Mirror Dream Tree

Merin sighs and waves his hand, clearing the drifting clouds that blur his vision.

Fifteen days have passed since he killed the metal wolf, and now another beast lies dead at his feet.

Unlike before, he doesn't flee—his strength has grown too much to warrant retreat.

Though his cultivation still rests at the initial Spirit Master realm, his combat power now rivals a middle-stage Spirit Master.

But the mountain remains dangerous, even more so now that he's entered the cloud-veiled heights near the peak.

The beast before him is a lizard-like creature, unfamiliar in form, humanoid, with jagged ridges along its spine and a horn crowning its head.

Merin hadn't intended to challenge such a formidable opponent, especially a late Dharma realm beast, but fate handed him a rare chance.

He stumbled upon it already wounded—its injuries severe, its movements sluggish—and Merin, recognising the opportunity, struck decisively.

Now, standing over its corpse, he knows the energy core is not the only thing worth taking.

This lizard man's physique is unique, and its structure could prove crucial to advancing his Dragon Transformation technique.

Even after merging the shark's life structure, the transformation remained stuck at the peak third level, refusing to break through.

But this creature may be the missing piece—his highest realm specimen yet—and its biology might be what finally pushes his technique to the fourth level.

Without hesitation, Merin hoists the lizard's body onto his back and turns toward the misty crags, scanning for a hidden place to begin his next round of comprehension—one where no beast, man, or sky-bound eye will interrupt him.

Two weeks later, Merin sighs and rises to his feet, having just finished eating the last of the lizard's flesh.

A few hours ago, he completed his comprehension of the lizard's life structure and merged it into his Dragon Transformation technique.

He can sense clear improvement—the adjustments to the body structure have refined the form—but the technique still refuses to break past the peak of the third level.

His Dragon Body, a composite of numerous lizards, snakes, and fish, has become more stable and better controlled thanks to the refined integration.

Though the transformation didn't evolve, the lizard had another benefit: it pushed his understanding of the Rule of Vitality to 0.36%, an increase of 0.08%—his greatest single leap so far.

Encouraged, Merin continues climbing toward the summit, fighting any beast he encounters and studying their life structures for insight.

He reasons that if one beast could improve his comprehension this much, then the stronger creatures near the peak may yield even more.

After another month of constant combat and analysis, Merin finally stands at the Sky Mountain's summit, overlooking the vast world below.

But instead of peace or awe, a deep frown marks his face—he senses violent energy fluctuations erupting from the Yao Continent.

"Has a large-scale battle broken out over there?" he mutters to himself, feeling a sudden pressure of urgency.

Without waiting to see if the Sky Serpent would appear, Merin turns and begins his descent, determined to return as quickly as possible.

Though it had taken him more than two months to reach the peak, it takes only a week for him to descend and arrive at the camp where his group is stationed.

He finds the camp transformed—fences now surround it, and inside, small houses have been built, giving it the look of a budding village.

There's even a gate, though unnecessary, since everyone inside is a spiritualist who can easily leap over it.

Merin does just that and is quickly noticed by his group.

He greets them and senses that everyone's strength has slightly increased since he left.

He then walks into the house where Yanli is staying and, without saying a word, collapses onto the bed.

For the entire duration of his climb, Merin hadn't slept—only meditated to rest his body partially.

But meditation could never match the full recovery of true sleep, and the moment his back touches the bed, he falls into unconsciousness within a minute.

Sometime later, he sinks into deep sleep, his body finally surrendering to rest.

When he wakes, he learns from Yanli that she and the others have retrieved the Cui family's treasure.

Merin checks through the items—most are cultivation resources, the rest gold and jewels.

Seeing that none of the cultivation resources are useful to him anymore, he tells Yanli to distribute them among the rest of the group.

He keeps only the recovery-type resources for himself.

He and Yanli decide to use the rest to grow the group's strength so that when they begin the return journey, they won't lose anyone, even if attacked.

Since that would take time, Merin chooses to leave the camp and hunt beasts to study their life structures, as his comprehension of the Rule of Vitality has already reached 0.98%, just 0.2% away from a full per cent.

He also hopes to find lizard or snake-type beasts to further refine his Dragon Transformation technique.

Merin heads back up the mountain, knowing stronger beasts dwell at higher altitudes.

Three days later, he stops in front of a dense stretch of trees, his gaze fixed ahead.

Suddenly, a terrifying aura locks onto him, making his body tense—an aura so sharp that escape becomes impossible.

He grits his teeth and stays still, curious to see what kind of beast is watching him.

That curiosity is answered a moment later when the ground begins to quake, and a massive head pushes through the trees.

He doesn't know what it's called in this world, but it looks exactly like a T-rex from the Jurassic Park movies.

The towering beast releases a low growl—and then charges forward with a speed that defies its colossal size.

Merin reacts instantly, transforming his skin into scales just as the T-rex swipes its claw across him, hurling him through the air and slamming him into a tree.

He coughs, then pushes himself to his feet, watching as the gash in his shoulder knits itself shut.

