Ambush

The curse master hurriedly tossed out a cloth doll barely half the size of a palm from his pocket. The doll hit the floor and transformed, swelling to the height of a man—a blue-turban construct. "Carry me!" Casting spells after being gravely injured was like pouring oil on a fire; he couldn't stop coughing now. "Hurry... hurry, run!" Fortunately, the construct he summoned operated at full strength. It scooped him up onto its back and bolted outside. *** He Lingchuan snapped open his eyes and sat bolt upright, giving the soul-snatching mirror beside his pillow quite a scare. "You're finally awake!" The mirror breathed a sigh of relief. It wasn't that He Lingchuan enjoyed sharing a bed with this thing; rather, he had formed the habit of placing it facing outward so that if an intruder made a night raid, the mirror would catch their reflection immediately. It could sound an alarm, and it could confuse an enemy. He Lingchuan grabbed the mirror and got to his feet, grumbling as he pulled on his boots, "Some soul-snatching mirror you are. When a filthy thing invaded, why didn't you snatch it away?" Never mind snatching it—why hadn't it blocked it at all? "What thing?" The mirror sounded bewildered. "I didn't see anything approach." "I don't know. It was covered in dozens of faces, and it wouldn't die even with its head chopped off. I was carrying out a mission in the city of the dead when it suddenly emerged from the water and tried to kill me." He Lingchuan said with certainty, "It definitely came from outside." "Hiss... Going by what you described, could it be a nightmare?" The erudite mirror flickered with light. "How on earth did you provoke something like that?" "Two of them got in, and you noticed neither?" "Shouldn't nightmares only appear in dreams?" The mirror protested to high heaven. "Where do you expect me to spot it? Unless it ran into the mirror of its own accord, I can't catch it." He Lingchuan gave it a suspicious look. Nightmares didn't exist in reality; theoretically speaking, there was nothing suspicious about the mirror's explanation. Yet he kept feeling something was off. "Did you get hit?" The mirror asked with immense concern. "You don't seem to have developed any new ailments." "No." Having said that, he suddenly remembered that the Dafang Pot hadn't blocked the monster either. Very strange. Yet recalling how the giant crimson silhouette and the Juluo tree had dealt with the beasts, he could vaguely guess a reason. Better to let them in so they could shut the door and beat the dog? At any rate, the monsters hadn't managed to escape. In the end, they were carved up and shared between the Juluo tree and the giant crimson silhouette, leaving only a severed head for He Lingchuan as a souvenir. The mirror asked again, "What became of those two things?" He Lingchuan waking up meant the other side had drawn the short straw. Truth be told, while the mirror hadn't caught sight of the nightmare's arrival, it had sensed it. Yet it had dared not make a peep. These creatures specialized in destroying other people's dreams, and its realm of souls was very similar to a dreamscape—currently damaged and not yet repaired. If a nightmare slipped in and ran amok, it would be truly finished. So when the nightmare passed by, it had no choice but to pretend to be an ordinary mirror. "Eaten by the city of the dead." He Lingchuan vaulted out the window and dashed westward. "What kind of monster is a nightmare, anyway?" Eaten... The soul-snatching mirror, which had been gloating a moment before, shuddered. It seemed its own luck back then hadn't been so bad after all. "You don't know?" It was first astounded, then speechlessly baffled. "You managed to turn the tables on it without even knowing what it was! Ah, that city of the dead treats you far too well." "Cut the nonsense." Ever since this damned mirror went into a brief seclusion, it broke out into even more chatter, though He Lingchuan was well capable of tuning it out. "You know about nightmares?" The mirror remained the ever-knowledgeable scholar. "They're also called Night Roaming Gods." He Lingchuan recalled the shocked, mournful words of the monster's severed head: *You are clearly asleep, so why aren't you in a dream?* Evidently, it had assumed it had entered He Lingchuan's dream. "Such things appeared long, long ago; their origins are unknown. One theory claims they are formed from fragments of human souls, yet feed on the vitality and spirits of ordinary folk. If a victim perishes in the dream, they die in reality as well. Later, some curse masters found ways to communicate with them. Because killing in a dream leaves no trace, the deceased falls into an eternal sleep, leaving behind no marks and no discoverable cause of death." An eternal sleep? He Lingchuan's heart stirred. Hadn't he run across something like that before? "Don't just give me hearsay. Do you have anything more concrete?" Ha, demanding quite a lot, aren't you? "Of course. It so happens that what I do is rather similar to a nightmare, so I know it has two ways of doing harm: either it drags you into its world, or it breaks into your dreamscape and turns it into a nightmare." This thing could even alter its prey's dreamscape? He Lingchuan realized. No wonder that nightmare had been so stunned when it couldn't change the environment inside the cavern. Panlong City wasn't even He Lingchuan's home ground; how could it possibly allow the creature to reshape it at will? "Is a nightmare's ability to reshape a bad dream very formidable?" "Naturally!" the mirror said. "Even though it's your dream, the nightmare can make it its own domain. Only by keeping you trapped in endless nightmares can it drain your vitality and weaken your soul amid unending terror, until it finally devours you." Seen this way, after the nightmare broke into Panlong City, it had never been able to unleash its greatest strengths. He Lingchuan remembered the colossal nightmare that had appeared underwater. After he and the Juluo tree finished off its avatar, the true body had come in person to seek revenge. Even though it hadn't been its home ground and it hadn't had time to alter the surroundings, He Lingchuan had known the instant they met that he was still no match for it. The pressure that phantom beast exerted on him was immensely powerful. Except, the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind. Before the fiend could display its might, it was swept away in a single pass by the giant crimson silhouette that arrived right after. He Lingchuan moved at great speed. In the span of his conversation with the mirror, he had covered three hundred zhang and arrived at his destination: Tongfu Inn. Someone bent on fierce revenge naturally wouldn't take the front door. Instead, he shattered the wooden window with a blast of palm wind and threw in a scent bun as his opening move. The concoction was colorless and formless, yet foul enough to turn the stomach; virtually no creature with a nose could bear it. Curse masters were human, too, and could not escape physical reflex. Sure enough, a roar erupted from within the room, and two silhouettes burst through the window—the occupants had been thoroughly provoked. Uh, two? He Lingchuan first saw a man burst through the window, aiming three successive axe strikes straight at him in rapid succession. The speed was terrifyingly swift. In the brief blink of an eye, the man was already upon him, his white-glowing axe swinging horizontally toward his throat. So fast! He Lingchuan raised his blade to parry. *Clang, clang!