Carefree Path of Dreams

“Hmm? A fishing village?”

They arrived above a great river.

The sun was setting, and fishing boats were returning home. It was a beautiful view.

“The entrance to the mysterious realm is just below the reeds. We’ve set up an illusion array, and a city master always stands guard here!” Madam Hua Rui explained softly as she led Fang Yuan into the dense reeds.

Poof!

After they entered the water, the waters automatically parted, and they passed through an array.

“Big Brother!” A cultivator in white carrying a sword welcomed them. “How are the preparations?”

“Haha… We only brought one helper this time, but he’s as good as hundreds or even thousands of others!” Venerable Lie Huo said confidently. “Brother Situ, please!”

“Let’s go together!” Fang Yuan smiled. The cultivator in white was very confused.

Qian Xingzi and the Miscellaneous House Master quickly brought him up to speed, and shock immediately emerged on his face.

“This mysterious realm’s focus is testing… It should be a place where some Holy Land that perished selected disciples and deacons…”

Since they had made the oath, Venerable Lie Huo had nothing to worry about and divulged many secrets to Fang Yuan. “The inside is separated into many levels, and each level is extremely dangerous. But if you can pass through multiple levels, the rewards will be great as well! It looks like you have to pass through a minimum of three levels before you can obtain a Dao Comprehension Stone. It was the reward for passing the third level!”

“I see!” Fang Yuan nodded and smiled, indicating his full understanding.

Wasn’t this basically passing through game levels and getting corresponding rewards? What was difficult to understand?

However, since the rewards were given on the spot, he would have to go too.

After all, if he really stood guard at the entrance, the Immortal and Golden Core cultivators would probably use the Dao Comprehension Stones inside the mysterious realm, not giving him a chance to steal them.

“Why are you so certain that this mysterious realm belonged to some Holy Land?” he asked curiously.

“There are Dao Comprehension Stones as rewards. That is definitely the hallmark of a Holy Land, and not an ordinary one either…” Venerable Lie Huo said confidently. “But for some unknown reason, it was destroyed…”

The Sixteen Countries were remote and far behind the Great Sage Immortal World. Even their inheritances were recent and had gaps in them.

“Here we are!”

While Fang Yuan was contemplating, they arrived at the core of the array, and he immediately saw two giant vortexes.

The two vortexes looked like nebulas, similar to cloud-shaped funnels. One was large, while the other was small.

“The smaller passage is for Golden Core cultivators. As for the larger one, it didn’t allow us Nascent Soul cultivators to enter, so it should be for Immortals!” said the cultivator with the sword confidently.

“Hmm…” Fang Yuan did not say anything, but his spiritual will had already entered the mysterious realm through using the fluctuations of the Illusion Realm’s nomological laws.

Immediately, he was startled. There’s a thin layer of resistance. The constructor of this mysterious realm clearly had some accomplishments in the Illusion Realm’s nomological laws… Fortunately, it isn’t to the extent where it completely cuts off the fluctuations of the Illusion Realm.

His spiritual will continued to expand, and he immediately saw a tower that formed a realm of its own in the air.

The tower soared into the sky. It had a simple charm to it, and countless talismans and murals decorated its walls.

At the top of the tower, an enormous pearl radiated infinite brilliance.

So there’s only one place for the trial. The two different passages actually lead to different starting levels! This tower has thirty-three levels in total! However, Fang Yuan said nothing about what he saw.

His vow was to give thirty percent of the Dao Comprehension Stones that he obtained to the city masters. However, there were no restrictions regarding other treasures, and they would all belong to him alone.

I wonder what the name of the tower is… Judging from its vibe, it’s at least at the immortal artifact level. No! It seems to have already surpassed the immortal artifact level! Even I feel slightly threatened… The only good news is that its isolation of space isn’t impenetrable, so I’ll still be able to escape!

Sensing this, Fang Yuan decided his course of action.

Otherwise, no matter how tempting it was, he would never place himself in danger.

However, as a precaution, he had left his immortal abode and his main body in a safe place before coming here.

The Illusion Realm’s nomological laws were something that was completely his own.

As such, this Torch Dragon clone could teleport as well, and using space folding techniques to toy with these Nascent Soul cultivators in the palm of his hand was a trivial matter.

“How is it?” Venerable Lie Huo and others asked slightly nervously.

It was truly painful for them to look at a mountain of treasures but be unable to obtain any of it. The five of them could enter neither the Immortal nor Golden Core entrances. If word got out, then Immortals would certainly divide the treasures among themselves, leaving nothing for them.

As for the Golden Core entrance? After a few experiments, they already knew that it was a place for selecting disciples under the strict standards of ancient Holy Lands! It was a death trap for ordinary Golden Core cultivators, and they could not bear to risk geniuses losing their lives. Or rather, they simply could not make them do so.

Fang Yuan was their greatest hope.

“I won’t know before entering! I’ll have to give it a try first!” Fang Yuan said calmly as he took a step forward toward… the Golden Core entrance!

