Chapter 137: The most critical situation

No matter what we will see outside the main hall, the feeling of seeing the Bamboo Hut disappear before our eyes is always particularly complicated, even though we know it is fake.

The bamboo hut may not be precious, just as a place where one spent a beautiful time is not precious either. What is precious is always only the period of time and the memories it represents.

Watching the Bamboo Hut disappear is like watching my past years really disappear, and no matter what I do, I can never get them back.

But the real Bamboo Grove is still there, always there, in my heart, just waiting for new beautiful years to unfold.

No matter what, people can never give up hope for tomorrow, even if there is only one tomorrow left… because one tomorrow is also our own future.

The space was completely shattered, and what greeted us was just like when the sky was shattered: it was dark! It was quiet all around, because we were spirit bodies, and we couldn’t even hear our own breathing.

Where is Hui Gen? I was worried, and although I couldn’t see anything, I couldn’t help but take a few steps. I tripped over something, and the pain reminded me of an illusion. I couldn’t tell if this was real or an illusion. Was this a dream? Or a dream within a dream?

“Chengyi, what’s wrong with you?” The sound of my stumbling, of course, attracted everyone’s attention, and Chengqing couldn’t help but ask me.

I smiled bitterly and was about to answer when I suddenly noticed that the lights around me had suddenly turned on one after another. Purple flames were dancing on the lamps, suddenly lighting up the place.

This is where the real temple is located. The black bricks are neatly laid on the ground, and the walls around are carved with strange patterns that I can’t read at all.

We were standing at the end of the hall, but when we turned around, we were in a fog, unable to see any exits. At the end of the hall, on top of the stone steps, there was a huge throne. On the throne sat a figure that was extremely blurry, like a shadow. There was also a curtain of beads, making it even more difficult to see what it was.

Under the steps, there was also a figure in a red robe, with purple patterns embroidered on it. Its black hair was casually spread out. I knew it was Yucuizi!

If that were all, it wouldn’t have shocked me. What really shocked me was that under Yucui Zi, there were two rows of people standing opposite each other, five in each row, making a total of 10!

They were wearing red robes! Ten generals in red robes!

“It seems that this time we’ve gone too far.” Cheng Qing sighed lightly. As soon as his words fell, I heard Cheng Yuan shout, “Isn’t that Hui Gen? Ah, Master Jueyuan is here too. Tao Bai? Lu Shan? Xiao Chengqian… Why don’t you answer me, Brother Xiao?”

“Where are they?” I was suddenly nervous. Chengyuan quickly pointed to them, and I realized that they were all hovering above the main hall, five meters above the ground.

The strange thing is that, in addition to them, there was another figure there, and it was none other than Li Hao, who had exerted all his power and vowed to sacrifice our heads! It was also floating in the air at this time.

What does this mean? I observed them calmly. At least the fact that they were still alive was the greatest comfort to me and allowed me to calm down.

Under such observation, I soon discovered the abnormal part, which was their facial expressions and movements. For example, Huigen had a look of unyielding expression, but he was in pain, as if he was holding on to something, enduring something. His body kept twitching, and even blood was spurting from the corners of his mouth. It seemed that he had reached a limit.

In contrast, Li Hao had a look of smugness on his face, and his expression was strangely frozen in a mocking laugh.

And Lu Shan? His face was full of sorrow and helplessness. Tao Bai was scared, timid, and a little pitiful and painful. As for Jue Yuan, he rarely appeared to be confused. Finally, Xiao Chengqian, his expression was all a kind of extreme anger and irritability.

Recalling our experience, my heart inexplicably tightened! I think I know the key to the problem. Each of them is in a dream, but they are not the masters of the dream. The master of the dream can only be the lord of this city. It can even use the innermost feelings of a person or a group of people to create a dream that is dominated by it.

