Chapter 247: Thousand Illusions of Fleeting Life

Follower of Strength was undoubtedly the most common path in the Silver tier. As the only publicly known transcendent route, it was the easiest for ordinary transcendents to access.

It offered no miraculous abilities. Its only advantages were being tough, strong, and enduring!

However, because he had previously absorbed the Gold Grade transcendent material Dragon Blood Jade and undergone mithril activation, he boasted a powerful physique far superior to an ordinary Follower of Strength, even right after advancing.

Before Su Mu could fully adapt to the power of a Follower of Strength, another disturbance erupted within his body. The source of this unrest was the three Dream Laws!

Myriad Phenomena, Endless Demonic Sound, and Startled Soul Fall.

Through constant use over this recent period, he had long since assimilated these three Dream Laws. Now that he had advanced to Silver 1, his spirit was inevitably strengthened alongside it, causing the three laws to completely fuse at this very moment.

A crystalline blue light flickered in Su Mu's eyes. In a daze, he felt as if he had entered his own dreamscape and once again become the lofty Heavenly Emperor. He was like an eternal, blazing sun suspended in the firmament, illuminating the nine heavens!

With a mere thought, the dreamscape shifted rapidly to match his will. In the blink of an eye, it transformed into Star City, then the Imperial Capital, and even Heaven and Hell.

Every scene was so real it could pass for reality. Even the breeze flowing through the air, the warmth of the sunlight, and the chirping of cicadas in his ears were indistinguishable from the real world.

All sorts of people began to appear in the dream. Everyone he had ever seen or interacted with took the stage: Zhao Chaoyao, Yang Dongqing, Jasmine, Nangong Mengli, King Chi, Duanmu Qing... Finally, even deities like the Celestial Sovereign of Longevity and the Primal Angel materialized.

Every person and object was so profoundly real that it no longer felt like a dream, but... an entirely complete world!

An Illusion Technique world!

A look of enlightenment flashed through Su Mu's eyes. In this moment, he finally understood the new ability born from the fusion of the three Dream Laws.

The myriad mortal worlds are but fleeting shades; all worldly splendor is a dream that tugs the heart.

The shifting tides of passing years are empty void, so where can a wandering soul find peace?

The changing winds and clouds are hard to grasp, and destiny drifts like a falling leaf.

I seek but one truth to shatter the false, and smile upon the thousand illusions of a fleeting life.

Thousand Illusions of Fleeting Life!!

The effect of Thousand Illusions of Fleeting Life was remarkably simple: it constructed a complete Illusion Technique world. Everything perceived by the victim's five senses would feel absolutely real. Everything within this illusory world was controlled by the caster—even the flow of time.

The difference in the flow of time between this Illusion Technique world and the Real World depended entirely on the caster's spiritual power.

With Su Mu's current spiritual power, he could make a single instant in the outside world equate to twenty-four hours inside the Illusion Technique world.

"It seems I'm going all the way down the path of Illusion Technique." A mysterious smile curled Su Mu's lips. The manifestation of Thousand Illusions of Fleeting Life felt deeply familiar to him—it was strikingly similar to his own dreamscape.

Was it possible that his dreamscape was simply a higher-tier version of Thousand Illusions of Fleeting Life?

His curiosity regarding the true nature of his dreamscape only deepened. He believed that as his strength continued to grow, the truth behind the dream would eventually reveal itself.

"Hungry..." A weak surge of consciousness suddenly drifted into Su Mu's mind.

Su Mu was taken aback. He looked down at the shadow beneath his feet, which was rippling like water.

Bubai had awakened.

It seemed the escaping spiritual power from his breakthrough had startled it awake.

He immediately channeled his spiritual power into Bubai's body. A moment later, fully satiated, Bubai slowly rose from the shadow.

A shadow monster over ten meters tall stood hunched inside the room. Even then, tendrils of shadow still seeped out through the ceiling.

"Shrink down a bit."

