In the shadows, far from the plaza.

A group from the Wild Taoist Sect was bustling about.

It was a secluded street.

Tables were being pushed together one after another on the street.

The Female Daoist clutched the Evil Thought Pearl, her face deathly pale.

Not long ago, she had used the Evil Thought Pearl to guide a Nightmare, creating a Dream Realm that covered half of Fenglin State.

The toll this Dream Realm had taken on the Female Daoist was terrifying.

It wasn’t just her Qi; she felt her Essence, Qi, and Spirit, and even her lifespan, had been greatly diminished.

But for the sake of this plan, the Female Daoist had no other choice.

Beside her, Tang Yun stared at the stage being assembled from wooden tables, lost in thought.

After a moment, Tang Yun looked at the Female Daoist beside him and asked, "Can we really kill Shen Bai this way?"

The Female Daoist’s listless eyes turned to glance at Tang Yun. "Is there any other way? There isn’t. Shen Bai is surrounded by the Observatory and won’t leave Fenglin State. Killing him is nearly impossible."

Originally, their plan was to use Long Yan to kill Shen Bai when no one was the wiser.

But unexpectedly, that useless Hall Master betrayed them without a second thought.

Because of this betrayal, they suffered losses, their plan was exposed, and the matter of the Nightmare came to light.

If Long Yan hadn’t been guided by the Evil Thought Pearl at the last moment, releasing the Heart Demon in his soul and escaping from his residence, their plan probably would have failed completely.

And just like that, their initial plan was ruined.

Killing Shen Bai had become an almost impossible task.

Just recently, when they were at their wit’s end, Long Yan had found her and proposed a new plan.

The Female Daoist had thought it over and over before finally agreeing. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

After all, the goal this time was simply to kill Shen Bai.

If they completed the mission, they wouldn’t be punished by their superiors upon their return.

"We have no choice," the Female Daoist added. "Besides, you don’t have a choice either."

Tang Yun lowered his head, thinking, ’If I had a choice, I’d choose differently.’

He was truly at a dead end now.

On his way here, he had been intercepted by people from the Wild Taoist Sect and the Wild Buddha Sect, who then forced him to join this collaboration.

Although his own greed had played a part in this collaboration, Tang Yun was now filled with regret.

He could only hope the plan would succeed. If it did, the goodwill of the Wild Taoist Sect and the Wild Buddha Sect would earn the Peach Opera Garden high praise from Marquis Fengjiang.

But if it failed, the entire Peach Opera Garden would likely be destroyed.

The two of them were lost in their own separate thoughts.

As they mulled things over, the assembly of the stage from the wooden tables was finally complete.

The stage wasn’t large, but it looked the part.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned their gazes to a spot not far away.

There, Long Yan, dressed in an opera costume and holding a Flower Spear, leaped lightly onto the stage, landing in the very center.

Everyone’s eyes fixed on him, waiting to see what Long Yan would do next.

Long Yan’s gaze swept over the crowd. He shook the Flower Spear in his hand and said slowly, "Change into your costumes."

The members of the Wild Taoist Sect all removed their outer clothes, revealing various opera costumes underneath.

Clearly, they had come prepared.

Seeing this, Long Yan nodded slightly. Only then did he speak again. "The *Meeting in a Dream* you all perform is the most superficial version. In my opinion, it’s riddled with flaws. To kill Shen Bai, we’ll need the true *Meeting in a Dream*."

The Female Daoist, holding the Evil Thought Pearl, was taken aback. She asked instinctively, "The true *Meeting in a Dream* can actually kill Shen Bai?"

She found it hard to believe that a mere play could accomplish this. After all, there were people in Fenglin State stronger than Long Yan.

Under those circumstances, how could they possibly kill Shen Bai with just one performance?

Long Yan sneered. "When it comes to opera, I am the expert. It’s true Shen Bai is well-protected, and killing him seems like a fantasy. But I can kill him using unconventional means."

The Female Daoist frowned. "Landlord Long, what method do you plan to use to kill Shen Bai?"

At this point, her curiosity was genuinely piqued.

Long Yan had arranged everything for today.

In his current state, he would never do something pointless, so the Female Daoist grew even more eager to see what would happen next.

Long Yan gave another cold laugh. "And what if I were to kill him in his dreams?"

In his dreams?

Hearing those words, the Female Daoist grew even more confused.

After all, she wasn’t an expert in this field, so she was completely at a loss.

She wasn’t the expert, but someone here was.

When Tang Yun heard this, his eyes widened. "Martial Uncle Long, are you planning to use the forbidden Secret Technique from *Meeting in a Dream* to kill Shen Bai?"

"But hasn’t that Secret Technique been useless for ages?"

Only he knew that this play, *Meeting in a Dream*, contained a Secret Technique called Dream Encounter.

Just as its name implied, the Dream Encounter Secret Technique could make two unrelated people meet in a dream.

But this Secret Technique hadn’t been used by anyone for a very long time.

This was because its conditions for use were extremely demanding, the most important of which was the need to generate resonance.

Resonance was an esoteric concept, not something that could be explained in just a few words.

Long Yan nodded. "I never thought that useless father of yours could actually teach you this much. Not bad."

"To activate the Dream Encounter Secret Technique, one needs to find resonance. And Shen Bai and I... we already have it."

Everyone was completely bewildered, not understanding what Long Yan meant by resonance.