The three walked together toward Building 25. As they walked, Dong Qi spoke in a somewhat ingratiating tone:
"These past few days, every single night, I somehow get pulled into that dream. I've tried changing places, changing rooms, but none of it worked..."
Master Ke eyed the night scenery of the residential complex and said offhandedly, "It doesn't matter. The moment I laid eyes on you, I knew you were being pestered by some unclean things. But when those unclean things see me, they're like mice running into a cat. Don't panic. Once I work a little magic, I guarantee every trace of them will vanish completely, and you'll get a good night's sleep tonight."
Hearing this, Dong Qi beamed with joy. "Thank you, Master Ke! Thank you, Master!"
Master Ke gave a faint smile. "No need to thank me. I take people's money to dispel their misfortunes. Besides, I've seen plenty of cases like yours. Solving it is as easy as turning over my hand; it won't take much effort at all."
Dong Qi naturally thanked him repeatedly, though noticing Huang Tian's calm expression and complete silence made his heart thump with unease once more.
Truth be told, between Master Ke and Huang Tian, he trusted the latter more. The reason was simple: Huang Tian hadn't even asked for a deposit, and his otherworldly, transcendent bearing made it impossible for him to be a fraud.
Whereas this Master Ke, though putting up a convincing front, kept making sweeping guarantees about how easily he could solve the trouble. The more he insisted, the harder it was for Dong Qi to believe him...
It was just that Dong Qi couldn't tell whether Master Ke truly had real skills or not. Since his very life was on the line, he didn't dare voice any doubts.
"This is the place..."
Entering the Building 25 residential block, they went up to the second floor and arrived at the door of Room 201. Just as Dong Qi was about to pull out his keys to unlock the door, a sharp intake of breath sounded beside his ear.
Turning his head, he saw it was Master Ke, who inhaled softly, his brows furrowing deeply. His gaze seemed as if it could pierce through the door to see what lay inside.
Dong Qi was startled by his solemn demeanor and stammered incoherently, "M-Master Ke, wh-what's wrong? Is there... inside..."
Master Ke looked grave and slowly shook his head. "Downstairs just now, I used my Dharma Eye to inspect your body and only saw some foul aura clinging to you. I thought you had merely crossed paths with an ordinary evil spirit. Only upon reaching the door did I perceive the evil creature inside! The fiendish energy is exceedingly deep! It is no easy foe to deal with!"
He extended his right hand and began pinching his fingers in divination. "The evil thing inside has claimed at least a dozen lives. Terribly vicious, exceedingly troublesome! Troublesome indeed!"
Dong Qi went pale with fright and pleaded agitatedly, "Master, please help me! I'll pay whatever it costs!"
Master Ke cleared his throat. "Seeing how sincere you are, I cannot bear to watch you die in vain. Rest assured, even if it costs me ten years of cultivation, I will definitely help you dispose of this evil creature!"
"Thank you, Master! Thank you, Master!" Dong Qi thanked him incessantly.
"All right, open the door!" Master Ke instructed, while retrieving a compass-like object from a small bag he carried.
Dong Qi swallowed hard, took out his key, slowly turned the lock, and pushed the door open.
The three stepped inside. The moment they entered, a biting chill pressed against them, as if they had stepped straight from scorching sunlight into a cold storage room, making them shiver involuntarily.
Master Ke's hairs stood on end. *Why is the temperature so drastically different on either side of the door? Don't tell me there really is something unclean in here?*
He felt secretly uneasy. Having worked in this trade for years, he had never encountered an actual evil spirit. It was almost always that the client was overly anxious or physically frail, which led to hallucinations. He would put on a grand show, act like a placebo, collect the cash, and leave.
*But this time, it feels a bit different...*
A bit nervous, he scanned the surroundings: one bedroom, one living room, and one bathroom. It was small enough to inspect in just a few paces. After looking around, he found nothing out of the ordinary; apart from the coldness, everything seemed normal.
Only then did he relax slightly, chuckling inwardly. *Where would ghosts and demons come from in this world? Aren't I just scaring myself? And to think I do this for a living.*
Dong Qi hadn't dared to speak at first, but seeing Master Ke's brow relax, he crept closer to ask, "Master, c-can you..."
Master Ke nodded. "Don't panic. I already know what to do. Allow me to cast my spell!"
"Right, of course," Dong Qi said quickly. "Do you need me to prepare anything?"
"No need. I have prepared everything required for the rite. You and that little brother over there just watch from the side."
Saying so, Master Ke placed the compass-like item onto the living room table. Then he took three sticks of incense from his bag, lit them, held them up, bowed toward the ceiling, and muttered incantations under his breath.
