I Cheated While Cultivating

Chapter 347: Chapter 67: The Giant Serpent Above the Mist of DreamsNôv(el)B\\jnn

The girl’s voice filled the void as if omnipresent.

Meanwhile, the flames engulfing the mountain village suddenly surged, and faces filled with wrath appeared within the clusters of flames.

They screamed in anger and howled in agony.

“Ah! It’s so hot! So hot! I’m going to die!”

“Fire! Who set the fire? Why do this, why is it happening?”

“Save me, save me! I don’t want to die!”

Every word, every sentence of these voices contained a spiritual impact that was immensely powerful and horrifically terrifying, all converging to amplify the girl’s voice.

It was like many rivers flowing into a great river, making the spiritual impact in the girl’s voice even more formidable, even exceeding the norm for a Sect Fifth Rank.

It meant that even if a Grandmaster were to enter the dream, such a spiritual impact could inevitably cause harm.

Although Zhou Heng’s divine soul’s strength was infinitely close to that of a Sect Fifth Rank, it had not essentially changed, and under normal circumstances, he would certainly be injured when faced with such a spiritual assault.

However, he was not entering the dream purely with his divine soul or as his Dharma Phase, but rather with his divine soul envisioning the Dharma Phase of the Supreme Riding an Ox, interwoven with a trace of the Dao’s rhyme it represented.

This was the foundation of the immovable Dao that had remained unchanged for eons, the basis that bore all things, the symbol of existence in this world.

As such, the extent of spiritual impact that Zhou Heng could withstand could no longer be measured by conventional standards.

The overlapping wails, roars, and screams, mixed with the incoming assault, should have been utterly terrifying like a flood.

Yet, for Zhou Heng’s form of divine soul as the Supreme Riding an Ox Dharma Phase, it was nothing more than a gentle breeze brushing against his face, unable to have the slightest negative effect on him nor cause him even a hint of injury.

The girl’s blank face suddenly sprouted features, yet they were all marred with burnt marks, hideously fierce. She stared at Zhou Heng with gloomy eyes, gnashing her teeth.

“It was you, you set the fire! Didn’t you…”

Bang!

She had not finished speaking before Zhou Heng interrupted her, charging straight at her with the ox-riding Supreme Dharma Phase and sending the girl flying backwards, tumbling dozens of feet through the air before crashing to the ground.

“Ahh!!” The girl roared angrily, struggling to get up from the ground.

But just as her arms managed to lift her body slightly, she suddenly felt an immense weight on her back, as though a mountain had crushed down upon her, pinning her down again, making it impossible for her to get up, no matter how hard she fought.

That was the Supreme Riding an Ox stepping over and planting a foot on the girl.

“Sigh…”

Zhou Heng sighed softly, riding upon the ox in his Supreme Dharma Phase and breathed out a clear breath onto the girl.

The girl who had been desperately struggling suddenly quieted down.

The Azure Dragon no longer stepped on her.

This time, the girl did not try to get up. She lay on the ground, sobbing softly, her small body trembling slightly as she emitted whimpers of tears.

After a while, the burning village flames disappeared, and the surroundings suddenly changed to a maple forest, as if arriving in the deep autumn, the maple red as fire.

The little girl who had been lying on the ground at some point had transformed into a young woman with a graceful figure and exquisite curves, which could be clearly seen even as she lay prone on the ground in a red dress.

She slowly stood up, with astonishingly high curves on her chest that seemed to be trembling slightly due to her rising, and wore a fiery red fox mask on her face.

It was the Fifth Rank Sect Master of the Zhou Tian Boundary Officer, one of the Azure Dragon’s Seven Stars, known as Xin Su, also called “Xin Yuehu.”

“Xin Yuehu, I’ve seen my senior before,” Xin Su said, bowing slightly in respect, “Thank you for saving my life. I was previously bewitched by demon entities, trapped in a childhood nightmare. If not for the senior’s awakening, I’m afraid my life would have ended here.”

“No need for such formalities,” Zhou Heng said with a smile, while letting his Supreme Riding Ox Dharma Phase use a bit of magic to split off a wisp of thought, shaping it into his own likeness.

That is, the form wearing the Ziwei Emperor’s mask and purple imperial robes.

This made communication more convenient.

“So it is the Master of Stars,” Xin Su exclaimed even more surprised and asked, “Are you here to save me on behalf of the organization?”

She had a fair understanding of this Master of Stars.

