Chapter 261 - 138-142

Chapter 138 Fireflies in the Soul Sea

It had been two weeks since I started diving into Lu Gao's soul, and I meant that quite literally.

Dreamwalking wasn't a plug-and-play technique. Especially not when the base mechanism involved something called Soulful Guiding Fire… a temperamental flame that could lead a practitioner through another's subconscious while fending off invasive forces. Which, in Lu Gao's case, was a devil knight squatting deep in his mind like it paid rent.

And to make things harder?

The fire couldn't run on purely Mana. It ran on pure Qi.

Unfortunately, my cultivation path leaned on a different energy entirely… Mana through the Road of Immanence, not Qi through the Meridian Paths. Sure, I had Qi-based techniques for backup and managed to replicate most of them rather perfectly, but integrating a full-on soul technique? That was like trying to power an antique golem with a solar charger.

So, I had to get creative.

Careful.

And paranoid.

Mostly because I didn't want to get catfished by a floating skull.

Jue Bu, so far, had been… tolerable. Honest, even. Which made me more suspicious.

The soul contract we'd formed wasn't a casual pinky promise. This thing was soul-binding in the deepest sense. It even had layered seals and linguistic runes I barely understood… and I'd seen my fair share of crazy contracts. Something about Jue Bu's essence felt ancient. Deep. Maybe even older than this world.

I didn't say it out loud, but it kind of freaked me out.

How did Alice and Joan even manage to capture this guy? What dumb luck or weird fate had tangled them together?

Still, the results spoke for themselves.

Two weeks later, I could now shape the Soulful Guiding Fire, albeit in a slightly jankier form.

A soft thrum filled the cave as I exhaled and held my palm forward. A swirl of green flame gathered in the air, folding into itself with alien elegance before erupting outward in the shape of a butterfly.

Its wings beat once.

The ground cracked beneath my feet.

Cave walls groaned.

I stepped back, one hand shielding my face as the air thickened with the scent of ozone and wet moss, a side effect of merging Mana with what the Skull called the soul essence.

"Damn," I muttered, blinking through the wave of heat. "No wonder this thing was so hard to control."

One reason for the difficulty? Jue Bu had no Qi. Not a drip. Which meant no demonstrations, no examples, and no hands-on feedback. Just him sitting in the corner and giving lewd commentary like a discount Daoist grandpa with boundary issues.

Still, he hadn't lied.

Not once.

And for an undead, that said a lot.

The butterfly circled around me once, brushing the edge of my robes, then zipped down the tunnel and vanished into the shadows.

I let out a slow breath.

Showtime.

I only hoped my Holy Spirit, Dave, was buying me time. The last time we spoke, he was still pretty tired, but he'd do his best to protect me. Good old Dave. Hopefully, he wasn't too depressed after what happened with Shenyuan. Admittedly, Dave had undergone a few levels of evolution, I couldn't measure him by LLO standards anymore.

"Alright," I said to the dark, cracking my knuckles. "Let's dreamwalk."

A flick of my fingers sent the butterfly to its destination.

I stared into the swirling green flame ahead, Soulful Guiding Fire fluttering like an anxious butterfly near the threshold of Lu Gao's soul sea. I turned around to face theSkull.

"Oi. You coming?"

"I'd rather stay," he said, lazily spinning in place. "Dreams are for the young and horny. I'm ancient and exhausted."

I narrowed my eyes. "You don't have a choice."

Then I cast Compel Duel on him.

A thin and invisible string of power etched itself into the air between us, slamming into his bony chest with a satisfying thwump. A pair of halos appeared above me and above him. His eye sockets flared blue as the binding took hold. The terms were simple: he strays too far from me, his stats tank. It didn't hurt him, but it definitely made everything suck.

"Oh, come on!" he groaned, shaking his skull like a disappointed father at a tavern brawl. "You're working me to the bone here. Again. Literally."

"Welcome to the club." I walked ahead, not waiting for his complaints to finish echoing. "Come on, time is gold... Act more like your age. You are ancient, act more like it... or you'll lose my respect. Ah, I forgot, I don't have any."

"Sarcastic prick."

The butterfly bobbed along the path like a lantern guiding the dead. Stones shifted underfoot. It was warm, but not oppressively so, like we were walking deeper into memory, not magma.

Naturally, I took the opportunity to probe for answers.

"Jue Bu," I called back, voice casual, "You… Earthling?"

He floated up beside me, pausing mid-rattle. "Am I what now?"

"Earth. Blue orb. Rich with culture. Exclusively mortal plane. Lotta debt. Slightly too obsessed with cats."

He tapped his chinbone thoughtfully. "Ahhh… that Earth."

My heart jumped. I stopped walking and turned to face him again.

"You're from…"

He snapped his fingers. "The fairy tale! Right, right, Earth. The mythical paradise where everyone lives for ten thousand years in peace and watches boxed dramas on demand. Yeah, what about it?"

The fire behind my eyes dimmed.

"You think it's a fairy tale?"

"Sure." He shrugged. "I mean, that place where everyone's born powerless but somehow still destroys stars with flying metal birds and pocket screens? C'mon. Next, you'll tell me they cook food with invisible fire and drink water from underground pipes."

I stared at him in silence.

"...You're serious," I said at last.

"As the grave," he replied, then paused. "Which, incidentally, is where I've spent the better half of the last millennia."

I walked again, mind spinning. This guy knew of Earth… but not as a place he'd lived. He knew it as a story.

A story.

So… what did that make me?

A walking myth?

A main character in someone's bedtime tale?

It left a weird taste in my mouth. Bitter nostalgia and existential confusion.

I didn't know what to ask next. My thoughts churned with too many questions and not enough answers. I could press him. I should press him. But what if I asked and hated what I heard?

Jue Bu floated beside me, silent for once.

Even he could feel the weight of it.

Or maybe he was just waiting to make another sex joke.

Probably both.

The butterfly pulsed again, brighter this time.

"Found you," I muttered as I sprinted through the dim caverns, chasing the flickering green of the Soulful Guiding Fire.

It fluttered ahead like a signal flare, weaving through collapsing stone and thick dust. My Divine Sense flared, a rippling pulse through the fractured soulscape, and I felt it… Something foul was hiding just beyond the veil.

I reached out, clenched my fist, and grabbed the air.

Stone cracked like glass around my wrist as the illusion crumbled, revealing blackened steel and a suffocating miasma of rage. I yanked hard and pulled a knight in demonic armor from the shadows. Horned helmet, serrated pauldrons, and a cape made of something that didn't move so much as shiver with malice.

"I know you," I said. "Saw you back at Hell's Gate."

The demon knight didn't speak. Instead, it slammed its helmet into my face.

CRACK!

My vision flared white for a half second, but the backlash from Reflect Damage triggered instantly. The idiot knight had hit me with a critical, so the counter was even worse.

The echo of his headbutt exploded inward. Cracks spiderwebbed through his armor. His entire body shattered like a statue struck by divine lightning.

Chunks of the knight clanged onto the floor. Smoke curled from his broken core.

"Okay…" I muttered, rubbing my nose. "That hurt more than I thought it would."

The butterfly was still glowing.

Good. That meant the bastard wasn't gone yet, just hiding deeper.

Behind me, Jue Bu floated in lazily, arms behind his head like a retired war criminal on vacation.

"Hey," I called back. "Any tips on my cultivation method?"

His jaw wobbled as if preparing for a sermon. "It's shitty."

"Wow," I said. "Thanks. That really clarified things."

"No, really," he replied, floating closer. "You're using an inferior energy system. You're taking a high-resistance channel and trying to ram cultivation methods meant for Qi through it. Plus, you're stacking it on top of some inherited power that was never meant to blend with this world's laws."

"So… like a weird smoothie?"

"What even is a... smoothie?"

"An unhealthy mixture that tastes good. You mix crushed ice with fruits, I think?"

"You think? More like mixing sulfuric acid with cooking wine. It'll burn through your stomach, but hey, maybe you'll get drunk."

"...Metaphor noted."

He spun once in mid-air. "There's a reason everyone uses dantian-based systems here... and the rest of the Greater Universe. Gathering 'power' in the heart is… unconventional. Not useless, but limited. Your method might let someone rush to the Fourth Realm fast, but after that? They're stuck."

I felt something tighten in my chest.

I looked down at my hands, at the threads of mana coiled just beneath the skin.

"Stuck…"

Yeah. In my case, I was stuck at Will Reinforcement, Nine Star, so it was a bummer… I thought I'd broken my level cap back in my fight in Hell's Gate and would get to earn lots of EXP after slaying so many demons. Such a bummer.

Nongmin had said something similar once, behind closed doors. He didn't put it that bluntly, of course. That man had the tact of a scheming tactician, and he'd used words like "potential bottleneck" and "room for architectural improvements."

But Jue Bu? He just called it crap.

And the worst part?

He wasn't wrong.

Nongmin thought I could overcome it if I followed him to the World Summit. There, he said, I'd meet figures who understood energy systems beyond even his grasp… and learn from their demonstration. Tools and relics. Laws of nature tied to other domains. A real solution.

But it came with a price.

Even if it wasn't the intention behind it, I'd be encumbered by the said price... and refusal would screw me more than benefit me.

I wasn't Nongmin's puppet.

…Right?

I didn't feel strings on my arms. But if I kept dancing to the tune he played, if I followed the trail he set… was there really a difference?

Oh man.

It's so much harder to wish for independence when the person trying to help you is smarter than you. Or, at the very least, better informed.

I blew out a breath, eyes flicking back to the flame.

