Chapter 62 Breaking Through the Realm: Silly boy, you're kind-hearted; consider yourself lucky. ...
By the time the aunt realized what was happening, it was too late. Bitao had stabbed her very deep, and most of the hairpin had been swallowed. She tried to pull it out, but only coughed up blood.
He covered his mouth, letting out a dying, pig-like scream from his throat.
At this moment, all the living souls that had been eyeing Bitao with predatory intent, waiting for her to jump down from the tree so they could devour her alive, finally realized what was happening.
"The Chen family couple..."
"It smells so good...so much meat!"
"Blood, it's blood... It smells so good, don't waste it..."
Bitao chose an empty gap and ran away as fast as she could.
"That little brat is trying to run away again, catch her!"
But at this moment, the aunt also staggered and fell to the ground, covering her mouth which was still spurting blood. In her bloodshot eyes, she saw the crowd rushing towards her.
The crowd's focus had shifted from Bitao to the man and woman lying on the ground.
The Taixu Sect cultivator who was previously put into the soup pot was about the same size as Bitao now, and was devoured in the blink of an eye.
Now, these two adult bodies, having devoured the life force of others to strengthen themselves, are clearly a feast for this group of starving villagers.
Bitao ran into the mountains, stumbling and crawling, her steps uneven.
At first, there were indeed two people who hesitated to pursue her, but they stopped after a few steps.
The "meat" laid out there was far too tempting for people starving to death.
If we don't hurry up and grab it, we won't even have any bones to gnaw on later!
The two men quickly spat and cursed, shouting, "No need to rush, this little girl can't have gone far into the mountains! Let's go eat some meat first, then we'll chase after her..."
No one was chasing her, but Bitao held her breath and ran faster and faster.
The souls lingering in dreams are equivalent to real people, and this "famine" corresponds to the people trapped in dreams.
Their bodies are now lying on their beds, neither eating nor drinking, their bellies burning, their life force exhausted, and they are slowly dying.
However, the living soul is different from a real person.
Their forms are pale, their steps unsteady, and they constantly produce malice to supply the evil spirits, and that malice is their soul.
The consumption of one's soul cannot be replenished by eating anything. Only by sharing other souls can one delay the time of one's dissipation, much like drinking poison to quench thirst.
During true famine years, cannibalism was not uncommon.
Even real living people are like this. These souls, whose minds have been bewitched by ghostly energy, will have their inherent malice pushed to the extreme due to their desire for life and the influence of evil spirits, becoming increasingly ferocious.
Even if there is no famine in this village, these souls that have lost their sense of self will eventually follow the path of cannibalism.
These people are beyond saving.
Bitao herself didn't know how long she had been running. She ran until she was completely exhausted, and when she could no longer see any trace of the village and could only see a desolate mountain, she finally collapsed to the ground, exhausted.
Bitao was panting like a emaciated, dying animal.
She was already at her limit when she climbed the tree, and after all this, she was completely exhausted.
Bitao knew she should quickly find a place to hide and entered the desolate mountains. What Bitao was afraid of was not even the living souls chasing after her.
They had a hearty meal tonight, which relieved their hunger. Their souls were dissipating so quickly that they wouldn't have much of a craving for the not-too-large piece of peach meat for the time being.
But there might be wild beasts in this desolate mountain, after all, that aunt said she wanted to feed her mother's ashes to wild dogs.
During famines, livestock are always the first to be eaten; tree bark is gnawed down to the top. Yet, dogs still exist in the village, which is completely illogical.
If this is true, it means that only human souls can alleviate the hunger of those living souls.
They no longer eat anything other than people.
The presence of dogs suggests the possible presence of wild beasts in the mountains.
But Bitao tried several times but couldn't get up.
Her body has not only been transformed into a child by the evil spirit, but she is also suffering from unbearable hunger, just like the other souls lingering in this dream.
Previously, she had been busy escaping and her senses were not very clear. Now that she was out of danger, it felt as if someone had lit a fire in Bitao's stomach.
A sharp, throbbing pain shot through her stomach. Bitao lay there with her eyes closed, still savoring the aroma that had wafted from the large iron pot earlier.
That's right, it's the aroma.
Bitao had long since discovered that even those living souls smelled sweet to her.
She was savoring the deadly allure of the blood splattering after she killed the two elderly Chen family members.
