Chen Zhou sat atop the Nine-Skull Throne.
A few dozen feet in front of him, Jian Huaishuang and the paper people of the Corpse Soul Sect all sat cross-legged in deep meditation.
"Snort... snort..."
The nightmare, which looked like a small pink pig, hovered in mid-air, emitting satisfied snores while maintaining the dreamlight.
The dreamlight was as light as gossamer, enveloping Jian Huaishuang and the group of paper people within it.
Drool dripped from the nightmare's chubby snout, hitting the ground and turning into illusory spots of light that vanished in an instant.
Beside the nightmare, the Dream-Weaving Shuttle obtained from Lady Zhi was flying in circles. The tip of the shuttle drew upon the nightmare's source dreamlight, weaving it into a stable barrier.
The dream was now secure.
Chen Zhou hadn't expected that the piglet he had casually tossed to Widow Li to raise for fun would now become his key medium for controlling dreams.
Though this low-intelligence creature hadn't become a fiend, its control over dreams was almost instinctual.
The first step of the plan was a success. Chen Zhou withdrew his gaze and turned toward the person waiting below the altar.
"Hong Ling."
Hong Ling, who had been waiting quietly, opened her eyes. She stood up and gave Chen Zhou a graceful bow.
"Reporting to my lord, Hong Ling is ready."
"Please be at ease, my lord."
"It is Hong Ling's honor to scout the path for you. Though my strength is meager, I will never be a burden to your will."
She was no longer the young girl who could only passively wait for protection. Her experience managing the City of the Wrongfully Dead had allowed her to grow rapidly, giving her the courage to stand on her own.
"Very well."
Chen Zhou nodded slightly.
He needed a set of coordinates and a vessel—an anchor that could carry his Bone Incarnation and precisely locate him within the chaotic dreamscape.
Hong Ling, possessing the red trait Linglong Heart, was the perfect choice.
With a thought from Chen Zhou, the nightmare let out two reluctant grunts and shifted into a more comfortable position.
The Dream-Weaving Shuttle suddenly accelerated. Its tip pivoted, pulling the dreamlight and pouring it over Hong Ling.
Hong Ling did not resist. She sat down cross-legged and quickly focused her mind.
Her aura gradually settled until she felt as if she were being enveloped by a warm tide. Her breathing became long and shallow, and she soon entered a state of deep meditation.
Once the dream was stabilized, Chen Zhou's figure swayed slightly as he manifested his Bone Incarnation.
The sinking of his consciousness happened in an instant.
When Chen Zhou opened his eyes again, what he perceived was through Hong Ling's perspective.
Before him was no longer the familiar altar square in the center of the City of the Wrongfully Dead, but a bizarre and surreal void of chaos.
This was the dream interlayer.
It did not belong to any single dream but was a world formed by the collision of all dreams.
Grey mist churned around him. The distant sky was an eerie purplish-black, devoid of sun, moon, or stars. There were only bands of light of varying thickness streaking across the firmament like auroras.
Those were the dream rivers formed by the convergence of countless sentient beings' dreams.
Beneath his feet, the spectral image of a city stood silently.
It was the City of the Wrongfully Dead.
Countless fragmented whispers and prayers drifted from every corner of the city, eventually surging toward the sky.
As Chen Zhou's original body, the Bone Altar served as the anchor between reality and illusion, and it likewise projected its existence into the dream interlayer.
Chen Zhou quickly mastered the capabilities of his new vessel. A cool, transparent sensation welled up from the heart of this body, instantly spreading through his consciousness.
It was the red trait from Hong Ling—Linglong Heart.
In an instant, Chen Zhou's perception was elevated infinitely, exploding at a geometric rate.
With the enhancement of the Linglong Heart, Chen Zhou's already exaggerated perception was boosted to a broken level.
His gaze pierced through the heavy grey mist, looking toward an extremely distant direction.
There, a band of light a hundred times larger than the one surrounding the City of the Wrongfully Dead was converging.
Countless points of dreamlight flickered there, densely packed like a galaxy.
That was the center of Thousand Isles County—Lantao City.
This meant that the power of Sukhavati was fully active, dragging almost everyone in the city into a dream.
"It seems Sukhavati truly can't wait any longer."
The corners of Chen Zhou's mouth curled into a smile.
He could clearly perceive that the dream bands above Lantao City were exceptionally active, even carrying a hint of fanaticism.
These were by no means normal dreams of living beings.
'I wonder about that hidden Bodhisattva Jieyin,' Chen Zhou thought with a cold laugh. 'Is he spurred by Lady Zhi's death, or does he feel threatened by the news of the Bone Temple brought back by Xing Yue?'
'He seems anxious.'
'But the more anxious he is, the more likely he is to show his hand.'
Chen Zhou flexed his fingers, adapting to this relatively fragile vessel, and then began jumping along the points of dreamlight.
The scenery before him flashed.
He found himself in a valley filled with the fragrance of birds and flowers.
A monkey was happily munching on peaches that seemed never-ending.
The dream was stable and peaceful—a pleasant dream.
Chen Zhou jumped again, leaping continuously through countless points of dreamlight.
From Qudao County to Yuandao County, from Yuandao County to Muyu County...
Farmers dreamed of golden waves of harvest, cultivators dreamed of breaking through bottlenecks, and young girls dreamed of their beloved suitors.
The dreams were myriad and strange, but most maintained a basic stability and peace. They were the most fundamental desires in the subconscious of living beings.
Chen Zhou jumped through the dreams of various beings, constantly going deeper.
After jumping for an unknown amount of time, when his consciousness crossed a certain boundary, the surrounding scenery abruptly changed.
'I should have reached the borders of Thousand Isles County.'
The dreams ahead were no longer the peaceful chaos from before.
The ground beneath his feet became thick like asphalt, stretching into threads when he stepped on it.
The air was thick with the stench of decay—a mixture of disease and rotting meat that bored straight into the mind.
Large swathes of the area appeared deathly desolate. Not even the weakest spark of dreamlight existed, as if the living beings there had completely lost the ability to dream.
And just ahead of this desolation, hundreds of twisted forks in the road appeared.
The forks were not physical paths but bands of light composed of different dreams, leading into unknown depths.
It was like a massive maze.
Chen Zhou stopped. He could distinguish one path where the dreamlight was most active, pointing straight toward Lantao City.
It was also the place where he had arranged for Jian Huaishuang and the paper people of the Corpse Soul Sect to go.
But as Chen Zhou had observed before, among the dense points of light in Lantao City, there wasn't one that was particularly brilliant.
Clearly, the core hub was not there.
"Crafty old fox, you're hiding quite deep," Chen Zhou remarked.
Bodhisattva Jieyin had hidden himself within the dreams of countless living beings, being everywhere yet nowhere to be found.
In the past, even searching with a ghost domain, trying to find him among tens of millions of dreams in Thousand Isles County would have been like looking for a needle in a haystack.
But Chen Zhou was currently within the dream interlayer himself, and that crafty old fox couldn't restrain himself, dragging everyone into the dream.
With the dreams in turmoil and the paths revealed, dragging that old fox out would be much simpler now.
With a thought, Chen Zhou summoned a thousand Bone Ghost Servants to descend.
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