Chapter 676: Seeking the Mirror Goddess' Guidance

Mirror Island Lake, the palace beneath the water.

"Are we now in the Mirror Goddess' dream, or in our own?" Song You asked the host seated at the head.

"It is both in my dream, and in the dreams of you, Daoist Master, and Lady Calico, and also within the void between Heaven and Earth, half true and half false, half real and half illusory," the Mirror Island Lake Goddess replied calmly.

"And how is such a thing accomplished?" Song You asked, puzzled.

"Is it to this level that the Daoist wishes to learn?" The Mirror Island Lake Goddess smiled as she spoke.

"..." Song You instantly closed his mouth, as if awakened to something.

"On Yunding Mountain, a single night was a year. There are legends in the human world of great masters of painting whose brush could make their creations real. Wonders in this world are beyond counting; if you wish to uncover them all, it will take quite some time."

"Exactly so..."

"Have you eaten your fill?"

"I have."

"In that case..."

The Mirror Island Lake Goddess rose to her feet, her bearing graceful. "Though this is my palace beneath the lake, your purpose in coming here is special, and this is not the best place to host you."

"Oh?"

"My cultivation is shallow and my divine power limited. Daoist Master, Lady Calico, it would be best if you do not resist. Otherwise, with my meager ability, I might not be able to take you there."

"Please."

"

Meow

?"

One of them responded with respectful courtesy already prepared, while the other was full of curiosity. Her gaze darted from the Mirror Island Lake Goddess, to her own Daoist, and then all around, her eyes glittering as though with starlight.

"..."

The Mirror Island Lake Goddess extended a finger into the empty air.

At once, two points of light appeared in the void of the pavilion, shimmering with strange and gorgeous colors, dreamlike and illusory, floating toward the Daoist and the little girl.

The Daoist did not dodge.

The little girl, however, could not suppress her instincts; she stared fixedly at the light points, hand lifting to grab one.

Only when the Daoist reached out to pat her head did she lower her hand and grow still, turning instead to look at her Daoist with some puzzlement.

The light points had already reached them.

The world changed in an instant.

***

At Rising Clouds Palace in Great Luo Heaven...

The Great Emperor Chijin had already begun to come to his senses. This was no ordinary time. In the Heavenly Palace, in normal times, as the Celestial Emperor he held authority; whether by the laws of the Heavenly Palace or by the faith of the mortal realm, all acknowledged him as master of Heaven.

Thus, the gods of the Heavenly Palace obeyed his command to keep Heaven running as it should. But now, things were different: the prestige and reputation accumulated by Hidden Dragon Temple over thousands of years outweighed the laws of Heaven, mortal faith in the Heavenly Palace was already teetering on the brink of change due to the turmoil of the Great Yan dynasty, and with the will of Heaven and the cause of justice both on their side, much of his support in the Heavenly Palace had crumbled.

Those he could still truly rely on were, for the most part, the gods he himself had brought into Heaven and nurtured to power.

Fortunately, those at his side were still fairly competent.

"Your Majesty, the Four Saints of the Four Directions are still in seclusion. I have gone to request their aid, making clear the urgency and stakes of the matter, but I do not know when they will emerge. I have also visited the Emperor of the Void, as you commanded." The Emperor’s recording official kept his head lowered as he truthfully reported the progress. "As you instructed, I explained the pros and cons, and I barely managed to persuade him. However, His Lordship said..."

"Said what?"

"He said that the inheritor of Hidden Dragon Temple already possess the powers of the ancient great ones, and this generation is even more extraordinary, blessed by the will of Heaven. If he were to face him alone, he fears he would not be a match; if he were to join forces with others, being an ancient god and a senior of several thousand years, he could not bring himself to lose that much face." The recording official continued, "In the end, he only agreed to let his Dream God act, to help Your Majesty suppress the present inheritor of Hidden Dragon Temple."

"The Dream God?"

"The Emperor of the Void has four divine officers under him, who each command the powers of dreams, illusion, greed, and fear. It is said that each has received the Emperor of the Void’s full teachings in their respective arts, and some even claim that these four are the Emperor’s own incarnations." The recording official paused.

"The Emperor told me that Hidden Dragon Temple in the past cultivated the Four Seasons Rotation Method, of which the qingming spirit power is innately the bane of illusions. Moreover, in his twenty years wandering the mortal realm, this person has never coveted wealth, power, techniques, magical treasures, or beauty, not even immortality itself. His mind is as steadfast as they come; thus, the gods of greed and fear would also be useless against him..."

