Dreaming to Become a Creator-Chapter 0085 – A Thousand Years of Inner Strength

Chapter 85: A Thousand Years of Inner Strength
In the pitch-black cave, the green-robed figure who had slept for unknown ages slowly opened his eyes. An aura of rebirth spread from his body.
His gaze shifted from confusion to calmness, then finally turned profound. The energy around him transformed from raw youthfulness to heavy maturity, then to ancient wisdom before dissolving into nothingness. Within mere breaths, he seemed to have lived through millennia.
“I’ve returned.”
The hoarse voice sounded like it hadn’t spoken for centuries. This was Zuo Meng, awakened from the Dream World with the accumulated wisdom of an entire realm – a revelation that completely redirected his life’s course.
Before this dream journey, Zuo Meng had planned to obtain cultivation methods from Human Respect Mountain, unlock the real world’s Extraordinary Power, break through the 200-year inner strength limit to become one of the Three Great Lords. At minimum, he wanted more dust powder to spread dream rules into reality. But this Dream World experience shattered his former perceptions.
Six to seven centuries of accumulated experience could fundamentally change a person.
Like how children enjoy playing with mud, but octogenarians find it meaningless. Like rebellious youths cringing at their past selves after becoming parents – time’s flow inevitably changes perception. Zuo Meng’s awakening carried not just time’s wisdom, but an entire world’s legacy.
From his new perspective, his previous plans now seemed childish.
Why follow others’ paths when he possessed a world’s knowledge?
I am the world!
“Two hundred years of inner strength…” Zuo Meng examined his condition.
The inner strength remained at two centuries, but he now understood. What he’d mistaken for world restrictions were actually challenges to overcome. Failure only meant insufficient perception.
“Advance.”
A single thought replaced the old struggles of absorbing dust powder.
His dormant inner strength quivered, then erupted.
200 years.
201 years!
The once impassable barrier shattered effortlessly. Countless trials in the Dream World – where innumerable spirits practicing his cultivation method had breached this limit – finally bore fruit in reality.
Breaking through felt like shedding heavy chains, his soul ascending. Unlike dream power, this was real-world growth. Dream invincibility meant nothing without real-world immortality. Zuo Meng sought more – to Achieve Sainthood and eternal life.
300 years. 400 years. 800 years. 1000 years!!
Within breaths, Zuo Meng converted seven centuries of dream accumulation into real power, magnifying his 200-year inner strength into millennia.
“True power.”
Zuo Meng emerged from the cave.
The mist-cloaked Human Respect Formation remained – the same trap that forced him to dig this cave and enter the Dream World.
“This Formation breaks with a wave.”
Zuo Meng stepped on air, millennia of inner strength elevating his Martial Arts to immortal-tier flight. Solid energy supported him effortlessly.
Walking through mist, he pointed forward.
Crack!
Like breaking glass, clear fractures split the fog.
The mountain peak.
Human Respect’s Dao Field.
The moment Zuo Meng tore through the mist, an enraged roar erupted from the hidden chamber inside Human Respect’s Dao Field.
“How dare you!!”
Every hanging scroll in the chamber trembled violently.
The figures sealed within the scrolls stirred as if alive, sending ripples of energy through the air.
“You broke the artifact, old man. Your new disciple hides secrets.” A twisted figure coalesced in the corner—Dao Zuo, Human Respect’s first disciple. Even Human Respect had failed to Seal him into a scroll.
“Bring him back. I’ll turn him into a landscape painting for the entrance!”
Human Respect’s voice boomed from a scroll near the chamber’s entrance. Though restrained, his fury was unmistakable.
“Haha! You actually loosened my bindings, old fool!”
Dao Zuo sneered. “Where’s your grand contempt for mortals now?”
As the power restraining Dao Zuo faded, his madness flared openly. He made no effort to hide his scorn.
“Three breaths.”
Human Respect ignored the taunts. After uttering those words, silence fell—as if preoccupied with urgent matters.
“Still relying on me, huh? Hahaha!!”
Dao Zuo vanished into a blank scroll with a crazed laugh. The scroll hovered briefly before shooting through the air toward the damaged Formation.
Foot of the mountain.
Zuo Meng squinted at the sun, savoring its warmth after so long.
Behind him, Human Respect’s Dao Field looked unchanged.
But Zuo Meng knew the truth—the mountain’s interior existed like a painting, while the Dao Field itself resembled artwork when viewed from below.
“Human Respect’s secrets run deep. Those scrolls. The odd mirror. Taking disciples at random…”
Secrets meant complications.
And Zuo Meng hated complications.
He’d gained what he needed from this apprenticeship. The rest—Human Respect’s schemes, whatever they were—held no interest. The dust powder gathered here had given him the foundation for two hundred years of inner strength. Without this mountain, he’d have needed decades more.
“Schemes and plots? Not my concern anymore.”
“Time to return to Liuhe Sect.”
He thought of his troublesome Junior Sister and secretive master—his only remaining ties to this world.
Before, he’d lacked power to handle their dramas. Now, with a millennium of inner strength, he almost welcomed the chaos. Let the “protagonist’s” troubles come. He’d crush them.
“Leaving so soon, Junior Brother? We’ve not even spoken!”
A blank scroll unfurled overhead. Black ink flooded downward, morphing into a raging river midair—
A river born from brushstrokes!
Human Respect’s first disciple, Dao Zuo, had arrived.