The pregnant woman said to Zhou Xuan, "I am the Ginkgo Tree Woman, the Queen here. Welcome home, my king."

"King, Queen?"

Zhou Xuan suspected the pregnant woman at the bottom of the pool was talking nonsense.

But Miss Qiang said, "Ah Xuan, quickly look..."

"Look where?"

"Look at your Secret Realm."

Miss Qiang shouted.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Xuan immediately focused his mind on his own Black Water Secret Realm.

In that vast expanse of black water, Zhou Xuan also saw an emerald green pool, in the center of which grew a remarkably tall Ginkgo Ancestor Tree.

At the bottom of the pool lay hundreds of pregnant women, all with eyes closed, as if peacefully asleep in the water. At this moment, a drop of black blood began to gather from the tip of the Ginkgo Tree. As the droplet became fuller, it plopped into the deep pool.

That drop of blood spread out in the pool’s water, becoming countless strands of moving blood.

The blood strands kept changing, like ink dispersing in water — who knows how long later, the strands began to form a soul, a phantom, gently swaying in the water, its appearance subtly changing with the movement.

Yet no matter how it changed, Zhou Xuan could see — the soul formed in the pool from blood was... himself.

"My king, come home, return to my embrace."

"The embrace is gentle, with the comfort and tranquility you need."

The pregnant woman in the deep pool opened her arms towards Zhou Xuan — Zhou Xuan’s spirit wavered, and he seemed to see scenes from his own life.

He grew up in the pool’s water, transforming from that drop of blood into a soul, and from a soul into a human.

These life scenes, Zhou Xuan had never experienced even for a moment, but he felt a strange sense of illusion — as if this "born from blood in the deep pool" scene was his truest past.

His eyelids grew weary immediately, slowly dropping, and his eyes almost couldn’t stay open.

An unprecedented fatigue surged and grew stronger within him.

He very much wanted to topple into the pool water, heed the pregnant queen’s words, and return to her embrace.

"These are illusions, illusions created by the pool water for me."

Zhou Xuan clung to his last shred of reason. If this final shred of reason were extinguished, he would truly fall into a deep sleep, and once asleep, whatever happened thereafter would be out of his control.

"Lao Yun, release the dragon, the Earth Abyss is controlling my mind."

At this, Zhou Xuan re-gathered a bit of resolve, using Bone Teeth to cut his right hand, dipping the Bone Teeth in blood to draw "Sukuna Hand" in the air.

A moment later, the Sukuna Hand was completed.

"Nuo God Divination."

Zhou Xuan, using the "Divination Skill," enhanced his incense from five sticks to the strength of seven sticks.

"Release the dragon, Lao Yun."

Zhou Xuan turned to look at Yun Ziliang, only to find that Yun Ziliang appeared drunk, staggering around while speaking, "Hidden Dragon Mountain, I’m back, Fourth Child, Ninth Child, I hope you all are well."

"I got drunk, made a grand dream in the pavilion on our Hidden Dragon Mountain, dreamt that you all were killed, and then hid in a painting for three hundred years."

"Three hundred years later, the time has passed, and I heard a singer named Bai Guang. Her song was particularly beautiful — I also met a young man named Zhou Xuan, a True Dragon of the human world..."

Yun Ziliang was sharing his "three-century-long dream experiences" with invisible disciples, relatives, and friends.

Clearly,

Yun Ziliang had also been bewitched by the dream dropped by the Ginkgo Ancestor Tree.

"Could it be that the things in this Earth Abyss really are the Dream Realm Heavenly God?"

"No, definitely not the Dream Realm Heavenly God. If it were... why didn’t I perceive the taste of a dream?"

Zhou Xuan always thought that the scenes he saw were illusions, not dreams.

There are many types of illusions, and dreams are just one kind of them.

"The ninth mode of the storyteller — I am the Dream Master."

Lao Yun was already bewildered, as was the Painter; only Zhou Xuan maintained the last bit of clarity.

He had to make a desperate gamble; otherwise, his fate might be the same as Liu Pingyao’s and the Warriors who unburdened the mountains decades ago, forever remaining in the depths of the Earth Abyss.

He thought of a method to escape Buddha’s son’s "Six Desires" and used the method of "I am the Dream Master" to isolate himself from the world.

Outside the world is beyond the world, I am me, my dream separates me from the world — outsiders cannot disturb me, and I can see the whole world clearly.

"I am the Dream Master."

Zhou Xuan flicked the Sound Wood that slid out from his sleeve,

with a click,

Zhou Xuan transformed into an independent dreamscape,

in this little dreamscape, he, Zhou Xuan, was the sole will, no longer affected by outside disturbances.

However,

in such an independent dreamscape, Zhou Xuan still saw some strange scenes — he stood above the emerald deep pool, wearing a Daoist robe, while the pregnant queen was tying his hair, speaking in an extremely gentle tone,

"My king, you were born from blood, victorious because of blood, and ultimately, you will also lose your humanity because of blood. Jing Country is irredeemable mud; if you truly can’t save it, return to the deep pool, where we will slumber together, waiting until after a millennium to revive, to awaken."

"My king, I welcome your return."

The pregnant woman finished speaking and gave Zhou Xuan a hug from behind.