I Cheated While Cultivating

Chapter 348: Chapter 68: Hearing the Thunderbolt in the Dream

This giant snake seemed to be the great existence that supported the vast heavens and earth of this realm, the rules that governed the movement of all things within, the supreme and sublime overlord—the origin of everything and the foundational root.

In this dreamworld, it was like a god who had opened the heavens and forged the earth, reigning supreme over all rules, law, and the great Dao, where merely gazing upon it gave one the sense of peering into the very source of the Dao.

Even Zhou Heng, at the moment he saw this giant snake, his spirit experienced a moment of bewilderment.

He felt that the giant snake possessed an unfathomable might, capable of causing the heavens to be born if it so wished, and if it desired the earth to coalesce, then the earth would solidify—all according to its whims.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

Too strong!

Nearly omnipotent!

However, this feeling lasted only a brief instant. Maintaining the dream-entry state of the Supreme Bull-Riding Dharma Phase, Zhou Heng snapped back to awareness almost immediately, barely affected.

But even just that momentary lapse, in a battle on this level, was enough to shift the entire situation—potentially turning a disadvantage into victory. And to mention nothing of Zhou Heng’s already passive and reactive stance.

When he regained his clarity, the giant snake’s gaping maw was already snapping shut around him, poised to swallow him whole.

Inside the mouth of the giant snake, a storm was brewing, intent on dragging him down.

Zhou Heng, manifesting the Supreme Bull-Riding Dharma Phase, sat unperturbed atop his green ox, and with a light push to the crown on his head, a surge of Yellow Mystery energy burst forth, forming a thirty-three-story exquisite pagoda.

As the pagoda rotated, the Yellow Mystery energy condensed into auspicious clouds, from which streams of vaporous energy hung down like beaded strings, enveloping the Supreme Bull-Riding Dharma Phase, untouched by the tempest within the snake’s maw.

“What is this?!” the giant snake sensed a change in the “food” it had swallowed, finding that whatever it did, it couldn’t swallow it down.

Abnormal!

Decisively, the giant snake spat Zhou Heng back out.

From its youth, it had heeded the teachings of its elders: never force food down while hunting. If a “food” that was taken into its mouth couldn’t be swallowed, it must be expelled immediately; otherwise, it could be life-threatening.

The snake had always taken this to heart.

Zhou Heng hadn’t expected the giant snake to be so decisive, thwarting his plan to launch an attack from within its oral cavity, focusing on vulnerable areas.

Nevertheless, even outside the giant snake’s body, the impact wasn’t significant.

This was, after all, the dreamworld!

In the past, Zhou Heng, in order to modify The Eternal Life Chant to better suit the common people for cultivation and dissemination, had delved into many concepts of soul visualization techniques, learning numerous spells along the way.

Especially the dreamworld techniques that primarily focused on spiritual attacks.

In the cultivation path of soul visualization, the most basic skill that all cultivators mastered was dream entry, a technique adapted into various forms.

Hence, Zhou Heng’s understanding of the dreamworld was substantial. He could even simulate in the dream, employing divine skills that were infeasible in reality.

For instance—

Boom!

As the giant snake pondered why a Secret Sixth Rank martial artist’s divine soul could withstand being consumed, it saw Zhou Heng in his manifest Supreme Dharma Phase point to the heavens with a casual flick of his hand.

Lightning flashed!

A sea of purple thunder surged in an instant, occupying the sky of the dreamworld, with the overwhelming power of thunder filling every direction as though a heavenly judgment was descending, determined to obliterate the beings facing their calamity!

The eighth form of the Purple Thunder Blade Skill, Thunder Strikes, Slaying the True Dragon!

“`

In reality, Zhou Heng, bound by his Cultivation Realm, was simply incapable of executing this move.

However, in the dreamscape things were different. He could fully visualize the concept of the Purple Thunder Saber Technique using his Divine Soul, manifesting it as a spiritual Technique to be executed.

The sudden emergence of the thunderous ocean left the giant snake dumbfounded as it watched the sky being overtaken by a purple sea of thunder, prompting it to uncontrollably twist its massive body and attempt to alter the dreamscape.

It was the master of this dreamscape, the architect of the dream, and naturally, the sovereign ruler of all within it. Under normal circumstances, any method employed within this dreamscape would be suppressed by the will of the giant snake.

“Disappear!”

The giant snake manipulated the dreamscape, attempting to erase the existence of the purple sea of thunder directly, but no matter how it exercised its dominion over this dreamscape, it could not shake the thunderous sea in the slightest.

It was as if the purple sea of thunder was completely unaffected by the rules of this dreamscape, leaving it helpless.

