Chapter 373: Entering the Dream

"This is impossible!!?"

Li Yiyi's expression changed drastically, and he exclaimed: "You even have your people inside the Imperial Palace? This, how is this possible?"

He did not believe it.

He dared not believe it!

What kind of place was the Imperial Palace?

If there were spies even in there, then...

No, impossible!

He must be lying to me!

"Haha! Fellow Daoist need not be so surprised."

The black-robed person was very satisfied with Li Yiyi's shocked reaction, lifted his chin triumphantly, and said with a smile while keeping his hands behind his back: "In this world, where is there a place without members of our Butian Alliance?"

"Whether it is the Four Great Divine Continents of the East, West, North, and South, or the Four Seas Dragon Palace and the Overseas Demon Territory, no matter where! There are our companions from the Butian Alliance, and there are well-informed eyes and ears!"

Seeing the confusion in Li Yiyi's eyes, his smile became even more arrogant, and with a wave of his large hand, his momentum rose another step: "In this world, as long as there are people, there will be members of my Butian Alliance!"

"You have also read the introduction in the token and know some information about our alliance."

"Have you never thought about who the Twenty-Eight Constellation Envoy and the Twelve Star Sequence Envoy are? Which one of these lords is not a powerhouse with a revered status in the cultivation world?"

"A sect master, a leader of a religion, a king of a nation... They all have extremely revered statuses and identities in this world."

Li Yiyi had indeed read the information in the token beforehand, but he had not taken it to heart.

Where would one go to find twenty-eight Formless and twelve Asking Dao?

It was nothing more than rhetoric to fool ordinary cultivators who did not understand these inside stories.

"I suppose you would not believe it so easily; since that is the case, then take a look at this."

The black-robed person saw the doubt in Li Yiyi's eyes, took out a pitch-black token, and tossed it toward him.

Li Yiyi hesitated for a moment, but when the token arrived, he still raised his hand to grab it, accurately catching it in his hand.

"Pfft!!!"

The next moment, Li Yiyi spat a mouthful of blood onto his mask and slammed onto the snow on one knee.

Thud!

The token also slipped from his hand, but it did not bury itself into the snow; instead, it floated silently in mid-air.

"No, cough cough cough, this is impossible!"

Li Yiyi forced himself to stay alert, swallowed the blood surging up his throat, and looked at the token in fear.

In that token, he felt the aura of the Heaven Realm, and not just one.

It was dozens of them!!!

In that instant just now, caught completely off guard, his spirit was almost destroyed by dozens of terrifying auras!

"There is nothing impossible about this." The black-robed person admired Li Yiyi's disheveled appearance and said triumphantly: "Now, do you believe it?"

Believe it?

Does such a massive, mysterious organization really hide in the shadows of this world?

Li Yiyi did not want to believe it.

But now, looking at that token containing the auras of dozens of Heaven Realm cultivators, he had no choice but to believe.

Dozens of Heaven Realm experts...

Who could pull off such a feat?

I fear that only if the Four Great Divine Continents united could one see such a grand spectacle.

"So, join us!"

The black-robed person struck while the iron was hot and continued to persuade: "Even they have joined, what do you have to hesitate about?"

Li Yiyi was silent for a moment, stood up unsteadily, picked up the pitch-black token, and walked slowly to the front of the black-robed person.

He lowered his head, held the token up with both hands, handed it over respectfully, and said hoarsely: "My lord... can you give me some more time?"

The change in Li Yiyi from arrogant to respectful was quite gratifying to the black-robed person, who took the token and put it away, saying happily:

"That is naturally possible. I can give you some more time to consider, but do not make me wait too long."

"Many thanks, my lord." Li Yiyi did not stand up, but bowed low in gratitude: "May I ask how I should address you, my lord?"

"Hahaha! Fellow Daoist is too polite! You may just address me as Di Si."

The black-robed person said this with feigned modesty, but he did not look like he was unwilling to accept the honor at all, and waved his hand: "Alright, go back and consider it today."

"Oh, right, I advise you not to reveal this matter to anyone."

He took a deep look at Li Yiyi, who had not yet stood up, and chuckled twice: "I am reminding you of this not for the safety of the Butian Alliance, but for your own safety."

Even though it was still daytime, the black-robed person's figure seemed to be shrouded in a layer of shadow, and his whole person began to slowly fade, as if he were gradually fading out of this space.

Before disappearing completely, he left behind a meaningful whisper:

"Although the Butian Alliance is a very loose organization, it never lets go of any traitor."

