There were all kinds of dreams—pleasant dreams, prophetic dreams, and more. Under the protection of the Dreamphantom Butterfly, Yi Tianxing and Cai Yan could effortlessly enter and exit them, experiencing the diverse nature of dreamscapes. Many dreams, after lasting a while, would collapse entirely. Once they shattered, it was like the sky falling and the earth splitting—splendid mountains and rivers vanishing into nothing, leaving behind only the pure essence of dream energy.
This dream energy naturally merged into the True Dream, flowed into the Dream Butterfly World, and ultimately into the Heavenly Emperor's Tower of Primordial Chaos, transforming into primal world essence and tempering the tower. This process helped the tower grow stronger and more expansive.
It wasn't just one or two dreams, but tens of thousands, even countless ones. A single wisp of dream energy might seem negligible, but when millions, tens of millions, or even billions of dreams collapse within the Dream Butterfly World, the accumulated energy becomes immense. It is an astronomical amount.
Within the Great Yi Domain, there were nearly a billion human citizens. Even if not everyone dreamed every night, as long as a fraction—say, several million or even a tenth—entered dreams, they would naturally enter the Dream Butterfly World. Their dream energy would automatically refine the Heavenly Emperor's Tower. In essence, the entire population of the Great Yi Dynasty was helping Yi Tianxing refine his lifebound treasure.
After two or three years of this, the space inside the tower expanded by more than ten thousand miles, which was quite natural. As the population continued to grow, this refining process would only accelerate, boosting the tower's evolution at an astonishing pace.
Without a doubt, possessing the Dream Butterfly World was like giving the Heavenly Emperor's Tower a pair of soaring wings.Yi Tianxing often felt grateful that he had once fused the Dreamphantom Butterfly into the tower.
After wandering through various dreamscapes within the Dream Butterfly World, Yi Tianxing eventually turned to Cai Yan with a smile."All right, Zhaoji, you go on ahead. I've got a few things to handle here. Once I'm done, I'll return."
Cai Yan's eyes flickered with a trace of worry, as though she had guessed something. Still, she nodded and said gently,"Then I shall go. No matter what happens, my husband must place his safety above all else."
"I know."
Yi Tianxing smiled in response.
Then, Cai Yan's figure naturally faded away.
On the bed, Cai Yan opened her eyes. Seeing Yi Tianxing still deep in sleep, her eyes glinted with concern. She whispered,"The Dream Butterfly World is your domain. Naturally, all dangers are illusionary and can be easily avoided. But now you're heading to the Nightmare Realm. That place is filled with the unknown, bizarre beyond imagination, and it's impossible to retain your control over dreams. You must return alive."
The Nightmare Realm was a different existence. No one knew what was hidden within.
But no matter how much she worried, Cai Yan didn't try to stop him. Yi Tianxing was a pioneer, fated to blaze trails for all beings.
"Dreamphantom Butterfly, open a passage to the Nightmare Realm for me."
Yi Tianxing paused briefly in the Dream Butterfly World, then slowly spoke.
At once, the multicolored butterfly flapped its wings, casting seven-colored radiance that enveloped him and vanished him from the Dream Butterfly World.
Whoosh!!
There was no sense of time or transition.
It felt as though in an instant, he arrived in a strange and unfamiliar realm.
"This place… it looks almost identical to the Dream Butterfly World."
Yi Tianxing glanced around. Everything appeared withered and gray. Even the soil was ash-black. However, it wasn't truly barren—life still existed here.
Yes, life.
For example, the place he stood in was a forest, filled with dead trees and scattered vines. There were even signs of living beings.
While silently observing, his eyes suddenly narrowed. He quickly looked to his left—there, a venomous snake camouflaged like a dried vine leaped at him, aiming to bite his throat.
"Second-tier venomous snake!!"
Yi Tianxing recognized it immediately. This was a Tier Two beast, comparable to a cultivator at the Life Aperture Realm, skilled in stealth. Against a typical Life Aperture cultivator, it would be a fatal ambush.
