In the dream.
"You dare to challenge me? Hmph, I thought you were so powerful! Die!"
A sharp longsword pierced Zhou Ming's heart. His eyes instantly lost focus, and he fell to the ground, his life extinguished.
Soon, his body turned into nothingness and disappeared.
The middle-aged man who had just ended his life nonchalantly sheathed his sword and leisurely departed.
Swish!
In a secluded alley, Zhou Ming's figure suddenly appeared.
His consciousness was blurry for a second or two, then quickly cleared.
"Killed again, huh? As my Sword Dao Realm continues to improve, the repulsive force of this dream world against me is growing stronger."
Zhou Ming ran a hand through his hair, his gaze turning to the end of the alley.
There, a beggar slowly drew the sword from his waist, looking at him with fierce eyes.
"Don't you know this is my, Ding Laosan's, territory? Trying to snatch my spot and cut off my livelihood? Take this!"
Zhou Ming didn't care why a beggar would possess a sword, an illogical detail. Facing the charging beggar, he drew his sword and swept it, knocking away the beggar's sword, and at the same time, thrust his longsword through the beggar's throat.
Watching the beggar's corpse slowly disappear, Zhou Ming strode out of the alley and looked at the bustling crowd outside.
"A month has passed in the dream. Ghost Doctor hasn't woken me up yet, which means the time difference between the dream and reality is enormous."
"In this month, I've died more than a dozen times. Tsk, my Soul foundation has been consumed quite a bit."
Being killed and exiting the dream is actually a form of protection for those who enter the dream.
What Ghost Doctor called 'damaging the spirit' was actually consuming Soul power. Other people, including veterans like Feng Yuanzheng, hadn't specifically Cultivated Soul-refining methods, so their Soul foundations weren't strong.
After a few weakening instances, their Souls would become extremely weak. For those like Zhang Bin, who were severely injured after just one instance, repeated deaths in the dream would cause too much damage to their spirit, leading to Soul dissipation and death in reality.
Therefore, Zhou Ming set up the rule that being killed would cause one to exit the dream. Anyway, their first entry had already caused enough disturbance to Shangguan Wuji's dream, so whether they stayed or not afterward didn't make much difference.
As the one who established these rules, Zhou Ming himself did not need to abide by them.
The power of the Hell Soul Cleansing Scripture was constantly in operation. Zhou Ming could exit the dream at any time, and even if he died in the dream, he could immediately undergo Rebirth and continue to exist within the dream.
It was merely a consumption of some Soul foundation. Dying more than a dozen times in thirty days in the dream only consumed the Soul foundation equivalent of seven or eight people, which had no impact on Zhou Ming's six hundred-person Soul.
Over the past month, besides normal eating, drinking, sleeping, and resting as an ordinary person in reality, Zhou Ming spent all his time in the dream learning swordsmanship, sparring, and engaging in life-and-death sword duels.
This world only had the sword as a means of combat, and the only way to solve all problems was with the sword. It was a world of only swords, so Zhou Ming had not come into contact with anything else besides the sword.
The continuous challenges over the past month allowed Zhou Ming's swordsmanship to make significant progress. Although he was still instantly killed when compared to the masters of this world, he had already advanced to LV2 and was steadily solidifying and improving daily.
"Good lad! Strong indeed! I am Zuo Zijian, the Sword Hero of Guanzhong! Come, take my sword!"
Chii! A clear bloodstain appeared on Zhou Ming's neck. He fell to the ground with a thud, dying once again, sprawled on the street.
His corpse disappeared, and the next moment, he was Reborn in another corner of the city.
"Again!"
"Hahaha, someone actually dares to single-handedly assault my Black Wind Stronghold? I'll use your spine as my sword sheath! Kill!"
Zhou Ming fell again!
"Again!"
"The so-called new star of Northwest Sword Dao? Nothing more than that!"
Fell!
"Again!"
"This time next year will be your death anniversary!"
Fell!
"Again!"
"Not bad, not bad, your swordsmanship has some interesting points, but it's still not enough!"
Fell!
"Again!"
"What a brilliant sword strike! Such a talented young man is truly worth eliminating!"
Fell!
"Again!"
"Again!"
"Again!"
...[Congratulations, Reincarnator, your Sword Dao Rank has increased to LV3.]
The sudden Main God prompt awakened Zhou Ming from the world of the sword.
"How much time has passed?"
Lost in the obsession with the Sword Dao, he almost forgot that he was still in a dream, and his concept of time had become blurred.
Calculating the time, Zhou Ming was immediately startled.
"Five months have passed in the dream?"
"What a joke! Five months, and Ghost Doctor hasn't called me? How big is the time flow difference?"
With that thought, Zhou Ming exited the dream, sat up from the bronze dream tree, and shook his head, feeling a dizzy spell.
Feeling the surges of restlessness from the depths of his Soul, the reduction of his Soul foundation had significantly decreased Zhou Ming's control over his Soul, causing him to forget the passage of time and almost become lost in the Sword Dao.
In this situation, he needed to soothe his Soul, allowing his Soul to return to peace.
As he left the range of the bronze dream tree, Qin Wumeng immediately rushed over to support the wobbly Zhou Ming.
"Find a place to talk?"
Feng Yuanzheng also approached and whispered in Zhou Ming's ear.
