Lady Zhi was completely unaware.
Her entire focus was captivated by the dream light before her.
It was Hong Ling’s dream—bright and scorching.
Abundant spiritual power, a steadfast will, and a lucid mind.
All of it made Lady Zhi salivate, her mouth watering with desire.
"It’s you, my little darling."
She murmured to herself, immediately activating the Dream-Weaving Shuttle in her hand.
Hong Ling had just finished a busy day.
She had spent nearly the entire night assisting the Corpse Soul Sect in selecting a new site, finalizing construction details with Lu Cheng, and listening to lengthy reports from various department heads in the city.
She rubbed the bridge of her nose, preparing to meditate for a moment to rest.
While managing the City of the Wrongfully Dead to relieve the Lord’s burden was a heavy responsibility, her own cultivation could not be neglected.
Just as she focused her mind, an extremely eerie fluctuation abruptly appeared in her perception.
Hong Ling snapped her eyes open, only to see a woman dressed in rainbow silks standing in her room, staring at her with the gaze of someone sizing up a delicacy.
The woman’s face was exquisitely beautiful, yet it carried an inhuman, illusory quality.
"Who is there?" Hong Ling immediately became vigilant. Her spiritual power surged within her as she shouted the question.
Lady Zhi was uncharacteristically surprised. "You can see me?"
This was completely beyond her expectations.
She had already checked; the brightest dream light in this city belonged to this young girl. Her cultivation was only at the fifth stage. Before Lady Zhi’s own half-step eerification strength, the girl should have been nothing to fear.
Logically, it should have been impossible for the girl to perceive her while she was within the dream realm interlayer.
"To be able to see me... it seems you truly are extraordinary, little girl."
Lady Zhi quickly suppressed her surprise, replacing it with excitement—the thrill of discovering an unexpected treasure.
"And the leader of this city? Fifth-stage cultivation... Hehe, I’ve truly stumbled upon a massive bargain!"
She could already envision the beautiful future of a successful parasitism. With this high-quality vessel and a city full of blood-food, she could cross the final threshold and complete her eerification in one go.
Lady Zhi said softly, "Little sister, don’t be nervous. Just sleep peacefully. Once you’re asleep, all your troubles will vanish."
Before she could finish, the Dream-Weaving Shuttle in her hand erupted in brilliant light.
A dreamlike halo, like liquid silver pouring over the floor, spread toward Hong Ling.
Reflected in the glow, her pale, transparent human skin looked even more bizarre. Beneath the skin were dense, net-like nerves, layered and intertwined, writhing incessantly.
Seeing this, Hong Ling calmly pointed a finger. A Luan Fire Talisman was instantly triggered, and crimson flames spread like the wings of a Luan bird, encircling her body and forming a solid protective fire ring.
Lady Zhi’s eyes filled with even more contempt. She didn't believe for a second that this mere fifth-stage flame could block her dream-weaving divine light.
But in the next moment, the dream-weaving divine light—which could easily invade the dreams of living beings—shattered violently five meters away from Hong Ling’s body, unable to advance a single inch.
It was as if it had struck an invisible glass wall.
At the same time, the scenery around Hong Ling began to change.
The walls of the room transformed into a boundless, greyish-dark void.
Within the void, countless pale bone hand phantoms slowly reached out, swaying silently.
Seeing this familiar sight, Hong Ling relaxed completely. She even withdrew her protective luan fire and bowed gracefully toward the void.
Her tone was respectful and composed. "Greetings, my Lord."
Lady Zhi froze, a strong sense of unease welling up within her. "Who are you bowing to?!"
Hong Ling looked up, her gaze toward Lady Zhi like that of one looking at a clown. "A mere prisoner dares to act so presumptuously within the City of the Wrongfully Dead? To disturb the peace of a god... the Lord will not let you go."
"God? What Lord? Aren't you the City Lord?"
The unease in Lady Zhi’s heart magnified rapidly. She finally realized the situation was completely out of her control.
At that moment, a power saturated with the absolute will of death permeated the ghost domain.
It was the deathly aura released by Chen Zhou.
The deathly aura moved as if alive, accurately coiling around Lady Zhi’s illusory body.
"Ah—!"
Lady Zhi let out a scream. It wasn't the pain of the flesh, but the agony of her very essence being eroded and dismantled.
Under the erosion of the deathly aura, her smooth human skin, which she relied on to maintain her form, lost its luster at a visible rate.
The skin turned grey and dull, being assimilated into bone material. Then, with a series of cracks, it began to peel off in flakes.
Beneath the human skin, countless milky-white net-like nerves were completely exposed. They twisted and struggled frantically, like shelled mollusks, extending and writhing in all directions.
She looked like a sea anemone suddenly blooming in the abyss of death.
"No! This is impossible!"
Lady Zhi felt a fatal threat—a power capable of erasing her from the conceptual level!
She frantically drove the Dream-Weaving Shuttle, attempting to flee into deeper layers of the dream realm and escape this desperate place.
But it was all in vain.
In this ghost domain completely dominated by Chen Zhou, even dreams were soaked in death, losing their former protection.
Lady Zhi couldn't understand—she simply couldn't! The brightest dream light in this city was clearly only this fifth-stage girl!
How could such a terrifying existence be hidden here?!
Even a peerless powerhouse who had completed the Three Transformations of Eerification or reached the threshold of the seventh stage—as long as they were a living being—could not be entirely without dream fluctuations. They should not have been able to escape her perception!
Chen Zhou watched all of this with great interest.
He was an evil spirit, after all. He didn't sleep, so where would dreams come from?
He experimentally released more deathly aura, finding that even the strange dream light on Lady Zhi could be eroded and assimilated by the deathly aura.
'It seems I am indeed superior.'
No matter what this strange thing’s background was—whether it was formless and soul-less or residing in another dimension—it ultimately couldn't withstand the deathly aura. Evil spirits were indeed a cut above.
Watching her skin continuously ossify, Lady Zhi finally panicked. No longer caring about arrogance or dignity, she shrieked for mercy.
"Pure Land of Great Dreams, let us ascend to bliss together...
"This humble one... this humble one is Lady Zhi from Sukhavati. I did not know which Buddha Lord from the Bone Temple was cultivating here!
"This humble one was blind to offend Your Buddhahood. I beg for the Buddha Lord's forgiveness!"
Her exposed nerves danced frantically like seagrass, appearing as if she were kowtowing and bowing.
Chen Zhou tried to plant a Bone Seed in Lady Zhi, wanting to probe the background of Sukhavati.
However, Bone Erosion could not lock onto Lady Zhi’s anemone-like nerves. Several attempts all ended in failure.
Lady Zhi’s form was peculiar; she had no physical body in the conventional sense, and even less of a sea of consciousness to erode. The Bone Seed could not take root.
Her spiritual core was firmly locked by an unknown Buddhist dharma, forming a perfect closed loop. Chen Zhou could feel that if he forcibly struck this barrier, Lady Zhi would be completely annihilated by this unique restriction.
Chen Zhou couldn't help but feel it was a pity.
"It seems you are of no use after all."
Rate on N.U.
