Taoist Master Xuanhuang

"As ordered!"

The foreign forces obeyed.

"In addition, there is a plan I need to tell you about... The Sweeping Monk will speak with you."

After the Ghost Ship, as the deity, agreed to their joining, the Sweeper Monk handled all other matters.

"By the will of the Ghost God, there is something you need to continue to do."

"Please speak, esteemed monk."

"That's right," said the sweeping monk. "The task that the Holy One has instructed you to undertake requires you to play along with the plan."

"Please explain in detail, Venerable Monk."

The Grand Alliance Leader and the others became solemn.

They knew this was the real test; only by doing this well would their status rise after joining the ranks of subordinate cultivators.

If you can't even do the first thing right after joining the faction, how can you expect the esteemed gods to have faith in you?

"Isn't the Demonic Saint supposed to cultivate a fourth-tier Mysterious True King? This is a good thing; you should ask for as many as possible," the Sweeper Monk continued.
"We'll take as many of these bizarre creatures as we can, then select one or two, nurture them into fourth-tier king-level bizarre creatures, and have them killed by my subordinate faction. Do you understand?"

"clear?"

The Grand Elder and the others roughly understood.

They understood that they should take as much as they could, since strange and unusual things were still quite rare in the Xia Kingdom.

Although they have no shortage of these treasures, who would complain about having too many?

I didn't care before because I didn't need the treasure, but things are different now. With so many subordinates, the resources are far from enough.

However, in terms of resources, the subordinate camp and the true cultivators cannot avoid conflicts and need to fight.

As mentioned earlier, more resources are not necessarily better, but that applies to experts.

Furthermore, this is not contradictory.

It's not that experts have to be poor or lack resources.

That's not how it works. It's about acquiring resources with control, through one's own abilities, rather than by trickery or force.

It's not about indulging in excessive desires and betting all one's spiritual practice on resources.

Everything has its limits; if you go beyond those limits, it's not right.

As a newly emerging force, it is still growing rapidly, and resources from its subordinate factions are scarce.

Most of the resources are controlled by true cultivators and need to be fought for.

From this perspective alone, conflict between the two sides is inevitable.

The bizarre has always been a valuable resource.

Currently, subordinate forces have fewer channels to obtain strange phenomena than true cultivators. Previously, when the Azure Cloud Boat connected to various strange realms, and when the Dream Gate connected to the Dream Realm, many strange phenomena could still be seen.

But they didn't need it and didn't care. If they had known they would need a lot of resources in the future, they would have started taking action long ago.

Now that it's in use, the mysterious entity has disappeared, leading to a shortage of resources for subordinate factions.

Currently, the only strange place on the land of Xia Kingdom is within the Boundary Domain.

Protected by the origin of the realm, the strange creatures were spared the suppression of human destiny and still had fertile ground for survival.

Apart from that, the Xia Kingdom ceased to exist.

It's really gone. Before, we could use strange rules or some strange games to lure the strange creatures over and kill them.

Now even the rules governing the arrival of strange occurrences have been suppressed.

For example, some strange phenomena such as Ouija boards, summoning, triggering, and rituals can be summoned as long as the ritual or rules are triggered.

Previously, Xia Kingdom cultivators collected many rituals and used them to lure and kill many strange creatures that roamed abroad.

Until a little over a decade ago, even these strange triggering and guiding methods were no longer effective.

Once it is discovered that the rules originated on the land of Xia, the strange rules simply do not materialize.

It's really frustrating.

Unless one travels far away to the Xia Kingdom to search for the strange creatures beyond its borders, there is no other way.

Moreover, the strange creatures in the vicinity of Xia Kingdom are almost extinct. If you want to find strange creatures, you really need to travel far away to Xia Kingdom.

Based on Xia's demand, as time goes on, it's likely that the strange creatures from neighboring countries will also be captured and killed.

Things have changed, and countless people have lamented that even the bizarre has become a rare and coveted item.

The younger generation has no idea about the crises that once ravaged the world.

Upon hearing what the old man said, everyone's eyes lit up with excitement and longing, not fear.

