Chapter 832: This couldn't be Little Han's doing, could it?
Originally, exploring the characteristics of the Primal Dream State and probing how far the Grand Spellbook could currently go were my primary objectives.
However, the injured Fool's Dreams at this moment caused me to change my original plan.
After sealing that dream creature, I came before one of the Fool's Dreams, half-crouching down and looking at this somewhat uneasy Fool's Dream.
"It won't hurt. Let me see the wound."
"Um... mhm, but the wound has already healed."
"Is that so?"
I took the Fool's Dream's small hand and saw that the place on her shoulder where the clothing had been slit, where she was injured by the dream creature, had indeed already healed.
This was very common in the Primal Dream State, but it didn't mean this Fool's Dream was fine.
She already had the Nightmare "curse" inside her body.
According to the Village Chief, this curse would continuously worsen with the passage of time.
However, I could perceive the aura of the "Nightmare" on this Fool's Dream through Heart Sense.
Because a Nightmare, understood through the perception of my Heart Sense, was a gathering of negative emotions that did not dissipate, constantly emitting a "black fog."
When this perception performed "synesthesia" with the five senses, my vision could also see this black fog, like drifting mist, lingering around the Fool's Dream's shoulder.
This was a Nightmare, a unique and inseparable part of a dream creature.
One point the Village Chief said seemed incorrect: Nightmares did not grow stronger with the passage of time, but rather through the accumulation of negative concepts.
A Nightmare carried many memories and cognitions, as well as intense emotions.
Back when I was in Ninglan New City, the Academy Head and I used the driving force of the Script to split the Nightmare.
But clearly, I couldn't achieve that level right now.
Could it be that Nightmares can only be split through that method?
It didn't seem so... at least, that's what I felt.
I stripped the Nightmare from within this Fool's Dream through Time Sense.
Black mist swirled around my fingertips; this was just me using Time Sense to "take" the Nightmare from the Fool's Dream's body via dream information backflow.
However, this didn't mean the relationship between the Fool's Dream and the Nightmare was severed.
It was like before when the Fool's Dream and the Nightmare were separated by the Academy Head using her power; the Nightmare was placed within the Script, forcibly bound to the Children of Destiny via a plot kill, while the Fool's Dream was placed outside the Script, eliminating the Nightmare through this trick.
That was not severing, but elimination.
Judging by the fact that the Academy Head used this method to resolve the Nightmare, it was sufficient to see that even the Academy Head had no good way to sever the connection between the two.
So... what about me?
Could I do it?
I wasn't sure either, but... I seemed to have already accomplished many things that even the Academy Head had once failed to do.
"Is... is it fixed?"
The Fool's Dream looked in shock as I took the Nightmare away from her body, still somewhat unable to believe it.
"No, I've only taken it off. Afterward, you will be like other Fool's Dreams and won't harm others, but this Nightmare will always follow you. And as the Nightmare grows, it will eventually seek you out again one day."
I shook my head and spoke.
Even if I used means to seal it, it would have no effect; it would still be there.
"Then... what should be done?"
"What should be done is a matter for the Sage to contemplate."
I rubbed the Fool's Dream's head and said with a smile: "Fool's Dreams just need to be happy. For now, you don't need to worry too much about the Nightmare, and you can temporarily return to your former life."
"Really?"
"Mhm. But... if something goes wrong with the Nightmare, I'll need you to come back at any time."
I looked at the preliminarily formed Nightmare in my hand.
I was very curious: what exactly was this?
Why did it have such a deep correlation with "Dream Consciousness"?
However, I also knew that for these injured Fool's Dreams, this method was only treating the symptoms and not the root cause.
I needed to find a way to completely cut the correlation between them.
And before that... I needed to figure out what a Nightmare actually was.
"Actually, it would be fine even if the Sage asked me to cooperate with the experiment."
"You don't want to return to the kind of days you had before?"
I looked at the Fool's Dream who spoke those words and inquired with curiosity.
"I do... but I want even more for my other sisters to no longer suffer from the Nightmare's curse!"
The Fool's Dream displayed a very serious expression as she spoke to me.
"So... Sage! Please use me as you wish! Whether for experiments or anything else, as long as..."
"Actually, you don't need to go to this extent."
I reached out and rubbed the Fool's Dream's head.
I found that I really liked doing this because it was truly comfortable and enjoyable.
"Also you should call me Big Sis Xiao Han."
"Um... understood, Big Sis Xiao Han."