Clearly, if this dream cannot be broken free of as soon as possible, those trapped within it will gradually be assimilated, even if they are not captured and devoured alive by those living spirits.
It will turn into a mindless "demon" who only knows hunger and eating.
Bitao had passed through the eighteen levels of hell, but she didn't feel that she was in much pain.
Lying here in this desolate mountain, I can still endure the throbbing pain in my internal organs, but I can hardly suppress my craving for flesh and blood.
This longing evolved to the point that, in a moment of reverie, Bitao even smelled the aroma of roasted pig's trotters.
This wicked demon relentlessly preys on the unhideable desires of those who fall into its dreams.
If those living souls all smell of roasted pig's trotters, it would be a truly... hellish test for Bitao.
Bitao lay there until night fell, and when she heard no sound of anyone chasing her, she mustered up some strength and got up again.
The good news was that she didn't hear any wolf howls or see any trace of animals.
That aunt must have been lying to her; there probably weren't any dogs or other animals.
The bad news is... Bitao picked up a dead tree branch, used it to support herself and barely managed to walk, and eventually just crawled on the ground.
Hunger had drained all her strength, leaving her with no choice but to use all four limbs.
Before losing consciousness, Bitao found a tree hollow filled with a large pile of withered weeds and leaves.
The tree hole wasn't big enough to house an adult, but luckily Bitao was small enough.
Bitao knelt there, dug out everything piled up inside the tree hole, and crawled inside herself.
He peeked his upper body out of the tree hole and gathered the withered grass and fallen leaves back to cover himself.
He found a fairly sturdy and sharp branch, held it in his hand, and then let himself fall into a deep sleep with peace of mind.
Bitao had a dream.
While dreaming within a dream, Bitao's consciousness was eroded to the greatest extent, and she felt that she had really become a little girl.
But perhaps because Bitao's willpower was too strong, everything around her seemed unreal. At least compared to the real village during the day, everything in her dream was shrouded in fog.
The mist represents the edge of an unconstructable illusion. In the dream, Bitao is small and thin, being held and dragged along by a hand as thin as a skeleton.
Many people were chasing them. Their faces were not clear, but their aura and voices were very fierce. They were holding hoes and pickaxes and kept telling the two of them to stop.
He held onto Bitao's hand tightly and kept running frantically. Bitao fell several times, but was quickly pulled up each time.
The person holding her was a woman. Bitao could see her emaciated figure, slender, tall, frail, yet resolute.
Her long hair fell down, brushing against Bitao's cheek as she ran.
A surge of tenderness and longing, not belonging to her, welled up in Bitao's heart. She reached out to grasp the woman's long hair—but suddenly the scene shifted. The woman lay on the ground, her body mutilated, her long hair stained with blood and dirt, chaotically covering her already dead head.
The group of fierce, blurry figures that had been chasing the two were now each clutching a piece of meat, devouring it in a bloody manner.
“Mother…” Bitao heard her own faint, mosquito-like voice and saw herself crawling toward the woman who was now just a head and a skeleton.
"Kill this little brat too." One of the men, who had received a large piece of meat, was still eyeing Bitao greedily.
But the people around her said, "She's too thin, there's no meat on her bones... and she has the plague."
Then all the sounds faded away, and a thick fog began to spread, engulfing the entire world.
Only Bitao and that woman remained in the world.
Bitao saw herself holding the woman's head and weeping softly.
She kept calling out "Mother".
A burning pain, like fire, began to spread through her chest, and her cries grew softer and softer.
After an unknown amount of time, the head in her arms seemed to move slightly. The woman opened her eyes amidst her disheveled hair, gazing at Bitao with tenderness and compassion.
She actually said, "My little darling, you must be starving. Eat something."
As the woman spoke, she raised her arm, which had been mostly stripped of its flesh, leaving only some remnants, and offered it to Bitao.
An unparalleled fragrance wafted into her nostrils, spreading through her limbs and penetrating deep into her bones, urging Bitao to open her mouth in her dream, crying.
Under the woman's loving and tender gaze, she began to devour the woman's remaining flesh and blood, swallowing greedily while squeezing out soft sobs.
The thick fog shrouded the entire world in gray and white, with only the blood flowing from the girl's mouth as she couldn't swallow it all being the only bright color.