Dong Qi watched Master Ke's movements with trepidation, unable to sit still.
Huang Tian, on the other hand, released his divine sense to sweep through the apartment. He detected only lingering traces of a sinister chill; the nightmare entity itself was not present. *It seems it won't appear until Dong Qi falls asleep.*
Thinking this, he glanced at Master Ke, who had by now drawn a short peach-wood sword from his bag. Holding the sword, Master Ke paced around the living room, swinging the blade slowly in a ritual dance.
"Nature of Heaven and Earth, dispel the foul air; profound void within the cave, brilliantly bright Primordial Origin; mighty spirits of the eight directions, bring clarity to my mind..."
Chanting these words, Master Ke carried his sword from the living room to the kitchen, from the kitchen to the bathroom, and circled back. He raised the sword, thrust it toward the floor, and cried out sharply:
"Foul evils dissipate, Daoist Qi endure forever!"
Only then did he finish. He slowly lowered his sword, a fine layer of sweat beading on his forehead, his body swaying just slightly to display profound exhaustion.
Dong Qi leaned forward, hope shining in his eyes. Master Ke exhaled a long breath. "I have slain this evil creature. From now on, I guarantee you will eat well and sleep soundly!"
Overjoyed, Dong Qi bowed again and again. "Thank you, Master! Thank you, Master!"
Master Ke shook his head without a word, simply looking at him. Dong Qi realized he was waiting for the final payment.
However, he still wasn't sure whether he would be pulled into that dream again tonight. If he paid now and still ended up back in the dream tonight, then...
Thinking of this, he couldn't help hesitating. "Master Ke, c-can I transfer the money to you tomorrow morning? I don't have that much on hand right now, and I can borrow a bit more tonight."
Master Ke could tell Dong Qi didn't quite trust him. He cleared his throat and was about to say something when Huang Tian suddenly spoke:
"Go to sleep."
As soon as the words fell, an intense wave of drowsiness crashed over Dong Qi. His head swam, and stumbling back two steps, he collapsed onto the living room sofa. The very next second, snores echoed from him.
Master Ke watched with his mouth agape, his peach-wood sword falling to the floor with a clatter, monumental shock crashing through his mind.
*A true master?! Making someone fall asleep with a single word—there's an expert like this in the world?!!*
Meeting Huang Tian's eyes, he felt his legs turn to jelly and dropped to his knees with a thud. "M-Master Huang, I... I..."
Before he could finish his stammering sentence, the surroundings in the room abruptly transformed.
The clean white walls sprouted blotchy stains, flakes of peeling paint sloughed off, and scratches and bloodstains appeared across the floor. The tables and chairs grew decrepit, as if a single shove would shatter them, while a damp, suffocating odor filled the air, akin to being trapped inside a sewer.
Master Ke's eyes bulged even further, his teeth chattering. "E-evil spirit?!"
Only now did he remember that he had come here to perform an exorcism. So there really were evil spirits in this world?!
While Master Ke's worldview was crumbling to pieces, Huang Tian turned his gaze toward Dong Qi, who was snoring away on the sofa, his eyes flashing...
*Scritch, scritch—*
Inside the cramped, narrow bathroom, Dong Qi stood in his pajamas, brushing his teeth.
The lighting in the bathroom was bright—a bit too bright, even, casting a harsh, glaring white radiance.
The mirror above the sink reflected his face, dark circles heavy beneath his eyes.
Foam accumulated in his mouth. He took a sip of water and gargled.
Right then—
*Thud.*
A very, very faint noise came from behind the closed bathroom door, like a heel softly tapping against the floor.
Dong Qi's movements froze. His scalp tingled as if exploding, and he realized in an instant:
*I'm... in the dream? I've entered the dream again?!*
Boundless terror instantly surged in his heart.
*Thud.*
Another sound, clearer and closer than before, right behind the door panel.
It wasn't a continuous sequence of footsteps, but a deliberate step-by-step advance, slow and accompanied by a wet, sticky drag, as though someone were treading across a thick, waterlogged carpet—eerie and heavy.
Dong Qi felt as if he were nailed to the spot. Only his eyeballs turned with agonizing slowness, fixing onto the image in the mirror: the white wooden door remained shut, with the dim darkness outside seeping through the gap beneath it.
His throat ran dry. He wanted to struggle and scream, but from the moment those eerie footsteps appeared, an inexplicable force had rendered him immobile. He could only stare helplessly at the mirror, watching the door.
*Thud.*
Yet another sound, practically pressed against the door panel now. A blurry figure stood plastered right behind the door, sending a deep, penetrating chill through his heart.