It was said that this master joined the organization less than a year ago, his realm soared rapidly, reaching the level of Secret Six Rank, granting new privileges opened by the Purple Tenuity Palace for the organization, contributing greatly to its development.

Within the entire Da Qi Zhou Tian Boundary Officers, this master was absolutely an extremely important member, even the two leaders of Azure Dragon and Tianyi showed him great courtesy.

Even many people speculated that once this master ascended to the position of Celestial Man, he would likely become the third leader.

“On one hand, to save you, on the other hand, to investigate the matters here,” Zhou Heng nodded lightly, smiling, “As for this demon entity, do you have any understanding? Hmm, it’s not very convenient here. How about we talk more deeply outside of the dream state?”

Although this was Xin Su’s dream, the dream realm was the demon entity’s home turf. Talking here could possibly make it aware of their conversation, which would not be convenient for devising strategies to deal with it.

“Yes, what the Master of Stars says is very true,” Xin Su nodded in agreement.

…

Xin Su had now regained her consciousness within the dream, and it was naturally not a difficult task to wake up in reality.

Her awakening also brought great joy to the Prefect Zhang Qiu, who also gained a larger recognition of the strength of this Ziwei Emperor—although he was just at Secret Six Rank, he seemed to be quite adept in the realm of spiritual dreams.

Afterward, Xin Su stepped out from the prohibited formation and went with Zhou Heng to the prefectural city’s official residence. Zhang Qiu specifically approved a room inside the official residence for the two to discuss strategies against the demon entities.

Zhou Heng and Xin Su set up soundproofing barriers inside the room after they entered, to prevent their voices from being overheard.

Demon entities not only had the ability to send people into deep sleep and drown them in dreams, but they also possessed the power to bewilder and deceive the spirit and were extremely stealthy. Unless one’s divine soul state was checked one by one, no one could be sure if there were any “spies” of the demon entity inside this official residence.

Therefore, it was best to be cautious.

“We can talk now,” Zhou Heng got straight to the point the moment he began, not dallying in the slightest.

“This demon entity is extremely skilled at dredging up the memories people least want to recall,” Xin Su said with a heavy tone: “Before I fell into the nightmare, I observed the dreams of over thirty people who were all immersed in their painful nightmares, unable to extricate themselves.

“In such dreams, a person’s spirit becomes extremely fragile, naturally releasing divine soul power, which is then absorbed by some force above the dream… I’m afraid that would be the demon entity.”

“This demon entity is collecting the divine soul power released by people…” Zhou Heng frowned slightly upon hearing this and said, “The released divine soul power is quite pure, less influenced by the original will of individuals, and most suitable for gathering together. Is this demon entity trying to amass a large amount of divine soul power?

“What does it want to do?”

Given the dream constructed by ten thousand sleeping people in Ansui Prefecture, if the demon entity wanted to make its descent, it could have already broken through. Yet it has not done so; it clearly has other intentions.

“I once heard Tianyi Great King say that demon entities can change between insubstantial and substantial forms, and for them, divine soul power is the prime carrier of their path,” said Xin Su with some concern: “Could it be that this demon entity wants to use a vast amount of divine soul power to construct a pathway for more demon entities to cross over?”

“It’s highly possible,” Zhou Heng nodded gently, saying, “If that’s really the case, then we must hurry. If too much time passes, the demon entity might succeed.”

“Exactly,” Xin Su nodded in agreement, yet she was also worried, “But we know so little about this demon entity, how are we going to stop it?”

“Don’t worry, I already have a plan,” Zhou Heng said with a smile.

“That quick?” Xin Su exclaimed in surprise; she was increasingly convinced that this Master of the Stars was truly formidable.

…

Atop the dream haze where reality and illusion blurred, a pitch-black giant snake was coiled.

It slithered above the mist, overlooking more than ten thousand assorted dreams below, its forked tongue absorbing a massive amount of free-floating spiritual power with each flick.

This was a demon entity.

“Ah, such delicious spiritual power, the humans of this world are so high-quality. The spiritual powers of a group of mere mortals are so pure, it’s wonderful,” the giant snake murmured contentedly.

“It’s a pity, I must establish a cross-realm path for the Great King and cannot absorb too much. Otherwise, all of this would be delectable, fantastic, just fantastic!”

Demon entities are intelligent, but until they reach the rank equivalent to a Celestial Man, the lower-level demons are mostly driven by instinct.

