When the enemy failed to kill He Lingchuan with a nightmare, they set another trap with the Fan brothers waiting in ambush.

Two attempts on his life in a single night. The methods were vicious in the extreme, displaying hatred so deep that it would not rest until he was dead.

If He Lingchuan’s luck had been even a little worse, Jiao Yu would probably be out shopping for his coffin by now.

And now, not even half a night later, they were already coming right to his door again.

This was beyond insolence. They were treating the title of the Crown Prince’s special envoy, as well as the authority of the ruler of Chiyan, as if it were nothing at all.

“Business first.” He Lingchuan patted the tiger on the head. “We’ll put both debts on the tab for now. I’ve got a feeling we’ll be settling accounts soon.”

Once the enemy had gone this far, resorting to means like these, there was no room left for compromise. The two sides were now enemies to the death.

And were Zhongsun Mou’s and the Cen household’s arrogance not also a sign that they were getting desperate?

During moments like these, the best thing to do is to stay calm.

So the urgent business that He Lingchuan attended to next was sneaking off to the street for a steaming bowl of savory rice porridge.

It was made by cooking diced dried tofu, diced radish, diced meat, and dried clams together with rice, then tossing in whatever vegetables happened to be on hand and simmering the whole thing until the grains burst open and the porridge turned thick and sticky. Finish it with a delectable amount of pepper, and it was ready to serve.

He Lingchuan tasted it. The flavor was excellent, but that alone was not why the place was packed to bursting. The real draw was the two salted milk curds served with each bowl.

These little things were white as snow and plump as glutinous rice balls. Anyone who bit into them raw got a mouthful of dry crumbs, which was awful. But if you pressed them hard down into the boiling porridge and let them soak for several dozen breaths, they turned into soft, springy treasures. One light bite, and the salty richness of buffalo milk exploded across your tongue.

“Excellent!” It was He Lingchuan’s first time trying them, and he immediately downed two huge bowls of the savory porridge.

When the third bowl came, he also ordered two freshly fried dough sticks[1] and a bowl of Houlin beans[2].

These yellow-colored beans had been cooked until soft and sticky. The texture was like sweet bean paste, but savory. The local way to eat them was to scoop up the Houlin beans and stuff them into the split down the side of the fried dough sticks, then crunch away. Crisp on the outside, soft on the inside, double the pleasure.

Even on a summer morning, it was not exactly cool. People still crowded around low tables, slurping noisily and wiping sweat from their faces as they ate.

Jiao Yu, meanwhile, could only eat cold food. So it went to the market next door and bought more than half a fresh hind leg of mutton, slaughtered before dawn, nearly ten kilograms’ worth.

Its appetite was not great, so it would just eat a little.

* * *

Cheng Yu was having breakfast too.

The medicinal congee before him was rich and fragrant. The cheapest herb in it was a century-old ginseng, yet in his mouth it tasted like chewed wax.

His chest felt tight and nauseous. He forced down a few more mouthfuls, then nearly spat the food right back up.

At last, he pushed the bowl away. “Take it.”

Uncle Wu, standing nearby, saw how his face was as pale as paper money or joss paper[3] and how drained he looked, and said with concern, “You really need to find a way to sleep for a while.”

This man had a grand reputation, demanded a shocking fee, and had been unbearably arrogant earlier, even to the point of ordering the Young Master around as he pleased.

The Young master had also placed great hopes on him, certain he would succeed at the first stroke.

And the result?

He failed to assassinate the Crown Prince’s special envoy, ended up badly injured himself, and now needs us to devote all our strength to caring for him, stuffing every good medicine we have into his mouth.

How laughable.

“If I could sleep, I’d already be lying down.” Cheng Yu shot him a cold glance. “If he can kill Hundred-Face, that means he’s skilled in curse techniques too. If I fall asleep, I’ll only be handing him an opening.”

Everyone knew that after a serious injury, what a person needed most was good sleep. Only proper sleep could restore vitality and replenish essence; no miraculous medicine could truly replace it.

