Chapter 159

A dense, spiritual energy surged out like a broken dam, aggressively painting the vibrant and diverse dreamscapes with a single, overwhelming black ink. Soon, all consciousness within the dream would be assimilated. This was just in the dream; in the real world, a more widespread and terrifying scene was unfolding.

Karma converged into a river, and this river became the vessel for the Great Emperor’s fury, guiding it towards its rightful targets: all the branch families behind that hand. Though everything happened suddenly, it carried a chilling, orderly precision.

Li Zhuiyuan: “Is the dream collapsing?”

The Figure: “It's worse than collapsing; it will be completely permeated. You, my boy, should have accumulated considerable merit this time. It will be very pleased.”

Li Zhuiyuan: “Because I did the right thing?”

The Figure: “Because you did more than what was required of you.”

Li Zhuiyuan: “So, while I was using others as a weapon, I was also a weapon myself?”

“Exactly. There are some unique existences in this world for which there are no good solutions. If given the chance, do you think it would want to seize this opportunity to strike that Great Emperor and let him bleed a little? You helped facilitate this, so it will naturally repay you. But never truly appeal to its sense of sentimentality, because when you grow stronger, you will become an object it wants to eliminate. Moreover, because of me, it won't even be willing to give you the chance to grow strong.”

“That’s fine. Doing old tests is boring.”

“It’s good that you understand; I’m not worried about that. I believe the true you has already begun to grasp its nature, otherwise, you wouldn’t have been able to achieve this, to set up such a scheme. Alright, though I can't leave this dream, I can help sustain it for a bit longer. Now, go to the other dreams and bring your people out. Remember, the nature of the dream has changed, so be careful. Don't die in the dream.”

“What happens if I die?”

“You won’t die in reality, but you might become comatose.”

“That sounds even harder to accept than death.”

At this point, events had already diverged unexpectedly. After thoroughly enraging the Great Emperor, the changes in the dream brought a similar level of danger to Li Zhuiyuan and his companions. However, the person who caused this deviation was the “Figure,” and he also had the ability to counteract these dangerous effects.

Li Zhuiyuan activated the surrounding formations, and the zodiac animal images, transformed from the Twelve Earthly Branches, continuously shifted. By the riverbank, the boy with the black umbrella reappeared. The boy reached out and grabbed Yin Meng, who was still in the form of a little girl in the dream.

“Come with me.”

Yin Meng nodded, letting the boy hold her hand without any resistance. This made Li Zhuiyuan wonder if the things he would “later” fully grasp were manifesting in the current dream. Was this girl so obedient because, in reality, listening to him had become an instinct for her?

The boy and the girl vanished from the spot together. The next moment, Yin Meng appeared in an amusement park, staring blankly at the suddenly changed surroundings. Li Zhuiyuan continued to the next dream.

In the next dream, there was a hospital half-submerged in water. Li Zhuiyuan stood on a boat, approaching the third floor of the hospital. Through a window, he saw a young man, covered in blood and in a state of panic.

After the Emperor of Fengdu became enraged, the turtle retreated. If Li Zhuiyuan had arrived earlier, he would have seen turtles in the water and all over the hospital's exterior walls.

Tan Wenbin, still shaken, let out a long sigh of relief upon seeing the boy’s figure, even cracking a smile. Li Zhuiyuan pointed in front of him and said, “Come down.”

“Got it!”

Tan Wenbin didn't hesitate, climbing straight out of the window and onto the boy’s boat. Li Zhuiyuan looked at him, feeling that he had assimilated the concept even more thoroughly than the previous girl. This was indeed good; he was there to take them out, and if they were hesitant or suspicious, stubbornly refusing to leave the dream, he would truly have a headache.

Reaching out and grasping Tan Wenbin's wrist, Li Zhuiyuan led him off the boat. With a splash, the two fell into the water. Subsequently, Tan Wenbin also appeared in the amusement park. After looking at his surroundings, he scratched the back of his head in confusion: "I'm a high school student; why would I have such a childish dream?"

After bringing him back, Li Zhuiyuan went to find the others. The Figure looked at Tan Wenbin and asked, “What kind of dream do you want to have?”

Tan Wenbin replied matter-of-factly, “Of course, it should be a little R-rated.”

The Figure looked Tan Wenbin up and down and said, “You’re quite a character.” This wasn't meant as sarcasm; the Figure could tell that Tan Wenbin had just endured the torment of a nightmare. Now, merely being in a new environment, which broke his immersion, his spirits immediately lifted. Such a person was the type to demand an inch and take a mile. Seemingly unreliable, yet in truth, strong-willed.

