Chapter 487: The Source Lies with Me
Jiang Li slowly awoke, stretching lazily and opening his eyes to see Meng Chun smiling at him.
Recently, Meng Chun had been serving as a guest elder at the Food and Beauty Dream Sect.
“Did the Human Sovereign sleep well? What wonderful dream did you have?”
Jiang Li yawned: “I dreamed that many beautiful women liked another version of me, and even you had feelings for me.”
“…I really couldn’t tell the Human Sovereign had such desires. Wait, did you encounter the First Emperor in your dream?”
Meng Chun initially thought Jiang Li secretly desired a harem, but reason told her this was completely illogical.
“No, this time it was someone different.” Jiang Li briefly explained his encounter with the Idle One Jiang Li.
Meng Chun analyzed: “So it seems when you and the other party simultaneously enter dreams, you break through the boundaries between parallel worlds and meet within dreams.”
Jiang Li added: “Perhaps there’s another prerequisite—that both I and the other party are at the Mahayana Stage.”
“You found me because you encountered Old Bai?”
Meng Chun nodded: “My subordinates said someone was dissatisfied with the constructed dream and needed my personal intervention. When I looked, I discovered it was Sect Master Bai Hongtu. Only then did I learn that you and Holy Maiden Jingxin had also come to this Food and Beauty Dream Sect.”
“Where are the Holy Maiden and Old Bai?”
“The Holy Maiden said she felt quite satisfied and returned to the Red Dust Pure Land first. Sect Master Bai Hongtu is still immersed in the dream I wove.”
“Let’s go take a look.”
Jiang Li stood beside the sleeping Bai Hongtu and asked: “What dream is this bastard having?”
“Becoming the 72nd Human Sovereign and selecting Human Sovereign candidates.”
“That sounds surprisingly normal.” Jiang Li was quite surprised.
“You’re among the Human Sovereign candidates.”
“…Damn, change the dream content.”
“No problem.” Meng Chun was happy to help.
After modifying the dream, Bai Hongtu’s originally serene expression gradually twisted, becoming covered in sweat until he suddenly sat up, cursing loudly.
“Why am I, as the Human Sovereign, getting beaten up by candidate Jiang Li?”
Jiang Li said quietly: “Because I’m right beside you.”
Hearing Jiang Li’s voice, Bai Hongtu turned his head in shock. Seeing Jiang Li, he hugged his blanket tightly, retreating repeatedly until pressed against the corner.
I’m done for, Jiang Li knows I want to defeat him… Wait, did he already know?
Bai Hongtu felt a moment of tension, then realized he’d worried for nothing.
“What brings the Human Sovereign and Sect Master Bai to me?” Meng Chun didn’t feel she had such great value that these two would seek her out.
“It’s like this—some cultivators practicing the Dao of Dreams operate custom dream services, creating romantic dreams with me as the male lead and uncertain female leads. I want to find a method to monitor dreams and filter out those using me for romantic dreams.”
Meng Chun looked somewhat embarrassed: “You mean this? This might have started with me.”
“What?”
Meng Chun explained: “As you know, cultivating the Dao of Dreams requires increasing dream realism. Ordinary scenes come easily to me without challenge. Even creating the entire Nine Provinces Continent in dreams would just take time without real difficulty.”
“Just as I was considering how to advance to the next stage of Dream Dao cultivation, it occurred to me—why not create you in dreams?”
“Especially after witnessing your battle with the First Emperor in dreams, I realized your power has no limits. Being the most difficult to imagine, you’re the best method to train Dream Dao. By imagining you in dreams, my Dream Dao advanced another level.”
“Coincidentally, I wanted to stay in Xian’an City for a while, so I became a guest elder at the Food and Beauty Dream Sect. When sect members asked me how to cultivate Dream Dao, I demonstrated my method of creating you in dreams.”
“In the dream, to demonstrate how realistic my version of you was, I had you pin the Food and Beauty Dream Sect Master’s hands, pressing her against the wall. Perhaps because you two were too close, the Sect Master could feel your breathing, causing her face to flush and her body to go soft…”
“Enough, enough, no need to describe this process in such detail.” Jiang Li quickly interrupted.
Regretfully skipping the details, Meng Chun went straight to the conclusion: “Coincidentally, around that time the Food and Beauty Dream Sect was considering new money-making methods. They got inspiration and business ideas from me, starting to profit using you as material for romantic dreams. Other Dream Dao cultivators learned of this and followed suit. I estimate that most Dream Dao cultivators have made money using you.”
“After all, your market is enormous. Even a brush you’ve used can fetch astronomical prices, let alone dreams featuring your image. Many female cultivators want such dreams, creating overwhelming demand that Dream Dao cultivators can’t satisfy.”
Jiang Li felt overwhelmed—this gray market was more exaggerated than he imagined: “Is there any way to stop this?”
Meng Chun thought for a moment, feeling responsible and wanting to help Jiang Li solve the problem: “There is a way. I can use Dream Dao to filter out all dreams featuring you as romantic partners. But I need a formation covering the entire Nine Provinces.”
Jiang Li looked to Bai Hongtu for his opinion. Bai Hongtu nodded: “That’s not a problem. She can utilize the Nine Provinces Spirit Plant Array to perform Dream Dao.”
The Nine Provinces Spirit Plant Array was highly adaptable—not only could it concentrate power to resist heavenly demons, but with slight modifications it could perform functions like Meng Chun’s dream filtering. Additionally, it could monitor spiritual energy distribution, population density, and cultivator concentration areas.
“That will work then.” Meng Chun had great confidence in her Dream Dao.
This day became one of pain for countless female cultivators as they lost their private enjoyment of Jiang Li. Many were kicked out of wonderful dreams by Meng Chun right in the middle.
The female cultivators sought accountability from Dream Dao cultivators, but after comparing experiences, they realized it wasn’t a service issue—all romantic dreams involving Jiang Li had been prohibited.
“Dammit, I relied on those romantic dreams every night! What do I do now?”
“Me too, me too! Cultivation during the day is so exhausting—nights should be for enjoyment.”
“Have you noticed? Not all dreams involving Human Sovereign Jiang are prohibited. Dreams where he wears clothes can still continue.”
“What’s interesting about dreams where he wears clothes?”
“We can have dreams about dating Human Sovereign Jiang.”
“That’s a great idea.”
…
Just after leaving the Food and Beauty Dream Sect, the Human Sovereign mark between Jiang Li’s eyebrows began flashing.
“Something happening?” Bai Hongtu wasn’t familiar with the Human Sovereign mark, having only possessed a candidate mark.
“Yes, both Luo Ying and Luo Zhu have reached the Nascent Soul stage. I have rather high hopes for these siblings.”
Luo Ying and Luo Zhu had reached the minimum cultivation requirement for Human Sovereign candidates, qualifying them as candidates.
“Good, then let’s initiate the Human Sovereign candidate selection.”
To demonstrate the impartiality of the Human Sovereign candidate trials, Jiang Li and Bai Hongtu found Yu Yin and, in both their presence, randomly selected questions from those provided by Commander Liu.