“How can this be?” The giant snake suddenly felt a sense of panic as it raised its head to the sky, looking up at the purple sea of thunder and feeling an extremely intense sense of crisis.

Was it facing a life-or-death catastrophe?!

But how could this be possible?

An inconsequential Secret Sixth Rank Martial Artist could bring about a life-or-death catastrophe for itself, and within its own home ground in the dreamscape?!

The dream serpent couldn’t believe it, but being naturally timid and cautious, it didn’t dare to take risks.

Thus, the moment it felt a sense of crisis, it decided on its next course of action and very decisively made some manipulations to the dreamscape.

Firstly, it segmented the dreamscape, isolating the part of the void where it was, along with itself, from the entire dream, and severed the connection with the main body of the dreamscape.

Moreover, before cutting off the connection with this dreamscape, it had issued an order for it to collapse and destroy itself, causing the main body of the dreamscape to collapse thunderously.

The collapse of a dreamscape would usually destroy everything within that world.

Whether it was the sea of thunder about to occupy the dream sky or that peculiar and powerful Secret Sixth Rank Martial Artist, both would vanish into ashes and cease to exist!

“It’s a good thing I absorbed a lot of pure spiritual energy earlier. Coming to this world has not been in vain,” the dream serpent thought to itself, gazing at the collapsing main body of the dreamscape with joy in its heart.

However, that sense of joy soon disappeared.

The purple sea of thunder seemed to have locked onto it as if by design. Despite the collapse of the main body of the dream world, the sea of thunder continued to expand, stubbornly piercing through the dream’s fog and spreading into the segmented piece of dream void.

“How is this possible?!” The dream serpent showed an incredulous expression. The current situation had completely exceeded its understanding.

The segmented dream void should not be connected, and it had completely severed their connection. How did the sea of thunder spread over here? How could such a thing happen?

Boom!!

While the dream serpent was in a state of shock, the purple sea of thunder finally arrived in full force, engulfing the massive serpent of the dreamscape, consuming it completely.

The overwhelming serpentine shadow struggled madly within the sea of thunder, trying to break free from the covering of lightning, but to no avail. The purple lightning was like an impenetrable cage, restraining it firmly!

After a short moment, the struggling serpentine shadow gradually calmed down, swiftly shrunk, and ultimately disappeared.

It was dead.

Under the purple light, the sky thundered and lightning struck!

By the decree of the heavens, a blade fell to slaughter the True Dragon!

“Congratulations! You have killed the unremarkable enemy demon entity, ‘Dreamscape Serpent Growth Body’. Fortune Bag[Copper]+3.”

“`

“Congratulations! You have received the Meritorious Qi of the Yellow Mystery, and your comprehension of the Taoist Formulas ‘Yellow Mystery Pagoda Manual’ [Absolute Fourth Rank] has increased, with proficiency +100.”

…

Boom!

Thunderbolts exploded in the minds of the thousands of people still asleep.

Subconsciously, they opened their eyes wide, and many leapt up from their beds in a panic, some even bouncing up, their faces filled with terror.

Afterward, these people looked around in confusion, seeing their family members who appeared to be crying tears of joy, with tears streaming down their faces.

Following that thunderous sound, the sleeping residents of Ansui Prefecture awoke.

Zhou Heng’s Divine Soul also flew out of the dream realm and returned to his body.

It must be said, the Supreme Riding Bull Dharma Phase was truly powerful in the realm of dreams.

It was simply invincible.

The Serpent Demon Entity of the dream realm was undoubtedly formidable, especially within the dream realm, where the majority of Sect Fifth Rank Martial Artists stood no chance against it.

Even those with the practice of spirit secret techniques would find it difficult to contend with in the realm of dreams.

After all, born of the dream realm, the dream realm serpent was as natural to this world as fish to water. Its manipulation of the dream realm was multifaceted, possessing advantages that regular Martial Artists could not compare with.

If it were in the dream realm it had created and cultivated, it would be an invincible entity to the vast majority of Grandmaster Martial Artists.

That’s exactly why Xin Su was defeated so thoroughly.

For Grandmaster Martial Artists to contend with, or even defeat, the dream realm serpent, they would have to be like Meng Qiu, who not only practiced the supreme dream realm skill, but also possessed a significant level of achievement to stand a chance.

The reason why Zhou Heng was able to win so effortlessly, and even deem the dream realm serpent as merely “ordinary,” lay in the special Divine Soul visualization method and the Supreme Riding Bull Dharma Phase.

In the real world, these two aspects held little practical fight significance, but in the dream realm, they were unbeatable.

As the foundation of existence and a symbol carrying the principles of the Great Dao, the Supreme Riding Bull Dharma Phase could even take over the sovereign position of the creator of the dream realm, directly causing the dream realm great serpent to lose complete control over that world without knowing.