But for Yi Tianxing, it was courting death.
"Suppress!"
Rather than kill the snake directly, Yi Tianxing summoned the Yin-Yang Chain, a black-and-white chain that flew forth to restrain it.
Against such a weak beast, it should've been easy.
But then, something bizarre happened.
Sensing the threat of the Yin-Yang Chain, a strange power suddenly surged into the snake from the void.
Roar!!
A terrifying sight followed.
The two-meter snake rapidly expanded, transforming into a hundred-zhang giant python. It spewed gray venomous mist, clearly something far beyond ordinary poison. Its power increased hundreds of times. It even shattered the Yin-Yang Chain and lunged to devour Yi Tianxing.
"It jumped from Tier Two to Tier Four in an instant!"
Though startled by the transformation, Yi Tianxing remained calm. A black-and-white scissors appeared in his hand, transforming into a dual-colored flood dragon, and cut the python in half in midair.
With a shriek, it died instantly.
Whoosh!!
After its death, the python's body disintegrated into dream energy that faded into the world. Left behind was a crystalline white snake bone, looking like a flawless bone whip.
"The body disintegrates into nightmare energy, while the essence condenses into this white bone... This must be the rule of the Nightmare Realm."
Yi Tianxing examined the snake bone, and his eyes lit up in surprise.
The bone was full of pure power and inscribed with natural bone markings—a perfect material for refining a high-grade whip-type treasure.
Clearly, this was the standard pattern in the Nightmare Realm.
"Real beings here die and leave behind unique treasures. And that sudden power surge… It's as if any weakling could suddenly turn into a powerful threat. This is the strangeness of the Nightmare Realm. Here, nothing is predictable."
Yi Tianxing's gaze turned serious.
Undoubtedly, the dangers in this realm were extraordinary—primarily because they were unpredictable. A weak creature might instantly become a lethal monster. That was the law of nightmares: dreams are ever-changing.
Still, the benefits of killing such creatures were massive.
That python had been Tier Four when it died, and the bone it left behind was clearly a Tier Four beast treasure.
Extremely valuable.
"This is getting interesting."
It reminded Yi Tianxing of the early Eternal World Cataclysm, when illusory beings dropped treasures, wish power beads, and cultivation manuals upon death. Back then, the Heavenly Dao was incomplete, so these gifts were divine compensation. Eventually, the illusionary creatures merged with the world's laws, and the rewards stopped.
But in the Nightmare Realm, everything originated from dreams made real—a manifestation of the Law of Materialization.
Boom! Boom! Boom!!
Suddenly, Yi Tianxing heard deafening rumbling.
From the gray mist, the earth trembled—as if a massive beast was approaching with thunderous steps.
Boom!!
A gust of wind swept past as a giant bare foot stomped down nearby. The earth shook violently.
That leg was like a pillar of heaven, so massive that even a single leg hair was longer than a spear, and the wind from it could shred cultivators to pulp.
It was colossal—to the point that even its head wasn't visible.
It stood thousands of zhang tall.
"Giant… Longbo!!"
Yi Tianxing exhaled the name.
The Wordless Heavenly Tome revealed the identity: Longbo, the ancient giant from the Classic of Mountains and Seas.
This Longbo was unimaginably huge, far beyond all reason. Yi Tianxing didn't even dare claim he could fight it. To face it would be suicidal—a single step would crush him to bloody paste.
Boom, boom, boom!!
Fortunately, the giant did not notice him. It soon vanished into the mist, leaving only rumbling echoes.
Even with Yi Tianxing's composure, he let out a sigh of relief.
"Hey, big guy! Don't worry. That giant won't pay us any attention. But what are you doing out here? Don't you know how dangerous nights are? Terrifying things appear all the time! You should be holed up in a safe town!"
Just then, a shouting voice reached his ears.
Yi Tianxing looked around—no one was in sight.
Then, he looked downward.