Chapter 497 - 496: Reality and Magic

Chapter 497: Chapter 496: Reality and Magic

Hee Lingchuan watched, dumbfounded, as he vanished. Only when the red mist merged back into the giant shadow did he snap out of it.

’Right. Sunx Fuping died in the Grand Square Pot’s Illusion Realm, so of course his soul would likely be detained in the Soul Village.’

It seemed he would never find release.

Just then, Hee Lingchuan started to feel out of breath.

He had been holding his breath for too long. If he didn’t return to the surface, he’d be kicked out of the Dream Realm.

The giant red shadow under the water moved with unhurried grace, but each swing propelled it forward by dozens of yards.

In just a couple of breaths, it disappeared into the extreme, frigid depths.

Hee Lingchuan also swam back to the surface with all his might, breaking through to gasp for air.

He had almost suffocated in the deep water, which would have been a brand-new way for him to die in Panlong City.

The web net was still hanging on the stalactite, but unknown roots had somehow reached it. They had wrapped around the head inside several times and were sucking its power like slurping jelly, which was why the Monster Head hadn’t been able to grow a body yet.

Luckily, the roots were thin and hadn’t sucked it dry in one go.

Hee Lingchuan grabbed the net and yanked. The roots snapped, leaving only a few still wrapped around the Monster Head.

These fine roots seemed tough only toward the Monster Head.

It was trembling violently. Upon seeing Hee Lingchuan, it loudly demanded:

"What happened down there? My true self! Why can’t I sense my true self?!"

As if Hee Lingchuan would bother answering it. He looked up at the rock wall. The monster’s body was now a completely empty sack, but the root system was still there.

He thought for a moment, then swam over to the rock wall and started climbing up along the roots.

’What kind of plant is this? It even eats monsters,’ he wondered. He wanted to get to the bottom of it.

Interestingly, after climbing up, he discovered that the crevice the roots passed through was large enough for a person to squeeze through with room to spare.

He followed the increasingly thick and tangled roots upward, then crawled horizontally for a short distance, and he actually saw light!

’Am I close to the surface?’

No, it was another body of water ahead. The water was clear, and soaking in it felt pleasantly warm.

’A hot... hot spring?’

Hee Lingchuan swam out of the small cave and saw stream fish playing and water lilies in full bloom.

He even heard the laughter of children.

When he surfaced and looked around, a familiar sight greeted him—

the small bridge and stone railings by the lake, the wide square opposite, the shops lining both sides of the street.

He turned his head and saw a lush green tree growing by the water’s edge.

’Isn’t this... isn’t this—’

’The Panlong City South Gate Square?!’

He was clearly just in an underwater cave in Northwest Chipa fighting a monster. How did he end up back in Panlong City just by climbing up some roots?

Hee Lingchuan wiped the water from his face, a million questions popping into his mind.

Children on the bank ran over to watch him. An elderly man also ambled over and offered him a hand. "Hurry and get out. Have you been drinking?"

Who would jump into the river here if they weren’t drunk?

Hee Lingchuan thanked him for his kindness and leaped onto the bank himself.

"A bat! A bat!" a boy shouted, pointing at his net. "That bat looks like a monkey."

"What else?" ’The Monster Head is way more terrifying and eye-catching. Why aren’t the kids mentioning it?’

The boy asked him, "Can they fly?"

"Yes." Hee Lingchuan brought the net closer to the boy’s face. "Besides the bats, what else do you see?"

"Nothing else. Um, why did you put a big rock in your net?"

"A rock?" ’There’s no rock in my net.’

"How can this be the Soul Village!" the Monster Head in the net spoke, its tone one of shock. "You were clearly sleeping, so why aren’t you in Dreamland?"

"My fault?" Hee Lingchuan was also surprised. The fact that this thing could accurately say the words "Soul Village" meant it wasn’t native to the Panlong World.

’Is this thing an invasive species from another world?’

No wonder the giant red shadow roaming outside the Soul Village had taken action. It seemed to have been acting as the Guardian of this Soul Village all along.

The surrounding children were chattering away. Hee Lingchuan casually gave them a few Copper Plates. "Go buy some candy."

The children happily ran off.

With the peace and quiet, Hee Lingchuan finally had a moment to carefully examine the green tree before him.

’Are the roots that pierced the rock wall from this Juluo Tree?’

Judging by its location, at least, it had to be.

Hee Lingchuan leaned on the railing and looked down, discovering that the underwater cave was gone.

’That’s right.’ He had passed by here dozens of times. The stone promenade along the riverbank was perfectly neat. When had there ever been a cave?

’Did this tree tear through space and time to bring me here directly from Northwest Chipa?’

’Hmm, or to put it another way, did it extend its roots from here all the way to the cave in Northwest Chipa just to catch the monster for a Taotie-level feast?’

Looking at the Little Juluo Tree now, its previously thin and sickly trunk had thickened to the point where he couldn’t wrap his arms around it. It had also shot up in height, now standing about fifteen feet tall, and its canopy was beginning to spread. It was finally starting to show a hint of its ancestor’s grandeur.

This Juluo Tree was unlike any other plant in Panlong City. It had grown from a Treasure Tree King Seed he brought from the outside world and inherently possessed the power to traverse the Cyan Netherworld. Is that why it could sense an alien invasion?

’The fact that it ate the monster... does that mean the nutrients it needs to grow are also very... otherworldly?’

Questions rose one after another in Hee Lingchuan’s mind, but he had more important things to do right now.

Lifting the net, he rushed to a shop on the street and said to the old man inside, "Uncle Li, I need to borrow your backyard for a minute!"

