I Cultivate Immortality With Scientific Thinking

Chapter 44: Dream Divination

A hint of pale white appeared on the horizon, and the warm morning breeze mixed with dew brushed against Lin Chen's face.

To be on the safe side, Lin Chen rushed back to Azure Cloud Sect's Cloud Sun Peak overnight.

And now, he was finally safe.

But what Lin Chen didn't know was that just as he took a sigh of relief and hurried towards the laboratory, a group of unexpected guests arrived at the place where he had fought last night.

Around a huge, charred pit, there were many cultivators wearing spirit armor or blue robes.

The surrounding jungle had been deliberately sealed off, and each cultivator wearing spirit armor, with a sturdy build and fierce expression, was on high alert for any movement around them.

The cultivators in blue robes were constantly searching for traces left behind.

In the center of the crowd, a dignified young man stood tall, accompanied by an old man with white hair and a youthful appearance.

At this moment, the two of them were staring intently at a girl lying on the ground.

The girl had long, pitch-black hair, phoenix-like eyebrows, a straight and delicate nose, cherry-like lips, and a beautiful oval face.

What was even more surprising was that she was cradling a strange plant in her arms.

The plant resembled a reed, red in color, and emitted a faint halo.

This plant was called the "Dreaming Grass"!

There is an ancient record that says, "On the mountain of fire, there is a dreaming grass that resembles a reed, red in color. It buries itself during the day and emerges at night. It is also known as the Dreaming Grass. If one holds its leaves, they will know the good and bad of dreams, a test of truth."

This grass was not naturally born, but was created by the previous generations of cultivators in Azure Cloud Sect, ultimately forming this unique spiritual plant.

Its function was quite simple: when a person held it while dreaming, they could to some extent dream about things they wanted to know.

For example, information about Spirit Pills used to break through bottlenecks, various methods possessed by enemies, the location of precious spiritual objects, and so on.

In simple terms, it allowed one to have thoughts during the day and dreams at night. Those who held it while dreaming could gain some knowledge of the past and future!

If combined with a cultivator who specialized in divination, known as a "Divination Master," there was a certain chance of forcibly predicting the secrets of high-level cultivators.

"Luoshimei's talent in divination is the best in Azure Cloud Sect for hundreds of years. With the Dreaming Grass, obtaining information about an auction should be a piece of cake. Zhang Shidi doesn't need to worry so much," the old man said, trying to comfort Zhang Zhiming, who had a serious expression on his face.

In his opinion, Zhang Zhiming's worries were completely unnecessary.

Perhaps there were indeed some tricks behind this auction, but it was absolutely impossible for the Independent Cultivator Alliance to join forces with the Profound Yin Demon Sect.

Because Azure Cloud Sect, with its inheritance of Soul Formation, had far superior strength and methods compared to cultivators of the same level. In a one-on-one situation at the same cultivation level, the members of the Independent Cultivator Alliance were simply no match for those from Azure Cloud Sect.

The reason why the Lingnan region was currently in a three-way deadlock was not because the three forces were evenly matched, but because of the opposition between Qingyun and Profound Yin Sects, which gave the Independent Cultivator Alliance an opportunity to survive.

If they joined forces to deal with Azure Cloud Sect, would the Profound Yin Demon Sect give up the opportunity to feast on the Independent Cultivator Alliance once Azure Cloud Sect was destroyed?

It was impossible.

And would the Gold Core Perfected Beings of the Independent Cultivator Alliance, who were smart and knowledgeable, not be able to see this obvious result?

Therefore, the old man felt that it was good to have doubts, but there was no need to worry too much.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Zhiming frowned slightly, clearly not agreeing with the old man's words.

He was also involved in this pursuit.

He had already traced the traces of the person who bought the Foundation Building secret technique, but was stopped by two mysterious black-clothed individuals.

Their methods were bloody and ruthless, far beyond what an ordinary Independent Cultivator could compare to, and it was clear that they had come to stop him.

He didn't think it was a coincidence.

Zhang Zhiming pondered for a moment, just about to say something, but was suddenly interrupted.

"Greetings, sir!" A middle-aged cultivator came to their side and respectfully said.

"How is the situation at the scene?" Zhang Zhiming asked.

"We have collected the residual blood of the escaped cultivator and used the 'Sound Wind Wood' to track their presence. However, the other party seems to have used some means to interfere with our perception, so we have been unable to determine their location, and..."

"And what?" the old man beside him asked.

"And we suspect that there is another person among the cultivators at the scene." The middle-aged cultivator quickly added.

"What do you mean?"

"Based on the traces at the scene, we can deduce that the besieged cultivator was seriously injured. But after successfully counterattacking, instead of immediately fleeing, he stayed in place for a while. In addition, there was a pool of corpse fluid left at another location of the battle, which leads us to strongly suspect the presence of another person, but..." The middle-aged cultivator hesitated.