After comforting this Fool's Dream, I also went to the side of the other few Fool's Dreams in passing.
Regardless of everything, I would strip the Nightmares from the Fool's Dreams through Time Sense first.
Then I would slowly study its characteristics.
Time passed bit by bit.
I also continuously attempted to understand what a Nightmare actually was through various means.
The means included but were not limited to Spirit Vision, the Great Tree of Knowledge, and so on; these were all means used for interpreting information.
The means for "decomposing" the Nightmare were the Time Sense prototype and the Space Sense prototype.
The perception for distinguishing the extreme emotions within the Nightmare was Heart Sense.
The reason I was so curious about the concept of Nightmares was because I discovered that the characteristics of Nightmares were somewhat similar to... soul-substance.
But if a Nightmare was dream-state soul-substance... then wouldn't that mean dream creatures were lives within the dream?
That didn't seem possible no matter how I looked at it.
Furthermore, I used the Great Wisdom Enlightenment Spell to attempt to use Soul Depiction on the Nightmare.
Although using this technique by borrowing the "Sacred Object" was a bit difficult, it could still be used for verification.
And the final result was somewhat beyond my expectations!
It seemed it could become the "raw material" for Soul Depiction, but this raw material could not sublimate into a soul under the effect of the Soul Depiction technique.
So this was very contradictory.
I couldn't exactly say it was both soul-substance and not soul-substance, could I?
So I made a bold guess: Nightmares might be dream-state soul-substance, but not pure soul-substance.
After all, my Heart Sense told me that there were too many extreme emotional concepts within the Nightmare.
Moreover... combining the fact that dream creatures really liked to eat soul-substance from reality, what did the soul-substance they ate become?
I seemed to have never cared about this point.
Back then, I even used the Mimetic Soul technique to perform reality concept shaping for dream creatures...
Past experiments and experimental data were continuously replayed within the Great Tree of Knowledge, constantly corroborating my conjecture.
And all of this allowed me to arrive at a very important conjecture.
That was... the concept of soul-substance seemed capable of crossing reality and dreams!
And the soul was the bridge for communicating between reality and dreams, and it was sublimated from soul-substance...
Even if I had no evidence to prove my conjecture right now, I only needed a conjecture to be sufficient.
Then I would rely on this conjecture to verify it.
And those things like emotions, memories, and cognitions—those things contained within the Nightmare—were all information.
What was the information?
In reality, information was a type of data that described anything recognizable or unrecognizable; it covered any form of data, knowledge, memory, information, and concept...
But in a dream, it was no longer a description, but an "existence" concept with characteristics similar to physical matter in reality.
Information could be said to be the best "destination" within a dream.
So now... the concepts within the dream could be broken down.
"Dream Consciousness," "Dream-state Soul-substance," and "Information."
These three constituted the entirety of the Primal Dream State's ecology that I could currently recognize.
As for what lay in fields I could not recognize, that was not something I should be concerned about.
It was just as a person in the real world has no relation to unrecognizable "dark matter."
I set aside the matters at hand.
Regarding the preliminary exploration and the proposal of conjectures about the Primal Dream State, I had reached the limit for now.
Speaking of which, how long had I been in the Primal Dream State?
I walked out of my small house.
Looking at everything that seemed so unreal yet was "truly" perceived by me, I couldn't help but sigh a little.
The Fool's Dreams behind me followed me, watching silently like that, not daring to make any sound.
Even though they were also very curious about what had happened to the Sage.
At this moment, I wasn't just sighing.
While sighing, I was also perceiving my anchoring to reality and attempting to see if I could actually return.
And... after returning, would I be able to come back again?
To be honest, I still cared a lot about this Fool's Village dream, and I didn't want to fail their expectations like that.
If someone was to be blamed, then blame the promise I gave on a whim back then.
This was a unique opportunity, perhaps even impossible to replicate.
I didn't care if the "me" in reality would die just like that.
Setting aside my physical strength and the body circulation of Body Cultivation, I wouldn't die even if I starved for many days.
What was important was always my life essence.
Possessing the Reincarnation Spell, as long as I returned to reality, I could be resurrected again.
It was just that right now, I could feel that my anchoring to reality was becoming weaker and weaker.
If this continued, with my consciousness immersed in such a deep layer of the Primal Dream State, unpredictable accidents might occur.
And another point that made me uneasy was... if my consciousness lost its correlation with the Sacred Object, it would be even more lethal.
