Seeing Dream Eater's reaction, Wei Yuan dispelled the last trace of doubt in his mind, finally figuring out its true nature.
Primal chaos qi was the foundation for elevating a mindscape world into the immortal heavens, and every immortal mountain and grotto-heaven possessed the aura of primal chaos. Dream Eater's reaction proved that great demons of this realm innately feared the immortal realm, and that his spark of primal chaos qi was genuinely real, not an illusion.
From this, one could see that Dream Eater's dream world was not entirely a hollow illusion; its foundation was actually a mindscape world, something that truly existed. It was just that its mindscape world was extraordinarily peculiar—ethereal, illusory, and exceptionally difficult to detect. Wei Yuan had only sensed this just now when testing it with primal chaos qi.
Upon entering Dream Eater's dream world, it began as an illusion, and then the original soul would slowly be drawn in. Dying in Dream Eater's dream world was thus equivalent to the death of the original soul, which naturally turned the physical body into a walking corpse.
Dream Eater could be considered an unusual, naturally born Scenery Command great demon endowed with illusory divine powers that were exceedingly difficult to resist. The combination of the two formed its dream world. The closer the dream world mirrored reality, the weaker the resistance of those trapped inside would become, and the more potent Dream Eater's illusions would grow.
Yet once its true nature was uncovered, Dream Eater became extraordinarily fragile, inferior even to a top-tier dharma idol cultivator.
So long as one could resist its illusions, maintain their sense of self, and unleash havoc within its dream world, every blow struck at Dream Eater's mindscape world, inflicting fatal harm upon it.
When the two page boys had broken through the doors, Wei Yuan had keenly perceived the tremors in the dream world and caught a glimpse of an agonized consciousness, thereby discovering that attacking the dreamscape itself was attacking Dream Eater.
Therefore, ever since Wei Yuan had broken free from the Paper Bride game, Dream Eater had not dared to lightly drag Wei Yuan into its dream world again.
As for the three-eyed bird head, its status and stature were immensely high, making it completely impervious to illusions. Just now, it had detected Dream Eater's hidden malice and struck on the spot. The only reason it hadn't killed Dream Eater was that it tasted far too foul.
At this point, Dream Eater's true nature had been completely seen through. It no longer dared entertain improper thoughts, dutifully offering up all of Ji Liuli's abnormal dreamscapes.
These dreams were all profoundly dark and bizarre, sharing the same style as the ancient residence on that rainy night. From these dreams, Wei Yuan faintly sensed an aura that made even him shudder. Moreover, this aura was distinctly incompatible with the two page boys, evidently originating from a completely different place.
It seemed Eldest Senior Sister carried quite a few secrets indeed.
Wei Yuan felt a deep headache coming on. Leaving the dreamscape first, he went to Qingming to check on Ji Liuli's physical body. She remained seated cross-legged in meditation; her body was completely empty, her original soul nowhere to be seen.
Wei Yuan then returned to the dreamscape, took out the brocade bag, opened its mouth, and gave it a shake. Ji Liuli's original soul tumbled out and resumed its original size.
By now, Wei Yuan was in his true form, and the surroundings had been altered so they bore no resemblance to the Bone-Corroding Demonic Cult. Wei Yuan then flicked a strand of clear qi onto Ji Liuli's glabella. Ji Liuli slowly came to, looking around in bewilderment, momentarily unsure of where she was.
"Awaken!" Wei Yuan called out.
Ji Liuli shivered, her awareness gradually returning. She glanced at Wei Yuan, then at Dream Eater. "So I am still in a dream. Did something happen? Why did you wake me?"
Wei Yuan said, "An unexpected turn of events occurred. Let's head out first, and I'll explain in detail."
Ji Liuli looked down at her body, clad only in undergarments, and then at Wei Yuan. Calmly, she said, "Alright, I'll head out right n—"
At that moment, the three of them were standing in a courtyard boasting beautiful scenery and an exquisite garden layout. Yet Ji Liuli suddenly threw a punch to the side; the scenery there shattered like colored glass, revealing the sight hidden behind an invisible wall.
It was a gloomy grand hall. Though it had been thoroughly wrecked, the high-perched throne had survived, and along the wall stood several oddly shaped torture racks.
