"When did it vanish? I didn't notice a thing?"
Crack! Crack!
It was at that moment that the fountain began crumbling even faster. Countless bricks, stones, soil, flowers, and grass all seemed to break apart into tiny particles before violently reassembling into a twisted humanoid figure.
This twisted figure continuously absorbed the architectural layout of the entire garden, growing increasingly solid. By the end, it had transformed into a woman holding a black parasol.
"I heard from the owl that you've been looking for me?"
The woman was dressed in black, her back turned to Leylin. The broad canopy of the parasol concealed her upper body, allowing Leylin only a glimpse of her black dress and crystal shoes.
Her voice was extraordinarily pleasant, brimming with a mellow quality that made one involuntarily lose themselves in it.
"Looking for me? Could you be Mrs. Minaz? That's right — I want to know how to freely enter and exit the Dream World!"
A layer of pitch-black Comorin snake scales materialized directly across Leylin's body, and even his eyes had shifted into amber slit pupils. After all, the manner of Mrs. Minaz's appearance was far too eerie.
She seemed as though she were the very incarnation of the garden from moments ago.
And after transforming into Mrs. Minaz, the original garden had been reduced to a barren wasteland — the very concept of ground itself had ceased to exist.
"The Dream World! It's far too bizarre. If I don't have absolute certainty next time, I absolutely cannot set foot in this place again..."
A trace of irritation stirred in Leylin's heart. He loathed uncontrollable variables and worlds above all else.
Or rather — all Wizards probably felt the same way about the Dream World.
Due to its fundamental irregularity, nearly all of their previously reliable methods had been rendered useless. Of course, there were some who claimed this was simply because they had yet to discover the absolute rules of the Dream World.
Once those absolute rules were found, the Dream World could be easily dissected and analyzed. Perhaps the
"Yes! That owl! It's the best at causing trouble for people!"
The woman with the black parasol turned around.
Lei Lin stumbled back several steps. Mrs. Minaz's true form was far beyond what he had anticipated — a twisted face with no eyes, the nose and mouth grotesquely displaced, like something out of an abstract painting.
Across her upper body, a dense constellation of eyes materialized in eerie fashion, each one filled with lifeless, lusterless pupils, coldly sizing up Lei Lin.
"Thousand-eyed Woman! In the legends, her gaze alone is enough to plunge a Wizard into eternal damnation..." Lei Lin cried out as the massive phantom of the Komoin Snake Emperor materialized behind him.
"Are you afraid? Why?" The Thousand-eyed Woman's voice had undergone a drastic change — from its earlier softness to a mechanical coldness tinged with absolute indifference.
The eyes covering her upper body suddenly erupted with a blinding radiance.
A deluge of light instantly blanketed the entire area. Compared to this, the so-called
The searing intensity of the light even brought a stinging pain to Lei Lin's eyes — a sensation he hadn't felt in a long time.
He clapped his hands over his eyes, and when he finally opened them again, he froze in stunned bewilderment.
Surrounding him was a dim, shadowy forest. The One-eyed Tree Man from before had vanished entirely. Beneath him, the Earth Lizard still shifted and undulated in uneven rhythms.
"This scene... this is from when I first entered the Dream Forest and ordered the Chip to analyze it..."
Lei Lin's pupils contracted as he caught sight of the Chip's other records.
But what filled him with disappointment — even dread — was that after he had issued the task of investigating the Devil White Phosphorus Snake's method of traversing the Dream World, the Chip's records fell into a blank void.
"Why is it like this?"
[Warning! Irresistible interference detected! Recording function abnormal!] The Chip's mechanical voice drained all color from Lei Lin's face.
Then he saw the Chip's latest record: [Warning! Analysis of the Devil White Phosphorus Snake's Dream World traversal ability complete. Free entry and exit to the Dream World is possible through consumption of Bloodline Marks! Current host possesses insufficient bloodline! Bloodline Mark cannot be refined!]
"That's impossible — didn't you say it would still take a considerable amount of time?"
Lei Lin's eyes darkened with deep suspicion. "I'm afraid... everything that happened before was real! And this ability to enter and exit the Dream World wasn't developed by the Chip at all — it was given to me by the Thousand-eyed Woman, Mrs. Minaz..."
"
In the Dream World, even the concept of time was distorted. The sheer horror of that realization sent a chill of aftertaste fear coursing through him.
The several dangers he had encountered before that were related to the power of dreams were nothing compared to this type involving time and space.
