Dream God Realm

Lin Huang woke from his meditation and checked the time. There were only two months left until the first preliminary round of the First Martial Arts Tournament.

"Dream God Realm? It's been a long time."

Lin Huang murmured, flicked his finger to lay down a Divine Prohibition, then focused his thoughts and used the Celestial Pivot to arrive in the Dream God Realm.

The Dream God Realm was said to be an unparalleled divine artifact, forged by several God Lords from the body of the Dream God. It encompassed the Myriad Worlds, allowing the races of all worlds to communicate freely within it.

It could even create a body in the Dream God Realm that perfectly matched one's body in the real world. One's cultivation and divine artifacts could all be replicated flawlessly. It could be called a dream as real as life.

Lin Huang was no stranger to the Dream God Realm. He had realized his unconventional path to Sainthood there, and the fifteen Nightmare Race Brain Cores he had used to create the Desolate God Realm had also come from there.

Back then, he had thought it was a fortuitous encounter. Now, Lin Huang knew it had all been part of a massive conspiracy.

"Who was the one who made me a pawn?" Lin Huang wondered, alert in his heart. He entered the Dream God Realm once more, gathering his focus and staying on guard, worried that the person secretly pulling the strings might appear.

But after a month of wandering through the Dream God Realm, Lin Huang found nothing at all.

"They went to all that trouble to help me become a Saint. That person definitely won't let me go easily. But since nothing's happened yet, it seems they can't act recklessly in the Dream God Realm either."

Lin Huang felt a weight lift from his heart. The Dream God Realm was reputed to be beyond even the God Lords' interference, and it was no empty boast. After a month on guard without finding anything amiss, Lin Huang stopped worrying so much, though he remained vigilant. He took a step and arrived at the venue for the First Martial Arts Tournament.

The Dream God Realm was divided into realms according to the Myriad Worlds. But compared to the distances between realms in reality, the worlds in the Dream God Realm were much more closely connected. Still, anyone without sufficient cultivation who tried to cross between realms would be courting death.

The Myriad Worlds were far from harmonious. Many people spent their entire lives without ever seeing another world. The Dream God Realm might allow communication between all worlds, but hostility, wariness, and rivalry between them were even more blatant there.

With no threat of death, almost every crossing between realms became a brutal battle.

To be surrounded by enemies on all sides was no exaggeration.

But today, Lin Huang saw many people from other worlds.

The Barbarian God Clan of the Barbarian Realm were much larger than humans. Even their infants stood as tall as adult humans, while full-grown members could reach three zhang in height. Brimming with raw ferocity, every one of them possessed the terrifying strength to uproot mountains.

The Celestial Clan of the Celestial Realm was hailed as the foremost race in the Myriad Worlds. Every member was breathtakingly handsome, extraordinarily gifted, and born with wings on their backs. They were said to carry the true bloodline of the Gods. From birth, they possessed the cultivation of General Rank and were favored by the Dao of Yin and Yang, naturally able to command the forces of light and darkness. As long as they did not perish, nearly all could attain Marquis-Sealing.

Then there was the Demon Race of the Demon World, a race with the widest gap in strength between its members throughout the Myriad Worlds. Some clans were earth-shaking from the moment they were born, with divine bones and a unique divine ability. Born with the Dao's resonance, every one of them was a King-Sealing powerhouse. Other clans, however, were reduced to prey, wretched and weak—but once they cultivated successfully, they could defy Heaven and sweep aside their entire generation.

The Underworld Clan of the Netherworld was even more terrifying. Every member born into the clan was a once-brilliant prodigy who had died somewhere in the Myriad Worlds, their undying souls reincarnated. Though they had lost their past-life memories, each had astonishing talent. Their numbers did not exceed ten thousand, yet they ranked among the top ten races in the Myriad Worlds—enough to show just how terrifying they were.