"Does Your Excellency intend to cultivate our spiritual practice?" the Grand Alliance Leader asked, drawing on his own intellect.

"Hehe!" the sweeping monk laughed, "Too small, too small, too narrow-minded. Have a bigger vision."

The Grand Alliance Leader looked completely bewildered, his utterly clueless expression clearly written on his face.

"We have the methods of the esteemed masters, why should we pursue spiritual cultivation? The methods of the esteemed masters are far inferior to these strange abilities, there is no need to cultivate spiritual cultivation," said the sweeping monk.

The Grand Alliance Leader and other alien beings were even more baffled.

At this moment, Liu Wenhe said, "Do you know who the largest supplier of magical artifacts and the largest supplier of spiritual medicines is in the cultivation world?"

"Oh, this? We don't know." The Grand Alliance Leader and the others told the truth.

I really didn't know. I was just a frog in a well before, completely unaware of these things.

"That's normal. After all, you weren't in the core domain before, and you're not true cultivators, so it's normal that you don't understand... Well, since we're all on the same side now, I might as well explain it to you and broaden your horizons, so that you won't embarrass my subordinate camp in the future."

Liu Wenhe and the Sweeping Monk planned to conduct a literacy campaign.

"Currently, the most common magical artifacts are not those made by the Four Super Ones, nor by the Eight Great Refining Alliances, but rather by spatial storage equipment that almost every cultivator possesses."

Liu Wenhe said.

After saying this, the Grand Alliance Leader and others panicked, wondering if they needed to have everyone on hand.
We don't have any. This is called an essential item for everyone. We're really pathetic.

To be honest, neither the Sweeping Monk nor Liu Wenhe noticed their expressions and had no idea that they were so poor that they didn't even have any storage equipment.

After all, it was something that was really hard for the two of them to imagine.

“And 80% of the storage equipment was crafted by Lord Xuan Ying. You probably don’t even know that, Lord Xuan Ying?” Liu Wenhe said.

The Grand Alliance Leader and the others nodded hastily, looking like country bumpkins whose minds weren't yet occupied by knowledge.

"Lord Xuan Ying is the strange being once controlled by the Dao Lord, and also the founder of the Shadow Killing Alliance, a strange cultivator who has developed intelligence."

Grand Alliance Leader, etc.: ? ? ?
If they weren't in the subordinate camp's headquarters, they would have exclaimed in surprise.

It turns out that the founder of the infamous Shadow Assassin Alliance was actually a strange being once controlled by the Dao Lord.

Once upon a time, those two words said it all; now, the Dao Lord no longer controls it.

The titles "intelligent and mysterious," "mysterious cultivators," and "Shadow Killing Alliance" are all incredibly shocking.

"The largest supplier of spiritual medicines is definitely not Baicao Pavilion. Baicao Pavilion is just a middleman. The real expert is Xuanling, a strange cultivator trained by the Dao Lord. I hope you will help me, sir."

"It is also a strange practice that possesses its own wisdom and cultivates itself, a true case of unorthodox cultivation."

"..."

After all this build-up, the Sweeping Monk said, "So the opinion of all the Divine Lords is to cultivate the kind of 'mysterious cultivators' that the Dao Lord cultivates, rather than the kind of 'spiritual cultivators.' Spiritual cultivators may seem impressive, but they are actually inferior."

That's why they want more weird stuff.

If you want to learn Xuanhuang and cultivate the Weird into a Weird Cultivator, the Weird, being an existence that controls the rules, has limitless potential if used properly.

The true cultivators had also noticed this, but they lacked the ability to cultivate the bizarre.

After all, the first step in cultivating the bizarre is to suppress the chaotic will of heaven and the distorted soul within the bizarre rules.

Cultivators don't yet have the ability to do these things. The second step is to suppress the strange, newly born sentient soul, which even true cultivators cannot do, while the supreme treasures can do it very easily.

The laws they created were the very laws they themselves used to suppress others.

