He casually opened the Hundred Tales.

As expected, the text about Jorogumo in the Hundred Tales had changed; the image of Jorogumo appeared, looking vivid and lifelike, more realistic than the other spirits that had appeared before.

"What on earth is this Aoandon book for?" Su Ziyu casually closed the Hundred Tales.

He felt a twinge of drowsiness.

After casting a Spiritual Protection Field on himself, Su Ziyu leaned directly against the wall and fell asleep. The effect of the Spiritual Protection Field is similar to the mage's Shield of Deflection, lasting several hours with one casting. Currently, Su Ziyu's Spiritual Protection Field can last for 6 hours per casting, but it will shatter instantly if it exceeds its protective limits.

Almost immediately after Su Ziyu left.

Outside Jorogumo's cave, an elderly bald man in black ornate clothing appeared. He looked solemnly at the charred corpse of Jorogumo in the distance and murmured, "Is this the Thunder Technique?"

"What great power!"

He heard the rolling thunder from afar, and the shocking lightning streaking across the sky made even him feel alarmed.

The power of Spiritual Lightning is great, but its presence is equally significant.

As soon as Su Ziyu acts, it can be seen more than ten kilometers away. After all, lightning suddenly streaking across the sky is quite attention-grabbing.

"The Principle of Jorogumo has been taken..." The bald elderly man touched the charred corpse, raising his hand to emit a wisp of ghostly green flame.

"Isn't it just the Soul Beads? It's spoken of as if it's something grand!" A lazy voice sounded: "That yokai wasn't qualified to comprehend the 'Principle.' It was just an extreme obsession turning into form."

"Fusang has so few with the Demon's Principle, and Jorogumo doesn't rank among them."

"Aoandon of Kyoto, Guhuo Bird of the Maple Forest, Yama of the Netherworld, Kaguya-hime of the Cyan Bamboo Forest, Jiutun Tongzi of Danbo Mountain, Great Tengu of Nachi Mountain, Qing Ji of Mount Fuji, and you, this old demon!..."

The Nurarihyon smiled and said, "What about that Nine-tailed Fox?"

"Her?..." Hearing the bald elderly man's words, the lazy voice hesitated and said, "What she grasps isn't just the Principle. The Nine-tailed Fox is different from us; what she comprehends is the Law."

"The one who comprehends the Law is near the Dao."

"If not for her fragmented soul, she would've already become a deity or demon."

"Hey?"

"Are you really going to go against her? That Nine-tailed Fox isn't someone easy to provoke! Even if we join forces, we can't beat her!"

Upon hearing this, the bald elderly man squinted his eyes slowly, "We have to fight even if we can't win. The reason so many yokai live in Fusang is because we maintain boundaries with humans. If we let her run wild, there will eventually be chaos in the yokai world."

"Suit yourself. Anyway, I'm not getting involved." The voice of the Bakumaku spoke up again.

The bald elderly man took a pinch of Jorogumo's ashes, letting them scatter in the wind over the cliff, and said slowly, "Look, she was a human before, now she's a yokai."

"The boundary between humans and yokai is actually quite simple."

"If the situation in Kyoto deteriorates further, humans will turn into spirits."

Upon hearing this, the Bakumaku hesitated slightly, saying slowly, "Spit it out. What do you want me to do now?"

"Qing Ji has already come out," the bald elderly man said solemnly. "You've entered Qing Ji's dream before; can you also send him into that dream?"

"He's been eliminating harmful yokai all the way."

"If we let him see the terrible disaster caused by Qing Ji's madness, maybe he'll be willing to help us. Perhaps we can also use his ability to figure out what happened back then?"

Hearing this, the Bakumaku was momentarily stunned and hesitated, "You want me to send him into Qing Ji's dream? But Qing Ji's dream is terrifying! What if he resents me for it?"

The bald elderly man silently gazed at the emptiness for a long time.

Then, the voice of the Bakumaku came again, "Fine. I'll owe you one."

"I'm the Bakumaku, why do you always make me work on dream weaving, my Dream Principle isn't meant for this. To send this guy into Qing Ji's dream, I must use a True Dream Realm, after this I will have repaid your favor."

The voice gradually faded away, as if becoming suddenly ethereal.

.........

"An Zhen, An Zhen!"

"Wake up."

"How did you fall asleep after just sitting down for a moment?" An elderly voice came.

Who's calling me?

Su Ziyu slowly opened his eyes, and then shuddered, instinctively reaching for his waist, only to find that his Meteor was gone.

What's going on? How did I suddenly appear here?

Su Ziyu felt a bit of coolness on his head. Reaching up, he directly touched a large bald head. Beside him was an elderly monk, looking at him curiously and saying, "What's wrong with you? Are you in a daze again?"

"Hurry up and get up."

"It's going to rain, we must quickly find shelter at the residence of Murasaki Seiji."

Why am I here?

What did he call me? An Zhen? This name sounds familiar! How did I become a monk?

That's right.

I saw this name in the Hundred Tales the other day. Qing Ji turned into a yokai because of a monk named An Zhen.

Is this another dream?

Is that Bakumaku targeting me? Didn't I already strengthen my Mind Barrier?

Wait.

Why does this dream feel so real? Su Ziyu pinched himself and felt a bit of pain. His Spiritual Energy seemed to be restrained, and he was entirely an ordinary person. Su Ziyu tried to connect to the system's data flow, and soon a string of data flashed across his mind. The power of the Hourglass of Time was still connected to him.

—"True Dream Realm."

Looking at what was displayed on the Space-Time Monitor System, Su Ziyu fell into deep thought.

His current state was quite peculiar.

His consciousness was in a world called the 'True Dream Realm.' Su Ziyu tried to wake up but found he couldn't leave this dream.

—"Spiritual Vision!"

Su Ziyu unexpectedly activated the ability of Spiritual Vision, but this time nothing he saw before him seemed illusory. He could even smell the earthy scent; the elderly monk in front of him looked exactly the same as seen with the naked eye.

What should I do?

How can I escape this strange state?

As Su Ziyu was pondering how to wake from the dream, he suddenly felt his body stand up on its own, and he said, "It really is going to rain. Let's hurry."

Then.

Su Ziyu realized his body was following the elderly monk, although he tried to control his body, he couldn't stop his footsteps and was compelled to walk with the elderly monk. After a long walk, they finally arrived at an estate in the countryside just before nightfall.

This isn't my body.

Su Ziyu was sure that this wasn't his body; his consciousness seemed to have entered the dream realm, indeed someone else's dream. He was now inhabiting the body of a monk named An Zhen, following his master to find shelter from the rain.

He felt as if he were playing a first-person scene in a game.

Su Ziyu appeared unable to interfere with the plot, only able to slightly control the body in certain circumstances, and doing so left him feeling extremely mentally drained.

"You're finally here." A surprisingly gentle female voice sounded.

While Su Ziyu was contemplating how to escape, a surprisingly gentle female voice suddenly came, and then he felt a pair of fervent eyes fall on him.

Is this Qing Ji?

The story recorded in the Hundred Tales was not complete; it contained merely a few hundred words, giving Su Ziyu only a general sense of the plot direction.

"An Zhen? Are you hungry?"

"I prepared some of your favorite dishes for you."

Qing Ji came to Su Ziyu's side, gently taking over the luggage, and whispered, "I prepared your favorite dishes."

In front of him, Qing Ji was clad in a light green kimono and had eyes that were completely focused on Su Ziyu alone, not even sparing a glance at the elderly monk beside him.

.........

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.