"Speak up!" Zhang Zhiming's face darkened. He hated people who didn't speak their minds.

"Yes, yes!" Feeling the terrifying pressure, cold sweat dripped from the middle-aged cultivator's forehead. "But there are no traces left at the scene related to this cultivator. You see, in a melee involving dozens of people, not only did the other party not receive any injuries, but they didn't even leave a trace of their clothing. It's really unreasonable..."

"I see..." Zhang Zhiming's eyes flickered upon hearing this.

The arriving cultivators were all skilled trackers, so he didn't doubt their deductions much.

"However, a cultivator who emerged unscathed from a melee... Could it be that a cultivator at the Foundation Building Stage made a move?"

Zhang Zhiming thought carefully for a while, but with insufficient information, he couldn't come up with any useful conclusions.

"Now it seems that we can only hope that Ziyuan's dream divination can provide some useful information..."

With this thought, Zhang Zhiming turned to look at the sleeping girl on the ground.

...

In the dream.

A huge, charred pit and the remnants of magic destruction everywhere.

The scene was almost identical to the outside world, with the only difference being that there weren't as many cultivators inside, only a girl with a glowing spirit grass in her hand, her face slightly solemn.

"This is the place." Luo Ziyuan said softly.

Among the various arts of cultivation, the most mysterious one was not the soul manipulation techniques with their various strange methods such as soul calling and soul capturing, nor the witchcraft arts proficient in curses, substitution, and nightmares. It was the art of divination.

Because divination not only influenced luck in the unseen world, but also predicted the past and future. The more powerful practitioners could even glimpse a corner of the legendary River of Time!

Even if they could only observe without interfering, it was enough to demonstrate its mystery and terror!

But being a diviner was not an easy task. Even among cultivators, their talent was considered extremely rare, comparable to Heavenly Spirit Roots in rarity.

And everything had a price, let alone peering into the past and future.

Shortened lifespan, low luck, madness, and so on, there were countless consequences due to the different methods of inheritance and the things being predicted.

The divination technique that Luo Ziyuan practiced was called the "Qinghua Zi Yi Dream Heart Sutra," a technique developed and summarized by the generations of diviners in the Azure Cloud Sect.

Unlike ordinary divination techniques, this method believed that dreams were the intersection of consciousness in this world. Although they were ethereal and elusive, they truly existed.

Not only that, dreams were also a reflection of the real world. They not only recorded all the information in the world, but also seemed to be connected to the Immortal World and even the River of Time, making it possible for various events from the past and future to occur in dreams.

And because of the illusion and changes in dreams, cultivators who entered them could distort the dreams, reversing future events to the present or retracing past events, thus achieving the observation of the future and past!

"This method not only makes it easier to observe the process of events compared to ordinary divination, but also reduces the backlash from heaven and earth. However, it is not without risks..."

Speaking up to this point, Luo Ziyuan looked at the area beyond the glow of the dream grass, a trace of fear flashing in her eyes.

Outside the glow of the dream grass was not the jungle of reality, but a distorted area.

Inverted mountains, rivers flowing upstream, half-human, half-demon monsters... These scenes were not fixed, but changed from time to time, creating a bizarre and fantastical landscape.

Beyond the glow of the dream grass was the depths of the dream, and with her cultivation and strength, once she fell into it, she was likely to get lost, never to wake up again!

"Be careful." Lu Ziyan quickly withdrew her gaze and lightly grabbed the empty space in front of her. Suddenly, a white jade slip appeared in her hand.

This is a jade slip that records the secret method of Foundation Building using spiritual blood. However, it is not real, but a medium formed in her dreams, collecting various information.

"Dreamer, the game of gods, the mirror of knowledge..." With each profound and mysterious chant, the surrounding scene suddenly changed.

The sun rising in the east began to set, and the already dissipating burnt smell gradually became stronger. Faint figures even appeared on the field.

Time seemed to flow backward at this moment!

Then, all the changes suddenly stopped, and two blurry figures appeared on the field.

It was Zhang Hao and Lin Chen!

"Hmm?" Lu Ziyan furrowed her brows slightly.

According to reason, the higher the cultivation level, the harder it is to predict. Why are these two Qi Refining Stage cultivators so blurry in her divination?

"Well, it doesn't matter." Lu Ziyan stared at Zhang Hao's figure and then took steps towards him.

Swish!

Lu Ziyan's figure actually merged directly with Zhang Hao!

Suddenly, the whole world went black.

When Lu Ziyan gradually regained her sight, she heard a noisy sound in her ears.

"Hmph, 9,500!"

"10,000!"

"10,200!"

"This...is the scene of the underground auction?!"

Looking at the underground hall enveloped in the glow of spiritual pearls, Lu Ziyan couldn't help but feel surprised.

She was clearly following Zhang Hao's whereabouts, so why did she end up at the underground auction?!