Although they were also intermediaries, they still relied on the will of Xuanhuang to suppress them; they were intermediaries of the Lord's will to suppress them.

But so what?

Taking advantage of one's own master is also a kind of glory.

The treasure satisfies two conditions: they want to cultivate ghost cultivators like Brother Hope and Shadow.

This requires a lot of strangeness.

Just because Xuanhuang succeeded on his first try doesn't mean they can too; they need a lot of bizarre practices to get it right.

They are satisfied with even one success out of a hundred.

Obtaining strange things from the sacred realm was the method they came up with.

Of course, several companies are still actively expanding into the Boundary Heaven, where there are also scattered strange entities, though not many.

Especially in the dream world, there are many strange dreams, but most of them are far away, and few, if any, are close to the dream gate.

"Your Excellencies have shown great foresight; we understand now."

The Grand Alliance Leader and others gained a lot of knowledge and broadened their horizons; this is one of the benefits of joining a major power.

Putting everything else aside, the sheer act of broadening one's horizons is exhilarating.

If I hadn't joined the subordinate camp, I wouldn't have known this knowledge.

That's truly a case of being a frog in a well and having a limited view of the sky.

"Furthermore, we need to successfully train one or even two, and then we will eliminate them. Do you understand?" Liu Wenhe added.

They understand that.

"Do the two lords intend to enhance the prestige of our subordinate camp?" the Grand Alliance Leader asked.

While they may not possess the natural talents of the main human lineage, their intelligence is no less.

“That’s right. The true cultivators are killing the demonized saints. We won’t fight them. Besides, what’s the point of killing a crippled saint? The monsters are stronger than the saints. Killing a monster king who has become a king is what our subordinate camp should do.”

Subordinate cultivators need fame and prestige, they need to attract attention, and they need good fortune.

Nowadays, everyone's attention is focused on the true cultivator. They need something sensational to attract everyone's attention.

Nothing is more eye-catching than slaying a king of monsters.

They want the strange resources, and they also want the prestige of killing the King of the Strange.

After all these years, the Weird is still contributing himself; he is truly the number one 'weird talent' in the cultivation world.

“You continue to feign effort, creating numerous failures so that when the divine loses patience, success will come… Do you understand?”

"My subordinate understands."

The Grand Alliance Leader nodded quickly.

They may not be good enough to accomplish anything, but they are far more capable of ruining things.

They are very good at dragging others down.

He thought to himself that he must do things perfectly. This was his first appearance in the subordinate camp, and he couldn't afford to lose face.

"Later, choose the faction you want to join based on your own guidance and preferences."

The ghost ship remained silent until the matter was over, at which point it spoke as the final act.

The group of foreign cultivators knelt down to express their gratitude once again.

The blessings from God are never enough.

After that, the ghost ship disappeared, and he went into seclusion, leaving the rest to the sweeping monk Liu Wenhe and others.

Over the years, although it is still not as good as true cultivation, a complete system has been established, and countless talents have come up with ideas and jobs for it.

These gods can finally be true gods.

You don't need to do everything yourself.

The Hall of Legacy!
This is a grand hall; entering this hall allows one to inherit the unique skills of the various divine lords.

As for how to choose, just go with your gut feeling.

A group of alien beings stepped into the main hall and found that their friends had all disappeared, which made them a little panicked.

But then he realized that he had nothing that the God could possibly scheme against him for.

Then it'll be fine.

As long as they're poor enough, they're not afraid of any traps at all; that's exactly what describes them.

The Grand Master closed his eyes and, following the instructions of the high monk, began to follow his intuition.

I don't know how long I walked, but when I opened my eyes, I saw a gigantic gate that stretched to the heavens and the earth.

What came into the Grand Alliance Leader's view was that in the core vortex of the endless dream world, in the void where the fragments of reality and the quicksand of illusions met, stood the ultimate barrier: the Gate of Time and Space Dreams.

It is not an ordinary portal, but a spectacle woven from flowing laws and frozen time. Its roots are deeply embedded in the origin of dreams, while its lintel extends infinitely, merging into the dream-weaving galaxy that surrounds dreams.

