Stranger Danger

Since negotiations had failed, it was time to speak with one’s fists.

Su Xiu was strong, and Dream Master was no weakling either. A battle between the duo was almost certainly going to cost them dearly. Depending on how evenly matched they were, it might even result in mutual destruction.

If everything went smoothly, then he would be able to eliminate Dream Master effortlessly, end their hunt permanently, and even take revenge against Greenlake Bai. He would be killing three birds with one stone. What’s not to like?

At first, things had gone exactly as he envisioned. Negotiations had broken down, and it looked like the duo was going to clash against each other in epic combat. And then… nothing happened.

Both Su Xiu and Dream Master had suddenly frozen in place as if they were pretending to be a tree. It was the same for everyone else. A moment later, they even closed their eyes as if they were taking a nap. Were they so tired that they fell asleep or something?

It was at this moment Ye Qing realized something. “Wait a second. Sleeping? Dream Master?”

Suddenly, Dancer opened her eyes and giggled softly. Then, she began walking toward Su Xiu and his group.

When she was right in front of Su Xiu, she summoned an oddly-shaped weapon into her hand.

The weapon was about one meter in length and shaped like a rectangular dagger. The corners of the blade looked very sharp, and there was a hilt at the center of the weapon. It looked somewhat similar to a Buddhist’s gada[1], except it was covered in black dried blood and rust. At first glance, it didn’t look or feel special at all.

Looks like I’m right.

Dancer’s action confirmed Ye Qing’s suspicion. Unless he was gravely mistaken, Dream Master must have used some sort of art to draw everyone into a dream. Then, he woke up Dancer so she could kill the trio in real life.

Although he couldn’t feel anything unusual from the gada, he had no doubt that it would deal Su Xiu a grievous blow, if not kill him outright.

Ye Qing furrowed his brow in hesitation. Should he rescue Su Xiu, or should he let him die?

He quickly arrived at a decision. He was going to save Su Xiu.

The reason he pitted them against each other in the first place was to weaken both sides, and that couldn’t happen if one side overwhelmingly crushed the other side. If Dream Master won right here and now, then he would be able to face Ye Qing at nearly full strength. It was the same if Su Xiu overwhelmingly dominated Dream Master. In both cases, he would be at a disadvantage.

Therefore, the best outcome for him was if both sides were grievously injured.

On the surface, it looked like Su Xiu had the numbers advantage. Su Xiu, Ah Su and Greenlake Bai were also quite strong, so it looked like the upper hand was theirs. In reality, they weren’t united in purpose. Not even remotely. Su Xiu and Greenlake Bai in particular were barely hiding their hostility toward each other beneath a veneer of feigned civility and nominal bond.

If Su Xiu died, and there was no one left to suppress Greenlake Bai, then the woman was going to run away for sure. There was a higher chance that a toad could eat a swan[2] than Greenlake Bai staying behind and fighting Dream Master to the death, and alone, it was highly unlikely that Ah Su would be able to defeat Dream Master and Dancer.

Should this scenario happen, forget killing his pursuers or taking revenge against Greenlake Bai, it was far likelier than he would lose both Nanke and Greenlake Bai. All of his scheming would only lead to a painful double loss.

That was why he needed to ruin Dream Master’s ploy and rescue Su Xiu. Only when both sides were on even ground could he maximize the damage they suffered.

His mind made up, Ye Qing pointed a finger toward Su Xiu and tapped the space in front of him.

……

Inside the dreamscape, Su Xiu was growing increasingly pale. The stumps on his right hand were no longer bleeding blood. Instead, they were bleeding black refined qi and vitality.

While “Demoncall” was a powerful art that allowed its practitioner to connect to the Nine Nethers and summon gods and demons to help them, the price was the practitioner’s mind and vitality.

Su Xiu believed it was worth it if he could kill Dream Master and obtain Nanke though.

Dream Master was slowly but surely faltering under the combined assault of five demon gods, Ah Su and Greenlake Bai. Just a little more, and victory would be his.

