1: Chapter 1 The Dream Realm Opens, Reality is Forged from Illusion

Zhou Meng's greatest hobby was sleeping.

It wasn't because of exhaustion, but because his dreams were always exceptionally... imaginative. While others were being chased by monsters or reliving embarrassing moments in their dreams, he might be roaming the sea of stars on a whale made of photons, or listening to a flower recount the geological changes it had witnessed.

Today, after finishing another unremarkable day of corporate drudgery, Zhou Meng lay on his not-so-soft single bed and decided to do something big.

"Since reality is so skeletal, then I'll create a world in my dreams."

This idea didn't come out of nowhere; it was the accumulation of years of reading countless mythology and Xuanhuan novels. He closed his eyes, and his consciousness gradually sank into that boundless Chaos that belonged to him.

There was no up, down, left, or right here, no time or space, only colorful, distorted light and shadows, and whistling energy flows originating from his own Mental Energy. In the past, he was merely a passerby and observer of this Chaos, but today, he wanted to become the Dominator.

"There shall be a heaven, there shall be an earth, and there shall be rules."

He concentrated all his "Dream Mental Energy"—a mental power he could wield as easily as his own limbs, tempered through countless bizarre dreams. This power converged at the core of his consciousness, transforming into a scorching light source, like the singularity of the Big Bang.

"Imitating Pangu—Open!"

There was no giant axe; his will was the sharpest blade. The mental core exploded with a bang—not in destruction, but in creation. The clear Qi, carrying a sense of rising lightness, was endowed by him with the concept of "Light and Soaring"; the Turbid Qi, carrying a sense of sinking heaviness, was endowed with the attribute of "Coalescence."

But that wasn't enough. With another thought, Zhou Meng remembered the mysterious Daoist method of "Severing the Three Corpses."

"My Good Thoughts shall return to the Clear Heavens!"

He stripped away all his yearnings for beauty, his pity, and his kindness, merging them into the rising clear Qi. In an instant, that originally void clear Qi seemed to gain a Soul, becoming crystal clear and lofty, containing the essence of order and compassion, evolving on its own to construct an invisible network of the "Heavenly Dao."

"My Evil Thoughts shall sink into the Turbid Earth!"

He then stripped away his hidden anger, jealousy, greed, and destructive desires, injecting them into the sinking Turbid Qi. The Turbid Qi instantly became deep and resilient, filled with the dual potential of gestation and destruction. They intertwined and solidified, forming the Foundation of the "Earthly Dao" that carried everything.

"Finally, my Stray Thoughts shall transform into all things!"

Thoughts flew—love, hate, passions, the desire for knowledge, for creation, for destruction... all the complex musings that couldn't be categorized into pure good or evil were scattered like the most active seeds between the forming heaven and earth. These Stray Thoughts combined with Dream Mental Energy, transforming into wind, fire, water, and earth, into mountains, rivers, lakes, and seas, and into flora, fauna, and insects, constituting a vibrant yet bizarre "Mortal Dao" world.

Clear Qi (Good Thoughts) became heaven, Turbid Qi (Evil Thoughts) became earth, and all things (Stray Thoughts) resided in between.

A crude yet structurally complete Dream World with initial authority was born with a bang in his consciousness!

An indescribable sense of fatigue and satisfaction swept over him simultaneously. And at that moment, an unprecedented mutation occurred.

He felt a certain "boundary" of his being shattered. The solid Bastion between dream and reality cracked like glass. A completely new, incomprehensible flow of information flooded his mind, condensing into a clear concept—[Turning Falsehood into Reality].

He could feel that as long as he was willing and paid a sufficient "price," he could bring anything from the Dream World into the Real World—whether it was that sword of will hanging beneath the Heavenly Dao, the flame of destruction gestating deep within the Earthly Dao, or even some strange little beast among the myriad things of the "Mortal Dao"!

At the very moment he realized this Talent, he "saw" the existence of a power. It was everywhere, in wisps and strands, breeding from the functioning Dream World and seeping in from countless more distant and blurry "sources." They merged into invisible streams, flooding into his body and gathering in the depths of his consciousness.

[Dream Power].

Information instinctively told him that this was the fuel driving [Turning Falsehood into Reality] and the cornerstone maintaining the existence of this newborn Dream World. Those distant "sources" were actually other people in reality who were sleeping and dreaming! Their dreams and their mental activities were invisibly producing trace amounts of Dream Power, and as the Lord of the World and the owner of the Talent, he instinctively absorbed these dissipating powers.

"A world... is providing me with power, and even... drawing it from the outside?" Zhou Meng was shocked by this sudden, grand setting.

