Chapter 456: Butterfly Dream Illusory Realm

More and more people gathered outside Butterfly Valley, scattered across the surrounding mountains. By now there seemed to be several thousand of them—some alone, some in groups of three or five, others gathered in clusters of dozens.

Niu Youdao, who had been periodically studying the surroundings, raised his head to check the sky. If Myriad Beasts Sect's calculations were correct, the time when the Butterfly Dream Illusory Realm opened should be close.

He remarked casually, "Judging by the crowds in Myriad Forms City, there should be far more people attending the Spirit Beast Gathering than this."

Guan Fangyi replied, "There really isn't much to the Butterfly Dream Illusory Realm. Only people who have never been inside feel like they have to see it. Once you've experienced it, there's little point going in again."

She herself had visited long ago and had already explained the situation to Niu Youdao. She had no desire to enter again this time. She was going only because Niu Youdao intended to.

That reminded Niu Youdao of something. Leaning slightly past her, he looked toward Yun Ji and asked, "Senior has never been inside either?"

Yun Ji had her own reasons and did not tell the truth.

"No."

Niu Youdao did not pursue the matter. He stood there with his sword planted before him, but his thoughts began turning. This Mountain Lord had spent so many years in the cultivation world, yet this was supposedly her first time here too? His gaze swept the surroundings again. He still saw no sign of Hou Qingtian, which only deepened his doubts. Could this snake demon really have come here for the first time without even a single subordinate accompanying her?

Standing nearby, Yuan Gang kept glancing toward the slope halfway up the left-hand peak. The distance was too great to see clearly, but he had the persistent feeling that the three Myriad Beasts Sect disciples standing there were paying particular attention to their group.

"I'm getting stiff. I'll walk around a little."

After tossing out those words, Yuan Gang left, the Three-Roars Saber strapped across his back beneath its black cloth covering. Guan Fangyi looked toward Niu Youdao. He said nothing, his face expressionless.

Yuan Gang was a man of few words and normally showed little emotion, so Guan Fangyi often found him difficult to read. But when Yuan Gang spoke and Niu Youdao showed no reaction whatsoever, she immediately sensed the silent understanding between the two men. By now she had gradually experienced just how seamlessly they worked together. Something might be wrong. She began paying closer attention to Yuan Gang's movements.

Yet after watching him for some time, she saw nothing unusual. He merely wandered through the mountains, occasionally exchanging a few words with other cultivators. She could not tell what he was doing. After making a circuit, he returned and resumed his place beside Niu Youdao. Niu Youdao's gaze shifted faintly toward him. Yuan Gang gave an almost imperceptible nod in response. Then Yuan Gang looked once more toward the mountainside.

Niu Youdao followed his gaze, studied the place briefly, and moved his eyes away again as though nothing mattered. The middle finger of one hand resting atop his sword tapped twice against the hilt before both hands settled over it without moving. Guan Fangyi, who had been watching the two of them, looked in the same direction. There seemed to be nothing there except Myriad Beasts Sect disciples. What were those two doing?

Yun Ji's gaze also drifted toward Yuan Gang from time to time. For some reason, ever since arriving here she had felt an aura suppressing her, leaving her inexplicably unsettled. A powerful fear kept rising in her heart. It had not taken long for her to determine that the aura came from Yuan Gang.

There was something about him that made her very soul tremble, as though some existence from the far depths of primordial antiquity were walking toward her and could crush her into meat paste beneath one foot at any moment.

Whenever the wind shifted in their direction and carried that aura toward her more strongly, Yun Ji's heart pounded harder. Her arms and legs even began to weaken, and an urge rose within her to kneel and submit before him.

She knew that if she were not already a demon cultivator with awakened intelligence, capable of thinking and controlling her own behavior, she might truly have crouched submissively at this man's feet. If she had to fight while enveloped by that aura, she suspected her strength would be drastically reduced. Never in her life had she experienced such a terrifying sensation. Yun Ji was deeply bewildered.

