Chapter 832: Could This Be Xiao Han’s Doing?
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 832: Could This Be Xiao Han’s Doing?
Originally, my primary objective was to explore the properties of the Primitive Dream Realm and determine the current limits of the Great Spellbook.
However, the sight of the injured Fool's Dream creature changed my plans.
After sealing the dream creature, I approached one of the Fool's Dream girls and knelt down, looking at her anxious face.
"It won't hurt. Let me see the wound."
"Um... okay, but the wound has already healed."
"Is that so?" I took her small hand and looked at her shoulder. Through the tear in her clothes, I saw that the place where the dream creature had struck had indeed closed up.
This was common in the Primitive Dream Realm, but it didn't mean she was out of danger.
The "Nightmare Curse" had already taken root within her.
According to the Village Chief, this curse would only intensify over time.
However, through my Heart Sense, I could perceive the aura of the "Nightmare" clinging to her.
In the context of my Heart Sense, a Nightmare was essentially a concentrated mass of negative emotions that never dissipated, constantly emitting a "black mist."
When this perception merged with my five senses through synesthesia, I could see the black mist swirling around her shoulder like a lingering shroud.
This was the Nightmare—a unique and inseparable part of dream creatures.
The Village Chief seemed to be wrong about one thing: Nightmares didn't grow simply with the passage of time; they grew through the accumulation of negative concepts.
A Nightmare carried a wealth of memories and cognitions, along with intense emotions.
Back in Ninglan New City, the Academy Dean and I had used the momentum of a Script to split a Nightmare.
But clearly, I couldn't achieve that level of power right now.
Was a Script the only way to divide a Nightmare?
It didn't seem so... at least, that's what I felt.
Using my Time Sense, I stripped the Nightmare from the girl's body. The black mist coiled around my fingertips. I had essentially "removed" the Nightmare from her by using Time Sense to trigger a backflow of dream Information.
However, this didn't mean the connection between the girl and the Nightmare had been severed.
It was similar to when the Academy Dean used her power to separate a Fool's Dream from a Nightmare. She placed the Nightmare into a Script, forcibly binding it to the Children of Destiny in a "script-kill" fashion, while the Fool's Dream remained outside the Script. Through that clever trick, the Nightmare was destroyed.
That wasn't a severance; it was an annihilation.
The fact that the Academy Dean had to resort to such a method suggested that even she lacked a clean way to cut the link between the two.
So... what about me?
Could I do it?
I wasn't sure, but I seemed to have already accomplished many things the Academy Dean never could.
"Is... is it fixed?" The girl looked at me in shock, unable to believe I had simply taken the Nightmare out of her body.
"No, I've only removed it for now. You'll be like the other Fool's Dream girls and won't hurt anyone else, but this Nightmare will always follow you. As it grows, it will eventually find you again one day," I said, shaking my head.
Even if I used methods to seal it, it wouldn't matter. It would still be there.
"Then... what should I do?"
"What to do is a problem for the Sage to worry about," I said with a smile, patting her head. "You just need to be happy. For now, you don't have to worry about the Nightmare. You can return to your old life for a while."
"Really?"
"Yes. But... if something goes wrong with the Nightmare, I'll need you to come back immediately."
I looked at the nascent Nightmare in my hand, wondering what it truly was.
Why did it have such a profound correlation with "Dream Consciousness"?
I knew that for these injured girls, my current method was merely treating the symptoms, not the cause.
I needed to find a way to completely sever the connection. And before that... I had to figure out exactly what a Nightmare was.
"Actually, Sage, I wouldn't mind cooperating with your experiments."
"Don't you want to go back to your old life?" I asked, curious that she would say such a thing.
"I do... but I want the other sisters to stop suffering from the Nightmare Curse even more!" she said, her expression dead serious.
"So... Sage! Please, use me however you like! Experiments, anything, as long as—"
"You really don't need to go that far." I reached out and patted her head again. I found I really enjoyed doing this; it was quite relaxing. "Also, you should call me Sister Xiao Han."
"Mm... I understand, Sister Xiao Han."
