The Bedfellow’s form, which had been shifting constantly, solidified slightly after it absorbed all the dreamers.
It held the lamp high and shrieked with fanatical fervor, "Great dream dharma—Heavenly Net!"
Where the light shone, countless intersecting grid lines erupted from the ground.
"Distorting life and death, commanding withered bones... is this the dharma of the Bone Temple?
"But you cannot save this sinking world. Only the eternal dream is the final rest!"
The charge of the skeleton army was obstructed for the first time.
The milky-white grid was like a viscous spiderweb. The skeletons raised their bone blades, and the power of death erupted, enough to shatter a small mountain.
However, the wall of netting only trembled slightly before absorbing all the force.
The Bedfellow let out a maniacal laugh, its face filled with smugness.
"It’s useless, Martial Uncle. In this deep dream, Sukhavati is the law! Sukhavati is the master!"
It spread its hands, and the surging grid began to spread toward Chen Zhou himself. Layers upon layers blotted out the sky, forming a massive white cage intended to seal Chen Zhou away forever.
"Do you see? This is the power of the great dream dharma, the power of Sukhavati!
"Convert, Martial Uncle! Isn’t the path of the Bone Temple also about discarding flesh to seek a pure golden body?
"Why not simply give up your skin and practice my great dream dharma? I will weave the most beautiful dream for you, allowing you to enjoy eternal peace."
The white grid cage slammed shut, completely swallowing Chen Zhou’s figure.
The Bedfellow laughed heartily, as if it had already seen its victory.
However, in the next second, a slight sound echoed from within the cage.
"Sizzle—!"
The grid woven from the great dream dharma actually began to melt rapidly.
"What?"
The smugness on the Bedfellow’s face froze instantly.
"Boom!"
A mass of dark red flames suddenly ignited from inside the cage.
That was no mortal fire, nor was it spirit fire. It was a flame that could scorch even dreams!
Chen Zhou’s figure stood unharmed within the flames. He stood silently, while the black robes on his body were now burning with raging karma-fire.
【Karma-Fire Protection: Immune to all attacks lower than your own stage.】
The stage of this great dream dharma that the Bedfellow was so proud of was clearly not enough to threaten Chen Zhou.
"Ah—!"
The Bedfellow suddenly let out a scream of agony.
After burning through the grid cage, the karma-fire followed an invisible connection and spread directly onto its main body.
The Bedfellow was terrified; it could feel its very essence being slowly scorched.
A dark red flame brand was permanently etched onto its face.
【Calamity Brand: Those injured by karma-fire will be branded. Damage dealt by the Evil God and his servants to the branded target will be increased, and a small portion of the target's power can be absorbed to nourish the attacker.】
"This is... karma-fire..."
The Bedfellow recognized this power, and it became even more hysterical.
"Martial Uncle, this is the sin of resisting salvation!
"You carry such heavy karma, so why have you come to defile this pure land!
"How can you... how dare you..."
Enduring the agonizing pain of the burning fire, it roared, "Even karma-fire cannot stop true salvation! All suffering is a necessary sacrifice!"
"Is that so?"
Chen Zhou’s voice was flat, without a single ripple of emotion. "Then I’ll defile it for you to see."
He no longer held back.
The surging death qi that was enough to distort dreams erupted outward like a broken dam in an ocean of ink.
"Crack... Cra-crack..."
All the grids that were suppressing the skeleton army trembled in unison upon contact with the death qi.
The walls of netting began to be tainted by the death qi.
On the originally milky-white grid, gray spots rapidly appeared, followed by cracks.
The Bedfellow watched in horror as the grid created by the great dream dharma actually began to ossify.
The grid became twisted and brittle, and tiny, deformed bone spikes even grew from the nodes.
The skeleton army seized the opportunity, and their bone blades swung down in unison.
"Pfft!"
The ossified grids could no longer dissipate the attacks. They were forcibly severed by the skeletons, sending pus-like blood splashing everywhere.
The Bedfellow watched helplessly as the inescapable net it had constructed collapsed under the infection of death qi and the slashes of the skeleton army.
It never expected that the order Sukhavati was so proud of would be so vulnerable in the face of the Bone Temple’s absolute death.
The death qi spread wantonly, polluting the light along the grid and crawling up the lamp along the light.
The dreamlike glow within the lamp flickered violently before being completely assimilated by the death qi, turning a dismal gray as the material ossified.
"Snap..."
Another crisp sound echoed.
Dense bone spikes grew frantically from inside the lamp, piercing through its outer walls.
Then, with a bang, this artifact that served as the core of the dream world shattered completely.
As the lamp broke, countless sesame-sized egg-like white dots spilled out onto the ground.
Simultaneously, the white grids that were still resisting seemed to lose their command, instantly losing all momentum.
All the grids slumped onto the ground like dead nerves.
The skeleton army swarmed forward, tearing the useless waste to shreds.
The Bedfellow fled backward in a disheveled state, its body flickering as the karma-fire burned, looking as though it might go out at any moment.
It couldn't believe it. It was already a half-step eerification body, and within this dream, its great dream dharma was nearly invincible. How could it lose to the Bone Temple?!
"Bone Temple... Bone Temple...
"Is the Bone Temple’s Great Vehicle Buddhism truly this powerful?"
It was horrified, but even more so, it felt a sense of bewilderment as its beliefs were shattered.
"Why... why possess such power and not use it for salvation, but instead to destroy this only pure land?"
Chen Zhou ignored its shouting entirely.
His gaze fell upon the eggs that had dropped from the lamp.
He sensed that these eggs were the core of the lamp artifact and the key nodes maintaining the grid and the deep dream.
Death qi rolled over them like a millstone, and all the eggs were instantly annihilated. Together with the flickering dreamlight, they turned into nothingness.
The moment all the eggs were cleared, the entire deep dream space began to vibrate violently.
The dream seemed to have lost its vital support; the spatial structure became unstable, and the light began to flicker and fade.
The fleeing Bedfellow suddenly stopped.
The look of despair on its face was replaced first by shock, then by a surge of wild joy.
It jerked its head up and looked toward the end of the space, as if it could see through everything.
"The Bodhisattva... has the Bodhisattva finished his seclusion?"
"Idiot."
Chen Zhou’s cold voice interrupted its joy.
"That’s not your master."
"That’s me."
Before the words had even faded, Chen Zhou’s Ghost Domain expanded violently with him as the center.
This open space was already structurally unstable due to the lamp’s destruction.
Now, it was like a mirror shattering; the surrounding scenery began to peel away in patches, revealing the hidden reality behind it.
This was the interior of an incredibly magnificent palace.
Flesh-colored pillars supported a towering dome.
Chen Zhou looked up.
Layer upon layer of massive cocoons hung from the ceiling.
Countless veins extended from the cocoon walls like umbilical cords, connecting to the palace walls and the dome.
The veins pulsed slightly, continuously siphoning energy from the countless cocoons to the palace itself.
As it turned out, the open space they had been in was merely a tiny, insignificant compartment within the Hall of a Thousand Dreams.
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