Chapter 37: The Prison of the Heart
After an unspecified amount of time drifting in the darkness, Chu Yun finally saw a glimmer of light. Then, a powerful pulling force gripped him, yanking his consciousness toward the light. When he regained consciousness, he found himself standing on cracked ground. Beneath his feet flowed a river of black, viscous liquid. Above him, the sky was gray, dotted with vast, spiderweb-like cracks. "Is this... a dream?" Chu Yun whispered to himself. He glanced at his hands; they were solid, no longer the empty, conscious state he'd been in before. He reached out and touched his chest; the "Heart Guarding Talisman" was still there, emitting a steady warmth. "Chu Yun!" a voice called from nearby. Chu Yun immediately turned to see Li Ge and Mo Li, both of whom looked equally shocked. They were standing not far away, with Zhi Lan following closely behind them. "Are you all okay?" Chu Yun walked over quickly. "It's fine for now," Li Ge's face darkened. "The connection of the 'Heart Knot' is weak. We almost got separated in that moment of time and space chaos." "This world..." Mo Li looked up at the shattered sky, her eyes filled with disbelief. "It... it seems alive." As she finished her words, the scene in a nearby clearing suddenly began to distort. A man in tattered clothes appeared out of nowhere, running forward in terror, screaming "Help!" Behind him, an indistinct, shadowy monster pursued him relentlessly. The man was eventually tackled by the monster, letting out a shrill scream before vanishing into thin air, along with the creature. Then, the scene began all over again: the man reappeared, ran again, and was tackled again. "It's the villager who spoke to us during the day," Li Ge's voice was chilled. "This is his nightmare. He's right here, reliving his most horrifying scenario over and over again." The four of them watched in silence. They looked elsewhere. Across this desolate land, similar tragedies recur incessantly. Some are consumed by flames, others plunge into the abyss, and some are betrayed by their loved ones. Each scene is a separate, enclosed "prison of the heart." The entire world is a patchwork of countless such desperate "prisons of the heart." "We must find the true source of the nightmare," Chu Yun said gravely. "We can't let them continue like this." "Where to go?" Mo Li asked. "It seems endless here..."
After an unknown amount of time drifting in the darkness, Chu Yun finally saw a glimmer of light. Immediately afterwards, a tremendous pulling force came over him, and his consciousness was fiercely pulled towards the light.
When he regained consciousness, he found himself standing on cracked, dry earth. Beneath his feet was a river flowing with a black, viscous liquid. Above him, the sky was gray, covered in giant cracks like spiderwebs.
"Is this... a dream?" Chu Yun whispered to himself. He looked at his hands; they were solid, no longer the empty, conscious state he'd been in before. He reached out and touched his chest; the "Heart Guarding Talisman" was still there, emitting a steady warmth.
"Chu Yun!" A voice called from not far away. Chu Yun immediately turned around and saw Li Ge and Mo Li, who also looked shocked. The two of them were standing not far away, with Zhi Lan following closely behind them.
"Are you all okay?" Chu Yun walked over quickly.
"It's okay for now." Li Ge's face was very ugly. "The connection of the 'Heart Knot' is very weak. We almost got separated in the confusion of time and space just now."
"This world..." Mo Li looked up at the shattered sky, his eyes filled with disbelief, "It...it seems to be alive."
As soon as she finished speaking, the scene in a nearby clearing suddenly began to distort. A man in tattered clothes appeared out of nowhere, running forward in terror, screaming "Help!" Behind him, an indistinct, shadowy monster stalked him. The man was eventually tackled by the monster, uttering a shrill cry before vanishing into thin air, along with the creature itself. Then, the scene began anew: the man reappeared, ran again, and was tackled again.
"It's the villager who spoke to us during the day." Li Ge's voice was a little cold. "This is his nightmare. He is here, repeating his most fearful scene over and over again."
The four of them watched the scene in silence. They looked elsewhere. They saw similar tragedies unfolding everywhere on this desolate land, recurring incessantly. Some were consumed by fire, others plunged into the abyss, some betrayed by their loved ones. Each scene was a separate, enclosed "prison of the heart." The entire world was a patchwork of countless such hopeless "prisons of the heart."
"We must find the Nightmare's true form." Chu Yun said in a deep voice, "We can't let them go on like this."
"Where are we going?" Mo Li asked. "It seems endless here, and all the scenery is constantly changing."
At this moment, a woman who was being chased by flames deviated from her original route in her nightmare loop and rushed towards the four people crying.
"Be careful!" Chu Yun immediately stepped forward, blocking the crowd. He pulled out a piece of talisman paper from his bosom. Before entering the dream, he had deliberately brought some blank talisman paper with him, hoping it would come in handy.
He used his finger as a pen and quickly drew a "Thunder and Fire Talisman" rune on the talisman paper. However, when he activated the talisman, the expected lightning flash did not appear. The talisman only lit up with a faint flame, and then, like a pebble dropped into a lake, it stirred a small ripple around the woman's body before disappearing completely, leaving her without any effect.
"What's going on?" Chu Yun's pupils shrank suddenly. "My talisman...is ineffective?"