This was none other than the demonic cult master's Hall of a Hundred Flavors—the very place prepared for Ji Liuli to taste the hundred flavors of agony.
Draped over a collapsed torture rack was Ji Liuli's outer garment.
"What place is this?" Wei Yuan asked, looking utterly puzzled.
Dream Eater immediately chimed in to back him up. "This is a dream world I haven't finished constructing yet. I just set it here temporarily."
"Oh, I see," Wei Yuan said, feigning an epiphany.
Ji Liuli suddenly smiled. "What place is that? Could the great Cult Master Wei truly not know? Isn't that Cult Master's beloved Hall of a Hundred Flavors!"
It felt as if a basin of freezing water had been dumped over Wei Yuan's head. His entire body stiffened, unable to move. Forcing the words out, he muttered, "I was just watching from outside. I didn't go in."
Ji Liuli cast a glance at Dream Eater and said, "We'll talk outside."
Ji Liuli's figure vanished. Wei Yuan and Dream Eater exchanged glances. Wei Yuan ground his teeth. "Didn't you say she wouldn't remember a thing after waking from the dream?"
"That's how it's supposed to be!" Dream Eater replied, aggrieved, speaking gingerly. "Whenever humans went through the Paper Bride game in the past, I erased all their memories. I've never failed once! How could this happen?"
"How could this happen? Shouldn't you be the one to answer that?"
"Perhaps your senior sister is naturally gifted."
Wei Yuan wasted no more words on Dream Eater. Returning to Qingming, he went to Ji Liuli's residence and obediently knocked on the door.
"Enter. Why would the dignified master of the Bone-Corroding Demonic Cult need to knock?"
Wei Yuan pushed the door open, entered, and stood upright, awaiting judgment.
Ji Liuli said, "Great Cult Master Wei, please have a seat."
Wei Yuan sat down stiffly, barely resting his hips on half the seat.
Ji Liuli laughed heartily. "No need to pretend. Your nerve is plenty large."
"That was all scripted by Dream Eater. If it were up to me, I would never have written it like that," Wei Yuan explained.
Ji Liuli stretched her arms, leaning back against the daybed. "As for what happened in the dreamscape these past days, I actually knew most of it. Dream Eater thought it could erase my memories, but how could my original soul be tampered with so easily?"
Wei Yuan inwardly rejoiced at his luck. If he had truly listened to Dream Eater and played along further, there would have been no getting out of this mess.
Ji Liuli reached out and cupped Wei Yuan's chin, asking with a faint smile, "Would you like to have a taste of these mortal hundred flavors too?"
Wei Yuan gave a wry smile, offering no further explanation.
"All right, if I really did anything to you, wouldn't that teacher of yours come after my life?"
Wei Yuan suddenly felt that Ji Liuli was different from before; she seemed clearer, more lucid and radiant. He gingerly asked, "Your heart tribulation is resolved?"
"Chasing away those two page boys wiped away the mark that place had placed upon my original soul. Free of that burden, my heart tribulation naturally resolved itself. Before this, because I couldn't beat them, I had no choice but to hide away in dreams, and Patriarch Yanshi intervened to seal this part of my memory.
"Doing so prevented them from locating my true body, but the cost was an ever-heavier burden on my original soul. Moreover, fleeing for so long easily creates cracks in one's Dao heart. Cultivating an invincible heart was also meant to counter them."
Wei Yuan found this rather strange. "Since True Monarch Yanshi stepped in, why didn't he resolve them once and for all? Though those two page boys possess high combat power, their combat techniques were utterly mediocre; defeating them wasn't difficult in the slightest. Were I at perfection of the dharma idol realm, I could wipe them out with a flip of my hand. Patriarch Yanshi should have been able to crush them with a single finger."
Ji Liuli replied, "The patriarch said that those two have an immense background behind them and carry tremendous karma. He didn't want to get tangled in that karma, so he merely sealed it, waiting for someone fated to resolve it for me in the future."
Wei Yuan was struck speechless. True Monarch Yanshi hadn't wanted to get tangled in this karma, so he had pawned Eldest Senior Sister off onto him?
Chapter 657