Once you realize you're in a dream created by a dream demon, the dream will vanish.
Upon seeing their surroundings, the group was dumbfounded, their hair standing on end.
A dilapidated village, a white mist hanging in the air, and a dreamer wandering around like a ghost with eyes open and arms hanging limply.
This is too eerie.
creak—creak—
It was the sound of a swing swaying.
Chu Hongluan looked in the direction of the sound and saw a wicker swing hanging from the clouds. The female village chief she had seen before was sitting on the swing, watching them with great interest.
"The younger generation is truly formidable."
"You are the Dream Demon?"
"It's me." The dream demon's smile was always very gentle. "Now that you have seen through the dream I wove, you may leave. As for the person you are looking for, it's not that I won't let him go, it's that he himself is unwilling to wake up."
"Elder Chu! I've caught Elder Wangsheng!"
Li Dazhuang's powerful shouts drew everyone's attention.
Chu Hongluan looked at him with a complicated expression, "No, don't pick him up and swing him around... Put that old man Wangsheng down first."
Li Dazhuang, half-understanding, straightened Wang Sheng in front of Chu Hongluan and released his large hand that was gripping Wang Sheng's collar.
But no sooner had they let go than Wang Sheng began to wander uncontrollably again.
"Alright, you should just carry him. Who knows where he'll run off to again in a minute."
The dream demon blinked and kindly reminded, "But his soul is still locked in my dream. Even if you take him away, he won't wake up."
Chu Hongluan retorted nonchalantly, "It doesn't matter. He's an old drunkard anyway, living a life of debauchery all day long. Whether he wakes up or not doesn't matter, and it saves us money on alcohol."
The dream demon smiled gently, pointed her delicate hand into the air, and a mirror appeared, revealing an image from a dream to everyone.
A handsome young man with his hair loosely draped over his shoulders leaned against the door, holding a knife, his eyes filled with tenderness as he gazed at his wife busy in the kitchen.
Why are you showing this to us?
"Yes, although this handsome guy is indeed very good-looking."
The dream demon choked for a moment, then kindly reminded them, "Take another look."
Chu Hongluan's originally calm expression cracked slightly.
"You're not trying to tell us this is a fabrication, are you?"
"Hiss—" Everyone gasped in shock. "Impossible, right?"
The dream demon was very satisfied with their reaction. "After a cultivator breaks through to the Nascent Soul stage, they can actually reset their body's age range to achieve a return to their original state. Like me, I am already over six thousand years old. If I want, I can transform into this."
As she spoke, the dream demon's entire outline changed, transforming into the appearance of a seventeen or eighteen-year-old girl. "This is my eighteen-year-old form, but I still prefer this look because it makes me more dignified and less old, and I can still earn a respectful title when facing the younger generation."
The dream demon transformed back into the appearance of a beautiful woman.
"So you mean that Wang Sheng doesn't want to wake up because of this woman?" Chu Hongluan asked.
"Yeah. You humans are always like this, you don't cherish what you have, and you regret it when you lose it." The dream demon gently brushed the stray hairs that the wind had blown to her face behind her ear.
In the mirror image, Wang Sheng helped move the dining table under the peach tree, and the woman smiled as she placed the food on the table and invited Wang Sheng to sit down.
The woman rested her elbows on the table, her hands supporting her chin, and waited expectantly for Wang Sheng to taste her cooking.
Wang Sheng smiled, picked up a piece of food with his chopsticks, put it in his mouth, chewed it carefully, and swallowed it after a long while. Finally, he affectionately patted the woman's head and said softly, "Delicious."
To everyone's surprise, the smile on the woman's face faded.
She lowered her head and asked softly, "You're lying. You used to say that you felt like you could tear your throat off after just one bite of my cooking."
Wang Sheng remained silent, simply eating his food quietly.
Pitter-patter, the woman's tears fell.
She wiped away her tears, then suddenly looked up and slapped Wang Sheng's chopsticks away!
"Stop eating!!" the woman cried, breaking down in tears. "You're leaving, aren't you? You're still going to abandon me, aren't you?!"
Wang Sheng opened his mouth, but didn't know how to defend himself.
Finally, he got up and pulled the woman into his arms. The woman pounded on his chest and cried harder and harder.
Suddenly, she felt a warm, damp sensation on her shoulder.
The woman froze, and her crying stopped abruptly.
After a long silence, she asked in a daze, "So, you can be sad too. You also regret not treating me better back then, right?"
She smiled bitterly, and finally hugged him tightly. "That's enough, that's enough... The Wang Sheng I love was born unrestrained and loves adventure. That's why I love him, and also why I can't have him. I accept my fate. I've always wanted to tell you that I'm so happy to die in your arms and to see you cry for me... really."
The woman's body began to dissipate, like a dandelion in full bloom, carried away by the wind.
The mirror image began to become mottled, and the delusional dream dissipated.
Why are you carrying me?
The old man Wang Sheng, whom Li Dazhuang was carrying, regained consciousness and began frantically leaping about: "Unworthy grand-disciple!! Put me down!!"
Seven pairs of eyes stared at him, their expressions indescribable.
It's really a bit disjointed.
Li Dazhuang awkwardly put Wang Sheng down. Wang Sheng put his hands on his hips, raised his chin to the sky, and said, "What are you looking at? Are you stunned by how handsome I was when I was young?"
Chu Hongluan suddenly called out to him, "Master, can you tell us the story of you and your mistress?"
Wang Sheng was taken aback, and his expression softened instantly.
"She would be very happy to hear someone call her 'Master's Wife'. It's just a pity that the story between us isn't very good. We were childhood sweethearts, innocent and carefree, which should have been the perfect beginning to the story. But my persistent pursuit of adventure has widened the distance between us."
“At that time, I felt that two people with such different personalities were destined not to be together. But she said she refused to accept her fate. She gave up her peaceful life and followed me all over the country, even though I found her a nuisance, she was happy to do it.”
"As the saying goes, if you walk by the river long enough, you're bound to get your shoes wet. People who love adventure should die from it. She was so frail, yet she stood so resolutely in front of me. In the end, she died in my arms, one life for another."
But that vibrant and unrestrained life was also buried in that year.
My beloved is gone forever, and all I see is ruin.
“I know it was all just a dream, but I still secretly want to see her again.” Wang Sheng suddenly turned around, wiped his face with his sleeve, and walked away with a hunched back.
"I thought...seeing her again was a sign of God's mercy. But later I realized that those who squander others' sincerity do not deserve mercy. Every time I looked at her, it was like my heart was being ripped out, and all that flashed through my mind were the harsh words and scorn I had once hurled at her..."
His voice gradually faded. He sat down against a dead tree, fumbled for the wine gourd at his waist, and took a big gulp.
"This is punishment, and I deserve it."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com