"No, it's not ineffective." Li Ge observed from the side, her eyes extremely solemn. "It's that the 'rules' of this world are different. The foundation of construction here is mental power, not the vital energy of heaven and earth. Your talisman draws on the power of vital energy, so it will naturally be infinitely weakened here."
Chu Yun's heart sank. If the talisman technique he was most proud of was useless here, then what was the difference between him and an ordinary person?
The woman being chased by the flames continued to rush towards them regardless. Chu Yun gritted his teeth and drew another talisman. This time, he drew the "Golden Light Talisman."
"It's useless!" Mo Li reminded him, "The rules are different. No matter how many you draw, it won't work..."
She paused before she finished her words. This time, Chu Yun wasn't emitting a faint light anymore. A golden shield, though not bright, was surprisingly solid and stable.
The woman slammed heavily into the light shield and was thrown back. Then, along with the flames chasing her, her figure gradually faded and finally disappeared, returning to her original nightmare cycle.
"How... did you do that?" Mo Li looked at Chu Yun in shock.
Chu Yun stared at his glowing fingers, lost in thought. He whispered, "Just now... I wasn't thinking about 'attack' or 'defense.'"
"So what did you think?"
"What I thought was... 'I must protect them.'" Chu Yun replied.
He looked up at Li Ge and Mo Li, a glint of understanding in his eyes. "I understand. In this world, what determines our strength isn't the amount of power within us, nor the complexity of the runes. It's... our 'belief.'"
"belief?"
"Yes." Chu Yun nodded. "When I drew the first talisman just now, I was thinking 'use thunder and fire to disperse her'. This was a pure 'idea' based on strength, so it failed. But when I drew the second talisman, the only thought in my mind was 'I can't let her hurt the people behind me'. This was a pure 'will' that came from the heart. It was this will that gave the talisman its power."
Li Ge and Mo Li both fell into deep thought. Chu Yun's discovery completely overturned their understanding of power.
"That...that sad adult seems to be over there." Zhilan, who had been quiet all the time, suddenly stretched out her finger and pointed in a direction.
The three of them looked in the direction she pointed. There, like everywhere else, was a repetition of countless nightmare fragments, with no discernible abnormality.
"How do you know?" Mo Li asked.
"I can feel it," Zhilan said. "All the 'heart prisons' are leaning in that direction. Just like all the streams flow into the same great river. The 'sorrow' in that direction is the strongest."
"I believe her." Chu Yun said without hesitation, "Let's go in that direction."
Li Ge and Mo Li exchanged a glance and nodded. In this bizarre world, Zhilan's pure intuition might be more reliable than all their analysis and judgment.
The four of them began to move in the direction indicated by Zhilan. They carefully moved through the gaps between the various nightmares, trying their best to avoid contact with the villagers who were trapped in the cycle.
But this world doesn't seem to want them to move forward easily.
Just as they were passing through a nightmare area of "drowning", the dry and cracked ground under their feet suddenly turned into dark, cold deep water without any warning. The four of them instantly lost their balance and sank.
"Don't panic! Stay calm!" Chu Yun shouted. He immediately focused his attention on his feet, trying to steady himself. But the pull of the water was so strong that he couldn't help but sink.
At this moment, Li Ge made her move. She did not panic, but took out a black silk thread from her bosom. At the other end of the thread, there was a short needle made of dark wood, which was completely black.
"Underworld, Soul Binding Rope." She thrust the short needle fiercely into her arm, then flung the thread upward. The thread seemed to come alive, instantly extending upward and entangling a "fragment" of the shattered sky that "floated" overhead.
Li Ge used the force of the thread to steady her sinking body. Then she quickly grabbed Mo Li and Zhi Lan with her other hand.
"Chu Yun!" She stretched out her hand towards the sinking Chu Yun.
Chu Yun immediately grabbed her hand. The four of them, relying on this strange thread connecting Li Ge's body to the fragment of the sky, temporarily hovered in the dark deep water.
"This is an illusion!" Mo Li looked at the "arms" made of black water that kept reaching out to grab their ankles and shouted, "As long as we believe it is fake, it can't hurt us!" "No, this is not an illusion." Li Ge's face was ugly, "This is the fusion of the 'heart prison'. The nightmare has discovered us. It is mobilizing the nightmares of other villagers to attack us!"
As soon as she finished speaking, the scene around the four of them changed dramatically again. The dark, deep water instantly vanished, replaced by a sea of inferno burning fiercely. Scorching waves surged in from all directions, threatening to devour them completely.
Chu Yun's pupils suddenly contracted. He was too familiar with this scene.
"Dad!" he shouted uncontrollably.
"Chu Yun! Wake up! This is fake!" Li Ge's voice exploded in his ears.
But it was too late. The moment he saw the sea of fire, Chu Yun's most painful memory, which he had suppressed for thirteen years, was completely brought out. His will began to waver.
The "Heart-Protecting Talisman" on his chest began to flash violently, with the light flickering.
Nightmare's attack has accurately found the weakest and most fatal link of this team.
It begins to attack everyone's...heart.
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