The dream was beautiful.
Old friends, little bridges, flowers and grass, ponds—everything was just right. Even the wind seemed to have risen for the sake of reunion.
Yet Xu Changqing did not lose himself in it.
Just as he could not be solidified within the Great Dao Cage.
Beginning Dao's power could keep him perpetually awake.
Elsewhere, Wan Buyi and Li Er were talking.
Wan Buyi asked curiously, "Brother Li, you stare at this pond every day. What is so interesting beneath it?"
Li Er gazed at the water's surface and pondered. "I always feel that something is still missing inside."
By then, Xu Changqing had already come back to his senses.
He stepped forward and followed Li Er's gaze into the pond.
After only one glance, his pupils shrank slightly.
How was this a pond?
Beneath the water's surface lay another world.
Houses.
City walls.
Streets.
Passersby.
Cooking smoke rose into the air.
Livestock returned to their pens.
Women beat laundry by the riverbank.
Children chased one another through the alleys.
This was clearly a living mortal world, one still turning and running.
Xu Changqing could even smell the scent of incense offerings within it.
Wan Buyi introduced it. "Brother Xu, this is the Xuandu Realm evolved from the Dao Ancestor's dream."
Li Er turned his head and fixed his gaze on Xu Changqing. "What do you think is missing there?"
Xu Changqing considered this upon hearing it.
He had seen it clearly with that glance just now.
Mountains, rivers, vegetation, birds, people, incense, living beings—nothing was lacking.
Yet there truly was a subtle feeling that something was different.
After turning it over and over in his mind, Xu Changqing came to an understanding. "It lacks a touch of Creation!"
Once he said that, a thought stirred.
Beginning Dao's