Gates of the Myriad Realms Chapter 597

“Do you know why there are seven layers of dreams?”

“No.”

“Legend has it that this is the law of dreams – almost no one can continuously wake up from seven dreams – they are nested within each other.”

“So this is the test of the dream world?”

“Yes, if you fail, you can only follow their rules.”

“I’ll try.”

Shen Ye said excitedly.

He pressed his hand into the void, sensing the power of the dream, and suddenly took a step forward.

The entire world instantly changed.

He found himself standing in a dark, confined concrete tunnel.

On one side of the wall, a few lines of text were written:

“Outsider.”

“You have chosen to challenge the dream world, not to serve it.”

“In this challenge, the dream world will be hostile to you.”

“When you break through the blockade of the seven-layered dream and successfully complete the challenge, your dream-type skills will no longer be subject to the dream world’s jurisdiction.”

“If you fail –”

“You must pay ten times the military merit to be allowed to use your dream-type abilities at certain times.”

“Start immediately?”

“—Announcement from the dream world.”

Shen Ye read it for a while and asked:

“Charlotte, I really don’t understand why the skills I create still need their permission to be used.”

“There’s no way – the rules of dreams converge here.”

“In the myriad worlds, mastering a world where laws converge means holding a dominant position,” Charlotte said.

“Even with permission, I can only use it at certain times, why is that?” Shen Ye asked.

“This is to collect fees, like a contract, or even a sacrifice. You must make a sincere sacrifice to gain the qualification to use the laws.”

Charlotte’s tone became a little more serious.

She sensed it.

Shen Ye seemed to care a lot about this matter.

“Don’t overthink it. Even the most basic spellcasters need to chant incantations and request to invoke laws.”

“It’s the rule.”

Shen Ye thought about it and realized it made sense.

Everyone seemed to be used to this.

But—

Is it right to get used to it?

It’s his own technique, yet he needs permission from a higher-level existence.

—What if, at a crucial moment, the other party doesn’t allow it?

This is like entrusting his fate to others.

Too passive.

Shen Ye lowered his head, and a deep, unfathomable emotion flashed across his eyes.

Thinking closely.

His saber technique has four laws.

As he progresses, he might have more types of laws, or laws of a higher order.

Does he have to work for four worlds?

—Even after entering the transcendent world, he still has to work for you guys?

Damn it.

He will never work again in this life!

My saber technique.

I’ll use it however I want!

Shen Ye pressed his hand against the wall and shouted,

“Start!”

The warning on the wall turned to dust, flaking off and disappearing into nothingness.

A rhythmic knocking sound came from deep within the concrete tunnel.

What was that?

Shen Ye didn’t move, just stood still and waited.

Soon.

A humanoid monster, covered in bandages, crawled over.

“Still busy? Have you eaten?”

Shen Ye greeted him.

The humanoid monster nodded at him, squeezed past him, and quickly disappeared into the other end of the tunnel.

Faint words floated before Shen Ye’s eyes:

“You activated the ‘Most Familiar Stranger’ entry, setting the other party as an acquaintance.”

“This entry has been blessed by the Battle Dance Songstress.”

“Your personal level has also reached Truth Fourteen.”

“The subject has been suppressed!”

“The subject has greeted you and left the scene.”

“The effect of the entry is time-limited.”

“Please evacuate quickly!”

Shen Ye scanned it, ignoring the prompts, and simply leaned against the wall, resting for a moment.

Not long after.

A more urgent sound came from the direction the monster had disappeared.

—It’s back!

The monster let out an angry roar, about to lunge at Shen Ye—

Suddenly.

Shen Ye was gone.

The monster froze.

It crawled around in confusion, even stopping for a while at the spot where Shen Ye had been standing.

Still couldn’t find the human.

But a rhythmic knocking sound came from deep within the concrete tunnel.

What was that?

The monster suddenly adopted an attack stance, gazing in the direction of the sound.

Soon.

A humanoid monster, covered in bandages, crawled over.

It crawled in front of it and asked,

“Still busy? Have you eaten?”

The monster froze, not knowing what to do for a long time.

Finally, it decided to act.

“Roar—”

The monster charged at the newly appeared monster.

The latter disappeared again.

Now the monster understood.

It was a dream!

