"Though they were clearly at sea, the crimson lotus, once it touched a contestant, could not be extinguished."
Over the Sea of Blood, the crimson waters reflected the blazing lotus, making it shine with an otherworldly brilliance.
Another mighty crack of wind and thunder split the sky—gales roared, fire flared, thunder answered in kind. Lei Zhenzi struck a fearsome pose in support of that youthful boy!
Though his figure was neither tall nor imposing, the moment one laid eyes on that youthful boy, it felt as if the boundless sea lay beneath his very feet.
The viewers in the livestream stared blankly at the scene before them—a-a-another being beyond the mortal realm.
Is Lily's spiritual power... limitless?
This being may appear no more than a youth, yet his power far surpasses that of the two who came before.
Why did this youthful being emerge from the lotus? Could it be... he, too, bears some connection to the Wood Clan?
And those items upon him—each one seems extraordinary. Even the flowing ribbons at his sides resemble weapons. And beneath his feet... what exactly is he standing on?
He wields a long wooden staff, capable of reaching both heaven and earth.
And that red lotus flame, which has turned the scene before him into a scourge—unquenched by water, growing ever fiercer as it burns—what kind of fire could that be?
One question after another flooded the minds of the livestream viewers, some of whom could no longer contain their eagerness and began to discuss fervently
"I suddenly grasped a truth: before Lily, never lose hope until the very last moment."
"This woman—just how many surprises can she bring us? Also, did you catch that winged being just now calling out the name of that youthful stranger?"
"The two other beings, as well as Lily, all seem to address this youth by different names. Why could that be?"
"So handsome! Just three minutes in, and I absolutely must know this being's name. By the stars above, I hereby declare him my favorite from now on!"
Unlike Tu Xingsun's mastery of subterranean traversal and control of the earth below,and unlike Lei Zhenzi's innate thunder general prowess, wielding his golden staff with fierce vigor,
the boy before them bore a remarkably youthful and tender visage.
Though called a youth for his slender, tall frame, his appearance clearly betrayed that he had not yet reached adulthood.
He was called a boy for his slender limbs, soft and delicate as if newly born.
His demeanor was defiant as he stood upon the sea; wherever his gaze fell, beasts retreated, and raging waves recoiled before his formidable presence.
At this moment, the contestants who had gathered to besiege Lily were enduring a fate worse than death.
Because this faction battle does not eliminate contestants upon defeat, the Samadhi True Fire now relentlessly clung to them, impossible to extinguish. They had effectively become "automatic point donors," repeatedly surrendering half their points to Lily.
"This is too tragic, too brutal—an utterly one-sided massacre."
"I don't even know who to pity... Haha, serves them right!"
"Do you think other contestants will come to surround and kill Lily for revenge later?"
At this moment, Lily desperately wished she could mute the system alerts—the endless barrage was wearing her ears down to calluses.
Already dizzy from forging Nezha, and having once again overexerted her spiritual power, Lily was barely holding herself up as the constant barrage of competition alerts nagged relentlessly in her ears.
She had no idea how many contestants were in the entire sector, nor precisely how many sectors the faction battle was divided into, but she knew that there were fifty-eight dreamforger contestants currently surrounding her, intent on killing her.
The demon clan certainly knew how to rally their forces—calling forth so many contestants. Lily suspected that, at this moment, many of them hadn't even had time to harbor resentment toward her.
Enduring the relentless throbbing in her head, she forced herself to rise and looked toward Nezha.
"Such punishment is already sufficient."
Nezha glanced back at her; the lotus platform beneath his feet rose into the air, and the Samadhi True Fire entwining dozens of contestants transformed once more into fiery red lotuses—each one, as if returning home, was absorbed back into the lotus platform.
As for Lily, she glanced toward the contestants who had just been startled into fleeing, a faint smile curling at her lips as she fixed her gaze on the demon clan's huli jing who had summoned them.
"Thank you, Huxun, for summoning these contestants for me. I shall surely repay this great favor."
Having spoken, Lily tapped Nezha's crimson-tasseled wooden staff; a small boat rose with the wind as the Sea of Blood churned into towering waves, carrying the vessel away—vanishing before the eyes of all.
"? What does she mean? Is Lily speaking sarcastically, mocking them on purpose?"
