Chapter 317 - 316: Encounter in the Dream
Jiang Li walked up to Zhang Konghu: “Konghu, get your wits about you, how could there be a cultivation method in this world that strengthens you by just eating and sleeping?”
“Wit, what wit?” Zhang Konghu was unaware that he was dreaming and felt no surprise at Jiang Li’s arrival.
“…You need to work hard on your cultivation. There’s still plenty of room for you to grow. Your tribal bloodline can still be further developed, and your body refining method has not yet reached its limit. Your current level is still far from my level during the Body Integration Realm. You cannot relax.”
Jiang Li cautioned Zhang Konghu, urging him to cultivate diligently to become the strongest existence in the Body Integration Realm eventually, living up to his name as the leader of the Imperial Palace.
Zhang Konghu’s combat power is among the top three in the Body Integration Realm. Still, he is not yet as formidable as Jiang Li, Bai Hongtu, and Yu Yin, who were once at the Body Integration Realm; he can be stronger.
“You are supposed to be the model for the Body Integration Realm leaders of the Imperial Palace; how could you be so lazy.”
“Wake up, hard work is the shortcut to becoming stronger.”
Zhang Konghu has been awoken by Jiang Li, and he realized his mistakes, deciding to repent and reform.
Zhang Konghu patted his chest and assured, “Don’t worry, brother Jiang, I will definitely work hard on my cultivation in the future and catch up with your pace!”
Jiang Li nodded in satisfaction and left for the next dream.
Zhang Konghu got up, wake from his dream.
“Brother Jiang, rest assured, I will definitely work hard… work hard on what?” Zhang Konghu couldn’t remember what Jiang Li had said in his dream.
“It seems he told me to laze around and have some snacks?” Zhang Konghu scratched his head, feeling that these words didn’t sound like something Jiang Li would say.
“Let me ask again.” Zhang Konghu went back to sleep, trying to trace back the same way.
“Eh, the old fairy, you’re here again?”
It’s rare for Mid-High Rank Cultivators to sleep, Zhang Konghu was an exception. After Zhang Konghu, Jiang Li never again entered the dreams of high-ranking cultivators.
He saw some mortals dreaming of having a single Spiritual Root, no longer stuck in the Third Layer of Qi Cultivation, making rapid cultivation advances, and going to big sects to cultivate.
He also saw cultivators surrounded by their wives and concubines, scandalously enjoying their day, and a man with five women couldn’t even piece together a piece of clothing.
In simple terms, these were spring dreams.
Some cultivators dreamt that as long as they were alive, their cultivation level would increase, and each increase would lengthen their lifespan, forming a positive cycle, continuously becoming stronger without limit.
Jiang Li saw this little cultivator becoming unstoppable and went up to test his skills.
Unsurprisingly, that little cultivator was unlucky, even getting beaten up in his dream.
Jiang Li carefully comforted the little guy, afraid he might develop some psychological trauma.
Some students from the Great Zhou Dynasty Family Academy had nightmares, dreaming of teachers assigning one after another subject to them, asking them to complete everything or be denied graduation.
The student cried and barely managed to write up all the project reports, only to be mercilessly rejected by the teacher.
“Unqualified. Rewrite all.”
That student could only continue to write while crying.
Jiang Li recalled his own days at the academy; it was an unbearable past.
The teachers cried and claimed they couldn’t understand his theories, so he had to repeatedly explain them. It was troublesome, talking until his throat became dry.
Jiang Li also encountered a particular cultivator with a bloodthirsty nature, killing people like grass in his dreams, continuously breaking through a few bottlenecks with his cultivation level soaring rapidly.
The most crucial point was that this cultivator’s blood sacrifice method was proficient, just like a professional’s.
Jiang Li pondered for a moment, remembered this person, and commanded a leader to investigate whether this man had practiced the Demon Cultivation Path.
While killing for cultivation growth could be explained away by bloodthirst, how could one rationalize this blood sacrifice method? Anyone who hadn’t seen it before could never imagine it.