Its form is ever-changing, yet it remains the same throughout the ages.

At first glance, they appear as a pair of enormous, translucent wings, formed from the glimmer of billions of stars. They are as thin as cicada wings, yet seem to bear the weight of all worlds.

When the wings flap, they do not create air currents, but rather ripples of spacetime that are clearly visible.

This is a process of sorting out reality, smoothing out the chaotic energy of dreams into fertile ground where one can rest peacefully.

Where the ripples swept, the chaotic fragments of dreams returned to their places on their own, and the distorted folds of time and space were quietly smoothed out.

It is not supported by stone pillars, but by two ceaseless spirals of spacetime.

They rotate slowly in opposite directions. One is the "Slumbering Vortex," which is as still as amber and deep purple, absorbing the panic and fatigue that dissipates from the entire dream world and settling it into a peaceful foundation. The other is the "Wake-up River," which is dazzling and leaping like flames, flowing with new life, hope and inspiration, nourishing countless dream creatures.

Where the two streams intertwine, there is an absolute barrier of order, enough to freeze any improper thoughts.

At the pivot of the gate, two constantly pulsating symbols float, their structure containing the ultimate truth of the universe. Any force that attempts to forcibly cross the boundary will be disintegrated and reorganized like a faulty algorithm program the moment it touches it, returning to harmless starlight dust.

The lintel is impossibly high, with a waterfall of nightmare chains and wish-granting ornaments hanging down.

The chains are neither gold nor iron, but are strung together from countless nightmare cores that have been imprisoned, purified, and solidified into eternal sculptures. Their twisted, struggling, and roaring postures are forever frozen at the boundary of the "Vortex of Slumber," serving as the clearest warning to all evil spirits in the dream world.

The jeweled ornaments are the pure radiance of all beings' prayers, emanating from the invisible gratitude of those who are protected sleeping peacefully, the glimmer of light in a child's sweet smile, and the crystallization of hope for redemption in a beautiful dream. These jeweled ornaments are as warm as the morning sun, illuminating doors and endowing them with the compassionate power of protection.

The Gate of Dreams is like the gentlest placenta.

Its very existence is an invisible promise to the beings of dreams. The stable flow of time and space provides a solid anchor for the dreamer; the flowing garlands of willpower transform into an invisible hand that smooths the wrinkles of the soul and dispels the gloom in the corners of the subconscious; the ripples of time and space gently filter out the excessive distractions and pressures that flood in from the real world, reserving a pure land for each soul to rest or soar.

The "Slumbering Vortex" is like a gaping maw of an abyss, constantly absorbing the dissipated negative spiritual forces such as fear, resentment, and mania.

Once the power of nightmares gets close, the twisted sculptures on the gateposts serve as a cautionary tale.

The Dream Gate attracted, captured, and dragged it into the depths of the vortex.

For all the "extraterrestrial evil spirits" or "heart-born evil beings" who covet the dream world, the gate to the dream world is a wall of sighs that cannot be understood, cannot be broken through, and cannot even be gazed upon for long.

The barrier constructed by the dual flow of space and time is itself a logical dead end. Any attempt to penetrate it through energy, consciousness, or a higher dimension will have its cause and effect disrupted by the "Golden Sands of Time" and its structure dismantled by the "Void Latent".

Not to mention the invisible time alarm bells and spatial suppression, which can shatter the perception and destroy the consciousness of evil things before they can gather power.

To them, this door is not a gateway, but an absolute prohibition that "if this place is closed, all things will perish."

It embraces all dreams with fluidity, suppresses chaos with order, and constructs an immortal Great Wall with the power of time and space.

It is the only lighthouse in the dream world, the ultimate guardian of the spiritual rest of all beings. Its very existence is the most thorough denial of the abyss of nightmares and an eternal declaration of silence.

……

P.S.: Did you watch the military parade? Awesome!
I watched it yesterday, and I watched it again today. It truly is world-class, throwing the label of "backward" across the Pacific Ocean. (End of Chapter)