"Then what use is the Dream God?"

𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

"The Dream God is a master of dream-weaving, capable of drawing him into a dream and finding a way to kill him within it," the recording official said, bowing to the Celestial Emperor.

***

"This is my dream," the Mirror Island Lake Goddess said, offering a graceful salute to the Daoist and Lady Calico.

"..." The Daoist and a certain cat both looked ahead.

In front of them lay an ancient city.

The city walls, tamped from yellow earth, were neither especially tall nor especially large. Faintly, one could see people coming and going, all wearing ancient, strangely styled clothing. As they passed by, they would sneak a glance at the Daoist’s group; seeing the uncommon attire of the Mirror Island Lake Goddess, they would quickly lower their heads and hurry away without daring to look longer.

"This is..." The Daoist gazed ahead, thinking for a moment before speaking a few words:

"...Lingshuang City?"

"Correct."

The Mirror Island Lake Goddess glanced at the Daoist, a trace of surprise in her eyes.

Legend had it that she was once a princess of a small local kingdom. She had a kind heart and treated her people well, but when war broke out, she was pursued here by enemy troops. Rather than submit to them, she threw herself into the lake and drowned. Later, the people, moved by her kindness and integrity, built a temple by the lakeside and enshrined her as the Mirror Island Lake Goddess.

That small kingdom was located in Pingzhou, and was called Lingshuang.

But that was long, long ago. The country had perished, the realm was unified, and people no longer wore the clothing, spoke the language, or kept the customs of old. Only her story had been passed down, and she herself had endured to the present day.

If there was one city worthy of appearing in her dream, it would surely be the homeland of her past life.

At that moment, more people emerged from the city gates. Recognizing the Mirror Goddess, they hurriedly greeted her:

"Greetings, Princess."

"You may rise."

The Mirror Island Lake Goddess replied calmly.

She then led the Daoist into the city, speaking to him with a light, even tone as they walked, “Earlier, I mentioned that there are two approaches to dream-crafting: the refined study method and the quick mastery method.

"Refined study means learning to weave and shape a dream little by little. Once mastered, you can create from nothing, bringing into the dream things you have never seen before, things heard only in passing, enriching them through imagination, freely altering them, and becoming like a god within the dream.

"Quick mastery is a shortcut: using great supernatural power, magic, or cultivation to move what you know into the dream. You can only weave what you have seen or know of, and cannot alter it at will. The clearer your memory and understanding, the more real it will seem; if not, it will be hazy and illusory. You may fool yourself in the dream, thinking it is real, but that is only the muddled delusion of the moment. In truth, it is extremely false, and the dream is fragile, prone to collapse."

The Daoist walked along, looking around while listening to her explanation.

He thought back to when the Divine Lord Yuewang had entered his dream, it was most likely the second method. The landscapes, though ethereal like an ink painting, had no sound of wind or flowing water. No doubt this was because the basis of the dream was a painting he himself often admired, which had no sound, and the other did not know the profound methods of dream-weaving, thus could not add wind or water sounds to scenery that had none.

But what he saw now... It was like a real world, ten thousand times more real than a painted landscape.

Even with his discerning eyes, without leaving the dream, he could not tell it apart from reality.

"People often misunderstand, thinking that a god who weaves dreams is omnipotent within them, just as some people with strong enough will can remain lucid in their own dreams," she said.

"Is that not the case?"

"The more false the dream, the stronger the dreamer; the more fragile the dream, the freer the dreamer," the Mirror Island Lake Goddess said evenly. "Ordinary people are so unrestrained in dreams, and unable even to restrain themselves, simply because their dreams are so hazy and unfounded."

"I see."

"Conversely, the more real the dream, the more it must be grounded in something; the stronger the dream, the greater the restraint it imposes on those within it." She paused, giving a pointed reminder: "If a dream is real to the utmost, where eating in the dream leaves you full in reality, where money taken in a dream appears by your pillow upon waking, where killing in a dream leaves blood on your hands, where dying in a dream means dying in truth, such a dream overlaps with reality, half true and half false, and its constraints are all the greater."

The Daoist nodded repeatedly.