—It was supposed to be the host of this layer’s test, but instead, the other party used a dream spell on it!

The monster let out a roar, about to cast a spell, but then froze again.

Saber.

A long saber gently pressed against its neck.

“Let me go to the next floor.”

Someone said.

The blade began to cut into the neck.

If he didn’t let him go, his fate would be death!

“Cleared!”

The monster had to shout.

In an instant.

The person and his saber disappeared together.

Only the monster remained in the dark concrete tunnel, constantly touching its neck.

There was blood.

Blood!!!

The monster shrieked, suddenly transforming into a man with colorful wings, and roared:

“This guy is a lunatic!”

“He actually tried to kill me!”

“—I demand that his challenge qualification be revoked!”

Seven or eight men and women with similar colorful wings appeared in the surrounding void.

The leader, with a somber face, shouted:

“Shut up, a novice made you like this, and you still have the nerve to complain.”

The person was stunned, then touched his neck again.

His neck was perfectly fine.

There was no wound at all!

An old man spoke, “This fellow is up to no good. To toy with our people like this, we must teach him a lesson.”

“Of course,” said the winged leader. “On the next level, spare no effort to prevent him from passing.”

“Yes!”

On the other side.

The second layer of the dream.

Shen Ye found himself standing on a wide street.

Night.

Bustling traffic.

Crowds of people.

—This was completely like Earth.

But in the next instant.

Everyone disappeared.

Cars collided with each other all over the street.

All the streetlights went out.

Everything fell silent.

The entire world went from extremely bustling and noisy to dead silent.

Shen Ye looked around.

The world was too big.

No monsters appeared either.

How to deal with this?

Information was also hard to gather.

Wait—

There was one ultimate creation very good at this kind of thing.

“Scent.”

Shen Ye called out.

“Got it, I’ll help you take a look.”

Accompanying the female voice, a woman walked out from the void behind him, knelt on one knee, and placed her hand on the ground.

After waiting for a few breaths.

“No one—this is an ’empty’ dream; you’re probably trapped here,” said Scent.

“There were so many people just now, how did they all disappear so suddenly?” Seventh Uncle interjected.

Shen Ye sensed the imperceptible fluctuations in the void and said,

“They have increased the power of the laws, making this layer of the dream more difficult.”

“Yes, they probably mind your actions in the first layer,” Charlotte chimed in.

“I wanted to be friendly too, but then my hand slipped,” Shen Ye shrugged.

“Clearly, you have an issue with them,” the Boat of Chaos said.

“How do you figure that?” Shen Ye asked.

“You called them ‘it,’ while Charlotte used ‘them’,” the Boat of Chaos said.

A moment of silence.

“Enough, don’t make such jokes. How could you tell which ‘it’ he used?” asked Scent.

“No, I’ve been evolving languages of various civilizations recently, so when you speak, I have subtitles,” the Boat of Chaos said.

“So he used ‘it’?” Seventh Uncle asked.

“That’s right,” the Boat of Chaos said.

“That’s excellent,” Seventh Uncle said.

“Why is it good?” the Boat of Chaos asked.

“We should have a good fight—if we win, we won’t be ruled by dreams, and I’ll be able to use dream laws however I want in the future—I plan to ask Shen Ye to help me build a dream breakfast shop.”

Seventh Uncle said.

“You’ve evolved to Truth Rank 19, and you’re still opening a breakfast shop?” Shen Ye couldn’t understand.

“Human breakfast is a beautiful ceremony. I only need to expend a small amount of energy to receive sincere sacrifices from diners.”

Seventh Uncle said.

“I want it for free,” Scent said.

“No problem—how about you control those fellows and let them come in for breakfast?” Seventh Uncle asked.

“Alright,” Scent readily agreed.

“What do I do then?” the Boat of Chaos asked.

“You’ll be in charge of adjusting the flavors, because you’re good at evolving and can capture the changes in taste,” Seventh Uncle said.

Shen Ye was speechless.

This was only the second layer of the dream.

But several creations were already considering opening a shop.

—You guys are more confident than I am.

Just then, a flash of inspiration suddenly struck him.

Creations.

That’s right…

“Hey, since you’re all creations, can you also be deluded by dreams?”

Shen Ye asked.

“Deluded? Why would we be deluded?” Scent asked curiously.

