Chapter 053

Chapter 53: The Past

The blue robed boy curled his lips and spoke in a low, tempting voice: “I am your junior brother, senior sister.”

Ye Wan Wan let out a short laugh and said: “Junior brother? I don’t think so.”

She suddenly closed in. Spiritual energy burst around her as she struck at Shen Nan Zhou. He only shook his head and dodged slowly and neatly.

He started to speak: “You acting like this is-”

His words cut off as he looked down. A pebble slid past his chest and flew on.

It was the same stone Star Marsh had inhabited earlier.

The stone hit the figure.

And passed straight through.

Star Marsh chirped: “It’s a phantom.”

Ye Wan Wan raised a brow and said: “Is that right, junior brother?”

Her lifted tone was thick with mockery.

The face ahead changed slightly. The figure asked, oddly: “How did you notice?”

Ye Wan Wan scoffed. If Shen Nan Zhou really carried memories from the last life, he would not have asked why she had entered his dream. He would have killed her on the spot.

The phantom sighed. As it sighed, its features shifted into Ji Chang Huai’s face: “Junior sister, you really hurt my feelings.”

Ye Wan Wan’s eyes went cold. She drove a fist straight out and said: “I told you, don’t call me junior sister!”

The punch landed. The phantom did not fear it, because as a Spirit Body, Ye Wan Wan should not be able to hurt it. But it had miscalculated. Her fist smashed hard into its face.

Then she swung it and slammed it onto the ground.

The Dream Spirit froze.

It stammered: “How is that possible?”

It was a Spirit Body. How could Ye Wan Wan hurt it?

Ye Wan Wan clamped a hand around its neck. [Now I see why villains like grabbing the neck. Pulling hair looks ugly, and pressing on a chest does not feel imposing. But the neck is different. One hand can hold it, and the pressure is there.]

She smiled low and said: “Because I’m not ordinary.”

Only then did the spirit notice five Golden Cores locked onto the space around it. Inside that ring of five Golden Cores, Ye Wan Wan was the one who ruled the space.

The Dream Spirit could not believe it. What kind of technique was this? And who could use Golden Core Externalization? Wasn’t a core supposed to sit in the dantian?

It cried out: “You’re cheating!”

Then it yelled: “It doesn’t count! Do it again!”

It had only been careless, so she caught it. If they did it again, that would not happen.

Ye Wan Wan’s voice turned icy: “Where are they?”

“Why should I tell-”

A stone rolled over, sprouted tiny hands and feet, and Star Marsh took it over again. It sat on Ye Wan Wan’s shoulder and said, voice full of earnest advice: “As a spirit who’s been through things, I advise you to tell the truth. Next time you won’t be this lucky.”

The Dream Spirit choked, staring at Star Marsh, that Companion Spirit, with eyes wide: “You… Companion Spirit? You recognized her as your master?”

“Mm-hmm.”

Star Marsh wanted to deny it, but decided not to. It tossed back: “What do you think?”

The Dream Spirit’s look filled with anger and scolding: “A dignified Companion Spirit actually recognizes a human cultivator as master. Even if she is the master of this secret realm, I would not bow. You are useless.”

Ye Wan Wan said in a cool voice: “Is that so? Then go die.”

The ring of Golden Cores tightened. Fire rushed in, and inside the flames hid a Primordial Spirit Strike. The Dream Spirit’s face changed. Just as Ye Wan Wan’s fingers were about to loosen, it grabbed her wrist and dropped to its knees: “Master.”

Star Marsh: “…”

Illusory Dream Elder: “…”

The Dream Spirit pointed behind them and said: “They are in the back. I didn’t move them.”

Ye Wan Wan looked into the dark and saw nothing.

The Dream Spirit, trying to be useful, waved a hand and tore open the space. Ye Wan Wan saw Shen Nan Zhou trapped in the Dream Realm. Right now, the boy’s killing intent surged. Strangers should not approach.

If Ye Wan Wan had really met this Shen Nan Zhou a moment ago, she would have died for sure.

“This person’s will is too strong. I tried to get close and draw out his memories, but after I took just a little, I couldn’t bear it,” the Dream Spirit muttered, embarrassed.

Ye Wan Wan looked at it with cold eyes and asked: “The scenes you showed me earlier, were those his Dream Realm?”

The Dream Spirit grinned: “More or less. Some parts I made up. Hey, hey, hey, don’t choke me. It’s a dream anyway, close enough. You just find the person he cares about, then destroy them.” It cackled.

Star Marsh smacked into it and said: “Stop laughing. You sound creepy.”

Ye Wan Wan frowned. She still could not let go of the scene where she was killed. That was not something anyone could just invent. She asked: “That final Immortals and Devil war, did you make that up?”

The Dream Spirit looked awkward: “Well…”

“Speak.”

The Dream Spirit raised its voice: “No. I peeked into his memory. That part was real, but it’s only a broken piece. You were in it, and then…” It looked at Ye Wan Wan and added, “He seems to have been looking for you.”

Ye Wan Wan frowned.

Was Shen Nan Zhou also reborn?

But judging from the way they first met, it did not seem that way. The current Shen Nan Zhou even looked a bit simple and harmless. He still kept people at a distance, but compared to the last life when he flew into murderous rage and killed at the slightest thing, this Shen Nan Zhou was much gentler.

Still, this kind of memory-besides rebirth, how else could he have it?

She needed to test it.

Ye Wan Wan’s gaze fell on Shen Nan Zhou as she asked: “Can you send me into his Dream Realm?”

The Dream Spirit’s face twisted, yet pride flashed there. It could barely hold back its joy as it said: “Really?”

Inside Illusory Dream’s Dream Realm, it was invincible. It could also drain a cultivator’s essence in dreams to grow stronger. And if it could swallow Star Marsh, that Companion Spirit, it would become even more powerful.

Star Marsh kicked it and said: “Wipe your drool.”

Ye Wan Wan said in a mild voice: “Send me in. I want to see.”

“No problem, no problem,” the Dream Spirit said, pleased. It did not even have to drag her into a dream. She was walking in on her own. How could there be someone who threw herself into a net like this?

The Dream Spirit bared its teeth and said: “Just walk forward and you will enter.”

Ye Wan Wan strode forward.

But when the Dream Spirit tried to slip away, she yanked it back. With a light wave of her left hand, a Spirit Locking Spell took shape. It turned into a cage and trapped the Dream Spirit inside.

It stared, stunned, then went slack and shouted: “What are you doing?”

Without looking back, Ye Wan Wan said: “Since I’m going in, of course you’re coming with me.”

She lowered her head, looked at the spirit she had seized, and smiled: “Isn’t that right?”

The Dream Spirit shivered.

It felt that both of them were terrifying.

Ye Wan Wan reached out and slipped through the water curtain with ease, entering Shen Nan Zhou’s Dream Realm. It was full of fog, and footsteps sounded very clear inside it.

Tap, tap, tap.

Tap, tap.

Ye Wan Wan heard her own steps, and also heard steps ahead. They were slow and hesitant. After two steps, they stopped.

She stood still and did not go closer. The mist drifted away, and a three year old boy stood there. He seemed to have heard something too. He lifted his eyes and looked at Ye Wan Wan.

In those black and white eyes, she saw a child’s clarity, and a guarded light.

She asked: “Shen Nan Zhou?”