"Wait! This is just a dream, and I'm not really Wu Shuai — what is there to be angry about?" The dragon person clone abruptly came to his senses, waking with a start.
He blinked and subconsciously touched his forehead.
Unfortunately, he didn't feel cold sweat — instead, his fingers met a pair of warm coral dragon horns.
That only deepened the chill in his heart!
"Brother, what should we do now?" the informing dragon person Gu Immortal asked again.
Fang Yuan glanced at him.
This dragon person Gu Immortal still bore faint traces of his younger self — it was none other than Huang Wei. He had once competed with Wu Shuai for the position of Green Ant Recluse's disciple, but had failed.
That said, the man possessed both talent and aptitude. Moreover, the dragon person race governed themselves well, their internal unity tighter than even that of humans, with very few instances of infighting. As a result, talent within the clan was rarely wasted — geniuses like Huang Wei received especially dedicated cultivation.
Playing the role of Wu Shuai, Fang Yuan had been well aware of his abilities, so he deliberately cultivated a friendship. By a stroke of fortune he saved Huang Wei's life, and the two ultimately became sworn brothers.
Several dream sequences had already passed, spanning great stretches of time. Within this dream, Fang Yuan had already ascended to the rank of Gu Immortal.
Fang Yuan considered for a moment, then gave a cold snort: "If you can't stomach the small things, you'll ruin the grand design. We'll do the same as before — pretend we don't know."
This Shu Jiuling had once carried Fan Ji's child, only to be abandoned by him. In a fit of spite, she publicly announced a marriage contest.
Wu Shuai, obeying his father's orders, sought to curry favor with the Central Continent's Eighth Transformation wandering immortal Pavilion Master Shu Dao, and thus became Shu Jiuling's husband.
Honestly, Wu Shuai's advancement to Gu Immortal owed much to Pavilion Master Shu Dao's assistance — she had provided vast resources.
But Shu Jiuling was a woman consumed by love. Even after giving birth to her son, she never stopped thinking of Fan Ji.
After some time, Fan Ji too began to recall Shu Jiuling's virtues and made advances toward her.
Shu Jiuling couldn't resist, and resumed contact with Fan Ji — their ties growing ever closer, until it became an open secret.
Wu Shuai's success in the marriage contest had already made him a laughingstock among Central Continent's Gu Immortals, and this only made it worse.
If it were an ordinary Gu Immortal, someone meek of temperament, it might have been tolerable. But Wu Shuai was a valiant and brilliant figure of extraordinary talent — for a man like that to endure such humiliation was no easy thing.
"The deeper one's cultivation, the easier it seems to fall into the dream."
"After staying in this dream so long, I've nearly come to believe I truly am Wu Shuai."
"Perhaps... this is the true purpose of the Dragon Palace's trial?"
A flash of insight suddenly struck Fang Yuan's clone, and he realized the truth.
This dream, serving as the trial for the Dragon Palace's successor, did not merely test the successor's character — because choices made within a dream could be faked, going against one's true nature.
The dream was not just a trial; it was also a means of forging the successor.
Even if someone didn't quite meet the standard, as long as they passed through the dream and underwent its long chain of modifications, the Gu Immortal who emerged would surely detest Heavenly Court, favor the dragon person race, and — like Wu Shuai — take the revival of the dragon people as their personal mission!
"Those four Eastern Sea Eighth Transformation immortals before — they very likely explored this dream as well, but none succeeded. Yet in the process, their hearts and minds were altered, turning them into Dragon Generals!"
"What do I do?"
"I'm already starting to sink in — it's not easy to pull myself out."
"If I keep exploring, it'll only get worse! If I fail, I'll probably become a Dragon General. And if I succeed, I'll have accepted the transformation and become master of the Dragon Palace — and who knows, even my original self might be relegated to secondary status, consumed by the drive to revive the dragon people!"
The more Fang Yuan's clone thought about it, the colder his heart became.
Whether he succeeded or failed, neither outcome was one he wanted!
What was even more terrifying was that even if he wanted to withdraw, he couldn't — his original self was still unaware of the situation, and no message could be transmitted from within the dream.
"I've actually been played by the Dragon Palace — this Immortal Gu House!" Realizing this, Fang Yuan's clone didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
He suddenly thought of his previous life: "Wait — why was Bai Ningbing able to control the Dragon Palace and become its master in my previous life?"
This was a secret Fang Yuan had never been able to deduce.
"In my previous life, the Dragon Palace was forcibly seized by Lord Dragon. Lord Dragon never passed the dream trial. Yet later, it somehow became Bai Ningbing's possession. This proves that Lord Dragon never truly subdued the Dragon Palace — he only suppressed it by force."
"But even if he suppressed it by force, wouldn't Lord Dragon have realized? If he did know, why place the Dragon Palace in the Dragon Vault rather than storing it more securely deep within Heavenly Court?"
"The Dragon Palace is a Slave Path Immortal Gu House. According to the great battle of my previous life, Di Zangsheng also participated — very likely enslaved by the Dragon Palace. So Lord Dragon intended to use the Dragon Palace to subdue Di Zangsheng?"
"In the end, the Dragon Palace did subdue Di Zangsheng, but it betrayed Heavenly Court..."
"Bai Ningbing shouldn't have had time to explore the dream. Even if she had, where would she have found the ability to explore a dream like this?"
"Though it's also possible that the dream was taken away by Heavenly Court, and Bai Ningbing simply got lucky?"
The dragon person clone shook his head — thinking about all this had made his head feel three sizes larger.
There was too little information here; he couldn't reconstruct the truth.
"All I can do now is stall for time and wait for my original self to sense something is wrong and come to my rescue." The dragon person clone had no idea of the situation outside — Fang Yuan's original self had already entered a fierce battle with Lord Dragon.
Based on his current situation, if he actively explored the dream, he would certainly be transformed by it, sinking deeper until he couldn't extract himself.
If he failed, he would become a Dragon General. If he succeeded, he would become master of the Dragon Palace — but he would betray his original self, his temperament, values, and life goals all undergoing drastic change.
Either way, neither was what he wanted.
Primordial Daytime.
Qi Path Battlefield.
BOOM!
A tremendous explosion erupted, setting off boundless waves of air.
The waves of qi rolled and surged, filling sky and earth. Pine Crane Pavilion bobbed up and down like a paper boat caught in a tsunami, as though it might fall apart at any moment.
Inside, Fang Zheng felt dizzy and disoriented, his face deathly pale without a trace of color.
"I'm already a Gu Immortal, but here I don't even qualify to spectate! If Lord Dragon weren't protecting me, my bones would have turned to dust long ago."