There were also the Three-Eyed Clan, One-Eyed Clan, Titan Clan, and Heavenly Fiend Clan of the Sin Realm. It was said that their gifts were so heaven-defying that the Gods had grown wary of them, cursing and exiling them to the Sin Realm. Their living conditions were the harshest, but once their curses were lifted, they could awaken their greatest talents and shake the heavens.

The Myriad Worlds contained countless races, each with its own gifts. Humanity had made it into the top ten despite having the most ordinary natural talent. Every time the First Martial Arts Tournament began, it drew many prodigies from beyond the human world to watch.

But Lin Huang clearly noticed that this tournament was different from the last one he had seen. At the very least, he hadn't seen a single one of the top ten races in the Myriad Worlds back then.

"Storm clouds are gathering. It seems the prodigies at this First Martial Arts Tournament are all true monsters of their age. Otherwise, they wouldn't have drawn so many races from beyond our world to watch."

Lin Huang glanced indifferently at the visitors from other worlds and walked past them without a care. He only stopped when he passed the most famous Divine Stele in the Dream God Realm.

The Divine Stele of the Dream God Realm naturally did not record the lofty Gods, but rather the strongest figures in the Myriad Worlds who came closest to godhood. Every name on it was enough to shine through the ages.

But Lin Huang looked straight to the top of the stele. Seeing that it was unchanged from before, he turned his gaze away.

Every name on the Divine Stele belonged to an unrivaled powerhouse whose fame would shine through the ages. But since they were ranked, the name at the very top, towering over all the others, was naturally the most renowned.

Dream God Machine.

Three simple words. Yet in Lin Huang's memory, that name had stood alone at the top for thirty thousand years without changing.

For thirty thousand years, he had single-handedly crushed countless prodigies from the Myriad Worlds.

The terror of Dream God Machine was easy to imagine.

Though many in the Myriad Worlds did not believe Dream God Machine was truly the strongest beneath the Gods—after all, he had never participated in the Myriad Worlds Holy War, held once every thousand years—Lin Huang knew better. Since the Dream God Realm had ranked Dream God Machine first instead of the person many called the champion of the greatest martial arts tournament under Heaven, it proved that he truly was the undisputed strongest beneath the Gods.

After passing the Divine Stele, Lin Huang paused for a moment, then headed toward the venue for the First Martial Arts Tournament without looking back.

Lin Huang was not especially proud, but when he thought of how the other Saints were competing for a place on the Divine Stele and for the championship of the Myriad Worlds Holy War, while he had to take part in this so-called First Martial Arts Tournament, he felt a faint sting of humiliation.

But that feeling soon faded from Lin Huang's heart. "Only by knowing shame can one summon courage. Though I've attained Saint Rank, just as the Three Holy Mothers said, I'm still far behind. My reserves are lacking, my foundation is unstable—I can be called the weakest of my rank. If I want to become stronger, I have to start from the beginning."

Leaping to the heavens in a single step had never been a good thing. His unconventional path to Sainthood had given Lin Huang a starting point beyond what anyone of his generation could imagine, but the more he gained, the more he lacked.

So Lin Huang had to work even harder if he wanted to shed the label of weakest Saint.

"Perhaps the Three Holy Mothers meant something simpler than I thought." As he entered the waiting area set aside for the First Martial Arts Tournament and waited quietly for it to begin, a thought suddenly crossed Lin Huang's mind.

Perhaps he had overcomplicated things.

Perhaps the Three Holy Mothers hadn't wanted him to comprehend his own Dao through the First Martial Arts Tournament.

Perhaps she had only wanted him to see his true strength, know shame, and then summon courage.

But Lin Huang soon shook his head, thinking he was overthinking it. Perhaps the faint humiliation he'd felt as he passed the Divine Stele had affected him. After all, it was only the First Martial Arts Tournament. No matter how extraordinary the geniuses and monsters competing in it were, who among them could give him the insight to know shame and summon courage?

A genius was still only a genius.