But how could he dare sleep now?

The curse had failed last night, and the moment he fled, the other side came after him straight to the inn. That meant that the other party’s tracking was formidable too, and it was possible that he had gotten clues from the Hundred-Faced Nightmare itself.

The Hundred-Faced Nightmare had actually lost! Even now, Cheng Yu still found it impossible to believe. That was a nightmare born from the soul of an immortal!

But the facts were right in front of him, so he had no choice but to believe.

Uncle Wu sneered inwardly. So this man’s so frightened of He Lingchuan that he doesn’t even dare sleep?

Outwardly, though, he sighed sympathetically. “But it’s daytime, isn’t it?” Aren’t people like you supposed to harm others with spells at night?

Cheng Yu said nothing.

He suspected the other side also had a nightmare in hand, perhaps one even more terrifying than Hundred-Face.

Uncle Wu added, “This can’t go on. You’ve already tried regulating your breath several times.”

Even ordinary people felt awful when deprived of sleep. For someone like Cheng Yu, badly injured and forcing himself to stay awake, the end result would probably be that he simply collapsed.

Uncle Wu continued, “My young master has just set out in person to find this He fellow. Why not take the chance to sleep for a while?”

With He Lingchuan occupied with dealing with Cen Boqing, he should have no spare attention left to scheme against Cheng Yu.

Hearing that, Cheng Yu began to feel there was some sense in it.

And the moment he relaxed, his mind grew even heavier.

“Then I’ll sleep a little. Find someone to sit in the courtyard and watch the cord-and-bell array closely.” Cheng Yu slowly made his way to the bed. “No matter which direction the bells ring from, it means some unseen evil thing is drawing near. Wake me at once.”

He had long since set up talisman arrays in the room. On top of that, he had people stretch red cords at the four corners of the room, the four corners of the courtyard, and the four corners outside the courtyard, each line strung with silver bells. There were eighteen such bells on the inner layer, thirty-six on the middle, and seventy-two on the outer.[4]

That formed three nested squares, one around the other.

Strangely enough, while the bells jingled as they were being hung, making the gatekeeper think that they would be unbearably noisy, once the red cords were pulled taut, they all went completely still.

The wind was fairly strong today, yet not a single one of the hundred-plus silver bells made a sound. It seemed utterly odd.

Once he had finished giving instructions, Cheng Yu lay down on the bed at the very center of the cord-and-bell array.

He was too exhausted and too utterly spent, so he fell asleep in quite literally a second.

Uncle Wu immediately assigned two men to stand watch in the courtyard, with another pair to take their place every four hours.

Time passed slowly.

Uncle Wu himself stretched lazily. He still had things to deal with and was just about to leave when he suddenly heard the crisp sound of bells.

Ting-ting-ting—

It seemed to be coming from the east.

At first, only the bells on the outermost cord were ringing. In the time it took to blink twice, the bells on the middle layer started ringing too.

Uncle Wu did not dare delay. In a single stride, he reached the bedside and shook Cheng Yu hard by the shoulder. “Wake up! Wake up!”

If the man did not open his eyes, Uncle Wu would not mind slapping him a few times.

A thin stream of blood suddenly ran from Cheng Yu’s nose.

Uncle Wu started in alarm, thinking he really had been attacked after all.

But Cheng Yu did open his eyes.

And the instant he did, the clear bell-ringing stopped dead.

The three men nearby looked up, all feeling how eerie it was.

Cheng Yu had not slept long at all, so his soul and spirit were still in an incredibly poor state. He asked weakly, “How long was I asleep?”

“A quarter of an hour.” Uncle Wu’s voice was low. “He really came.”

That little bit of sleep was scarcely better than not sleeping at all for someone so badly wounded. Cheng Yu pressed at his heavy head. “I set up talisman arrays. An ordinary curse master shouldn’t be able to track me here.”

Those arrays were like a maze. A weaker curse caster would get trapped in them and never find the way through.