"Alright," I muttered. "Let's keep going."

"Lead the way," Jue Bu said, tossing me a lazy salute. "If we die, I'm blaming your heart cultivation nonsense."

I cracked my knuckles.

"Bring it on, demon bastard. Let's see what else you've got hiding down here. And it's called Mana Road Cultivation."

After a couple more days of cat-and-mouse, chasing the demon knight through a maze of collapsing dreams and shattered memories, I finally caught a break, literally.

His arm.

Just lying there in a broken alcove, still twitching like it hadn't gotten the memo that the rest of its owner had fled. The black armor on it was cracked, jagged like volcanic glass. But the essence? Still strong. Still demonic. Still cocky.

I scooped it up and sighed. "Well, that's one limb down."

From behind me, Jue Bu floated along with the enthusiasm of a man forced to supervise a toddler's attempt at rocket science. "Congratulations," he drawled. "You've crippled the air. With a bit more time, maybe you can defeat a particularly hostile breeze."

"Appreciate the support," I muttered, dusting off my robe.

As we walked through another warped corridor of dreamspace, I figured I might as well pick the skull's brain. "Hey, what's the cultivation system like in the Greater Universe? You know, out there. Beyond this world."

He didn't answer immediately.

I looked over my shoulder to see his empty sockets glowing faintly.

Then he shrugged.

"They use Quintessence," he said. "Universal energy constant. Think of it as an evolved form of Qi, a raw law-adherent force. The Realms aren't chopped up into twelve or twenty-four like you bumpkins do. Just a few big steps."

"Like…?"

"Well, what do you people here think is the Eleventh Realm? Perfect Immortal? That's bottom barrel in the Greater Universe. They call it the starting point of the realm, 'Ascended Soul.' Like… you just graduated from being dirt."

I blinked.

"Ouch."

"Yeah. Harsh world out there. Stronger, cleaner, more efficient. Less stupid."

"Gee, thanks."

He drifted closer and jabbed a bony finger into my shoulder. "Also, what's taking you so long? You've been chasing one single demon for days. You should've killed it three times by now. You're not even trying! You need more practice with the Soulful Guiding Fire!"

"Hey, hey, I have a plan," I said, holding up my hands. "Watch this."

To be fair, the demon had been very slippery and was very insistent on not clashing with me. And he was right, I needed more practice with this dreamwalking ability. Still, it was too early to give up.

Thus, I decided to take a leap of faith and try to lure the demon. I took a deep breath and called out, voice echoing into the warped dreamspace like a carnival barker on discount week:

"Heyoooo~ devil knight! Can we talk?"

Silence.

I pushed harder, channeling just a bit of charm through my Mana-infused vocal cords.

"Let's make a contract, so that you can get inside my body! Woohoo~! I'm a delicious piece of meat, loaded with crazy thoughts, soul scars, and repressed trauma. The full package!"

Stone cracked above me. The shadows shifted. I could feel the knight's presence circling like a wary animal.

Behind me, Jue Bu groaned in disbelief. "You are courting death, you know that, don't you?"

"Yup," I said cheerfully. "But I'm also baiting it."

The Skull clacked his teeth together. "There's reckless. And then there's you. Do you even understand how insane it is to offer your body to a demon?"

"Sure," I replied, grinning as my Soulful Guiding Fire began to flare with activity. "But what better way to lure him out than to pretend to be dumber than I really am?"

Jue Bu didn't respond. He just floated a little farther away. Smart.

Suddenly, the world went quiet.

No howling winds. No crumbling dreamspace or soulscape. No demonic shrieks echoing down psychic corridors.

Just silence.

I looked around, frowning. My Soulful Guiding Fire hovered nearby like an overworked secretary trying not to scream... and then the butterfly sputtered out, as if the effect of the technique had met its conditions. I used my Divine Sense, scanning this imaginary realm inside Lu Gao, and I found out that...

"The hell…?" I muttered. "Did he just… run?"

The demon ran.

Jue Bu floated up beside me, his usual smirk practically carved into his jawless skull. "Yup. Demon boy took the express wagon to coward town."

"Disappointing," I said with a sigh, folding my arms. "I had this whole plan, too. Thought I'd let him move in with you. You know, you two could share a corner of my soul with Eldritch-chan. Start a weird little sitcom or something."

Jue Bu shuddered. "W-what? This better not be a jest… What eldritch?"

But I was serious.

"Hmmm... You know what an eldritch is?"

"No, no! We can't talk about them! They are a weird bunch!"

That really was my plan. It was the safest prison I could think of… inside me. Between the literal curse-wrapped pseudo-divinity clinging to my core, the eldritch being napping somewhere in the deeper recesses of my soul, and my personal brand of unpredictable mental instability, I was basically a one-man maximum security facility.

Still, I turned to Jue Bu and said, "Anyway. You held your end of the bargain. You taught me the technique. I chased down the knight. Didn't catch him, but I learned a lot. So… it's my turn now."

"Oh?" Jue Bu's sockets glowed with mischief. "You're going to let me in, huh?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Time to formalize this arrangement."

He wiggled his bony phalanges. "Just so you know… the moment you drop your possession technique, I'll already be inside you."

The way he said it made my neck stiffen.

"Don't phrase it like that."

"Inside you~," he said again, voice thick with innuendo. "Deep… inside."

"Alright, alright! I get it!" I waved him off like swatting flies. "No need to make it weird."

"You made it weird by making the deal," he said with a shrug.

And yet… I hesitated. Just a little.

Something about all this… it felt too smooth. Too easy.

Was I forgetting something?

Some detail?

Some danger?

I stared at the flames flickering off my Soulful Guiding Fire, a pulse of green fire dancing against the fractured dream-walls.

Nah.

Probably fine.

Right?

"…Right?"

But Jue Bu was already laughing to himself, voice echoing like clattering bones in a haunted bathhouse.

"Too late now, Da Wei. We had a deal, souls be vowed!"

I sighed, rubbing my temples.

Then I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and cancelled the effect of Divine Possession.

"Ah, shit… the gender bender bullshit… Don't tell me-"

Chapter 139 A Man Awakens Surrounded

I opened my eyes to soft violet curtains swaying with a lazy breeze, sunlight filtering in through honeyed lattice windows, and the scent of sandalwood, jasmine, and too many people wearing perfume in close quarters.

The first thing I did was check my chest.

Still flat.

Still a dude.

Thank the Heavens.

And then I froze.

I was surrounded by women.

To be more accurate, fine women… The kind sculptors tried to capture in jade and never got quite right.

One had skin like polished amber and wore her hair in thick braids wrapped with golden rings. She was curled against my right side, her arm over my chest like she'd claimed it in the night.

Another woman, tall, dark, and elegant as a tower bell, lay to my left, draped in a sheer violet robe that barely hinted at the martial scars on her abdomen. Her legs had interlocked with mine at some point.

A third… blonde, curvy, and softer than a spring morning, was tucked under my arm, fingers loosely tangled in my shirt, her breath warm against my collarbone.

All of them were stunning.

Thankfully, they were all dressed. Though a few sashes had come undone and some of those collars were... adventurous.

I glanced up.

The ceiling was painted with blooming plum branches and silver clouds. Familiar. I'd seen it before.

Oh.

"The Purple Blossom."

A famed leisure house in the Promised Dunes. High-end. Respectable. Renowned for offering not just physical comfort, but elegant companionship from tea ceremonies, poetry, zither music, and the gentle art of conversation.

And yet, I was in a bed, surrounded by these women like some tragic romance novel protagonist who'd lost a war and fallen into a pile of warm pillows and emotional support.

"Dave…" I murmured.

No answer came.

So I did the usual.

Voice Chat: Activate!

"Dave. Mission report."

There was a pause. Then, his voice echoed through my mind, smooth as ever, but with the tone of someone caught red-handed.

"My Lord. You've awakened."

"Yes. In a bed. With six women."

"Ah. Yes. A misunderstanding, I assure you. Nothing dishonorable occurred."

"Start from the top."

"Of course, My Lord. During your quest to help Disciple Lu Gao, I maintained a low profile for the first week. On your behalf, I entrusted Xue Xin with Lu Gao's care. As for the rest of the Imperial Phoenix Guard, they had secured the establishment without a fuss, and Madam Yun had been cooperative."

Madam Yun, the house matriarch?

"And the part where we ended in bed? I did ask you to take over and avoid being the subject of suspicion, but…"

"The Purple Blossom is considered a sacred site of emotional cultivation by the locals. It is where warriors come to mend their spirit, poets to refine their verse, and the lonely to feel... a little less so."

I rubbed my face.

"What exactly did you do?"

"We came here under the premise of seeking balance… worldly pleasure to temper worldly burdens. Our story was set straight: you are a wandering sage from the far Empire, weary from battle and in search of peace. I held tea ceremonies with several of the Blossom Ladies, debated philosophy, praised a courtesan's calligraphy, and complimented a warrior-poet on her swordsmanship."

"And they all just... followed you into bed?"

"A sandstorm struck during the third evening. We were escorted to the guest pavilion for shelter. It is customary here, My Lord, to share warmth during stormy nights. The women insisted. To refuse would have been seen as an insult. I ensured all remained clothed. I even kept a Cleanse Spell repeatedly cast on my mind…" he coughed discreetly "…to suppress any accidental… nocturnal disturbances."

I stared at the elegant wooden wall across from me.

This man.

This bastard.

He'd created a legend of me as a wandering romantic philosopher and slept in the company of beautiful women without so much as holding a hand.