Suddenly, Su Xiu sensed a terrible killing intent that chilled him to his core. It had appeared out of nowhere and seemingly originated from a different world. It was both confusing and unexpected.

Wait a second. If the killing intent came from another world, then where am I?!

As soon as doubt sprouted in Su Xiu’s heart, the world before his eyes abruptly started rippling like a reflection that was disturbed by a gust of wind.

It’s all fake!

Su Xiu’s eyes widened. His eyes began rippling like a wave, and a pair of flood dragons abruptly burst into the open and ripped the mirage before him into pieces. When he returned to reality and opened his eyes for real, he immediately saw a sharp object growing larger and larger in his vision.

“The audacity!”

Every cell in Su Xiu’s body screamed for him to react as he swept out with his astral qi and spiritual power. Completely caught off guard, Dancer took a direct hit and was sent flying into the air, blood spraying out of her mouth like a geyser.

Her injuries weren’t her concern though. Su Xiu’s sudden awakening was.

Dream Master’s cultivation art was called the “Dream Butterfly True Scripture” or the “Zhuangzi Dream Butterfly Scripture”. It was a divine art created by an ancient Taoist sage known as Zhuang Zhou.

Legend had it that Zhuang Zhou—also known as Zhuangzi—was sleeping on a grassy plain when he had an interesting dream. He dreamed that he had transformed into a butterfly who was flying about and exploring the world aimlessly. It was such a happy moment that he almost forgot who he was and what he was.

Zhuangzi jolted awake from his dream eventually, but he could recall the details of his dream as clear as day. When he got up to take a good look at himself and recall his dream, he was suddenly struck by a most curious dilemma: was he Zhuangzi the human, or was he the butterfly? Did he transform into a butterfly in his dream, or did the butterfly transform into him in its dream? Was he a human who had jolted back to reality after his dream came to an end, or was he a butterfly who was just starting a new dream as a human?

Later, Zhuangzi created the “Zhuangzi Dream Butterfly Scripture” based on this experience. Practitioners of this art could enter dreams via butterflies, and the dreams were so realistic that it was nigh impossible for the victim to recognize, much less break out of.

Of course, Zhuangzi hadn’t created the “Zhuangzi Dream Butterfly Scripture” with murder and assassination in mind. It was originally an orthodox Taoist art that was used to hone one’s heart and temper one’s ability to distinguish reality and illusion. This allowed the practitioner to achieve transcendence and become one with the world, also known as Heaven-Human Unity.

Later, the “Zhuangzi Dream Butterfly Scripture” fell into the Eight Legions’ hands. After many years of study and improvement, Di Shitian slowly modified it into the “Dream Butterfly True Sutra”. He preserved the “Zhuangzi Dream Butterfly Scripture”’s ability to enter dreams via butterflies but made it even more anomalous and undetectable than before. It allowed the practitioner to draw someone into a dream without their knowledge and slay their soul within the dream, leaving no trace in the real world.

At the adept level, the “Dream Butterfly True Scripture” could even transform an entire corner of the world into a dream. When the dreamer awoke, everyone and everything residing within the dream would perish.

It was the fate of a denizen of a dream to disappear after all.

This was not an exaggerated account either. Once upon a time, a champion of the Devas went to sleep after reaching the adept level of the “Dream Butterfly True Scripture”. Unbeknownst to him, every living being within hundreds and hundreds of kilometers of him fell into a slumber as well. Inside his dream, he dreamed of marrying a beautiful wife, having a son, building a family, and generally experiencing a life that was so real it was nigh indistinguishable from reality. When he finally passed away inside the dream and awoke to reality, the dream disappeared, and every soul who had been unwittingly drawn into the dream perished as well.

Although Dream Master was an excellent warrior among his peers, of course he was still a ways away from mastering the “Dream Butterfly True Scripture”. He could draw someone weaker than him into his dream and extinguish their soul instantly, but if his opponent’s cultivation level was equal or stronger than his, or if their mind was particularly strong and tenacious, then it would take a little more effort to kill them.

1. The gada is a mallet or blunt mace from the Indian subcontinent. ☜

2. Meaning a pipedream. ☜