Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“We gather and follow these people.” Jian Xing said in a deep voice. Others understood and nodded. The demon controlled these people with a purpose. They were sure to find it by following them.
Fatty didn’t stop them, but followed behind from far away.
They followed the crowd and walked for a long time. Suddenly, from the white mist in front, dots of light appeared, and human voices could be vaguely heard. They were stunned, and their footsteps hurried forward, only to find that it was the city gate of Quhang City in front. They obviously followed the crowd and walked straight out of the city, why did they turn back?
And at this time, inside the Quhang City, it was not completely silent like when they exited, but bright with lanterns and lights everywhere. There were loud speaking voices. The whole place was as bustling as during a festival. From time to time, children played with each other and ran across the streets holding lanterns. The scene was creepy whichever way you looked at it.
“What happened?” The disciples looked completely confused.
“Big Brother.” Zhi Lin grabbed Jian Xing’s hand subconsciously.
Jian Xing frowned. After a long while he spoke, “We go inside to check the situation first.”
The other three exchanged a look, and then nodded, before they walked together into the city.
Yet Mushroom at the side shook her head, unwilling to walk on. She said, “I don’t like it here. It’s very weird. Can we not go in?”
They looked back at it and started hesitating somewhat. But if they didn’t go inside the city, they couldn’t know what happened.
“Big Sister Mushroom, you don’t need to be afraid.” Zhi Lin stepped forward and comforted her with a kind and gentle look. “How about you hold my hand? We will protect you.” With that said, she smiled at her very gently. It was only that she looked older than Mushroom yet called her Big Sister, it made one feel somewhat awkward.
Mushroom did have a good impression of Zhi Lin. She gave her a look, hesitated for a moment and still took her hand and followed inside.
Fatty frowned, something flashed across his eyes. Demons are always more sensitive than humans, a pity… He sighed and had to follow in.
The city became even more bustling. The lights were bright beside the streets, lines and lines of lanterns hung, and there were even all kinds of vendor’s stands by the roads, where the vendors called out. It looked to be the scene of an ordinary night market.
The more they looked, the stranger they felt, but for a moment they couldn’t tell what was the matter. They thought about it, and then turned to ask the people beside them,
“Big Brother, may I know if there’s anything big happening today? Why is the city so bustling?”
That person looked up at him and said, “You are from other cities, right? In our city, there’s a night market every month. That’s the way it’s always been.”
“I see.” The disciples look deepened, and he continued to ask, “Then, is there anything strange happening in this city recently?”
“Strange? How could there be anything strange!” That person was stunned, and then gave him a stare of displeasure. “Our Quhang City is peaceful and well! Don’t you talk nonsense. Go away, go away. Don’t interfere with me doing business.”
The disciple had to retreat awkwardly. The expressions of all others grew heavy. Apparently, during the day, everyone in the city looked sad and troubled, and the whole city knew about the matter of lethargy, yet why did this person seem completely unaware of it?
“Big Brother, why are Exalted Master and others gone?” Zhi Lin suddenly pointed to the street in front and said, “Apparently, when we went out of the city previously, he was here with Big Sister… Exalted Master Shen. I remember this street!”
Others looked around, and only then did they realize that it was indeed the street along which they exited the city, but Lonemoon who was at first looking after Shen Ying anxiously was gone without a trace right now. But they had been out of the city for a mere quarter of an hour.
“Could they have gone back to the inn first?”
Jian Xing’s face fell. “Let’s go back to the inn and ask.”
Therefore, the group hastened their footsteps and returned to the previous inn, but strangely, that innkeeper didn’t seem to know them. He thought that they just arrived for a stay at the inn, and there were no Lonemoon and Shen Ying in the inn.
The more they thought about it, the weirder they felt. All of them looked at Jian Xing, who had the highest cultivation. “Uncle-Master Jian Xing, what are we to do? He was the disciple of Lonemoon, the same generation as Fatty, so everyone called him Uncle-Master.”
“We go around and try to get some information first.” suggested Jian Xing, “After four hours, we gather back here.”
They nodded, and only then did they spread out and go around in different directions. Even Mushroom was dragged along by Zhi Lin. Fatty didn’t actually go around asking, but sat down at the inn, waiting for them to come back. After four hours, they returned to the inn, only that none of their faces looked good.
“I already asked. All the people in the city seemed to forget about their own lethargy.
“Same on my side. And I purposely went to those people I asked during the day, but they chased me out.”
“These people seemed to be completely different people during the day and at night.”
“Can it be… that this is just a mystic realm?! All these people are fake?”
They paled. Should this be a mystic realm, how powerful did one have to be to replicate a whole city?
“It can’t be!” Jian Xing shook his head. “They are real people indeed. They don’t look like illusions from spells.”
Everyone fell silent, having not a single bit of clue. When they really went out of ways, though they didn’t want to, they could only turn to Fatty beside them.
“Exalted Master…” Jian Xing cupped his fists and said, “Please give us some hint.”
Fatty smiled. Seeing that they were really at a bottleneck, he finally spoke to remind them, “This is indeed not a mystic realm, but a dreamland!”
“Dream?!” Everyone was shocked, staring at one another.
“Did you remember the words on that paper slip asking for help?” Fatty gave them a look before continuing, “It said that at night, everyone fell into a nightmare, and they only woke up in the morning. Where we are at now is inside their dreams. Somebody controlled their consciousness, and they entered the same dream.
They froze. No wonder those people remembered nothing about the things during the day, nor the matter of their lethargy at night. It was a dream after all. When they saw those white mists just now, they were probably already pulled into the dreamland.
“But, isn’t it a nightmare?” Zhi Lin spoke, confused. “All of them look happy to me. It doesn’t look like a nightmare, does it?”
The other disciples thought the same.
Fatty smiled and said, “Soon they won’t be.”
“What?” They were stunned, not yet able to understand his meaning. Suddenly, a scream sounded and the streets suddenly fell into chaos. People kept screaming out loud, and people with panic written all over their faces ran across the roads, all towards the back.
“What is it?” They stood up directly.
Yet in the next instant, a loud roar sounded.
Roar!