“It means not knowing whether the thing opposite is real or fake,” Shen Ye explained.

“Real or fake… this doesn’t have much to do with us, does it?” Seventh Uncle pondered, “For example, if you have a pistol, whether you pull the trigger or not is your business; the gun doesn’t care who the other side is.”

“You mean—creations are like guns?” Shen Ye asked.

“That’s how it is. We don’t distinguish between real and fake, there’s only one word—do it,” the Boat of Chaos said.

“Bah!” Scent and Charlotte said in unison.

Shen Ye tilted his head and thought for a moment.

That makes sense.

But—

“Boat of Chaos, fire a cannon and see,” Shen Ye said.

“Alright.”

A gigantic metal boat, covering the sky, suddenly appeared behind Shen Ye, extending a hard and thick cannon barrel, and fired a shot at the distant buildings.

Boom—

The entire city seemed like a mirage; after being blasted through by the cannonball, it quickly returned to its original state.

“It’s a dream; firing at it is useless.”

the Boat of Chaos said.

Shen Ye pondered for a few breaths and then said,

“Fire another shot.”

“Again?” the Boat of Chaos was a little confused by his meaning.

“Hmm, full power.”

“Alright.”

The Boat of Chaos fired a second shot.

The cannonball flew out, pierced through the tall buildings, drilled into the earth, and directly caused a massive earthquake.

Rumble Rumble Rumble—

The entire world was blasted through by this one cannonball, completely collapsing.

As the third-ranked truth creation, its power was undeniable.

The second layer of the dream, shattered!

Darkness surrounded them.

Shen Ye took a step forward, directly entering a white light.

A line of faint text appeared:

“Entered the third layer of the dream.”

He’s in!

“How strange, why could the second cannonball hit the dream?” the Boat of Chaos asked.

“Because I added something extra to your cannonball,” Shen Ye said.

Lines of faint small print appeared before his eyes:

“You used the term ‘Mandala Uroboros’ to absorb the dream elements of the second dream layer.”

“With the ‘Mandala Incantations,’ you integrated the cannonball of the Boat of Chaos into the dream elements, turning it into a part of the dream and returning it.”

A physical object cannot pierce a dream.

But if the cannonball had already been transformed by Shen Ye—

If the “cannonball that could destroy the entire world” was also a part of the dream, what would be the result?

The answer was already before their eyes.

“Shall I continue firing?”

the Boat of Chaos asked excitedly.

Just as Shen Ye was about to speak, a voice suddenly rang out:

“Stop!”

A stout man with colorful wings on his back descended, saying urgently,

“Why do you indulge your subordinates in wantonly destroying the dream world!”

“But I need to break through the dream’s blockade, how can I escape the dream world without destroying it?” Shen Ye asked somewhat guiltily.

—Destroying a world wasn’t difficult for the Boat of Chaos.

But this method was more provocative and more annoying to the other party than his actions in the first layer of the dream.

The fat man’s expression became serious, and he said,

“In short, you are not allowed to destroy the dream world—if you do it again, your qualification will be permanently revoked, and you will never again obtain permission from the dream world.”

“Okay, understood, it won’t happen again,” Shen Ye said with a fawning smile.

“Then hand over your subordinate.”

“Hmm?”

“Yes, you have caused enormous damage to the dream world. You must leave the destroyer here for us to punish.”

Shen Ye paused for a moment, gently placed his hand on the hilt of his saber, and with a smile still on his face, said,

“Can I really not destroy the dream world?”

“Such are the rules,” the other party said.

“But I didn’t receive any warning or explanation regarding this, so it’s your problem, not mine, and certainly not my subordinates’,” Shen Ye said.

“Now you know—stop talking nonsense, if you don’t hand over your subordinate to take the blame, your qualification will be revoked immediately.”

As the dream creature spoke, it suddenly saw a blur before its eyes.

—It was too late to react.

With a ‘clang,’ the long saber returned to its sheath.

Looking at the young man again.

He stood in place, as if he had done something, yet as if he had done nothing at all.

But the surroundings had changed.

The two stood on a deserted long street.

All around were tall buildings, a long line of stalled cars, and streets devoid of any light.

—This was Earth.

The second layer of the dream had been restored!

The colorful-winged fat man was stunned.

