Chapter 802: Dreamed of Some Scary Things

The Immortal Sea Building.

Ye Qianning yawned as she walked upstairs. She had barely slept since the birthday banquet, and it had been years since she last felt this exhausted. She wondered if it was because Dun Dun and Pang Pang were causing too much of a ruckus in her spatial domain, or if it was something else.

Climbing just a few flights of stairs, she yawned five or six times. When she reached her room and pushed the door open, the thick scent of calming incense immediately hit her nose. Her yawn hitched, and she quickly shut her mouth. At a glance, she saw someone lying on her couch.

The sky outside was nearly dark, leaving the room rather dim, but the familiar scent lingering in the air allowed her to identify the intruder. It was Sang Zhi. He always carried the faint aroma of calming incense.

Ye Qianning was already quite sleepy, and inhaling the strong scent made her eyes burn even more. Rubbing them, she walked over, wondering why Sang Zhi was sleeping in her room.

Lying on his side on the soft couch, Sang Zhi’s brows were slightly furrowed. Even with so much calming incense burning, he did not seem to be sleeping peacefully.

She walked to his side and bent down slightly. She had to admit, Sang Zhi was truly good-looking; even his side profile was breathtakingly handsome. With his fair skin and a straight, prominent nose, he was absolutely perfect. Seeing his furrowed brows, she couldn’t help but reach out to gently smooth them. However, the moment she did, they knitted tightly together again, and a fine layer of sweat seemed to gather on his forehead.

"Having a nightmare?" she murmured softly.

She was just about to stand up and replace the incense when a pair of icy hands suddenly grabbed hers, stopping her before she could withdraw from his forehead.

"Don’t... take her away, please..."

His murmured pleas echoed in the quiet room. His already fair face paled even further, and his lips lost all trace of color in an instant. The hands gripping hers were bone-chillingly cold.

"Please... don’t... I’ll kill you... I’ll kill you..."

Ye Qianning felt his grip tightening around her hand. A fierce, almost savage expression gradually twisted Sang Zhi’s face as a heavy aura suddenly erupted from him. It was an aura of suffocating despair, like someone who had plummeted into hell and was frantically struggling to claw their way back out. She knew this feeling all too well. Only a true brush with a hopeless, deadly impasse could trigger such an overwhelming aura.

"Sang Zhi," Ye Qianning called softly.

"Run... away... I’ll... kill..." Sang Zhi mumbled, his entire body trembling.

"Sang Zhi." Ye Qianning reached out with her free hand and gave him a gentle shake.

Sang Zhi was completely trapped in his nightmare. A pitch-black abyss was swallowing him whole. He desperately tried to climb up, but the faces of many people loomed above him—faces permanently etched into his very bones.

It was Princess East Shu, the Beili Emperor, Consort Yuan... Yuan Yintang, and every face he had encountered on Four-direction Mountain. They were smiling maliciously. One by one, they told him that he couldn’t save her... that she was dead. The next second, he saw her bloody corpse.

His mind screamed, "Don’t hurt her... give her back... give her back to me... No!"

Sang Zhi’s eyes snapped open. They were bloodshot and filled with murderous intent as he panted heavily. A blurry silhouette reflected in his crimson eyes before gradually coming into focus. His killing intent vanished in a flash as he noticed a faint warmth radiating into his palm.

It was a gentle stream of Inner Strength. The energy flowed through his palm, bringing a fraction of warmth to his freezing hands.

Sang Zhi raised his free hand to massage his forehead and then his eyes, as if trying to conceal the lingering bloodlust in his gaze. His voice was slightly hoarse. "I dreamed of some terrible things."

"I know," Ye Qianning said softly.

"I... I dreamed of those faces." Those faces were relentless, haunting his dreams day after day.