Chapter 005: Dreams

All eyes, filled with malice, turned toward Isella at the same time.
Isella shook her head repeatedly, saying, “It’s not me… it’s not me… this has nothing to do with me… Besides, I, the great Emerald Dragon Isella, have never resorted to such tactics…”
Before she could finish speaking, Chenchen snorted and raised her hand.
Isella fell silent instantly, looking at Chenchen pitifully, almost on the verge of crying.
Her fierce appearance earlier stood in sharp contrast to her current state, leaving everyone feeling inexplicably strange.
Chenchen glanced at her a few times and said, “You said earlier that you were part of a dream or something. Even if you can’t create an Emerald Dream, you must know some dragon speech magic, right? Use your useless brain to look around carefully and think hard. If you can’t find a way to break this illusion within a minute, then you’re completely useless.”
Isella naturally knew that her new master was someone who would definitely follow through on what she said. She didn’t even dare to argue and began to jump around. Moments later, she crawled back in front of Chenchen and said, “Great master, based on my meager abilities, the magic we’re under is indeed dragon speech magic. It’s not difficult to break—it just requires using a strong mental force to create a gap in this image, and then the magic can be dispelled.”
Chenchen nodded in satisfaction. She closed her eyes and slowly spread her mental force outward. A faint pressure emanated with it, causing the entire space to tremble rapidly.
Yet even so, this mental fluctuation still couldn’t break the dragon speech magic surrounding them. Chenchen frowned slightly and continued to expand her mental force. This time, a few faint black dots appeared in the scene before her.
Du Fan had been preparing for this for a long time. He seized the opportunity to send his mental force out, passing through those black dots. Vaguely, he seemed to see a whole new world.
Deep darkness, like a tide, swallowed up the space that had existed earlier. Faint lights in the darkness illuminated where everyone was.
Du Fan and Chenchen exchanged a glance, and their mental forces spread out again.
This time, their immense mental forces explored the profound darkness for a long time but failed to find any edges, as if it were truly an endless place.

Du Fan slowly retracted his mental energy. His gaze swept around, and he couldn’t help but exclaim, “What kind of place is this exactly…?”
At his words, the others also looked around with curiosity.
Du Fan observed for a while longer and used his mental energy to explore several times before finally figuring out what kind of existence this so-called space was.
In the profound darkness, there were countless bright spots in all directions—front, back, left, and right. In Du Fan’s mind, it was somewhat like being in space.
But it wasn’t a space station; rather, it seemed to be rows of… “bookshelves”…
These so-called bookshelves were made of dull-colored stones and were extremely tall.
It seemed they were filled with all kinds of books.
Moreover, these bookshelves were connected together in layers, and the area where Du Fan and the others stood seemed to be the back of one of these bookshelves.
And these bookshelves seemed to have no support, floating just in the darkness, unknown for how many years.
Du Fan had a vague sense that he might be imprisoned here for life.
At the thought of this, and seeing the utterly void-like darkness around him, even someone as bold as him couldn’t help but break into a cold sweat.
After looking for an unknown length of time, Du Fan finally shook his head slowly and sighed, “The person who created this place… really… has great taste! But then again… Isella… Xiaolonglong… if you tell me again that you still don’t want to come here, then you’re truly useless.”
Isella nodded slightly, as if remembering something. Her fleshy wings fluttered as she flew dozens of meters up before landing again. After a moment, she said, “This place… gives me a very familiar feeling… It seems like I’ve been here before… but I still can’t remember where it is… However…”
“However what?” Chenchen couldn’t help but ask this time.
Isella glanced at Chenchen and said respectfully, “However, great master, you should still tell your friends to be careful here. If they accidentally disrupt these bookshelves or step off them… the consequences…”

At this point, Isella stopped speaking. A rather human-like mocking expression appeared on its dragon face, as if it had remembered something pleasant. Chenchen snorted coldly and said, “Finish what you were saying. Next time if you leave your sentence unfinished, be careful about your head.” Isella shuddered. It had become overly proud for a moment and forgotten that it was no longer the free Dragon God but merely a mount for someone else. Yet Isella, the flattery-loving dragon, reacted quickly. It quickly covered its face and pressed itself close to Chenchen, speaking in a humble tone, “Respected master… I won’t dare do it again…” “This place isn’t actually that terrifying. But if I’m not mistaken, this should be the essence of the Emerald Dream controlled by our Green Dragon clan. In this endless darkness we’re in now, there are probably many places like this, but they’re not connected. Moreover, even our Green Dragon clan, known as the Dragons of Dreams, dare not wander around here recklessly. You see, unless your power surpasses that of the supreme and great Dragon God, falling outside will cause the magic inherent in the Emerald Dream to seal away your combat energy, magic, and mental strength. Then you’ll just drift around in this dream, never able to return.” Isella hesitated for a moment before continuing, “Of course, if you’re extremely lucky and happen to pass by some place like this while drifting, and if you can get onto it, there’s still a chance of escaping. But such a chance is probably less than one in a thousand. Those who drift in the Emerald Dream, whether humans or dragons, mostly just watch from afar as things pass by. They know they could leave this place with just a little more effort, but those few centimeters remain unreachable forever… The agony of waiting for death in mid-air… isn’t easy at all… And the feeling of gaining a sliver of hope in despair, only for it to vanish in an instant, is extremely painful.” Even Chenchen couldn’t help but feel a chill upon hearing Isella’s words, let alone the others. Du Fan glanced at the bookshelves around them and asked, “So what consequences would arise if you messed up these bookshelves?”

Isela let out a soft hum and after a moment, she slowly said, “That makes things even more troublesome… With bookshelves like these piled up here, as long as nothing external interferes, their existence in the Emerald Dream will be eternal. But if some force disrupts this balance, the only consequence is… all those bookshelves scattering apart. If we’re lucky, they’ll turn into separate places. If not, those on the bookshelves will just have to wander around in the Emerald Dream along with them.”

Du Fan also felt a chill run down his spine. He looked down at the bookshelves beneath his feet. He hadn’t noticed anything before, but now he felt as if they were slightly shaking. Though he knew it was probably just his imagination, he was still scared.

No matter what happened in such a place, not to mention Du Fan’s lack of strength, even if he had the same strength as Chenchen, he probably wouldn’t be able to do much. Yet he didn’t want to lose face in front of Isela. With a light hum, he said, “You make it sound so amazing. Isn’t it just a magical space? Your dragon race’s dragon speech magic may be mysterious, but I’m not completely helpless against it.”

Isela nodded gently, but Du Fan saw a hint of amusement in her eyes. He knew his words were useless, so he could only sigh slightly.

Chenchen glanced at Du Fan and whispered, “Don’t talk nonsense. The power of the gods is beyond your imagination… Although the Dragon God is just a minor deity, this Emerald Dream is largely part of his divine domain. Not to mention holy-level powerhouses, even domain powerhouses are helpless against a god. Even if we’re just facing this Emerald Dream, what’s the difference from facing a god? It’s better to avoid trouble if possible. Let’s quickly explore the area. If there really is the source of that god, we can take it with us. If not, we should leave soon. After all, this place is different from the outside world. Even I’m not sure I can escape unscathed. Plus, we sensed that powerful pressure earlier but don’t know exactly where it is. So it’s definitely not safe to stay long. We’d better leave right away.”