There are no ancestors at all; I made them all up.

Chapter 242 The Chessboard is the Path to Sainthood

In the past, whenever this white mist appeared in my field of vision, it was followed by a feeling of detachment from my main consciousness, and then it was time to wake up from the dream.

This time, however, the white mist surged and spread over, and when it touched his body, he did feel drowsy and tired, as if he were about to fall asleep on the spot, and his consciousness was about to leave this place, but it was not irresistible! When Chen Qing focused his mind, this feeling of leaving was suppressed!
"What does this mean? Does it mean that this white fog is actually controllable? Doesn't that mean..."

Thinking this, Chen Qing was shaken, his mind racing with thoughts. He quickly cut off these distractions, but still couldn't help looking at the illusory figure in the sky. Through the blurry image, he could vaguely make out that it seemed to be...

"pot?"

Just as Chen Qing was surprised, the scroll of the Taoist Taijing had already been unfurled!

The scroll suddenly trembled and became illusory, like a layer of gauze falling down, enveloping the entire city and all the living beings within it!
In that instant, the entire peaceful city came to a standstill!
The true spirits of the streets, houses, and even the smiling pedestrians were annihilated, turning into empty puppets. Then, they all transformed into extensions of Daoist Taijing, losing their original expressions and becoming strange. At the same time, they raised their hands, formed hand seals, and endless incense and vows, along with the laws of dreams, intertwined to form a vast net that enveloped Chen Qing from all directions!

The pressure suddenly increased!

Chen Qing's attention was immediately drawn back from the white mist seeping from the void. Then, he felt his will, memories, and even control over his body being pulled and diluted by an invisible force!
However, the sense of constraint coming from all directions did not disappear, which meant that if he resisted, he might provoke the master of the dream, causing him to wake up completely and dissipate the lingering dream effects!

Clearly, Daoist Taijing wanted to use this situation to manipulate Chen Qing's mind!
However, Chen Qing only hesitated for a moment before making a decision.

"Even if I hesitate and look back, the final result will still be that I will be suppressed and captured by this person. After that, in order to prevent him from searching my soul, I will have no choice but to commit suicide. That is also a death. Since I will die anyway, it is better for both sides to lose than for one to lose! What's more, I seem to have other options now! Although I don't know if they will be useful, the worst case scenario is that the story of this dream body ends here, but being able to drag a Celestial Emperor's avatar down with me should still be a good result in the final evaluation!"

Upon realizing this, he immediately opened his mouth and inhaled the white mist that filled the surroundings. Then, with a thought, he directly activated the exterior view of the Stele Forest!
"Whoohoo-"

But this time, there were many more white mists gathering and dispersing in the exterior scene!
"Ok?"

Upon seeing this, Daoist Taijing immediately said, "Do you think that such a desperate act will drag me down into this dream world? I possess this treasure and am not bound by any rules. No matter how dire the situation, I can leave with a single thought. But you... eh?"

He stopped abruptly halfway through his sentence.

Yet, amidst the drifting mist, the forest of steles took on a dreamlike quality, and its unfolding truly resisted the invasion of the invisible scroll!

"As expected! This white mist arises every time I enter and wake up from a dream, so it is indeed related to dreams. At this time, borrowing its power is not an obstacle, but a bridge! By mixing it into the scenery outside the Stele Forest, we can make the aura of the scenery the same as the dream world here, deceive the sleeping dream master's perception, and disguise it as a dream world without causing rejection!"

Chen Qing's mind raced, and he instantly grasped the key point!
Once he understood this, he didn't hesitate any longer. He formed a hand seal and shouted, "Merge!"

The exterior of the stele forest, shrouded in wisps of white mist, suddenly descended, like mercury spilling onto the ground, silently merging into the ground, houses, and streets of a corner of the city!
The next moment, the phantom of the stone tablet overlapped and intertwined with the buildings in the city, as if it had always grown there, and then began to spread, take root and expand in all directions at a speed visible to the naked eye!
"A mere trick, yet you dare to show off your skills before an expert!" Daoist Taijing laughed heartily. Although he hadn't expected Chen Qing to find the loophole in the dream rules so quickly and exploit it, he didn't seem worried. Instead, with a thought, the invisible scroll that enveloped the entire city rippled slightly.

In an instant, the residents of the city who had been walking and chanting scriptures with peaceful expressions suddenly stopped moving. The piety in their eyes disappeared, replaced by a kind of fanatical destructive desire that had been forcibly implanted!
"Tear them down!" a burly man roared first, and with his bare hands, he smashed into the nearest phantom stone tablet. His fists pounded loudly, and he seemed not to feel the blood and flesh being torn open.

