Chu Hongluan sighed deeply, wanting to offer words of comfort, but she had no idea where to begin.
I think I should take care of the important business first.
Although the old man Wangsheng has come out on his own, there are still so many people trapped in the dream. Since they have already come, it is not right to just sit idly by.
"Senior, may I have a talk with you? Just the two of us."
"No." The dream demon refused outright. "You little girl, you seem quite cunning. You're probably plotting how to get everyone else out of the dream."
"..."
Chu Hongluan felt as if an arrow had struck her heart, but she still had to force a smile and continue negotiating: "But aren't you curious about what I'm going to use to persuade you to release the people?"
The dream demon thought about it and found that it had actually become somewhat interested.
"Okay, let's talk then."
So Meng Yao waved her hand, creating a small barrier that left only her and Chu Hongluan.
"Come on, tell me."
Chu Hongluan smiled slightly, "May I ask why you chose to create a dreamlike paradise?"
The dream demon lowered her head and fiddled with her fingernails, replying nonchalantly, "Because I'm bored. This huge, godforsaken place is all I have, so I'm just weaving a dream to keep a few people around to keep me company and relieve my boredom."
"What caused you to be trapped in this Peach Blossom Village, senior?"
The dream demon glanced at her in surprise and smiled, "Indeed intelligent. We dream demons, though called demons, are spirits, born without parents, raised by nature. At that time, Peach Blossom Village was plagued by a plague, and my birth was born from their intertwined nightmares day and night. But later, they all died, leaving me alone in the same place. Without the nourishment of dreams, I became weak, and I could not leave Peach Blossom Village."
"Even with so many people trapped, isn't that enough?"
"It's not enough. The energy that a beautiful dream can create is less than one percent of that of a nightmare."
Chu Hongluan pondered for a moment, then asked, "Senior, how much more energy do you need to leave Peach Blossom Village?"
"Hmm... still about 50% complete?"
"Perhaps I can help my senior gather the energy as soon as possible."
The dream demon glanced at her sideways, a half-smile on her face: "It's not that easy. Back then, Peach Blossom Village wasn't just these few dilapidated houses. It was a ten-mile radius of Peach Blossom Village, with thousands of people living in despair day and night, barely managing to coalesce into a child like me."
"Don't be fooled by the number of people in the dream right now; at least 40% of them are fictional and don't actually exist. The remaining hundred or so are just a bunch of people. Even if I were to change all their dreams to nightmares of national ruin, family destruction, and life-and-death separations, I would only receive about half a percent of their energy. Besides, the same dream can't be used twice; they'll know it's a dream as soon as I use it."
Chu Hongluan smiled slyly and said, "I have a way."
As a new generation of 21st-century humans, have you ever heard of movies like *The Shining*, *Ju-on*, *The Ring*, *The Conjuring*, *Shutter*, *The Exorcist*, *The Haunted Village*, *Annabelle*, *The Texas Chainsaw Massacre*, and *Don't Look Back in the Middle of the Night*?
The dream demon has the ability to read people's memories, so Chu Hongluan generously shared all of these "childhood trauma" horror movies with the dream demon.
The essence lies in the "captivating background music" and the "sudden, frightening techniques".
After a while, the dream demon's face turned pale.
"Actually, I don't feel bored at all now. When I close my eyes, I feel like there are people all around me."
Chu Hongluan chuckled mischievously, “You can randomly throw in a story to test the waters, like this ‘The Old Corpse in the Mountain Village,’ which is quite fitting.”
So the dream woven by the dream demon began to change. She accelerated the passage of time in the dream, returned some of the humanity to the "residents" of Peach Blossom Village, and stopped deliberately controlling their emotions.
A woman named Chu Renmei appeared. She stood under the peach tree, singing in Cantonese. She had a beautiful face, arched eyebrows, and almond-shaped eyes. Her long, black hair was styled into a fairy bun, with osmanthus oil used to smooth the stray hairs at her temples. Hairpins were inserted into the bun, and beads hanging from silver threads trembled slightly with her movements.
Beside Chu Renmei, a man sat at a distance, gazing at her with deep affection.
The man wasn't particularly handsome; his skin was slightly dark, but he had strong features and a tall stature, which was the type of man the women in the mountains would like.
His name was Bu Wantian, and he was the husband of Chu Renmei.
People came and went in the village, and they thought he was a new outsider who had just moved here.
Bu Wantian set up a private school in the village to teach children to read and write, and was deeply loved by the villagers.
Chu Renmei was beautiful, had excellent cooking skills, and a kind heart. She would always make some exquisite dishes and share them with the children who came to the private school. Occasionally, if there were any left over, she would let the children take them home to eat.
They were a perfect match, a loving and harmonious couple, the envy of everyone.
Until one day, a wealthy young lady moved into the village, bringing with her a lot of treasure and hiring villagers to help build a large mansion.
You see, the villagers used to live a simple life of farming and wearing coarse clothes. But now, with the arrival of a rich girl, Taoyuan Village has started to distinguish between the noble and the lowly, and the peaceful life of bartering has been completely disrupted.
Running a private school requires working from dawn till dusk, and you can't earn much money. But working for a rich girl earns you a string of cash a day, plus lunch, which is always lavish with fish and meat.
Bu Wantian only ate there once before finding the simple meals at home unpalatable.
After that, he stopped teaching at the private school and just let the children study on their own. They spent all their time hanging around in front of that rich girl, and gradually they really did take a liking to each other.
But Bu Wantian was married. So he and Qianjin discussed it and took out a large ingot of gold to hire a "lover" for Chu Renmei.
The task was taken by a cultivator who lived next to Moyu Island. Known as Brother Biao, he was only at the Foundation Establishment stage. He had a rugged face, broad shoulders and a thick waist, and his eyebrows were very close together. It was easy to tell that before he came to Peach Blossom Village, he was probably not a good person to associate with.
The gold ingot was bought by Brother Biao to make a show of catching Bu Wantian in the act, but he had long coveted Chu Renmei's beauty. That very night, he moved the time forward and actually forced himself on Chu Renmei. Chu Renmei's cries and shrill screams echoed throughout the village in the night, eliciting barking from the dogs.
But the villagers who had received kindness from Chu Renmei in the past simply kept their doors tightly shut.
When Mo Yu heard the commotion, his first reaction was to save people.
But once he reached the door, he hesitated, afraid that what he might see would taint his precious eyes. Just as he was hesitating, Bu Wantian had already led his men inside.
Caught in the act of adultery, according to custom, Chu Renmei was drowned in a pig cage. The stream that ran through the entire village became her final resting place. She floated and sank in the water, constantly choking, but her eyes remained fixed on Mo Yu in the crowd.
She heard it; she heard someone come to the door, but no matter how desperately she cried for help, that person never made a move.
Until Bu Wantian grabbed her hair and dragged her naked outside, she saw the boy quickly turn his head away, as if afraid of seeing something dirty.
Chu Renmei's gaze swept across the faces of every villager on the shore, but not a single one dared to meet her eyes.
Okay...okay...
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com