Not just the current him — even a seventh-level existence bound by rules would likely be at a complete loss when confronted with the most illogical situation of the Dream World.
"The power of dreams, the force that distorts time and space… This is far beyond the realm I can reach right now…"
Lei Lin sighed.
"What's wrong? Once we pass through the Dream Forest, we'll reach the White River Valley, and beyond that lies the Serpent Plain — only a month's journey from the
Belinda slowed her pace and came up alongside Lei Lin, a hint of concern flickering in her eyes.
"It's nothing! Just a bit distracted!"
Lei Lin shook his head with a faint smile.
"The Dream Territory isn't as bizarre as the Dream World, but the abundant dream energy can still pull wizards unconsciously into illusions. And then there are the even more terrifying Nightmare Creatures… Of course, for those of us who are hybrids with the Devil White Phosphor Snake bloodline, it isn't that big of a problem… After all, we've already signed the contract and carry the protection of our bloodline…"
Belinda explained.
"In the previous timeline, it wasn't like this at all!" Lei Lin grumbled inwardly, but said nothing aloud.
After all, anything involving the confusion of time and space was simply too terrifying.
Unlike the harrowing experience last time, this journey had gone remarkably smoothly. No clowns or treant-like creatures had appeared to cause trouble along the way, and the Nightmare Creatures seemed to have faithfully honored the contract, leaving Lei Lin and his companions undisturbed.
The dark red mist gradually thinned, and the pitch-black forest grew sparser, with occasional streams of clear moonlight filtering through the canopy.
Whoosh! The sound of rushing water was continuous, and the earth lizard grew visibly excited, its running speed picking up even further.
Before long, a vast river appeared before Lei Lin's eyes. The earth lizard let out a cheerful cry and flopped down at the riverbank, its thick, bristle-covered tongue repeatedly lapping at the water.
"We've arrived! The White Serpent River!" Belinda's voice carried a hint of daze, and a sharp gleam flashed through her pupils.
Lei Lin glanced back — the black forest and the dark red mist had long since vanished without a trace.
It seemed that without a summons from Belinda or another descendant of the White Devil, there was no way to re-enter that place.
The surroundings had transformed from wilderness into a river valley landscape. Even the temperature and elemental concentrations had shifted dramatically, letting Lei Lin know that in this half-night's sprint, they had travers an enormous distance.
"The spatial instability of the Dream World, traveling through the gaps between worlds, and breaking out at a specific node to achieve an effect similar to teleportation — whoever first came up with this was simply a genius! Or perhaps… a madman!"
Lei Lin still felt a lingering sense of unease.
From a border port on the Hell Continent to here, the geographical distance likely spanned half a continent. Even with an ancient teleportation Wizard formation, a single teleportation would require staggering amounts of resources.
Yet here, aside from the initial summoning preparation, Belinda hadn't paid anything at all. In terms of sheer convenience alone, it outstripped those teleportation formations by a wide margin — assuming you ignored the other limitations and dangers.
Because the Dream Forest belonged to the Dream World, only the White Devil or other bloodline beings capable of communicating with the Dream World could discover and summon it. That in itself was an enormous limitation, and an even greater trouble lay in the dangers along the journey ahead.
The risks of the Dream World were the greatest among all alternate dimensions Lei Lin had ever encountered. What he had witnessed today might not even be the most bizarre, and within Dream territory, there was no ruling out attacks from Dream creatures — not even with a contract in place.
What was more, in the eyes of those powerful evil gods, their attacks might not even count as attacks at all. They could simply be expressions of curiosity and intimacy toward other beings.
Unfortunately, even a fifth-level being could barely withstand that kind of curiosity.
"Past the White River, there's the White Riverbank Valley — it's another settlement of the White Devil family!"
Belinda's voice grew somewhat distant, and then she glanced at Lei Lin. "At the same time, it's where my family is located!"
"Oh! Should we stop by for a visit on the way?"
Lei Lin nodded.
"No need! We'll rest up nearby, and I also intend to go 'take care of' some matters. Don't interfere!"
A resolute look surfaced on Belinda's face — the kind of resolve that only comes from having stared down life and death. It filled Lei Lin with a premonition of blood and fire, though he didn't particularly mind.
"It seems Belinda really does have quite a story with her family!"
Lei Lin watched Belinda's retreating figure and stroked his chin.
"Perfect timing — the Chip has already finished analyzing the bloodline imprint for traversing the Dream World. Might as well gather some raw materials while we're at it…"