Seeking Truth with a Sword-Chapter 610 - 551 Nightmare

The Priest from the Judgement Court of Taihao Mountain, leading a team, had appeared in the heartland of Yu Country. Well, this wasn’t entirely unbelievable. Countries often infiltrated each other, sending secret agents and spies. Moreover, Yu Country itself had no shortage of fanatical Haotian followers willing to serve Taihao Mountain voluntarily. This included secretly helping Taihao Mountain personnel enter Yu Country through various channels.

The disciples of Lu Li Academy exchanged glances. Everyone understood clearly that Chen Wanyi and his team’s claim of "preventing the Dream Eater from awakening" was merely a pretext for Taihao Mountain to search for Mutated Objects and stop the Dream Eater from falling into their hands. However, now was not the best time to dwell on this issue.

"Do you know where the Dream Eater is?" Ji Xingwang asked, his voice deep.

"It’s in the inn." Chen Wanyi made a pointless but true statement. Seeing the gloomy expressions of the Lu Li Academy members, he added, "I don’t mean to be so vague. However, according to the prophecy, it isn’t time for the Dream Eater to awaken yet. The Ghost Realm we’re currently trapped in is merely an aftershock of its dreaming. Only by surviving these aftershocks and waiting for the precise moment it awakens and returns to the real world can we access its physical body and capture it."

A Lu Li Academy Doctor frowned. "Are you confident you can capture it? From what I can see, your Cultivation levels are only at the Cloud Patrol Realm, correct?"

Chen Wanyi spread his hands. "Everything has its gains and losses. Judging from our Judgement Court’s millennia of experience hunting demons, the Dream Eater’s abilities are indeed unique and exaggerated; even a Candle Cloud Mage like Brother Qing Ya couldn’t escape them. Therefore, its physical body is likely not very powerful."

"Would you be willing to share the full prophecy with us? After all, we’re all in the same boat now," a guard behind Jin Wusuan said. These men were all Cultivators, funded by Jin Wusuan and having served under him for many years; their loyalty was beyond doubt.

Manager Jin’s eyes flickered, as if he had realized something.

"Well..." Chen Wanyi paused, raising a hand to silence a subordinate who was about to speak. "The first two lines of the prophetic Poetry are: ’A Nanke dream, where grudges and gratitude prove hard to dispel. Fleeting bubbles and shadows, all are born of cause and effect.’ The last two lines are: ’Soul, oh soul, return; one’s past is but an empty void. If this fleeting life is an awakening, how much joy can truly be had?’ Due to our order’s regulations, I can only reveal this much."

Chen Wanyi shrugged, ignoring the skeptical looks from the others. "There’s a more serious situation at hand, everyone," he continued. "The number of people here has increased again."

Just as he spoke, the hall had, imperceptibly, become even more crowded. A scan with Spiritual Sense revealed the total count had risen from two hundred fifty-six to two hundred seventy—an increase of fourteen people.

"Zhou Hongmao, correct?" Chen Wanyi looked at the silk merchant Zhou Hongmao and said calmly, "You should now have many new, seamless childhood memories with Zhou Chengcai in your mind, as if they genuinely occurred."

Zhou Hongmao was still reeling from the sudden death of his "brother." It took him a moment to process the question before he nodded, his emotions complex. "Yes."

"This must be the Dream Eater’s ability," Chen Wanyi stated calmly. "Just as a lizard needs to bask in the sun to gain energy to move, the Dream Eater needs to draw external energy to awaken itself. We, all of us here, are its source of energy. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but your Qi Sea is slowly depleting."

The expressions of everyone from Lu Li Academy, Jin Wusuan’s guards, Song Shaoyuan, Ji Linglang, and all the other Cultivators present changed slightly. Indeed, they could feel their Spiritual Energy slowly "evaporating." Initially, they had attributed it to the suppressive effects of the Ghost Realm, but now it seemed the Dream Eater was drawing their energy.

"It’s not just Cultivators. The Life Force of ordinary people trapped in this Ghost Realm is also being extracted," Chen Wanyi continued. "The conduits for this extraction are these Fakes, like Zhou Chengcai—or, more accurately, Nightmares."

Chen Wanyi said, "The Dream Eater will alter everyone’s memories, continuously generating Nightmares. Friends, family, childhood sweethearts, sworn companions... these Nightmares will keep multiplying until their host is drained completely and dies. Look at Zhou Hongmao. In just that short while, white hairs have already begun to appear on his head. If we had allowed the Nightmare Zhou Chengcai to exist any longer, the consequences would have been dire."

With that, he paused, turned to his companions behind him, and said slowly, "I remember clearly that when we received the order from the Judgement Court, there were six of us. But now, there are two extra."

"Priest, what are you saying?" one of the Taihao Mountain Cultivators exclaimed in shock. "There have always been eight of us, have you forgotten? When we entered the city pass, the toll we paid was for eight people."

"Yes, I remember," Chen Wanyi affirmed. "That memory is very clear. I even recall all our experiences slaying demons and exorcising evil with the seven of you. But six is six. This is all the Dream Eater’s doing. We already have two Nightmares among us."

Chen Wanyi nodded, slowly rolled up his sleeve, and smiled. "Fortunately, I came prepared..."

As his sleeve was rolled up, a large spread of tattoos was revealed on Chen Wanyi’s arm, depicting portraits of his companions. The tattoos were clearly recent, the skin around their edges still bearing faint, dark red scars.

However, his eyes widened. "How can this be?!"

Chen Wanyi stared in disbelief as the tattoos on his arm seemed to extend, now clearly showing eight portraits—including his own.

This is bad. Cold sweat beaded on his forehead. "The Dream Eater," he said hoarsely, "has already begun to modify reality..."

Panic erupted in the hall. Nightmares devoured Life Force, were pervasive, and multiplied constantly. Did this mean anyone beside them could be a Nightmare? Could their spouses, the ones they spent every day and night with, their siblings, their closest friends—all be Fakes? Were they all life-draining fiends?

An attractive woman anxiously clutched her husband’s arm, her voice timid. "My dear, I’m so scared..."

"Don’t come near me! Stay back!" Her husband’s expression changed drastically. He shoved her away, frantically tugging at his hair and inspecting it for white strands, shouting, "I suspected it all along! I’m so plain, how could I ever marry someone as beautiful as you?"

Nearby, a middle-aged Confucian Scholar’s face paled as he looked at his companion. "Hong Yuan, why are you pointing that knife at me? We’ve been friends for over a dozen years!"

"Is that so? Can such a coincidence truly happen?" His companion’s face darkened as he raised his knife. "I was on my way to the capital for the examinations when I was robbed. Starving and freezing, I just happened to meet you—also on your way to the examinations—in a ruined temple, and you just happened to give me two steamed buns that saved my life? Right?"

Suspicion, insecurity, and panic spread rapidly, like ink dropped into a pond.