* Three rapid clashes, meeting speed with speed. The opponent's three wild axe strikes were like a raging storm. His aura completely locked down the space around He Lingchuan—retreat was impossible, dodging out of the question; he could only take them head-on. The astral edge trailing the blade measured less than a foot, condensed into physical substance. It wasn't that he lacked the strength to extend it further, but rather that this exact length was the most lethal, no different from the physical axe edge itself. Thanks to He Lingchuan's extensive experience fighting fiercely on the plateau, he leaned his torso back and ducked his neck. The wind of the axe grazed right past his Adam's apple, missing his vitals by a mere half-inch! It had been a long time since he had faced such a ferocious opponent. The second axe aimed for his chest; the third struck for his crown. The tempestuous currents sweeping from his foe made He Lingchuan feel as though he weren't facing a living man, but an avalanche crashing down upon him, or an artillery shell newly fired from the cannons atop Panlong City! Anyone with a slightly weaker cultivation, directly confronting such overpowering pressure, would likely be suppressed instantly and lose their head on the spot. Fortunately, He Lingchuan's saber skills had been tempered amidst roaring storms and crashing waves; his understanding of martial aura was far deeper than that of ordinary men. What was more, he had witnessed even mightier, even more ferocious strikes. The true power in his two dantians surged wildly, allowing him to forcefully withstand those opening three axes. Just then, he noticed that the wind of the opponent's axes also kicked up minute ice crystals, fine as snow or powder. Unremarkable at first glance, the moment they touched his body they sent a wave of frigid chill coursing through, instantly stiffening his flesh... These ice crystals possessed an inherent slowing effect; if he were dusted with a few more flakes, he would probably be shivering from the cold. Having weathered the three axe strikes, He Lingchuan had consumed twenty percent of his true power. Both arms ached, and the web between thumb and forefinger on his left hand had split open. The man seemed somewhat surprised as well, letting out a soft grunt. After taking three of his whirlwind axe strikes, this brat was still standing, and the weapon in his hand remained completely undamaged? At that moment, the second dark silhouette arrived. It had intended to come through the wooden window, but its bulk was simply too massive. With a resounding crash, it burst the window frame apart and even smashed a gaping hole through the wall before hurtling toward He Lingchuan. Though its momentum was unmatched, it wasn't as fast as its companion, allowing He Lingchuan to see its form clearly at a single glance. It was a colossal bear. When down on all fours, its shoulder height was nearly six feet, taller than an ordinary man. Seen from the front, it was as round and thick as a battering ram. As it charged, the entire building trembled. If this thing stood on its hind legs, wouldn't it be terrifying? He Lingchuan already found the man before him troublesome to deal with; how could he handle an additional giant bear? Naturally sensing his predicament, the man raised his axe once more in a flash of light. The giant bear pounced as well, moving in for a pincer attack. It loved bullying opponents this way. On several occasions, combining forces with its partner, it had pulverized enemies into mincemeat. It was always immensely satisfying. Right at that moment, however, He Lingchuan dropped down with a whoosh. They had originally been fighting atop the roof. The build quality of Tongfu Inn was actually quite good; otherwise, how could a roof ever withstand the rampaging charge of a ferocious bear? In truth, it was the battle between He Lingchuan and his opponent that imposed the heaviest burden upon it. All He Lingchuan had to do was raise a leg and stomp hard, and this section of the roof gave way. Timber and tiles alike crashed down toward the ground floor with a resounding clatter. The man and the bear plunged along with it. Yet mid-fall, He Lingchuan reached out. A sleeve arrow hissed, embedding itself firmly into an opposing wooden beam. Using the tension to pull himself away, he tore himself cleanly out from under his opponent's axe. With a few swift bounds, he nimbly landed atop the rafters. In the blink of an eye, the man and the bear hit the floor below. Naturally, the crashing debris could do them no harm. He Lingchuan saw with his own eyes a heavy wooden beam fall onto the man; without even bothering to dodge, the man took the brunt of it squarely on his shoulder. With a heavy crack, the beam snapped in two. The man merely brushed his shoulder, dusting off the wood chips. What a formidable physique, what tremendous true power. "Who are you?" He Lingchuan scrutinized the two opponents. "Why put a curse on me?" The man was taller than he was, thick-waisted and broad-shouldered, his face brimming with cruelty, an eyepatch covering his right eye. One look was enough to tell he was a ruthless customer; He Lingchuan could not mistake the chilling murderous intent rolling off him. Just how many people had he killed to forge such a menacing aura? Yet could someone like this truly be skilled in curse arts? He strongly doubted it. The man thumped his chest with the flat of his axe. "Tongxin Guard, Fan Sheng." The giant bear spoke as well. "Tongxin Guard, Fan Bao." Different species, yet the same surname? He Lingchuan cocked his head. "You two are brothers?"