Before he could carefully experience it, an even more startling change occurred. Perhaps it was the fluctuation generated when the [Turning Falsehood into Reality] Talent awakened, or perhaps the newborn world instinctively sought faster development, but he clearly perceived that a significant portion of the gathered Dream Power was automatically being called upon by the world core. Following certain underlying rules he had set—Mortal Dao Laws regarding "stories," "experience," and "growth"—it began to condense and take shape.

It had no fixed form; it was more like a conceptual program, an invisible System, a supreme creation of rules. It absorbed all the settings regarding "Infinity-style" novels from Zhou Meng's memory, merging concepts like the "Main God Space," "Task System," and "Reward Points."

Finally, it manifested as the first "living being" of this world—the [Infinite Main God].

It had no consciousness, only absolute, cold rules. Its mission was singular: to capture the consciousness of humans in the Real World who possessed strong mental fluctuations (especially those dissatisfied with the status quo, longing for miracles, or mentally empty), and pull (a portion of their mental projection) into "Task Worlds" built by the Dream World's power, based on Real World films, literature, or pure fantasy.

It would let them struggle, fight, realize, and grow within them.

Every intense emotional fluctuation, every realization on the edge of life and death, every bit of mental tempering and elevation... would produce [Dream Power] ten or a hundred times stronger than ordinary dreaming! Most of this power would be absorbed by the Dream World and Zhou Meng, while a small portion would be fed back to the participants themselves, subtly changing their mental essence.

...

The morning sunlight pierced through the gaps in the cheap curtains, stinging Zhou Meng's face.

He snapped his eyes open, sat up abruptly, and immediately looked at his hands.

It was his familiar room, with familiar furniture. There was no lingering Immortal Qi, nor any cracked earth.

"So... it was just a dream?" He felt a bit disappointed, yet also felt it was only natural.

However, when he subconsciously recalled the scene of the world's creation, the mystery of the Three Corpses transforming into the Three Daos, the realization of [Turning Falsehood into Reality], and the birth of the [Infinite Main God]... all the details were as clear as if they were etched into his Soul, without the typical characteristic of ordinary dreams fading quickly after waking up.

At the same time, he could clearly "perceive" that deep in his consciousness, a miniature, three-layered world was slowly operating. Wisps of silver-blue [Dream Power] were seeping in from the void, injecting into this world and settling within his "body." He could even vaguely sense that the newly born [Infinite Main God] had already, like a precise hunter, cast several "lines" flashing with strong mental signals toward a certain direction in the Real World.

"It's not a dream... it's really not a dream!"

A wave of immense ecstasy overwhelmed him. He took a deep breath, trying to calm his agitated heart, and turned his gaze to the half-dead green ivy on the bedside table.

Concentrating his mind, he recalled the vibrant plant essence from the "Mortal Dao" world in his dream. Simultaneously, he drove the meager yet real [Dream Power] within his body.

"Turning Falsehood into Reality, Manifest!"

From his fingertip, a tiny, almost imperceptible flash of emerald light vanished into the ivy.

The next second, a miracle happened.

The originally wilted, yellowed leaves unfurled at a speed visible to the naked eye, shedding their withered yellow for a full, dripping emerald green. The stems became upright, and the entire plant radiated a near-dazzling vitality.

Zhou Meng stared blankly at the ivy, his heart pounding so hard it almost burst through his chest.

He had succeeded. He had truly brought the power of dreams into reality!

Just then, his old phone vibrated frantically, with urgent push notifications from a news app popping up on the screen:

"Mass Fainting Events of Unknown Cause Occur Globally; Experts Intervene for Urgent Investigation!"

"Miracle or Hallucination? Multiple Coma Victims Claim to Have Experienced 'Infinite Horror' Upon Waking!"

"Supernatural Phenomenon? Several Citizens in Our City Exhibit Suspected 'Superpowers' After Waking!"

Zhou Meng clicked on a news item. In the video, a young man was excitedly telling a reporter: "I don't know what happened either. I just woke up and found I could control fire! Although I can only make a tiny flame, and it's extremely tiring..."

When the reporter asked for the reason, the man's face was a mix of lingering fear and excitement: "I had a nightmare. I was pulled into a place called the 'Main God Space' and escaped from a Resident Evil world... that feeling was too real!"

Zhou Meng put down his phone, walked to the window, and pulled back a corner of the curtain.

The world outside was bustling with traffic and bright sunshine, seemingly no different from yesterday.

But he knew everything had changed.

He, Zhou Meng, an ordinary young man who loved to dream, had not only become the Creator God of a Dream World and awakened the Talent of [Turning Falsehood into Reality] last night, but had also... personally pressed the button for this peaceful Real World to move toward an unknown era.

People would gain superpowers because of his creations, and they would also struggle between life and death because of them. The world would change because of him, and the source of that power was the dreams of all living beings.

He looked at the bustling crowd downstairs, his lips slowly curling into a complex, unfathomable arc.

"The dream has begun."