Although this giant snake possessed the strength equivalent to a Sect Fifth Rank, its intelligence was not very high. The only reason it refrained from consuming all the wandering spiritual power was due to its fear of the “Great King.”

“Once the Great King arrives, I should be able to freely draw upon the spiritual power here, hehehe.” The giant snake felt that its glorious future was drawing near.

However, on the path to this bright future, an obstacle had just appeared.

“What was that old man riding the azure ox? The pure and spiritual aura from him is very uncomfortable for me, and he even woke up the delicious treat that I intended to save for last. Unforgivable!”

“The next time he enters the dreams, I shall swallow him whole!”

…

Zhou Heng’s plan to deal with the dream demon entity was simple.

And direct.

That is, to enter every sleeping person’s dream in the form of a Supreme Riding Ox and wake them up one by one.

There were no tricks to it, but it was simple and effective.

The most difficult part about this method was how to wake people trapped in their own nightmares without causing any harm to their divine souls.

But this obstacle was no trouble at all for Zhou Heng, who could manifest the Supreme Riding Ox to enter dreams.

A mere hint of the interwoven Daoist essence and aura on the Supreme Riding Ox Dharma Phase was enough for someone at the level of a Fifth Rank Sect Master like Xin Su to find their way back to consciousness, not to mention ordinary people.

The more people who were awakened, the more the demon entity lurking above the dreams would grow restless and would definitely reveal itself.

When that time comes, it will be directly suppressed and killed.

…

To avoid drawing too much attention, Zhou Heng deliberately hid various light and shadow effects with illusion techniques when awakening the sleeping individuals.

Therefore, normal people could not see the clear qi bursting forth from above his head, nor could they see the glow radiating from the body of the sleeping individuals, as well as the purplish-black Demonic Qi that dispersed from them.

In the eyes of the people of Ansui Prefecture, Zhou Heng simply went to the home of the “patient,” touched his coronet beside the “patient’s” bed, and after two or three breaths, the long-slumbering person would awaken.

To the onlookers, this seemed almost like a miracle.

Thus, news spread rapidly, and every household with a sleeping individual eagerly anticipated Zhou Heng’s arrival.

This also made Zhou Heng’s subsequent actions much smoother.

In just three days, he had already awakened more than a thousand people, and the number was increasing rapidly. By the fifth day, more than three thousand people had been awakened.

The speed at which Zhou Heng was waking people truly shocked Xin Su.

She could hardly imagine how a Secret Six Rank Martial Artist could sustain the mental exertion of entering dreams more than three thousand times in just a few days?

That was unbelievably strong.

In fact, this was because Zhou Heng had a foundation in visualization techniques, making his Divine Soul Power’s recovery and strength far exceed that of other martial artists at the same rank, and in terms of recovery speed, he even surpassed many Sect Fifth Ranks.

Moreover, he had the Sun Cave Sky to nurture his Divine Soul, further enhancing the recovery speed of his Divine Soul Power. Thus, entering dreams thousands of times in a short period was not particularly difficult for him.

As the number of awakened individuals grew, the despair that had pervaded Ansui Prefecture dissipated entirely, and many families were already celebrating joyfully.

However, both Zhou Heng and Xin Su were very clear that everything up to this point was merely a prelude. To truly resolve the problem of Ansui Prefecture, the demon creature hidden in the dreams had to be slain.

Therefore, the work of waking the sleeping continued.

By the seventh day, over six thousand people had been awakened.

During this time, the force that induced sleep retaliated, putting another thousand people to sleep.

But the pace of this sleep-inducing force could not keep up with Zhou Heng’s rate of awakening people, and in a few more days, all the sleeping individuals in the prefectural city would have been awakened.

However, Zhou Heng knew that they had now reached a critical moment.

Each time he entered a dream, he could sense the intense malice and murderous intent from above, thick and undisguised, and with each entry, he felt the desire of the dream demon to kill him.

For some unknown reason, the demon entity had not truly acted, simply watching from above the mists of the dream.

Now, all the sleeping individuals were about to be awakened.

This meant that the large-scale dream where the demon entity resided was about to collapse entirely.

It likely couldn’t remain idle any longer.

…

Zhou Heng once again entered a dream.

But this time, unlike before, he did not encounter the image of a sleeping person in the dream.

After passing through the dream mist, he arrived in a vast and pitch-black world, head-on with a giant snake that seemed to fill the entire world!

“Humans! You must die!!”