After all, I initially used the Great Tree of Knowledge as the anchor for my consciousness to enter the Primal Dream State.
The Great Tree of Knowledge was used for organizing memories to prevent the Primal Dream State from assimilating my cognition.
And the Tree of Wisdom's Enlightenment was the connection with the "Dual-Tree Structure" of the Great Tree of Knowledge, ultimately allowing me to integrate into the world of dreams.
So this relationship was truly a bit like walking a tightrope; if one wasn't careful and a certain connection was severed... it would be lethal.
The Primal Dream State wouldn't joke with me!
However... I could use this relationship to lead my soul essence into the Primal Dream State.
In that case, only my body would remain in reality.
After all, currently only my consciousness was submerged in the Primal Dream State, which resulted in many things I couldn't do.
And consciousness was a very fragile type of cognition.
According to the relationship between consciousness and the soul, the two were an inseparable unified concept.
My current state was more like dreaming rather than truly entering the Primal Dream State using the soul as a bridge.
It was just that my consciousness had dived too deep into the dream, and with the anchoring of the Tree of Wisdom's Enlightenment, I had entered the deep-level Primal Dream State of Fool's Village.
So... now there were two things I needed to do.
One was to lead my soul into Fool's Village in the depths of the Primal Dream State, and the other was to deepen the anchoring between the Tree of Wisdom's Enlightenment and Fool's Village.
As for why it was anchoring with Fool's Village instead of me, that was because I needed an anchor that would allow me to return to Fool's Village again.
Even if, heaven forbid, I left Fool's Village for some reason, with this anchor in the Primal Dream State, I could find Fool's Village again.
So I left my small house and went to the Starlight Tower to find the Village Chief.
And I told her my requirements.
Of these two points, one was to establish a stable "road sign" to Fool's Village, and the other increased my abilities.
After all, my soul had embarked upon the Great Project of the Soul!
With the Soul Dream State as my trump card, even if I encountered any danger, I could hide inside and avoid it.
Furthermore, with my soul essence, my five senses Body Cultivation, mental power, and all other means would no longer be the habitual cognition of consciousness.
This could help me better study the Primal Dream State, as well as... the relationship between the Fool's Dreams and Nightmares.
"Sage Xiao Han... I naturally have no right to interfere with your decision. Since you are willing to sacrifice so much for us Fool's Dreams, I will support you no matter what."
"Thank you for being able to understand my intent... however, this is ultimately just an attempt, and there is a possibility of failure. What the final result will become, or even exposing Fool's Village to the Primal Dream State again... these are all possible."
"But I still support your decision. When you told me that you accepted those Heroes who left Fool's Village, I had no more worries. Because... that will be the hope of our Fool's Dream race. The reason we stand guard over Fool's Village is because this is our only hope. but since you redeemed those Fool's Dream Heroes and let them live in reality, then the mission to become true lives will also be completed by them... I truly hope they can live happily in reality......"
"They will. You all will also be able to come to reality one day and live the life you want."
As I finished speaking, I silently closed my eyes, and a phantom of a giant tree gradually manifested behind me.
Real world.
Accompanying a silent tremor in the Expansion Realm.
Located in the area where dreams overlapped in the Expansion Realm, it abruptly crossed the boundary between reality and dreams.
Deep in the Primal Dream State, it was as if something was about to burst through that boundary, causing ripples of dreams to undulate circle by circle within the real world.
And the starting point of everything... was located in the area beneath the world rift of the Expansion Realm.
There was a figure floating in the air there.
Two massive golden trees seemed to use that figure as the origin, countless branches blooming above and below.
An infinite cross-section perpendicular to the two trees seemed to divide reality and dreams......
Such a violent commotion echoed in the Expansion Realm, instantly startling and drawing the attention of all the high-level personnel of the Transcendent academies.
And at this moment, in Mei Linde's office.
"What's the situation? This is an echo of dream fluctuations coming from the Expansion Realm?!"
Mei Linde sighed after her initial surprise.
Until the next moment, a part of the Destiny Gazing instrument in her hand slipped from her grasp.
"Wait! **! It's Little Han! This couldn't be Little Han's doing, could it?!"
Mei Linde instantly thought of the dream life experiment Little Han was going to conduct in the Expansion Realm.
Isn't this a bit too much of a coincidence?
The more she recalled the details, the more she felt it was possible.
She didn't even care about the things in her hands and headed straight for the Expansion Realm where this anomaly was occurring.
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