After comforting her, I moved on to the other injured girls.
Regardless of the long-term solution, I would use Time Sense to strip the Nightmares from them first.
Then, I could study their properties at my leisure.
Time ticked by.
I employed various means to try and understand the essence of a Nightmare.
My methods included, but were not limited to, Spirit Vision and the Tree of Great Knowledge—tools used for decoding Information.
To "dissect" the Nightmare, I used my nascent Time Sense and Space Sense.
To distinguish the extreme emotions within the Nightmare, I relied on Heart Sense.
The reason I was so fascinated by the concept of the Nightmare was that I realized its properties were somewhat similar to... Soul Essence.
But if a Nightmare was Dream State Soul Essence... wouldn't that mean dream creatures were the actual life forms of the dream world?
That seemed unlikely. I used the Great Wisdom Enlightenment Art to attempt Soul Depiction on the Nightmare. Although it was difficult to use that technique without a Holy Relic, it was still useful for verification.
The final result was beyond my expectations!
It could serve as "raw material" for Soul Depiction, yet this material could not be sublimated into a soul under the influence of the technique.
It was a contradiction.
It couldn't be both Soul Essence and not Soul Essence at the same time, could it?
I hypothesized that a Nightmare might be Dream State Soul Essence, but an impure version.
After all, my Heart Sense told me that Nightmares contained too many concepts of extreme emotion.
Furthermore... considering that dream creatures loved to consume Soul Essence from reality, what did that Soul Essence become once eaten?
I had never really paid attention to that before.
Back then, I had even used Mimicry Soul Technique to shape reality concepts for dream creatures...
Past experiments and data played back continuously within the Tree of Great Knowledge, providing evidence for my theory.
All of this led me to a very important hypothesis.
The concept of Soul Essence could bridge reality and dreams!
And the soul, which was sublimated from Soul Essence, served as the bridge between the two...
Even though I had no concrete proof yet, a hypothesis was enough to start.
Verification would come later.
As for the emotions, memories, and cognitions contained within the Nightmare—those were all Information.
What was Information?
In reality, Information was a description of anything cognizable or uncognizable. It encompassed all forms of data, knowledge, memories, messages, and concepts.
But in the dream world, it was no longer just a description; it was an "existent" concept with properties similar to physical matter in reality.
The dream world was the ultimate "home" for Information.
So now... the concepts within the dream could be broken down.
"Dream Consciousness," "Dream State Soul Essence," and "Information." These three components made up the entirety of the Primitive Dream Realm's ecology that I could currently perceive.
As for what lay in the realms beyond my perception, that wasn't my concern for now.
It was like a person in the real world having nothing to do with uncognizable "dark matter."
I set aside my current tasks. My preliminary exploration and hypotheses regarding the Primitive Dream Realm had reached their current limit.
Speaking of which, how long had I been here?
I stepped out of my small hut.
Everything looked so surreal, yet I could perceive it all with "real" clarity. I couldn't help but feel a sense of wonder.
The Fool's Dream girls followed behind me, watching silently, not daring to make a sound.
Even they were curious about what was on the Sage's mind.
At this moment, I wasn't just marveling at the scenery. I was also sensing my anchor to reality, trying to see if I could still return.
And... if I went back, could I return here again?
To be honest, I cared deeply about this Fool's Village dream. I didn't want to fail their expectations. If I were to blame anything, it would be the impulsive promise I made back then.
This was a unique opportunity, perhaps one that could never be replicated.
I didn't care if my physical body in reality died. Given my physical strength and the internal circulation of my Body Cultivation, I wouldn't die even if I went without food for many days.
What mattered was my life essence.
As a master of the Reincarnation Rebirth Spell, I could simply resurrect myself once I returned to reality.
However, I could feel my anchor to reality growing weaker.
If this continued, with my consciousness submerged so deeply in the Primitive Dream Realm, unpredictable accidents might occur.
Another point of concern was... if my consciousness lost its connection to the Holy Relic, it would be fatal.
I had initially used the Tree of Great Knowledge as an anchor for my consciousness to enter the Primitive Dream Realm.