"So let me summarize: tea, poetry, weather-induced co-sleeping, and reputation management. A cuddle, is it?"

"Precisely, My Lord. And biscuits. Quite delightful ones, with a lavender glaze. I requested the recipe."

One of the women stirred slightly beside me, mumbling something about starlight and "the gentle master."

I was going to have a very awkward time explaining this if anyone walked in.

"Anything else I should know?"

"Ah, yes. You've been invited to an informal moon-viewing banquet by Lady Huai and her circle. It seems our reputation has spread."

Of course it had.

I closed my eyes again and let out a long, quiet sigh.

"Dave?"

"Yes, My Lord?"

"Next time you decide to build a reputation as a refined hedonist with a heart of gold… at least warn me first."

"Of course, My Lord. Shall I begin composing haikus in your name?"

"Dave. This isn't Losten. There are no haikus here…"

"Yes, My Lord?"

"Shut up."

"As you wish."

No way I'd admit to it, but man... sometimes, I'd feel jealous of Dave...

I used Flash Step to leap past the winding staircases and curtained halls of the Purple Blossom. A trail of distorted air shimmered behind me, my footing lighter than wind, yet leaving no trace. I followed with Zealot's Stride, surging mana through my calves and ankles until every step rang like a drumbeat of purpose. The building blurred around me—velvet drapes, carved sandalwood, giggling attendants—none of it registered. My attention was already elsewhere.

I activated Divine Sense.

The world cracked open to me, a soft pulse echoing through reality. Qi signatures blossomed across my perception like ink drops in water. Familiar energies surged and fluttered through the building. There… hidden, subtle, and like embers in the dark… I found the Imperial Phoenix Guard.

I'd memorized their presence the first time: too disciplined and too still to be anything else. They were stationed outside, pretending to be drunkards, performers, and errand girls. One was even disguised as a flower vendor. Amateurs to the untrained eye. But to me?

Imperial watchdogs, cloaked in shadows, patrolled the perimeter like dogs sniffing out ghosts.

I kept moving.

As I turned into a hall of painted screens and glass lanterns, I passed Bai Zheme.

He stood tall in a pressed silk robe, but wore the silent readiness of someone expecting war before breakfast. His hand was near his belt, though there was no sword. He didn't need to have one to begin with.

His gaze flicked to me and back ahead.

A nod.

Barely more than a twitch.

I returned it with equal enthusiasm. Which was to say, none.

Then came his voice, calm as a winter lake.

"Where to?"

I slowed just enough to let him fall in behind me.

"Looking for my disciple."

He didn't ask which one. He didn't have to.

I stopped before a sliding paper door at the end of a quiet corridor. I felt her presence inside. Low heartbeat. Steady breathing. No danger. Just the muffled scent of warm blankets and herbal oil.

I slid the door open.

Xue Xin was inside, curled beneath a quilt embroidered with cranes and lotuses. Her long red hair spilled across the pillow like silk threads. She blinked up at me with soft confusion, the glow of sleep still in her eyes.

She smiled faintly.

"Sir Da Wei…?" she whispered, half-sitting up.

"Where's Lu Gao?" I asked.

Her smile didn't falter, but her expression did twitch, just slightly. She tilted her head.

"You mean Lu Ling, Sir Da Wei?" She looked toward the lump beside her under the blanket. "She was suffering from nightmares again. I held her so she would not feel afraid."

I sighed.

I already had a feeling about this.

I stepped into the room and knelt by the edge of the futon. Xue Xin watched, concerned, as I reached out.

"Please don't… she's sleeping. She hasn't rested in days. She…"

I pulled the blanket aside.

Underneath it, very much snoring and very much male, lay Lu Gao.

He had managed to curl into the fetal position, one arm tucked beneath his chin, lips parted in the dumbest sleep expression I'd seen in months. His hair was a mess, and he clutched what looked like a small plush fox someone must've given him.

Xue Xin's face went blank.

Then pale.

Then red.

Then dangerous.

It was a colorful sight.

I watched the sequence with the detached horror of a bystander about to witness a righteous execution.

"…What?" she whispered. "That's…"

Her eyes widened, then narrowed into sharp slits.

"That's not Lu Ling. That's…! That's a man! That's…he's…"

She turned to me, hand clenching over her heart like she'd been tricked by the Heavens.

"Sir Da Wei," she said through gritted teeth, "I failed you. I swear, I did not know. I thought I was protecting Lu Ling. But it seems…"

She stood abruptly, the blanket falling off her. She was already dressed in her inner armor, light silks wrapped under leather plating.

"It seems she… was kidnapped."

"…That's one way to interpret it," I muttered.

She didn't hear me.

Or maybe she did, but she was too far gone. Already summoning a glowing saber from her Storage Ring, her spiritual aura bursting with cold, judicial fury.

The room trembled.

"Xue Xin," I said, raising a hand. "Let's take a moment…"

"No," she said, voice like frostbite. "This pig dared to touch Lu Ling."

"Uuuh… I think you are misunderstanding something…"

The blade hummed with power. Lu Gao stirred, as his eyes fluttered open.

He saw her.

Then saw the saber.

Lu Gao made a sound that was part whimper and part dying sheep.

"Wait… wait… Senior Sister?!"

Xue Xin didn't hesitate. She charged.

"You deserve death, swine!"

"SOMEONE HELP ME!!"

He scrambled. She pounced. I sighed.

And Bai Zheme, still standing outside the door, calmly slid it shut with two fingers as he entered the room. "You want me to intervene?" he asked, hand touching his war fan.

I crossed my arms and leaned against the wall.

"...Let her get two hits in first."

On second thought, I really shouldn't have let her land even a single hit.

Xue Xin was Seventh Realm. Lu Gao? What was he now, Fourth? Maybe fifth on a good day if he was high on confidence and lying to himself.

The moment she dashed forward, her saber gleamed with genuine killing intent. She wasn't joking. That wasn't a slap-on-the-wrist swing. That was a "disgrace to the bloodline" type of cut.

But somehow…

CLANG!

The sound of metal meeting metal rang out like a thunderclap.

Lu Gao. No... The still sniffling and half-asleep Lu Gao had actually managed to parry the attack. He'd conjured a sword made from his Hollow Point technique. A glimmering purple haze flared into existence, deflecting the saber just inches from his face. The thing fizzled and cracked apart instantly, but it had done the job.

Even if it was a half-hearted strike on Xue Xin's end, that was still impressive.

I blinked.

"Huh."

"You dare…!" Xue Xin's saber arced up again, already swinging down.

I moved.

In less than a heartbeat, I reached out and grabbed both of them by the back of their necks. One in each hand. It felt like lifting a saber spirit and a sack of potatoes.

Xue Xin froze in mid-air, feet dangling slightly.

Lu Gao yelped.

I held them up like misbehaving kids at a birthday party.

"Alright, enough," I said. "We're on a schedule, and I'd rather we not waste it murdering each other over blanket politics."

Xue Xin's eyes narrowed. "But, Sir Da Wei…!"

"It's a misunderstanding," I said flatly. "Lu Ling has always been a guy."

She blinked.

I continued, "But due to a perverted skull fucker, he spent the past few days assuming a female shape." I got to continue my conversation with that skull, but for now, I have to deal with these two.

There was a beat of silence as Xue Xin muttered, "…Who is Skull Fucker?"

I sighed. "His name is Jue Bu. Old soul. Used to be someone important. Now he's just mostly horny and extremely literate."

Lu Gao, still suspended in my grip, suddenly sobbed.

"I missed you so much, Master…"

He squirmed upward, trying to press his face into my shoulder.

Ugh.

"Lu Gao," I warned, "if you don't get your snotty little face off of me right now, I swear on the Celestial Dao, I will kick you so hard your ancestors will think they gave birth to a cloud."

He froze... and then sniffled.

Slowly, he leaned back his face off with a trembling lower lip.

"…Yes, Master."

I dropped them both.

Xue Xin landed silently, adjusting her sleeves with martial dignity. Lu Gao collapsed like a sack of wet rice, wheezing.

I looked at both of them.

"Good," I said. "Now get dressed. Eat something. We've got business to handle, and it doesn't involve accidental nudity or sword-based therapy."

Lu Gao nodded rapidly, still wiping tears from his face. "Senior Xue... I am s-sorry..."

"Shut up," Xue Xin bowed lightly. "As you command, Sir Da Wei."

Wait a damn minute... I stared at Lu Gao and then at Xue Xin. Something happened between them during the time I was inside Lu Gao. Curious... Very curious, indeed.

Bai Zheme cleared his throat.

"If this is the usual morning routine, I'd like to request hazard pay."

"Denied," I said without missing a beat. "Go talk to the Emperor for that shit. I am not your boss. I am your eccentric charge who just happens to have too much power in his biceps."

"What?" asked the confused Bai Zheme.

Time to get moving.

"Alright. Orders."

They all turned toward me, still half-tensed from the earlier chaos.

"Xue Xin," I said. "Get your girls ready and pack up our stuff. We're leaving soon."

She gave a slight bow. "As you will, Sir Da Wei." The moment she turned, her tone changed, barking precise instructions like a general rallying troops in her Qi Speech. Her skill with Qi Speech was unexpectedly sloppy, her Qi bursting forth as she murmured to herself.

I turned to Lu Gao, who was still wiping crusted tears off his cheeks and sniffling like an abandoned puppy.

"Go look for Hei Yuan for me. He's either at the local tavern or the local bookstore. Check both."

Lu Gao blinked. "Yessir, right away! Should I…"

"Don't ask. Just move. Also help him with his task... This is a bit last minute, but you should be able to point us in the right direction to look for Alice and Joan."

