Chapter 26: Defeating the Enemy Without Dreams

The phantom snake targeted Jin Miaoyi because his cultivation level was the highest in the group, making him the greatest threat.

Cheng Lingyu stared at the phantom snake, which was over ten zhang long, its body flickering with a faint, mysterious light.

The snake lashed its tail, creating a howling gale.

It launched its attack with overwhelming force, shattering everything in its path too swiftly to dodge.

Jin Miaoyi’s face paled. He flung the gravely injured Miao Sanxu dozens of zhang away, then flicked his fingers. A sword light tore through the air, morphing into a ten-zhang-long blade that slashed toward the phantom snake’s tail.

A cold gleam flashed, followed by a deafening thunderclap.

Jin Miaoyi was thrown backward by the violent recoil, his handsome face darkening with pain.

The phantom snake stretched its neck, its massive body suddenly elongating tenfold. Its dreamlike eyes locked onto Jin Miaoyi’s, instantly freezing him in a daze as though his soul had been stolen.

Qu Wei cried out in alarm, shouting Jin Miaoyi’s name repeatedly, but he didn’t respond.

The phantom snake twisted its enormous body gracefully, appearing before Miao Sanxu to cloud his mind effortlessly.

Qu Wei’s expression shifted wildly. She yelled to Cheng Lingyu, “Run! Phantom beasts can bewitch minds—don’t look at their eyes!”

Cheng Lingyu shouted back, “What about Jin Miaoyi and Miao Sanxu?”

“I’ll try to save them! Go now!” Qu Wei urged.

Cheng Lingyu bit his lip, desperate to help but too weak in cultivation to act.

He turned and fled, knowing survival was his only choice.

Qu Wei hurled Fang Zhuqing dozens of zhang away, then flew toward Jin Miaoyi in a zigzagging path to evade the snake.

Abruptly, the phantom snake vanished.

Qu Wei’s heart lurched. She shut her eyes and relied on her true energy to sense Jin Miaoyi’s location.

The snake reappeared in a flash, its tail whipping through the air to strike Qu Wei and send her crashing to the ground, badly injured.

Hearing her scream, Cheng Lingyu glanced back.

The phantom snake had already bewitched Fang Zhuqing and now slithered toward Qu Wei.

Though injured, Qu Wei scrambled up—only to meet the snake’s hypnotic gaze, trapping her instantly.

Cheng Lingyu’s chest tightened. Fleeing was the smart choice, but he couldn’t abandon Qu Wei.

She had recruited him, guided him here. To leave her now would betray everything he’d learned in seven years of study.

“Monster! Don’t touch her!”

Cheng Lingyu wheeled around and charged the phantom snake. His right fist unleashed explosive power five thousandfold, rippling through time and space like a meteor.

The snake glanced back, casually shattering his strike with a flick of its tail. Its head shot forward, eyes glowing with ethereal and illusionary light that threatened to consume him.

Cheng Lingyu remembered Qu Wei’s warning—but the snake’s speed left no room to dodge.

He poured all his focus into the Magic Eyes technique to resist the phantom beast’s mind control. Yet his Realm in the technique was too low. It held for merely a flicker of time before he, too, fell into darkness.

When his mind was bewitched, Cheng Lingyu’s Dreamless Technique instinctively activated, plunging his consciousness into eternal stillness and dreamless eternity.

At that instant, Cheng Lingyu’s eyes became bottomless voids resembling the endless cosmos, brimming with unfathomable mysteries.

Though the phantom snake’s soul-stealing power was formidable, it became ensnared by Cheng Lingyu’s Dreamless Technique instead. The spiritual force backfired, draining the serpent’s own soul as Cheng Lingyu devoured its energy.

Cheng Lingyu snapped awake moments later, staring at the motionless phantom snake towering before him with glassy eyes. Shock flooded his mind.

After brief consideration, realization dawned on him, sparking wild exhilaration.

Surveying his surroundings, he found Qu Wei, Fang Zhuqing, Jin Miaoyi, and Miao Sanxu all entranced and mentally adrift.

To prevent complications, Cheng Lingyu resolved to first slay the colossal serpent, then retrieve the ganoderma, and finally revive his companions.

Facing the armored beast impervious to normal attacks, Cheng Lingyu stealthily summoned the Fang Tian Bao Yin. He wielded the square seal’s sharp edges like a weapon, battering the snake’s skull repeatedly until it cracked open.

After securing the Source Pearl-located ganoderma in his Spirit Cloak Ring, Cheng Lingyu gutted the serpent with his father’s Long Sword. He retrieved the intact phantom bead from its head.

Transporting the four entranced companions with true energy, Cheng Lingyu flew back to Green Island’s central area within an incense stick’s time. A nearby cultivator advised him:

“Phantom beasts’ mental assaults require two days’ rest. Their awakening reactions depend on injury severity.”

Relief washed over Cheng Lingyu – his friends had been rescued quickly. However, healing attempts for Qu Wei, Miao Sanxu, and Fang Zhuqing proved ineffective. Their True Martial Realm true essence circulation surpassed Cheng Lingyu’s Ordinary Martial Realm true energy capacity.

True essence conversion required three dantian qi vortices, but Cheng Lingyu only possessed one during his early Change Phase. Remembering Thousand Layers of Snow’s demanding standards – four vortices minimum, seven for excellence, ten for perfection – he couldn’t compromise despite achieving peak performance through Ordinary Martial Realm’s eight levels.

Risking danger, Cheng Lingyu swallowed the low-grade ganoderma beneath the Pardon Stone Tablet. The herb’s explosive true energy surge would overwhelm ordinary cultivators, but his exceptional Constitution thrived. His body, already merged with two active metal sources, absorbed the spiritual herb’s power voraciously.

As mist-like energy enveloped him, nearby cultivators dismissed the Ordinary Martial Realm youth. Meanwhile, Cheng Lingyu’s dantian birthed second and third qi vortices, propelling him to mid then late Change Phase within hours. Every cell vibrated with enhanced vitality as he pursued the fourth vortex, determined to exceed common limits even as most cultivators settled for three.