Uncle Wu said curiously, “He’s only a teenager. He looks competent in martial skill, but not like someone deeply versed in curses. And those guards around him look even less so.”

“What someone looks like tells you nothing about whether they know curses.” Cheng Yu was in no mood for patience. “And besides, those skilled in such techniques aren’t necessarily human.”

“So what do we do now?”

Cheng Yu thought for a moment, then took a transparent spiral shell from his robe.

The shell was almost colorless and clear, but inside, flakes of snow were flying wildly, as though a blizzard were raging.

At the center of the shell stood a little wooden cabin, all its doors and windows tightly shut, with warm light glowing from inside.

If He Lingchuan had been here, he would probably have called it a snow globe.

There was also a tiny stopper fitted into the mouth of the shell.

Even Uncle Wu was curious. “What is that?”

“A dream land.” Cheng Yu sounded reluctant to use it. “This is a fixed and sealed dream land. No other curse techniques or nightmares can invade it, but it can only be used three times... and I’ve already used it twice. This is the very last use.”

A lifesaving trump card like this became less valuable every time it was used.

Then again, if he were not to use it now, then when?

He said to Uncle Wu, “Do you see the lanterns outside the door?”

“I do.” Looking through the shell, Uncle Wu could see a pair of red lanterns hanging outside the cabin door, swaying in the snowstorm.

“The moment the red lanterns light up, press the stopper firmly in and seal the entire dream land.” Cheng Yu’s expression was solemn. “When the lanterns grow dim again, then open it. Don’t make a mistake.”

“Understood.”

“Guard both the dream land and my body while I’m inside. Don’t let anyone take it away.”

“That’s a small matter.” Uncle Wu smiled. “You’re resting inside the Cen Residence. No one would dare break in here.”

“Then...” Cheng Yu coughed several times, his face turning even worse. “Then good.”

He already looked half-dead, but still forced himself to add one last warning. “Absolutely, absolutely do not pull the stopper early. I was too badly injured this time. I need a long period of recovery. If the seal is broken ahead of time, my soul will scatter in a mess. Not only will something happen to me, but the one who opens it will suffer too. Remember, remember!”

Uncle Wu agreed to everything.

Only then did Cheng Yu swallow some pills and lie down again.

Holding the shell in his hand, Uncle Wu felt that once Cheng Yu shut his eyes, the room seemed to contain something extra.

Not long afterward, Cheng Yu’s snoring began.

Inside the shell, the wind and snow abruptly stopped. The red lanterns flared to life.

Uncle Wu did not dare neglect it. He hurriedly pressed the stopper firmly into the shell’s opening, sealing the entire thing completely.

After that, the snowy scene inside remained unchanged. The orange light spilling from the little cabin still looked warm, but somehow...

Is there movement inside?

Uncle Wu leaned closer for a better look. On the window paper, there really was the shadow of a person, pacing back and forth inside the cabin.

Is that Cheng Yu?

About half an hour later, the bells outside the courtyard suddenly began ringing again.

Ting-ling-ling, ting-ling-ling.

The outer bells rang.

The middle bells rang.

Something was approaching the room very quickly.

Soon, the bells inside the room rang too.

The sound was clear and cold, chaotic and urgent, and somehow profoundly eerie.

For the first time in his life, Uncle Wu found the sound of bells intolerable.

He knew the enemy had already entered the room. It was here now, moving around beside him and Cheng Yu.

But he could not see it, could not hear it, and it was most likely that the other party could not see or hear them either.

The two sides might not even be in the same space.

Apparently failing to find Cheng Yu, the intruder had grown anxious. All the bells on the four cords inside the room began ringing together.

Is the thing wandering all over the room?

Uncle Wu stared at the shell in his hand.

The figure inside the little cabin was moving too. It also seemed tense.

1. These are just youtiao, by the way. ☜

2. I have no idea what these are. ☜

3. Search up joss paper to get a better idea of what the color is. ☜

4. I do find it odd that the author went for eighteen here, since it isn’t cleanly divisible by four. ☜