"Indeed, thanks are due! Hahaha, if it weren't for that Huxun demon summoning so many contestants, Lily's points wouldn't have surged again like this. Tsk tsk, just look at the live updates on the Star Sea leaderboard—first place in the Red faction, and first overall. We've been watching the entire livestream, and Lily never even intended to fight for first this time."
"Lily: I never wanted to take first place, but these contestants just won't let me—what can I do?"
Lily and her leaf boat vanished, taking with them the formidable being who had inspired such dread.
The contestants scorched by the Samadhi True Fire were all in a pitiful state—regardless of their race, each was charred to the same blackened hue, uniformly transformed into little blackened figures.
Especially the Wood Clan, whose vitality in flora only grows stronger when met with fire.
The Wood Clan contestants on site all looked utterly wilted and despondent.
But upon hearing Lily's words once more, the anger they had suppressed deep within was reignited.
Indeed, Lily's words served as a stark reminder to them.
Why did they come here to surround and kill Lily? Were they out of their minds?
It was those demon clans who had deceived them into coming—dozens of their points were harvested at once, all to Lily's advantage.
Enraged to the point of boiling over, some contestants began scanning the area. "Huxun! Show yourself! If I don't kill you ten times over, I won't be able to vent this fury!"
"Huxun, I reckon you're in league with Lily!"
Though Lily had already departed, the battleground over the Sea of Blood was about to erupt into fierce conflict—sparked by the demon clan contestant Huxun!
"Catch him—don't let him escape! I don't want his points; I want him dead five times over!"
For a moment, emotions ran high; though their faces were all scorched black, Huxun could not break free. Along with his small team, a large number of wronged dreamforger contestants sharpened their blades in fierce determination.
Alas, at this moment, Lily was no longer watching.
No sooner had she left the battlefield than her mind could no longer hold steady—once again, she fainted.
Emily tended to Lily with practiced care, while James wore a look of concern.
"Are you truly alright? Overusing spiritual power can easily lead to lasting aftereffects if you're not careful."
"Don't forget, we're inside the StarNet—but this time, there's no spiritual power recovery potion. I wonder how long Lily will sleep."
Last time, Lily also overexerted her spiritual power, but after receiving the potion, she woke up within two hours.
James scratched his head in frustration. "So, should we rush to seize the special supply point now? Let me check—how many hours until the next drop?"
"If I remember correctly, Lily possesses S-level spiritual power, yet that mysterious being's dreamforging just now completely drained his spiritual energy. What level could he possibly be?"
"Hissing—if you hadn't mentioned it, I wouldn't have realized. Doesn't Lily overextend her spiritual power way too often? She tends to overuse her abilities recklessly. In the StarNet competition, she's fearless with her little flower-girl companion by her side, but in the real Star Sea, it would seriously damage her cerebral domain! Without comrades nearby, she might not survive at all!"
Speaking of which, the livestream audience immediately began criticizing Lily's reckless habit. Even those with vast spiritual power reserves shouldn't deplete themselves so recklessly—it's as if she leaves herself no margin for error.
This dreamforged being's formidable strength can resolve the current predicament; were he weaker and defeated by opponents, the outcome would be far more tragic.
Emily looked at him and said, "Even if we go to the special supply point, we need to use the wristband to collect the supplies. We can't exactly carry an unconscious Lily along. I'm from the Wood Clan, and my combat strength in the sea isn't very strong. You..."
The little flower atop her head—the small red blossom—paused for a moment as she looked at the chubby man. Recalling how clumsily he had once been chased and forced to flee, she couldn't help but feel a twinge of distrust.
"The competition won't end for another two and a half days. Lily will surely awaken before the faction battle concludes, and her points are already sufficient. As for you, you still have quite a way to go."
Emily spoke to James with justified confidence, fully aware that relying on just the two of them would make it difficult to seize the special supplies at sea.
If only... if the being summoned by Lily could lend a hand.
Emily cleared her throat. Ordinarily, a dreamforger's creations obey only their summoner, yet Lily's three beings were evidently quite exceptional. Deep down, Emily felt a bit hesitant, unsure how to broach the subject...
"When do you expect to obtain the restorative item you mentioned?" Tu Xingsun suddenly asked, fixing his gaze on Emily.
Lei Zhenzi's blue face was somewhat fearsome, Nezha bore a defiant, unruly expression, and the blood-dyed sea ablaze with fire evoked dread—yet the diminutive Tu Xingsun appeared approachable and affable at this moment.