"That speed…" he mutters to himself.

"If I'd reacted even a second later, I'd be dead."

The T-rex charges again, its thunderous steps shaking the ground as Merin grits his teeth and rushes forward to meet it.

He clenches his fist and strikes the beast's leg with all the strength enhanced by the artistic conception of strength, but his punch only makes a dull thud, leaving not even a scratch on the T-rex's scale.

Before he can react, the T-rex's tail whips around and smashes into his side, flinging him across the clearing and into a boulder that cracks on impact.

Merin rolls to his feet, pain radiating through his ribs, and darts back in, this time channelling the artistic conception of fire to ignite his right arm.

He strikes again—this time aiming for the beast's eye—but the T-rex ducks low, shoulder-checking him with brutal force, and Merin crashes into the dirt, coughing blood.

He leaps away before the beast's jaws snap shut on him, then sends a series of strikes toward the underbelly, but even there, the scales remain unbroken.

Realising brute force alone won't work, Merin summons all the mana he can muster and, in a flash of light, transforms.

His body stretches, thickens, and twists—becoming a grey-scaled dragon, slightly larger than the T-rex, with golden eyes that glow like suns, wings that spread wide with a sharp snap, and a long, coiling tail lined with hardened scales.

Now towering over the clearing, Merin exhales—and a dense grey mist spills from his maw, sweeping over the forest and shrouding the battlefield in a thick, silent fog.

Merin knows his dragon form is far from perfect—its raw strength still inferior to his rule body, and even that couldn't harm the T-rex's monstrous defence.

So, deep within his core, he releases one drop of origin liquid from the nine stored inside, letting its ancient power flood through his veins like molten light.

As the T-rex roars, the sound tears through the forest and scatters the mist, revealing the towering grey-scaled dragon whose golden eyes now burn with primal clarity.

The T-rex raises its head, only to see a massive claw descending with terrifying speed.

With a thunderous crack, Merin's claw slams into the beast's skull, driving it into the earth and shaking the trees for miles around.

The T-rex thrashes, dazed, dirt and stone exploding around its body as Merin lifts his claw again, muscles surging with origin-fueled strength.

The next strike lands on the beast's neck, cracking a layer of its golden-black scales and drawing its first cry of pain.

Merin roars, the sound echoing through the mountains, and coils his tail before whipping it like a lance into the T-rex's chest, sending the beast skidding backwards in a trench of broken trees.

But the T-rex, though wounded, is not dead—it rises with rage blazing in its reptilian eyes, now forced to recognise Merin not as prey, but as a true rival.

Even though the T-rex now sees Merin as a rival, it is powerless before the surge of strength granted by the drop of origin liquid coursing through Merin's dragon veins.

For one full hour, Merin stands at the peak of the Ancestral Realm—his power immense, though not invincible in this world—yet far beyond what the T-rex can contend with.

The beast charges again in defiance, but Merin meets it with brutal precision, his claw swiping aside its attack and sending it sprawling.

Before the T-rex can recover, Merin lunges forward, jaws opening wide, golden eyes locked on its vulnerable throat.

With a savage snap, his fangs clamp down and rip through the beast's thick hide, muscles, and spine, tearing its throat free in a spray of blood.

The massive body twitches, collapses, and lies still—its dominance over the mountain ended in moments.

Merin remains in his towering dragon form, chest rising and falling, then slowly shuts his eyes.

He turns inward, feeling the profound shift as the rule body fuses into his dragon form, and in that clarity, Merin finally understands why he could never break through to the fourth level of his Dragon Transformation technique.

The bodies of Ancestral Realm beings are forged by the very rules they comprehend, every cell structured according to the essence of those laws.

With his comprehension of the Rule of Vitality finally reaching 1.001%, Merin begins reforging his dragon body under its guidance, letting the transformation unfold through the open gateway of his rule body.

The process accelerates—his cells twist and reshape, his old scales shed like dying leaves, replaced by glistening jade-green scales that radiate pure vitality.

His form expands, growing denser, more refined, breathing with a life force deeper than before, yet when the rule body fades, the transformation is incomplete.

Merin doesn't hesitate—he consumes another drop of origin liquid, forcing the rule body to manifest again, using its presence as a catalyst to push the transformation further.

He burns through the last of his origin liquid, pouring it all into the refining of this form, and an extra day passes as the final threads of change settle into place.

Yet when the process ends, and he tries to return to human form, he finds himself trapped—his transformation technique remains suspended between the third and fourth level, incomplete.

His life origin, too, has reached the same impasse—caught just shy of the threshold needed for a true fourth-level evolution.

Merin sighs, realising there's nothing he can do for now; until his comprehension of the Rule of Vitality reaches ten per cent, he will remain locked in this towering jade-scaled dragon form.

As he opens his brilliant green-gold eyes to the world, he finds a small serpent floating before him, its gaze curious and ancient, and with a single breath, Merin knows it is the Sky Serpent.

Its size means nothing; like Merin now, it can expand or shrink with a thought.