Chapter 370: A Perilous Escape Within the Sea of Consciousness

Lingxiang was somewhat angry; the Dust-Peering Mirror had actually shown her such sordid things.

Sordid was one thing, but it was also headless and tailless!

That little Demon Lord looked human enough, yet he was actually a beast in human clothing, wanting to commit an outrage against his own mother!

Admittedly, Lingxiang did not know what happened in the end, but regardless, she would never believe that the little Demon Lord could be her father.

Hah! A mere member of the Demon Race wanted to bewitch her? Who did he think she was? A three- or four-year-old nursing babe?

The Art of the Heavenly Drop—if not blood kin, it could never succeed!

This method was a witchcraft of Tumi Xianzi; how could she have performed it haphazardly? Even if she had, it would not have taken effect.

According to Lingxiang's deduction, Ziboyan, being of the Demon Race, had a soul that was incomplete from the start, and Lingxiao Zhenren still had his soul remaining in his physical body, so it was understandable that Ziboyan's memories had become chaotic and some things had been confused.

It stood to reason that Ziboyan had mistaken her for his daughter for this very same cause.

Hmph!

The loves and hatreds of your generation, yet you insist on dragging me into them!

Back at Shiyang Hall, the more Lingxiang thought about it, the more infuriated she became, yet for the moment, she could find no outlet for her frustration—lately, Guihua had not been hovering around Lingxiang much, and she did not know where she had run off to or what mischief she was up to.

Forget it, forget it; it was not worth getting worked up over this, and it would be a loss to ruin her own health.

Lingxiang cherished her life dearly these days; she had to live well, and she had to live freely and at ease.

What did those dog-tail-sequel, short-lived romances have to do with her?

Thanks to the Chongchuan Bian'an that Guihua had brought back last time, Maidong had been much calmer these past few days and no longer wailed like a ghost as she had before; even when Lingxiang approached, she no longer became frantic, but simply kept humming an inexplicable melody, muffled and hoarse, echoing in Shiyang Hall, appearing all the more eerie in the gloom.

Although the Chongchuan Bian'an was excellent for calming the spirit, it was, after all, a spider lily; using too much would hurt the stomach, and it would be bad if it disrupted the Five Elements, so Lingxiang decided to stop Maidong's Pill.

Since she was idle today anyway, and Guihua happened not to be in Shiyang Hall, it would be better to take this opportunity to probe Maidong's dream and resolve her Chaos, which would also count as settling one matter.

Dream-probing, while simple to say, was actually quite risky.

The dream-prober needed to connect their spirit with the patient to enter the dream and delve deep within to know the crux of the issue. But this method was overly dangerous; without a trusted person to guard the body, the physical form would be in peril.

And even with someone guarding, things might not be entirely safe within the dream.

Maidong's condition was mainly due to the trauma she had suffered, which had damaged her consciousness; Lingxiang had to delve into her sea of consciousness and find Maidong's Primordial Spirit to have any hope of curing her hysteria.

The consciousness of a person with hysteria was unusually chaotic; if one's mental fortitude was poor and one was accidentally swept into it, Lingxiang's own Primordial Spirit would also be harmed.

It was not that she had to use such a risky move; rumor had it there was a needle technique called the "Ghost Gate Thirteen Needles," whose needle-manipulation method was strange and profound, best suited for hysteria and madness, but Lingxiang was not versed in this method; if it were Fuyin Zhenren, perhaps it might be possible.

After making up her mind, Lingxiang set up twelve Dharma Arrays in the room and sealed the doors and windows with talismans before she felt at ease tricking Maidong into taking the Dream-Returning Pill.

Before long, Maidong fell into a deep sleep.

Seeing Maidong's breathing gradually steady, Lingxiang pinched a finger seal and began to meditate on the couch beside the bed.

How hard could it be? It wasn't her first time.

Before entering meditation, Lingxiang had thought just that, but she had not expected that Maidong's sea of consciousness was already shattered beyond repair.

All around was pitch black, and ripples spread out from beneath Lingxiang's feet, yet they cast waves of light in the darkness.

