Okay,
Yang Hong was eating in the immortal realm within his dream when his consciousness gradually returned. However, this dream was so amusing that he decided not to wake up.
He wanted to see where the dream would end.
Then, based on the novels and comics he had read in his past life, he incorporated the Divine Realm, realms above the heavens, and the Primordial World. He even prepared the Chaos World and the Primordial Chaos World.
Unfortunately, this dream of feasting was brought to an end.
Then he began to observe his many, many dreams.
In some dreams, he became a Demon Lord; in others, an Immortal Lord or a Demon Emperor. Some dreams saw him stop at being an earthly emperor.
However, in every single dream, Yang Hong grew into a thoroughly wicked and villainous person.
As Yang Hong watched, he became completely lucid. He realized he had been ensnared by the sorcery of that garrulous Ghost Emperor.
He noticed that in all his dreams, he had never come into contact with Buddhism.
Even when he had supposedly annihilated Buddhism, it was a mere flash, a declaration that Buddhism had been destroyed.
This was the Ghost Emperor's way of preventing Yang Hong from awakening his Buddhist nature and heart.
Yang Hong continuously tried to find the Ghost Emperor's presence, but with his current cultivation and abilities, he could not detect him at all.
He couldn't even break free from the dream and wake up.
All he could do was influence the dream-self to make decisions and prolong the dream's duration.
"Huh? My soul seems to be becoming more solidified."
After experiencing nine dreams, Yang Hong unexpectedly discovered that although he still couldn't wake up, as each dream began anew, he gained a miraculous energy that nourished his soul.
Moreover, the longer the dream, the more of this miraculous energy he obtained.
"Heh heh~ Is this some kind of cultivation technique within dreams?"
Starting from the tenth dream, Yang Hong deliberately extended the dream's length, incorporating various worlds, even including worlds from comic books and Western mythology.
What Yang Hong didn't know was that this miraculous energy was the soul origin of Lord Keshuo, the demon lord.
Even a trace of it was equivalent to the soul energy of an ordinary Nascent Soul cultivator.
And constructing a dream required a trace of his soul origin.
After each dream world concluded, Yang Hong could absorb half of its energy.
This half of the soul origin energy was initially voluntarily separated by Lord Keshuo and integrated into Yang Hong's soul,
The purpose was to corrupt Yang Hong's soul, preparing for his subsequent possession.
Yes, possession!
Lord Keshuo initially only intended to devour Yang Hong's soul, restore his strength, and escape his seal.
However, upon seeing the Divine Realm within Yang Hong's dream, he mistakenly believed Yang Hong was a reincarnated being from a world higher than the Immortal Realm.
This ignited a greater ambition within him:
He would possess Yang Hong, use his body to ascend, and ascend again.
Demons, in their pursuit of power, are never satisfied.
Then, Lord Keshuo began to doubt his life.
He used 1,000 threads of soul origin to create 1,000 consecutive dreams. He infused 500 threads into Yang Hong's soul, yet he still couldn't control Yang Hong's soul,
He couldn't even enter Yang Hong's soul.
One must remember that Lord Keshuo was currently sealed and his soul origin was limited.
100 threads of soul formed a wisp of soul; 100 wisps formed a strand; 100 strands formed a complete soul.
The current Lord Keshuo only possessed 10 strands of soul origin,
The soul origin that descended upon this Ghost Emperor was one strand.
This immediately depleted a tenth of his power.
"Holy crap! I can't wait any longer!
Even if it means awakening this reincarnated soul of the Buddhist immortal, I'll possess him directly!"
Lord Keshuo also realized that Yang Hong was a slow bleed,
And it was Yang Hong himself who was willingly bleeding to him!
Immediately, before the 1001st dream could conclude, it shattered.
Outside Yang Hong's body,
Lord Keshuo, utilizing the soul origin that Yang Hong had not yet digested, transformed the entire Ghost Emperor's body into a streak of black demonic light and directly charged into Yang Hong's spiritual aperture, bypassing the golden light of merit and the golden light of salvation surrounding Yang Hong's body.
"Boom~ Rumble~"
Yang Hong, who was spectating within the dream, suddenly felt space explode, and the dream vanished.
He found himself on a sea of purple and gold.
"Little one! I don't care who you've reincarnated from, I'm going to devour you now!"
Before Yang Hong could react, a colossal black figure appeared before him.
The figure was 298 feet tall, with a human torso, a snake's tail, a wolf's head, tiger claws, and scales, a complete amalgamation of bizarre monsters.
"Who are you? Where is this?"
Seeing the monstrous figure, Yang Hong had a guess, but he still instinctively asked.
"Heh heh~ So, you're human, not a demon!"
Lord Keshuo naturally did not answer Yang Hong's question. He first examined Yang Hong's soul and then he laughed.
"Haha~ By the favor of the Demon Ancestor, I've encountered such an excellent vessel.
With this vessel, cultivating to Demon Emperor is no longer a dream."
"Ant, merge with me."
As he spoke, Lord Keshuo, ignoring Yang Hong's curious expression, opened his massive maw and lunged at him.
"Merge? You mean devour me, don't you?"
Yang Hong felt the overwhelming greed emanating from him and let out a laugh.
Immediately, his figure vanished from its original spot.
"As I thought, this is my sea of consciousness."
Yang Hong reappeared on the other side of the purple ocean.
Within this seemingly boundless purple sea, whose edges his divine sense couldn't discern, Yang Hong could leave with a mere thought.
However, the range of his movement was limited to what his divine sense could cover.
"A mere human, with a sea of consciousness only nine li wide. What use is your running?"
Lord Keshuo was not surprised when Yang Hong disappeared. This was a maneuver that even a Foundation Establishment cultivator could learn, moving within the sea of consciousness.
"Now~ Tremble, ant!"
Lord Keshuo's soul form began to rapidly enlarge and thin out.
In just a few breaths, Yang Hong's purple sea of consciousness was enveloped by black mist.
"Hahaha~ A purple-gold sea of consciousness. Such soul quality is worthy of me, this demon lord. This body is mine."
Yang Hong flickered several times but still couldn't escape. Soon, his soul form was covered by the black fog.
Immediately, countless malevolent thoughts of slaughter, lust, chaos, savagery, and brutality flooded Yang Hong's mind.
If the previous dreams were about making Yang Hong commit evil day by day, year by year,
Then Lord Keshuo's possession now was about making Yang Hong experience millennia and eons of evil in a single instant.
The simplest analogy would be forcing 10,000 liters of ice into a 100-milliliter mineral water bottle.
It seemed Yang Hong's soul was instantly blown apart.
"Hahaha~ Human souls are so fragile, they burst in an instant.
Hahaha~~"
Lord Keshuo's frenzied and ecstatic voice echoed throughout the sea of consciousness.
The previously still purple ocean instantly churned with monstrous waves.
In the center of the purple-gold sea of consciousness, a patch of black began to spread rapidly,
Soon, the purple-gold sea of consciousness turned black-purple.
"Haha~ I succeeded, I succeeded! I will break the seal, I will devour the entire Taiyuan Continent!
I will devour the entire Immortal Realm, I will devour the entire Divine Realm, and I will devour the realms above the heavens!"
"Haha~ Hahaha~"
Lord Keshuo's laughter, starting from Yang Hong's sea of consciousness, continued until it reached reality,
His wild laughter echoed for ten thousand li around.