Bitao suddenly opened her eyes, the lingering fragrance still on her lips.
Before dawn, the withered mountains and forests, parched by drought, presented a dreamlike gray-white hue.
For a moment, Bitao was in a daze, unable to distinguish whether she was the little girl in her dream or... the Bitao Fairy from the heavens.
Soon, the intense hunger that made her feel like her internal organs were digesting themselves came over her, and Bitao quickly snapped out of her daze.
She was so hungry, so very hungry.
She raised her hands, and in just one night, her fingers seemed to be reaching into the mist, becoming blurred like those exhausted souls.
If she didn't eat anything soon, Bitao knew her soul would weaken to the point of dissipating.
She will die here.
So Bitao crawled out of the tree hole, driven by a maddening hunger, and began to walk towards the village.
She needs to "eat something".
Only the soul can replenish what the living soul has consumed.
Gradually, the light in her eyes became cloudy.
In his mind, he had already come up with dozens of ways to use the surrounding environment and traps to hunt down those living souls.
The thought of soon being able to taste those incredibly fragrant and unforgettable "delicious foods" gave her the strength she didn't know she possessed. She threw away the stick she had been using and started running towards the village.
The sky gradually brightened behind Bitao, and the sunlight in this dreamlike world scorched the earth like a fireball every day.
It illuminates the figure of each person, but cannot illuminate the endless evil thoughts and darkness in their hearts.
The souls that remain within have no shadows.
As Bitao ran, she didn't notice that dawn had already risen, and her shadow was gradually fading as her evil thoughts were aroused.
As she stood behind a large tree at the edge of the village, her mind taking shape with various plans to hunt down these souls, her shadow vanished without a trace.
High above, the Silver River Net tracked Bi Tao's celestial position, some worried, others gloating.
"Aaaaaaah, my peach! You have to hold on! Don't let evil thoughts control you!"
"It's hard for her not to fall into depravity. She's always been good at taking shortcuts and finding loopholes. Tsk, she was so calm when she passed through that illusion of the eighteen levels of hell. I thought she was so amazing..."
"Mingguang Xuanxian has already broken through the three layers of dreams and is about to arrive at Xi Egui's lair. He is looking for his good junior sister, and she is in grave danger!"
"Isn't it natural that Mingguang Xuanxian, with his talent for clearing his mind and breaking through barriers, would quickly break through the dream realm?"
"Ice Wheel Celestial Immortal has already broken through two layers of illusion, and now she has also found a way to break the current 'malicious spread'. She will soon join forces with Bright Light Mystic Immortal. Indeed, when it comes to truly facing evil spirits and demons, we still have to rely on our naturally pure and noble ancient immortal clan."
"Stop talking nonsense. The reason why Ice Wheel Celestial Immortal is so fast is because fire element is naturally the most effective against evil spirits and demons, isn't it?"
"Oh, Mingguang Xuanxian and Binglun Tianxian are powerful because of their innate skills, right? But these talents were bestowed upon the ancient immortal race by the Heavenly Rules, so that's right, destiny is in our hands!"
"So far, there are a total of seventeen completely different dream realms, which pull cultivators into different dream realms according to their inner fears."
"In these dreams, only the 'famine village' of the Peach Blossom Fairy is truly the most ferocious, directly devouring people."
"No way! True Immortal Bingjing has replaced Shui Ling and entered the Five Elements Formation. She is currently trapped in the 'love and hate inversion'. In addition, the Heaven-Reversing Seal that activates the Five Elements Extermination Formation has the effect of reversing the universe. Love turns into hate, and hate turns into love. She can't tell who is the enemy and who is the relative. This is the most difficult situation to break, right?"
"Where is my second senior sister, Zhang Yuluan? I really like her personality. Why don't I see her?"
"Second Senior Sister, hahaha, I saw her at True Immortal Cangling's place. After she passed through the eighteen levels of purgatory, she fell into the 'Sea of Blood and Lust,' where people's five senses are disordered and everyone is bloodthirsty."
"She wanted to save a few souls from a place where souls were crushed into blood and gore. As a result, two souls, after she awakened their senses, went mad with fright and pushed her into the sea of blood in order to save their own lives."
"Then, in a fit of rage, the second senior sister drew her sword and went on a rampage, causing the true form outside the formation to also become grotesque. She was quickly awakened by the junior sister guarding the formation. After that, she refused to enter the Demon-Slaying Formation again, saying that the people were beyond saving and they should all just die."
