Tu Xingsun's remark left everyone in the livestream completely stunned.
Wait, did I hear that right just now?
say that Shan Hai Realm is actually an ancient cookbook?]
Um... is it just me, or did I mishear something? Did that short guy just say that Shan Hai Realm is actually an ancient cookbook?]
[(Trying hard not to laugh) (Really trying hard) No, your ears aren't playing tricks on you. I heard it the same way — that little shorty, the one Lily calls "Star Lord," really did say that].
[This humble Zerg couldn't help but let out a loud screech — oh? So the Shan Hai Realm is actually a recipe collection from Lily's human civilization? My, my, what can I even say about these demon clans... showing up on their own to be cooked? Oh dear, this is just... absolutely hilarious!]
So the demon clan's supreme sacred text is actually just a human recipe book? Spread the word! Spread it now! Turns out they're just food for humans — slams table, bursts into wild laughter!
Tsk tsk tsk, I get it now, fellow fans — the reason Lily didn't speak up earlier was to save the demon clan some face. After all, we're all races under the Dreamforge Alliance. Still, who would've thought they'd walk right into the recipe book on their own? All of this... it's for the sake of harmony in our Alliance! The demon clan really knows how to see the bigger picture — they deserve praise!
The viewers in the livestream just couldn't hold back their laughter — especially before the second round of the faction battle. Even though the drama had mostly died down by then, the arrogant attitude of some demons on the starnet had really rubbed people the wrong way.
And now?
Tsk tsk, how should we put it?
For everyone who had ever spoken up for Lily, there's only one word: satisfying!
Two words: absolutely satisfying!
Three words: unbelievably freaking satisfying!
Except... those monster clan members lurking in Lily's live broadcast room.
Of course, no matter what, we can't generalize and condemn all members of the monster clan. There were still many monster clan members who remained calm and didn't get involved in this.
In particular, Lily originally had a group of monster clan fans. During the previous Star Network war, they would be criticized for being unfaithful to their race even if they just said a few words in defense, but now they have started to speak up again.
[Well... I'm not a Dream Caster myself, but there are monster clan Dream Casters in my family. I specifically asked about it before, and I don't know much about the Monster Code. Ordinary bloodlines of the monster clan can't even get access to the monster clan's sacred book.]
Lily had no idea what kind of storm Tu Xingsun's words had stirred up in the live broadcast room and even on the Star Network.
At this moment, inside the competition area, she listened expressionlessly to the prompt sound from the Star Network system.
"Contestant Lily defeats Xiong He, a contestant from the Black Faction, earning 442 points."
"Contestant Lily defeats Husun, a contestant from the Black Faction, earning 208 points."
As the prompt sounds continued one after another, Lily shouted "Stop" to Lei Zhenzi and Tu Xingsun.
Lily estimated that each of these five monster clan members still had over a hundred points left.
She turned to James beside her, raised her eyebrows a little, and said,
"The rest is up to you."
If it weren't for James being dragged into this mess by her these monster clan members, he wouldn't have ended up in such a sorry state of being chased down.
"Huh? Sis? Leave it to me?" James looked a little stunned with his chubby face.
"You've been chased by them for so long—don't you want to fight back? I'll watch your back," Lily said, looking at him.
Her points were more than enough already. For her, the two divine lords repeatedly slaying these monster clan members was a form of revenge.
Moreover, when one of our own is bullied by others, we must always get even.
To be honest, since coming to this world, apart from the inherent common sense in her memories, all the knowledge and information about Dream Casters and various related matters have been imparted to her by James.
Not to mention, the first bucket of gold that solved Lily's urgent need back then was contributed by this little brother.
Watching James walk towards them with a smile, the few monster clan members were already exhausted. If there were no such thing as "no death" in this competition area, they would have been beaten to death by Lei Zhenzi and Tu Xingsun countless times with their sticks.
"Lily,Aren't you going too far? Killing us so many times isn't enough—are you trying to clear our points completely?!"
"We are all Dream Casters, and we will fight together on the dream battlefield in the future! We are all allies of the alliance."
The Husun monster clan member was as weak as a thread, his voice sounding extremely pitiful.
"The competition never said how many times one can be defeated. Besides, who told you to be so unlucky? You're not on the same team as us. Why don't you go complain to the live broadcast competition question committee?!" Emily stood beside Lily with her hands on her hips, looking at these monster clan members with a face full of sarcasm.