"These stone tablets are evil spirits! They obstruct the Buddha's light from shining! They are stubborn stones weighing on our hearts!" an old woman shouted shrilly, and even swung her cane to strike them hard.

Some even pushed in wooden carts loaded with miscellaneous items, shouting to their companions, attempting to use brute force to knock down a section of the stele forest: "Make way! Make way! Don't block our path to the Pure Land of Ultimate Bliss!"

Chopping with knives, chiseling with axes, carrying on shoulders, crashing into vehicles... all sorts of methods were used in succession.

Some people even conjured ropes, crowbars, and other objects out of thin air and attacked the stone tablet like madmen!
The faces of the crowd were contorted, and their obsessive and fanatical thoughts converged into a powerful force of "human will," which acted upon the Stele Forest!
"Buzzing—"

The exterior of the Stele Forest trembled violently. Under the impact of that torrent of "will," it began to retreat step by step, and its expansion was actually stopped, even showing signs of contraction!

Even though the spiritual gate in Chen Qing's abdomen was frantically absorbing and releasing spiritual energy to support him, he still felt immense pressure. In a daze, he even had the illusion that he was fighting against the will of the entire world!
But the next moment, he realized what was happening.

"So that's how it is! That Taoist priest was actually limited by the rules of the dream world and couldn't directly unleash his powerful supernatural abilities to crush them. So he used the supernatural power of the painting to erode and guide the will of these dream beings, using their strength against them! What a clever scheme!"

With a quick thought, Chen Qing saw through the methods of the Taoist Taijing and watched as the Stele Forest shrank under the impact of the tide of "human hearts".

"If you can guide, why can't I corrupt? The external world is a reflection of the mind; corrupting people's hearts is a piece of cake!"

He opened his mouth again and inhaled, drawing the surrounding white mist into his body like a whale sucking water. Then he fully activated the echoing Dao rhyme originating from the Taiyuan Immortal Emperor!
The majestic imperial aura, mixed with white mist, eroded in the opposite direction from the point where the landscape of the Stele Forest merged with the city!

"boom!"

The shrinking forest of steles suddenly trembled, bursting forth with an ancient and majestic aura. Not only did it stabilize itself, but it also expanded outwards once again!
A stream of imperial aura mixed with white mist swept past the residents who were wreaking havoc, and the mist went directly into their bodies through their seven orifices!

Those struck by this wave paused, their fervor fading slightly, replaced by a moment of bewilderment and struggle, as if a suppressed nature deep within them was awakening. Their destructive actions slowed, and some even unconsciously touched the stone tablet, their eyes filled with confusion.

"The hearts of the people are like flowing water; they can carry a boat, but they can also capsize it! Your paintings can guide them, and my imperial style can soothe them!"

As Chen Qing whispered, the expansion of the Stele Forest accelerated suddenly, with large swathes of the city being incorporated into its territory. The phantom images of stone tablets stood majestically among the streets and houses, becoming increasingly integrated with this dreamlike city.

Soon, Chen Qing keenly realized that although the surging Taiyuan Emperor Aura could perfectly combine with the external landscape to amplify its power, it could not be stored or precipitated in the external landscape. Every bit used was a bit less, and it could not recover on its own.

"Only when the outer landscape is initially formed and resonates most deeply with the Taiyuan Ruins can the imperial aura be solidified within it... If the outer landscape is condensed again next time, and we happen to find the Taiyuan Ruins again, we must seize the opportunity to make the foundation of the outer landscape even stronger!"

He thought to himself, then immediately cut off his distracting thoughts and focused all his efforts on expanding the Stele Forest.

The invisible scroll retreated step by step! Because of the drastic changes, Daoist Taijing seemed to have not yet recovered. On the contrary, when the Stele Forest occupied nearly half of the city, Chen Qing's mind was suddenly shaken!
Through the pervasive connection of the imperial aura, he vaguely sensed a vibrant and mysterious aura, brimming with life and dreams!

Following his senses, his mind traced back to an ancient and mysterious teapot, which gradually became clearer before his eyes!
It seemed to be the core of the entire dream, the source of all changes, and then Chen Qingxin had a sudden realization!

"This is the treasure of the dream realm! As long as the external landscape completely covers this city and merges with it, we will surely be able to touch this pot. At that time, breaking free from this realm and even turning the tables will not be a pipe dream!"

At this moment.

"Good! Good! Good!"

Master Taijing clapped his hands and laughed, a hint of admiration in his eyes: "I have repeatedly overestimated you, yet I have always underestimated you! In such a short time, you not only glimpsed the laws governing reality and illusion here, but you have also gone a step further, touching the spirit of the mountain pot! However..."

His tone suddenly changed, becoming menacing.