"Hahahaha, 'I won't save those who wouldn't even eat dogs and pigs,' right?! I'm going to die laughing after hearing what she said..."
"Tao Tao, Tao Tao, hang in there..."
"What exactly is the method to break through in this 'famine village'? At least in other dreams, cultivators either leave or are directly awakened."
“In this famine village, not a single cultivator who entered has ever left. They were either eaten or assimilated. Even after being assimilated, they were quickly eaten again. After all, cultivators who enter this dream world not only lose their cultivation but also have their physical forms altered.”
"Didn't two more go in last night? It seems one of them survived, that guy from the Thunder Sect surnamed Lü, what's his name again?"
...
"My name is Lü Youcai. I'm the body cultivator leading the Thunder Sect team. The one whose protective technique your second senior sister's sword formation pierced through!"
"Fellow Daoist Yue, although I've shrunk, my appearance hasn't changed much. Don't you remember? I've always looked like this, though I look a bit older..."
"Fellow Daoist Yue, what's wrong?"
"We can't stay here. We have to get into the mountains and hide quickly, otherwise those villagers will catch up with us and eat us alive!"
“I came in here with another disciple from the Wenxin Pavilion, and he… was eaten. He couldn’t run as fast as I could.”
"Quick! Come with me!"
Just as Bitao was about to sneak into the village silently, she saw a short figure sneaking furtively from the direction of the village into the desolate mountains.
He was holding something in his arms, and his clothes were bulging exaggeratedly.
When they got closer, Bitao realized that the other person was a "child" just like her.
Moreover, when he saw Bitao, he was stunned for a moment before recognizing her identity.
Immediately afterwards, he grabbed Bitao and ran into the desolate mountains.
The peach blossoms followed him, and the air was filled with the fragrance of a living soul, which was carried by the wind straight into his nostrils.
He held Bitao's hand, and she stumbled along, her steps uneven. As expected of a physical cultivator, even though his body had been suppressed, it hadn't significantly affected his physical strength.
Compared to Bitao's thin and weak appearance, he looked like a robust country boy who looked a bit older than his age.
Her skin is dark, shiny, and firm...it looks delicious.
Bitao followed behind him, and several times she was about to kneel down due to exhaustion, but he pulled her up each time.
He swallowed several mouthfuls of saliva uncontrollably.
To replenish the excessively depleted divine soul, a cultivator's life soul is much better than that of a mortal.
Moreover, it's obviously easier to risk hunting down living souls throughout the village than to deal with a wild boy of similar size who is completely unsuspecting.
Soon, the Thunder Sect body cultivator who called himself Lü Youcai pulled Bitao into a pit.
This place is a natural refuge. The surrounding mountains form a natural depression, and two small people would hardly be noticed if they didn't walk up the surrounding hillsides.
Lu Youcai was clearly exhausted. After jumping into the pit, he collapsed onto it, and the thing he had been carrying all the way rolled out from under the hem of his clothes.
It was a section of human arm bone, covered with teeth marks, and had been gnawed and mottled.
The bones rolled in the sand, with the only remaining finger bones pointing towards the peach blossoms.
Bitao glanced at it and, based on the length and slenderness of the bones, deduced that this was probably her "aunt".
After all, the bones that went into the soup pot had been simmering for a while, and this raw bone, with such fresh teeth marks, could only have been killed by the "Chen couple" yesterday in order to protect herself.
"Fellow Daoist Yue! Fellow Daoist Yue, please don't be afraid! Don't misunderstand!"
Lu Youcai immediately picked up the bone, stuck it into the sand behind him, and said with a dry mouth, "Let me explain!"
Bitao looked at him quietly, her breathing heavy.
Not only was she exhausted from following Lü Youcai all this way, but also from sitting close to him now, smelling the aura of a living soul emanating from him, which made her unable to suppress the bloodlust and restlessness in her heart.
It smells so good.
It smells so good...
Since Bitao fell into this dream yesterday, the most frequent comment from the spirits has been how fragrant it is.
Now, only these two words are left in her mind.
Lu Youcai scratched his head, afraid that Bitao would suspect that he was some kind of ruthless killer.
"This isn't...this is someone's bone, I don't know..."