He ran off, tripped slightly, and hurried off.

I finally turned to Bai Zheme, who hadn't said a word through the entire thing.

"Guard the door."

He nodded once, noncommittal as always, and took up position just outside the sliding doors with the same stance he'd probably use while storming a fortress. He closed the door respectfully, leaving me by my lonesome.

With the room cleared, I sat cross-legged in the center of the room, took a slow breath, and closed my eyes.

Time to meditate.

I let the mana in my body cycle through the Mana Road Cultivation technique. It was a method Lu Gao and me had developed using what I could glean from local traditions, combined with what felt natural to me. It worked… but obviously, it wasn't perfect.

A setback in cultivation was, of course, normal, so no need to feel disheartened.

I searched for that feeling again, the stagnation. That annoying, tickling sense at the back of my soul that told me something was missing. I was still stuck in the Third Realm, and no amount of cycling, refining, or muttering encouraging words to my heart-dantian was going to change that.

What was I lacking?

And here I thought killing stuff would allow me to level up after I broke through the level cap by starting on my cultivation journey.

Clearly, it wouldn't be so easy.

There was a piece missing. A crucial element I couldn't identify.

I guess I'd assumed this whole cultivation thing would be easy. You know, like in the novels. Give the transmigrated guy some cheat abilities, drop him into a fantasy realm, and boom… he becomes a god.

Right?

Wrong.

Sure, I had better stats than anyone in this world, and I was abusing the hell out of them, but cultivation wasn't a video game. Well, it kind of was, but it was a deeply unfair one with hidden mechanics, vague patch notes, and no customer support.

Lu Gao was already in the Fourth Realm. Not because he was a genius, but because he had actual cultivation experience. He fought tooth and nail to climb up. His foundation was solid, even if his brain wasn't.

Gu Jie, on the other hand, had always been special. Her constitution gave her a head start, sure… but it was the Legacy she awakened that was carrying her higher. It seemed like she was doing some kind of dual cultivation without needing a partner, creating a spiritual harmony that let her break through again and again.

And then there was Ren Jingyi.

That girl was just a genius, plain and simple.

She started with an inferior method… Hollow Breathing Technique, something most sects wouldn't even hand to their dogs, but she made it work. Not only that, she accumulated energy with such terrifying speed that she had surpassed Gu Jie and Lu Gao despite the difference in quality.

That wasn't something you learned.

That was something you were.

And then there was... me.

Stuck. Spinning my mana in circles. I stared at a locked door and hoped it would open if I just jiggled the handle long enough.

I clenched my fists, slowly exhaled, and refocused.

Fine.

If I couldn't break through with force, I'd out-think the damn system.

Somewhere in the mess of this world's cultivation lore, there was an answer. A reason why this path was stalling me.

And when I found it, I'd tear the barrier apart.

One breath at a time.

Chapter 140 Possession is Nine-Tenths of the Gender

I sat cross-legged in the private chamber Lu Gao had been assigned. The walls were lacquered with restrained elegance, the air thick with incense… floral, maybe aphrodisiacal. Hard to tell anymore. My sense of smell had been dulled by the constant barrage of stimulation in this continent.

I closed my eyes and cycled the Mana Road again, trying and hoping for even a flicker of insight. No matter how I refined the flow, no matter how cleanly I traced the meridians, the boundary of the Third Realm held fast. It was like pressing against glass: invisible, cold, immovable.

Lu Gao had already stepped into the Fourth. Gu Jie was thriving on that Legacy synergy of hers. And Jingyi? That damn girl was sprinting ahead with the shabbiest technique I'd ever seen… just raw genius, leaving me in the dust.

And me? Da Wei? Still stuck.

"Voice Chat," I murmured in my mind. "Jue Bu, you there?"

A beat passed. Then…

"MOTHERFUCKING SHIT-EATING OUTSIDER SCUM—OF COURSE I'M HERE! You locked me in this freak-ass abyss! And don't think I didn't notice how suspicious it was when you gently invited me into your damn soul like some benevolent cultivator. Who just lets a cursed skull in without strings attached?!"

"Oh, good morning to you too," I said flatly. "Sleep well?"

"No, I didn't sleep! I existed. In your twisted mindscape, right next to that blob you've got loitering in there like it pays rent. WHAT THE FUCK EVEN IS THAT THING?!"

"…You mean Eldritch-chan?"

"You NAMED it?! You absolute lunatic! How the hell did something like that end up inside you?"

"It's a long story," I muttered. "And I'm not in the mood. Want a bedtime tale too? Should I light incense and fetch popcorn?"

"Let me out!"

"Nah."

"FUCK YOUR MOTHER!"

"Charming. Do you kiss your master with that mouth?"

"FUCK YOU, FUCKER!"

I couldn't help the smile tugging at my lips. His rage was weirdly… grounding.

"You know," I said, "I might consider setting you free… if you tell me about that contract I inherited."

"…The one from the boy. Lu Gao?"

"Bingo."

"And you accepted it without reading the terms?"

"Sure did."

"You brain-dead half-wit. At the time I thought you were just a brute with more power than sense. I never imagined you were actually that reckless. Who the hell agrees to a soulbinding pact without even glancing at the terms?!"

"The kind who doesn't want to waste time," I said, leaning back, lacing my fingers behind my head. "I didn't want to lose the chance. Didn't want to kill you either. Besides, it's fun watching you squirm."

"You're deranged."

"I prefer 'efficient.' Look, if I'd asked about the terms and didn't like them, I might've backed out. Might've tried to loophole it. But that would've pushed you to retaliate, maybe even try something desperate. Could've ended with your soul shattered, mine damaged, Gao in trouble—too much risk. So I gambled."

"You gambled with a soul contract."

"Yep. Like a big boss shouldering his cousin's debt and turning the scammer into an employee."

"…What in all the heavens are you even talking about?"

"Don't worry about it. Just answer me: what's the catch?"

"You know everything about this is stupid, right?"

"I know," I said. "It's my kind of stupid. The deliberate kind. If it works, it works. I might not be able to see the future or juggle a dozen contingency plans like some Divine Strategist, but I know what I want. And right now, I've got a use for you. If you can shield my disciple from a demon like that, maybe you can do something about Eldritch-chan too."

"FUCK YOU!"

How eloquent. As expected of a cursed skull with the soul of a pervert.

"I also know better than to haggle with Soul Contracts. That's old knowledge: arcane, layered, and dangerous. One wrong twist and you lose a hand. Or a soul. Or both. Besides, you already pulled a fast one on my disciple. I'd be stupid to think you wouldn't try the same with me. Desperation makes people pliable. No way a relic like you doesn't know how to exploit that."

"…Tch. I guess you're not a complete idiot."

"High praise," I said flatly. "Truly honored, coming from the skull currently taking up residence in my brain."

"You should've asked, though," he grumbled. "Even a token effort. But fine. You've already bound yourself, and frankly, I don't want that blob-roommate of yours nibbling on my soul-fragments out of boredom. So I'll tell you."

"I'm all ears."

"The contract wasn't just about shielding your disciple from the demon. That was just the trigger. There's… a side effect."

"…Define 'side effect.'"

"Oh, you'll love this," he said with that shit-eating grin I could somehow hear. "You haven't noticed anything weird yet?"

My stomach turned. "…Tell me it's not what I think it is."

"Oh, it's exactly what you think it is. Ever wondered what it's like to walk in the shoes of womanhood? Want me to give you a tour?"

"Cut the crap." My voice dropped, flat and cold. "What's the cost? The real one. You defend Lu Gao, and then what? You get to possess his body?"

"Close. I get access to it. The curse is a conditional possession technique. Not full-on parasitism, not the usual soul-jacking. If certain conditions are met, I get to use the body for a while. Temporary control."

I narrowed my eyes. "Conditions like what?"

"Gender switch."

I stared at nothing for a few long seconds.

"You're not lying," I muttered. "Not that you need to. It's too damn bizarre to be fake."

He chuckled, low and smug. "Every time you switch gender, I get control. For a little while. With Lu Gao, I barely got anything… he's too weak. I couldn't draw enough strength to overpower the demon. But with you… oh, the potential."

"…Why does it have to be a woman?"

"Why not a woman?" he asked with unsettling cheer. "Soul transformation, body reshaping, identity realignment… this isn't science that most academics and scholars loved to obsessed with. It's cultivation. It rewrites the vessel to suit the condition."

Of course, science existed in this world… They got superhuman thinkers after all.

I pinched the bridge of my nose and let out a long, ragged sigh. "Oh my god."

"Technically goddess," he said brightly. "At least during the shift."

"Shut. Up."

I should note: this skull had an impressively deep vocabulary for a lunatic with a fixation on curse-induced genderbending possession.

"No, seriously," Jue Bu insisted. "You're gonna be a real knockout. Tall, lithe, terrifying—that's how my power likes to manifest. Like a sexy grim reaper. Hope you don't mind looking better than most fairy queens."

"I'm going to kill someone."

And then it hit me.

I knew exactly who I wanted to kill.

"…Nongmin."

The shriek that followed wasn't from Jue Bu. No, that was the sound of my own soul cracking under the weight of a dawning, existential horror. This was probably the second time that smug bastard Emperor had pulled a fast one on me.

First time? The sudden Imperial Phoenix Guard. Surprise noble titles. The works.

And now this?

That damn imperial gremlin definitely knew what was in the contract. Sure, he warned me. Vaguely. The kind of warning that lets him sleep at night but still laugh himself sick behind closed doors.