If they can’t wake up in the dream, they will either sink, be confused, or suffer, or even die in the dream… Thinking of this, I couldn’t help but touch my yellow cloth bag, which still had three incense beads left (18 for the cloth formation, one for Yu Cuizi, one for Zhan Wuliyu, and one for breaking the dream). How can I wake up everyone?

“I didn’t expect someone who wasn’t in the dream to break into the dream. No wonder you were able to truly enter the hall. It seems that you will have to waste some effort.” The faint voice of Yucuizi came from the end of the hall. As Yucuizi’s words fell, the two rows of red-robed generals turned around at the same time, and ten hideous masks stared at us. It looked like they were going to start.

Everyone gathered behind me. I frowned. The situation was now at its worst. Could it be that setting up 18 array points would also fail? No, I couldn’t allow myself to fail.

My mind was racing, and I suddenly said to Yucui Zi, “Are you still afraid that we will wake up? The lord of the castle is so capable, why not take us to the dream world again, and then easily play us to death?”

Yucuizi snickered, but didn’t answer me directly. She just said in a flirtatious voice, “I didn’t think you were such a smart guy, but you’re still reckless. Why don’t you make a promise too? I’ve collected a lot of promises.”

Hearing Yu Cuizi’s words, I suddenly remembered the story about it, about the strange dreams I had once had. A cold breeze rushed down my spine and into my brain. I bit my teeth lightly and whispered to Cheng Qingge, “There are only three beads. You help me figure out who is the most reasonable! I want them all to live.”

Cheng Qing said softly, “This is a very difficult and unreasonable request. However, this is something that the beads cannot do. I will have to do it myself, and you will have to protect me.”

What is Chengqing going to do? I glanced at Chengqing, but he didn’t answer me at all. Instead, he took the lazy tortoise off his head and said to it, “I’m sorry for you.”

The lazy tortoise shook its head humanely, as if it didn’t care at all, which made Chengqing feel a bit depressed.

Since Chengqing didn’t want to say more, I didn’t ask, but instead turned to look at Yucuizi warily. However, my heart was already much better than it had been just now. In fact, the conversation with Yucuizi just now was just a small test for me. Although Yucuizi didn’t answer me directly, the answer was already in my heart.

That is, the city lord’s ability to dream against the heavens is limited. If someone wakes up from the dream it weaves, it has no way of making them dream again, at least not for a short time.

A loud clang sounded behind me. I looked and saw that Chengqing had ripped off the yellow cloth bundle he had been carrying on his back. The bundle had opened, and the spirits of the copper lamps inside had all scattered, just as the loud clang had sounded.

“Get up…” Cheng Qingge clenched a hand gesture and suddenly shouted, and the copper lamps that had been scattered all over the place actually rose in response. Then the copper lamps quickly interlaced, and Cheng Qingge fell into a state of meditation. It looked extremely laborious, and I didn’t know what it was for.

But thinking about the way he treated the bronze lamps along the way, I could probably guess that this should be a very impressive technique.

Chengqing’s spell took only a few seconds, but Yucuizi sneered and then turned to the shadowy figure on the throne and said, “Lord, these people have broken free from their dreams. It seems that the plan to waste their strength and kill them has failed. I beg you to order all the forces in this hall to abandon the plan to recruit them and quickly kill these people to ensure that our new city will survive this disaster and ultimately complete the Lord’s great undertaking.”

Yu Cuizi spoke quickly. At this time, I already had a bad feeling. I shouted to my fellow apprentices, “Unite your souls and use all your strength. No matter what, first ensure that Chengqing can cast his spell successfully.”

The only thing we can rely on now is our own Li family. Even with our power, it is impossible for us to defeat all the forces in this hall, including Yucuizi.

But if we don’t fight, what other way out is there?

After Yu Cuizi finished speaking, she respectfully stood aside and waited. But how could we wait? We were extremely decisive and quickly began to form hand seals. Merging our souls was our last resort, and it was imperative that we do it now.