Chương 545: Chapter 540: Dream Walking

I spent the next ten days practicing intensely. Moon really taught me better than any other human instructor I've ever learned from. Not only was she very patient, but she also repeated her demonstrations multiple times until I got it right without ever showing any sign of frustration. The first day was the worst. I practiced building dream structures as best as I possibly could, but it soon became apparent to me that dream qi wasn't like qi at all. Dream qi required imagination and conviction.

When you were convinced enough to believe that the structure you were creating was a real part of the physical world and not just a construct, you could actually build something. Each time I slipped into the old way of thinking, Moon would tap me gently on the forehead with her large paw and say, "believe true". With her help, by the end of the first day I built a relatively simple construct, a single room with a door, which stood for almost an hour before it faded away.

By the second day, I understood how to create foundations. The issue with constructing anything was that I could not simply create a palace in thin air and expect it to remain. A structure needed to have some type of logical framework associated with it, even if this was only with dream logic. Structures needed to have anchor points, which provided them with stability. These anchor points differed depending on the nature of the structure. Some were based on emotions, others were tied to memories or philosophies.

After many hours of experimenting, I found that the key to success was identifying anchor points which related to my own perception of reality. The third day saw a major breakthrough in another area. While I was practicing making a palace, I created a construct that began to exhibit basic awareness. Again, it was nothing spectacular, just a simple door that opened and closed when someone approached it without any conscious direction from me.

As soon as Moon realized what had happened, she made a sound of approval despite the fact that the construct existed only for a few minutes before disappearing. However, this proved to me that the concept worked and that I could really create semi-sentient constructs. All I needed to do was refine my techniques. By the fourth day, things were coming together for me. Most so-called 'geniuses' become too focused on creating elaborate palaces with multiple rooms and fancy details.

This was unnecessary for developing foundational skills. What mattered was establishing a permanent base upon which other structures could be built on. So, with that in mind, I decided to build the simplest palace possible. It was basically a single 20-foot-high and 10-foot-wide tower made of white marble. There were no rooms, no furnishings, no adornments that might detract from the simplicity of it. It was exactly what I had envisioned – a stable structure anchored to the concept of "permanence".

After I completed it, I took a few steps back and observed it closely. At least sixty minutes passed by while it remained intact and showed no sign of deterioration whatsoever.

'Moon,' I said, 'look.' As soon as she heard the enthusiasm in my voice, she wandered over to examine whatever it was that had caught my attention. In typical fashion for a panda, she circled the tower examining it thoroughly and smelled it before attempting to topple it with a swipe of her massive paw. Fortunately for me, the tower didn't budge the slightest.

'Strong,' Moon said.

'Good. Grow.' I immediately understood what she meant: my work was far from complete. Instead, it was merely beginning. During the next three days, I used the tower as my primary location of operation. Each morning after waking up, I checked to ensure the tower continued to stand upright, which it always did. Then, I would add new structures surrounding the existing ones using the original tower as an anchor point. On day five, I constructed a wall that marked the birthplace of a courtyard.

On day six, I erected an additional tower on the opposite side of the wall and established a gateway connecting both towers. By day seven, what I had was no longer simply a tower; it was now a small fortress consisting of three towers connected by walls enclosing a central courtyard and a decent interior living space. If someone was to approach the gateway doors, they would automatically open, and once the person had passed through, they would close.

But the doors weren't the only thing that had semi-sentience, the courtyard's stone floor would repel dirt and debris to keep itself clean. And one of the towers would produce a soft glow at night, as if it had decided it should serve as a lighthouse Sure, it was nothing compared to Moon's bamboo paradise, but it was mine. When Moon saw the progress I made, she kept saying, "soon."

Satisfied with what I'd accomplished so far with the palace, I spent day eight focusing on the semi-sentience aspect, I felt like I could improve on it. Since I had memories of the sword from my time as Hou, I decided to create a simple sword construct. Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

It was the same basic design I'd been practicing since becoming a Thoughtshaper, but this time, I didn't just create it as a weapon, I created it as an entity, something with its own sense of purpose and identity. I focused my willpower for hours on the idea of protection, guardianship, vigilance. I wanted the sword to understand these concepts, not as an abstraction, but as a core fact about its very essence.

Finally, after lunchtime, I sensed a slight change in the sword's weight as though it had acquired mass greater than the qi that I had molded into metal. When I placed the sword onto a stone, instead of disappearing instantly, it stayed there, patiently waiting. I walked away from the sword. Ten feet. Twenty feet. Through the courtyard, across the grounds, and into one of my tower structures. The sword didn't disappear; it was still sitting in the same spot.

"Moon!" I exclaimed loudly.

"I did it!" Out came the massive panda from her cave. She picked up the sword to test its weight and balance. Then she deliberately removed herself from my line of vision and took the sword with her. I forced myself to resist the urge to follow her and see what she was doing. If the construct was sentient enough, it should be able to exist even when I wasn't there. Around five minutes passed before Moon returned without the sword. I was disappointed at first, thinking that I had failed, but then she spoke.

