"A dream master is the master of his own dreams! If the dream master wants to improve further, he will have to involve himself in other people's dreams…..Such an involvement is highly risky and it is easier to succeed by targeting a person who is less spiritually intelligent to train with..."
As he recalled the description in the inheritance, Fang Yuan became serious.
The dream masters who were able to access other people's dreams were known as 'dream-accessing masters'. The next step would allow the dream master to alter other people's dream, and would be known as 'dream-building masters'!
These two stages were the basic stages of a dream master.
After all these, it would be cultivating to attain Prominent Divine Stage: to understand the rules of reality and assimilate them into the dream, transforming things from the dream world into reality.
In conclusion, the more similar the dream world was to reality, the more similar the rate of time flow would be.
"Only when a dream world is similar to reality can a dream master start to actualise objects…..If I want to achieve the standard that my master has achieved, I will need a longer time to do that….."
Master Wenxin achieved not just the Illusionary Divine Stage, but could also build his own world and form spiritual land as well.
Fang Yuan could not imagine the complexities of such an achievement.
"The risks of accessing someone else's dream is way more dangerous than entering my own….If I was to get injured or killed, it would damage my magical energy and even my body in reality….."
Fang Yuan walked out, stared at the Red-eyed White King Bird, and was lost in his thoughts.
...…..
"Chirp!"
One of the eggs broke. A chick with a few feathers and red coloured skin emerged.
It opened its little eyes and was feeling hungry.
With an immense amount of energy, it instinctively pecked and ate its own eggshell, while keeping a lookout at the other chicks.
Some of the young birds were much stronger. After coming out of their shells first and finish consuming their eggshells, they laid their eyes on the other chicks.
In the cruel fight for survival, being blood-related did little to deter them from fighting for their lives.
The chicks quickly fed on their own eggshells and shrieked loudly. They seemed unwilling to share their portions with the rest.
"Whoo! Whoo!"
Just as a few chicks were squeezing and on the brink of fighting, a big gust of wind blew and a giant bird suddenly appeared above the nest.
The giant bird's feathers were pure white and the bird's eyes were bloodshot. There were also a few golden feathers on the tip of its head, resembling a crown.
"Pa!"
After it landed on the nest, its metallic black sharp claws opened, dropping a piece of deer meat in front of the chicks.
'A deer? Why do I find it familiar?'
This thought went through the mind of a chick but disappeared as it was distracted by the piece of meat.
It was so fragrant!
As they were hungry for food, the eyes of the young birds were all bloodshot.
"Chirp! Chirp!"
"Chirp! Chirp!"
The chick hobbled forward with the other birds and started to feed on the blood that was dripping from the meat.
"Chirp! Chirp!"
The Golden Crown King Bird let out a loud chirp. Using its claws and beak, it tore the meat into smaller strips, making it easier for the young birds to consume them.
Although they were beasts, they had already displayed signs of being special. Even though they were only at the stage of infancy, they had no problem digesting the raw meat.
"It's great to fill full….."
Another thought went through the mind of the chick.
After which, the energy it had was used to digest the meat, leaving the chick tired as it dozed off…..
...….
In a blink of an eye, many years had passed.
In the sky above a piece of spiritual land, the chicks had grown bigger and they were spreading their wings and flying across the big blue sky.
The Golden Crown King Bird would wait till all the chicks had fully matured before bringing them to the cliff. At the cliff, the Golden Crown King Bird would push them down one by one!
Those spiritual birds which had not mastered the ability to fly would fall to their deaths!
Under the fear and pressure of death, many spiritual birds would awaken and be able to flap their wings to bring themselves up.
Once they were able to fly, they were considered mature and they could start to hunt on their own.
The father of the young birds, which was the giant bird, would violently chase all the young birds out of the nest.
Every day, the young bird which had just reached the adult stage would have to endure through hunger and spend a lot of effort to hunt for its own food. It would also have to build its own nest to attract female birds in future.
Being pressured to survive and reproduce, the young bird quickly became the best hunter among their kind. It was able to hunt more preys than any other normal white birds and was larger in size, only inferior to the king bird.
However, there were many instances where the young white bird would still be confused.
Especially when it had gotten used to flying, but still didn't know what its hands were used for.
'A pair of hands…..this is a new term!'
Such thoughts which appeared many times in the young bird's mind had taught it how to think. This made it more spiritual than the other birds.
At this point in time, it had thoughts of challenging for the position of the king bird.
Only at the highest position would it be able to enjoy the greatest amount of power in the whole population. This was every white bird's dream!
The current king bird was the Golden Crown King Bird.
"Wait a minute….to overthrow the throne? Why must I do that?"
The young bird was a little confused as that thought came to its mind.
"Who am I, where am I from and where am I going…..Am I really a bird now? No! No! I have a name…..my name is..."
In the sky, the young bird was in a trance and started to fall down quickly.
"I remember!"
"I remember!"
I am a white bird…..no! I have seen this type of bird somewhere!"
