Chapter 104

Chapter 104: Killing the Illusion-Dream Beast

Yun Xi’s eyes sparkled as she asked, “Senior Sister Mu, did that female cultivator get drugged?”

Mu Ning Zhu’s face went a little dark, because the male cultivator, seemingly affected by the pink smoke, was already moving closer to the woman in red and even pulled her into his arms.

Even though he tried hard to control himself, his voice was already slurred when he spoke. “Fellow… Daoist, you… what’s… wrong…!”

The woman in red, out of control, tugged at her own red robe while moaning, “I’m… hot…”

While tearing at her own robe, the woman in red also tugged at the male cultivator’s robe. It looked like a restricted scene was about to unfold.

Mu Ning Zhu waved her hand and told Yun Xi and Qin Tong Shuang to close their eyes. Zhang Yan’s face reddened as well.

The three of them closed their eyes, but all of them quietly released divine sense.

Yun Xi’s divine sense was the strongest among the four. The moment she released it, her expression changed. Then she turned her divine sense into a spike and stabbed toward a certain spot.

In the next instant, an animal’s shriek echoed into everyone’s ears. Yun Xi was already stepping out of the formation, the Seven-Star Doom Staff in her hands. She brought it down hard.

With another shriek, a ripple spread through the entire broken temple, centered on Yun Xi.

Mu Ning Zhu and the other two rushed out right after, all startled. Then they saw that the male cultivator who had been hugging the woman in red had already toppled over.

And in his arms wasn’t a girl at all, but a pile of white bones.

Yun Xi put away her Doom Staff with one hand and said with emotion, “Tsk, tsk. It really is just like the books say – beauties are nothing but withered bones in the end!”

She even felt a little disappointed. She hadn’t gotten to see a live action scene. She really didn’t know how cultivators dual cultivated.

On the other side, Mu Ning Zhu used the tip of her sword to pick up the thing Yun Xi had smashed to death, then said in a low voice, “It’s actually an Illusion-Dream Beast. How could this thing show up here?”

Only then did Yun Xi lean in and look. She stared at the dead creature, something between a mouse and a marten, and said, “This is an Illusion-Dream Beast? Why is it a little different from the description in the Beast Manual?”

After observing it carefully, Mu Ning Zhu flicked out a fireball. “This beast’s bloodline is impure. It’s a mixed-blood. Even though it’s already Second Rank, it could only take shots at us in secret.”

Yun Xi recalled what she had read about Illusion-Dream Beasts. They were both dangerous and not dangerous. The beast itself had almost no fighting power, but it could harm people through the dreams it built.

It used those hard-to-tell-from-reality dreams to kill enemies. As long as an Illusion-Dream Beast dragged a cultivator into the Illusion Realm it created, hurting the cultivator inside would weaken their soul, until the cultivator died without ever realizing it.

Once the cultivator died, their body became the best nourishment for the beast.

Yun Xi felt the dream this Illusion-Dream Beast had created had almost no flaws. If Mu Ning Zhu hadn’t been afraid of leading her junior sister and martial nephew astray and refused to let them see what came next, Yun Xi probably wouldn’t have released her divine sense, either.

After all, she wasn’t really a little girl on the inside.

If she hadn’t released her divine sense, Yun Xi wouldn’t have discovered the creature pulling strings in the dark was a beast. Then she had simply and brutally used a divine sense spike to tear through the Illusion Realm the Illusion-Dream Beast had built.

Qin Tong Shuang glanced at Yun Xi, then said thoughtfully, “Yun Xi, your senses are really sharp. No wonder you didn’t want to go into the broken temple just now.”

Could Yun Xi say that she only thought too much, so she didn’t want to go into a place like this where accidents always happened? And she felt that the dream the Second-Rank Illusion-Dream Beast built was almost exactly the same as what she had imagined – she thought of something, and it showed up.

