From Celestial Official to Great Celestial Venerable

Chapter 103 The Heavenly Book of Household Registration
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In a mysterious realm that seemed both illusory and dreamlike, a butterfly fluttered its wings, creating ripples in the void, before breaking into a bubble.

"Is this the dreamland of Zhao Famo?"

Qin Chuan transformed into a butterfly and fluttered his wings to enter Zhao Famo's dream. However, his heart was slightly furrowed. From the butterfly's perspective, he saw a world of pure white.

There was nothing but white.

Do not……

Qin Chuan quickly spotted a strange color in this white world.

At the very center of this white world stood an old Taoist priest with white hair, sitting cross-legged between heaven and earth, his expression serene and solemn.

"Is this Zhao Famo's dream?"

Qin Chuan was incredulous. He never expected that Zhao Famo's dream would be a scene of him meditating. Not only did no abstract thoughts emerge, but there was also a sense of seriousness. It didn't seem like a dream, but rather like facing a white wall from all sides.

"No, a normal person's dream shouldn't be like this."

Qin Chuan keenly noticed the problem: ordinary people cannot control their desires and thoughts, and these are most evident in dreams, which are the most relaxed time for them. Although cultivators have methods for "stopping thoughts" and "entering samadhi," which can allow them to achieve a certain degree of mental clarity, Qin Chuan was able to see the problem.

Human thoughts are like waves constantly rising on the ocean tide. It's impossible for anyone to maintain a perfectly still mind at all times. If someone could truly achieve such a state, they would be qualified to establish a religion and become its founder.

At least Zhao Famo could never possess such a level of skill.

So the special, even somewhat lifeless 'dreamscape' that Qin Chuan is seeing now, with a person sitting in meditation, is clearly a special training session that Zhao Famo specifically designed for him.

"This must be a special state of mind where one constantly sets up a 'heart lock' to prevent oneself from saying the wrong thing or revealing one's secrets, thus closing the door to one's heart."

Qin Chuan flapped his wings and obtained the following result:

"No wonder Zhao Famo was so confident in the face of the Heart-Questioning Mirror and the Heart-Revealing Mirror. It seems that he had prepared for being tortured and questioned by magic weapons long ago. This preparation started before he was captured, and could even be traced back ten or twenty years."

Then the problem is coming.

If it were only a little over a million spirit essences, there would be no need to inflict such a severe price on oneself. This means that this person must shut down their mind and endure asceticism every day.

This is completely inconsistent with the carefree persona that Zhao Famo boasted about during his interrogation, claiming to be a "lavish eater and drinker" and a "big spender."

"What kind of secret could make him so guarded against his own mind?"

Qin Chuan became even more curious.

Looking at the meditating Zhao Famo in his dream, Qin Chuan smiled inwardly:

"Perhaps this method can help you withstand the interrogation of 'Asking About the Mind' and 'Revealing the Mind.' After all, although these two treasures are magical, they can only reveal the surface of the mind. If a person can even convince themselves that their mind is shackled, then they can completely remain hidden. Unfortunately, dreams are not like that..."

After obtaining the Dream Transformation Butterfly Heart Method and raising it to an unprecedented thirteenth level, he realized that the dream-entering ability of this Heart Method was definitely not just a simple surface dream. It could even lead to dreams within dreams, or even the third and fourth layers of dreams, which were the most important core manifestation areas of a person's mind.

However, the deeper one enters into such a deep dream, the stronger the dream owner's control over the dream becomes. In fact, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that the dream owner in the deepest, most core dream realm is a creator god.

Therefore, those who enter someone else's dream should be extremely careful when entering the deepest, most fundamental dream realm of another person.

Qin Chuan did not intend to enter the lower levels of Zhao Famo's dream realm. Instead, he chose to enter one or two more levels. With his cultivation level, he could freely enter and exit the first three levels of the dream realm.

And so, Qin Chuan's butterfly dreamlike unfolded and merged into the space between Zhao Famo's eyebrows as he meditated.

Colorful scenery flashed around Qin Chuan.

Sure enough, upon entering the deeper second layer of the dream, it was no longer a pure white expanse, but a magnificent golden palace. Qin Chuan, transformed into a butterfly, gently landed on a red tray.