As a result, the latter part of the dream realm great serpent, which thought it had separated itself, was still connected but merely obscured by Zhou Heng’s Supreme Riding Bull Dharma Phase, leading directly to the serpent’s ultimate downfall.

In fact, had the Demon Entities of Ansui Prefecture primarily engaged in real-world combat and merely intended to descend through the dream realm, Zhou Heng would not have won so easily, perhaps facing a tough battle.

Unfortunately, the one they encountered was a purely dream realm serpent, which had no advantages against Zhou Heng.

…

Zhang Qiu, the lord of Ansui Prefecture, warmly invited Zhou Heng and Xin Su to a banquet, but both declined.

In a sense, the Zhou Tian Boundary Officer was not a widely known organization yet, and its members did not wish to have too much contact with the outside world in their official capacity, naturally showing little interest in such invitations.

Thus, Zhou Heng and Xin Su took their leave together.

However, a small incident occurred as the two were leaving the city.

Over a hundred thousand civilians from Ansui Prefectural city and its subordinate towns and villages gathered, lining the streets to send off the two, expressing their sincere gratitude.

Zhou Heng had awakened more than ten thousand people trapped in a nightmare, one could say he rescued tens of thousands of families, making him a lifesaver to these hundred thousand people.

The gathering of over a hundred thousand people was an extremely spectacular sight.

Outside the prefectural city of Ansui Prefecture, the official road was teeming with a sea of people standing on both sides, almost forming two long dragons.

Facing such enthusiastic farewells, Zhou Heng and Xin Su did not fly away as they had originally planned, but instead walked the entire length of the official road where the citizens stood, bidding farewell to each one of them.

After completing this stretch of road, Zhou Heng suddenly felt a twitch in his divine sense, as if a strand of plain white Qi was interweaving in the dark, providing him with some kind of protection.

In the past, he wouldn’t have had the ability to perceive this, but this sensation was triggered by the Yellow Mystery Pagoda Manual; it must be related to something connected with the Yellow Mystery Merit Qi…

“A type of the Five Virtues Qi?” Zhou Heng mused internally, “It’s a pity I don’t know much about the Five Virtues and Five Fortunes now, I’m even unclear about what this strand of plain white Qi is.”

This made his desire to acquire The Eternal Life Chant detailing the Innate Five Virtues and Five Fortunes even stronger.

The first demon entity had already been slain; what remained was one ghost, one evil spirit, and two heretical Grandmasters.

The completion of his mission was not far away.

…

Zhou Heng’s task this time was completed to perfection.

He didn’t just fully rescue Xin Su and restore the prefectural city of Ansui to its original state, but he also killed the quite troublesome Dreaming Serpent demon entity on the spot.

It could be said that he completed the mission with extra merit.

The final reward was also extremely generous; besides the original entitled reward, he also received an additional one thousand merits as a bonus.

Although one thousand merits were but a trifling sum to Zhou Heng, who already had two “Fortune Bags,” receiving extra rewards nonetheless brought him joy.

Back on Earth, he would often hear his fellow senior brothers and sisters, who had evolved into corporate drones, complain that even if they completed tasks well beyond their workload, they just ended up working overtime for free. Extra rewards were out of the question; they were lucky if they got paid as usual.

Receiving a decent bonus for just slightly exceeding the mission requirements would definitely be many people’s dream job on Earth.

Following that, Zhou Heng accepted a task to slay a ghost entity at the Five Emperors’ Inner Seat and happened to run into Xin Su when leaving the Purple Tenuity Palace.

However, by her looks, she seemed to have been waiting outside the Purple Tenuity Palace for quite some time.

“Is something the matter?” Zhou Heng asked, perplexed.

“May I have a moment of your time, Star Lord?” Xin Su bowed slightly, her full chest trembling as she did so, which was somewhat dazzling.

“Alright.” Zhou Heng nodded lightly and walked a distance forward with her.

“I must thank you once again for saving my life,” Xin Su began with gratitude, then continued, “By rights, I should do something to thank you, but I can’t think of what to do at the moment… After much thought, the only thing I can think of is some information I received earlier, which might be of help to you.”

“What information?” Zhou Heng asked curiously.

“About the treasure left behind by the Ancient Dream Saint,” Xin Su said earnestly.

The Dream Saint, the forefather of dream paths.

One of the Nine Saints of the Middle Ancient Era, she was also one of the three saints who fell into madness at the end of the Middle Ancient Era.

She directly caused the destruction of the Age of Saints.

Yet, she also preserved the spark of the brilliant civilization of the Middle Ancient Era, allowing it to be inherited.

A—

Very complex person.