At the time, Yun Xi didn’t know that, in a way, the dream the Illusion-Dream Beast wove really was based on her imagination. Her divine sense was stronger than her cultivation, powerful enough to affect the Second-Rank Illusion-Dream Beast’s innate ability.

By now, the male cultivator had regained clarity. When he saw Yun Xi’s group, he looked at them warily, then noticed the white bones in his arms. In the next breath, he threw the bones out of the broken temple.

He cast a Cleansing Spell on himself, then awkwardly pulled his half-removed robe back on. Only then did he frown at Yun Xi, who was taking the beast core, and cup his hands. “Fellow Daoists, what happened?”

As the leader, Mu Ning Zhu stepped forward to answer, “My companions and I were resting here. We didn’t expect to be pulled into an Illusion Realm created by an Illusion-Dream Beast.

“Fortunately, when it exposed a flaw, my junior sister noticed.”

The male cultivator’s brows were still furrowed, but he cupped his hands and thanked them. “Many thanks, fellow daoists, for helping me escape the Illusion-Dream Beast.”

The mutated Illusion-Dream Beast’s corpse was still lying on the ground. He had no choice but to believe it.

By then, Yun Xi had already pocketed the Second-Rank beast core. She had killed the beast with her own strike, so the harvest naturally belonged to her.

The broken temple was still the broken temple, but after the Illusion-Dream Beast and what had just happened, the atmosphere between the two sides was awkward. They didn’t know each other anyway, so they each took a spot and waited for dawn.

Mu Ning Zhu opened the formation as usual. Luckily, they had the formation shielding them earlier, or they would have fallen for it like that male cultivator.

Yun Xi yanked Dian Dian out of her robes, shook it awake, and tapped its head as she asked, “A Second-Rank Illusion-Dream Beast tried to set your master up, and you didn’t warn me at all?”

The tuft of hair on Dian Dian’s head was still sticking up. It rubbed its eyes, looking very sleepy, then sent a voice transmission, “Master, Dian Dian didn’t sense danger.

“Master’s divine sense is so strong, you definitely wouldn’t be fooled by an Illusion-Dream Beast, so Dian Dian didn’t remind you.”

After that, Dian Dian rubbed its eyes with its paw again, looking like it was about to fall back asleep.

Qin Tong Shuang couldn’t stand it and reminded her, “Yun Xi, your spirit pet is probably about to advance, so it’s been sleeping so much. Stop bullying it.”

Yun Xi answered and stuffed Dian Dian back into her robes.

Nothing happened for the rest of the night. When the red sun rose, Mu Ning Zhu’s group swallowed fasting pills and left the broken temple, silently agreeing not to greet the male cultivator.

After they were far enough away, Yun Xi whispered, “That male cultivator’s willpower was terrible. He almost gave himself to a pile of bones. If we hadn’t acted in time, what would have happened to him?”

Mu Ning Zhu cleared her throat and said, “He probably would have had his primordial yang taken and died.”

Yun Xi understood at once. Then she looked at Zhang Yan, the cold-faced guy, and said, “Hey! Boys have to learn to protect themselves when they’re outside too. If something happened… that would be tragic.”

Mu Ning Zhu took the chance to remind them, “You three remember this. Before you reach Golden Core, it’s best not to lose your primordial yin or primordial yang, or your cultivation will be very slow later on.”

“Yes, we’ll remember,” Qin Tong Shuang and the other two answered quickly. It concerned cultivation, so they couldn’t be careless.

Yun Xi also knew Mu Ning Zhu wasn’t trying to scare them. She had seen records about it too. It might be an unwritten rule, but if it had been passed down this long, there had to be a reason.

The group of four traveled for three days and entered the next cultivation city, Chong Ming City.

This was a city where immortals and mortals lived together. Many cultivators came and went, and mortals were also allowed to live in Chong Ming City.

As usual, the four found an inn to rest. On the second day, the innkeeper told them good news.