Zhou Ming's eyes flickered, and a weary smile appeared on his face as he said, "Let me rest first."
Feng Yuanzheng was about to say more, but then he saw Qin Wumeng supporting Zhou Ming, glaring at him unpleasantly, so he changed his mind: "Alright, I'll find you later."
"Come, come, drink this bowl of Calming Spirit Soup to nourish your spirit."
Ghost Doctor walked over with a bowl of medicinal soup, chuckling.
Everyone else had already drunk the Calming Spirit Soup and rested for a while.
Zhou Ming had spent five months in the dream, which was over seven hours in reality. Naturally, they couldn't just wait idly for such a long time.
Zhou Ming took the bowl from Ghost Doctor's hand and drank the medicinal soup in one gulp.
He had wanted to refuse, as this thing likely had no effect on him. But meeting Ghost Doctor's eager gaze, he found it hard to refuse.
Unexpectedly, after the soup went down, Zhou Ming actually felt a sense of peace and tranquility in his Soul, like a traveler who had been running all day soaking in a warm hot spring. The previous restlessness was reduced by almost half.
"This medicine..." Zhou Ming stared blankly at the empty bowl.
"How is it? The medicine works well, doesn't it?" Ghost Doctor said proudly.
"Quite well, give me another bowl!" Zhou Ming was unexpectedly surprised and drank several more bowls consecutively.
After downing five bowls, the restlessness in Zhou Ming's Soul completely vanished, and the agitation caused by Soul damage settled down.
"Is this due to the Main God's care, just like how I can eat and digest things in other worlds, or is it because of the inherent miraculous properties of this medicinal soup?"
With a pleasant surprise in his heart, Zhou Ming looked at Ghost Doctor with burning eyes, rubbing his hands together with an embarrassed expression: "Senior Ghost Doctor, Junior has a request; I don't know if I should say it?"
"What do you want to do?" Ghost Doctor jumped back, covering his chest with both hands. "I warn you, I sell my skills, not my…Pooh! Don't come any closer, I keep a lot of poisonous insects on me, they'll bite you to death if you get close."
Zhou Ming: "...Senior, have you been reading too many romance novels?"
"Stop talking nonsense! I warn you, Qiu Shuang is also off-limits! Stay away from her!"
"Junior merely wishes for the recipe for this Calming Spirit Soup."
"Don't try to fool me. I've eaten more salt than you've eaten rice, you… Huh? You just want that?"
"Yes, just that."
"No other intentions?"
"Absolutely no other intentions!"
"Oh, you scared me to death." Ghost Doctor patted his chest, looking startled. "Next time, just say so earlier. Come with me, I'll write down the Calming Spirit Soup recipe for you."
Zhou Ming looked bewildered: "It's that simple?"
..."Alright, this is the recipe." Ghost Doctor picked up the freshly written recipe, blew on the still-wet ink, and handed it to Zhou Ming.
Zhou Ming took it and curiously read through it, then asked, "This recipe doesn't seem to have anything special about it?"
"It's not special at all, you see." Ghost Doctor pulled open a drawer from the medicine cabinet against the wall, took out a transparent round bead from inside, and gave it to Zhou Ming.
"What is this?" Zhou Ming took the round ball, gently squeezed it in his hand, feeling soft like a peeled lotus seed.
"It's the fruit of the bronze dream tree." Ghost Doctor's answer startled Zhou Ming.
Ghost Doctor then pulled open the drawer next to the one he had just opened and took out a white round bead from inside.
"The bronze dream tree blooms once every ten years, and then bears two types of fruit. One is white, which allows people to remain conscious even in dreams after eating it; the other is transparent, which can soothe the Soul."
Zhou Ming placed the two round balls in his palm, marveling at the Ghost Axe craftsmanship of nature.
"And the flower..."
"The flower can stabilize dreams, allowing them to persist for a long time."
"You used it to stabilize Shangguan Wuji's dream world?"
"Precisely. Alas, I never expected him to become like this. My medicine back then was wrong. How can I be called Ghost Doctor if I prescribe medicine without fully understanding its properties?"
Zhou Ming offered a few words of comfort, which slightly alleviated the guilt on Ghost Doctor's face. He then asked, "Could you give me some of these flowers and fruits?"
"As long as you can awaken Wuji, giving them all to you is no problem." Ghost Doctor waved his hand, speaking boldly.
"Then I won't stand on ceremony." Zhou Ming smiled... Just half an hour later, Zhou Ming decided to re-enter the dream.
Qin Wumeng was very worried about his health and urged him to rest well, but he flatly refused.
Everyone else had already rested for several hours, and Zhou Ming himself, after recuperating with the Calming Spirit Soup, felt even better than the others.
Thus, at Zhou Ming's repeated insistence, the others, unable to dissuade him, re-entered Shangguan Wuji's dream.
However, this time, they exited even faster than yesterday.
In less than ten minutes, everyone was kicked out!
"What! A quarter of an hour, thirty days?"
"Why is the time flow so much faster this time than last time?"
Everyone stared blankly at Zhou Ming, who was the only one not yet awake, momentarily at a loss for words.
How much longer would Zhou Ming spend in the dream this time?
Would the next time flow even faster?
The future direction of this mission was slipping towards a path no one could foresee.