CHAPTER 396: CHAPTER 357: AWARENESS

CLANG!

A silver-white bolt of lightning flashed from the dim cultivation chamber of the Master of Rainbow Fire Peak, illuminating the area and revealing numerous objects within.

Broken remnants of medicinal powders and shattered stones were scattered throughout the cultivation chamber.

These vast cultivation resources, enough to drive numerous cultivators in the outside world into a frenzy, were thus rapidly depleted by Hong Yuan.

HUMMM—

Hong Yuan slowly rose to his feet. He gently clenched his fist, and dream-like white ripples emanated from his fingers, causing space to tear open with dark fissures.

"My Dream Tao marks have now reached 30,000," Hong Yuan mused. "However, that’s still far from the minimum requirement of 300,000 marks... It’s just that I’ve exhausted all these Illusion Tao resources; I must search for more."

Hong Yuan exhaled a breath of cold air, his gaze lowered, as myriad thoughts flashed through his eyes like streams of light.

Extracting Dream Tao marks required far more Illusion Tao resources than he had imagined.

But this was to be expected. After all, his Demonic Body had, in the past, absorbed the foundational power of the Four Great Heavenly Scenic Tower Demon Realms. It had also utilized three precious Holy Artifacts and even relied on the aid of Han Jiuming’s dream, all to finally break through to 300,000 Food Tao marks.

If it hadn’t reached such a terrifying level, the Demonic Body couldn’t have so easily slain enemies of a higher cultivation stage, nor could it have crushed Cloud Rock Martial Saint so utterly and without resistance.

One should understand that Cloud Rock Martial Saint was a seventh-tier Martial Saint of the Earth Tao school, a Heavenly Talent famed throughout the Five Great Academies for his defensive capabilities!

Yet, on that day, when facing Hong Yuan’s assault backed by over 300,000 Food Tao marks, Cloud Rock Martial Saint was still killed by a single punch from Hong Yuan. He met his end without any real struggle, stunning all who witnessed it.

Compared to Food Tao, Dream Tao was even more the prevailing trend of the current era.

The potency of Dream Tao marks was definitely not much inferior to that of Food Tao marks. Even Hong Yuan’s Original Body, an Extraterrestrial Demon, couldn’t guarantee that he could steadily refine 300,000 Dream Tao marks.

This is a difficult war of attrition!

If only, as a Martial Artist, I could elevate my Dream Tao mastery to the Supreme Grandmaster Realm... Hong Yuan suddenly let out a soft sigh.

It wasn’t that he absolutely had to become a Dream Tao Saint. Rather, only by becoming a Dream Tao Saint could he continue to advance his Dream Tao mastery towards the Supreme Grandmaster Achievement.

If he were still a Martial Artist, it would be fundamentally impossible for his Dream Tao mastery to reach the Supreme Grandmaster Realm; even reaching the Grandmaster Realm would be exceedingly difficult.

This was because a Martial Artist’s body simply couldn’t bear the accumulation of too many Tao marks!

Reaching the Supreme Grandmaster Realm in a school meant one was faintly regarded as a Lord of a Tao—unique in the world, a prerequisite for achieving emperorship!

How could the mere body of a Martial Artist possibly bear such a lofty status?

"To gather resources, the most important aspects are increasing income and reducing expenditure. Let me ponder this for a moment."

Hong Yuan closed his eyes, his mind racing.

Wisdom Tao Divine Power—Seven Star Beads!

He decisively activated his Wisdom Tao Divine Power.

The next moment, the cultivation chamber suddenly darkened, resembling a pitch-black night sky.

Illusory images of brilliant stars appeared overhead, one after another, linking together to form a star region—not merely the original Big Dipper.

The starlight bathed Hong Yuan’s body, illuminating his black Taoist robe and imbuing it with Tao Rhyme.

An air of calm composure and methodical order emanated from him, reassuring to behold.

First, increasing income. I need to earn Immortal Nuance Stones. The Demonic Body can handle this, as I still have Han Jiuming’s unopened treasury, which includes, for example, the Divine Origin Marrow gifted by the Nine-tailed Crocodile Dragon.

Second, reducing expenditure. Both the Power Dao Incarnation and the Sword Dao Incarnation also require additional Illusion Tao resource points to be established.

...

Idea after idea, shimmering with the light of wisdom, sprang forth in Hong Yuan’s mind, forming a coherent plan.

After a long moment, Hong Yuan gathered his Taoist robe and slowly walked towards the Taoist Mat under the plane tree. He seated himself cross-legged and turned his attention to studying Dream Tao Divine Powers.

By leveraging the principles of the Illusion Tao, he also had some clear ideas for his Dream Tao cultivation.

For instance, he could create a virtual dream world, similar to meditative combat. Its purpose would be: ’Record an opponent’s abilities, then simulate combat scenarios against them.’

The drawback of this Divine Power was that it couldn’t guarantee that the methods an opponent displayed were their entire arsenal.

However, Hong Yuan didn’t need to fight others; he only needed to ensure that his Original Body, relying solely on Dream Tao mastery, could defeat his Power Dao Incarnation of the same cultivation realm.

For another example, he could create dream projections, achieving an effect similar to the Power Dao’s ’Beast Strength Illusion Flow.’

He could even use dream linkage to ignore distance and traverse dreams, achieving an effect akin to the Space Tao’s ’Space Travel.’

All of this required Hong Yuan himself to develop.

Whether these ingenious ideas were feasible or not, Hong Yuan didn’t know. But he understood that as a cultivator of Longevity Martial Arts, he had plenty of time to make corrections.

Time was his greatest ally!

「Power Dao Blessed Land.」

A stretch of fertile black earth where young seedlings were sprouting, grass was growing tall, and orioles were in flight.

"Transformation Tao Divine Power—Candle Dragon Transformation!"

From beneath the wide sleeves of Hong Yuan’s Taoist robe, a draconic manifestation with closed eyes drifted out.

This draconic manifestation faced the land, opening and closing its eyes, then closing and opening them, blinking repeatedly.

As it did so, time in this field began to accelerate.

The seedlings grew rapidly, swiftly reaching maturity.

At the Grandmaster Realm, one can draw analogies from their primary school of cultivation to simulate the abilities of other schools.

At the Grandmaster Realm, one possesses a profound understanding of Tao marks themselves. This allows them to freely deconstruct and utilize killing moves, and even directly harness the natural Tao marks present in the environment.