Chương 547: Chapter 542: Parasites

Why this dream world was special... I had an idea about what he was going to show me, but I decided not to say anything.

"I'll be honest," Lu Chenyang began as we walked.

"At first, I didn't really think much of this realm. The inhabitants are delusional, the energy is corrupted, and worst of all, the cultivation system is unstable." He wasn't wrong. At first glance, the Realm of the Chosen really did seem like a poor choice for a world walker to travel to, and I could only wonder how many cultivators left before they discovered there was more to the realm than what was apparent.

"But then I discovered the secret," Lu Chenyang whispered.

"This dream world has something that makes all those inconveniences worthwhile. Something that makes it superior to any other realm I've visited in all of my time dream walking." He looked so excited sharing this secret with a junior, so I decided to continue to play my role.

"What secret, Senior Lu?" I asked with an eager expression. A proud look appeared on his face; he gestured toward a nearby plaza where a street performer was putting on a show.

"Look," was all he said. So, that's what I did. I watched but quickly found that there was nothing unusual going on. If anything, what was unusual was how normal the performer's routine was. He was doing some kind of acrobatic routine, flipping and spinning while the crowd applauded. I expected something stranger in a realm like this.

"In exactly thirty seconds, that performer will attempt a particularly difficult flip," Lu Chenyang said.

"He'll misjudge the rotation and land badly, spraining his ankle. The crowd will gasp and a woman in a green dress will rush forward to help him. She'll introduce herself as a healer, and within five minutes they'll be making plans to have dinner together." And that was exactly what happened. Thirty seconds later, the performer crying out in pain as his ankle twisted after an awkward landing. The crowd gasped, and a woman in a green dress pushed through to help him.

"I'm a healer," I heard her say.

"Let me have a look." And within five minutes, just as Lu Chenyang predicted, the two were laughing together and making plans to meet for dinner at a local restaurant. Seeing my impression expression, Lu Chenyang smiled like a proud child that wanted compliments. I decided to humour him; I let my face show the appropriate shock and confusion he was asking for.

"Senior Lu, how did you predict that so perfectly?"

"Because it's already happened," Lu Chenyang said, his smile growing wider.

"This entire realm is caught in a time loop. Everything resets to a specific point and plays out exactly the same way, over and over and over."

"A time loop?" My eyes widened as far as I could manage.

"But the energy needed for that would be..."

"Astronomical," Lu Chenyang finished.

"Whoever created this loop must have been at least Dreamgod Ascendent level, possibly higher. The technique is so sophisticated that the dream beings don't even realize they're repeating the same day endlessly." I couldn't help but wonder what his reaction would be if he found out that the one who created the loop was the 'junior' standing in front of him. Though I had to admit, I would never have been able to accomplish such an impressive feat had it not been for the realm itself helping me create the loop.

"That's incredible, Senior Lu, but what does it mean for us?"

"That means, little Hou," he said, his eyes shining with something that made me a bit uneasy, "we can do whatever we want. We can steal, murder, make chaos; try out dangerous techniques. It doesn't matter. Whatever we do will reset, and we will not have to worry about the consequences." To demonstrate, he strolled over to the fruit vendor and took an apple without paying. The vendor appeared irritated but didn't complain.

He probably ignored Senior Lu because of his inflated ego which made him believe that the old man was below the vendor's notice.

"See?" Lu Chenyang bit into the apple.

"Within a couple of hours, this will reset, and the apple will be back on the vendor's cart. No harm done. And the same goes for cultivation treasures." The carefree way of looking at the loop made me uncomfortable, but I could understand why a cultivator like Lu Chenyang would see it like that.

"But forget about that for now," he waved his hand as though physically trying to change the subject.

"You mentioned you were struggling with dream walking. What exactly don't you get?" This was an excellent chance to get some information.

"I'm trying to figure out how you were able to retain some of your cultivation after the world stripped it from you," I said.

"When I came in, I felt the same force taking away my abilities and I didn't have the preparation you mentioned."

"Good question," Lu Chenyang nodded, lifting his right hand to channel the familiar spiral patterns of dream Qi.

"The key is preparing prior to entering. You need to create what we refer to as a Cultivation Anchor."

"An anchor?"

"A spiritual framework which you bring with you when dream-walking. Think of it like a sealed box containing your own cultivation that is protected from the world's influence to suppress your cultivation." He motioned with his hand.

"The world can strip your active cultivation from you, but it can't touch what you seal within the anchor. Once you have fully manifested yourself, you can open the anchor and recover some of your strength to physically manipulate objects in the dream world." Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work! That was a very interesting concept.

"How long will it take to prepare something like that?"

"It depends on your cultivation level and how complex what you wish to seal within your anchor is," Lu Chenyang said as he continued walking.

"As for mine, I spent 3 months collecting materials and 2 years developing the technique to produce it. Using this anchor, I can restore up to Thoughtshaper level cultivation power. That's enough power for most things."

"What about possession?"

"Possession?" Lu Chenyang laughed.

"Boy, that's far past what a simple anchor can accomplish. Possessing an inhabitant of a dream world is going to require decades of training and assets that most dream cultivators don't have."

"Why... why is it so difficult?"

"There are several reasons," Lu Chenyang replied, going into what looked like teacher mode.

"First, you need to be able to maintain control of your possession while resisting the realm's desire to eject you. Second, the vessel used must be compatible with your cultivation method. Third, you need to suppress the vessel's awareness without harming its spiritual roots." He paused for a passing carriage.

"But if you are successful at possessing someone, the advantages are truly great. You will have full access to your dream cultivation powers, not just what you can retrieve using an anchor. You can remain in the dream world as long as the vessel lives instead of being bound by your anchor's time limit. And when you do finally leave, you will be able to easily reproduce the vessel's abilities in the real world as well." That last sentence attracted my attention.