This person was most likely a Demon Cultivator.
“I’ve truly seen a lot of people.” Jiang Li sighed, never expecting to encounter so many unique dream worlds.
Dream Pure laughed and said, “This is another way of refiner’s thinking in Red Dust. I used this method to break through to the Body Integration Realm; it was effective. However, the Human Emperor probably doesn’t need Refining the Mind.”
“Refining the Mind in Red Dust is for those cultivators who cultivate in seclusion for many years. I’ve been in Red Dust since Qi Cultivation Stage, and it was a natural progression to the Body Integration Realm, so I don’t require that step.”
Dream Pure had heard from others that this generation’s Human Emperor didn’t have any special background, and all his resources were earned through his hard work. Such people indeed don’t require Refining the Mind in Red Dust.
“Let’s go to the last dream then we can leave.” Dream Pure said, Jiang Li nodded, and took a step forward.
“Huh?” After Jiang Li took a step, the dreamscape abruptly changed.
The dream violently expanded and shrunk again, bursting with extreme light and heat so radiant that one might feel it as splendid punishment.
Utter annihilation and extreme shattering occurred simultaneously, warping the dream world. The dream, like a sponge, was being arbitrarily kneaded and deformed by an invisible force.
The dream seemed to be undergoing some unspeakable change, as if it were crossing a difficult space, arriving at a world that could not be reached.
“What, what’s happening?” Dream Pure was shocked. She had never seen such changes in a dream, not even recorded in ancient books.
A terrifying and domineering aura occupied the entire dream, causing the dream to stop changing.
“Did you do something?” Dream Pure looked at Jiang Li beside her, thinking that he had stabilized the dream.
“It’s him.” Jiang Li had a serious look, looking at the man standing not far away.
The man’s expression was as domineering, arrogant, lawless, and supreme as the aura he exuded.
“I had only guessed at first, I didn’t expect I could actually find you through the dream.” The man calmly spoke, contemptuously looking at Jiang Li.
“The Initial Emperor Jiang Li?” Dream Pure gasped in surprise, revealing the man’s identity.
She’d never thought she’d actually come across the Initial Emperor in a dream.
“Could it be that two people were simultaneously using the Dream Path, resonating, allowing the two to meet in a dream?” Dream Pure secretly guessed, finding this situation too weird to understand.
Are dreams gateways to parallel worlds? Or is Jiang Li too unique?
The Initial Emperor Jiang Li was wearing a robe symbolizing his noble status in black, whereas Jiang Li was dressed in white. They seemed to be two extremes.
“My cultivation is unrivaled in this world. Apart from the Immortal whom I’ve never met, no one should be able to escape from my Divine Sense.”
“I’ve speculated, could somebody have seen me through the river of time? But that’s not right, although I can’t navigate through the river of time, I should be able to feel who’s peeping at me. Even the Past and Present Sword, which would have wanted to sneak-attack me, I felt.”
“Could it be someone who has mastered the grand Space Path? That’s also not sound. Old Buddha Xumi once spied on me with the Space Path, and I sensed nothing. If someone spied on me with the Space Path, I wouldn’t be able to feel it.”
“And the Old Buddha Xumi perished, and the Brahma Tower was shattered by me, there shouldn’t be anyone who can use the Space Path far exceeding mine.”
“The possibility then is only one, being the Dream Path which currently we don’t understand the principle of.”
“It appears that is the case today. Should you be my parallel self? Your whole appearance looks lackluster, useless generation.”
“You, are not a qualified ruler, you lack the domineering aura of the lord of the Nine Provinces. I will not acknowledge you.” The Initial Emperor looked down on Jiang Li, considering his character weak and without a scent of blood and gore.
“You sure do talk a lot. I only need to say one thing.” Jiang Li slowly started to speak.
“What?”
“You’re asking for a beating!”
The Initial Emperor flew into rage, and both men leaped up, starting a grand battle in the dream.