*Creak—*
The door was slowly pushed open a crack, and a pale, bruised hand came into view.
Dong Qi held his breath, teeth chattering. In that moment, he wanted to tear his eyes away, to scream, to smash the mirror in hopes of escaping the dream, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't budge an inch. He could only watch in terror as the door was pushed open wider and wider.
The gap widened: two fingers, a palm's width.
A face pressed against that widening crevice of darkness.
Dripping-wet long hair, pitch-black like thick ink and tangling like deep-sea seaweed, completely concealed the face. Water dripped from the ends of the hair—drip, drip... falling onto the tiled floor, leaving dark, wet splotches.
Behind the hair veiling the face, a glimpse of ghastly paleness could faintly be seen.
The door continued to push open, the gap growing broader until it was nearly half ajar.
A chilly, damp draft drifted in from outside the door, carrying a thick, sickly-sweet stench of rot and decay, mingled with the bitter tang of rusty old pipes, assailing Dong Qi's nostrils.
Along with this draft, the figure's soaking-wet hair shifted ever so slightly, faintly revealing an eye.
The eye was densely bloodshot, a thick web of crimson completely covering the sclera, shockingly red as though about to weep blood.
The pupil was abnormally large, devoid of any human emotion, filled only with greedy regard. Unblinking, it stared relentlessly at Dong Qi's eyes reflected in the mirror.
Air froze in that instant.
Locking eyes with that bloodshot gaze across the mirror, Dong Qi felt his very soul tearing free from his body. Overpowering vertigo made him forget everything else, leaving him with only a single frantic thought: *Run! Run!*
He struggled desperately, wanting to let out a roar.
At that moment, the eye in the mirror suddenly snapped wide!
The red veins bulged hideously, the pupil shrinking to the size of a pinhead before violently dilating again to fill the entire socket. That greedy, venomous gaze chilled Dong Qi to the bone.
The door pushed open further, and the thick darkness behind it seeped inside. The bathroom light flickered violently twice and then dimmed, as if drowned by the surging dark.
And the woman with disheveled hair stepped inside inch by inch along with the darkness.
Soaking wet, black hair covered her face, her neck was deathly pale, and her dress—half white, half red—looked drenched in water, dripping constantly and leaving trails of wet streaks.
Closer, closer...
Watching the approaching woman reflected in the mirror, Dong Qi's pupils contracted to their limit. Darkness crept into his vision, his ears buzzed, and sheer primal terror finally allowed him to break past his paralysis just enough to squeeze a rasping gasp from his throat: "Hhh... urgh..."
Yet that was all he could manage—a faint, strangled gasp—while the rest of his body remained frozen.
"Hiss!"
With a screeching hiss, the woman lunged at him like a shadow.
Dong Qi's eyes went wide with horror. *Am—am I going to die just like this?!*
Suddenly, his despairing terror turned into utter shock.
For the woman hurtling toward him suddenly froze mid-air!
Through the mirror, Dong Qi saw clearly that behind the woman, a tall figure had appeared at some unknown moment.
The figure stood like an unyielding mountain, his gaze chillingly calm. With one hand gripping the woman's thick hair, he dragged her forcefully back out of mid-air to where she started!
Furthermore, with the tall figure's appearance, the bathroom lights instantly stabilized, returning to their original brilliance and illuminating the entire space brightly.
*Huang Tian? Master Huang!!*
Dong Qi finally remembered: he had hired two masters to save him. That memory had apparently been clouded until now, which was why he hadn't recalled it earlier; seeing Huang Tian's figure brought it all rushing back.
Then he couldn't help crying out inwardly, *Th-this is inside my dream, isn't it? How did Master Huang get in here too?!*
While he was dazed, the woman who had been yanked down from mid-air was also startled. Glancing through the mirror, she saw the figure standing behind her.
With a shriek, she whipped around without hesitation and pounced toward Huang Tian.
Expressionless, Huang Tian gave a vicious yank on her hair, slamming her face-first onto the tiles with a resounding thud!
The impact was so heavy it seemed to make the bathroom light flicker.
Looking down at the woman pinned to the floor, Huang Tian raised a fist. Atop his knuckles, five-colored radiance swirled, dazzling and brilliant, completely overshadowing the glaring white light of the bathroom!
Feeling the terror of impending death, the woman struggled violently. But aimed straight at her head, that fist came crashing down like a collapsing mountain in the blink of an eye!
Boom!!
Accompanied by a piercing, agonizing shriek, this dream world shattered like a mirror beneath the shockwave of the peerless, overwhelming fist force...
Chapter 164