Although Kiana and the others had a tendency to get somewhat lost in the dream, the guidance for ordinary people was thankfully quite effective. Because of this, Jiang Qiao didn't pay too much attention.
After all, since he had already deliberately made the decision to fragment his being, he wouldn't care if there were helpers by his side—or rather, in this 'battle,' neither Kiana nor the Anti-Entropy research duo (Dr. Einstein and Dr. Tesla) could intervene too much anyway.
After all, this wasn't like the original development.
Using the Herrscher of Sentience's dream as a feeler, the authority of the Herrscher of Corruption as a pillar, the power of the Herrscher of Finality as a bridge connected to the Cocoon—plus the hidden moves World Serpent invested to achieve 'Project Stigma.'
The current 'Dream of Paradise' had already completely diverged from Kevin Kaslana's 'Birds Will Fly' dream.
Whether it was Theresa Apocalypse's Vishnu Factor or Durandal's Holy Sword—their power would find it very difficult to make any impact against this Dream of Paradise created by Elysia.
—Of course, the primary reason for this was that Elysia had integrated a part of herself into this dream at its creation.
Jiang Qiao knew this very well. Even if it was just an insignificant fragment, it far exceeded their capabilities.
The one who tied the knot must untie it. Since his influence was within it, it should naturally be ended by him.
Elysia, as the dominant consciousness of the dream, didn't need to be worried because of his presence—except that his real self might suffer a bit because he had likely angered Miss Elysia. And those people lost in beautiful dreams, unable to extricate themselves, were able to make a 'choice' using the 'courage' and 'wisdom' he had bestowed upon them.
Although there might indeed be those among them who absolutely do not want to return to reality and wish to stay in the wonderful dream, that was clearly not a problem. After all, Jiang Qiao never intended for everyone to wake up—the effort he made was just to allow people to make the most 'fair' choice.
Facing the difficult reality is one choice, and staying lost in the dream is, of course, also a choice. And the latter choice, in some sense, might even be beneficial to the former. After all, if they still cannot face the cruelty of reality after the 'trial,' then it only shows that their will was likely not firm to begin with.
Like a sieve—those who cannot accept reality stay here. And those who can accept reality, even knowing its cruelty, are still willing to resist and strive, understanding what 'resolve' is. Such people will surely become the future of humanity.
This is—
—Those with resolve find happiness.
Of course, before that, he obviously still needed to deal with the other obstacle existing within this dream.
Gazing at this unknown dream realm, which revealed an ancient aura and was undoubtedly the scene of Mount Taixuan in Shenzhou, Jiang Qiao looked at the gray-haired girl lying among a mountain of books, eagerly reading, clearly having not noticed his arrival.
Dressed in Shenzhou-style clothes, crossing her fair legs, a beautiful girl occasionally letting out giggles—undoubtedly, this familiar appearance was indeed Hua.
But now, there was clearly a more appropriate name.
"Herrscher of Sentience."
As if attracted by the name, the girl put down the reading material in her hand, looked up—and then her eyes lit up.
"Oh, it's you! The person Elysia mentioned!"
This lively energy showed at a glance that she wasn't born of the same parents as the old-fashioned Hua.
Looking at the Herrscher of Sentience from his memory, Jiang Qiao was both a little surprised and not so surprised. Because when he was reading data from Elysia, he already knew of her existence.
Whether it was fate, or something else. The Herrscher of Sentience was still born in Fu Hua's appearance—it's just that it was different from the original.
Because everything that happened originally didn't occur, Fu Hua wouldn't have had that sudden breakthrough moment resisting a certain old man who had already called GG.
This also led to the Herrscher of Sentience being unable to be born using Fu Hua's body.
After all, no matter how you look at it, Hua is also a MANTIS. When she's not caught off guard, there was absolutely no chance to take over.
However—
What could create 'Fu Hua' wasn't just Hua's body. Another extremely suitable thing in this world, besides Fu Hua's physical body, was clearly... Fenghuang Down.