Uncle Li was weaving something out of straw and didn’t even look up. "Go ahead."

This was the place where Sunx Fuling had bought the mourning ice lantern in the winter. Since he couldn’t make ice lanterns in the summer, the old man wove handicrafts like grasshoppers and little ponies from bamboo and straw to sell, which were very popular with the children.

The backyard was empty except for strips of bamboo, rattan, and other miscellaneous items.

Hee Lingchuan held up the Monster Head to face him. "What are you?"

"What on earth happened to my true self?" The Monster Head had been in a state of shock ever since it was severed.

Everything it could see was beyond its wildest imagination.

"Gone," Hee Lingchuan said succinctly. "If you want to follow in its footsteps, I can help you with that right now."

Interestingly, the roots he had snapped in the cave were now wrapped tightly around the Monster Head, neither sucking it dry nor letting it go.

A three-eyed human head tightly bound by several tree roots... the sight was too bizarre for words.

But the Monster Head hadn’t grown a new body, and Hee Lingchuan had a gut feeling it was because of the Juluo Tree roots.

"No, no!" the Monster Head reacted strongly. "I don’t want to die."

"Why were you after me?"

"Someone marked you as a tribute," the Monster Head confessed. "We like young and strong Divine Souls. Delicious!"

"Who?"

"I don’t know who he is." The Monster Head still had a hint of its former arrogance. "We don’t care."

"Where is this person?" Hee Lingchuan’s brow twitched. "I want his exact location and a description of him!"

’This damned thing is from the real world, which means someone out there is targeting me!’

’Good. Very good.’

’A clue delivered right to my doorstep.’

"You won’t kill us, will you?"

"That depends on your cooperation."

"A thousand yards west of you, Tongfu Inn. He’s skinny, has a long face, and looks like a gust of wind could knock him over."

Hee Lingchuan picked up the net and slipped back onto the street, where he passed two Patrol Guards.

He separated the Monkey Bats, handed them to the guards, and asked them to take them to the Pill Bureau for Aluo.

As for the remaining root-wrapped human head, Hee Lingchuan leaped into the Juluo Tree and wedged it between the branches.

To the natives of Panlong City, it was just a big rock anyway. No one would be interested, and it was out of the children’s reach. That was all that mattered.

"No, no, no, don’t leave me here!" The Monster Head paled with fright as it sensed the Juluo Tree’s aura.

’Isn’t this the same Tree Demon that sucked my main body dry earlier?’

"Help me watch it," Hee Lingchuan said, patting the Juluo Tree’s trunk. "Don’t eat it yet. I still have a use for it."

The wisdom of the Juluo Tree was fully embodied in the King of Treasure Tree. Although this one was still in its infancy, it hadn’t tried to fight him for the net in the cave, which showed that the little fellow was quite intelligent.

Afterward, Hee Lingchuan found an empty corner, sat down, closed his eyes, and relaxed his whole body.

’Wake up, wake up, wake...’

He used to think suicide was the only way to leave the Dream Realm voluntarily, but the experience was unpleasant. Later, he realized that was wrong. He was the master of the Broken Blade, so why shouldn’t he be able to come and go as he pleased?

He tried it a few more times and found that by focusing his mind like this and willing himself to "log off," he could quickly return to reality.

...

As the Hundred-Faced Nightmare was dragged into the deep sea by the giant red shadow outside the Soul Village, almost no one noticed a star in the eastern night sky of the real world suddenly flare up, twinkling rapidly a few times.

It was only for a moment.

Then, everything seemed to return to normal.

***

「Tongfu Inn.」

CRACK! The statuette on the table suddenly broke into several pieces.

The Curse Master, who had been sitting with his eyes closed chanting a mantra, abruptly spat out a mouthful of blood. "Lord Hundred Faces?" he said in disbelief. "How is this possible?!"

His only answer was the CLATTER of the statuette’s fragments scattering across the table.

Nightmares vary in strength. The Hundred-Faced Nightmare’s predecessor was an Immortal Soul, and its power was something that neither its own kind nor humans dared to deny.

This Nightmare rarely attacked, but it had never failed. It was precisely because he believed so strongly in the power of Hundred Faces that he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

Even the brilliant Monarch of the Mang Kingdom had died at its hands. This Hee fellow was a mere commoner with no Primordial Power to protect him. How on earth could he have defeated Hundred Faces?

It was as absurd as a six-year-old child defeating a boxing champion in the ring.

But facts were undeniable. No matter how horrified the Curse Master was, he had to start thinking about his next move.

The door to the room was thrown open with a BANG, startling the Curse Master. The guest from the next room stepped inside and said, "You failed?"

The Curse Master was furious. "You—why did you come in uninvited?"

The man stared at him and asked, "Did you succeed or not?"

"I didn’t. It was defeated. The opponent is formidable. I’m afraid... I’m afraid he’ll come after us." The Curse Master felt a bout of breathlessness and could only stagger to his feet. "Are you staying?"

There were fragments in the blood he coughed up. His heart meridians were injured. The best thing for him to do was lie down and rest quietly. He shouldn’t get out of bed for at least half a month, or there would be lasting consequences.

This was the backlash from a Curse Art—in the best-case scenario, it would leave one disabled; in the worst, it was fatal. But the Curse Master couldn’t worry about that now. A being as powerful as Hundred Faces had gone on a one-way trip; if he stayed, his own chances of survival were slim.

"You Mages are truly unreliable." The other man placed a hand on the wall. In the darkness behind him, a huge shadow stirred, and a foul wind washed over them. "You can go. Leave this place to me."