“What?” The Miscellaneous House Master, Madam Hua Rui, the cultivator with the sword, and even Qian Xingzi opened their eyes wide in surprise. “He could toy with so many Immortals… His true cultivation… is only at Golden Core? Impossible!”

In particular, the Miscellaneous House Master almost broke out in cold sweat when he thought about the methods that Fang Yuan had shown in the treasure room.

However, seeing Fang Yuan’s vanish in the vortex, he smiled bitterly. “Monster! An unprecedented monster!”

“Haha!” Venerable Lie Huo was briefly stunned before immediately laughing heartily.

“Big Brother, why are you laughing?” Madam Hua Rui asked in confusion.

“I’m laughing because I’m happy!” Venerable Lie Huo said matter-of-factly. “We’ve never even heard of the possibility of a Golden Core cultivator doing what he did. That Situ Zhaixing’s abilities are first-class even among the Golden Core disciples of Holy Lands. He’ll be able to obtain more Dao Comprehension Stones, meaning more Dao Comprehension Stones for us as well.”

“That’s indeed true… However, he’s so arrogant despite merely being at Golden Core…” Qian Xingzi shook his head before his eyes glowed. “There are many loopholes in the contract we made with him. After this deal is done, why don’t we…”

“Absolutely not!” Lie Huo reprimanded solemnly. “You think that you’d fare better than a dozen Immortals joining hands? Don’t bring trouble to Qingfeng City! In fact, I don’t even plan to keep this mysterious realm to ourselves for long either! After exploring it a few times, I’ll still hand it over to the Orthodox Dao and the Demon Dao!”

“We will listen to Big Brother!” The Miscellaneous House Master and the others nodded respectfully. This was not simply because of his authority, but the fact that he had already demonstrated his foresight many time before and had established his credibility.

…

After he stepped into the passage, the surrounding space changed indistinctly.

Fang Yuan placed his hands behind his back and commented casually, “Spatial transformation path? It’s not very mature…”

After reaching the end of the passage, he could see nothing but a dazzling white light.

However, his spiritual will clearly sensed that the moment he stepped into the light, he would be transported to the bottom level of the thirty-three-level tower.

On the other hand, the passage for Immortals started on the twentieth level!

“Nevermind. I’ll start with the easier ones and obtain more rewards,” he mumbled as he stepped forward.

Rumble!

His surroundings changed, and he appeared on a plain.

Many humanoid-like praying mantis monsters emerged in the sky. They pounced at him with their sharp arms and translucent wings that were vibrating at high speed.

“Materialization realm Fey? There’s about a thousand of them!”

After scanning with his spiritual will, Fang Yuan understood his predicament. “This would truly be fatal for an average Golden Core cultivator!”

Even ants could kill an elephant. Not to mention that the gap between Golden Core and Foundation Establishment was not nearly as great as between Immortal and Apotheosis.

Chi! Chi!

The praying mantis Fey buzzed. Soon after, a storm of blades swept toward him, as though they had an intense hatred for Fang Yuan.

In other words, killing Fang Yuan was their sole purpose in life!

Fang Yuan shook his head and casually said, “Set!”

In the blink of an eye, all the monsters halted in midair. They were pinned and unable to move under the intangible power of the Illusion Realm’s nomological laws.

“Unfortunately… I’m only using the power of space to suppress them but not actually freezing space. I can only bully those weaker than me this way, and even a Nascent Soul cultivator could escape it by force!”

The Dao of Space was vast and profound.

Even if he had reached large success in the Illusion Realm’s nomological laws, Fang Yuan did not dare claim that he had full control over space, unless… he succeeded with the Dao of the Void!

However, it was definitely enough to bully a bunch of Materialization realm Fey.

“How do I pass this level? Do I have to kill them all?”

Fang Yuan spread his spiritual will and immediately found a floating wooden staircase in the center of the plain. He smiled. “Looks like I don’t need to kill the monsters to pass. If I’m quick enough, would rushing to the entrance of the second level count as success?”

He was not in a hurry to act and spread his spiritual will again to probe the flaws of the tower thoroughly.

“Hmm, the almighty that constructed this mysterious realm’s tower didn’t have a deep comprehension of the Illusion Realm’s nomological laws. Makes sense… After all, there are too few people that walk the path of the Illusion Realm. They must have comprehended by analogy after becoming an Immortal or even a Grand Unity?

“However, it remains connected with the outside world’s space fluctuations. In other words, I can escape with a mere thought and will be able to enter forcibly from the outside in the future. But…”

Fang Yuan smiled wryly. He teleported to the entrance of the second level and waved. Two rays of light landed on his palm and transformed into a top-grade spirit stone and a top-grade spirit artifact.

“I’ve obtained the first level’s rewards, and although the rewards for the second level are within reach, I can’t take them by force. Otherwise, I will surely be attacked by the entire tower! The power of this magic treasure wouldn’t be inferior to that of an Immortal!”