Chapter 057

Chapter 57: Will You Come Back?

The Dream Spirit turned to flee.

But golden light from Talisman Arts rose on all sides, and the shattered lantern reformed around him.

He sped up, trying to break through.

The five Golden Cores settled at five points like anchors of a Spirit Locking Spell. Spinning faster and faster, they left the Dream Spirit nowhere to run and pinned him perfectly in place.

He simply could not understand how Ye Wan Wan had done it. “How could you make a Dream Realm right under my nose?” he shouted. It was a dream within a dream.

No matter how he tried, he could not see where she had started. Everything had looked flawless. “How did you even suspect me?”

“I suspected you the moment you touched me,” Ye Wan Wan said, voice cool.

“…What?”

“As a Dream Spirit, if you could not control Shen Nan Zhou’s Dream Realm or untie the threads binding him, then what good are you?” she asked.

That line hurt his spirit body. The Dream Spirit seethed.

“If everything you said was true,” she went on, “and you couldn’t control his Dream Realm or comb those threads, and if you feared Chen Nan Zhou so much, you should have gone into hiding, not led me into his Dream Realm to repeat it over and over. If you were truly scared of him, why go out of your way to bring me in and tell me that unless I solved his Dream Realm, I could not leave?”

She smiled low: “Your goal was too obvious.”

“So obvious I almost felt bad pointing it out.”

The Dream Spirit’s face twisted: “Then why did you follow me…”

“Of course I followed you. How else would I see your trick?” she said. “You were the one who tangled those dream threads on Shen Nan Zhou. The broken memories you showed me were bait to lead me in. You are clever. You found me in the fragments of his memories and thought to use me against him, didn’t you?”

The Dream Spirit gaped and stammered.

“Relax,” Ye Wan Wan added mildly. “He’s asleep. He can’t hear us. So he won’t kill you yet.”

One Dream Realm from the Dream Spirit plus one Dream Realm from Ye Wan Wan was enough to keep Shen Nan Zhou asleep for a while.

The Dream Spirit had just started to breathe when Ye Wan Wan’s tone turned icy: “But I will.”

He shut up at once.

“Where are the dream threads of my Senior Sister and the others? Undo them,” Ye Wan Wan ordered.

“I don’t know.”

“Heh.”

The Spirit Locking Spell tightened suddenly, shrinking to the size of a lantern. It did not stop. In moments it cinched still smaller. The Dream Spirit screamed: “Don’t kill me. I’ll talk. I’ll say everything.”

“It was that brat who broke into the Dream Realm on his own. He stirred the Dream Lake and knotted the threads. I only trapped him there. I meant to hold him for a bit, but he smashed the secret realm space and tied my Dream Realm to his. I had no choice but to find a way to break it!”

“I really don’t know where your Senior Sister and the others’ dream threads are.”

“Inside, everything’s a mess now.”

“I saw you in his memories, and then you came in, so I guided you. I had no other plan, woo woo, I just wanted to save myself!”

Ye Wan Wan studied him, weighing truth and lies. After a while she asked: “Then how was I in his memories?”

“Like…”

As Ye Wan Wan leaned in to listen, the cave shuddered. Space rippled like a curtain of water, and the waves grew stronger.

The Dream Spirit shrieked: “Someone is attacking the Dream Realm!”

Ye Wan Wan frowned toward the entrance.

“Someone outside is attacking,” Star Marsh said, worried.

“Mm.”

Ye Wan Wan raised her hand to pull the Dream Spirit back.

But as the Spirit Locking Spell flew past her, it did not stop. It shot behind her. Ye Wan Wan’s eyes narrowed. She turned and saw Shen Nan Zhou awake already, holding a small ball of light and studying it with interest.

“Senior Sister, is this a Companion Spirit?” he asked.

Ye Wan Wan fell silent. [How did he wake early?]

The Dream Spirit trembled. [I was wrong to be greedy. The two I lured in are both monsters.]

Ye Wan Wan held out her hand: “Give it back.”

The Dream Spirit, now a tiny light, stretched out a little hand of its own to hook Ye Wan Wan’s finger. After thinking it over, it still felt safer on this girl’s side.

Shen Nan Zhou smiled: “Senior Sister, lend it to me for a bit, okay?”

The youth’s face was still pale. Dream threads coiled behind him, which meant he had forced himself awake. Pushing him now would not be wise.

Ye Wan Wan took a slow breath and steadied herself. “Do you know the Clear Heart Mantra?” she asked.

Shen Nan Zhou lifted his eyes and raised a brow: “Why?”

“Chant it,” Ye Wan Wan said coldly. “Dreams are born from desire. Your six senses are not clean. The Clear Heart Mantra will help you. Start now and clear every thread.”

Outside, the assault grew louder. Her voice turned sharper: “Hurry.”

Shen Nan Zhou knew she was right, though he did not want to obey. But when he saw her tense little face overlap with the one in the Dream Realm, he paused, then sat down obediently. He even tucked the Dream Spirit into his sleeve and said: “Senior Sister, you promised I could borrow it. Don’t grab.”

Ye Wan Wan stared. [Fine. You’re something.]

She turned and walked toward the cave that was about to break apart.

“We still haven’t gotten out,” Star Marsh said.

“Mm,” Ye Wan Wan answered. She knew.

Shen Nan Zhou’s Dream Realm and the Dream Lake where the Dream Spirit was born had been bound together. The blast in the secret space meant they could not be separated yet. But she had already used the new dream to strip away the threads clinging to Shen Nan Zhou and pull out his obsession.

They were close.

Except…

She looked at the violent ripples ahead, eyes going cold. “Some people just can’t wait. Always making trouble.”

She knew that aura well.

It was Ji Chang Huai.

Ye Wan Wan formed a seal with both hands. Five Golden Cores spun out and flew.

The Dream Spirit slipped from Shen Nan Zhou’s sleeve to peek, and Shen Nan Zhou looked too. One person and one spirit both froze.

“How are there so many Golden Cores!” they blurted.

The five Golden Cores locked down the Dream Realm’s space.

With all her Golden Cores out, Ye Wan Wan’s remaining strength was low. For safety, she glanced back at Shen Nan Zhou, lifted a dispelling seal, and drew back the five Golden Cores that had been caging the Dream Spirit, catching them in her palm. Only a thin layer of Spirit Locking Spell stayed around it.

“Junior Brother, since I lent you the Dream Spirit, help Senior Sister keep an eye on it. Don’t let it run.”

With that, Ye Wan Wan strode away.

“Senior Sister!” Shen Nan Zhou called.

Ye Wan Wan paused and looked back, puzzled.

The pale faced youth wore a slight smile. There was a hint of testing in it, and a nervousness even he did not notice. In a hoarse voice, he asked: “Will you… come back?”