"This point is the same even for a Star Constellation Envoy, for there is more than one Star Constellation Envoy who has fallen due to betrayal."

"Hehe..."

"Fellow Daoist, you had better consider it carefully."

The warning words dissipated into the pure white ice and snow along with the cold wind, and finally vanished just like his figure.

In the original spot, only the silent Li Yiyi remained, kneeling on the ground, letting the falling snowflakes land on him.

"..."

He kept his head lowered, his eyes beneath the mask narrowed, flashing with a dangerous light, his mouth opening and closing slightly, silently repeating a name:

"... Butian Alliance."

……

A few breaths later, when Di Si appeared again, he had already reached a cave a hundred miles away.

He first let out a deep breath, his shoulders slumped, his entire stature shrank by a significant margin, and he rubbed his waist in exhaustion.

"Sigh..."

It was not hard to see that the methods he had employed placed a considerable burden on him; he had only been putting on a brave front in front of Li Yiyi earlier to avoid exposure.

Di Si thought of Li Yiyi's performance earlier and couldn't help but chuckle with amusement: "Fellow Daoist, why be arrogant at first and then submissive later? It would be better to just be obedient and listen, hehe."

As a direct subordinate of the Di Envoy, he had operated in Beigan for many years, and such recruitment efforts had been carried out time and time again.

He had never failed once; not a single person had been able to resist the temptation in the end.

"However, this fellow should be a bit better than the previous one, right?"

"Although the previous one seemed to come from a noble family, he was too cautious and timid; he didn't dare to do much at all, and after providing information a few times, he didn't dare to act again."

"If it weren't for the Di Envoy not agreeing, I would have wanted to take the token back from his hands!"

If it weren't for the incident with the Shi and Hua families this time, Di Si wouldn't have known that the subordinate he had developed previously belonged to these two families; he only knew they were from a noble family.

But it was too late to know now; it was useless, as the people were already dead.

Tsk.

"I wonder how this newcomer obtained the token? Killing to seize treasure? Or did a government official who took action obtain it by luck and hide it away?"

Di Si thought for a while but stopped dwelling on it; he didn't care about the other party's background at all.

With the oath of the Butian Alliance in place, no one could easily betray them.

"After this newcomer joins, I will have him go and investigate the reason why the Li Family is taking action so frequently."

Recalling Li Long's actions these past few times, Di Si felt a sense of unease in his heart.

The last time he took action to slaughter the Song Family, not only were his subordinates lost heavily, but even Di San, who had organized that event, could not escape the lethal blow, and his position had yet to be filled by a newcomer to this day.

And this time, in the extermination of the Shi and Hua families, several of the subordinates he had developed also died.

Was it a coincidence?

Or was he testing the waters?

Had Li Long really discovered something?

"The current Emperor of Beigan is truly a restless character! He remained silent for so long before that I thought he was truly devoted to cultivating the Dao, but it all turned out to be a facade."

"He is no longer disguising himself now; has he made preparations? Or... hmm?"

Rustle...

Vaguely hearing a sound, Di Si turned his head abruptly to look outside the cave, his voice cold and sinister:

"Who!!?"

But when Di Si turned his head back, he saw nothing at all, not even a ghost.

While carefully observing, Di Si secretly activated a magic treasure to hide his body within the void, saying in a sinister tone:

"What kind of rat is hiding their head and showing their tail? Why don't you come out?"

No one answered; outside the cave, there was only a vast expanse of white snow.

Let alone a dangerous person, he didn't even sense a living being.

Was it an illusion?

Although Di Si felt some hesitation in his heart, he did not lower his guard; after carefully observing for a moment, he directly hid his figure into the void.

A few breaths later, Di Si's figure appeared in another hidden space.

He stumbled as he fell from the void, his legs went weak, and he rolled wretchedly on the ground.

Di Si simply lay on the ground, unable to get up, his chest heaving rapidly as he breathed painfully.

"Ha! Ha... cough cough!"

This time, to be safe, he risked his life to push past his limits, traveling a full three hundred miles to reach another Cave Abode.

"Regardless of whether I am overthinking it, he definitely won't be able to follow this time."

Forcing himself to stand up and check around, confirming that all the arrays and Restrictions were operating normally, Di Si finally felt at ease.

"Good, this time it is completely safe."

Whoosh—

He let out a long sigh of relief and then threw his body heavily onto the bed.

The consumption of that magic treasure was too great; he didn't even have the strength to stand now and needed to rest well.

"I didn't expect to be noticed just now; did I happen to run into a powerful expert passing by?"

