Chapter 1356: Unraveling the Mystery of the Land of Joy
Chapter 1356: Unraveling the Mystery of the Land of Joy
In the beginning, the three of them would still occasionally exchange insights on how to complete their tasks.
But they soon realized that all their speculation and theories were pointless.
As three straw men, they seemed to exist completely apart from the world.
Only the wind, rain, thunder, and lightning from the heavens above could touch them.
Beyond that, everything in the mortal world seemed oblivious to their existence.
Birds, beasts, and swarms of insects flew by without ever pausing.
Even the dust of the world would not settle upon them.
And so, a silence slowly fell over the three of them.
The sun rose and set; the years flowed by, transforming the land.
Time seemed to accelerate, the days bleeding into one another.
The very mountaintop where they lay was gradually worn away by rain and wind, growing sharper and more slender with each passing age.
What was once a majestic, full-bodied mountain slowly eroded until only a sharp, solitary peak remained.
It jutted starkly between heaven and earth.
The surrounding landscape, once a range of rolling green hills, transformed into a magnificent canyon carved with a thousand ravines.
Amidst this sea of change, only the black stone upon which Sun Erlang and his companions lay remained immutable.
Battered by wind and rain, their minds were eroded by the force of time itself, their thoughts becoming frayed and indistinct.
They began to lose their connection to the outside world, their awareness of events slowly fading.
Had this continued, their consciousness might one day have faded into nothingness.
Just as they were on the verge of fading away completely...
A majestic, sacred figure suddenly materialized in their minds, radiating a brilliant, multicolored light.
It seemed to tower over heaven and earth, shielding them from the corrosive wind and rain.
"Saint Teacher..."
Though their memories had grown hazy...
These two words felt as if they were etched into the very depths of their souls, surfacing as pure instinct.
"Saint Teacher... Saint Teacher... Saint Teacher," they repeated, almost as if possessed, chanting the name over and over.
Like a spring bursting from arid ground, memories of the past flooded back into their desiccated minds.
"Agh!" The three of them jolted as if waking from a terrible nightmare.
They knew, with a certainty that resonated deep within, that the Saint Teacher had saved them from the brink of oblivion.
But they also knew that without a way to escape, their ultimate fate would still be to fade away. Seizing this precious moment of clarity, they began to deliberate intensely.
In the course of their discussion, they were surprised to discover that the eons had truly tempered them. Their temperaments had grown far more composed. Even with the crisis looming, the panic they once felt was gone.
"This dream trial cannot be an inescapable trap," they concluded. "When the mountaintop beneath us is finally eroded by the elements and breaks apart, sending the black stone plummeting, that must be our release. We just have to hold on until that moment to complete the mission."
Clinging to this conviction, they gritted their teeth and endured.
Countless more years drifted by. The image of the Saint Teacher in their minds grew faint, almost imperceptible. All that remained was the single, unyielding thought they repeated endlessly—the one conviction that kept them from giving up.
Then, one day.
The mountain, now whittled down to its absolute limit, was supported by nothing more than a slender stone pillar.
It could no longer bear the weight of the black stone at its summit.
After a gentle breeze, it crumbled with a tremendous crash.
As the three straw men plunged from the summit toward the mortal world below, the world in their eyes seemed to freeze.
The clear sky abruptly darkened, as if veiled by a thin, black membrane.
A colossal black beak tore through the sky, descending from beyond the firmament.
Half of its head alone was larger than the entire world.
Its two sharp eyes filled the sky, and with a slight turn, they locked onto the three falling straw men.
In the eyes of this monstrous, indescribably vast bird, Sun Erlang and his companions saw a look of satisfaction.
With a terrifying screech, the world began to shatter.
From within the three straw men, orbs of light emerged—one from the forehead, one from the heart, and one from the abdomen.
They ascended slowly, drifting toward the monstrous bird.
Sun Erlang and the others, their consciousness still bound to the straw men, could faintly perceive scenes of flowing time and shifting landscapes within the three orbs.
Boom!
And then, the world plunged into endless darkness.
Even the monitoring Fabricated Heaven Personality couldn't be certain how much time had truly passed.
The consciousness of Sun Erlang and his two companions finally returned.
They had escaped the dreamscape.
They were not only unharmed but had also gained a divine ability called the [Mountain and River Myriad Years Contemplation].
