233 Sword Array (1/2)

Actualised Dream World.

As the foundation of an Illusionary Divine Stage dream master, Fang Yuan's dream world was very small. It was no taller than 2.6 metres and its circumference was no longer than 3.2m.

”The cultivation of the Illusionary Divine Stage is the cultivation of the actualised dream world. One day, this will become a true world!”

In the centre of the heavens and earth, Fang Yuan's true consciousness appeared, one hand pointed at the sky and the other hand pressing against the earth.

”Crash!”

Dream elemental force surged forth and flushed the borders of the actualised dream world.

With every wave, the chaos of the outside world was washed away. The actualised dream world started expanding at a slow rate.

”The journey of a dream master in the Illusionary Divine Stage is a long and arduous one. Who knows how much effort is needed to reach the Prominent Divine Stage!”

Fang Yuan sighed.

Every day after he completed his work, he would go out and arrive at an open field.

”Dream soldier master, in the beginning, his primary focus is to actualize soldiers and uses martial arts as a supplement. In the end, he will walk the path of training his soldiers to have a better understanding of the world...Truth be told, it is to start with laws regarding weapons and the likes before moving on to grasping the laws of the world! Any pathway of a dream master will ultimately reach to the same end-goal!”

”My Master's secret teachings, known as the 8 Gates Sword Array incorporate the essences of arrays and martial arts. Its prowess is unparalleled. It uses the 8 trigrams as its foundation, and is able to transform and adapt to suit the situation!”

Fang Yuan have read through Master Heartless's inheritance many times. At this time, verses of chants flashed across the bottom of his heart, and he understood all the verses completely.

He sat cross-legged and his spiritual will penetrated the emptiness. He started to gather his previously-expended dream elemental force.

When his essence, energy and magic had recovered to their peak levels, Fang Yuan stood up, and suddenly shouted, ”8 Gates Sword Array, rise!”

”Whoosh!”

Sword radiance flashed!

All kinds of blue, red and golden coloured swords converged, with multiple colours flashing. The sharpness of the blades was threatening. Suddenly, the swords fell to the ground and in the centre of the actualised dream world, 8 hazy sword shadows appeared.

Once the array appeared, the whole atmosphere within the space changed. It was as if sharp wills started to gather.

”Only the path is set at the start. Not a single divine soldier gather...this is merely beginning!”

Fang Yuan looked at the flickering sword shadows and shook his head, ”At the peak of my master's cultivation, he completed the 8 Gates Sword Array. At my current level, it is very difficult to actualize 1 divine soldier. The good thing about this array is that it does not require the 8 divine soldiers to converge. The array can be used even if it was just 1, 2 or 3 divine soldiers [1]!”

He turned his gaze towards the South with a solemn expression.

Over there, under a red cloud, a scarlet sword essence appeared to be holding up the heavens like a giant pillar. Within it, the sword's shadow was hazy.

”The true South gifts flames! This is for the fire-type sword! The easiest to gather amongst the 8 Gates Sword Array! It is the best place for me to start!”

Fang Yuan consumed Flame Jade Rice daily and as such, his fire-type energy was the most abundant. Naturally, it would aid him in his cultivation of the fire sword.

”South-leaving Fire, listen to my command, fire-type sword, gather!”

A beam of light shot from his eyes and onto the red sword pillar.

”Crash!”

Dream elemental force as vast as the sea surged forth and entered the fire-type pillar. The fire-type sword momentarily appeared as it started to actualize.

The sword was around 1 metre long and the blade was scarlet in colour with simple and mysterious markings engraved upon it. The hilt of the sword was in the shape of a fiery dragon. The whole sword appeared to be a raging flame and yet, there was a hint of green will.

The sword shadow, which was originally an illusion started to become real.

”10%?”

After a long time, with his dream elemental force depleted, Fang Yuan looked at the shadow and was pleased.

It was no easy feat to actualize a magical soldier.

What he had done so far was to create a form. He still had to slowly train.

Afterall, even if he had gathered the 8 spiritual swords and complete the array. It was a huge task to separate the array from the actualised dream world and actualise it in the real world.

The path to reach the Prominent Divine Stage was indeed long and difficult!

Every actualised sword and the dream soldier master's cultivation would bring about enormous changes. When the 8 swords are gathered, it would be enough to shock the heavens and earth, make demons and deities afraid. The array would clear the path before him.

”This 8 Gates Sword Array is split into levels according to the number of magical soldiers actualised. The most basic is the 1 sword, followed by 2 swords, when at last the 8 swords form the array, it can affect the heavens and earth, one step at a time, clearing the way forward!”

Fang Yuan stroked his chin, ”It feels like this is similar to the spiritual meridians of the Wu Zongs!”

For a Wu Zong in the Meridian Opening Realm, the spiritual meridians were gathered and split into different levels. In each level, the battle prowess of the Wu Zong was different.

”I hear that after a spiritual knight reaches the Elemental Opening Realm, the next step in his cultivation would be to link his spiritual points!”

”Other dream master pathways are roughly similar and can be split into 8 or 9 realms...”

After remembering the recently-purchased information, Fang Yuan no longer had any confusion regarding the cultivation in the Elemental Opening Realm.

For an ordinary cultivator, the main focus of cultivation was to attain the elemental force!

It was only after breaking through the Elemental Gathering Realm could a cultivator be considered extraordinary and considered to be on a path of cultivation.

This step was known as cultivation to become a Wu Zong, spiritual knight or dream master.

The second step was to reach the opening of spiritual meridians of the Wu Zongs and elemental opening points for the spiritual knights. The dream masters were different depending on the pathways taken but they all had around 9 gates to be broken through.

”The third step, which is also the last step, is to return to their roots and seek the real meaning and source of the elemental force. In the pathway of martial arts, it would be to complete the opening of the spiritual meridians and the formation of the Divine Body. The last step is not known for the spiritual knights and as for the dream master, it would be to reach the Prominent Divine Stage!

There are vast differences in power between the levels in the 9 gates of elemental opening. Furthermore, becoming a dream master is much more advantageous compared to the other 2 pathways...”

Fang Yuan looked at his stat board and realized that there were changes to it after he made the realization:

”Name: Fang Yuan

Essence: 36

Spirit: 30