Shen Ye spoke, “The second dream layer is perfectly intact—my subordinate caused no damage, so you don’t need to capture it, do you?”

Faint small words quietly appeared in the void, displaying the aforementioned saber strike:

“Your saber transformed the act of ‘destroying the second dream layer’ into a ‘dream,’ and caused this ‘dream’ to vanish into smoke.”

“Thus, everything is restored.”

—The second layer of the dream was restored unchanged!

Not to mention the colorful-winged fat man opposite, even Charlotte, Scent, Seventh Uncle, and the Boat of Chaos were stunned by this miracle-like saber technique.

“Cosmic Art?” Seventh Uncle asked.

“No, this is just a casual slash from him. Now he performs three arts with his saber technique, and it’s extremely effortless and natural,” Charlotte said.

“Mainly, he dares to think—damn it, what kind of brain does he have?” the Boat of Chaos muttered.

“Quietly, watch him fight more, learn from him.”

Scent said solemnly.

“I agree,” Seventh Uncle said.

Charlotte didn’t speak again, but let out a soft laugh.

Three thousand years—

Shen Ye had pushed the three arts to their limits, even surpassing them, achieving an unprecedented saber technique.

This was something she hadn’t even dared to imagine before.

Perhaps…

This was also his hope?

While the few whispered, new changes occurred in the field.

The colorful-winged fat man looked deeply at Shen Ye and said,

“You are too cunning.”

“Unbeknownst to me, I destroyed a dream, but compensated you with another. Is that called cunning?” Shen Ye asked, bewildered.

“You are not allowed to destroy the dream again.”

After saying this, the colorful-winged fat man’s figure merged into the void and disappeared.

In the darkness.

Only Shen Ye stood alone.

He looked at the surrounding scene, remained silent for a long time, and then suddenly asked,

“Scent, have you ever parasitized a dream?”

“No,” Scent’s eyes lit up, “can you also transform me into a dream-type creation? I haven’t played in a dream-type world yet.”

“Come,” Shen Ye said.

He swung his long saber, lightly drawing an incision in the void.

Scent immediately jumped out of her true form, submerged into the incision, and disappeared.

The next second.

The incision gradually reverted to invisible void.

Everything returned to normal.

“Is it going to work? We’ve never dealt with the myriad worlds before, isn’t this a bit hasty?”

the Boat of Chaos asked nervously.

“Charlotte told me that the True World is actually not worse than other worlds in the myriad worlds,” Shen Ye said.

“Is that true? Does that mean we’re also pretty powerful?” Seventh Uncle asked.

“Shen Ye is right, but our True World has a huge problem,” Charlotte said.

“What problem?”

“We don’t have a Void Saint—without a Saint, the world isn’t strong enough. Once the barrier is broken, we can only be slaughtered,” Charlotte said.

At this moment, Scent had gone to try and manipulate the dream, so the others simply stood there chatting.

Shen Ye was about to continue asking about the True World.

Suddenly.

The Earth world, transformed by the dream, vanished without a trace.

—The world was gone!

Shen Ye floated alone in the dark void, with nothing around him.

“What’s going on?”

He was a little confused.

“You’ve been kicked out—they’ve ended your test,” Charlotte said.

“Why?” the Boat of Chaos cried out in surprise.

“Could it be that they saw Shen Ye let the Parasite Empress go just now?” Seventh Uncle asked.

“No, I had a dream just now, it shouldn’t be so easy for them to see through it—they can’t see Scent either,” Shen Ye said.

—Then why did I get kicked out?

The few of them were somewhat puzzled.

In the void.

A female voice quietly sounded:

“I can’t hold open the entrance for long, hurry in.”

It was Scent!

Fortunately, she had been transformed into a dream-type creation and placed into the dream!

She was the Parasite Empress.

At this moment, she was able to slightly control the dream world.

Shen Ye immediately darted into the opening.

Once inside.

He landed in a long pipe.

Misty grayness surrounded him.

“What is this place?”

Shen Ye asked.

“The back of a dream—it has a perfect set of operating rules.” Scent’s expression was somewhat solemn.

Shen Ye noticed something was off and asked:

“You look a little tense, have you discovered something?”

“My element is ‘parasitism’. Once I successfully parasitize, I gain a lot of information about the host, and even control everything about the host,” Scent said.

