Strength Growing as Freely as One Wished

Song Ying's Illusion Realm differed from the others'. The person she saved was not some handsome man or beautiful woman, but Qin Luan, who was only at the Qi Refining Stage.

In the Illusion Realm, Qin Luan said that the moment he entered, he had been suppressed to the Qi Refining Stage. Now he was being hunted by bandits and could only rely on Song Ying for protection.

Song Ying was so delighted that she could not close her mouth for half the day.

After Song Ying unified the realm, she shared the Throne with Qin Luan. Whatever Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures she found, she fed them all to Qin Luan, finally allowing him to recover to the Foundation Establishment Late Stage.

Afterward, Song Ying gave up the realm and secluded herself in the mountains and forests with Qin Luan.

The Illusion Realm determined that Song Ying had resisted the temptation of power and cleared the trial.

Qin Luan stared blankly, seemingly unable to comprehend everything Song Ying had done in the Illusion Realm.

Why? Wasn't that demoness trying to disrupt my Dao heart?

Why had she saved him? Why had she not consumed the Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures herself? Why had she given up royal power? Why...

Qin Luan's body trembled faintly. He said nothing, but he had lost all interest in watching the Water Mirror. Rising to his feet, he walked off into the distance.

He wanted some peace and quiet.

After that, people gradually cleared the Illusion Realm one after another, though it took a long time. The Seven Kill Dao Child, whom Qin Luan had thought highly of, took a full year to clear it. The others took even longer. Some even lived out their lives and died of old age inside the Illusion Realm before emerging. Such people had clearly failed to clear it.

Meng Chun's voice descended from the sky.

"Everyone has now left the Illusion Realm. The hundred fastest may proceed to the next layer. The rest have failed the challenge and will leave the Illusion Realm."

Ignoring the objections of those ranked lower, Meng Chun directly expelled seven-eighths of the participants from the Illusion Realm.

"Now, the rankings for the first layer's trial will be announced."

For some reason, Jiang Li detected a note of gloating in Meng Chun's voice.

It was probably an illusion caused by the distortion of sound.

"First place: Human Emperor Jiang Li."

"Second place: Qin Luan."

"Third place: Li Litong."

"Fourth place: Song Ying."

"Fifth place: Li Fugui. Note: the Seven Kill Dao Child."

"One hundredth place..."

The moment "Human Emperor Jiang Li" was announced, the crowd became like a powder keg set alight, exploding into uproar.

First place was Human Emperor Jiang Li?

Everyone's first reaction was that the Secret Realm had made a mistake. But then they realized that the Secret Realm's master had fallen eight hundred years ago and could not possibly have known Human Emperor Jiang Li! There was only one possibility: the real Jiang Human Emperor had come here! At that thought, their hearts blazed hot. Who still cared about the Second Layer's trial? All of them began searching for Jiang Li.

Qin Luan and Li Litong had the strongest reactions. Qin Luan was standing right beside Jiang Li, but now that he looked at him, he no longer dared act carefree and bold. He became exceedingly cautious.

Li Litong, meanwhile, was agonizing over whether he should shamelessly kneel and bootlick Jiang Li, or pretend not to care in order to display his integrity and make Jiang Li think more highly of him.

A sudden wave of drowsiness surged into everyone's minds. Even the excitement of having Jiang Human Emperor right beside them could not withstand this abrupt exhaustion.

Jiang Li was unaffected, but he felt that this drowsiness was related to the Second Layer. He took out bedding from his Storage Ring and comfortably entered the Dream Realm.

To their surprise, everyone discovered that they were standing where the Mountains and Seas met. To the left rose towering mountain ranges, while to the right stretched emerald waves for thousands of miles. Moreover, after entering the Dream Realm, they could actually see the others.

Could their Dream Realms be connected?

Li Litong knew what was happening, but he could not be bothered to explain it to a group of Foundation Establishment Realm cultivators.

"It is the Dream Dao." The Seven Kill Dao Child was widely knowledgeable and saw what was happening.

"Everyone, stop talking! Listen to Li Fugui!" Someone tried to maintain order, making the veins on the Seven Kill Dao Child's forehead bulge. Which damned bastard shouted that? Let me chop him to death! Oh, it was Qin Luan. Never mind, then.

The Seven Kill Dao Child steadied his emotions and continued, "I heard from my elders that there is a rare method of cultivation called the Dream Dao. One can cultivate in sleep, and when facing enemies, force them to fall asleep and drag them into one's own Dream Realm to fight there. It is very much like our current situation."