This was Maidong's sea of consciousness.

Lingxiang did not know where to walk for a moment; after all, an ordinary person's sea of consciousness was not like this, and the current situation was different from what she had experienced before, not to mention that Maidong was her good sister, so she dared not act rashly for the time being.

After standing in place thinking for a long time, Linxiang finally made up her mind and took a step forward.

When that foot was lifted, it was calm and tranquil, but the moment it landed, wind rose abruptly, and the waves surged without end.

Lingxiang secretly thought it was bad and hurriedly pinched a Water-Avoiding Art, but this was the sea of consciousness; how could such witchcraft be effective here?

The dark tide instantly engulfed Lingxiang; no matter how she struggled, she could not surface, and as she was swept along by the surging force, she sank down.

The sudden suffocation caused Lingxiang's consciousness to gradually blur; if this continued, before she could cure Maidong, she feared she herself would end up with a Collapse of her Primordial Spirit.

Lingxiang suddenly sobered up and struggled to pinch a hand seal.

This was the first time she had seen such a situation, and since she did not know how to deal with it, it would be better to leave first and then make other plans.

But just then, a piercing buzzing sound came from the water, shaking Lingxiang's eardrums with pain, and she could not help but exhale a breath.

For a moment, she was covering her mouth and her ears, in quite a flustered state.

With this, her witchcraft was interrupted, but Lingxiang had no time to care—that buzzing sound was simply too torturous!

Just as Lingxiang could no longer hold on and was about to faint, huge bubbles emerged from the bottom of the water, brushing past her and floating upward.

Lingxiang seized the opportunity, used the last of her strength, and dove into a bubble that had come close to her.

Before she could catch her breath, a sudden spinning of the heavens and earth arrived, causing Lingxiang's stomach to churn incessantly; if she were not merely a wisp of Primordial Spirit, she feared she would have truly vomited.

Fortunately, after only a moment, she landed; Lingxiang gasped for air, lying on the ground for a long while before she regained her strength.

All around was silent, but Lingxiang dared not act rashly, fearing that the situation from just before would happen again.

But just lying on the ground like this was no solution!

After thinking it over, Lingxiang carefully sat up and discovered that she was actually in a desolate residence.

The eaves were dilapidated, cobwebs were everywhere, the beams and pillars were mottled, the tiles were broken and covered in moss, and the courtyard walls were covered in creeping vines, with weeds growing in the cracks of the bluestone.

This courtyard looked as if it had been abandoned for a long time, but what Lingxiang found strange was, how could such a ruined place be in Maidong's memories?

Although when she first met Maidong, Fuyin Zhenren said she must have suffered a great deal, she was only a child at the time, and one look at this residence showed that the former owner must have been wealthy or noble.

Could it be that she had hidden here when she was suffering?

Just as Lingxiang was puzzled, a child's laughter came from behind her; Lingxiang was instantly alert, but the moment she turned her head, the scene around her changed.

Originally a sunny day, it became incomparably dim in an instant; the black tiles and white walls, the long corridors looked like new, and the lanterns lit in the corridor made the red pillars look like blood.

A young girl, with her back to Lingxiang, was happily patting something, which seemed to be a Jiqiu.

Could it be Maidong?

Lingxiang called out softly, but the girl did not react at all, still happily patting the ball.

Only then did Lingxiang remember that at this time, Maidong should be called by her original name, but Lingxiang did not know what Maidong was originally called.

So Lingxiang carefully stepped forward and raised her hand to place it on the girl's shoulder, but after the girl turned around, she gave Lingxiang a fright—what should have been a pair of bright, watery eyes had turned into two empty holes, constantly oozing blood that flowed down her delicate little face and dripped onto the...

A human head!

The little girl was actually playing with a human head!

That human head had its eyes wide open, appearing as if in terror, or perhaps unwilling, its bloody mouth wide agape, as if it had words it wanted to speak!

"Big sister..."

The little girl turned her hollow gaze toward Lingxiang and spoke with a giggle.

"Does big sister want to play together too?"