“Yes, I know that much,” Shen Ye nodded.

Among the “Five Desires Lock” and “Six Senses Barrier” of that saber strike, some “parasitism” elements were at play.

“Look at that fog, it’s almost impossible to suppress anymore.”

Scent said.

Shen Ye looked around.

Gray mist permeated the entire metal pipe.

It moved slowly, silently, as if it didn’t exist.

Didn’t exist…

Shen Ye felt a sudden inexplicable tension and asked,

“Is there anything special about this fog?”

“It doesn’t belong to the dream world—I can feel the ‘body’ of the entire dream world, but this fog is a different kind of rule, a different unknown thing,” Scent said.

Charlotte’s voice suddenly rang out:

“Scent, enter Shen Ye’s Dharma form, then we leave immediately.”

“Why?” Shen Ye asked.

“A pure world of rules would never allow other rules to spread so wantonly.”

“—I suspect the dream world is being invaded by something.”

Charlotte said.

Among them, only Charlotte had roamed the Myriad Worlds.

Her insight and perspective were crucial.

“A war between two worlds?” Shen Ye pondered, “I also don’t want to get involved in this kind of conflict, but what’s so special about that fog?”

“Not sure, we need to take a closer look,” Charlotte said.

She suddenly appeared behind Shen Ye, her golden hair turning raven black, and her pupils becoming emerald green.

—The prophetic personality, Pe’aso!

“What a horrifying thing… but for us, it’s still safe for now.”

Pe’aso stared at the gray mist, casually pulled out a large shield, and threw it into the fog.

The expected sound of impact did not echo.

The shield vanished.

“What exactly is going on with this fog?” Shen Ye asked.

“Everything that enters it will ‘cease to exist’,” Pe’aso explained.

“Cease to exist? Will it never return?” Shen Ye asked.

“Not sure, that’s all we can see for now; it should be some extremely high-level rule power,” Pe’aso said.

—If that’s the case, then the dream world has indeed been invaded by another world of rules.

Then let’s make a run for it.

But—

“Can I use my saber technique without the dream world’s permission in the future?”

Shen Ye asked.

“No, once your saber technique reaches a certain height, you’ll have to invoke a large amount of dream rules.”

“And all dream rules are gathered in the dream world.”

Pe’aso said.

Shen Ye fell silent.

—He had already been kicked out of the dream world.

This was truly baffling.

And this world was also in a state of war.

The best outcome would be for him to gain permission to use dream rules, and then leave this place immediately!

Is there any way to achieve this?

Perhaps…

He still had one more chance.

“Scent, can you send me to that queue?” Shen Ye asked.

“That’s the shallowest layer of the dream world. I can do it—but they already know you, are you planning to force your way through?” Scent asked.

“No, I’ve decided to be a low-key person for now,” Shen Ye said.

His form shifted, transforming into the young Shen Ye.

—The young form facing everyone just now was the youthful body from the Death Star.

Now.

He transformed into the young man from Earth.

Not only were his facial features different, but his height and other aspects were completely different too!

“Go quickly, this world seems to be changing rapidly.”

Pe’aso urged.

“Okay—Scent, send me over,” Shen Ye said.

The void receded to both sides.

Shen Ye stepped through, taking the last position in the queue.

Ahead.

The long queue moved slowly.

This time.

Shen Ye had completely concealed his aura, even putting away his saber, making him appear remarkably unassuming.

He lowered his head, followed the queue, and slowly moved forward.

About an hour later.

It was finally his turn.

At the front of the line stood a staff member with colorful wings.

This time.

Shen Ye had neither a butterfly charm nor did he expose his mastery of dreams.

“Name?”

The staff member asked.

“Failun.”

“What are you doing in the dream world?”

“I am a summoner, and I’m mainly here to obtain permission to use dream rules.”

“A summoner? Trying to walk the path of dreams? That’s quite unique—how about this, summon something for me to see.”

“Come out! Skeleton King!”

*Pat.*

The real Failun appeared!

“This skeleton… it should be something from the death side, but you want to imbue it with the power of dreams?”

The staff member shook his head, somewhat disapprovingly.

“I am a skeleton with dreams, sir,” Failun bowed gracefully.

“What is your dream?”

“To do heroic deeds that seem dangerous but are actually completely safe.”

“What a dreaming skeleton!”