"... Tsk, I'd better not go out for a while; in any case, I will observe cautiously for a period."

Di Si made up his mind in his heart and slowly closed his eyes.

……

That night, Di Si had a dream he hadn't had in a long time.

He dreamed of a strange, kaleidoscopic world.

He saw people wearing clothes he had never seen before, everyone holding a square block in their hands, climbing into four-wheeled boxes the size of carriages...

"Where is this?"

In the dream, he didn't think about this question at all; instead, he sat to the side in a daze, with a broken bowl placed in front of him.

Following the habits of the dream, he knocked on the broken bowl blankly, kowtowing and begging to every man and woman who passed by.

And in the dream, busy with begging, he did not notice that in a coffee shop not far behind him, a young man was drinking coffee while staring at his back.

"Butian Alliance... what kind of organization is this? Daring to stir up trouble on Beigan's territory."

"Tsk, there are quite a few Restrictions set within this guy's Divine Soul, and they are all lethal upon contact."

"Mm, the kind where I only need to touch it once, and he dies completely."

This was simply inhumane torture... for Ren Yidao.

When someone places a button in front of you that would cause others to die miserably if pressed, do you know how much resolve he has to muster to control himself and refrain from pressing it?

You don't know.

You only care about yourself! (Pointing fingers)

Ren Yidao managed to suppress the impulse to try pressing it for fun with great difficulty, thinking to himself: "Forget it, I shouldn't alert the enemy; let him live for a while longer."

"Let me observe for a period of time first to see if I can discover more interesting things."

"That cloak artifact is quite interesting; even I couldn't track its trail. If my past-life body's spiritual power hadn't been strong enough, I would have almost let him run away."

Just now, when Di Si left Li Yiyi's presence, Ren Yidao had almost lost the trail.

At this critical juncture, Ren Yidao had a flash of inspiration and successfully summoned his past-life body using the Fox Tail Clone.

The past-life body is a Dao Technique, and the clone can use it too.

After the past-life body appeared, he relied on its powerful spiritual power to capture the lingering fluctuations.

First, he followed the vine to find Di Si's cave, and then, when he cautiously left, he simply attached himself to him, leaving behind a strand of split soul hidden within his Consciousness Sea.

Then, when Di Si was weak, he took advantage of the vulnerability to induce him to start dreaming, and conducted illusion manipulation on him within the dream.

Although he still couldn't probe for key information about the Butian Alliance, he could still obtain some unimportant information.

"Oh—"

Ren Yidao narrowed his eyes and nodded slowly, chuckling: "Heh, so that's how it is."

"Uh, Your Highness, what did you say?"

Qingteng tilted her head, bringing her ear close to Ren Yidao's mouth, looking as if she were listening intently.

But in reality, this seemingly simple action of hers actually hid a mystery; she took the opportunity to press most of her body against him.

Pressing, squeezing, rubbing.

Ren Yidao: Hm?

Ren Yidao, who had come back to his senses under the strange sensation on his shoulder, tilted his head. He first looked down at his arm, which was wrapped up as if it had been half-eaten, then looked up to meet Qingteng's seemingly innocent eyes.

Finally, he turned his head to look at Cang Lan to the side, scanned her up and down with his gaze, and sighed while shaking his head regretfully.

"Sigh..."

Although he said nothing, it seemed he had said everything.

Cang Lan:???

What do you mean?

It's one thing for you to look at me and sigh, but where are you looking when you sigh!!?

Clang!

The next moment, her spear tip was already pressed against Ren Yidao's eyes, with the posture of stabbing him directly if things went wrong.

I'll stab you to death!

I'll poke your dog eyes out!

Ren Yidao curled his lips, ignoring her impotent rage, and turned to look at the other two.

Luzhi and Mo Qi, those two fellows, were looking to the sides with burning gazes, appearing to be focused on guarding, as if they had noticed nothing.

Very sensible.

They knew when they could look and when they shouldn't look even a second more.

But is avoidance useful?

Ren Yidao stared quietly at Luzhi's profile.

Finally, under Ren Yidao's half-smiling gaze, Luzhi gave in, gave a light, masking cough, turned his head, and asked him:

"Your Highness, we clearly returned yesterday, but why have we not entered the city yet?"

Finally couldn't hold it in?

Ren Yidao smiled, knowing the other three had this question too. He did not answer, but instead asked a question:

"Tell me, if the Demon Race Crown Prince were to have an accident outside, who would be the most agitated?"

The Crown Prince has an accident... wait!

Luzhi: "Ah?"

???