Chapter 161: Forced Invasion!

The next breath.

Tang Luo, who had come down the stairs, shot up like a cannonball, smashing through the wall behind him and flying into the courtyard outside the villa.

He hadn't even landed yet.

Tang Luo had already appeared above him, clinging like a shadow, and threw a punch downward!

The other Tang Luo had his palms stacked together, palms facing down as he pushed upward, colliding with Tang Luo's fist.

The air waves surged!

Cracks appeared on the back of his hand, like spiderwebs spreading continuously, quickly covering the entire arm.

Boom!

Flowers, grass, trees, and soil flew everywhere, and a large irregular shallow pit appeared on the ground.

Tang Luo half-squatted, withdrew his hand, and stood up again; the other him beneath his feet had already vanished without a trace.

"It doesn't feel like he ran away..." Tang Luo rubbed his chin; the impostor's sudden disappearance didn't give him the sense of realizing he was outmatched and fleeing subjectively.

It felt more like a certain condition had been triggered, causing him to disappear.

"Could it be that he can only leave the stairwell's range, move for a period of time, or a certain distance?" Tang Luo thought to himself as he walked back toward the villa.

Returning to the villa through the hole he had just punched, he didn't know if it was a load-bearing wall that had been breached, but the villa's quality was still fine—it showed no sign of shaking at all.

Walking back inside the villa, Tang Luo saw Chu Zhongtian carrying the sleeping Li Suibian, dragging the unconscious An'an with difficulty toward the living room.

"What are you doing?" Chu Zhongtian asked.

"It's me." Tang Luo said, "I said it this way—do you have the ability to tell whether it's real or fake?"

An'an's loud shout was naturally heard by both of them, and Chu Zhongtian also saw the person who looked exactly like Tang Luo.

"You're the real one." Chu Zhongtian said, "If you could defeat the master this quickly, there'd be no need to impersonate—you could just attack us directly."

That was reasonable and convincing.

"That thing's power isn't small." Tang Luo said, "Next time you encounter it, remember to run faster—it's not dead yet."

Chu Zhongtian nodded, basically convinced that the person before him was the real one.

Unless the impostor wanted to play cat and mouse, slowly toying with them to death.

"I think Uncle Li should have also entered the dream realm." After placing both of them on the sofa, Chu Zhongtian said, "Just now I couldn't wake him up."

Li Suibian is now sleeping very deeply; the earlier commotion didn't wake him at all—clearly not a normal situation.

More likely, he's fighting the evil ghost in the dream.

"Mm." Tang Luo nodded, feeling frustrated—he also wanted to encounter the dream evil ghost, so he could subdue demons and earn merit power.

And yet another one runs faster than a dog—why can't they learn from Chuan Shang Jiangzi and the Slit-Mouthed Woman?

"Wait a moment."

Tang Luo suddenly thought of a possibility: the dream evil ghost doesn't come looking for him, but he could use the Display Soul technique—maybe he could enter the dream and find the dream evil ghost that way.

Then he could subdue demons.

If Li Suibian encounters danger, he wouldn't need to consume merit power—he could save him in the dream, double the joy!

"Little Chu, guard the Dharma for me." Tang Luo said.

"Guard the Dharma—how do I do that?" Chu Zhongtian said, not knowing what Tang Luo wanted to do, nor what he himself should do.

"Well... just keep petty scoundrels from getting close—kill one, kill another." Tang Luo said, "That's how my disciples used to guard the Dharma back then."

"Okay—okay, that's hard." Chu Zhongtian said, "Wait a moment, Master."

Saying that, he got up and ran thud-thud-thud to the stairs; after a while, he was seen dragging two corpses back into the living room.

"Master, I'm about to use a skill—please don't mistake me for a demon or ghost and try to liberate me." Chu Zhongtian said, placing his hands on the two corpses.

A strange, unusual aura rose from his body.

Before long, the two corpses began to tremble, then, in a completely inhuman posture, twitched and stood up.

"This is my second skill, Corpse Ghost Summoning." Chu Zhongtian explained.

This is his fourth mission; the first three missions, he succeeded in two, the first being the one he did with Tang Luo, which rewarded the Wind-Chasing skill.

He used it when dealing with Chuan Shang Jiangzi at noon.

The second reward skill he obtained is this "Corpse Ghost Summoning."

It can temporarily grant corpses "vitality," using them as battle pets.

"Your skill is hard to practice, huh." Tang Luo said.

"Actually, it doesn't have to be human corpses—small animals work too." Chu Zhongtian said.

"Mm." Tang Luo nodded, walked over to Li Suibian's side, sat down, and placed his hand on his forehead.

Display Soul!

"Whoosh—"

In the dream world, Li Suibian let out a long breath; now he wears a tattered Daoist robe.

His hair is disheveled, and there are some wounds on his body and face.

One hand holds the Lingfeng Sword, blood flowing from his arm, down his palm onto the Lingfeng Sword, dripping along the blade to the ground.

No bloodstains are left on it.

Not far from him, another person stands—none other than the unconscious An'an.

In the dream, An'an is not unconscious, but instead stares fixedly at the "humanoid creature" not far ahead.