What exactly was wrong with this man that he could exert such overwhelming suppression upon her?

Buzz!

The crowds waiting throughout the mountains suddenly stirred as one. Everyone felt the ground tremble faintly beneath their feet, almost like an earthquake. And yet there was no wind. Even the air seemed to have grown stagnant. Birds cried out and fled into the distance. One after another, the people in the mountains turned toward the two swordlike peaks flanking Butterfly Valley.

The mist lingering between them gradually began to heave and roll, as though some colossal creature were stirring inside it. Yet even with the Dharma Eye, no one could see any physical thing causing the disturbance. Soon, everyone's gaze lifted toward the sky. The sunlight was dazzling. People narrowed their eyes and stared at the sun overhead. Yuan Gang glanced up only once before abruptly returning his attention to the surroundings, vigilant as ever.

A flaw appeared in the hanging sun. A dark shadow from nowhere slowly began devouring it, expanding little by little. As time passed, Heaven and Earth gradually sank into darkness, making every living soul gazing upward feel indescribably small. A black sphere came to occupy the center of the sun.

High above, it resembled an evil eye staring down upon all living things, a pitch-black pupil surrounded by a ring of blazing gold. At that moment, a point of brightness appeared within the churning mist between the two mountains. The light seemed to shine from some distant void. It rapidly expanded, spreading like an opening spiderweb, then swelling like a crystal sphere suspended between the peaks. The curtain of light rippled between the two mountains like waves.

Against the world swallowed by darkness, it was breathtakingly conspicuous—gorgeous, dreamlike, unreal. Even Yuan Gang, who had been calmly watching the surroundings, could not help turning his head to look. In his words, there was no scientific reason for such a thing. The fantastical scene genuinely broadened Niu Youdao's horizons as well.

He felt the journey had been worthwhile and murmured with a sigh, "The vast world truly contains wonders beyond counting."

Guan Fangyi said, "The entrance to the Butterfly Dream Illusory Realm has opened!"

The golden ring around the darkened sun vanished on one side and thickened on the other. The shadow covering the sun was clearly moving away.

As light spread across Heaven and Earth like the coming of dawn, the curtain between the mountains gradually lost its brilliant colors. In the end, it resembled an ordinary sheet of rippling water, with little radiance left to distinguish it. When the shadow completely departed from the sun, Heaven and Earth seemed to awaken from a dream. Many of those witnessing the phenomenon for the first time released a breath they had not realized they were holding.

For a moment, the earlier transformation had made them irrationally fear the world might sink into darkness forever. More than a hundred large flying birds circled overhead with riders on their backs.

A small squad of Myriad Beasts Sect disciples guarding the curtain suddenly charged into it and disappeared as though vanishing into empty air. A while later, someone emerged again to report that entry was safe. Large numbers of Myriad Beasts Sect disciples then went inside first. Only afterward did the guests waiting outside Butterfly Valley begin entering one group after another, each vanishing into the watery curtain.

The scattered crowds converged toward the space between the peaks and entered in sequence. Some people showed obvious hesitation just before stepping through.

Niu Youdao looked at Yuan Gang. "Do you want to wait outside?"

He was worried the interior might be unsafe.

Yuan Gang replied, "I'll see it for myself."

Niu Youdao did not force the issue. He raised one hand in invitation, and the group followed the gathering crowd toward Butterfly Valley.

Only when they reached the rippling curtain did they realize its opening was probably ten zhang square. The entrance opened into the Butterfly Dream Illusory Realm was quite large and could accommodate many people entering simultaneously. Tang Yi waved one hand.

Su Po led several Shangqing Sect disciples forward and disappeared through the curtain first, plainly intending to clear the way and protect this side. Whether Niu Youdao appreciated the gesture was another matter. Yun Ji went through next. Yuan Gang followed immediately behind her. Niu Youdao looked to either side. His gaze swept over Chao Shenghuai, who stood among those guarding the entrance, without seeming to pause in the slightest. Protective qi surged around Niu Youdao's body.