"Don't think I don't know—you're just trying to play the victim in front of the audience, aren't you? Why, when you were chasing down other Dream Casters earlier, you didn't think about how we'd all be allies of the alliance in the future?"
The little red flower on top of Emily's head was waving wildly, her small mouth chattering away, and her dark green braids fluttered in the wind. Don't think that just because she was a young Wood Clan member who had just come of age, she couldn't understand these words.
Hmph!
Lily acted as if she hadn't heard a thing, focusing on touching the red bracelet on her left hand, as if admiring some rare treasure.
After a while, James returned to Lily's side with a smile on his face, riding his flying fish.
"Sis, it's done."
Lily glanced at him. "How many points are you short?"
She had no idea if he had fought other contestants before—any loss would halve his points.
"With the over 500 I just got, I now have over 2,300 points. Still need half of that."
"Those who came after me these past few days either couldn't catch up, or I lured them around and took them down," he said, his chubby face beaming with a rather smug, punchable grin.
Even though he was still halfway short, James wasn't worried at all now.
With such a powerful big shot by his side, was this little gap really a problem? It would be sorted in no time.
"Did you know you can get points by killing alien beasts and plants?" Lily asked.
"Yeah, I know, sis."
"Take a look at the map of our competition zone. There's a vast expanse of sea, and also a polar forest. I was hunting those alien beasts in the sea earlier when I ran into that group of monster clan members."
James patted his dream-forged black-scaled flying fish—a huge, jet-black fish with shimmering dark scales, possessing powerful hunting and flying abilities.
With a thought, Lily opened the map of their competition zone. It was true that the sea in front of them occupied almost a third of the map, along with plateaus, plains, and islands.
"Most of the special supplies dropped in the past two days were also in the sea. I haven't been to other places yet."
Lily nodded. "Our points are already enough. You can continue farming points here then."
There are still three days left until the end of the competition, and it's nice to enjoy the sea view here.
Lily was standing by the coast. Looking at the trees with large unknown leaves by the shore, she turned to Emily and asked, "Emily, what kind of tree is that?"
Emily fixed her eyes on it, and the ghostly hand vine on her body stretched forward directly to roll over a leaf.
"It should be a dahlia tree. It usually grows in the sea areas of such ordinary scenic planets and absorbs seawater to grow."
Lily took the leaf and examined it carefully for a moment. The leaf was as big as a person's head, with edges like the waves by the sea. What was even more amazing was that the color of the leaf seemed to change with the light. When she tilted her hand, the leaf turned blue; when she tilted it to the other side, it turned a little yellow.
She casually threw the leaf of the dahlia tree forward. At the same time, a huge leaf with the same shape as this leaf appeared in front of everyone.
And this leaf of the dahlia tree, drifting gently, just landed inside the leaf boat.
Emily was stunned. "Lily, this is... what? Did you forge a leaf?"
The little red flower on top of her head seemed a little confused too, drooping slightly, wondering why Lily had made an enlarged version of the dahlia leaf just like that.
Lily let out a laugh. She didn't say a word, but Lei Zhenzi already understood what she was thinking.
With a flutter of his wind-and-thunder wings, Lei Zhenzi grabbed the newly created "big leaf" and casually tossed it onto the sea.
Then, they saw the "big leaf" floating directly on the water.
"This is a leaf boat," Lily said, making a "please" gesture to the others and taking the lead to walk forward.
James rode his black-scaled flying fish and swooped over with a "whoosh". Excitement sparkled in Emily's red pupils.
A leaf boat?
The audience in the live broadcast room was a bit confused. How could Lily turn a bigger leaf, which she had just copied from the dahlia leaf, into a boat?
When it comes to boats, the first thing that comes to mind is naturally spaceships. For spaceship enthusiasts, they can rattle off various models and materials of spaceships like the back of their hand.
Some well-known and company spaceships of the Wood Clan do use leaves as their logos, but there seem to be no spaceships that are purely leaf-shaped.
[Is this boat really going to be okay?]
[Just keep watching. Although I'm a bit skeptical myself, will it really not capsize into the sea?]
[Even Emily, who is from the Wood Clan, looks a bit confused. A leaf boat that even the Wood Clan has never seen—I really want to see what's going on! How on earth does it work.]