That humanoid creature's face and form keep shifting—sometimes male, sometimes female—with no fixed appearance, exactly the dream evil ghost that has been chasing Chu Zhongtian.

"You all... will die..."

Heavy, overlapping eerie sounds emanate from the dream evil ghost's body, enveloping this entire area.

The place where An'an and Li Suibian are is a city.

The abandoned city was everywhere in ruins, the sky a gloomy gray, a scene of apocalypse.

There were also numerous fragmented corpses scattered everywhere.

This place is a dream world jointly woven by An'an and Li Suibian's "dream."

Originally, Li Suibian fought the dream demon, and the two were roughly evenly matched; having prepared in advance, Li Suibian, with a steadfast Dao-heart, gained the upper hand.

Unfortunately, An'an fainted at the critical moment and was likewise dragged into the dream by the demon.

In the dream world, the dream demon, though not omnipotent, could still influence every aspect.

With Li Suibian's strength, holding fast to his original heart and standing immovable, he was like a stubborn reef.

The dream demon, on the contrary, could not overcome him.

But An'an lacked this ability; the woven dream world gave the demon assistance worth 10, while An'an herself could at most give Li Suibian assistance worth 1.

The situation, which had originally slightly favored Li Suibian, thus changed.

The scales of victory tilted toward the dream demon.

An'an still held two cutting boards in her hand, similar to the ones she had used the previous night.

Besides, she knew no combat techniques; this kind of wide, swinging, chaotic "board"-waving suited her better.

"I have only one strike left, probably insufficient to kill this wretch," Li Suibian said. "See if you can deliver the finishing blow; if not, we will lose. However, Master Xuanzang's consecration should be able to save us."

"Mm." An'an nodded. "Let's go all out."

Indeed, she had a bit of a reckless warrior's spirit; besides, there was no better option—back to the wall, fight to the death!

"All out?" the dream demon laughed, "All out with whom? With me? Or with us?"

In the latter part of the sentence, the source of the voice was no longer his body, but came from all directions.

Countless figures, constantly changing their appearances, appeared around An'an and Li Suibian, making it impossible to tell which was real and which was fake.

Or perhaps, all were real, and all were fake.

Numerous dream demons laughed wildly, charging toward Li Suibian and An'an.

"Ten Thousand Sword Art!" Li Suibian shouted loudly, throwing the Lingfeng Sword into the sky, his right hand forming a sword seal, pointing at the Lingfeng Sword in the sky.

The Lingfeng Sword burst forth with dazzling sword light, instantly splitting into two, then four, then eight...

Centered on the space above Li Suibian's head, it began to rotate, the blades continuously formed by the sword light, like water droplets flung from a spinning umbrella, shooting toward the surrounding dream demons rushing forward.

Pierced by the sword light, the dream demons continually turned into swirling black mist and vanished.

Half a minute later, only a single dream demon's silhouette remained, standing on An'an's side, about ten meters away from her.

The sword light embedded in its body was slowly dissipating, wounded but not dead!

At this moment, the Lingfeng Sword fell to the ground. Li Suibian staggered, half-kneeling on the ground, as he had said, with only his final strike remaining.

After using it, he truly had no strength left to fight, unable even to stand.

An'an hesitated not, strode forward toward the dream demon, swinging the cutting boards in both hands, leaning her body forward, exerting all her strength, as if the cutting boards were dragging her in attack.

"Pa."

The cutting board in her left hand was knocked away, the one in her right hand seized by the dream demon.

"How naive, you think you can deliver the final blow?" the dream demon's voice sounded slightly weak, its tone extremely mocking.

Judging by his self-proclamation as Cao Cao, this fellow is not the type of silent, murderous fierce ghost, but rather a very—frivolous ghost.

No wonder Chu Zhongtian called him Freddy, for Freddy is also a ghost who constantly spouts frivolous talk, unlike the silent personalities of ghosts like Sadako and Kayako.

On the contrary, he is somewhat similar to this "skin painting" of Jiangzi Chuan.

An'an said nothing, her swollen left hand struggling to grip her right, using all her strength to push toward the dream demon.

Even if dead, she would bite a piece of flesh from it!

She is a wolf-yan, far more ruthless than a ruthless person.

"Oh dear, oh dear—I can't hold on anymore." The cutting board gradually approached the dream demon, causing it to let out an exaggerated scream.

Just as An'an was about to advance further, the dream demon's ever-changing face suddenly stabilized: "I tricked you." Its face bore the smile of a successful prank, skin tingling with delight.

Another hand reached toward An'an.

Seeing that hand rapidly swell, transforming from a human palm into a beast's claw, about to snatch An'an's head.

The entire city suddenly trembled.

The dark clouds in the sky began to churn madly, like a roaring black sea, countless fissures appearing in the sky; this world was collapsing, being torn apart.

The dream demon revealed a look of astonishment, lifting its head to gaze at the sky.

What is descending!

No, it is forcibly invading this dream.

A pair of enormous eyes slowly appeared in the sky, cold, indifferent, lofty.

Behind the eyes was a blurred visage, gradually descending, the fissures in the sky madly expanding.

"Ah ah ah ah——" the dream demon let out a piercing howl, this time not just skin-deep.

An'an's eyes focused, she seized the opportunity, and brought down a cutting board!