"I'm not a white bird. I'm Fang Yuan!!!"
"I am…..in the dream of the Red-eyed White King Bird!!!"
...
Many confused thoughts then went through its mind like a massive flood, and he remained helpless as he became overwhelmed.
"I have actually….became a bird?!"
While he was falling down from the sky, Fang Yuan didn't know to laugh or cry.
He no longer had the ability to make his bird body fly again.
"After all….this is not my dream…..and there would be a backlash as consequence….That was close!!!"
He still feared to know that he had become a bird. "Luckily, I am able to become self-aware, and this means that I have gotten the hang of it. I would be able to gain self-awareness quicker in future…..but I don't want to die in a bloodied mess now!"
Fang Yuan let out a loud cry and the bird let out a loud chirp. With much effort, he managed to spread his wings and fly again.
"That was close!"
He exhaled a long breath and said, "This is not my own dream. If I were to get killed here, there would surely be a backlash!"
"Kacha!"
Immediately after, he heaved a sigh of relief.
A loud thunder rumbled from above and lightning struck down. The mid-air shattered and a fearful giant hand emerged from nowhere.
The giant hand's target was very clear. It went straight at the cliff and nobody could escape from it!
"Damn…...if I had my cultivation….."
Looking at the giant fingers, Fang Yuan felt like an ant. As his mind was whirling, his mind blacked out.
...….
Green peak spiritual land.
Back in the nest of the Red-eyed White King Bird.
Fang Yuan took a few steps back and opened his eyes. Two streams of blood flowed down from his nostrils.
"This is…..the backlash from the dream world!"
He wiped away the blood and looked at the confused Red-eyed White King Bird. He then gave a wry grin.
He tried out the dream-accessing method in an attempt to communicate with the Red-eyed White King Bird, but faced with an emphatic defeat!
Even though the bird was a semi-smart spiritual beast, the resistance in its dream world was powerful. Its consciousness had combined with Fang Yuan's, making Fang Yuan incarnate into a Red-eyed White Bird and making his mysterious dream a scary one.
Luckily, Fang Yuan was a dream master and was able to wake up after a few hints. Otherwise, he would have remained trapped in that dream world.
Even so, after gaining self-awareness, the consciousness of the Red-eyed White King Bird immediately took countermeasures against him.
"The giant hand that was covering the whole sky….. That should be the scariest thing in that dream world. It appeared in that world to deal with me specifically….."
Fang Yuan touched his chin and was in deep thoughts.
Even though the things in that world was fake, it was still very real in the subconscious mind. Since the Red-eyed White King Bird feared the giant hand the most, it would naturally have an impression of it in its dream.
This was the strength of a dream master. In the dream world, adversaries would unknowingly reveal valuable information.
"However…...the risks are nonetheless high..."
Recalling the dangerous situation that he had just experienced in the dream world, Fang Yuan was still afraid.
"If not for the retaliation from the bird's subconscious mind, and that I became aware of the dream, this failure might severely harm my divine spirit. It would not be as simple as using up a large portion of my dream elemental force and experiencing a little bleeding..."
"Chirp! Chirp!"
The Red-eyed White King Bird stared at Fang Yuan and was a little confused. It didn't know what Fang Yuan had just experienced.
Unknowingly, it had a strange feeling towards Fang Yuan. It was as though he was kind but evil at the same time, and had a phobia of him.
"However…..this is the correct method. In future, I will be much more familiar with the method of execution. Compared to the complicated human beings and even more complex dream masters, this is considered an easy task already!"
Fang Yuan sat down and his dream elemental force was flowing slowly in his body. His throbbing headache slowly dissipated.
"Now, the subconscious mind of the bird has regarded me as an enemy. I should not prioritise it. Instead, I should start with the Iron-tailed Black Eagle's and the Flower Fox Ferret's dreams first before trying to access its dream again. Afterwards, it would be the most complicated dream world if the humans….."
After deciding, he walked out of the cave and took a deep breath of the air from the spiritual land. He felt more refreshed.
"I have made a breakthrough in the pathway to becoming a dream master. Next up, Wu Zong!"
"I have already tried the method and pathway of breaking through the Eagle Claw Iron Skin Technique in the dream world. There are three possible ways for me to do it, and I will need to try all of them in the real world….."
Even though there was only a slight difference between the dream world and the real world, there was still a possibility of him going crazy, as it involved his own elemental force.
Of course, Fang Yuan would not use his own body to try out and hence, he would have to find test subjects.
"Even though elemental force originates from heaven and earth, they might appear in different forms. Take for instance, dream elemental force is more illusionary, while the martial arts' elemental force in the Mind Palace originates from the Dantian... To qualify as a test subject, a person must be at least an Earth Gate martial artist and be able to harness miniature elemental force... I have one such person in my hands, no... I might have two!"
Fang Yuan looked at Qingye City and gave a scheming look.
[1] We've started using 'backlash' to replace 'rebound' as it conveys the meaning of the raw better.
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