Chapter 14: Those Who Violate the Great Zhou Shall Be Destroyed!

Wind blew away dark clouds, rain fell; far away, he called for the brush, but no shadow appeared.

The storm still rained down; the Yellow River’s waters still flowed on the ground; Lu Fang called for the brush, yet not a single change stirred.

“Ah!”

Li Yu sighed in disappointment, shook her head, then let out a bitter laugh.

If a fifth-rank Confucian scholar couldn’t accomplish this, why demand it of a ninth-rank Confucian student, who should master the power within dreams?

“Faking sorcery!” Ying Li glared coldly at Lu Fang; no matter what, he wouldn’t delay further—he must eliminate this human.

“I’ll slice you into a thousand pieces!”

The demonic markings on Ying Li’s face and neck blazed with radiant light.

The rain above Lu Fang transformed into countless sharp, frost-cold blades, descending from the sky.

Lu Fang stood unmoving, gazing calmly upward at the falling blades; only he could see the colossal brush standing vertically between heaven and earth, and with one sweep, all the blades froze midair.

The nearest blade hovered just a foot from his face.

Bing! Bing! Bing! Bing!

Thousands of blades shattered as if crushed by an immense force, vanishing instantly into vapor.

Sounds of drumbeats and war cries erupted!

Before Lu Fang, an ancient war chariot materialized; he stepped forward and stood upon it, looking down at Ying Li, whose eyes bulged as if about to pop.

He didn’t fully understand how this dream world was structured, but he had already established contact with the realm spirit—the Great Brush—and that was enough.

Ying Li used the imprint of the demonic sovereign “Dream King” to wield supernatural power within this dream realm.

This differed vastly from Lu Fang’s direct access to power from the realm spirit, the Great Brush.

“This is…”

Li Yu’s exquisite eyes blinked rapidly; her mind went blank—this scene was too visually staggering; he had truly done it!

“In the Nightmare Realm, I am invincible!” Ying Li gritted his teeth and clenched his fists with all his strength.

The imagined scene of Lu Fang exploding under overwhelming force never materialized.

“Whoever violates the Great Zhou shall be exterminated!”

Lu Fang waved his hand casually; Ying Li’s arm was severed by an unknown force.

“Who dares oppress our human race shall pay a hundredfold!”

Ying Li’s other arm and both legs were severed.

“I’m not a good man, but I don’t enjoy taking life…”

Ying Li’s wings were ripped off bodily.

“Why force me to this!”

Ying Li’s head was severed.

Lu Fang let out a soft sigh; flames ignited and consumed Ying Li’s entire body, reducing it to ash within moments, scattered by the wind across the Nightmare Realm.

After Ying Li’s death, the heavens trembled and the earth shook; at first faintly, then increasingly violently, until it shattered into countless fragments.

“… ”

Lu Fang snapped open his eyes; before him lay a pitch-black cave, the sky outside dim, the storm still raging.

A cool breeze blew through the cave entrance against his skin; he instinctively tightened his arms around the person in his embrace, finding warmth in the contact.

The strange dream had not been a dream at all.

The book spirit Yan Chixia had indeed been summoned by Lu Fang into the Nightmare Realm, and the realm spirit, the Great Brush, had truly communicated with him.

“Mmm…” Li Yu, lying in Lu Fang’s arms, also awoke, her dark, gleaming eyes gazing up at his face, lost in thought.

“You’re awake.”

Lu Fang lowered his head, meeting Li Yu’s gaze.

Li Yu’s ears flushed red; she weakly struggled a few times and whispered, “I’m feeling much better now—please put me down.”

“Oh, oh… you were in terrible condition before, so I held you to keep you warm.”

Lu Fang reluctantly released his arms from the “beauty,” smiling wryly:

“That dream was terrifying! I don’t even know if that bird-man died in the real world after I killed him in the dream.”

“According to records, he should be dead.”

Li Yu rose, adjusted her robes, took a pill from a porcelain vial, then stared fixedly at Lu Fang: “How did you do it?”

Her question wasn’t specific, but Lu Fang understood exactly what she meant.

In that Nightmare Realm, Li Yu, a fifth-rank Confucian scholar, couldn’t even summon righteous qi; yet he, a ninth-rank Confucian student, had slain a bearer marked by the demonic sovereign “Dream King.”

That was a fifth-rank demonic prodigy, marked by the lingering will of a demonic sovereign—destined to become a transcendent demonic king.

It was a certain death sentence!

He had effortlessly broken through it—and turned the tables.

Even Li Yu, who held great faith in him, found it unbelievable.

“I’ve always loved dreaming; the stories ‘Liaozhai’s Strange Tales: Nie Xiaoqian’ and ‘Dream of the Red Chamber’ were inspired by dreams—perhaps that’s why I could write them as elegant prose.”

Lu Fang chuckled softly, continuing: “My ability to create something from nothing in that dream likely stems from the same cause.”

This explanation might seem forced.

But the dream world itself is inherently peculiar; ordinary people, even if skeptical, couldn’t pinpoint any flaw.

After experiencing this dream realm, Lu Fang now understood that the Ink Brush Book Realm exists at the boundary between dream and reality.

The realm spirit, the Great Brush, had told him so.

“Who knows if Zhuangzi dreamed of being a butterfly, or if the butterfly dreamed of being Zhuangzi?”

Li Yu slowly recited the elegant prose from “Zhuangzi’s Dream of the Butterfly,” reasoning to herself: “Perhaps, as Master Zhuang said, dream and reality cannot be distinguished—perhaps what we call reality…”

“My dear disciple! Hahaha… come out!”

A strong, aged voice rang from outside the cave.

“Master!” Li Yu recognized the voice and cried out joyfully, hurrying out of the cave.

[Finally, reinforcements have arrived—I can finally rest.] Lu Fang followed her out.

There, not far from the cave entrance, stood the Grand Confucian Wang Fu, smiling warmly.

“Your aura is chaotic—you’re injured?”

Wang Fu, seeing Li Yu, frowned with concern and immediately pulled a porcelain vial from his waist pouch, handing it to her.

“Thank you, Master.”

After swallowing the pill from the vial, Li Yu’s complexion visibly brightened.

She then recounted everything: encountering Ying Li, forcibly activating the Grand Confucian’s ink treasure, entering the Nightmare Realm, and how Lu Fang had turned the tables and slain him.

Wang Fu furrowed his brow upon hearing of the demonic sovereign “Dream King’s” imprint; his face filled with astonishment upon hearing Lu Fang had slain Ying Li within the Nightmare Realm.

“You’re quite the lad! All that effort with my three Righteous Qi Pills wasn’t wasted—excellent work!”

Wang Fu nodded approvingly at Lu Fang repeatedly.

“Just luck—I only succeeded because Li the Confucian startled the demon with the Four-Sided Inkstone, forcing him to hesitate in the real world and letting me exploit the dream to strike.”

Lu Fang smiled lightly.

“Regardless, you did well this time—I will certainly report this to His Majesty.”

Wang Fu nodded with a smile.

Li Yu asked anxiously: “Master, since you’ve come, why hasn’t my father come? Has he been injured?”