Yuan Ming was still in a state of half-sleep, half-consciousness when he heard the question and subconsciously answered, "For freedom."

Upon hearing this, the white figure was somewhat surprised and let out a laugh, "With great power at your disposal and glory beside you, aren't you free? As the sole ruler, with the Five Domains bowing down, aren't you free?"

"But the things I wish to do, and am capable of doing, I've never been able to achieve—how is that freedom?" Yuan Ming retorted.

The white figure seemed stumped by the question and, after a long time, suddenly sighed, "But how do you know that those who restrict your freedom aren't doing so to protect you? And the things you do for so-called freedom might not necessarily be right."

"If there were ironclad evidence that I am wrong, I would give up. But without it, it's not just a few lifetimes, but thousands, even tens of thousands of lifetimes, I will never give up," Yuan Ming said with an unprecedented determination.

No sooner had the words left his mouth than everything around them violently shattered, with Yuan Ming's vast Divine Soul Power dissipating by seventy percent, yet the remaining Soul Power became purer, and his Divine Soul as clear and transparent as colored glaze.

At that moment, his Divine Soul shook violently, a weak but brand-new force surged out from his Sea of Consciousness, and his Divine Soul began to undergo a transformation.

Xi Ying looked at Yuan Ming, half-embedded in the black tree, without daring to relax for even a moment.

Guoguo also stared intently at Yuan Ming, motionless, as if afraid of startling him.

The flickering crystal light between Yuan Ming's brows suddenly stilled, and strands of moon-like light appeared in the void, converging towards his Sea of Consciousness, halting the weakening trend of his Divine Soul, which then started to strengthen.

Guoguo's face revealed joy, emitting excited cries, and Xi Ying too was overjoyed, finally letting go of the heart she had been holding up.

"I knew you could do it..."

More and more moonlight merged into his Sea of Consciousness, Yuan Ming's Soul Power slowly intensified, the pace accelerating from slow to fast.

After an indeterminate amount of time, under intense stimulation, Yuan Ming's physical body suddenly opened its eyes, and his consciousness returned to his body.

The dream was over.

...

Instantly, a mighty wave of Soul Power spread out, resonating throughout the entire Stealing Heaven Tripod Space, like a powerful storm washing over Xi Ying's body.

Unknowingly, Xi Ying felt a hint of fatigue, her eyelids slowly drooping, about to close.

However, her Divine Soul in her Sea of Consciousness snapped alert, waking from the brink of drowsiness, a flash of alarm crossing her eyes.

Having been in the Sleep Witch Realm for many years, she had nearly been unable to withstand Yuan Ming's unconscious soul assault.

"Stabilize your realm quickly, don't let your Soul Power dissipate naturally!" Xi Ying glared at Yuan Ming, her tone chiding but with a hint of happiness at the bottom of her heart.

Yuan Ming smiled and closed his eyes again, reining in the scattered Soul Power and stabilizing his realm.

It took three full days and nights for Yuan Ming's Soul Power to become completely calm.

His Divine Soul suddenly floated out from his body, taking human shape, and hovered in midair.

The Divine Soul spread both hands, gathering specks of moonlight that fused into its body,

"After reaching the Sleep Witch Realm, I can directly absorb the Yin Qi of moonlight to temper my soul body. Is this the true intent of the Moonlight Technique you mentioned before?" Yuan Ming's Divine Soul asked Xi Ying.

"Indeed, only by attaining this realm can the Divine Soul undergo a true transformation," Xi Ying replied.

Yuan Ming nodded and flew down to land in front of Xi Ying.

"After breaking through the Sleep Witch Realm, the Divine Soul can leave the body for a longer time. Now that my physical body cannot separate from the black tree, I can indeed use the soul body to walk around," Yuan Ming said with a smile.

"You're thinking too simply. The soul body is such an important thing. Most people would hide it if they could, unless they possess Divine Skills. Otherwise, who would expose it so carelessly? It's only used as a last resort or for escaping, much like a Magic Practitioner's Nascent Soul," Xi Ying shook her head.

"You're right." Yuan Ming nodded with a smile, then sat his Divine Soul down on the White Jade Lotus Platform.

Pure Desire Power immediately flowed into the Divine Soul, briskly pushing its cultivation to the peak of the Sleep Witch Realm in just a moment.

However, Yuan Ming shook his head slightly, "Unfortunately, I thought that with the White Jade Lotus Platform, I could elevate my Divine Soul to another Great Realm. It seems it's still not enough."

"Be content. It's not so easy to break through to the Word Witch Realm. Across the entire Yunhuang Continent, aside from the Wuyue God, a Word Witch, no one else has ever reached the Word Witch Realm," Xi Ying rolled her eyes.

Yuan Ming casually made a note of the name of the next realm of soul cultivation, "Speaking of which, after cultivating to the Sleep Witch Realm, the Moonlight Technique has reached its limit. I wonder if there are any more techniques to cultivate afterward."

"The 'Moonlight Technique' has been passed down in my clan until now, there should be no continuation. And as I said, the entire Yunhuang hasn't seen another Word Witch. How could there possibly exist a technique to cultivate to that level?" Xi Ying shook her head.

With a sigh, Yuan Ming then began to use Inner Observation to check the changes in his Divine Skills.

The number of soul crows doubled, reaching twenty-four, and the distance of Far Travel also skyrocketed to one hundred and twenty li.

The power of "soul collision" and "Crow Cry" had doubled once again.

As for the "Soul Search" ability, it was now faster and could directly modify other people's memories. Additionally, this ability could be extended to soul crows over long distances, but the effect and speed would weaken as the distance increased.

The "Soul Feeding" ability was now effective on stronger living creatures, while "Corpse Control" had improved to the point where controlled corpses could move like ordinary people.

The effect and duration of the "Emotion Manipulation" ability were considerably enhanced, allowing easy control over a person's emotions, causing them to fall into extreme sadness or fury, creating a Heart Demon-like existence to dominate their life and death.

In addition to these existing abilities, the breakthrough to the Sleep Witch Realm brought Yuan Ming a brand new ability called "Nightmare."

This was a wide-ranging ability that allowed him to force those within his Divine Sense's coverage to fall into a deep sleep. Anyone whose Soul Power was weaker than his own could not escape.

"Nightmare" could also provoke the deepest and most terrifying memories in a person's heart, turning them into an endless bad dream. Those trapped in the nightmare would continually suffer from fear, unable to extricate themselves, and could eventually die from fright.

Unlike Illusion Techniques, the nightmares created by the "Nightmare" ability were not entirely constructed by Yuan Ming, so even if his victims feared something Yuan Ming had never seen, it would still appear in their nightmares.

The "Nightmare" ability was immensely powerful, but it also consumed a significant amount of Soul Power. The more people dragged into the dream, the greater the consumption of Soul Power, so it was not to be overused.

Afterward, he discussed with Xi Ying some insights about the cultivation of the Sleep Witch Realm, and then each of them returned to their closed-door cultivation, continuing their own cultivation journeys.

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