Chapter 233: Sword Array
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
Actualised Dream World.
As the foundation of an Illusionary Divine Stage dream master, Fang Yuan's dream world was very small. It was no taller than 2.6 metres and its circumference was no longer than 3.2m.
"The cultivation of the Illusionary Divine Stage is the cultivation of the actualised dream world. One day, this will become a true world!"
In the centre of the heavens and earth, Fang Yuan's true consciousness appeared, one hand pointed at the sky and the other hand pressing against the earth.
"Crash!"
Dream elemental force surged forth and flushed the borders of the actualised dream world.
With every wave, the chaos of the outside world was washed away. The actualised dream world started expanding at a slow rate.
"The journey of a dream master in the Illusionary Divine Stage is a long and arduous one. Who knows how much effort is needed to reach the Prominent Divine Stage!"
Fang Yuan sighed.
Every day after he completed his work, he would go out and arrive at an open field.
"Dream soldier master, in the beginning, his primary focus is to actualize soldiers and uses martial arts as a supplement. In the end, he will walk the path of training his soldiers to have a better understanding of the world...Truth be told, it is to start with laws regarding weapons and the likes before moving on to grasping the laws of the world! Any pathway of a dream master will ultimately reach to the same end-goal!"
"My Master's secret teachings, known as the 8 Gates Sword Array incorporate the essences of arrays and martial arts. Its prowess is unparalleled. It uses the 8 trigrams as its foundation, and is able to transform and adapt to suit the situation!"
Fang Yuan have read through Master Heartless's inheritance many times. At this time, verses of chants flashed across the bottom of his heart, and he understood all the verses completely.
He sat cross-legged and his spiritual will penetrated the emptiness. He started to gather his previously-expended dream elemental force.
When his essence, energy and magic had recovered to their peak levels, Fang Yuan stood up, and suddenly shouted, "8 Gates Sword Array, rise!"
"Whoosh!"
Sword radiance flashed!
All kinds of blue, red and golden coloured swords converged, with multiple colours flashing. The sharpness of the blades was threatening. Suddenly, the swords fell to the ground and in the centre of the actualised dream world, 8 hazy sword shadows appeared.
Once the array appeared, the whole atmosphere within the space changed. It was as if sharp wills started to gather.
"Only the path is set at the start. Not a single divine soldier gather...this is merely beginning!"
Fang Yuan looked at the flickering sword shadows and shook his head, "At the peak of my master's cultivation, he completed the 8 Gates Sword Array. At my current level, it is very difficult to actualize 1 divine soldier. The good thing about this array is that it does not require the 8 divine soldiers to converge. The array can be used even if it was just 1, 2 or 3 divine soldiers [1]!"
He turned his gaze towards the South with a solemn expression.
Over there, under a red cloud, a scarlet sword essence appeared to be holding up the heavens like a giant pillar. Within it, the sword's shadow was hazy.
"The true South gifts flames! This is for the fire-type sword! The easiest to gather amongst the 8 Gates Sword Array! It is the best place for me to start!"
Fang Yuan consumed Flame Jade Rice daily and as such, his fire-type energy was the most abundant. Naturally, it would aid him in his cultivation of the fire sword.
"South-leaving Fire, listen to my command, fire-type sword, gather!"
A beam of light shot from his eyes and onto the red sword pillar.
"Crash!"
Dream elemental force as vast as the sea surged forth and entered the fire-type pillar. The fire-type sword momentarily appeared as it started to actualize.
The sword was around 1 metre long and the blade was scarlet in colour with simple and mysterious markings engraved upon it. The hilt of the sword was in the shape of a fiery dragon. The whole sword appeared to be a raging flame and yet, there was a hint of green will.
The sword shadow, which was originally an illusion started to become real.
"10%?"
After a long time, with his dream elemental force depleted, Fang Yuan looked at the shadow and was pleased.
It was no easy feat to actualize a magical soldier.
What he had done so far was to create a form. He still had to slowly train.
Afterall, even if he had gathered the 8 spiritual swords and complete the array. It was a huge task to separate the array from the actualised dream world and actualise it in the real world.
The path to reach the Prominent Divine Stage was indeed long and difficult!
Every actualised sword and the dream soldier master's cultivation would bring about enormous changes. When the 8 swords are gathered, it would be enough to shock the heavens and earth, make demons and deities afraid. The array would clear the path before him.
"This 8 Gates Sword Array is split into levels according to the number of magical soldiers actualised. The most basic is the 1 sword, followed by 2 swords, when at last the 8 swords form the array, it can affect the heavens and earth, one step at a time, clearing the way forward!"
Fang Yuan stroked his chin, "It feels like this is similar to the spiritual meridians of the Wu Zongs!"
For a Wu Zong in the Meridian Opening Realm, the spiritual meridians were gathered and split into different levels. In each level, the battle prowess of the Wu Zong was different.
"I hear that after a spiritual knight reaches the Elemental Opening Realm, the next step in his cultivation would be to link his spiritual points!"
"Other dream master pathways are roughly similar and can be split into 8 or 9 realms..."
After remembering the recently-purchased information, Fang Yuan no longer had any confusion regarding the cultivation in the Elemental Opening Realm.
For an ordinary cultivator, the main focus of cultivation was to attain the elemental force!
It was only after breaking through the Elemental Gathering Realm could a cultivator be considered extraordinary and considered to be on a path of cultivation.
This step was known as cultivation to become a Wu Zong, spiritual knight or dream master.
The second step was to reach the opening of spiritual meridians of the Wu Zongs and elemental opening points for the spiritual knights. The dream masters were different depending on the pathways taken but they all had around 9 gates to be broken through.