The world often told of such things, of someone encountering a strange chance, finding silver in a dream only to see it at their pillow upon waking; someone killing a person a thousand li away in a dream, only for that person to truly be dead, with blood on their own hands; even more outrageous tales, some ending with the dreamer being seized by the authorities.

"So in such dreams, even if it is my

own

dream, if it is too real and too strong, my own abilities would be hard to surpass what I am capable of in reality."

"Hard, but not impossible."

The Mirror Island Lake Goddess stopped and looked at him. "With the Daoist’s skill in this particular art, it cannot be done. At most, you could use the dream to shape an environment more favorable to you. But if it were someone else, someone with the highest mastery of this art, they could, within certain limits, make themselves far stronger."

***

“In that case, someone must still enter the dream and suppress the current owner of Hidden Dragon Temple,” the Celestial Emperor said, brows tightly furrowed. “The Four Saints of the Four Directions are all in seclusion, the Emperor of the Void dares not show himself, and the other ancient gods are unwilling. Who else is both able and willing to enter the dream of Hidden Dragon Temple’s master and subdue him?”

“Your Majesty, as of now in the Heavenly Palace, only Duke of Thunder Zhou can fight such a battle.”

“Duke of Thunder Zhou...” The Celestial Emperor hesitated.

At present, in the Heavenly Palace, the only one still willing to heed his command, uphold the Celestial Emperor’s divine authority, and possessing great power was Zhou, Lord of Thunder.

His importance was beyond question.

However, with the Four Saints in seclusion and only one of the five Ascension Roads remaining, the Emperor was becoming anxious.

“Duke of Thunder Zhou is already upright and incorruptible, perfectly suited to the office of Thunder God. His divine power is immense. In the years since Your Majesty appointed him as chief officer, his incense offerings in the mortal realm have steadily increased. Heaven’s thunder is adept at suppressing and slaying living beings, he already possesses power no less than that of the Gold Spirit Official,” said the imperial scribe.

“If Duke of Thunder Zhou is willing to fight, and Your Majesty grants him the protection of your divine authority and incense power, working in concert with a dream-weaving god, then even two of the Four Saints together might not be able to match him!”

“Will Duke of Thunder Zhou... be willing?”

“I will volunteer to persuade Duke of Thunder Zhou!” The curtain drawer finally spoke up.

“You? Are you confident?”

“Your Majesty,” he replied, “I believe that although Duke of Thunder Zhou is upright and incorruptible, firstly, in life he was a minister of the Great Yan, and in death he is Your Majesty’s subject, he has always held you in great respect. Secondly, his upright nature is precisely what makes him easiest to persuade.”

“But when I previously ordered him to lead the legitimate gods of the Thunder Division down to punish the warriors, he defied my command.”

“That was exactly because of his straight-laced character. Since the matter violated heavenly law and divine principle, he would not agree,” the curtain drawer explained. “But who in the Heavenly Palace with eyes to see does not know that what Hidden Dragon Temple’s current master intends is far more than simply rebuilding the five Ascension Roads and forbidding godless gods from ascending? He seeks to depose the gods.

“There are even rumors that he intends to use this as a way to limit and cut back the connection between gods and the mortal world. Is this something a mortal should be doing? What is his true aim? Who can say? If we think of the worst, could it be that he wishes to dominate the Heavenly Palace, or control the entire incense-based divine system?”

“Duke of Thunder Zhou is the chief officer of the Thunder Division, and this matter is indeed within his jurisdiction,” the Imperial Scribe added.

“If you can persuade Duke of Thunder Zhou, our victory will be all but certain.”

***

“Daoist, you must understand, no matter how you weave the dream, in the short term, even with the highest talent, you cannot greatly enhance your own abilities within it. At best, you can rely on your vast cultivation and Daoist skill to ensure that you are not easily altered or bound by others in the dream. But if the other party is highly accomplished in this art, they will undoubtedly be stronger than you.”

The Mirror Island Lake Goddess said to the Daoist, “If you have an important matter to undertake, you must weigh carefully the advantages and disadvantages of this journey, and whether it is worth the time.”

“I have already decided.”

By now, the two had already entered the city.

Within the royal palace, a hundred flowers were in bloom, and butterflies flitted about. Lady Calico had returned to her cat form, leaping among them and playing as she caught butterflies.

The Daoist turned his head to look at her, then assumed a solemn expression and gave a deep bow to the Mirror Goddess beside him.

“Please, Mirror Goddess, grant me your guidance.”