In the live broadcast screen, Lily tapped her foot lightly and leaped onto the "leaf boat". The "boat",
which looked extremely thin and light like just a huge leaf, didn't move at all and was very stable.
Emily's eyes were bright. Although the Wood Clan didn't like environments like the sea, she followed Lily's example and jumped onto the boat.
By now, there were two people on the "leaf boat", but it was still steady as a rock, without even stirring up a tiny splash.
The leaf boat had a large capacity. This oversized dahlia leaf, with its wavy edges curled up, kept the seawater from seeping in even a little.
Lily looked at James, who was riding the flying fish and leaning over the edge of the boat, and said, "Let's go. Take us to the place where you usually hunt the sea beasts."
"Sis, here I go then. I'm going to be a bit fast." James glanced at the leaf boat, unsure of its power. But out of trust in Lily, the black-scaled flying fish under him flicked its tail, spread its black wings towards the sea, and darted forward.
Immediately afterward, the huge "leaf" undulated on the sea surface. Though it seemed to be moving slowly, it kept closely behind the black-scaled flying fish.
The sea on the competition zone map was somewhat different from what Lily understood a sea to be.
It seemed that, as a competition map, it had been deliberately divided into different sea areas.
Lei Zhenzi, positioned high in the sky, could see the differences in the surrounding sea areas: on the east, there were violent winds and towering waves; on the west, the sea surface was as red as blood, eerily silent.
The sea surface to the south was extremely active. Many sea beasts even jumped out of the water, and numerous contestants were vying to hunt them for points.
James was heading for the northern sea area, where there were relatively few contestants. The sea there was not calm, but not excessively rough either. As long as one could control a sea beast, they could stay steady, and the marine resources there were particularly abundant.
Emily and Lily lay together on the leaf boat. She watched James, who was huffing and puffing as he rode the flying fish and gave commands, and the little red flower on top of her head tilted to one side. She shouted at him:
"Hey, you there, why don't you let the flying fish hunt on its own?"
James turned around at the sound. "Are you talking to me?"
Emily snapped impatiently, "Who else would I be talking to? I mean, why don't you let the flying fish hunt by itself? It must be tired with you riding on it. You could rest on the boat instead."
Dream-forged beasts created by Dream Casters all have their own consciousness. Just like Emily's ghostly hand vine—when they were in the farm's planting area, Emily would just throw the ghostly hand vine out to hunt while she spaced out on the side.
Upon hearing Emily's words, James froze on the spot.
C... Could it even be done that way?
He then thought about how Lily had anthropomorphically pummeled the monster clan members earlier, and slapped his own forehead.
"Why didn't I think of doing it like that!"
He had been on the run alone for two days, always riding the flying fish, and was reluctant to use more mental energy to forge any other dreams.
But now it was different—he had teammates! He had a boss!
James quickly rode the flying fish over, climbed onto the leaf boat, waved his hand at the black-scaled flying fish, and watched as the flying fish rose and fell on the sea surface, hunting.
Then, the system prompt for gaining competition points sounded in his ear.
He felt a little dazed.
In front of him, he saw Lily take food and water out of her backpack and hand them to him. Beside him, the Wood Clan girl's vines even spat out a big bag of snacks.
They just sat on the leaf boat, enjoying the sea breeze and eating, as if they were on vacation.
James took a bottle of water and took two sips.
As the system prompt for gaining 10 points sounded again in his ear, he suddenly realized and said,
"So this is the correct way to play the game?"
The audience in the live broadcast room fell silent.
The contestant lies down and points come naturally; they "enslave" their own forged creatures to farm points. Why does it suddenly feel like the dream-forged species are a bit pitiful?
[Maybe, perhaps, it seems that this is really a way to play this team competition? Compared to exhausting sneak attacks and battles with other contestants, this is much more enjoyable.]
[Yeah, I checked out other live broadcasts. Most contestants are basically fighting, chasing, ambushing, sneak attacking, battling... To be honest, watching non-stop fighting gets tiring.]
[A true Dream Caster knows how to make good use of competition resources...]
The leaf boat drifted on the sea, rising and falling with the waves. Looking up, one could see schools of sea beasts darting past the edge of the leaf.
"Lily, is this boat just called the leaf boat?"