Jiang Li nodded. The Seven Kill Dao Child was correct, but he had not mentioned the most crucial point.

Whether he truly did not know it or was deliberately keeping it to himself was unclear.

"Now, the Second Layer's trial will be announced."

Meng Chun's voice rang out once more in the pitch-black space. This time, Jiang Li was certain that she was gloating.

"One hundred cultivators have now entered the Dream Realm. Here, you may freely imagine yourselves becoming stronger!"

"Please battle. The last person standing shall be the victor!"

Everyone present was confused. The final sentence was easy enough to understand—it was nothing more than fighting—but what did "you may freely imagine yourselves becoming stronger" mean? Did that mean you could become as strong as you imagined yourself to be? The Seven Kill Dao Child clicked his tongue inwardly.

Someone vaguely understood what Meng Chun meant. With one hand held beneath a distant mountain, he lifted it—and that mountain actually rose into the air! "How is this possible?!"

Seeing this, the others also understood Meng Chun's meaning.

This was the Dream Realm. Here, they could do whatever they pleased!

How strong they were depended entirely on their imagination!

"Golden Core! I've broken through to the Golden Core!" Someone imagined himself as a Golden Core Cultivator and was overjoyed to discover that he had truly broken through the Foundation Establishment Realm, becoming a Golden Core Cultivator—and a top-tier one with a First Grade Core!

"What's so great about a Golden Core? Watch me break through to the Nascent Soul Realm!" Someone scorned the Golden Core, imagining himself as a Nascent Soul expert. He skipped past the Golden Core and became a Nascent Soul cultivator outright! "All you know is breaking through realms. Watch my Kun Peng True Form!" With that, the man transformed, becoming a great peng stretching who knew how many thousands of miles. Like a sharp sword, he plunged into the vast ocean and turned into a Kun Fish that churned the seas and overturned the rivers! "What's so good about the Demon Race? Come, Dharma Idol Embodiment!"

"Come fight!"

"Come fight!"

The Kun Fish surged out of the ocean, turning from kun into peng and whipping up a hurricane that blotted out the sky. It battled the giant as tall as heaven and earth in a tangled melee.

At this moment, Golden Cores and Nascent Souls alike were nothing but dust, beneath notice. The battle between the Kun Peng and the wielder of Dharma Idol Embodiment was no less ferocious than a life-or-death struggle between great cultivators of the Body Integration Realm!

With the Kun Peng and Dharma Idol Embodiment as examples, everyone finally understood Meng Chun's meaning.

In an instant, the scene dissolved into chaos. Members of the long-vanished Sun Chasing Clan seized hold of Golden Crows, and the two sides prepared to test their strength against one another.

Some held mountains in their hands and filled seas with them; some transformed into True Dragons and let out long roars; some shattered the Ninth Heaven with a single bellow; some were like walking Thunder Tribulations, leaving scorched lightning and brown earth wherever they passed.

Everyone played to their hearts' content, even forgetting all about Jiang Li.

Being able to grow stronger at will and become anything one wished was practically every cultivator's dream! "I, a True Dragon, command the Four Seas. Who could possibly be stronger than me?" The man who had transformed into a True Dragon swelled with extreme arrogance. This was the lord of the Four Seas, a mighty being of the Tribulation Stage in terms of physical strength! He was a body cultivator; even the finest medicinal baths he had used contained only dragon blood diluted countless times. Now, by taking advantage of this dream, he had directly turned himself into a True Dragon. How could he not be delighted!

"A True Dragon is merely a pinch of tribulation ash in the hands of me, the Heavenly Tribulation Controller!" The man who commanded Thunder Tribulations sneered disdainfully. A bolt of tribulation lightning struck down, splitting the True Dragon's flesh and tearing its skin apart.

"Is that all?" The man transformed into a True Dragon returned the same disdainful smile. His wounds healed swiftly. True Dragons were famed for the might of their bodies, and their recovery speed was naturally astonishing as well.

The man who wielded Thunder Tribulations flew into a rage. "A little loach dares face the might of heaven head-on!"

Insulted thus, the man transformed into a True Dragon also grew furious. "If heaven's might is only at this level, then I'll rebel against heaven itself!"

The two truly began to fight in earnest. Dragon roars mingled with thunderclaps, utterly terrifying.