The staff member thought for a moment, then added, “A wise skeleton? In that case, it doesn’t seem impossible.”

Shen Ye exchanged a brief glance with Charlotte, then pulled out a bag and stealthily handed it to the staff member.

“Just some humble goods from the countryside, nothing special.”

He whispered.

The staff member understood, pocketed the items, and said in an official tone:

“How strong are you?”

“Very weak. I’m getting married next year and desperately need the power of dreams, otherwise no one will look at me, sir,” Shen Ye said sincerely.

So he wanted to marry a wife.

The staff member smiled, shook his head, then nodded again.

This person’s power fluctuations were barely perceptible; he was a small fry.

It’s such a small matter.

Never mind.

“There’s a battle—one that’s almost over. If you can sponsor yourself with a set of equipment, I’ll send you there to get a qualification.”

The staff member said.

“I’ll sponsor,” Shen Ye immediately said.

He directly took out another bag and handed it over.

—This bag was much heavier than the last one.

In the Myriad Worlds, a substance called “law crystal” was used as high-grade currency.

The gold handed over just now could only be considered low-grade currency.

—These were all left behind by Charlotte during her ventures in the Myriad Worlds.

At this moment, he temporarily brought them out in order to quickly obtain the qualification to use the power of dreams.

The staff member took the bag, felt its weight, and smiled.

He slowly pulled out an emblem, pinned it to Shen Ye’s chest, and said,

“I’ll send you in.”

“Remember, as long as you survive until the end of the war, you’ll automatically gain the qualification to use the power of dreams.”

“—The war will be over very soon.”

“Take it easy.”

Before the words could fall.

Shen Ye was teleported away.

The next second.

He appeared on a vast plain.

The battle was indeed nearing its end.

The ground was covered with grotesque corpses, piled up like mountains.

There were no living things around.

—Shen Ye didn’t even see anything moving.

After waiting for a few breaths.

The emblem glowed with a faint vibration.

The staff member’s voice rang out from the emblem:

“Congratulations.”

“You have obtained permission to use the power of dreams, and from now on, you can freely use this magnificent power.”

“Thank you, sir,” Shen Ye said.

He glanced at the glimmering prompt in the void.

Indeed.

He had established some kind of connection with the dream world.

“This is the gathering place for all dream rules.”

“You have obtained the world’s emblem and established a connection with it. From now on, all dream law power activated by your saber technique will be stronger!”

“This permission cannot be revoked.”

The matter was resolved with ease.

But why was it so simple!

“I don’t understand.”

Shen Ye transmitted his voice.

“Yes, he clearly showed such strong dream power, but then he got kicked out,” Seventh Uncle also sounded a bit confused.

“Sometimes mundane methods are more efficient, you should get used to that,” the Boat of Chaos said in an instructive tone.

“Wait, something’s strange here,” Scent’s voice, however, held a hint of tension.

Shen Ye looked around.

The battle seemed to be truly over.

Because there were no signs of fighting, nor any fluctuations of spells.

But strangely—

Why was he the only living person here?

“Sir, please teleport me back,” Shen Ye said again.

The staff member’s voice echoed from the emblem:

“You have obtained permission for the power of the dream world, this is a supreme honor.”

“Go ahead and die in peace.”

The voice disappeared.

A swirling mass of dark mist rose around them.

—Just like the one in that pipe.

“Attention, a large entity is rapidly approaching this way.”

Pe’aso said.

“Do we fight?” Shen Ye asked.

“Too strong! It will be very troublesome! The battle process is extremely perilous, the outcome is unclear!” Pe’aso said quickly.

“Any other information?” Shen Ye asked, hand on his saber.

“Twenty meters in front of you, there’s a secret passage. You can retreat through there—hurry!”

Scent’s voice rang out.

“Alright!”

Shen Ye charged forward instantly, pried open the ground with his saber, and drilled into the underground pipe.

As he landed, he saw a stunned person.

—This person had colorful wings on his back.

It was the staff member!

Shen Ye looked at the person and suddenly smiled.

“Sir.”

“I have now obtained the power of dreams, thanks to you.”

He swung his saber with one hand and opened a door with the other.

Boom!!!

The secret passage was blasted open by a colossal being.

However.

Shen Ye and the staff member had already disappeared.