Emily was sucking on mud jelly, one of the Wood Clan's favorite snacks. The rich, natural earthy flavor brought a sense of satisfaction with every slurp.
Lily leaned against the edge of the leaf boat. Amidst the boundless sea, the entire boat felt as light and delicate as the giant dahlia leaf she'd once held in her hand—weightless, adrift with no anchor.
Lily smiled at Emily, twirling a leaf in her fingers.
"You could also call it 'a single leaf boat.'"
"'A single leaf boat'?" Emily repeated the tongue-twisting name, her little red flower tilting in confusion, barely able to comprehend it.
For the Wood Clan, family starships, or those belonging to merchant guilds, companies, or farms, were always named after the most renowned alien plants—like Ghost Hand Vine, Bloodsucking Flower, and so on.
The live stream audience also puzzled over these words, which carried an especially unique cadence.
Lily brushed a strand of hair from her temple. With a flick of her palm, five ancient wine vessels appeared inside the "single leaf boat." As her hand glided over them, Emily watched as a shallow layer of liquid—juice? water?—filled each cup.
She saw Lily lift one of the strange vessels, and the two 异界 beings followed suit, lifting theirs with both hands. Emily and James hastened to mimic them. James bent his head to sniff.
"Sis, what is this? Is it wine?"
But Lily didn't answer. She held the uniquely forged cup in both hands, toasting the two beings, then James and Emily. The two beings raised their cups in return, and James and Emily copied their gesture.
Then Lily leaned against the boat's edge, as if gazing at the distant sea. She raised her cup in a silent toast to the horizon and drank it down in one gulp.
"Riding a boat as thin as a leaf, we raise gourd cups to toast each other," she murmured.
Her voice drifted on the rolling waves:
"Like mayflies clinging to heaven and earth, we are but a grain of sand in the vast ocean."
The wind carried the words, fragmentary and faint, as if the strange melody had been borne on the wind, in the waves, from the very gap between sky and sea.
For a fleeting moment, all who heard it fell still, transfixed.
Lily's live broadcast room fell into a rare silence, as if all the viewers were pondering her words that sounded like some kind of secret incantation.
After a long while, as the waves rose again, the bullet comments gradually started to scroll across the live broadcast room.
[Did you understand? What did contestant Lily mean by those words just now? My intuition tells me that it's an extremely unique rhythm, is it the language of the civilization she inherits?]
[I think I can understand the first sentence. Lily mentioned "a leaf boat", which should mean sitting on this leaf boat and raising the cups in their hands together.]
[Even though I can't quite understand it, it seems I can grasp the meaning of this strange chant.]
[I also want to lie on that leaf boat and have a taste of what's in the cup that Lily is holding.]
[I don't know why, but I feel a little sad. It's just two sentences, so why do I feel like crying?]
Staying in this sea-view competition area, drifting on the sea, moving little by little from one end to the other, Lei Zhenzi would occasionally get bored and use his wind and thunder power to electrocute the sea beasts, bringing Lily a large amount of points.
On the evening of the third day, James' points barely exceeded 3,000, while Lily's points had already broken through the 10,000 mark.
Even Emily's Ghost Hand Vine would occasionally strike under the sea surface, a small sea beast and devour it.
The sea surface at night was surprisingly calm, perhaps to create a good resting environment for the contestants.
Lily lay on this "single leaf boat". When she opened her eyes, what she saw was a crimson starry sky, beautiful and strange.
The system prompt for the drop of special supplies rang several times, but Lily didn't take any action.
She said she came to this map to enjoy the scenery, and that's exactly what she was doing.
The ocean currents changed quietly at night. It was not until dawn that the water under this "single leaf boat" turned blood-red, which was quite terrifying.
It seemed that even the sea breeze carried a faint smell of blood.
Lily looked around and raised her eyebrows slightly. On the blood-red sea surface, there were undulating sea beasts, as well as surfboards and sea aircraft.
Of course, standing on them were one after another Dream Caster contestants wearing bracelets.
There were Zergs, Monster Clans, Humans, Wood Clans, and even a few other small races.
Looking around, there were at least dozens of Dream Casters.
On the blood-red sea, this "single leaf boat" suddenly looked extremely weak.
They even formed an encirclement around the leaf boat.
With a glance, Lily saw the Monster Clan contestants whose points had been almost completely wiped out by her and James the day before.