"I stole it from the village."
"I didn't kill him! I just stole a piece of his bone..."
"That person must have been eaten alive, that's so tragic, and judging from their build, it was an adult... no, it should be two adults!"
"Two adults were eaten alive, and all those villagers are living ghosts, did you notice? They're living ghosts! They're the people we're supposed to save! There's no hope, there's really no hope..."
"This dream is absolutely terrifying! We need to get out of here as soon as possible..."
"I originally thought there were no other fellow Daoists besides me, but fortunately we met Fellow Daoist Yue. We can get out of here with this bone!"
Lu Youcai stared intently at Bitao, his face full of excitement, and Bitao stared intently at him, her eyes also full of excitement.
However, Lü Youcai only arrived last night. In the darkness, the Wenxin Pavilion cultivators who were traveling with him were devoured by the living souls. Relying on his good physique, he ran fast enough that even the living souls couldn't catch up with him, and he directly plunged into the desolate mountains.
Therefore, he did not notice that Bitao's eyes were glowing with a faint green light at this moment, and the expression she gave him was exactly the same as when those living souls were devouring people.
Although Lü Youcai's name means "talented," he actually lacks ambition. He may be physically strong, but he has little knowledge.
He spoke haltingly, rambling on and on, unable to make sense of the main point. When he and Binglun were together, it was like one of them was talking nonsense and the other was talking gibberish.
After talking for a while, he realized that he hadn't expressed himself clearly.
He grabbed Bitao's wrist and asked, "Did you have that dream?"
"It's that dream... where you turn into a little girl and a woman pulls you away to escape, and then that woman dies!"
"I had this dream last night, and now I know how to get out of it!"
“My last dream was ‘memory immersion.’ Every time I came into contact with someone, I would receive that person’s memories, which were all memories of madness and pain.”
"I couldn't even tell who I was, or whether I had experienced those things. I almost forgot who I was..."
Lu Youcai was practically dancing with joy, and then something fell out of his chest as he danced around.
It is an axe.
Bitao lowered her eyes and glanced at it, recognizing it as the axe that the group of people had brought when they were cutting down the tree yesterday.
So that arm segment we just saw really belonged to her "aunt".
Lu Youcai paused, then saw Bitao staring at the axe, and quickly picked it up as well.
Driven by his body-strengthening instincts, he grabbed the weapon and swung it a couple of times before placing it at his feet.
"Fellow Daoist Le! This axe is for chopping bones, but that's not the point. Let me tell you about that dream first!"
"In my previous dream, I had already forgotten who I was. Then I had another dream... I dreamt of a person covered in wounds, and everyone around him was in a daze, except for that one person who was conscious!"
"When I woke up and came into contact with other people, I injured myself so that I could stay conscious. Then I managed to wake up all the people from the previous dream!"
"I also had a dream last night that led me to this dream, in which I became a little girl... I've already apologized for that!"
"You had that dream too, didn't you?"
Lu Youcai looked at Bitao eagerly, his big eyes darting back and forth, and leaned closer to her.
Bitao clenched her fists tightly, needing to use all her willpower to prevent herself from rushing forward and biting his neck, drinking his blood.
She closed her eyes briefly before saying, "Yes."
Lu Youcai slapped his thigh: "That's it! That's it! This dream within a dream is the way to get out of here!"
"In the dream, the little girl ate the woman at the end."
Lu Youcai reached back and took out the bone that had been stuffed into the sand. He patted and blew off the sand, then waved it in front of Bitao's eyes, which were already barely visible.
His face was dark, but he smiled, revealing a set of innocent, white teeth.
He confidently declared, "All we need to do is gnaw on this bone, and we'll be able to get out of this dream."
"I was afraid it would be hard to chew, so I grabbed an axe, which was just the right amount to crack the bone..."
As Lü Youcai said this, Bitao had already picked up the axe at his feet.
Her arms were trembling, and her breathing was heavy and disordered. She had been sitting for so long, and there was no sign of it getting better.
She looked down and saw that her legs were blurred in the sunlight.
She can't delay any longer.
She took the axe, raised it, and pointed it at Lü Youcai.
Lu Youcai was completely unaware of what he was about to encounter, but when he finally saw Bitao's eyes clearly, he felt a chill run down his spine, straight to the top of his head.