As he spoke, both Emily and James turned their attention toward him.
Though his words were somewhat awkwardly phrased, both the man and the little flower understood perfectly.
Emily glanced at the time; each sector's supply drops occurred at whole-hour intervals, and only two hours had passed since the last drop.
There are still four hours until the next drop, but the supply location will be revealed three hours from now—allowing us to arrive early.
"By that time, just bring that thing here." Nezha's tone was casual, but the arrogance in it was palpable to anyone listening.
"Then please inform us when the time comes." Tu Xingsun nodded at Emily and James.
"Got it, got it." James immediately nodded vigorously, like a pestle pounding garlic.
[What they're saying is so strange. Wait, do you still remember the aria
[Wow! I didn't even notice this until you mentioned it. It's true, the rhyme is really similar.]
Three hours later——
As the competition zone system prompt sounded, the special supply point was marked on the map. Nezha never got on the boat; instead, he stood on his Wind-Fire Wheels, sweeping through the waves, and raced toward the direction pointed out by James and Emily.
Lei Zhenzi flew high in the sky, Tu Xingsun held his steel cudgel and guarded beside Lily, while Nezha took charge of the sea route. They cooperated seamlessly.
Upon reaching the sea area where the special supply point was located, the supply point was in the middle of a whirlpool. A small boat charged straight into the whirlpool, waiting there openly for the supplies to arrive.
An hour passed quickly. Due to the fierce battle that had previously besieged Lily, many contestants had made their way to the supply point.
It was just that... at the sight of that extra-familiar leaf boat and that boy who was like a nightmare, many of the contestants who had just arrived immediately fled without looking back, using up all their mental energy to run away.
No one wanted to court death a second time.
Amidst the surging waves, they didn't even get a clear look at what was inside the leaf boat, nor did they see Lily. Just the sight of that boy holding the red-tasseled spear was enough to make them flee in a panic.
Even though they knew that each contestant could only take one portion of the special supplies and there would definitely be some left, they still didn't dare to stay.
This scene left the live-stream audience in awe.
They were utterly terrified.
Obtaining this batch of special supplies was surprisingly easy. James got one portion with his wristband, Little Hua got another, and she even lifted Lily's hand to get a portion for her.
After feeding the mental power recovery potion to Lily, the small boat vanished from the sight of other contestants.
Little Hua let her Ghost Hand Vine swallow her own portion of supplies.
Recalling the last competition zone, where she'd toiled like a dog over that garbage mountain for a special supply—digging and scavenging her way up from the depths of the trash heap, working herself to the bone and nearly getting swarmed in the process, just to get one portion—it made this feel all the more effortless.
Compared to then, getting supplies now was almost too easy!
Since her mental power hadn't been depleted much, Emily had no plans to drink her potion. Both hers and James's portions felt like freebies, thanks to Lily, so she decided to save them for later.
Just in case... if Lily passed out from manifesting some powerful entity in her dreams, they'd have spares on hand.
With the experience of feeding Lily a potion last time, all they needed now was to wait.
Those waiting on the boat for Lily to wake up drifted with the wind and waves, while James's black-scaled flying fish hunted beside the boat, devouring points bit by bit.
Although the points gained each time this way were small, not as many as those obtained from battling other Dream Forgers, it was safe and steady.
The small leaf boat drifted at a moderate speed, leisurely floating on the sea. Any contestant who had seen it would immediately steer clear and race off in another direction.
By the time Lily gradually regained consciousness, she was completely unaware that her legend had spread all over the sea in this competition zone.
"Have you heard? Lily, the top Dream Forger from the first official match, has come to our zone. Her manifested dream entity has harvested tens of thousands of points. We must never run into her—if you meet her, your points will be completely stripped away!"
"If you see an enlarged dahlia leaf floating on the sea with people on it, don't look, just run! Remember! Run as fast as you can and don't stop!"
"That point-grinding maniac Lily is here in the sea zone. Never try to sneak attack her, otherwise, you'll be the one getting eliminated!"
"Lily's manifested dream entity has taken down dozens of Dream Forgers, including the second-ranked one in the zone. If you see a floating leaf on the sea with black-scaled flying fish nearby, and a Wood Tribe member sitting on the leaf, don't get any ideas. That's a trap! A trap!"
