The Eternal Wake Sect had barely staggered off Silent Peak before Jin Ye headed home, intent on celebrating his victory with an uninterrupted three-day nap.
He didn't make it past the courtyard before it happened.
The Summons
The air shimmered.
The world went soft at the edges, colors bleeding into each other like wet ink.
A low hum vibrated through his bones — not unpleasant, but insistent.
[System Alert]: External Consciousness Detected
Source: Dream Realm Nexus
Request: Immediate audience with user "Sleep Emperor."
Jin Ye sighed. "Even the dream world won't let me rest now?"
Crossing Over
Before he could refuse, the ground vanished beneath him.
He was suddenly standing on an endless plain of clouds, lit by a shifting twilight sky. Towering shapes of light and shadow drifted in the distance — some humanoid, others… not.
A figure approached, robed in layers of starlight and moonlight, their face a blur that changed every time he blinked.
"Jin Ye," it said, voice echoing like a hundred whispers at once, "your cultivation has destabilized dreamspace itself."
The Problem
Apparently, Operation: Continental Nap had overloaded the Dream Realm.
Billions of minds had entered simultaneously, flooding its "spiritual bandwidth" and causing dream storms, memory leaks, and — worst of all — cross-contamination of dreams.
Some farmer in the north had woken up convinced he was the Emperor of Flames.
A Core Formation elder had spent an entire day believing she was a duck.
The Dream Realm's Offer
"We cannot repair the damage without your cooperation," the robed figure said. "In exchange, we will grant you Dream Authority, allowing you to control the nature of dreams in your domain."
Jin Ye tilted his head. "So… I can make people dream whatever I want?"
"Yes. But if you refuse, the instability will worsen, and reality itself may blur."
[Heavenly System Log]
New Quest: "Dream Negotiations" – Resolve the instability in the Dream Realm before it collapses into the waking world.
Reward: Authority over dreamspace.
Penalty: Spontaneous dream manifestations in reality.
First Symptom in the Waking World
Before Jin Ye could answer, the Dream Realm cracked open — and a giant floating dumpling drifted past.
In the distance, a sword cultivator was locked in combat with a 50-foot-tall rubber duck.
The robed figure gestured. "This is what happens when dream barriers thin."
Jin Ye's Decision
"Fine," Jin Ye said, stretching his arms. "I'll help. But I'm doing it my way."
He requested three things:
A personal Dream Realm courtyard for naps between missions.
The ability to eject anyone who annoyed him in dreams.
A permanent "Do Not Disturb" tag visible to all dream entities.
The robed figure hesitated… but agreed.
The Training
To stabilize dreamspace, Jin Ye had to learn Lucid Dao Weaving — the art of rewriting dreams without waking the dreamer.
His first lesson involved repairing a fisherman's dream where the sea had turned into boiling tea.
His second involved convincing a demonic beast that it wasn't actually a traveling merchant selling cabbage.
By the third, he realized… he could weaponize this.
[Heavenly System Log]
Temporary Skill Unlocked: "Dream Edit" – Alter one aspect of a target's dream to influence their waking behavior for 24 hours.
Warning: Overuse may cause "Dream Loops" trapping the target in repeating scenarios.
The New Threat
Just as he started enjoying the work, the robed figure's form flickered.
"There is… another," it said. "A Dream Marauder. A being who feeds on unstable dreams. They have grown strong from your nap war… and now seek to breach reality permanently."
Jin Ye's eyes lit up. "So I nap entire continents, and now there's a boss fight in the dream world? Fine. Point me to them."