Tan Wenbin looked at the Figure, puzzled: “Why are you so blurry? I can't see you clearly.”

The Figure: “Can you see clearly everyone in this world who isn’t blurry?”

Tan Wenbin: “How could I? You misunderstood. I was worried you couldn't see me clearly.”

“Heh-heh.” The Figure chuckled, amused. “My boy, what exactly have you fully assimilated?”

“Huh?”

Tan Wenbin was puzzled by this remark. He looked at Yin Meng, who stood beside him in the form of a little girl, uttered a surprised sound, and asked: “I think I’ve seen this little sister before?”

Bringing Yin Meng and Tan Wenbin out was smooth, but upon entering the burning dream, Li Zhuiyuan encountered a problem. This was no longer about assimilation; it was purely because the other person's emotions were on the verge of collapse.

Li Zhuiyuan walked into the temple gate. Inside lay a scattering of bodies, and a blazing fire raged. A young man was sprawled on the ground, repeatedly pounding the floor tiles with his fists. A large section of the tiles had shattered, and his hands were covered in blood.

“Hey.”

Li Zhuiyuan called out several times. The boy didn't know the young man’s name, so he could only address him this way. But Lin Shuyou showed no reaction, remaining immersed in his anger and pain. In truth, Lin Shuyou’s state was a genuine reflection of someone trapped in a dream demon’s nightmare. Yin Meng and Tan Wenbin, due to their karmic connections, had dragged those two powerful beings into their dreams, causing the dream demon to lose control over them, which in turn made them safer, at least sparing them from such severe torment.

Li Zhuiyuan tried to reach out and pull Lin Shuyou, but Lin Shuyou pushed his hand away and continued to curl up in the corner. Just then, a faint voice spoke: “I can help you take him away.”

Li Zhuiyuan followed the sound and saw a familiar figure emerge from the raging fire in the main hall: it was the dream demon. It was panicking, distraught. It had thought it could seize the opportunity to escape through the chaos, but the truth was, when the Great Emperor’s enraged will projected into its dream, it was utterly trapped. Now, the dream demon’s only hope was the boy before it. Since this terrible calamity was brought by him, he should have the power to protect it.

Li Zhuiyuan looked at it expressionlessly.

The dream demon continued, “Not only can I help you safely transport him and the other person, but I am also willing to become your most loyal servant, obeying your will for the rest of my life!” Saying this, the dream demon prostrated itself, bowing to Li Zhuiyuan. To survive, it had long since abandoned all dignity.

If the *Evil Tome* were here, it would probably use its few remaining yellowed pages to scribble dense lines of mockery and derision, with a central theme: “Pah, you wish.”

Some things deep in a person’s bones are hard to change with age, and often, the younger the age, the more extreme they are. The Li Zhuiyuan who went to college could treat the *Evil Tome* with such cold rationality; therefore, the Li Zhuiyuan who had not yet returned to his hometown, completely devoid of emotion, would be even more resolute in this regard.

Most importantly, looking at it, the scene of the bumper car hitting the girl in the red Hanfu would appear in Li Zhuiyuan's mind. He knew this was the “torture” it had designed for him. Although he wasn’t defeated by this torture, and though the girl in red smiled at him and didn’t blame him, since you dared to design such a scene for me, then you deserve to die!

Li Zhuiyuan wasn't even willing to use it, nor to negotiate with it. He didn't want it to gain any hope at this moment. The boy himself was somewhat confused as to why he was acting so “emotional” at this moment. He could only say that the girl held a truly special place in his heart; the “future” him had already formed an instinct to protect her.

Li Zhuiyuan: “I’m sure that person has countless ways to make your life a living hell. I’m looking forward to it.”

The dream demon looked up in disbelief at the boy. It hadn’t expected the boy to be so utterly merciless in his words. Completely despairing, the dream demon’s face contorted grotesquely. It shook the candle in its hand. Originally, Lin Shuyou and Run Sheng were precious bargaining chips in its hand. Now, it had decided to no longer cherish them—it would shatter both chips!

Lin Shuyou became completely silent. The dream demon spoke: “Kill him!”

At this moment, the dream demon just wanted to drag as many people as possible down with it. Lin Shuyou stood up and charged at Li Zhuiyuan. Using the formation, Li Zhuiyuan now had partial control over this dream. His figure continuously vanished, evading Lin Shuyou's attacks. The dream demon attempted to constrict the boy’s range of movement, but it was astonished to find that it couldn’t.