These news and rumors were learned by the viewers in Lily's live broadcast room when they visited other live rooms while she was unconscious.
When the news was relayed back to this live room, the audience all felt a strange sense of satisfaction.
Is that all? Is that all there is to it?
Overusing mental power is something that gets easier with experience—once awkward, twice familiar.
When she woke up this time, Lily was already able to adapt to the faint throbbing pain in her head.
The rest would just take time to recover.
Lily was not an impulsive person. If she were alone, she would never dare to go to such extremes.
Before manifesting Nezha through her dream-forging, she had already had some expectations, but she still decided to give it a try.
This was not because she knew she was being taken care of by Little Hua and James, nor because she felt secure with Lei Zhenzi, Tu Xingsun, and Nezha by her side, thus acting recklessly. Rather, it was a test of her own brain domain and mental power.
She had S-level mental power, which was a well-known fact in the current Star Sea Dream-Forging Live Competition.
Before Lily traveled through time to this world, the original owner had been detected to have S-level mental power during the live competition assessment.
In such a large-scale event, Lily was not the only contestant with S-level mental power.
It was just that due to caution and reluctance to take risks easily, no other contestant, like Lily, had directly overused their mental power to the point of fainting.
Lily was testing her own limits.
Her "S-level mental power" was even higher than the ordinary S-level.
Could it be because the original "Lily" merged with her, the later comer?
Lily had no way of knowing.
There was another thing, and she wasn't sure if it was just her illusion. Even though this was only a virtual arena on the StarNet, after fainting from overusing her mental power for the first time, she felt that her mental power seemed to have increased a little.
Regarding Dream Forgers, Lily still had many doubts in her heart.
She remembered that when she first traveled here, according to the plot of that book she had transmigrated into, if she hadn't managed to forge a dream in time, having powerful mental power but being unable to construct dreams was a disease called "Absent-Mindness Syndrome".
Although at the very beginning, she casually forged a writing brush, and then used the brush to help herself forge the Wenyao Bird.
But dream forging is not like "drawing" to outline a flat surface; it is manifestation, it is construction, it is modeling.
I think, therefore I forge.
Patients with "Absent-Mindness Syndrome" are like a cup filled with water. Even though the cup is full of water, they simply don't know how to pour the water out, unable to forge dreams with their mental power.
This disease is well-known because it is rare, and the original owner she transmigrated into happened to have it. Isn't that a bit too coincidental?
Dream forging, dream forging—what is a dream?
It is a magnificent and fantasy illusion.
What doesn't exist upon waking is a dream.
If it's just simply manifesting existing things, then what's so special about a Dream Forger? They might as well be called Civilization Constructors directly.
Although the instructors at the base teach common knowledge of Dream Forgers and tips and tricks for dream forging in their classes, there is another point that Lily pays attention to, which no one has ever mentioned.
The ranking system for Dream Forgers.
It is not the level of innate mental power in the brain domain, but a complete growth ladder rating that should exist after becoming a Dream Forger.
In today's Dream Forging Live Competition, mental power is just a ticket for Dream Forgers to enter the arena. Even the personal panel does not show the Dream Forger level, only the rating of the forged dreams.
It can't be said that a Dream Forger with B-level mental power talent can only stop at B-level for the rest of their life, right?
A person's talent should only be the starting point, not the end.
These topics have never been brought up, and it's even as if they are deliberately ignored.
Lily's thoughts wandered only for a moment, and the next three days passed somewhat boringly.
In order for James to get enough points, the speed of the small leaf boat was not fast. When they encountered a contestant, before they could make any move, the other party had already fled at the sight of them.
"Contestant Lily, the current team points competition is about to end, countdown... Your ranking in this points competition is first place."
On the small leaf boat, Little Hua, James, Lei Zhenzi, Nezha, and Tu Xingsun listened to the countdown end.
With more than 20,000 points in hand, Lily ended this second team points competition with an undisputed first place.
Thanks to her, all the contestants in the entire red team will receive an additional reward of some star coins.
The reward for this second official competition has doubled compared to the previous one, but the area of the dream forging realm, even after doubling, is only a mere 20,000 square kilometers.
Lily didn't rush to exit the Starnet consciousness pod. Instead, after being teleported to her personal space, she went directly to the dream forging realm.
