Mysterious mirror hanging high

However, the Divine Dream Daoist appeared to be very easy to talk to, and simply said in a gentle voice:

"Jing Yu, don't be nervous. I once guided you into a dream to help you understand the secrets of the immortal realm. You should know your own special nature, so I won't go into details... If you have any questions, you can ask them here. I will answer them for you if I can."

Jing Yu didn't stand on ceremony and asked directly, "Then Li Fang... is he the [whetstone] that you gentlemen arranged for me?"

"Yes, your soul has reached the limit of the Nascent Soul stage and needs an opportunity to break through. Comprehending the laws of the Divine Dream in the Divine Dream Diagram is an opportunity, and the high pressure between life and death is also an opportunity."

Jing Yu nodded and continued, "My second question is, why were you able to lure me into a dream? Logically speaking, [Longevity and Perseverance] should preserve truth and dispel illusions, making one immune to all illusions... Could it really be due to a huge difference in our cultivation levels?"

Unexpectedly, the Divine Dream Daoist shook his head: "You're wrong. You think you're in your own dream?"

Jing Yu was stunned.

The Divine Dream Daoist laughed and said, "This is my own [Divine Dream Realm]. What you have entered is my dream."

"Besides, while it's true that 'longevity and long life' preserve truth and dispel illusions, who told you that everything in a dream isn't real?"

"At my level, turning the fake into the real is not difficult. Of course, there is no need for it. After all, who says that dreams are false? My [Divine Dream Realm] is based on itself. As long as I am real, the dream I construct is real."

For example, Xiang Zhaoli.

Shenmeng Daozun looked at Xiang Zhaoli, who was guarding the entrance of the hall, and said indifferently, "Although he perished several eras ago, he has lived on forever in my dream."

"Isn't this another form of immortality?"

"You have just grasped the basic [Divine Dream Diagram], so you must have some understanding of the laws of divine dreams, and you will naturally understand what I mean."

The Divine Dream Daoist said leisurely, "Although the Divine Dream Law relies on the [Divine Soul], it is not based on the Divine Soul as the fundamental path. The essence of dreams lies in [Consciousness]. The [Divine Soul] is merely a vessel. This is a technique, not a path."

"For example, I can also use [qi] to construct dreams, so there is no difference in essence."

"The most important thing is [consciousness]."

"Consciousness?" Jing Yu grasped the key point.

"As you may have guessed, the essence of [Lifespan] is the continuation of consciousness. [Consciousness] is the most important asset for my [Dream Realm]. Therefore, in a sense, my [Path of Cultivation] is also tied to [Changqing Daozun]—or at least I have benefited greatly from it."

Jing Yu vaguely guessed a possibility and hesitated before asking, "May I ask, sir, if a cultivator enters a dream, will their consciousness also be damaged?"

Shenmeng Daozun's lips curled slightly: "You are very smart, indeed."

"I attained enlightenment later than Changqing Daozun. Before I attained enlightenment, there was no such thing as dreams in the world."

Shenmeng Daozun seemed to be lost in memories: "When I was still an ordinary cultivator, the true immortals in the world actually lived for more than ten million years."

"If they fall into a deep sleep, they could even survive for tens or hundreds of billions of years."

"This is because simply sleeping does not cause too much wear and tear on consciousness."

"But after I attain enlightenment... after the true immortals fall into a deep sleep, they will intermittently dream, and the process of dreaming will also deplete a portion of their consciousness."

"No, strictly speaking, their consciousness wasn't 'damaged,' but rather 'plundered' by me."

The Divine Dream Daoist chuckled softly, “Their consciousness has become the nourishment for me to construct the [Divine Dream Realm].

Upon hearing this, Jing Yu was speechless with astonishment: "So, in that case... wouldn't all living beings in the world have had their lifespans shortened because of you, sir?"

"Only true immortals can do it."

Shenmeng Daozun explained: "Except for those who have achieved longevity, the world is fair to all other living beings in terms of consciousness. Regardless of their cultivation level, the capacity of their consciousness is actually quite similar."

"For ordinary cultivators, their consciousness wears down at an alarmingly slow rate compared to their physical body and soul."

"Think about it, an ordinary person has a lifespan of at most a hundred years, but their consciousness can withstand tens of millions of years of wear and tear... So if I let them have some dreams and expend some of their consciousness to construct the Dream Realm, will it have any effect on them?"

"Only true immortals... have already refined the false into the true; their immortal bodies, nascent souls, and divine souls have all reached a state of substantial perfection, immortal and indestructible..."

"The only thing that limits the lifespan of a True Immortal is the wear and tear on their consciousness."

"To them, I am indeed the culprit who stole their lifespan."

Shenmeng Daozun changed the subject: "But then again... if a true immortal needs to rely on a long period of slumber to prolong their life, would such a true immortal still have a chance to condense immortal golden nature and attain the rank of golden immortal?"

"Rather than merely surviving in this world, I'd rather contribute to building my dream world."

"After all, if they die in reality, then they truly perish and their essence vanishes, and everything becomes nothing."

"But the creations of their consciousness that they left behind in the Dream Realm can remain here forever."

Jing Yu chuckled dryly, not daring to comment on Shenmeng Daozun's assertion, and directly changed the subject:

"My lord, I have already comprehended the [Divine Dream Diagram], but I wonder how to further comprehend the [Divine Dream Law], and what its general direction is?"

Shenmeng Daozun casually said, "You have already created your own [Divine Dream Realm]. The next step is to continuously expand the boundaries of your dreams."

"As for how to expand the boundaries? The method is also very simple. There are two ways. The first is to lure people into your dream, to pull their consciousness into your own dream, and to let them consume their consciousness to build dream creations for you."

"But this is a clumsy method, and it's very inefficient."

"The second one is more powerful. The boundaries of dreams are the boundaries of imagination... If you can visualize things that do not exist in this world, the boundaries will naturally be expanded."

Jing Yu frowned and pondered: "Contemplate something that doesn't exist in the world?"

He thought for a moment, then flicked his fingers, extending his divine sense. The next moment, a monster's phantom appeared beside the two of them.

The monster looked extremely bizarre. Its main body was a rotting male deer skull, but the ends of its antlers forked into seven giant python heads, each with its own pupils flashing with different colors of phosphorescence.

The mandible is missing, replaced by a whale-like fleshy tentacle hanging down from deep in the throat, its surface covered with pustules resembling toad egg vesicles.

"Something like this?" Jing Yu asked.

Unexpectedly, the Divine Dream Daoist merely glanced at the monster and said indifferently:

"This beast is called the [Rotten Abyss Throat Monster], and it is a kind of monster from the lower realm [Obisu Realm]."

Jing Yu exclaimed in surprise, "There really is one?"

Shenmeng Daozun smiled and said, "The myriad worlds are far larger than you can imagine, large enough to accommodate the most imaginative fantasies. The boundaries of imagination are not so easy to expand... You still have a long way to go."