Li Zhuiyuan was also in a difficult situation. Lin Shuyou’s previous uncontrolled state made it impossible to take him out of here. Now that Lin Shuyou was manipulated by the dream demon and reduced to its puppet, the possibility of taking him away was even lower. In fact, Li Zhuiyuan began to consider whether the current Lin Shuyou still had any value in being taken away. Anyway, the other party’s consciousness had been completely annihilated, equivalent to death. Taking him back would just be a vegetable.

Without the shared experiences and memories from “later” to support him, the boy at this moment didn't recognize Lin Shuyou, so his thought process was still extremely rational. Instead of wasting time here, it would be better to try to retrieve the next person. Before entering, Li Zhuiyuan had hypnotized Lin Shuyou and the others, leaving a piece of paper. At this point, simply piercing that paper would restore Lin Shuyou to normal. But the problem was, Li Zhuiyuan didn't remember this. Reality was often like this: no matter how meticulous the plan, there would always be various unexpected incidents that disrupted previous arrangements and rhythm.

Seeing that Lin Shuyou was unable to catch the boy, the dream demon yelled furiously, “Use your full strength!” Previously in the dream, the plot had set him up as a useless person who couldn't enter a trance and was loathed by the Yin God. Therefore, Lin Shuyou, who witnessed Uncle Qin destroying his family temple in the dream, could only vent his impotent rage and grievances. At this moment, he had actually broken free from the original dream constraints; it could even be said he had lost himself, becoming a beast with only instinctual reactions remaining. The “master’s” command was: use full strength. For a spirit medium, using full strength means to enter a trance.

Lin Shuyou opened his left palm, clenched and shook his right fist, and stomped his single foot down hard! The next moment, Lin Shuyou's eyes rapidly alternated between vertical pupils and normal, in a high-frequency state of success and failure in entering a trance. The reason was simple: the White Crane Child sensed the terrifying aura here and dared not descend! Normally, it should have remained completely unresponsive, no matter how skilled or close the medium was to it, it would never allow itself to descend into such a terrifyingly dangerous situation.

But the problem was, the Child also remembered the oath and warning Li Zhuiyuan had issued to him: if it dared to fail to descend when summoned one more time, the boy would set about obliterating its divine position, so it dared not not descend. In extreme hesitation and conflict, this Schrödinger's trance state was created. However, the Child also knew that this ambiguous attitude could not last too long. Finally, it made its decision. This place was dangerous, and its descent might lead to inauspicious consequences. But if it didn't descend, then it would definitely face inauspiciousness later! This was no longer a matter of who it feared more, but a matter of probability.

The vertical pupils formally opened, and the White Crane Child descended! The dream demon pointed at Li Zhuiyuan: “Kill him!”

The White Crane Child looked at Li Zhuiyuan. Then, it charged directly at the dream demon!

The dream demon was startled and dodged. The White Crane Child followed closely. Its movement technique was beyond Lin Shuyou’s. It quickly caught up, swung a fist, and slammed the dream demon down. The dream demon let out a wail. It was the first time it had been beaten in a dream it designed itself.

Just then, the sky above cracked with dense black fissures. Faintly, a bird's cry seemed audible. This was the sound of a natural predator! The dream demon raged again: Damn them, they're truly despicable, they never intended for me to leave alive! Although their cooperation inherently involved various precautions, the dream demon's goal was self-preservation. Yet, the other party had already prepared the figure of the Ba Qi, clearly intending to destroy it after it was used! The enemy was certainly hateful, but betrayal from an ally was even more detestable!

The dream demon shook the lamp in its hand, and its figure vanished directly from there, completely leaving this dream. It was going to settle the final score with those people. Even if the ultimate outcome was predetermined, it wanted to vent its anger before the curtain fell!

The White Crane Child lost its target. It looked at Li Zhuiyuan, then scanned its surroundings. Now, it seemed to sense that the environment here was unusual, not reality. Li Zhuiyuan didn't care; the boy only knew that this vertical-eyed being was more obedient and well-behaved than the previous one. He walked towards the Child and reached out to grasp its hand.

“Don’t resist me; come with me.”

The Child looked up at the black cracks in the sky and the terrifying pressure, and nodded. It felt that this boy's games were growing bigger and bigger each time. But great risks often came with great rewards. The boy’s threat frightened it, yet the potential gains filled it with subjective initiative.

Li Zhuiyuan led the White Crane Child by the hand to the amusement park. He dropped it off there and quickly hurried to the last dream. The White Crane Child looked at the people around: “Everyone has gotten younger.” Especially that girl, she had become so much smaller. Finally, the White Crane Child’s gaze fell upon the blurry figure. Its vertical pupils shimmered with a deep luster; it was trying to see through the figure’s indistinctness. What it didn’t know was that the one it dared not look at in the peach forest back in its hometown of Nantong was once merely a follower of this very figure.