Lu Gao got saddled with this mess first and still managed to act like nothing was wrong.

Of course he did.

Because Jue Bu had been too busy playing demon-nanny to activate the gender-swap clause.

But me?

I didn't have a demon keeping him distracted.

Wait… hold on.

I did.

Eldritch-chan.

And Dave.

I blinked. Sat up straighter.

"I do have demons," I said aloud. "And I'm pretty sure you're screwed. No, I'm confident you're screwed. That was kind of the entire reason I let you in. I figured: if I inherited Lu Gao's debt, I might as well weaponize the payment plan."

"Sorry… what?"

"You're not getting my body," I said, grinning now, teeth bared like a wolf that just found out the hunter has asthma. "You think you are. But to take control, you'd have to wrestle a multi-dimensional horror and a rogue AI. Meanwhile, I'll be over here. Sipping tea. Watching them reduce your soul to metaphysical sawdust."

"What even is AI? Hmmm… There's more in here? I thought it was just that horrible thing…"

Anyway. Win-win for me.

New antivirus system. Bonus perks, maybe. It was an unexpected catharsis.

The only downside? Nongmin getting me again.

I could already imagine his smug little face. Probably laughed for an hour after I left.

"I invited you in, Skull-boy," I said, savoring every word. "Knew there was something shady, but I let it happen anyway. You see, I have strong beliefs…"

"In your power?"

"No. In your suffering."

"You're a psycho."

"Yup." I folded my arms. Felt… calm, actually. "Welcome to my brain trust. Population: three unhinged nightmares and me. Good luck figuring out who gets to drive when the boobs show up."

"You're taking this way too well. This should be a crisis."

I laughed. A real, honest-to-Daoist laugh.

"Jue Bu," I said, wiping a tear from my eye, "I've been beheaded, got a PC exploded in my face, gaslit by an ancient empire, and painted a dying mother into memory with my own hands. If the universe wants to throw gender-bending into the mix? That's tame. My life's already a madlib written by drunk cultivators."

"You're insane."

"You're the one who signed the contract."

"Technically, you…"

"Nope. Lu Gao signed the first one. I just inherited it. That's on Nongmin. Who, by the way, definitely knew. Sent me packing with a straight face. Probably chuckled all through tea hour."

I imagined Nongmin in the throne room, pouring himself wine and whispering, "Heh. She's gonna lose it."

The image made me want to scream and laugh at the same time.

It was almost beautiful. Almost admirable.

If Xin Yune's death marked a turning point for him… then this? This level of emotional investment in screwing with me? It meant he was growing. Processing. Becoming a real person. Something Xin Yune would've been proud of.

I sighed.

"You know what? Let him have it."

"What?" Jue Bu blinked. "Let who have what?"

"Nongmin," I said, closing my eyes. "If pulling stupid pranks on me helps him process grief and become a more well-rounded person, then fine. I'll tank the consequences."

"Even if it means… wait, who's even Nongmin? Some farmer? You got beef with a peasant?"

"Farmer?" I groaned. "Hah. I wish."

I inhaled slowly, mentally bracing myself.

"Even if it means being a woman for a bit. Just tell me what the trigger conditions are so I don't wake up mid-transformation with tits."

"…It's a little vague."

"Of course it is."

"It's more of an emotional resonance thing. Like, your soul hits a certain frequency… strong conviction, big epiphany, using the deeper functions of my power. Depends on the person. For Lu Gao, it was cold water."

"Cold water. Right. So it's random and stupid. Let me guess… chances are, the moment I get all noble and heroic, I turn into Magical Girl Da Wei."

"More like Eldritch Valkyrie."

I rubbed my temples.

"Great. Love that for me. Just know this, Skull—if you try anything funny while I'm in that state… Dave and Eldritch-chan have full permission to redecorate your spiritual essence with lava and screaming."

"…Noted."

"Good."

Fifteen minutes later…

I was still hearing Jue Bu mutter in the background about soul dynamics and "inevitable womanhood," but I tuned him out like a parent ignoring a toddler mid-tantrum. He was now just a faulty app running in the background of my brain.

Enough. There was work to do.

So much work.

I stepped out of my chamber.

Bai Zheme was there, standing sentinel as always, silent and unmoving. He was dressed like a scholar and armed like an executioner.

A few paces behind him was a few familiar faces. Hei Yuan and Jin Wen were returning from their outing, Lu Gao trailing close behind. Hei Yuan looked dusty. Jin Wen wore his usual unreadable face. Lu Gao... looked sentimental.

I gave them a nod. "You're back. Anything to report?"

"Master Wei," Jin Wen said, handing over a Storage Ring. "These are the books you requested."

I accepted it with a nod, not bothering with ceremony. I tapped into my Item Box and offloaded the contents in a pulse of will. Hundreds of books spiraled into the void: regional maps, folklore scrolls, and obscure myths of desert tribes.

Knowledge, stacked like firewood.

Hei Yuan cleared his throat. "I have news. We brushed through the city's underworld, shook some rats, poked some dens. Nothing special… until Lu Gao gave me a clue."

He gestured to Lu Gao, who nodded, arms crossed.

"Sandthorn Village," Hei Yuan continued. "Small, out of the way. Officially abandoned for years. But there've been whispers… foreign trio staying there. Two women: one with rosy pink hair, the other a blonde."

My pulse quickened.

Alice, Joan, and… of course. This lined up. Lu Gao was the third.

"Good work," I said.

Before we could go further, bootfalls echoed from the side road. Captain Xue Xin arrived at a brisk pace, saluting sharply.

"The Soaring Dragon boats and the Formation Gourd transports are ready to launch, my lord."

"Good," I said. "What's the problem?"

Because of course there was a problem. She wouldn't have come sprinting otherwise.

Xue Xin didn't hesitate. "The guide provided by Her Radiance, the Queen… has been assassinated."

I blinked. "That wasn't in Nongmin's predictions."

She nodded. "We're just as surprised."

"How?" I asked, voice low. "Who?"

Her gaze flicked to Lu Gao, then back to me. "He attempted to force himself on one of the Purple Blossom girls. She resisted. He wouldn't stop."

Lu Gao's aura flared. No hesitation, no concealment. Killing intent rolled off him like a thunderhead.

"He deserved it," Lu Gao growled. "I would've done it myself."

My eyes slid to Bai Zheme. I already knew. I had told him to watch the guide.

"What happened to him?" I asked.

Bai Zheme met my gaze without blinking. "I killed him."

There was neither fanfare nor flourish in his confession. Just a statement of fact, cold and clean as a blade. I didn't respond immediately. I didn't have to. General Bai did what I would've done.

What any of us should've done.

Then the wind shifted. A sudden gust swept sand into the courtyard. Madam Yun burst in: robes askew, hair windblown, and eyes wide with panic. She dropped to her knees before I could react, forehead pressed to the dust-caked tiles.

"My lord!" she cried. "Please forgive this one for allowing such disgrace to manifest in your presence. It was my failure! I accept all punishment!"

She groveled so hard I could practically hear her spine pop.

I let the silence linger. Let the gravity settle.

Then I sighed.

"Madam Yun. Stand."

She hesitated, then rose to her knees, trembling.

"I do not blame you for the man's sins," I said. I didn't need to spell out the implications. The guide had been personally assigned by the Queen. "My bodyguard, Bai Zheme, dealt with it. Let the matter rest."

Madam Yun trembled harder, still kneeling.

"Prepare a feast in my honor," I added, flicking my sleeve. "Jin Wen, compensate her for the trouble caused by our so-called guide."

"Yes, my lord," Jin Wen replied. He stepped forward, producing a heavy pouch. The soft clink of coin was unmistakable as he passed it over. "Please accept this as a token of our gratitude, for hosting us, and for enduring that fool's behavior."

Madam Yun's eyes widened at the weight. She accepted the pouch with both hands, bowing low.

"Now go," I said, voice final. "The Purple Blossom household showed kindness in our hour of need. May you continue to care for your people... and may your business flourish for years to come."

Her lips parted into a smile. She bowed again, this time not from fear, but from relief. Then she all but fled my presence, robes flaring like a bird taking flight.

The feast would force the establishment to close for the day. A gift. A lie, yes, but a beautiful one. Sweet to swallow. Sharp if ignored.

As for us?

"We're leaving," I said, turning to the others.

Lu Gao blinked. "Wait. What about the feast?"

I gave him a look. "It was never for us. It's for the girls. Let them eat. Let them dance. We've got work to do."

He exhaled through his nose. "I understand, Master."

I turned to Xue Xin. "Draft a letter in my name. Deliver it to Her Radiance. Inform her of the guide's behavior… how he threw his weight around in front of foreign guests. Tell her we handled it quietly, to preserve her face."

She bowed. "Yes, my lord."

I inclined my head toward Bai Zheme. "You did well, General Bai."

Xue Xin shifted, clearly uneasy. "While it was admirable to see the old general take swift action… I do wish I had been informed sooner. My people were preparing to scour the city for the assassin."

Bai Zheme answered with a mild bow. "Apologies, Captain Xue. It won't happen again."

"No," I said, cutting in before she could reply. "It won't. Because next time, I will punish whatever fool dares show indecency and injustice in front of me."

I turned, robes billowing, already moving.

"Let's go," I called back. "I want to be back in the Empire by the third sunrise."

They followed closely behind.

"Now, let's look for a certain duo… shall we?"