Then he stepped into the watery curtain as well. A considerable resistance pressed against him from within the waterlike barrier. An ordinary mortal clearly would not be able to enter. Once he broke through that resistance and took another step, it was as though he had crossed directly into a different world. A pitch-black world. The watery curtain seemed to separate night from day. Above stretched a sky filled with countless stars, the Milky Way brilliant and dazzling.

Darkness lay immediately around them. Yet the distant earth glittered like another field of stars, points of light shining everywhere.

"Keep moving! Don't block the people coming in behind you."

First-time visitors inevitably stopped and looked around in amazement. The Myriad Beasts Sect disciples who had entered ahead of everyone and taken positions around the gateway therefore repeated the warning over and over.

Niu Youdao and the others moved away from the entrance immediately so they would not be struck by those coming through behind them. Many other newcomers did the same, remaining nearby for the moment as they studied the strange environment. There was no wind inside the illusory realm. Everything was deathly still. The air was saturated with an indescribably rich fragrance, so sweet and heavy it was almost cloying.

Niu Youdao lowered his head toward the ink-black grass beneath his feet. It was the source of that unpleasantly rich scent. Although this was his first time inside the Butterfly Dream Illusory Realm and his first time seeing this grass, he had read a description of it in the Shangqing Record of Gleanings. The grass was called Light-Repelling Grass. It grew in darkness and released an unusual fragrance capable of killing other plants.

Myriad Beasts Sect had transplanted it here from the outside world. There was a reason for introducing it. The Butterfly Dream Illusory Realm was a world of darkness, yet almost all the plants growing here were capable of emitting light. Light-Repelling Grass suppressed those plants.

According to the records, the area around the entrance had originally glowed just like the distant lands, covered with luminous vegetation. Now those plants had all been killed by the Light-Repelling Grass. The purpose of transplanting the grass had not been to destroy the glowing vegetation for its own sake. It had been introduced to deal with the countless Butterfly Rakshasas inhabiting this world.

They could almost be called the masters of the realm: butterfly demons capable of soaring freely through the air. They rejected creatures from the outside world and attacked any living thing they saw, including cultivators who entered the realm. The name Butterfly Dream Illusory Realm came from them. The fragrance of Light-Repelling Grass happened to suppress the Butterfly Rakshasas. The creatures could not tolerate the scent and would avoid it from far away, unwilling to approach.

That meant this place was both safe and dangerous. As long as one remained in the dark zones where Light-Repelling Grass grew, one was safe. The moment one entered the territories covered by luminous plants, danger rose sharply. One could face an endless assault by Butterfly Rakshasas. The monsters attacked with astonishing speed and could maneuver nimbly through the air, making them extremely troublesome opponents.

This was also why several of the secret realms left behind by Shang Song in the era of the Wu Dynasty had been occupied by several supreme experts, while the Butterfly Dream Illusory Realm alone had not. It had been left for others to manage instead. At present, Myriad Beasts Sect was responsible for it. Almost all the Light-Repelling Grass near the entrance had been transplanted by the sect.

Even after all these years, however, the area covered by Light-Repelling Grass remained tiny compared with the vast territory of the Butterfly Dream Illusory Realm. It was nowhere near enough to occupy the whole realm. And if the Light-Repelling Grass could not spread everywhere, then people from the outside could not occupy the entire place either. To outsiders, enormous portions of the Butterfly Dream Illusory Realm remained completely unknown. The reason was simple.

For one thing, Light-Repelling Grass could not simply be tossed onto the ground and expected to live. More importantly, the Butterfly Dream Illusory Realm remained open for only three days.

That meant even if Myriad Beasts Sect used flying mounts, any area where it planted Light-Repelling Grass could extend no farther than roughly one and a half days' journey from the entrance. After all, everyone still needed enough time to return.

[End of Chapter 456]