"Once the image of the pot appears, it's like a high arena has been built! Our wills are now deeply entangled with this dream, leaving no room for maneuver! Trying to escape or block it like we did the last two times is futile! Today, it's not a matter of superiority or inferiority, but of survival!"

"Zizzi-"

Before he finished speaking, Chen Qing felt a loud explosion deep within his Purple Mansion and soul!
In an instant, his senses seemed to be forcibly torn apart and extended, forcibly linked with the thoughts of the 108,000 living beings in the city! Without any deliberate sensing, countless chaotic thoughts, simple wishes, and guided piety surged into his sea of ​​consciousness like a tide.

"It wasn't about control, but rather my will. Using the Stele Forest and Imperial Aura as a bridge, it transformed into a seed that fell into their hearts, becoming a... latent trend of thought?"

Chen Qing immediately understood the root cause of the change.

Almost simultaneously, Daoist Taijing flicked his sleeve, and a gentle breeze arose!

This was a wind carrying the unwavering resolve of the Dao, which swept across the entire city in an instant!
"Work diligently, keep to your duty, dedicate everything, and make offerings to the gods and Buddhas!"

Powerful ideas then grew and expanded wildly in the hearts of 108,000 people!

The single thought of "diligence and dedication" spread like wildfire, quickly occupying the hearts of hundreds of thousands of people. It took root, sprouted, broke through the soil, and began to grow steadily, squeezing the still weak "dissent" that Chen Qing had just sown into a corner, on the verge of being completely extinguished!

The scene in the city changed drastically. The speed of sunrise and sunset seemed to be sped up by someone. All the residents' eyes became single and fervent. They worked busily, consuming their essence and spirit, and continuously transformed the essence and willpower they produced into offerings, which rose up and flowed into the body of Taijing Daoist!
The Taoist's aura rose steadily, and a canopy of dragon energy and Taoist charm appeared above his head.

He grabbed the canopy and threw it into the sky!
"Please reveal yourself, my darling!"

"Om-"

High in the sky, the phantom image of the mountain pot suddenly became clear!

This teapot has a simple and unadorned shape, with no elaborate carvings, only naturally formed cloud and mist patterns, layer upon layer, as if containing endless dreams.

The spout of the teapot emits wisps of steam, sometimes transforming into the illusory image of mountains, and sometimes into the everyday scenes of the marketplace—the very source of this boundless dream!

Master Taijing laughed loudly, took a step in the air, and was about to grab the handle of the pot!

"The will of the people is the will of Heaven! Although I cannot wield this treasure, I should be able to borrow its power to refine the sun and moon within the pot!"

Upon seeing this, Chen Qingjia's pupils contracted sharply. He knew that once the other party gained control of the pot, he and the others who had fallen into this place would be assimilated and devoured by the dream!
"His theory of 'labor offerings' not only aligns with the main theme of this dream, but is also a microcosm of the Celestial Dynasty's order within it. The system is complete, its operation rigorous, and everyone is immersed in it, regarding it as a matter of course. Even if I had a good plan, reversing this entrenched situation in a short time would be as difficult as ascending to heaven… Since we cannot defeat it within the framework, let's find another way—to overturn the chessboard! The chessboard is the shortcut to becoming a chess master!"

In a flash, Chen Qing pointed his fingers like a sword, aiming at the 108,000 guided thoughts from afar.

"Spiritual offerings and distant journeys bring peace and prosperity!"

At Chen Qing's command, many stone tablets in the city trembled simultaneously!

"town!"

Master Taijing laughed heartily, waved his sleeve, and the people of the city immediately united as one, creating ripples that actually suppressed the stone tablet that stood in the entire city!

"You also want to manipulate people's hearts? Unfortunately, people's hearts are not something that can be easily manipulated! Everyone in this city is my ally, which means that I have my footsteps everywhere. Since you have already lost, why struggle? That would be rather undignified. In fact, Li Qing, with your current level of cultivation, it is already beyond my expectations that you have been able to do this. I will probably never forget you for the rest of my life."

With that, he grabbed the handle of the kettle!

"Buzz!"

The pot shook, and ripples radiated in all directions!
But that's it.

"Crack! Crack! Crack!"

With a shattering sound, a few scattered stone tablets in the city suddenly exploded, and several twisted thoughts appeared from them, spreading out in the blink of an eye!
"You can't open the champagne halfway through!" Chen Qing's voice rang out quietly. "Since you've deployed your forces throughout the city, with allies all over the place and bases everywhere, don't you know that if you try to squeeze ten fleas with ten fingers, your strength will be scattered, creating loopholes and weaknesses? Besides, when it comes to manipulating people's hearts, I've probably seen far more than you think!"

(End of this chapter)