Chapter 141 Falcons and Roses

The falcon screeched as it broke through the clouds, its shadow passing over us like a silent omen. I watched it descend with practiced grace, folding its wings mid-dive before flaring them open again at the last second. Its rider leapt off, landing in the boat with barely a sound.

Han Lun.

The man stood tall, draped in desert-colored leathers and a polished scale coat that shimmered faintly under the sun. His skin was bronze from the heat, and a curved sabre hung from his waist. His face was calm, his eyes sharp.

"I apologize for the behavior of the guide we assigned you earlier," he said, brushing a bit of wind-swept grit from his shoulder. "From now on, I'll be taking over personally."

I raised an eyebrow. "Didn't expect the Captain of the border guards to come himself."

He smiled faintly. "Captain of the Southern Military Outpost, actually. I was just recently promoted as a Falconeer and was just allowed to ride my Falcon into battle… It's a great honor."

Falconeer?

Ah. That explained the falcon.

I nodded toward the skies. The falcon was gone, hidden somewhere behind the thin veil of clouds, but I could still sense it: its heartbeat, its breath, amd the tensing of muscle as it circled above. My Divine Sense painted its shape clearly in my mind.

"Your falcon's impressive," I said. "Not just the beast. The saddlework, the gear. Compact, aerodynamic. The Soaring Dragons and Formation Gourds of the Empire are marvels in their own right, but I doubt they handle like that."

Han Lun looked up as well. "They don't. The Falconeers of the Promised Dunes are the best in the Great Desert. Generations of tradition. We raise their falcons from eggs, bond with them, train together for years before they even set foot in the skies."

I reckoned that while the falcons were more maneuverable, the Empire's flying boats would still be faster with their warp function.

"Sounds intense," I said. "Bet they don't crash as often either."

That drew a chuckle from him, brief and sharp.

I shifted slightly, scanning the distant dunes. "You ever heard of a place called Sandthorn Village?"

"Of course." His tone was immediate, confident. "They're known for their roses."

"Roses?" That one caught me off guard.

He nodded. "Desert roses. Deep red, resilient to heat, blooms even in sand. Beautiful and stubborn, like most people from the Dunes."

I wasn't surprised he knew the place. The Promised Dunes weren't like the rest of the world. Most countries leaned on powerful sects, warring clans, or imperial bloodlines. The Dunes were different. Tight-knit. Local. The kind of place where a village name still meant something.

I'd only learned that recently, digging through the books Jin Wen smuggled back for me. The methods of acquisition of knowledge in this world were so strict that it was annoying. Still, I found Promised Dunes to be quite an impressive country. No sects. No cultivation academies. Just villages, towns, and a handful of sun-bleached cities clinging to oases. Somehow, it made the place feel older… less like a kingdom and more like a memory refusing to die.

"Then you'll be our guide," I said. "We're heading to Sandthorn Village, and we'll be relying on your expertise."

He gave me a short bow. "Understood. I'll notify Captain Xue and coordinate our movements. I've brought a dozen Falconeers with me. I hope you don't mind."

"I don't mind at all," I said, then hesitated. "Hmmm… I hope you'll have the discretion not to pry too much into my business. I understand the Promised Dunes have a bit of an isolationist policy, and they don't look kindly on foreigners who manage to enter their borders without permission."

"What does that mean, Sir Da Wei?"

"Let's just say it's to your Queen's best interest if you play ball with us."

We landed our Soaring Dragon boats a few hours later, their cloud-streaked trails vanishing behind us as the enchantments fizzled out with a gentle hiss. The falcons circled above, casting looping shadows across the dunes. Han Lun pointed us toward a small rise of sandstone ridges," a natural windbreak he claimed shielded Sandthorn Village from the worst of the desert gales.

But when we crested the final ridge, there was no village.

Just a crater. Wide. Deep. Blackened around the edges like something had burned it into the earth. It was too symmetrical to be natural, and too silent to be anything but wrong.

Han Lun dismounted without a word, his boots crunching against the glassy grit as he approached the edge. He stared down into the hole, lips pressed thin. I followed a step behind, the wind tugging at my sleeves as it whistled through the emptiness below.

"This…" His voice was rougher now, touched with disbelief. "This isn't possible."

I crouched and ran a hand through the scorched sand. Still warm. Whatever did this hadn't happened long ago. "You sure this is the place?"

"I'm sure," he said tightly. "This ridge, that cactus grove on the left, the fault lines in the stone… they all match. Sandthorn Village was right here."

I stood. "Then where is it now?"

He didn't answer.

A few of the Falconeers landed a few seconds later, their falcon making a low, uneasy trill as it flared its wings. I stayed on the boat, gazing at the crater from my perch.

"Place got swallowed," Lu Gao muttered, one hand on his brows as if covering his eyes. "No signs of a fight. Just... gone."

I opened my Divine Sense again. My radius expanded, threading through the dunes, reaching for buried qi signatures, bloodstains, bones, artifacts, and anything. But all I felt was static. Not absence. Interference.

Something had wiped this place clean.

Han Lun dropped to one knee and touched the blackened soil with the back of his hand. "We used to trade with them. My second cousin married a girl from here. I... I should've been here sooner."

I watched him closely. "This wasn't an accident."

"No." He clenched his jaw. "No, it wasn't."

I leapt from the Soaring Dragon.

The warm wind hit my face as the enchanted metal beneath me hummed and tilted, reacting to my descent like a loyal steed trained to obey. Sand rushed up to meet me, and I landed softly, boots sinking an inch into the dune before I stood straight, brushing off dust that clung to my robes.

Nine Soaring Dragons, and three Formation Gourds… It was an impressive formation by any military standard. The Empire's skyborne fleet, powered by Formation Cores and elemental circuits I still couldn't replicate even after weeks of study. The fact that I, a literal outsider, had been allowed to ride them? That said more about my current reputation than I was comfortable with.

We had entered the Promised Dunes with two Soaring Dragons and one Formation Gourd. The rest stayed at the borders. The Promised Dunes, its Queen, and Han Lun had been cautious of our presence, and I couldn't blame them. To their credit, they had reason to be.

I looked up. The sand-colored sails of the Soaring Dragons reflected the late-afternoon sun like sheets of bronze, casting slow-moving shadows across the dunes. We had landed far slower than I preferred. Why? Because we had to wait.

Falconeers.

The riders of the desert. Fast in the air, sure… but they rode birds, not boats. And their birds were tired. So the fleet had slowed for them. The honor guard of the Promised Dunes, revered across the region for their martial prowess and stubbornness.

I was about to turn toward Han Lun when I felt it.

A tremor.

Faint. Subtle. But it wasn't the wind.

The sand beneath my boots shifted, just slightly, like a breath drawn beneath the dunes. My eyes narrowed. My Divine Sense flared out like a net. And there it was.

The epicenter.

Right beneath the Formation Gourd.

I raised my voice and amplified it with a Lion's Roar and Voice Chat. "Everyone off the Formation Gourd! Now!"

They obeyed immediately, leaping from the craft with practiced grace. The Imperial Phoenix Guards were trained not to hesitate, and thank the heavens for that.

Because the next second, the sand exploded.

A monstrous column of earth and grit erupted upward as something massive and bone-white burst from below. The Formation Gourd tilted, shrieked as its core overloaded, and then… crunch.

Gone.

Swallowed whole.

The creature that surfaced was as long as a city wall and twice as hideous. Segmented flesh wrapped in runed carapace. Eyes nonexistent. A circular mouth lined with layered teeth. It screeched with a horrible, reverberating wail that made the dunes shiver.

"What's that?!" Lu Gao was practically shouting, sword drawn but wide-eyed.

"My thoughts exactly, buddy," I muttered.

"It's a Wyrmed Worm!" one of the Falconeers shouted.

"Oh great," I said. "A dragon worm."

"A sand beast," Jin Wen added, suddenly beside me like he teleported. His voice was disturbingly calm. "Said to carry a corrupted dragon bloodline. Not smart. But very big."

"Big is all it needs to be," grumbled Bai Zheme. He stepped forward, flicked open his war fan with a clack, and brought it down with a sharp arc.

A shimmering crescent of force split from the fan and crashed into the worm's flank. The creature roared, part of its side sloughing off in chunks of burnt armor and gushing black ichor.

Han Lun followed immediately. Seventh Realm cultivators didn't hesitate.

"Zhi!" he called, and his falcon dove. As he moved, his saber flashed an elegant, polished arc of steel. He and his beast dove into the breach Zheme had made, cleaving through the worm's already ruptured flesh and tearing a massive line down its side.

The worm screeched again, half in pain, half in rage. Its entire form surged and twisted, utterly destroying what remained of the Formation Gourd.

Wood, steel, and Formation glass sprayed into the air.

Most of the passengers had gotten off in time, thankfully. A few lay scattered but alive in the sand.

And then… fire.

From above, Xue Xin descended. Wings of pure flame spread wide from her back, igniting the sky in streaks of gold and red. She didn't land so much as fall like judgment incarnate. Her eyes locked onto the opposite side of the worm, and she roared, the heat surrounding her shimmering in waves.

She punched both hands forward, and two massive gouts of phoenix fire surged from her palms.

The worm tried to rear, but it was already half-dead. The flames tore through its flank like molten spears, boiling flesh and bone.

It let out one last thrashing screech. The dunes shook. Winds whipped wildly.

Then… silence.

The Wyrmed Worm collapsed, a mountain of ruined muscle and black blood. Its death birthed a minor sandstorm, the creature's body slowly charring as the heat from Xue Xin's flames collided with the frigid interior of its flesh.

The air was thick with the scent of burnt meat and crushed stone.

