My consciousness felt like it was whisked away into a different place. In fact, this is more or less what happened.
The dream-connecting thread’s function is, as the name explains, to “connect dreams”. There exists a strange dimension on a plane of existence far beyond the ability of us, mere mortals, to understand that is called “The Dreamland”.
Some ancient texts referred to the Dreamland by the name of “The Righteous Land”. During the Dark Era it was believed that the so-called “Righteous Land” was a place where the departed went to if they had lived a life of virtue, where all dreams could be realized and where one could live a life of eternal bliss…
There were cults spread throughout the entire Galaxy that followed the Righteous Land’s faith. In one of the texts I read, there were people who believed that the entire place was a living being that possessed a will of its own.
In another text I read there was a passage from the diary of one Wenn Tyqiop, a mortal of some very advanced civilization (they seemed to possess technology allowing them to do easy interplanetary travel at least), who claimed to have visited the Righteous Land (or so did the author of the book I found the passage in assumed) and he described it as a barren lifeless place with no light. He wrote about how he once stumbled upon a dead city of an even more advanced civilization and that there was a huge mountain stacked up by bones. Then he went on to describe some strange and rather magical happenings, like lights in a void that were both infinite and finite in number at the same time or spontaneous teleportation.
Nowadays, the most common understanding of the place is that it’s a sort of universe on a plane of existence different to our own that seems to be able to connect to ours by the means of affecting the spirits of the sentient beings in it and create or contain their dreams.
That’s why we call it the Dreamland. In reality, we know too little about it to come to any certain conclusions. Cultivators can also enter, or at least touch the boundary, of the Dreamland during meditation. Since Dreamland is supposedly a universe of its own, the changes in the Heavenly Dao are especially clear when on stand on the boundary.
It’s also believed that every spirit partially exists in the Dreamland and that the dream-connecting thread is able to let a bigger part of the spirit to enter it.
That is why possessing it is akin to playing with fire as you never know if you spirit will suddenly move to the Dreamland and die there or if your sanity will deteriorate by continuous exposure to that bizarre reality.
The dream-connecting thread also seems to be able to connect, or at the very least increase the closeness of the spirits of all things possessing the same thread at the same time.
It means that master just used both of the properties of the thread to connect our spirits and to an extent blend our consciousness in the Dreamland.
Since master’s spirit is more powerful than mine, I’m sure that he is in the material world right now, fully conscious and I am probably out cold.
So far so good. All of it is within our expectations. I’m not sure how long I’ll have to wait here, as I don’t know how time behaves in the Dreamland, but master should create the Nascent Illusion Spirit, no it’s also a bad name. How about the central controller? Yeah, it’s good enough. Master should be making the central controller for the substitute body with the information he received from my spirit.
If my realm was higher, at least at the Foundation Building stage, then it would be quite beneficial for me to enter Dreamland. Don’t assume that since it holds our dreams we enter it every time we dream. If the Heavenly Dao allowed to cross universes so easily it wouldn’t be the Heavenly Dao. During the times when we have dreams the Dreamland simply projects our dreams to the parts of the spirit that exist within it.
As for how spirits can exist in multiple universes simultaneously, that’s because souls exist on a different layer of existence and it plays its role. Well, it’s a whole field of study that I do not wish to explore, to be honest. Formations are lovely because they follow strict rules of logic and one can comprehend the meaning of the Heavenly Dao through them. When it comes to this field of knowledge, however, it’s very… not illogical, lacking in structure would describe it better.
Anyway, back to the topic. If my realm was higher, then I would benefit quite greatly from entering the Dreamland. Understanding of one’s own spirit and seeing how it works is something worth doing.
Unfortunately, it’s because I’m below the Foundation building stage that the technique I and master created can work so well. If my spirit was stronger, doing something like this would be dangerous and unwise.
Well, I’ve been running my metaphorical mouth for so long but master is still not showing any signs of acting. In the material world master should’ve acted with no delay. You can understand how weirdly time flows here with this, right?
I hope I won’t have to wait for several thousand years. It’s not like I won’t be able to, just the idea isn’t too appealing to me.
Let’s talk about some other things while I’m waiting…
…
…
…
And like that, the Interstellar Socialist Cultivation Union fell only forty thousand years after its establishment, its ideals all but forgotten to everybody but history enthusiasts like me nowadays.
Well, the Nanobiological research that was rapidly developed during that particular Empire’s reign was also mostly lost. To think they were able to improve the rate of birth of children with spiritual roots by a whole 12%! Isn’t it incredible? I remember searching for any traces of that field of research all over the Galaxy but it seems that the Dao Punishment really did destroy all remnants of that forbidden knowledge.
Their formation research was left intact however. It’s quite a shame that it was so unimpressive that I literally spewed blood when I read all those papers. I mean, using monotropic particles in a traditional Earth-Rending formation is just redundant. Most other abominations they made aren’t worth mentioning either.
Speaking of the Earth-Rending formation, do you know how it got its name? Heh, that’s a famous anecdote! Well, you see, three hundred years after the establishment of Divinity, a certain daoist by the name of Aite Uo Po Rerere (from the tree-core star sector, as you can guess by the elegant and poetic name)-
*Pop*
The environment just changed. I feel like I am seeing things but not seeing them at the same time. An aftereffect of overreliance on the physical body. The spirit, unaccustomed to the lack of the eyes and the nervous system in general takes its time to adapt and come up with new means of perception.