By transforming into the straw men on the mountaintop, time for the user seems to enter a state of suspended animation. From that vantage point, one can watch the world change as ages fly by.
It was similar to how Li Fan once transformed into the Ocean Pearl to witness the world's great transformations over eons.
The true power of the [Mountain and River Myriad Years Contemplation], however, lay in its ability to almost completely freeze the user's lifespan while it was active.
Even if millions of years passed in the outside world, the effect on the user would be negligible.
Of course, this was merely the theoretical explanation provided by the dream.
As for whether the divine ability truly worked as described...
Sun Erlang and his companions had no intention of testing it just yet.
After completing all three dream boundaries, their environment finally shifted once more.
They were still within Qiuxi Prefecture, the territory of the Five Elders Council.
But unlike the sparsely populated land they had seen before, this version of Qiuxi Prefecture was teeming with people.
The cities were filled with cultivators, and even the once-desolate wilderness was now dotted with innumerable structures.
And it appeared that cultivators inhabited every one of them.
The changes were not merely external.
They were also happening within Sun Erlang and his companions.
"Sun Erlang, peak Golden Core. Death Count: 1."
"Land of Joy Experience Level: 2."
"Unlockable Dream World Level: 3"
"Carefree Coins: 2000."
...
This was the personal information now visible to all three of them.
Once the pink progress bar had filled, their so-called Land of Joy Experience Level had finally risen to 2.
With it came the option to unlock new dream worlds.
Beyond that, there was a host of other, more detailed information.
And now, when they focused their minds on the text, detailed explanations would finally appear.
They no longer had to guess at everything.
Sun Erlang read through every item carefully, determined not to miss any crucial details.
"So, that's how it is. When cultivators native to the Five Elders Council enter the Land of Carefree Joy, they also face three dream world trials, but they're nowhere near as difficult as what we endured. In the terminology of this place, the difficulty of the worlds we faced was already at Level 3."
"Our ordeal was so unique because we aren't members of the Five Elders Council. We're outsiders who trespassed without the Carefree Heavenly Sovereign's permission!"
"But the Sovereign is merciful and doesn't expel intruders outright. Instead, he subjects them to a dream trial. Success means official entry into the Land of Carefree Joy. Failure means permanent banishment. And as a penalty for the power consumed in constructing the dream, more than half of the intruder's soul power is drained..." Sun Erlang's expression soured.
He exchanged a glance with Wang Xuanba and Yue Zhenwei before continuing to read.
"That place we first entered was a transit hub leading to the trial dreamscapes. All cultivators who enter the Land of Carefree Joy for the first time appear there."
"Harming other cultivators is forbidden within the Land of Carefree Joy. If this rule is ignored and a fight is initiated, the one being attacked will be moved to a safe area. Additionally, depending on the severity of the offense, the attacker will have Carefree Coins deducted as a penalty."
"Carefree Coins, also known as Land of Joy Coins, are earned through exploration. They can be exchanged in the Heavenly Venerate's Treasury for a wide variety of resources to strengthen oneself."
"The Heavenly Venerate's Treasury contains everything imaginable..."
Looking at the two thousand Carefree Coins he possessed, Sun Erlang's interest was piqued. He opened the details page for the Heavenly Venerate's Treasury.
An instant later, he was completely stunned.
Even with his current access, limited by his Level 2 Land of Joy Experience, the list of items available in the Heavenly Venerate's Treasury was still beyond belief.
Never mind the basic heavenly materials, elixirs, and artifacts.
Even cultivation techniques were considered common items in the treasury.
And unlike the techniques common in the Xuanhuang Realm, even the most basic ones here could be cultivated all the way to the Soul Transformation stage.
Furthermore, according to the instructions, there was no need to worry about a technique being too profound to master.
Once exchanged, mastery of the fundamentals was instantaneous.
By spending more Carefree Coins, one could even advance their progress in the technique.
"Once a technique is learned, it cannot be shared. However, it can be gifted to someone else before it has been learned."
"In that sense, while the Land of Carefree Joy doesn't have the 'Law cannot be cultivated together' restriction, the effect is nearly the same. If you want to cultivate, you still have to pay the price to acquire the technique."
"Your cultivation base and techniques from the real world are only synchronized once when you first enter, serving as your starting point in the Land of Joy."
