone’s memory or dream was literally what it meant.
‘It means I must find the starlight where Hong Seol is trapped here.’
Scanning the hundreds of millions of starlights filling the sky, he singled out a starlight that had particularly caught his eye since earlier and advanced.
Arriving while flailing, he extended his hand. The moment his fingertip touched the dazzling halo of light.
Flash—!
Another world unfolded.
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