"The Heavenly Venerable of Exterminating Demons has decreed that the Pill Saint must immediately present the 'Eight Treasures Pill'."

The heavenly sounds, like the resounding tolling of a great bell, echoed throughout this divine palace.

From Qin Chuan's butterfly-like perspective, he was astonished to see that, amidst the repeated chanting, the heavenly palace gates opened, revealing a magnificent golden staircase that descended from the ninth heaven.

At the bottom of the steps, a middle-aged Taoist priest in a Taoist robe was carrying a pill furnace. He slowly walked up the steps from the bottom.

The steps were so long that Qin Chuan felt as if the middle-aged Taoist had been climbing for half his life before finally entering the Heavenly Palace. "Your subject Xie Zhimiao was ordered to refine the 'Eight Treasures Pill' for Your Majesty. After forty-nine years, the pill has finally been completed, and I have come to present it to Your Majesty."

The Taoist priest carried the furnace of pills past Qin Chuan, allowing Qin Chuan to remember his face and appearance clearly.

Qin Chuan thought to himself:

"This Zhao Famo is quite bold. In the first layer of his dream, he was an ascetic, keeping his mind hidden. But in the second layer, he immediately revealed his true mind. He actually shares the same dream as me—to climb to the top..."

He sat regally in the ninth heaven, calling himself the Heavenly Venerable.

But who exactly is this Xie Zhimiao?

Qin Chuan gazed at Xie Zhimiao, the alchemist who had come to the Heavenly Palace, and slowly lifted the lid of the alchemy furnace.

He was also watching that place.

Unexpectedly, the moment the alchemy furnace was opened, Qin Chuan and Zhao Famo under the Jade Emperor both changed color, because what was inside the furnace was not a pill... but a head.

Zhao Famo's head!

And he died with his eyes wide open, as if he had died with his life cut short.

"What's going on? Why is Zhao Famo dreaming about alchemy and his own head? Is this Zhao Famo's nightmare?"

But then he saw his own head inside the alchemy furnace. Zhao Famo, who was in the temple, had completely shed his Heavenly Venerable Daoist robes and screamed in horror:
"No, it wasn't me... this isn't my fate!!"

In his panic, Qin Chuan noticed that the entire second layer of the dream immediately collapsed, and heaven and earth shattered together.

The butterfly that Qin Chuan had transformed into immediately fled from her dream.

In this situation, the dreamer was having a nightmare and was forcibly awakened by it. Qin Chuan had no choice but to leave Zhao Famo's dream.

In the prison.

Zhao Famo woke up from his nightmare in a cold sweat and looked around.

At that moment, a ray of moonlight shone through the small window of the prison, illuminating his current predicament and making it seem even more desolate.

The white-haired old Taoist priest suddenly felt a sense of desolation. He leaned slowly against the wall, sighed, and could no longer fall asleep.

Qin Chuan, who opened his eyes in his own home, was talking about the important people and things in Zhao Famo's dream:

"The Sage of Alchemy? Xie Zhimiao? A human head? What do all these mean?"

While dreams are a direct manifestation of the human mind, they are not entirely concrete concepts, but rather an abstract collection of various obsessions and emotions.

These things may just be symbols, but they must mean something important. Otherwise, Zhao Famo wouldn't have hidden them deep in his mind through various means, and even actively added a layer of shackles to his mind to prevent others from spying on his thoughts.

But it doesn't matter. Qin Chuan is now an important part of the judicial system of Jiu Chuan County in the Heavenly Court. If they want to investigate someone, they can do so quickly with just one order.

So, the next day, he went directly to the Youyi Temple and found Wang Mengshi, the sycophantic Taoist priest, and asked him to investigate this person.

"Should we check the records of all Taoist priests named Xie Zhimiao in the entire county, or even the entire blessed land?"

Wang Mengshi patted his chest and said:

"Don't worry, Officer Qin, the results will be available this afternoon."

"So fast?" Qin Chuan was slightly surprised.

Wang Mengshi said, "If you need it urgently, it can be even faster. After all, our Heavenly Court's Household Registration Book records the identities of all kinds of people and hundreds of millions of people. Our Youyi Temple only needs to contact the household registration department of Jing'an to find out quickly."

"No rush, just give me the results this afternoon."

(End of this chapter)