"Find," she said, motioning for me to begin searching. I began to walk throughout my small fortress looking in all the most obvious spots. The courtyard. The towers. Alongside the walls. It wasn't in any of those places so I widened my search parameters and started walking through the surrounding forest to look behind trees and under bushes. I discovered the sword around fifteen minutes later. It leaned against a boulder formation roughly fifty yards from my fortress.

And it still appeared solid, perfectly formed, just waiting to be used.

"Good," Moon rumbled, genuinely proud of me.

"Ready. Gate." So, days nine and ten were spent on studying the theory behind Dream Gates. Since Moon couldn't verbally explain things to me, she continued sharing memories via spiritual resonance. Once again, I experienced fleeting visions of her own breakthrough into Dream Architect realm where she was able to form stable constructs and semi-sentient objects easily. The main takeaway I got from the visions was the connection.

You couldn't just create or build a Dream Gate; it emerged organically from a Dream Architect's consciousness and formed portals to dream worlds that resonated with that cultivator's dao and comprehension. Unfortunately, that did mean that I wouldn't get to choose the world that the gate would lead since the gate formed matched the dream cultivator's personal path of cultivation. For Moon, this included three worlds representing her unique philosophical approach to cultivating herself.

The Realm of Living Lyrics was all about harmony and creative expression, the Mortal Martial World was about discipline which she had in spades, and The Realm of the Chosen was all about confidence and self-assurance. All three were reflective of her identity as a cultivator who had demonstrated immense power solely due to her faith in her own abilities and those she protects. The question was which dream world would resonate with my path?

The World Tree Sutra emphasized growth, connection between different realms, and the fundamental unity of all cultivation systems. What kind of dream worlds would reflect those principles? By the morning of day eleven, I felt my cultivation base transform just like it did before. The successful development of a permanent construct and a semi-sentient object had triggered the breakthrough from Nightbound Adept to Dream Architect.

I sat in meditation within my small fortress for hours while the breakthrough occurred naturally. When it was done, I opened my eyes and found that I perceived dream constructs differently. I could better feel the semi-conscious awareness of each construct I had produced during the last few days; however, I also sensed something new within my spiritual space: a potential gateway existing between the real and unreal states waiting to be fully materialized. This was the Dream Gate that Moon had mentioned.

"Sleep", she instructed as she sat beside me.

"Dream. Find." I closed my eyes once again. The transition to dreaming was effortless. Once I arrived within the dreamscape realm I saw the gate properly. It presented itself as a circular doorframe surrounded by an aura of silvery luminescence. I couldn't see anything directly through it yet; but I felt drawn towards whatever world awaited me on the opposite end. I didn't hesitate; I approached the gate and crossed through it.

Crossing dimensions using a Dream Gate was significantly different than using the World Tree Sutra. There was no feeling of traversing multiple planes of existence. Instead, my consciousness simply was in one location and then was in another as though physical distance didn't apply within the dreamscape realm. When I gathered my bearings, I realised where I was – the Realm of the Chosen. I could tell immediately because everything about the environment screamed self-importance.

The buildings were ornate beyond reason, every structure competing to be the most impressive. The sky itself shimmered with Xuan Yi, that distinctive energy of absolute belief and conviction that saturated this entire inner world. Not only did I know the realm that I was in, I knew the exact location too. This was the golden city where I'd spent time during my previous visit. This was the place I had said my goodbye.

Before I could ponder over why the Dream Gate had led me to this world, a disturbance at a nearby river caught my attention. A small fish-like spirit creature approximately three feet in length floated above water facing a massive whale-like creature estimated to be at least fifty feet long. The fish was delivering what seemed like a lengthy, passionate speech.

"... and therefore you see..." declared the fish, "... destiny has chosen me to be the greatest being in all of creation! Your size means nothing compared to my conviction! So, I issue you, great whale, a challenge to battle to the death! After I prevail against you, all will acknowledge that I am the true..." Before the fish could even finish what it was saying, the whale opened its mouth and swallowed the fish in a single casual bite. Well, that was anticlimactic.

For a second, I felt bad for the fish, but then I remembered that this was the Realm of the Chosen — an environment literally codified into its laws that such absurd amounts of self-confidence were normal. But watching that brief encounter made me aware of my own current limitations. I was weak. A lot weaker than I had been in the Dream World.

The last time I had entered this realm, I'd come as a spiritual manifestation that had access to an inner world, so it had been easy to possess, cultivate, and interact relatively normally with the realm's inhabitants. But right now, I was just a spirit that had entered through a Dream Gate. That meant that I was barely more substantial than a ghost. All I could do was look and move around, I had no real power. Just like Moon had warned, my dream cultivation was inaccessible here.

This meant that I couldn't even try to possess a vessel, my spiritual presence was so fragile that even the weakest being could reject my attempt. Now I understood why dream cultivators prepared so carefully before expeditions. They weren't just worried about spiritual damage from combat; they were concerned about being this vulnerable in hostile environments. But I had advantages they didn't. I knew this world already. I'd walked these streets, learned these techniques, even made allies among the inhabitants.

Most importantly, I knew exactly where to find someone who would help me. It was time to find Du Yanze and see how the time loop had treated him.