"Easier to copy their abilities?"

"The possession establishes a profound connection between souls," Lu Chenyang explained.

"While you are in possession of the vessel, your soul and their soul merge briefly allowing you to comprehend their techniques from within themselves. Even once you separate, that comprehension remains intact so you can replicate their abilities much easier." No wonder Moon mentioned that dream walkers spent months or even years getting ready for expeditions. The benefits of being able to successfully possess a suitable vessel were immense.

"But of course," Lu Chenyang continued, "the risks associated with possession are considerable as well. If the vessel dies while you are possessing them, you risk causing irreparable damage to your spirit. If the dream world realizes that you are attempting to possess someone and fights back against you, the backlash could devastate your cultivation progress for years." He looked at me.

"Too bad you showed up unprepared. With adequate supplies and forethought, you could have tried to possess a novice cultivator here, but then again, it's probably best to be cautious on your first trip." I nodded as we walked further. Lu Chenyang continued pointing out features of the town and describing techniques related to dream walking. His knowledge was impressive, and I found myself genuinely learning useful information despite maintaining my act as an ignorant junior.

"One thing we must be careful of in this realm, young Hou," Lu Chenyang said seriously.

"There's someone who doesn't play by the rules."

"What do you mean, Senior Lu?" I asked, worried that there was a less friendly dream walker roaming around.

"It's a cultivator in this realm, a young man, he seems to remember across the resets." Lu Chenyang's voice carried frustration.

"I don't know how he does it, but he's hostile to dream walkers." That made me relax. The thought of a dangerous dream walker would have made the situation much worse. As for the young man he was talking about, I immediately knew who it was. This topic seemed to be a trigger point for Lu Chenyang because his face reddened as he began to vent.

"The bastard has killed me seventeen times!" he spat.

"Seventeen times! Each time I visit this realm, he tracks me down within hours and eliminates my anchor to force me back to my physical body." He began to pace.

"First few times I thought it was just bad luck, that I just got unlucky and ran into him a lot. Eventually I figured out he was deliberately targeting dream walkers... he can tell when someone shows up from outside this realm and he attacks them with every ounce of power he possesses."

"Why would he do that?" I asked even though I had an idea why.

"How should I know?" Lu Chenyang shrugged.

"The kid is crazy. Paranoid, possibly suffering from prolonged exposure to Xuan Yi corruption... and he keeps saying about 'parasites' and 'protecting my world' from external threats..." That sounded like Du Yanze had been dealing with dream walkers for a while and if they were like Lu Chenyang, trying to exploit the time loop for their own purposes, it probably reminded him of the otherworldly being. That would definitely make him very hostile.

"Does senior know where this youth usually appears?" I tried to sound like I was worried about avoiding him rather than seeking him out.

"He is unpredictable," Lu Chenyang shook his head.

"Sometimes he hangs out in the lower city, sometimes he roams around the administrative district, and sometimes he..." He stopped mid-sentence, and I immediately found out why. There was a massive surge of spiritual pressure being focused on us. We both turned our heads simultaneously to face the source. Stood at the end of the road was Du Yanze; however he looked nothing like the composed young man I'd left earlier.

His robes were dirty and stained, his hair was matted wildly in every direction, and dark circles ringed his red-rimmed bloodshot eyes.

"It's you," Lu Chenyang gulped as his eyes widened in horror.

"How…how did you track us down so quickly?" Du Yanze stared at us intensely for a few seconds.

"Parasite," he finally growled, his voice rough from probably not using it much.

"And you brought a friend along with you, old man?" Lu Chenyang moved forward rapidly; his Thoughtshaper level cultivation burst forth as he hastily prepared an emergency exit technique. Du Yanze waved his arm. The street beneath us erupted as Xuan Yi solidified into a massive hand that reached up and grabbed Lu Chenyang before he could escape. The old man screamed as his escape technique collapsed instantly. I watched in stunned silence as the hand tightened, clamped around Lu Chenyang.

The old man tried to fight back with dream qi, but since his power was restricted, he wasn't able to resist Du Yanze's massive amount of power. Du Yanze walked toward us, his footsteps echoing in the suddenly silent street. The inhabitants around us continued their daily activities, completely oblivious to what was happening. To them, this was just another group of cultivators having a dispute.

"I've killed you seventeen times," he spat out.

"And yet, you continue coming back. Don't you see? This world isn't yours to plunder! These people aren't your playthings!"

"Please..." Lu Chenyang pleaded pitifully.

"I've never hurt anyone. I'm just here to watch, to lear—""Lies," Du Yanze cut him off.

"I've seen what you monsters do. You steal from my people, you experiment on them, you treat my world as a playground." Lu Chenyang tried to deny it, but Du Yanze ignored him and his gaze landed on me. The look in his eyes made ice run through my spiritual form. It was the look of a madman, the look of someone who had suffered for way too long and had finally broken.

"And you," he said.

"Another parasite, come to leech off my world. Come to exploit the time loop I created to save these people." The massive hand holding Lu Chenyang began to glow with dangerous energy. Du Yanze raised his other hand toward me.

"I won't let you," he said.

"I won't let any of you parasites drain my world dry. I'll destroy anyone who comes here, as many times as it takes." Another massive palm formed, this one was aimed at me.

"Even if it takes ten thousand resets," he continued.

"Even if I have to spend eternity hunting you down. This world is under my protection, and I won't let you destroy it." The rage in his voice was personal. It was fury born from who knows how many resets, how many repetitions of the same events, how much loneliness and isolation and psychological torture. I needed to identify myself somehow, but carefully. If I made one wrong move, he would crush me like he was about to crush the old man.

"Du Yanze," I whispered. At the sound of his name being called, the massive palm froze.