Before the start of this team points competition, she had just spent a sky-high price of star coins to expand it by a full 100,000 square kilometers.
At the end of the first match, the newly activated Dream Forging Realm had an extremely small area of less than one square kilometer. It was evident how stingy the Starnet was, and Lily simply skipped counting such a tiny space.
Including the latest reward of 20,000 square kilometers, Lily's Dream Forging Realm now consists of 1 square kilometer + 10,000 square kilometers + 1,000,000 square kilometers + 20,000 square kilometers, totaling 1,030,001 square kilometers.
Glancing at the astronomical figure in her credit account—over the five days since the start of the competition, the number of netizens purchasing the Shan Hai Realm's immersive sensory experience had surged—Lily didn't hesitate to round it up, expanding the Shan Hai Realm directly to 2,000,000 square kilometers!
This is the total area of the entire Shan Hai Realm.
Lei Zhenzi, Nezha, Tu Xingsun, Fengshi Feilian, and even the small leaf boat had all appeared within the Shan Hai Realm.
The post-match break for this competition is the same as the match duration, five days, but Lily has no confidence in being able to forge the Investiture of the Gods (Fengshen Yanyi) within that time.
Considering the combat power, the numerous deities, and the great battles depicted in it—just forging Nezha alone had completely drained her mental power.
Currently, Lily only has one independent Dream Forging Realm, and three figures from Investiture of the Gods have taken residence in the Shan Hai Realm. However, this can't go on forever. If Lily forges more powerful beings in the future, she should definitely open a separate Dream Forging Realm for them.
With that thought, Lily directly asked the Starnet system,
"Can a contestant open another personal Dream Forging Realm?"
The StarNet system gave an affirmative answer, along with the condition for a new Dream Forging Realm—100 million star coins.
Compared to the income from her Dream Forging Realm, 100 million star coins was just a drop in the bucket.
With a wave of her hand, Lily bought another 100,000 square kilometers of land and directly named this new realm the "Fengshen Realm" (Investiture of the Gods Realm).
However, since the Fengshen Realm currently had nothing but the expanded area, it was too shabby. She couldn't possibly ask the three great gods to live here, so Nezha and the others temporarily stayed in the Shan Hai Realm.
Lily hadn't yet figured out what kind of environment to forge in this Fengshen Realm.
If the audience's voices were strong enough, should she bring out King Zhou, Daji, and Shen Gongbao?
After coming out of the Dream Forging Realm, Lily went to her Dream Forging Exhibition Hall.
At this time, there were new faces in the exhibition hall. Lily wrote introductions for each of them one by one, and after dealing with these matters, she left the consciousness pod and exited StarNet.
She had stayed in the consciousness pod for five days of the competition, relying entirely on nutrient solution to replenish her physical strength.
However, no sooner had Lily left StarNet than all online citizens who followed the Star Sea Dream-Forging Live Competition received a notification.
"Ding——"
"The Star Sea Civilization Library has officially connected to the 52nd Star Sea Dream-Forging Live Competition——"
"Content correction on all contestants' homepages has been completed——"
Interstellar people: !
The stingy and pedantic old fogeys from the Civilization Library actually agreed to let the Dream-Forging Live Competition access their database? !
Wait a minute, doesn't that mean the matter of Shan Hai Realm and Yaodian (Book of demons) will be made public directly on StarNet? The truth will come to light, and the fake will be exposed!
Although during the team competition, the news that Shan Hai Realm in Lily's live broadcast room was a recipe had spread all over StarNet, there were still some who were stubborn, refusing to back down, saying it was a deliberate slander.
If the competition hadn't been in full swing, another wave of erbal battles would have almost erupted on StarNet.
The busybodies who thought of this matter immediately accessed Lily's personal homepage. There, in her Dream Forging Exhibition Hall, the forged items remained the same, and the introductions were still those left by Lily herself.
However, there was a slight difference here.
The introduction texts of Taotie, the Mirage Beast, Lei Zhenzi, Tu Xingsun, the Wenyao Bird, Nezha, Fengshi Feilian, and even the writing brush, the Dragon-Seeking Ruler, and the small leaf boat were all plated with a layer of gold.
The words "From Shan Hai Realm" remained unchanged. The only addition was a few gilded characters at the end of each forged item's display introduction—
[Attributed Civilization: Huaxia]