She looked up, and the other contestants clearly recognized her face.
Then, the Husun Monster Clan that she had met the previous day was holding a loudspeaker and shouting,
"You see? I didn't lie to you. Lily is here. She killed us many times yesterday, harvesting 2,000 points. Moreover, all the contestants in our division dropped in ranking yesterday. Duomuzha, your ranking has dropped to second in the division, and the first is Lily."
"Defeat her, and you can get half of her points and directly advance!" The Husun began to incite.
"She could kill us so many times yesterday, and we can fight back today. The competition has no restrictions. Defeating her once will give you a large number of points! Even the second or third person to defeat her can get hundreds or thousands of points!"
The Husun's roar resounded across the sea area, and at this moment, the attack had already begun!
By the side of the leaf boat, groups of sea snakes with sharp fangs started gnawing at the edge of the leaf.
Under the leaf boat, unknown sea beasts were also crazily crashing into it, with endless thudding sounds.
Audience in the live broadcast room:!
[These monster clan members are so despicable! I'm really, really furious!]
[They actually got people to gang up on her. By the stars above, those shameless monster clan members have no sense of honor at all!]
[How many contestants are there? Oh my mother, I can't even count them.]
"Such noisy demons!"
Lei Zhenzi spread his wind-and-thunder wings, and in an instant, violent winds and rolling thunder erupted over the vast blood-red sea.
He slammed his golden cudgel onto the sea surface, sending up waves of blood-red water.
Emily's Ghost Hand Vine shot out with a whoosh. "Shut up, you Husun!"
The pitch-black Ghost Hand Vine flew straight to the Husun on the aircraft, opened its huge maw, swallowed the Husun in one gulp, and then spat it out into the sea.
Emily curled her lips in disgust. "Even my little vine wouldn't eat that for free."
The black-scaled flying fish guarded the leaf boat, eyeing everything around it with hostility.
At that moment, bizarre blood-red corals grew out of nowhere from the sea below. Like parasites, they began to climb up the leaf boat.
A Wood Clan Dream Caster with sharp grass blades on his head flicked his hand, and a path of seaweed stretched from his position to the leaf boat, with an attack heading straight for Lily's face.
The compound eyes of a Zerg blinked, and swarms of small winged insects with extremely sharp mouthparts rose from the sea, surging toward the boat in large groups.
A large flock of seabirds surrounded the boat, and strange melodies echoed in the wind. Lily saw a Human Clan contestant playing a bizarre musical instrument, and faint whispers seemed to drift into her ears: "Jump off the boat, jump off the boat, jump off the boat."
Dozens of Dream Casters attacked simultaneously, some first, some later, with countless tricks and means. At this moment, a soft sigh of hers was carried by the sea wind:
"I just wanted to come and enjoy the sea view. You just have to attack my boat. It's really annoying."
Lily looked at the sea surface with a focused gaze. With a flip of her hands, beautiful lotus flowers appeared on the sea.
The lotus, emerging unstained from the mud, washed clean by the waves yet not coquettish.
They were like blood-red lotuses nurtured by this sea of blood, and at the center of the tallest and largest lotus bud.
The bud slowly bloomed with five-colored radiance. When it was fully open, a figure burst forth from among the lotus petals!
The young boy wore a red silk sash, footed on Wind-Fire Wheels , carried a Universe Ring on his lotus-root-like arm, and held a red-tasseled spear, standing tall on the lotus platform.
Blazing flame phantoms loomed behind him. The young boy raised his head high. "Who summoned me?"
Lily stood up, smiled, and saluted:
"Greetings, Third Prince."
Tu Xingsun bowed his head respectfully:
"This minor deity pays homage to the Great God of the Three Altars and Sea Assembly."
Above the sea and sky, Lei Zhenzi's joyful call rang out amid the howling wind and rolling thunder:
"Nezha!"
The young boy smiled brightly, spun his sharp spear, and billowing flames ignited over the boundless sea of blood.
Lotus petals burst forth from the lotus platform, each ablaze with fire. Like heavenly maidens scattering flowers, they shot out swiftly, touching every contestant without exception.
The sea of blood instantly turned into a sea of fire, like a great sun, shining brilliantly, illuminating the heavens and earth here.
Live broadcast audience:!!!