But even someone as straightforward as him, no matter how hard he tried, couldn't figure out what Bitao was up to.
Instinct was already urging him to retreat and dodge, but he hesitated for a moment, holding the bone in his hand and pushing it forward: "...Fellow Daoist Yue, shall we chop it?"
Then Bitao raised her axe and smashed it directly at him!
On the silver net, the group that had been tracking Bitao all breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing this.
Zhu Ming couldn't help but stand up from the table, the tea in his hand being rolled up by his sleeve and falling to the ground.
With a loud "snap," the shattering sound was absolutely terrifying.
His expression instantly became so anxious it was almost distorted.
However, Dong Wanggong, who had just brought back a group of people and was finally able to sit down and drink some tea, said: "...Is it really necessary?"
Looking at the teacup that had fallen to the ground and smelling the plum blossom fragrance that filled the room, Dong Wanggong sighed, "What a waste... You didn't have much hair to begin with."
Zhu Ming stared intently at the silver net, watching helplessly as Bi Tao's axe fell.
The two souls she killed earlier were not considered to have committed any evil deeds because they had tried to harm her first.
However, if she were to kill and devour this cultivator to replenish her depleted spiritual energy, even if she survived and left the dream world, she would be directly captured by the immortals accompanying the competition, the competition would be terminated, and she would be taken back to the Nine Heavens for punishment.
Now, the "eye of the storm" she herself stirred up has created a climate of fear and unease throughout the land.
This cultivator wasn't even a celestial being; he was merely a mortal from the Star Realm.
Killing him and devouring his soul would be even more serious than harming a fellow immortal—it would be harming all living beings.
Even if Zhu Ming resigns from his position as Chief Cultivator, he still can't protect her!
As the axe fell, Zhu Ming didn't dare to look and closed his eyes.
Dong Wanggong clicked his tongue: "With you acting like this, I really have to suspect that you like this Little Fairy Bitao."
"If you like it, go for it! That wicked Jade Official has gone to see the little rabbit several times already.
"This Fairy Bitao has always liked Immortal Mingguang, if you don't try to win her over..."
Zhu Ming slammed his hand on the table.
The Eastern King's words came to an abrupt halt.
Zhu Ming mustered his courage to go see the Silver River Gullion...
Above the silver net, Bitao twisted her wrist as she swung the axe, switching the sharp end with the handle.
The child-sized body landed on the sand with a very, very soft sound.
"Thump".
The wooden hand slammed down on the head of the incessantly talking Lü Youcai, knocking him unconscious.
Zhu Ming let out a long sigh and almost collapsed into the chair.
Fortunately, she wasn't actually affected by the evil spirit and lost her mind.
As a result, Dongwanggong turned his head, his eyes lit up with a green light, a dark green, and his expression imitated Bitao who had just swung the axe.
She asked him quietly, "Were you getting angry at me just now?"
Zhu Ming: "...How dare I, your humble servant?" Can you please stop making things worse!
Dong Wanggong frowned slightly as he looked at Yin Han Gu.
Zhu Ming looked over as well, and then gasped.
Despite the mighty Milky Way net, Bitao did not put down her axe.
Instead, he raised the axe again, aimed it at the arm of the unconscious Lü Youcai, and brought it down hard.
"Aww!"
"Ahhhh—"
Lu Youcai had one of his fingers chopped off, and the pain jolted him awake from his coma.
As soon as he sat up from the sand, Bitao picked up the blood-stained, sandy finger and stuffed it into his mouth, which was screaming in pain.
Lu Youcai's scream was choked by his own fingers, and his gaze toward Bitao turned fierce.
He was about to spit out his finger.
Bitao covered his mouth to prevent him from spitting it out.
"Swallow it!"
Bitao's eyes still shone with an abnormal light, her gaze and voice filled with oppression. She pressed her fingers on his Adam's apple and pinched it hard. Lü Youcai instinctively swallowed, actually swallowing her own finger!
"This is to repay the kindness of your offer to help me escape from the dream."
Silly boy, you have a kind heart; you're lucky.
Before Bitao could finish speaking, Lü Youcai had already vanished from the spot.
Bitao raised her axe again and chopped off one of her fingers without hesitation.
To break free from this dream, Lü Youcai only guessed half the way correctly.
Neither humans nor ghosts can replicate things they haven't seen.