Because it had accompanied Fu Hua for a long time, Fenghuang Down was tainted with a lot of Fu Hua's traces.
Of course. There was actually a very serious problem.
That is, the real Fenghuang Down had actually been switched out by Jiang Qiao a long time ago. The real Fenghuang Down is still in Jiang Qiao's hands, and the one in Fu Hua's hands is a copy created by the latter using the power of the Herrscher of Reason.
There's no difference in power between the two.
After completely mastering the power of Origin and Truth, things like Divine Keys became something akin to 'wholesale' goods for him. The Fenghuang Down that Jiang Qiao replicated would not have any difference from the original, maybe even stronger than the original.
After all, Fenghuang Down is just an artifact of the Previous Era, humanity's weaponized application of a Herrscher Core.
Because they couldn't replicate Herrscher power, these types of weapons had various limitations. This was a regret that even a genius like Vill-V couldn't change.
But Jiang Qiao didn't have such a problem. The authority belonging to a Herrscher... thanks to the power of Origin, he could even bestow upon the Divine Keys he creates a 'sentience' that the original versions couldn't possibly achieve.
And undoubtedly—
The Herrscher of Sentience before him was precisely born into the world by using the sentience of this Fenghuang Down replicated by Jiang Qiao.
Fu Hua was completely unaware of this, but World Serpent discovered this anomaly at a certain point. Regarding the former, they couldn't do anything.
After all, although Hua is also a Venerable, her acceptance of Project Stigma wasn't high to begin with. So after Kevin left, this only remaining Venerable couldn't be relied upon.
But the Herrscher of Sentience became an unexpected pleasant surprise. Because she was born through Fenghuang Down which was tainted with the Venerable's traces, the Herrscher of Sentience's receptiveness to World Serpent was quite good. With a newborn child's temperament, she could be won over as long as World Serpent was willing to humor her a little.
"They call me Venerable, huh! Such an awesome and respected title," Little Senti was overjoyed.
At the same time, because of being tainted with too many of Fu Hua's traces, she also held particularly complex emotions towards 'Fu Hua.' Although not being born through the other party's body meant Little Senti wasn't fixated on becoming Fu Hua this time, after all, she had many of Fu Hua's traces on her body, so she would still feel somewhat lost or unsure.
And at this time, the 'Project Stigma' proposed by Gray Serpent undoubtedly became a breakthrough. Kevin, as the executor of Project Stigma, was already full of mystery. Venerable Hua was also not interested in this plan. Since that's the case, isn't she the only one left who can execute this plan?
Little Senti believed that since that disappointing and unreliable Fu Hua wasn't up to it, she needed to shoulder this heavy burden and fulfill the unfulfilled wish of the Previous Era that Hua inherited.
In this situation, because of World Serpent's connection, the Herrscher of Sentience and Fallen Elysia got in touch, ultimately joining forces to create everything that exists now.
Fallen Elysia became the creator of the dream, and the Herrscher of Sentience became the maintainer and guardian of the dream.
Scanning those weird books and films, Jiang Qiao instantly understood that the strange dreams he had encountered earlier were likely Little Senti's masterpieces.
Because she is the dream's maintainer, Little Senti has extremely strong control over the dream. For the restless her, just sitting there guarding it rigidly like Kevin would definitely be unacceptable. So, all that could be done was pass the time by manipulating the dream.
As long as it didn't violate the underlying logic of Elysia's 'Dream of Paradise,' whatever adjustments Little Senti made didn't matter at all.
In this situation, the strange scenarios Jiang Qiao experienced appeared... These were, without a doubt, the masterpieces of the Herrscher of Sentience, who possessed excellent 'directing ability.'
"Hmm, I was wondering why the dream felt so strange inside... so it was you who came."
"So, you made all of this?"
"Humans shouldn't linger in fleeting illusions."
"What are you even talking about?" Little Senti pouted, and then remembered something. "Besides, I'm carrying out Project Stigma here, okay!"
"Right, Project Stigma! I'm saving humanity!" She tried to display her correctness this way.