The Tree of Great Knowledge was used to organize my memories and prevent the Primitive Dream Realm from assimilating my cognition.
The Tree of Great Wisdom Enlightenment maintained the connection through the "Dual Tree Structure" with the Tree of Great Knowledge, eventually allowing me to integrate into the dream world.
This relationship was like walking a tightrope. If a single connection snapped... it would be the end.
The Primitive Dream Realm was no joke!
However... I could use this connection to draw my soul essence into the Primitive Dream Realm. That way, only my physical shell would remain in reality.
Currently, only my consciousness was submerged here, which limited what I could do.
Consciousness was a fragile form of cognition. According to the relationship between consciousness and the soul, the two were an inseparable, unified concept.
My current state was more like dreaming than truly entering the Primitive Dream Realm using the soul as a bridge.
It was just that my consciousness had dived too deep, and with the anchor of the Tree of Great Wisdom Enlightenment, I had reached the deep layers of the Primitive Dream Realm—Fool's Village.
So... I needed to do two things.
First, draw my soul into the depths of the Primitive Dream Realm's Fool's Village. Second, deepen the anchor between the Tree of Great Wisdom Enlightenment and the village.
As for why I was anchoring it to the village instead of myself—it was because I needed a stable "signpost" to return to. Even if I were forced to leave for some reason, with this anchor, I could find my way back.
I left my hut and went to the Starlight Tower to find the Village Chief.
I explained my requirements to her.
These two steps would establish a stable path to Fool's Village and enhance my own capabilities.
After all, my soul was already progressing along the Great Soul Subject!
With the Soul Dream as my trump card, I could hide inside it to evade any danger.
Furthermore, once I had my soul essence here, my Five Senses Body Cultivation, mental power, and all my other techniques would no longer be mere habitual cognitions of my consciousness. This would help me better study the Primitive Dream Realm and the relationship between the Fool's Dream and the Nightmares.
"Sage Xiao Han... I have no right to interfere with your decision. You are willing to sacrifice so much for us; I will support you no matter what."
"Thank you for understanding... but this is ultimately an experiment. There is a chance of failure. The final outcome is uncertain, and it might even expose Fool's Village to the Primitive Dream Realm again... all of these are possibilities."
"I still support your decision. When you told me you had accepted our Braves who left the village, I no longer had any lingering worries. They are the hope of the Fool's Dream race. We hold onto this village because it is our only hope, but you saved those Braves and allowed them to live in reality. The mission to become true life forms will be carried out by them... I truly hope they can be happy in the real world."
"They will be. And one day, all of you will be able to go to reality and live the lives you desire."
As I finished speaking, I silently closed my eyes. The phantom of a colossal tree gradually emerged behind me.
* * *
The Real World.
A silent tremor rippled through the Expansion Realm.
In the region where dreams overlapped within the Expansion Realm, the boundary between reality and dreams was suddenly breached.
Something from the depths of the Primitive Dream Realm seemed to be bursting through that barrier, sending ripples of dream energy cascading through the real world.
The epicenter of it all... was the area beneath the Void Rift in the Expansion Realm.
A figure floated in the air there. Two massive golden trees seemed to use that figure as their origin, with countless branches blooming upward and downward.
The infinite plane perpendicular to the two trees seemed to slice reality and dreams apart...
Such a violent disturbance echoed through the Expansion Realm, immediately catching the attention of all the high-ranking officials of the Transcendent Academies.
Meanwhile, in Mei Lind's office.
"What's going on? Is this a dream wave echo from the Expansion Realm?!" Mei Lind exclaimed in surprise.
A moment later, the components of the Qi Observation Art instrument she was holding slipped from her fingers.
"Wait! Dammit! It's Xiao Han! Could this be Xiao Han's doing?!"
Mei Lind immediately thought of the dream life experiment Xiao Han was supposed to be conducting in the Expansion Realm.
This was far too much of a coincidence.
The more she thought about the details, the more likely it seemed. Ignoring the items on her desk, she bolted toward the location where the anomaly was occurring.