Jiang Xia was wild with joy, brimming with curiosity about the ability he had newly discovered.
He kept trying to probe the limits of his new ability.
Then he began trying to cultivate, sensing the changes in the elements and imitating them.
His efficiency had increased at least fivefold!
Then he remembered Gu Yue's Four-Element Vortex.
He went over it in his mind, then began trying it.
Connecting to real space in reality, even with Gu Yue's first-person perspective, able to sense her emotional changes, every command she issued, and every technique she employed, Jiang Xia still found it difficult to reproduce her Four-Element Vortex.
"What's going on? I keep feeling like the elements don't give a damn about me."
Jiang Xia knitted his brows deeply.
He broke down all of Gu Yue's techniques and tried them one by one, discovering that they were indeed more sophisticated than those he had mastered.
But why couldn't these techniques produce the Four-Element Vortex when combined?
"It's as if all four elements are rejecting me, but my control over them has already reached a meticulous level."
As Jiang Xia pondered, he gradually found the reason.
Yes, his control over the elements was already very fine, very precise.
But he had overlooked one crucial value.
Affinity!
"Talent!"
Gu Yue's talent for Elemental Control was innate.
As soon as she released her Soul Power, the various elements would swarm toward her like simps. She could even guide them into producing the intended effects without much technique or guidance.
At that moment, Jiang Xia felt only a profound sense of powerlessness.
"This is an overwhelming advantage in innate talent! Not in ingenuity!"
Jiang Xia refused to admit that he was less intelligent than Gu Yue, that wheelchair-carried player.
"Without enough affinity, these elements simply won't cooperate, unless I have a more forceful, more direct means of control."
Suddenly, Jiang Xia froze.
A more forceful means of control...
"Stacking!"
While stacked, his control over the elements was undoubtedly stronger.
This was not an increase in affinity, but rather a superior-subordinate relationship.
And a very deep one at that.
Jiang Xia drew a deep breath, feeling that he had found a direction.
"If, if I can keep stacking more layers of illusory space-or, more precisely, layers of dreams-could I raise my control over the elements to Gu Yue's level?"
Jiang Xia's eyes grew brighter.
This had potential!
Stacking could improve it, and so far, he had not sensed that this was because those two spaces were special.
"So next, I need to find a way to add more illusory spaces to my Broken Dream!"
How had he devoured the illusory space last time?
Jiang Xia remembered.
"It was..."
As he recalled it, Jiang Xia began working.
He used Broken Dream to permeate the space of the Spirit Ascension Platform that it covered, then began isolating it.
"Something still seems to be missing."
Jiang Xia frowned, sensing the barrier between his Broken Dream and the Spirit Ascension Platform's space.
It seemed to lack something to bind them together.
Again and again, he recalled the scene back in the research institute.
Finally, Jiang Xia discovered the missing factor.
"A Soul Spirit!"
"For my Broken Dream Martial Soul to devour a new illusory space, it needs a Soul Spirit as a vessel!"
Jiang Xia first proposed his hypothesis, then began testing it.
He fused the Mutated Evil Eye with the Spirit Ascension Platform's space.
Sure enough, with the addition of the Mutated Evil Eye, the barrier between Broken Dream and the Spirit Ascension Platform's space gradually weakened.
"That's it! That's it!"
Jiang Xia roared excitedly.
Of course, although he had gotten carried away, he had not forgotten to guard his secrets.
He had not shouted any of his real secrets aloud, only considered them inwardly. All he had shouted were those two cries of "That's it!"
"Hahahahaha!"
Stacking two layers of dreams had already brought a clear improvement. What about three?
What about four, or even five?
At this thought, Jiang Xia's body was already trembling with excitement.
He could foresee that, in the realm of dreams, he would become a true sovereign.
Within Broken Dream, one illusory space after another would form one illusory world after another, then merge within Broken Dream, building the entire illusory world into something vaster and more stable.
This would be a real world within illusion!
And he would also master a means of turning illusion into reality.
Once he succeeded, he would be the sovereign of both dimensions, illusion and reality!
Jiang Xia felt as though heaven and earth had suddenly opened wide before him.
"In this world, if the Golden Dragon King and Silver Dragon King can tower over this age, then I, Jiang Xia, can do the same."
Where the enemy can go, so can I!
Boundless heroic ambition surged in Jiang Xia's heart.
At that moment, he had truly found his own path.
He had found the confidence that he could fully catch up to those two cheat users.
"I'll catch up to them through ultimate execution!"
Though he kept cheering himself on inwardly, Jiang Xia had no choice but to return to reality.
"If carrying an illusory space requires a Soul Spirit as its vessel, then I still have... five slots left!"
Too few.
At this moment, Jiang Xia truly felt that he had been too greedy about the ability of Soul Spirits to bestow multiple Soul Rings.
He should have taken only one Soul Ring from each of his first two Soul Spirits, too!
For others, a Soul Spirit that could bestow several suitable Soul Skills at once was naturally a good deal. It required neither an additional spiritual power burden nor an additional search for a suitable Soul Spirit.
By contrast, taking only one Soul Ring from each Soul Spirit placed a heavy burden on oneself.
But that applied to other Soul Masters.
For Jiang Xia now, the more Soul Spirits, the better, and the fewer Soul Rings each Soul Spirit bestowed, the better.
Unfortunately, Jiang Xia had already given himself three Soul Rings.
And worst of all, the Ice Fire Silkworm and Mutated Evil Eye possessed a Soul Spirit Fusion Skill. To keep maintaining their balance, the Mutated Evil Eye would also need two Soul Ring slots.
Jiang Xia slapped his forehead.
Of course, he did not abandon his decision to give the Mutated Evil Eye his fourth Soul Ring slot because of this.
He couldn't give up this Soul Spirit Fusion Skill just for Dream Overlapping, could he?
The main reason was that Jiang Xia still held a sliver of hope that the two could carry more illusory spaces while using their Soul Spirit Fusion Skill.
If one plus one couldn't be greater than two, then they really were useless.
"At the very least, they should count as an entirely new Soul Spirit unit and carry one new illusory space for me."
Thoughts surged through Jiang Xia's mind.
Only after a long while did he regain his calm.
Then he began truly attempting to peel away this space of the Spirit Ascension Platform.
Of course, he was only peeling away the space covered by Broken Dream, not the entire Spirit Ascension Platform.
Peeling it away was extremely difficult. Jiang Xia could feel the surrounding space pulling at this section of space. They had originally been one whole, and now that he wanted to tear them apart, he naturally had to face the force the other side exerted.
"Stacking!"
As the two layers of dreams stacked, Jiang Xia's control over the entire space increased. The Spirit Ascension Platform's space within his coverage also let out tearing sounds as it peeled away from the surrounding space bit by bit.
And with Jiang Xia's actions, alarms rang out throughout the interior of the Spirit Ascension Platform in Eastsea City's Spirit Pagoda, warning that it could no longer bear the strain.
The Soul Masters undergoing spirit ascension inside the Spirit Ascension Platform were all kicked out immediately.
The same happened to Jiang Xia, and the instant he was kicked out, he successfully tore off that section of space as well, merging it into his Broken Dream with the Mutated Evil Eye as its vessel.