“Tch.”

The Figure emitted a sound of disdain. The Child’s eyes immediately streamed with blood. The Figure spoke: “Erase this memory yourself and depart. Even you cannot bear the memories here; don’t even think of taking them with you.”

The Child first bowed to the Figure, then reached up to touch its forehead, erasing the memory while ending its trance state. Lin Shuyou, now back to his original appearance, was still under the dream demon’s puppet-like control. Thus, despite his eyes bleeding incessantly, he still lunged at Li Zhuiyuan, who was sitting cross-legged. Tan Wenbin and Yin Meng immediately stepped forward to block him. The Figure then reached out and tapped Lin Shuyou on the back of his head:

“Wake up.”

That layer of paper was pierced. Lin Shuyou seemed to awaken from a dream. The Figure clapped its hands and said strangely, “Why didn’t he just wake this guy up while he was at it?” Then, the Figure nodded: “Oh, right, the kid doesn’t remember.” Immediately, the Figure slapped the back of its own head: “Oops, I forgot to tell him too.”

This was the last dream. Once he retrieved this person, he could take all his subordinates out of the dream and return to reality. Although things of the “future” had already happened, from Li Zhuiyuan's current perspective, they seemed like events yet to unfold. So, he truly felt like he was getting an early look at his future subordinates.

In this dream, there was a collapsed single-story house, with all its surrounding courtyard walls destroyed, leaving only a table in the central area and meticulously butchered meat on it. Where was the person? Li Zhuiyuan walked through this ruin, approaching the table made from a door panel. Could it be that his last subordinate had already been chopped into pieces in the dream? If so, would they have a sound consciousness upon waking?

Li Zhuiyuan reached out his hands and picked up the head on the table, which was peeled like an apple. Almost instinctively, through this damaged face, he reconstructed the head’s appearance before death in his mind. So old? He must be about fifty. He had originally thought that since he wasn't very old himself, his subordinates should also be relatively young. It seemed there were exceptions after all. The fact that he could accept him into the team indicated that this old man had some extraordinary qualities, didn't it?

Suddenly, the ground below him caved in. Run Sheng, covered in dirt and with blood-red eyes, leaped up holding a shovel, striking directly at Li Zhuiyuan above him. The dream demon had previously crushed two bargaining chips. The command it gave Lin Shuyou also applied to Run Sheng. The first command was: Kill him!

Li Zhuiyuan quickly manipulated the formation, his figure vanishing from the spot and reappearing twenty meters away. “Is that you?” The good news was that the person in front of him looked very young; the bad news was that he, too, had become a puppet.

But before Li Zhuiyuan could think further, many bloody gashes appeared on Run Sheng’s body, and waves of blood-tinged energy erupted from him. The dream demon’s second command: Use your full strength!

All energy gates open—this was a move Run Sheng would repeatedly simulate, even in his sleep, just waiting for an opportunity to use it in front of Xiao Yuan. However, he had lacked a truly suitable opportunity before. But Run Sheng never imagined that his first time using this move would actually be in a dream, and against Xiao Yuan himself. With all energy gates open, Run Sheng’s strength and speed received a terrifying boost.

Almost instantly, he reappeared in front of Li Zhuiyuan, swinging the shovel down towards the boy’s head! Li Zhuiyuan wasn't careless, but he had, after all, “lost” his true combat experience, and that was the most fatal flaw. Because now, even if he was still manipulating the formation to control this dream, he wasn't as fast as Run Sheng’s shovel!

“Ah, I’m done for.” This was the voice in Li Zhuiyuan’s heart. Knowing that all reactions were too late, he simply closed his eyes. Waiting, waiting, waiting…

There seemed to be no sensation of being smashed. Or perhaps, it was shattered too quickly, died too suddenly, so there was no feeling? Li Zhuiyuan slowly opened his eyes. He found himself still in the dream, in the same environment as before. The shovel had not fallen. And the large man who had suddenly erupted with terrifying power, almost shattering his head, was now facing away from him, squatting down. The large man’s hands, clasped behind his waist, lifted slightly, signaling for him to get on his back; he wanted to carry him.

Li Zhuiyuan stared blankly at the broad back before him, which had a strangely familiar feeling. The boy was incredulous. Could there truly be someone in this world who, even after becoming a puppet, even after receiving a master’s command... would absolutely never harm him?