"However, any progress made here generally cannot be brought back to the real world—to the Xuanhuang Realm."
Sun Erlang frowned at this, but after a moment's thought, his expression relaxed.
After all, the things possible in this Land of Carefree Joy were simply too heaven-defying. If every advancement could be mirrored in reality...
Then the Land of Carefree Joy and the Xuanhuang Realm would be on completely different levels of existence.
"As the name suggests, the Land of Carefree Joy is built upon the power of the great Carefree Heavenly Sovereign, constructed from countless different dream worlds."
"The blueprints for these dream worlds can come from historical fragments of the Xuanhuang Realm, the dreams of living creatures, or even deeper, more profound concepts. Consequently, they are not always safe and are fraught with all kinds of dangers."
Sun Erlang nodded slightly. That explained the need for experience levels and world difficulties—to make exploration manageable.
At their peak Golden Core strength, exploring a Level 3 dream world was their absolute limit.
Pushing any further would have meant certain death.
Having a general sense of the danger involved prevented explorers from throwing their lives away needlessly.
"You can die in the Land of Carefree Joy."
"A cultivator's number of deaths is not infinite."
"The death count is a crucial indicator of a cultivator's status, second only to their experience level."
"Cultivators with similar death counts generally exist on the same 'stratum' within the Land of Joy. The general divisions are 1-3 deaths, 3-5 deaths, 5-10 deaths, and 10-15 deaths."
"The upper limit seems to be fifteen deaths. If you die again after that..."
"...it's a true death."
"In the real world, too."
A chill ran through Sun Erlang.
"A higher death count doesn't just change the people you interact with; it also signifies a decline in your own 'spirituality'."
"Spirituality is a hidden attribute. It isn't displayed, but it's a real factor here, affecting the efficiency of your combat and cultivation."
"The more you die, the lower your spirituality, and the harder it becomes to advance."
"It seems this 'spirituality' has other effects as well..." Sun Erlang mused.
"The death count can also be reduced. Besides exchanging Carefree Coins in the Heavenly Venerate's Treasury, you can also use certain items found within dream worlds."
"Of course, they are all incredibly valuable."
"From the sound of it, the Land of Carefree Joy is fraught with danger. But the reason the entire Five Elders Council flocks to it is because this dream realm truly lives up to its name: 'Carefree'."
"Every cultivator, for a certain fee of Carefree Coins, can generate their own personal dream world."
"Whether you wish to be an absolute emperor whose word is law or an Immortal Emperor in control of everything, it can all be achieved in your dream."
"These dreams are almost indistinguishable from reality. The more Carefree Coins you pay, the more intricate the details become..."
"However, in addition to the initial cost of creation, maintaining the dream's existence also requires a steady supply of Carefree Coins."
"This is the primary motivation for cultivators to explore the dream worlds."
"The higher the dream world's level, the greater the risk, but the greater the potential rewards."
"You can explore a dreamscape alone or with companions."
"Free dream worlds become available for exploration every cycle. Of course, you can also spend Carefree Coins to unlock them ahead of schedule."
...
Sun Erlang was gradually forming a detailed understanding of the Land of Carefree Joy.
What truly captured his attention, however, was the final set of details.
"Normally, nothing from the dream worlds can be brought back to reality."
"But there are exceptions."
"First, by the grace of the Carefree Heavenly Sovereign's power. This can be achieved at almost no cost, but it has occurred very rarely in the history of this land."
"Second, by turning in certain key items. This allows you to bring a portion of your power from the dream back to the real world."
"Third, by deeply exploring unknown dreamscapes."
"And fourth... by turning in a massive amount of Carefree Coins."
Sun Erlang and the others exchanged glances again, their thoughts racing.
"This Land of Joy is far beyond what we expected."
"Even the Saint Teacher might not fully understand it. The power of the Carefree Heavenly Sovereign who created this place... it's unimaginable."
"But a dream is still a dream. It's an illusion. We have to return to the real world eventually."
"The problem," Yue Zhenwei noted grimly, "is that it seems incredibly difficult. There are countless beings in this place, but only a handful manage to return to the real world each year."
"Honestly," Wang Xuanba chimed in, his eyes glued to the Heavenly Venerate's Treasury, "I don't think it would be so bad if we couldn't go back. Look at all these dream world templates in the treasury. Any one of them looks incredible."
Sun Erlang remained silent.
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