I stood there, robes flapping in the hot wind. The Soaring Dragons had lifted, barely avoiding the worst of the beast's rampage. Only two remained overhead. The rest o0f the Falconeers had already veered out of range.

I turned toward the nearest group: Falconeers, my own people, and the survivors who'd jumped when I had.

They'd followed me the moment I left my perch. Loyal. And probably protective of me, courtesy of the Emperor..

I raised my hand and cast Shield of Faith: once, twice, five times over, until the translucent magic shimmered across our group in pale gold.

"Stay close," I said. "It can't hurt to be more cautious."

"Well," Hei Yuan muttered, brushing dust from his sleeves, "it would've been nice if I got a chance to show off."

I shot him a sidelong glance. My boots dug deep into scorched sand, the corpse of the Wyrmed Worm cooling nearby.

Jin Wen stood nearby, arms crossed, eyes squinting at the remains. "That thing… it was a Sixth Realm Beast."

He sounded unsure whether to be impressed or concerned.

"And Captain Xue, General Bai, and Captain Han…" he tilted his head toward the three Seventh Realm heavyweights who had just obliterated the thing together, "…couldn't take it down in one blow."

Lu Gao chuckled, flicking his blade clean. "No offense, senior," he said, glancing at Hei Yuan, "but the Sixth Realm doesn't seem like a big deal."

Hei Yuan gritted his teeth like he'd just swallowed a mouthful of gravel. "Of course it's a big deal, you sun-roasted pigeon! So what if I am at the Sixth Realm? It had a dragon's bloodline! No need to nose-pick me, alright?! I know how tough dragons are."

He pointed at Lu Gao, then at Jin Wen, flailing with every word.

"I told you both… I tried to control one of them back in the Shenyuan War. Remember?! The big one with the fog? I still can't sneeze without thinking I'm gonna set something on fire. Huh?! Huh?!"

I raised a hand. "Calm down."

He immediately deflated, muttering something about respect for elders and battlefield etiquette.

Old man threw tantrums like a toddler. If I didn't know better, I'd think he was faking half his white hairs.

Then I felt it.

Another vibration.

This one was sharper. Smaller epicenters. Fast.

The sand just ahead shifted and then burst upward like ruptured earth.

A winged creature emerged: emaciated, skeletal, and with limbs far too long and bent at angles that offended biology. The wings weren't exactly feathered. They were cracked and leathery, like something meant to burn in heaven but cast out halfway through.

It shrieked in a soundless-like cry. My head just hurt.

Then another. And another.

Seven of them in total, each one rising from the sand like corpses pulled from a dream. Each one battered, like they'd lost a war somewhere else before showing up here for round two.

They didn't float. They twitched.

My spine went cold.

"These guys are fast," I muttered. "So…"

I needed to end this now.

I clasped my hands. "Summon: Holy Spirit."

The golden sigil flared behind me… and Dave appeared.

Full plate, wingless, visor down. My divine bodyguard. I linked to him instantly.

"Voice Chat: Dave. Give me Divine Possession."

His armored form blurred and merged into me like a sunrise folding inward. Magic rushed through me, divine slots clicking into place.

Five Spell Slots. Good.

I opened my status switched my Passive to TriDivine: Divine Speed. I also removed my Cosmetic Item, the Lofty Jade Proposition, revealing the ornate armor from underneath. No more illusion. My Wandering Adjudicator Armor gleamed in full golden-blue majesty with flowing ethereal emerald cape flowing behind.

"Zealot's Stride."

Power surged up my legs. My boots tore shallow furrows in the sand as the buff flooded my body with kinetic hunger.

Then: Flash Step. Flash Step. Flash Step. The world blurred with streaks of motion. I was lightning wrapped in cloth.

My sword Silver Steel pulsed with the upgraded version of Heavenly Punishment. Light cracked around it like divine static.

I drove the blade straight into my own chest.

—Thud.

The blade stayed. Mana whirled. The Reflect Damage effect began to accrue every hit I would have taken and spun it into volatile, divine retaliation. Paired with Sacrificial Zeal, it built up fast.

"Divine Word: Life."

My body pulsed. Wounds forcibly tried to seal themselves, but with the sword still in my chest, I wouldn't be healing at hundred percent any time soon. Still, every future healing spell now came supercharged with bonus effect and temporary health.

Two of the angels lunged.

I brushed past them.

They exploded. Divine backlash took their damaged, cursed bodies and unraveled them like paper dolls in a bonfire.

I gritted my teeth, forcing control over the raging storm inside me.

Willpower made sure there would be no friendly fire. Not today.

One of the angels dove toward a Falconeer.

"Castling." My body blurred and swapped places with the Falconeer, and I met the angel mid-air with a clenched fist to its center.

Boom.

Light scattered. Three left.

I scooped a handful of sand, hurled it in front of me. A crude screen, but enough.

The angels hesitated. Their senses weren't human.

My sword was still stuck in my chest, the Reflect Damage ticking upward. I grinned.

I could hear Hei Yuan muttering somewhere, "What are those?"

One of the angels touched an Imperial Phoenix Guard. Before it could do its absorb-thing…

"Castling." I swapped again.

The angel touched me.

It exploded on contact. Divine backlash amplified by Reflect and Sacrificial Zeal vaporized it.

Two left.

I lunged toward them, my hand open in a blade shape.

"Divine Smite!"

My palm struck the air. The spell exploded on impact, cutting through both angels in a cleaving, radiant arc. Light burst across the field. Two screams… then silence.

I scanned through my Divine Sense.

One still survived, scurrying to bury itself in the sand.

I reached inward, called out with Voice Chat.

"Dave… gimme a spear."

He responded instantly, my conjured spirit forming a golden spear in my hand, etched with ancient runes of war and justice.

I held it overhead. It crackled.

"Thunderous Smite."

The spear sparked with holy lightning. I hurled it with both hands.

It howled through the sky.

CRACK—!

The final angel disintegrated in a streak of thunder and light.

Silence fell.

I stood still, heart thudding, sword still lodged in my chest like a divine battery pack. The wind swept across the sand, carrying ash and golden particles with it.

Bai Zheme exhaled loudly. "Well. Damn."

Han Lun stared at me, then at the scorched remains. "...Okay, that was slightly cool. As expected of Master Wei!"

"That's Sir Da Wei to you," remarked Xue Xin.

I looked down at myself.

No one got absorbed.

Still glowing.

I sighed in relief.

But still…

"I am getting used to this… Berserker paladin build, huh? Not bad."

Chapter 142 Outsourcing Heaven

There was silence.

Not the kind that came from awe, but the confused, stunned kind… like a crowd who blinked and missed the finale.

My dear audience stood frozen in place, eyes wide, mouths half open. A few rubbed their eyes like they were trying to reboot their retinas.

Yeah, I moved that fast.

The lower realm cultivators hadn't seen anything. To them, it probably looked like I stood still, blinked twice, and seven monsters just exploded into divine fireworks.

But those with higher cultivation, like Captain Xue, General Bai, and a couple of the Imperial Phoenix Guards, had watched it happen in real-time. Their eyes followed me now. They were quiet, wary, and calculating.

Then someone finally spoke.

A nervous voice, almost hopeful.

"…What was that?" asked Han Lun, one of the Falconeers, his hand still clenched around the reins of his bird mount as the creature hovered in and landed just beside me.

I turned to face him, letting the wind tug at my robe like a dramatic movie poster.

"You'll find out," I said calmly, "in the coming World Summit."

That shut everyone up real quick.

Name-dropping the 'event' like that ought to bring the gravity of the situation to the forefront of their minds. The Imperial Phoenix Guards and the Falconeers exchanged glances. Jin Wen looked like he wanted to ask more questions, but he bit his tongue.

I appreciated that.

Still, part of my mind wasn't here anymore. It was back in a different world. Back in my gaming chair, back in Lost Legends Online.

Back when the Heaven faction had been introduced as one of the Great Enemy.

To the average player, "Heaven" sounded like the good guys. Pearly gates, golden clouds, maybe a few harp solos, and holy smites.

Wrong.

They were corporate-tier manipulators with divine branding. Outsourcing everything to local agents, cults, and "blessed chosen." Half their campaigns felt like you were fighting mind-controlled Karens who just discovered holy fire.

And when that didn't work?

They brought out the big guns.

The Legion of Angels.

At first, everyone thought they were mid-tier trash mobs. Shiny, dramatic, and preachy. They came in squads, with low aggression range.

But then… players started disappearing and getting booted off the game for weeks.

NPCs too. Whole cities would go dark. No warning. Just silence.

It turned out, those angels… especially the lower-ranking ones… had an ability that broke the damn meta.

Absorption.

If your level was a certain percentage below theirs, they could just… overwrite you. Like Agent Smith from The Matrix, they'd touch you, twist, and boom: another angel. Same model, same stats, now stronger.

It was a cascading infection mechanic. You lose one town, you lose a hundred. And if even one angel made it to a population hub, it was game over.

Entire servers had to rebuild civilization from scratch. I remembered the forums: people arguing about optimal architectural layouts so we wouldn't get wiped again. We literally built buffer cities just to slow them down.

So yeah.

I didn't like angels.

Didn't trust anything that tried to steal your soul with a glowing smile.

I glanced back at the battlefield. The seven I killed were nothing compared to the actual invasion squads from LLO… but if even one of them showed up here?

It meant something was stirring.

Ah shit, it looked like listening to Nongmin was my only choice.

