Chapter 2838: Doubting Clouds Arise

The demon had actually obtained the Wind Dew Golden Lotus, which is why the Sea Emperor could bring it into the dream!

Thinking of this, Earth Mother grew anxious, swung her arms, and launched a Double Wind Piercing Ears strike.

The Sea Emperor had just retreated between two massive boulders, and Earth Mother's arm swing caused the two boulders to sandwich him from left and right.

He placed his trident horizontally, with a "clang" sound effect stuck between the boulders, using the opportunity to leap away, as swift as if springs were installed under his feet.

This guy is really too slippery, able to advance and retreat freely even under the siege of many powerful fighters!

Seeing his graceful posture, Earth Mother inexplicably felt a sense of familiarity, as if she had seen him before.

It wanted to rush forward again and punch him, but its gaze unintentionally swept over the two boulders pinning the Sea Emperor, and its steps instinctively halted.

How could there only be a single indentation on both boulders?

The Sea Emperor wields a trident, which in plain terms is just a steel fork with three prongs.

Earth Mother personally witnessed him laying the trident flat, jamming it between the two rapidly closing boulders, the trident also piercing deep into the boulders, so the boulders resisting the prong tips should have retained three puncture marks.

Yet Earth Mother only saw one.

What is going on?

During a tense lull in the battle, this thought flashed through its mind, occupying no more than half a breath. Yet the black-skinned yaksha kept shouting at it, wailing and yelling, even as it itself was being hunted by two powerful fighters.

These two guys are really strange. Earth Mother is puzzled—she has attacked the Sea Emperor several times, yet he always dodged without counterattacking. Given his skill and cultivation, his counter should be fierce; the powerful fighter just beheaded moments ago proved this.

The Sea Emperor had just mercilessly mocked Earth Mother, demanding settlement and threatening to extract her soul for the Thunder Prison punishment, yet showed no actual action—how could there be no real response?

This is truly too strange.

Something's off—this battle is getting stranger and stranger.

Earth Mother slowed her movements, focusing her thoughts.

The Sea Emperor and the black-skinned yaksha mocked her, but from beginning to end refused to attack her, even if she struck first.

Moreover, they produced the Wind Dew Golden Lotus!

Furthermore, the weapon puncture marks on those two boulders do not look like they were left by a trident.

Could it be...

As Earth Mother slowed, those nearby urged: "Don't stop, he can't hold on much longer!"

Upon hearing this, Earth Mother glanced at him, then turned to look at the crowd fighting the Sea Emperor.

He Lingchuan said these were all powerful fighters he had rescued from various dreams, and everyone must unite to break the dream and return to reality.

But they seem unwilling to charge forward unless He Lingchuan calls their names. Yet just now, the Sea Emperor defeated two of them, making them even more cautious—they now hide behind Earth Mother, unleashing divine abilities.

When she looked back, she saw Pak Chai Hai standing far in the rear, not stepping forward at all.

This doesn't seem much like the Pak Chai Hai she knows.

He Lingchuan also reminded her: "Don't space out, be careful not to get hit!"

Earth Mother also noticed that He Lingchuan had not made a move!

He wandered the periphery, skirmishing to pressure the Sea Emperor greatly, but he himself had not yet truly entered the fray.

That's not right—Jiufu warfare has always been about leading from the front, and today he is especially eager to leave the dream, so why would he act so contrary to habit?

Doubt clouds gathered in Earth Mother's heart, pressing down but impossible to suppress.

Unconsciously, has she fallen again to the Phantom Music Goddess's scheme?

There is a method, perhaps it could instantly discern truth from falsehood—but—

Earth Mother clenched her fists.

She still holds that drop of Wind Dew Golden Lotus dew.

This substance has a calming effect on her, capable of piercing many illusions; Earth Mother used the lotus dew to escape the previous dream. But she only has one drop left—once used, she will lose her sole connection to reality!

Pak Chai Hai's warning still rings in her ears:

That drop of lotus dew must be guarded well, absolutely must not be used!

What if her senses are wrong, and He Lingchuan and Pak Chai Hai beside her are real, yet the last drop of lotus dew is also used up—will she be unable to return to reality?

At this moment, she suddenly saw the black-skinned yaksha make a strange yet familiar gesture:

The black-skinned yaksha shouted at Earth Mother, spreading his five fingers, touching index finger and thumb together to form a circle.

This gesture...

Earth Mother's eyes widened.

This gesture, He Lingchuan often makes, and the immortals, night wanderers, and Cangyan soldiers of the Earth Mother Plains commonly make.

As a water sprite beside the Sea Emperor, how could he know the Earth Mother Plains' common hand signal?

Unless!

Earth Mother shuddered, suddenly recalling something:

The reason she fell into this series of traps is that the Phantom Music Goddess disguised herself as Shangguan Biao, tricking her into actively breaking free from her own dream and leaping into the Purple Flower Dream.

Earth Mother has always believed the Phantom Music Goddess possesses shapeshifting ability in dreams, which is also the nightmare's signature skill.

But what if, what if the Phantom Music Goddess's disguise is not achieved through her own shapeshifting, but by deceiving the victim's perception, making them "see wrong"?

Earth Mother knows there is an illusion technique called "One Leaf Obscuring the Eye." The affected only sees what the caster wants them to see.

If true, then what Earth Mother sees wrong might not be just one person, but a group of people!

He Lingchuan and Pak Chai Hai rushed into the nebula.

Those one by one unremarkable stars ahead rapidly enlarged, like the snow globes He Lingchuan played with as a child. From outside, one could see the inside filled with dazzling, bizarre scenery. This is the nebula personally woven by the Phantom Music Goddess, each snow globe's scene completely different.

Pak Chai Hai sucked in a breath of cold air: "The Phantom Music Goddess isn't even a true god yet, yet possesses such mighty divine power to fabricate an entire nebula?"

More terrifying is that every star in the vast nebula can correspond to a dream. He is a nightmare, and he dares not imagine what mighty power lies behind this!

Even the most illusory dream is still a world. This sea of stars represents thousands upon thousands of worlds.

He Lingchuan, however, had a different view: "Not necessarily every dream exists; rather, it is when we draw near a star that it becomes a dream right there."

Bao Chihai asked in surprise: "How do you know?"

Is he the nightmare, or is He Lingchuan the nightmare? Why can the Emperor declare it so decisively?

He Lingchuan gave a faint smile. He had never been to the divine realm of the Goddess of Illusory Joy, merely picking up some obscure bit of knowledge from others. But he only said: "Tracing back to the source, with the true divine power of the Goddess of Illusory Joy, it simply cannot sustain such a vast nebula."

Thus most stars are merely for show. The Goddess of Illusory Joy has put on such a grand display, conjuring such a splendid nebula, merely to tell the two of them that she is not to be provoked.

For anyone, dreams are an unfamiliar battlefield, and the Great Emperor of the Nine Abysses is no exception.

With so many stars, they can still serve the purpose of a blindfold.

The two wandered through the nebula, and often luminous star-children would come crashing hard at them, but Bao Chihai always brought He Lingchuan to dodge them.

"One must not be swept along by them into the interior, for once inside, it is easy to enter but hard to get out."