Unlike the physical body, the spirit is much more powerful and convenient. A body adapts slowly to its environment while the spirit can do some incredible things on its own.
It must mean that master finally created the central controller. Swell.
Hmm? It isn’t responding to my commands! What is going on? Let’s see:
Control Interface: current connection not reliable, please wait…
…
…
Control Interface: Error! The value returned to the MCF is -892221! The value returned to the PRK is -90221! Trying again!
…
Control Interface: connection established!
Phew! I thought there was a problem for a second there!
Hmm, how peculiar. The abnormal behavior of the central controller (the name I gave to the Nascent essence simulating my spirit) disappeared all of a sudden. For a moment there I felt like it was going out of control. The controlling matrix should’ve been impeccable. Maybe it was the connection time? Well, whatever.
I need to check the procedures, just in case…
Control interface: checking the procedures…
Control interface: the procedures processed! No problems found!
---Open the menu ?---
--- Yes / No ---
If there were no problems, then it must mean that there was a problem with connection time. No need to worry then.
Of course, it’s “Yes”. Hmm? What do you mean, what is it? It’s the control interface for the central controller of course! What did you expect, for me to control every part of the infinitely complex formations with my own spirit? Not to mention the current strength of my spirit, even if I was at my peak, I would still employ special formations that would be user-friendly and allow me not to overburden myself operating the main formations!
It’s the modern era of cultivation! Technology is all the rage nowadays! Even though we’re using swords that not even mortal warriors of civilizations over a thousand years old use. Or that despite that it’s the so-called modern era, any attempts of changing the chaotic structure of the cultivator society of the Galaxy have failed so far and that the economic and cultural theory of most barely advanced mortal civilizations is more evolved that ours?
Is it just me or have my thoughts been going in all directions ever since I regressed? Could it be that my physical body and the trauma from my death have been affecting more than I dare to accept?
Ok, who cares. I, this sovereign, Oalur Kang will still be the Supreme of the Galaxy-
---Menu!
-Direct control
-Show readings
-Exit
Oh, it finally loaded. God, it takes ages to load.
I don’t care for the readings for now, let’s assume direct control for the time being.
Direct control will allow me and master to “feel” the changes in the meridians as if observing the body through Divine sense, the sixth sense that all cultivators have, but also feel it from the first point of view.
We, or more accurate to say, I, will be able to adjust the process if I find something wrong.
-Direct control assumed!
***
The inside of the body looked like a small galaxy. There were thousands of meridians sprawled across the whole volume of it, looking like a sky full of clusters of stars. There were dark and massive objects that affected those clusters, pulled them towards themselves and bent them, and the meridians slowly blinked and rotated around them.
As the technique started, the central controller expelled some of its Nascent Soul essence that quickly dissolved into spiritual qi, bringing vibrancy to the biggest dark spot. The dark spot began pulsing and rotating and it seemed to shine and resonate with some mysterious rhythms.
First, it was slow. But then, bit by bit, its momentum increased, making it seem as if the whole meridian map was creaking and breaking under the pressure. Some meridians were shaking as if they were afraid of something.
As the dark spot’s momentum increased, the central controller began to expand and let out thin and flexible lines that started to softly engulf the whole meridian map like an octopus-like being that began its feast.
When the momentum reached its critical state, the heart-lifting pill buried within the stomach of the body activated and began to devour the excessive spiritual qi.
The spiritual qi that was emitted and the spiritual qi that was consumed achieved a kind of balance and the whole Galaxy was finally at piece.
The left-over spiritual qi spread out through the whole Galaxy, allowing it to reach the state of saturation. After that happened, with every pulse of the biggest Dark spot made, every star jumped.
It was a very mysterious and mesmerizing state. It hid behind it the most basic principles of the Heavenly Way. Though the meridians existed within the body, the looked like a Galaxy. They followed similar principles as a Galaxy. It was a union of man and the world. From large to small, from important to insignificant, the Heavenly Way had its traces everywhere. All rivers flowed into the oceans and all ways went to the same destinations.
What was that destination? Everybody knew it deep within their hearts and had no idea at the same time. The more you understand the Dao, the more you see how small you truly are. Restrained by one’s own thoughts and one’s own actions, we can only strive to understand that which we can’t describe and never truly reach it.
Then there came the moment. It was like a big hand grabbed a veil that covered the whole Galaxy and pulled it. It was like there was a mist we weren’t aware before and then after it cleared, the world seemed more vibrant, more real, more… alive.
It was hard to describe what exactly was different, only the fact that it was different was obvious.
And after all of it was over, the Nascent Soul essence within the central controller dissipated and I and master were ejected from viewing what happened next.
***
I awoke from the magically-induced slumber. Looking around, I saw master, who seemed to be deep in thought with his eyes closed, and a lifeless boy that looked like an exact copy of me. He looked like he was full of life and vitality one moment and after he reached the peak; he began to rapidly wither and turned into dust.
I don’t know why, but I felt a little sad.
