Chapter 480 - 236: Illusory Dream Celestial Crystal

Chapter 480: Chapter 236: Illusory Dream Celestial Crystal

"Agree to this condition, and I’m all yours..."

A real-life honey trap—

A pretty girl jumps in front of you, a hint of her youthful past still visible in her features, her smile radiant:

"Hey, how come you’re still as dorky as you were back in school?"

And then there’s the kind of honey trap that could break a Trisolaran—

"Hello, Teacher Luo. My name is Zhuang Yan."

Xie Yuan shook his head. ’Since it’s over, I should just let it be.’

Although it was just an illusory dream, Xie Yuan felt as if some regret had been mended, and his mind was calmer than ever before.

’The Illusory Dream Celestial Crystal... The strange transformation of this entire lake must have been caused by it.’

Xie Yuan glanced around. The entire lake-within-a-lake was now tinged with a dreamlike fluorescence. The once-murky water seemed to have become a dreamscape, and the face of every person within it showed some degree of contentment, as if their heart’s deepest desires had just become reality.

’This thing has been here for so many years, yet the Yao family never discovered it... If they had known, there’s no way they wouldn’t have taken this page of the Black Celestial Book for themselves. They certainly wouldn’t have opened this place to outsiders.’

’It’s been stable for so long, so why did something happen today?’

’It can’t be because of me again... Trouble seems to follow me wherever I go. Am I really the one causing these large-scale disturbances?’

Xie Yuan fell silent. He had a feeling that might actually be the truth.

The two petals of the Eight Trigrams Lotus in his hand grew slightly hot. Previously invisible, the two petals now materialized, a faint light flowing along their outlines as if breathing in sync with the soft, flickering glow of the Illusory Dream Celestial Crystal.

’Resonance from the Black Celestial Book...’

’The proximity of my page of the Black Celestial Book must have caused this phenomenon.’

’Then on Sword Peak... That’s right.’

Xie Yuan suddenly recalled that when he and Mu Chaoyun had first arrived on Cloud Mountain, they had both sensed the presence of the Black Celestial Book on Sword Peak.

And Li Xingtuo, who had been in seclusion on Sword Peak, had a sudden breakthrough. His sword pierced the clouds as he reached a new height in his cultivation, which prompted Wei Dong of the Sword Storage Pavilion to come and challenge him.

’In that case, Li Xingtuo’s breakthrough probably happened because the Sword Intent on Sword Peak was surging, just like this lake-within-a-lake is now. Besides, that was a complete Eight Trigrams Lotus. No wonder it could help a Grandmaster of Li Xingtuo’s caliber advance even further.’

’The pages of the Black Celestial Book must have some strange reaction to each other.’

Xie Yuan nodded slowly.

’Looks like the Sect Leader owes me one... No, I have to find a chance to let him know later. I can’t have him thinking I just snuck up here to be a freeloader on Ruyun Peak.’

As for now, Xie Yuan felt that thanks to the two petals of the Eight Trigrams Lotus, he was a special case under the Illusory Dream Celestial Crystal’s influence. He even felt an inexplicable affinity with the massive, mysterious crystal, allowing him to partially borrow its power.

At the very least, his ability to see the entire lake-within-a-lake and check on everyone else’s condition was thanks to the crystal’s power.

In fact, looking at it now, this lake-within-a-lake wasn’t that large—at least, it was nowhere near as big as the real Jianzhen Lake outside.

But when he was exploring it earlier, it had seemed endless.

’But since I have some affinity with this Illusory Dream Celestial Crystal, then...’

A bold idea suddenly occurred to Xie Yuan.

’Could I take this page of the Black Celestial Book with me?’

’If I can completely control the Illusory Dream Celestial Crystal, the Daoist, Senior Brother Qin, and the others will be freed from the Illusion Realm crisis on their own.’

’And it goes without saying how much the mysteries of the Black Celestial Book, the Cultivation Techniques that can be comprehended from it, and the boost it would give my progress would help me.’

Moreover, his cultivation had improved immensely this time. Xie Yuan felt that the Illusory Dream Celestial Crystal, with its unique properties, should be a great aid to his own training!

A flicker in his eyes, Xie Yuan looked at the enormous crystal before him and took a step forward.

In that instant, his vision blurred and the space around him seemed to shift, as if he were about to fall back into the illusory dream at any moment.

But he immediately shook his head. With the Eight Trigrams Lotus on him, now that he had woken up, he wouldn’t be involuntarily pulled into an illusion again.

He staggered over to the crystal pillar and looked up, seeing even more clearly the various runes, patterns, and even scenes constantly forming and dissipating within it. The most common among them was the Buddhist swastika symbol, shining with a brilliant golden light and imbued with a profound Buddhist intent.

The next moment, Xie Yuan squeezed his eyes shut, not daring to focus on it any longer.

He tried to reach out and touch the Illusory Dream Celestial Crystal.

When his hand touched the crystal’s surface, it wasn’t hard or warm as he had imagined. Instead, it felt like jelly, or perhaps slime. With a gentle push, his hand sank right in.

But when Xie Yuan tried to grab the crystal, the moment he exerted force, his hand passed right through it, grasping nothing.

He pulled his hand back and looked down at it, raising an eyebrow slightly.

’As my hand went in, the Eight Trigrams Lotus got extremely excited, as if it wanted to merge with the crystal. But it feels like I’m lacking some ’force’. I can see and touch this crystal, but I don’t have enough power to move it...’

Xie Yuan tried again. The Illusory Dream Celestial Crystal was tangible, yet it seemed to exist in the space between illusion and reality—real, but not completely.

He couldn’t take it.

Understanding dawned on Xie Yuan. If not for the two petals of the Eight Trigrams Lotus, he wouldn’t even have been able to touch the crystal. All he would have seen before him was an afterimage and an endless current of water.

He either had to stay here and comprehend it over a long period of painstaking effort, gradually forging a link with the Illusory Dream Celestial Crystal until he had a chance to refine it; or, if he had the complete Eight Trigrams Lotus, Xie Yuan felt he could probably use the attraction between the two pages of the Black Celestial Book to pry it loose. ’The illusion-generating Illusory Dream Celestial Crystal and the Eight Trigrams Lotus of Obscure Heavenly Secrets... it feels like they might be adjacent pages in the book, doesn’t it?’

But for now, there was no way to take it with him.