"Could there be a mistake?" Lu Ziyan pondered for a moment, then turned her gaze towards the scene.

"...This auction is over..." With the departure of many cultivators, Zhao Ming also walked towards the backstage.

Lu Ziyan, who was behind him, flashed her eyes and followed.

Although she didn't understand why this situation occurred, the source of the Foundation Building secret method was also her target of investigation. Since there was a chance to obtain information now, she naturally couldn't let it go.

"Greetings, Elder!" Zhao Ming bowed to a figure that was completely blurred.

"Hmm, get ready..." After a conversation between the two and the muttering of the old man, Lu Ziyan's face became serious.

"The Situ Family, colluding with the Xuan Yin Sect and the Independent Cultivator Alliance's Gold Core family?!"

Thinking of this, Lu Ziyan's eyes flickered, and without hesitation, she walked towards the old man. Crossing realms to divine in dreams would greatly increase the danger and backlash, but she still decided to take the risk.

She must obtain enough information to allow the sect to be fully prepared to face the future unpredictable situation!

Darkness struck again, but Lu Ziyan inexplicably felt a bone-chilling coldness.

"What's going on?" Before she could figure it out, she heard the sound of ticking in her ears.

When her vision recovered, she saw a sloping passage leading underground.

"I clearly predicted information about the Situ Family, why am I here? Could it be that the ancestor of the Situ Family is down there?" The situation that occurred during this divination completely exceeded Lu Ziyan's expectations!

"If you don't enter the tiger's den, how can you catch the tiger cub? I came here to follow the traces, so I have to go down and see what's there."

She hesitated for a moment, but gritted her teeth and continued walking down.

As she went deeper, the surrounding environment became increasingly dim. From a distance, there seemed to be faint cries, giving her a sudden feeling of intoxication, as if she were drunk.

Everything around her seemed hazy and eerie.

The cave walls seemed to come to life, stained with a dark red color, as if blood was seeping out...

And the Dreaming Grass in her hand reacted more intensely, as if it were burning, but its range of coverage became smaller and its light grew dimmer.

Despite the strange scene, Luo Ziyi continued to walk down, seemingly oblivious to it all.

Finally...

Her vision suddenly opened up, revealing an underground cavern.

In the center of the underground cavern was a massive blood pool emitting a strange glow!

Boom!

At that moment, as if reaching its limit, the Dreaming Grass in Luo Ziyi's hand suddenly disintegrated, releasing a brilliant light that shot directly into her eyes!

"This!" Luo Ziyi suddenly woke up as if from a dream, her face changing.

She had been distracted and overlooked everything that was amiss.

Now, awakened by the last power of the Dreaming Grass, she naturally sensed the danger!

"A single prediction mistake could be considered a coincidence, but two times is no longer a simple coincidence."

"There is an unknown terrifying presence that misled my divination!"

Gurgle gurgle!

Just as she regained her senses, the blood pool in front of her suddenly boiled. In an instant, an illusory blood lotus appeared.

"Go!" Seeing this scene, Luo Ziyi made a decisive decision and stopped divining without hesitation.

The bizarre scene before her was beyond her control. She couldn't stay here any longer, or she would encounter unknown risks!

Everything around her became blurry, and her whole figure began to flicker, trying to leave the dream at this moment.

Buzz~

But accompanied by a harsh sound of flesh rubbing against each other, the dream world that should have blurred and dissipated suddenly paused. The blood lotus in front of her became clearer bit by bit!

"How is this possible?!" Luo Ziyi couldn't contain her shock, her face changing drastically.

It was just a divination, and the distance between them was unknown, with the interference of the dream world. Yet the other party could invade her dream with just the scenes in front of her as a medium?!

Even a Gold Core stage cultivator shouldn't be able to do this!

Woo~

In her ears, the mournful cries grew louder, as if thousands of ghosts were wailing. The blood lotus in front of her began to bloom little by little, and the dream turned blood-red. In that instant, Luo Ziyi even sensed the danger of death!

But she was frozen in place, unable to move, only able to watch this scene unfold before her eyes!

At this critical moment, a crisp sound came from the dark red dream.

Roar!

Then, golden flames ignited out of thin air, enveloping her. Within the surging flames, the illusion of a fairy tree emerged.

Twisting and winding branches, an upright posture, and the flame that never extinguished.

"The Mountain of Immortal Beings, with its Immortal Tree, burning day and night, withstands violent storms and unquenchable rain, burning without turning to ashes. It is called the Unquenchable Tree!"

The surging flames instantly enveloped the entire dream, gradually obscuring the increasingly real blood lotus. Then, the entire dream shattered like a mirror!

And in the moment before plunging into darkness, through the cracks of the blood lotus, Luo Ziyi seemed to vaguely see a terrifying blood shadow sitting in the lotus.

(End of this chapter)