I turned back to the group. "Stay alert," I said, loud enough for all to hear. "Falconeers, return to your Falcons. No foot patrols from now on. Say the same to your Queen… After my business here is done, I'd be rushing back to the Empire, so I won't be able to help you with these freaks. These things are dangerous, trust me. None of you would like it if just one of these things gets to you."

They hesitated, but my tone brooked no argument.

"And keep the ships skyborne," I added to my companions. "Remain warp-ready. If I say go, you fly immediately. No hesitation."

Xue Xin and the others saluted.

I looked toward my own people: the Formation Specialists, the transport crew, and the Imperial Phoenix Guards.

"This isn't a joke," I said. "Stay in the sky. Stay aboard. Don't leave unless I say so. If we need to retreat, we'll do it by warp."

No one objected. Good.

"What's that? Anyone heard that?"

I felt something stir.

A faint ripple at the edge of my Divine Sense, like a whisper caught in a sandstorm, faint but urgent. It didn't match the signature of an angel, nor the twisted presence of the Wyrmed Worm that just died. It was… subtler. Fainter. But alive.

I raised a hand, gesturing for silence.

"Everyone, stay put," I said, not loud, but firm enough that no one dared move. "Something's still down there."

Without another word, I Flash Stepped. The world blurred around me in streaks of motion, and then I was standing in the center of the crater: char and ash still hot beneath my boots, the air stinking of ozone and divine flame.

There it was.

Silver Steel was still embedded in my chest, right where it had been lodged during the fight. It was in the way, so I reached up and pulled it free with a smooth tug. A sharp breath left me as it slid out, blood hissing where it met divine steel. A resonant hum vibrated through my bones as the power of Heavenly Punishment remained in the blade, its edge glowed with divine wrath, etched in quiet thunder.

And then, a hand broke through the sand.

Charred. Barely moving. I almost missed it.

The Wyrmed Worm's massive lifeforce had masked everything nearby. No wonder I hadn't sensed her. But now that the beast was gone, I could feel it… faint and flickering, but undeniably hers.

"Alice?" I murmured, lowering my sword and slipping it back into the Item Box with a whisper of displaced space.

I knelt, brushing aside debris and grit. Her fingers twitched as I gripped them, and I pulled slowly and carefully.

Her body surfaced from the sand like a ghost unearthed. Half-burnt, skin cracked and exposed, gown incinerated into ribbons. Her once pristine white complexion was now marred with soot and blood. Her long, silky pink hair had darkened into a matte tangle of red-black, like strands of wine-drenched silk.

She was naked, but I didn't flinch.

Not because I wasn't affected… hell, even scorched, she was beautiful… but because she looked broken. Weak. Her lips were cracked, her eyes fluttering in delirium.

"…sorry…" she whispered, again and again. "…sorry… sorry…"

I leaned closer, brushing hair from her face. "Hey. Alice. It's fine. You're okay."

She wasn't okay.

But I said it anyway.

Vampire physiology wasn't something I could brute force with a spell. My healing magic was tied to divine energy, the kind that burned her from the inside out. She needed blood. Real, living blood. And I only saw one option.

I reached into my Item Box again, drew out a clean, curved ritual dagger.

There was no hesitation in my movement. All it took was one smooth cut across my wrist.

I returned the dagger before the pain could fully register, then lowered my arm toward her mouth. Crimson drops beaded and dripped, the scent hitting the air like wine uncorked after centuries.

She twitched. Her body shuddered. Then her lips parted.

She latched on.

No ceremony. No teasing banter. Just raw need.

I could feel her fangs pierce my skin, not sharp like a predator, but aching, desperate, like she was apologizing even as she fed. Her breath hitched with every pull. Her cracked skin began to mend, the burns closing one heartbeat at a time.

I kept my other hand on her back, holding her steady.

"It's alright," I whispered. "Just take what you need."

And still, she muttered between gulps, 'sorry' like the word was the only thing keeping her conscious.

So… question.

How the hell was a vampire drinking the blood of a paladin?

It should've burned her from the inside out. My divine essence was practically liquid fire to anything undead. If a normal vampire even smelled my blood, they'd probably turn to ash and start praying to whatever unholy mess spawned them.

But not Alice.

Her fangs dug deeper into my wrist like she didn't care—or didn't feel—the pain she should've been in. And I watched, amazed, as she didn't catch fire or scream. No smoke. No sizzling skin.

Only hunger.

Raw, desperate, and all-consuming.

The charred blackness of her skin began to slough away, dead layers peeling off in flakes and strands like old paint. Underneath it, pristine white skin emerged, porcelain-smooth and untouched. She looked like she was being sculpted anew, right there in my arms, forged in blood and second chances.

And yeah… I knew the reason.

Alice wasn't just some random vampire with a hot model and tragic backstory.

She was a special vampire, one with actual depth. A 'Holy Woman' of the Church in her former life, back when she still walked in daylight and prayed before meals. Her lore ran deep, tangled in forgotten prophecies and broken oaths. I remembered because…

Well.

I'd started playing Lost Legends Online back in high school. And like any other socially awkward teen with a preference for pretty digital women who could break his neck… yeah, I had a crush.

So, of course I read her lore.

Front to back. Twice.

In her case, the Church didn't just bless her once… they anointed her with divine favor. She was supposed to become the Holy Woman of the Church. A vessel for some long-forgotten goddess. But something went wrong: betrayal, corruption, and a forbidden love... I forgot the details. Just remembered the emotions. Her fall from grace. Her rise as a vampire who still retained fragments of her holy self.

Enough that divine energy didn't kill her.

Maybe it even fed her.

Her grip on my wrist tightened, but her breathing slowed. Her lips moved less violently. Then she did something that would've normally thrown me straight into fight-or-flirt mode.

She licked my wrist.

Long, slow, and delicate. Almost sensual. Her tongue brushed over the puncture wound with practiced care, her saliva warm and tingling. The bite marks faded like they'd never existed.

Right.

Vampire healing.

I cleared my throat and tried not to focus too much on the imagery. "Alice," I said quietly. "Where's Joan? What happened?"

Her lips parted. Eyes fluttered.

"…Joan…" she breathed, voice paper-thin.

I leaned closer.

"Is she safe? Did she run? Was she taken?"

But the words never came.

Alice's eyes rolled back, her body going limp against my chest. I caught her before she could slump fully into the sand. Her skin was warm now. Breath stable. Her wounds had mostly closed. But her energy was spent. She'd passed out.

I looked down at her and exhaled. "Yeah. You'll be fine."

I hoped Joan could say the same.

I carried Alice gently, cradled in my arms like something precious that might shatter if I held her wrong. Her skin, once burned and cracked, was smooth now. Her breathing was soft. Even unconscious, she clung to me like a frightened child who hadn't yet realized the nightmare was over.

I walked toward one of the Soaring Boats, the wind tugging at my sleeves, the sand still crackling with residual divine energy. When I stepped onto the wooden platform, Captain Xue Xin approached quickly, a folded robe in her arms.

"She'll need this," she said quietly, handing it to me.

"Thanks." I shifted Alice slightly and let Xue help wrap the robe around her. The fabric was thick, Imperial-standard weave, and it swallowed Alice's body completely. I adjusted it carefully over her shoulders.

Around us, people were beginning to murmur again: too many curious stares and too many questions being loaded into the air like cocked arrows.

I raised one hand. "Keep the boat steady," I said. "No one's to disturb us. I'm not in the mood for questions."

The crew froze, then nodded quickly.

I carried Alice in a full bridal carry, because, honestly, there wasn't a better way to keep her stable right now… and stepped into the center of the Soaring Dragon Boat. The platform there was flat and reinforced, meant for formation engravings and casting circles. It'd work just fine for what I needed.

"General Bai," I called out over my shoulder, "I want you to watch the perimeter. You see anything weird, you shake me out, hard. Strike me with the intent to kill. Don't worry, I won't die. If it goes wrongly, it might be you who'd end up dying, so be careful… only limit yourself to a single strike to wake me up."

Any more than a single strike, my Reflect would kill him.

He nodded sharply, drawing his war fan at the ready.

I turned to Hei Yuan, who was hovering nearby with his usual ghostlike presence. "You prioritize Alice. If anything happens, even if I blink funny, you get her out. Use every movement technique you've got."

He nodded once. "Understood."

"Captain Xue," I added, "stay close. Guard us. No distractions, do you understand?"

She saluted immediately, stepping into a low stance beside the boat's railing.

I exhaled slowly, shifting Alice's weight so she lay evenly across my lap. Her head rested against my arm, her fingers limp but warm.

"Alright," I whispered. "Sorry about this."

There was a combo I'd been thinking about lately. Something new. Something weird, but maybe brilliant.

Divine Word: Rest.

My palm hovered over her chest as I murmured the word. The effect was immediate. The skill ignored elemental affinities. It would heal her. But more importantly, it would deepen her sleep, making her more stable for what came next.

"Forgive me," I murmured again. "This is for our sakes..."

Divine Possession.

The connection snapped into place… my soul reaching across the thread between us, weaving in, latching on. I felt her breath, her pulse, the tug of dreams and memory.

Then I dived.

One final move.

Soulful Guiding Fire.

Mana surged through me, channeled and shaped with intent. I'd practiced it for weeks now, mastering its subtlety. As I cast, the dreamwalking spell took form: a small, emerald flame blossomed in my palm, then shaped itself into a butterfly, wings shimmering with ghostly green fire.

It fluttered once, twice, and dove straight into Alice's chest.

My vision blurred. The real world peeled back. I felt my soul stretch forward, drawn in by her unconscious mind.

And then…

I saw.

I heard.

I entered her dreams.