No matter how powerful the evil spirit is, it cannot create illusions out of thin air. It must be weaving dreams based on the memories of the people it has devoured.
He absorbed the most painful, helpless, and desperate memories of those people, so the dreams he constructed were filled with pain, bloodshed, and despair.
A dream within a dream is likely the remaining consciousness of a soul that has been devoured by a malevolent spirit.
No matter how painful the situation, it will eventually end. When a thing or a person reaches a dead end, they will inevitably enter the next stage.
Therefore, the way out lies in the dead end—a dream within a dream, formed from the most desperate memories of the living soul that the evil spirits cannot erase.
The dream within a dream that Lü Youcai experienced during the "memory immersion" should also be the consciousness of his remaining soul.
Bitao originally planned to sneak back to the village and try her luck to find the ashes of her "mother" buried under the locust tree that her aunt had mentioned.
After all, in that dream, the little girl she transformed into ate her "mother's" flesh.
If anyone tries to stop her or discovers her, she will hunt down living souls in order to protect herself.
However, Lü Youcai's appearance provided Bitao with other information.
He had previously deciphered the dream within a dream and even sent his soul away, so it's impossible that the evil spirits wouldn't react.
With so many cultivators entering the dream world and distributed across different dream realms, even Lü Youcai could come up with the method, so surely others must have discovered the key to it as well.
The evil spirits would not allow them to continue breaking through their realms smoothly through the remaining consciousness of their souls.
Based on her own experience, Bitao concluded that remaining in this dream realm would lead to assimilation.
Regardless of whether Lu Youcai found the bone of the living soul, whether swallowing it counts as consuming the living soul, or whether it can replenish his energy.
In reality, even if you truly devour the living soul within this dream realm, you still cannot escape.
If consuming the living souls here really works, then the Taixu Sect cultivator who Bitao witnessed being thrown into the soup pot choked on the hot soup as soon as he was thrown in.
That's a soup made by stewing people; it's thick, milky white, and has been used to stew countless people.
Choking on it is the same as eating a living soul.
However, he failed to break through the barrier and disappear; instead, he was devoured by other living souls.
So consuming the dream's living soul is useless, and continuing to linger is also not an option...
Bitao recalled the inexplicable emotional impact she had when she was in the tree and was threatened by that aunt, which made her want to jump down. She deduced that if her mother's ashes had been discovered by the aunt, they would have been gone long ago.
Otherwise, if it were so effective, her aunt would have dug it up and threatened her long ago, instead of just talking and immediately reverting to her vicious nature when she realized that Bitao wasn't fooled.
Instead, they joined the others in sawing and chopping down the tree, forcing her to come down.
Most importantly, in the dream within a dream, the "mother" is being eaten. How can a child suffering from the plague collect the mother's remains?
If the ashes cannot be contained, where will they come from?
Even if there were, they would probably be cenotaphs or something similar.
All the details were listed in Bitao's mind; this dream had once been a desperate situation.
However, nothing in this world is absolute; even the most powerful formations must have a point of survival.
Bitao completely immersed herself in the dream within a dream—the little girl who was the true creator of this dream.
She considered this memory as the most painful, terrifying, and unforgettable ordeal of her life, a memory that even being devoured by the evil spirit couldn't erase.
What is her greatest fear and source of pain?
Was it hunger, a hellish world, or the horde of crazed villagers chasing after them?
no.
Bitao clearly remembers feeling warm inside as she ran because her mother held her tightly. During the escape, she even tried to grab her mother's long hair.
Was that her mother's death? Was it the helplessness she felt watching her mother being devoured by the crowd?
Or... in order to survive, her hallucinatory mother came back to life and reached out her hand, gently and lovingly letting her eat her?
How could a child possibly survive in such a desperate situation?
Besides eating her mother...
She can even eat a part of herself!
Bitao pinched the severed finger, put it in her mouth, and swallowed it with her neck stiff.
Ignoring the excruciating pain and bleeding from his fingers, he lay down on the sand with his eyes closed, his brows slightly furrowed.
It doesn't taste very good to eat your own food.
But her figure blurred rapidly under the scorching sunlight, becoming transparent, her soul completely penetrated by the sunlight, clear and pure, untouched by any evil.
A feeling of weightlessness washed over her, and she fell into the next layer of the dream.
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