"The third step, which is also the last step, is to return to their roots and seek the real meaning and source of the elemental force. In the pathway of martial arts, it would be to complete the opening of the spiritual meridians and the formation of the Divine Body. The last step is not known for the spiritual knights and as for the dream master, it would be to reach the Prominent Divine Stage!
There are vast differences in power between the levels in the 9 gates of elemental opening. Furthermore, becoming a dream master is much more advantageous compared to the other 2 pathways..."
Fang Yuan looked at his stat board and realized that there were changes to it after he made the realization:
"Name: Fang Yuan
Essence: 36
Spirit: 30
Magic: 21
Profession: Dream Soldier Master
Cultivation: Illusionary Divine Stage, Wu Zong (3 Meridians)
Technique: Giant Eagle Metal Body Technique [Grade 4(1%)], Hundred Poison Golden Body [1st Refining Stage], 8 Gates Sword Array [1 sword (10%)]
Skill: [Medicine (Level 3)], [Botany (Level 5)]"
"If I calculated correctly, I am currently at the power level of a Wu Zong in the 4th level and a dream master in the first level of the Illusionary Divine Stage?
Fang Yuan was stumped, "It is just that this is not reflected in my actual battle power..."
At least, with his current cultivation at the Illusionary Divine Stage, he would be able to overpower Wu Zongs who opened 3 or 4 spiritual meridians. The Wu Zong would not even be able to escape.
"The main focus of my cultivation now is to firstly, perfect my Giant Eagle Metal Body Technique and secondly, gather the fire sword..."
Truth be told, this Leaving Fire Sword was the interpretation of the fire-type pathways in the world. In other words, this was the gathering of the laws of fire in Fang Yuan's actualised dream world.
"Other than slowly grinding using the dream elemental force, it is only in the dream world can one find a treasure which aid in his cultivation..."
Fang Yuan nodded before shaking his head.
"Whoosh!"
Suddenly, the 8 Gates Sword Array shook and the scarlet sword essence exploded, causing Fang Yuan to be surprised.
He looked up and saw that the Leaving Fire Sword pillar, which had started to actualise a few percentage point, supporting the heavens and earth had raised the dream world by another 20 centimeters.
That was not all. Countless of Leaving Fire Sword essence appeared and eliminated the chaos surrounding the dream world, causing his actualised to expand at a rate multiple times faster than when he used his dream elemental force to grind his dream world.
"This is the true way to cultivate the dream world!"
Fang Yuan sighed as he made that realization.
At that moment, he was considered to have just started his cultivation in the Illusionary Divine Stage.
"With the 8 Gates Sword Array in place, my dream world would continue to expand and actualise even without my management!"
Fang Yuan nodded in gratification as he deeply felt the formidability of being a dream soldier master.
In the real world.
In a secluded valley where the vegetation was lush and the area deserted.
Within a cave, Fang Yuan sat cross-legged as he absorbed the surrounding essence to his limit. He suddenly opened both his eyes.
"Fire Sword!"
With a wave of his hand, a scarlet sword essence measuring a few centimetres appeared and fell down swiftly!
"Chi"
On the ground, a scorched mark which extended in a straight line for a few metres could be seen.
"Although the Fire Sword has not been completely formed, its sword essence can be adjusted and its power is no less than an ordinary divine soldier. The most crucial point is that it can be perfectly commanded like how an arm is able moves the finger [2] ... in the future, I will be able to use the sword essence to fend off an enemy or maybe complement it with my martial arts. How does '8 Meridians Divine Sword' sounds?"
Fang Yuan stoked his chin and drew out a thread of his dream elemental force.
After several bouts of changes, Fang Yuan started to worry as he saw the thread of dark red amidst the chaos.
"It would be better to get rid of the hidden dangers left behind in the Three World Mountain.
His spiritual will shifted and in an instant, he entered a dream and arrived at the dream world.
"Gather information – Three World Mountain, dream master!"
Before the 4 rock tablets, Fang Yuan retrieved his emerald order plate and started searching.
Due to the fact that what he needed was scattered information, the information was not too expensive but his inheritance was completely cleared.
"Three World Mountain divides 3 worlds and hence, its name. 900 years ago, Tian Xiezi, a dream master from the Evil Divine Sect fell here, causing the dream world to transform into an illusionary world, in between reality and illusion. It is a natural stronghold, and all travelers, regardless of whether they go with the flow or against the flow, met their downfall. Dream masters dare not approach for fear of meeting misfortune..."
Fang Yuan's expression changed after reading the contents of the report.
"Nothing...there is no information regarding this type of dark force. It seems that the only lead is Tian Xiezi of the Evil Divine Sect?"
Fang Yuan had heard of, and was very familiar with, the name.
However, it was not from his, but Fang Yan's dream world!
"After becoming the Eagle Lieutenant, I have investigated and finally realized that Qing Gui was a dream master of the Evil Divine Sect!"
Fang Yuan's eyes looked serene: "Looks like...my affinity with him is not so easily broken."
With this type of force mixed into his dream elemental force, Fang Yuan might suffer in the future even if the consequences were not obvious yet!
Given Fang Yuan's character, he would definitely not allow this ticking time-bomb to remain on his body.
As such, it was imperative that he made a trip to Evil Divine Sect and seek out the source of the dark force!
"This trip is still too difficult given my current standard..."
Fang Yuan shook his head, "Perhaps...I can try asking for assistance to search for a method to get rid of foreign force within my dream elemental force...contribution points, the most important is still the contribution points!"
After multiple searches, he had used up all his contribution points.
"I need to quickly raise a huge sum of contribution points!"
He looked towards the stone tablets, his gaze solemn.
[1] The technique handed down by Master Wenxin is unique, as such, the soldiers are swords.
[2] A chinese idiom which means that the sword is able to be perfectly commanded like an extension of one's own body.