Swish!

Bubai's massive frame instantly shrank to the height of a normal person. It still possessed the same gaunt, elongated physique, its long, clawed arms dangling almost to the floor. The only difference was that Bubai was finally wearing clothes.

More accurately, it wasn't clothing at all, but a thin layer of armor formed from shadows.

Su Mu's eyes flickered. He realized that Bubai's newly evolved form looked remarkably similar to Yan Moxie's Shadow Demon!

During his battle against Taoist Priest Xuanqing, Yan Moxie had nearly transformed into an armored shadow monster. Furthermore, Bubai had only gained the opportunity to evolve after consuming Yan Moxie's blood.

There had to be some kind of connection between the two.

Su Mu pondered for a moment. As he carefully mentally cataloged the Gold tier powerhouses he had encountered, he noticed a distinct pattern. A Gold Law was fundamentally different from a Silver or Bronze one.

While the Silver and Bronze tiers leaned more toward specific abilities, the names of Gold Laws were all tied to fantasy creatures!

Giant Demon, Shadow Demon, Blood Angel, Great Monster, Thunder Marsh, and so on... These were clearly different species of mythological entities.

If Bubai shared a lineage with the Shadow Demon, and Bubai was a nightmare monster from the Nightmare World, didn't that imply every Gold Law might have a corresponding prototype lurking in the Nightmare World?

Fascinating!

The mysteries of this world were only deepening.

Reeling in his thoughts, Su Mu looked up at it. "Bubai, what new abilities did you unlock with this evolution?"

Bubai's intelligence seemed to have grown, becoming increasingly human-like. It scratched its head with a shadowy claw in mild confusion, then opened its massive maw. In an instant, the ambient shadows in the room were tugged by an invisible force, gathering frantically into Bubai's mouth like wisps of thick black smoke.

They ultimately condensed into a massive Shadow Magic Orb.

Seeing this, Su Mu wasn't surprised. Since Bubai shared a lineage with the Shadow Demon, it was only natural that its newly evolved power mirrored Yan Moxie's.

Previously, Bubai's only ability had been dragging targets into the Shadow Space. Now, it had gained a direct offensive method and could actively wield the power of shadows.

"Anything else?"

Awu!

Bubai swallowed the massive Shadow Magic Orb in one gulp, then reached out a hand toward Su Mu.

Su Mu naturally accepted the invitation. The moment he grasped Bubai's hand, a layer of shadows washed over him like rippling water, completely enveloping him as if he had entered Bubai's body.

Swish!

Bubai vanished, taking Su Mu with it.

Su Mu's perspective immediately became incredibly bizarre. He was surrounded by curtains of darkness, as though he had stepped into a dimension of shadows.

He watched as Bubai traveled rapidly through this shadow dimension. When they re-emerged, they were already hiding within the shadow of a pedestrian on the street.

Su Mu's perspective grew even stranger. He felt as though he were lying flat against the ground, transformed into a two-dimensional painting observing the three-dimensional world through a picture frame.

Bubai kept moving, leaping wildly from the shadow of one pedestrian to the next. In no time at all, they had left District 13 and arrived in Star City.

"Yan Moxie's shadow leap?"

He had seen Yan Moxie use this very technique before. It was a miraculous life-saving skill, and he hadn't expected Bubai to master it as well.

This would be incredibly convenient for future travel. His dream teleportation was certainly powerful, but it came with a strict prerequisite: he had to fall asleep to enter the dreamscape first. That meant if he ever encountered a powerful enemy, he couldn't simply dream-teleport away. He couldn't exactly take a nap right in front of a hostile opponent.

With Bubai's shadow leap, he could easily use it to escape, retreating into the shadow dimension before safely slipping into his dreamscape.

Having tested Bubai's new abilities, Su Mu directed it toward the Bronze Coffin. Now that he had advanced to the Silver tier, it was time to participate in the Dragon Seeking Plan.