"...Do you think this is right?"
"What's wrong with it?" Facing Jiang Qiao's question, she was carefree. "I am the Herrscher of Sentience, after all."
Undoubtedly—the distinction between reality and illusion is hard to shake Little Senti. Because as the Herrscher of Sentience, she is inherently closer to illusion than reality. And for the childlike Little Senti, she also isn't interested in considering things like humanity's future.
Isn't just being happy enough? People in the dream are all very happy, isn't that enough?
Being able to feel the happiness of the people immersed in beautiful dreams, the Herrscher of Sentience feels a sense of satisfaction.
—Although at first Project Stigma was just to fulfill Hua's mission, now it's more because of the joy of having done something good and right.
"Less talk! Although I don't particularly dislike you, if you want to destroy Project Stigma, watch out, I'll spank your butt! Humph!" Little Senti huffed, waving her hand impatiently, making a shooing gesture.
Although she doesn't really dislike Jiang Qiao, with her childlike temperament, she indeed dislikes adults lecturing, and because of that, she wants to shoo the other party away.
"Of course... if you want to play with me, it's not impossible to stay. The great Lady Herrscher of Sentience can forgive the little tricks you played before."
"I don't mind playing with you—but unfortunately, I came here to end Project Stigma."
"Huh?"
"You're set on crossing me, huh?"
Little Senti was a little annoyed. She was originally happy to hear he was willing to play with her, but hearing the latter made her very unhappy. "You're so dense!"
"I already told you, I'm the executor of this Project Stigma... If you want to destroy it, fine, get past me first!"
"Really, I was happy and didn't want to fight, but you just had to ask for a beating, huh!"
Jiang Qiao didn't speak, yet it was like he had already replied.
Little Senti was angered to the point of laughter.
"Alright, alright... I see you won't shed a tear until you see the coffin!"
"I was sparing you because of Elysia, but... you forced my hand!" She snorted coldly, and with a crisp snap of her fingers, the surrounding scene suddenly changed—the originally leisurely guqin music turned somewhat somber.
At this moment, the scene that was originally a small courtyard had already turned into a battlefield centered around a Taiji diagram, with countless iron chains locking down sword-like mountain peaks. This is precisely the battlefield where the Herrscher of Sentience originally fought Kiana Kaslana.
"Good timing, I've been cooped up, my joints are getting stiff. Then let me use you to practice and stretch my limbs!" Shaking her arms, raising her hand, a Six-harmony spear rested on her shoulder.
The Herrscher of Sentience sneered, casually pointing the spear tip directly at him: "Show your weapon, I won't bully you!"
Jiang Qiao didn't move.
"What do you mean by this? Others who don't know might think I'm bullying you!" While Little Senti was confused and complaining, he shrugged.
"No need to make it so complicated."
"Let's just settle it with 'Consciousness'." Jiang Qiao said this lightly.
And the originally grumbling Little Senti, hearing this sentence, immediately burst into laughter, with the look of someone staring at an idiot.
"I didn't mishear, right? You want to settle it with Consciousness against me?"
"Here? With me? With me, the Herrscher of Sentience?"
"Is your brain broken?!"
She said disdainfully—filled with immense confidence in herself, completely not taking the former seriously. But...
Until the other party was completely unmoved by her words, just quietly looking at her. In his bright eyes, there was only calmness. That wasn't even confidence—it was dismissal, as if treating this matter as 'a given.'
At this moment, the Herrscher of Sentience's mind instantly understood one thing—this man before her truly wanted to settle things with her at the level of consciousness, and at the same time... he absolutely didn't think he would lose.
After understanding this point, Little Senti's contempt in her heart instantly disappeared—replaced by annoyance and anger.
"Alright..."
"Hahaha... Alright..." She covered her face, her smile somewhat frantic. The next moment, her eyes suddenly widened, revealing a hint of anger in her scarlet eyes. She shouted loudly:
"You think you can defeat the Herrscher of Sentience in the consciousness space?!"