CH 109

Chapter 109: How Could I Have Such A Nightmare?

“It doesn’t matter who I am. What’s important….is that I can tell you the truth you wanted to know.” The man, hidden in the dark, chuckled and said slowly.

“What truth?” Qi Ci asked, confused.

As soon as Qi Ci asked, two resounding chains suddenly appeared from the darkness, instantly binding Qi Ci’s wrists, yanking him backwards!

Qi Ci, immediately falling onto the bed after having been thrown backwards, felt as if everything around him was turning upside down. Panicked, he tried to sit up, but right then, he saw a person standing in front of the bed.

This man was holding a thin sword, which was stained with blood. The scarlet blood flowed along the blade of the sword all the way to the tip, dripping onto the ground.

Qi Ci looked at the man, as if wanting to recognize him but not really daring to. After a long time, Qi Ci cautiously asked: “Bian Zhonghua, is that you?”

Once hearing that name, the man in front of the bed moved. After putting away his silver sword, he raised his eyes to look at Qi Ci.

The man’s eyes were cold and determined.

This gaze, however, gave the feeling as if the man were going to cut open Qi Ci’s flesh and bones if provoked. Thus, Qi Ci stiffened and silently backed away.

The man took a few steps forward, only to stretch out a hand and press Qi Ci down on the bed.

Instinctively, Qi Ci struggled, but the chains on his wrists were suddenly tightened, trapping him firmly on the bed and rendering him unable to move!

The man then placed his right arm against Qi Ci’s throat, his knees pressed against his legs, and his left hand covering Qi Ci’s chest.

Qi Ci resisted to no avail, and when he saw the man’s left hand glowing with a silver light, he felt as if something was being dug out from his chest. Flesh and bones were crushed, and a lot of blood oozed out. But that didn’t matter because something was being forcefully taken out of his body, immersing Qi Ci into an extreme pain he never felt before.

Qi Ci screamed.

But then he woke up with a start.

Qi Ci lay on the bed in his chamber in the Prince Residence. Outside the window, the silvery moonlight was scarce, and the sky was still dark. Qi Ci was covered in sweat from head to toe, and he was out of breath. Even then, Qi Ci thought that he could still feel the pain in his chest.

Therefore, Qi Ci fiercely opened his clothes to look at his chest. But the only thing he saw was his particularly eye-catching red birthmark.

‘What the hell? How could I have such a nightmare?’

‘Could it be….because I miss him so much?’

Qi Ci calmed his breath, lay down again, and covered his head with the quilt. After curling up into a ball, he muttered: “When will you come back to me….?”

…

At the same time, in the Illusory Realm, submerged in darkness and desolation….

Bian Zhonghua also woke up in a cold sweat. After forcing himself to calm down, Bian Zhonghua reached out and pinched the center of his eyebrows.

Bian Zhonghua was dragged to this place by Hundun. Around him, there was absolutely nothing. Only darkness. Bian Zhonghua wasn’t sure how long he had been in this place, but he was filled with endless despair.

After all, as soon as Bian Zhonghua closed his eyes to rest, he would have nightmares.

Nightmares where he would see the tragic deaths of Qi Ci, Lin Baihu, Qin Yicang, State Master Li and others.

Such mental torture made Bian Zhonghua feel extremely weak. It was a king of torture that could even be comparable to physical torture.

Bian Zhonghua pinched his brow and let out a long sigh. Then, he reached out and tried to summon his silver sword. But by doing this, he only felt an immense pain running through his entire body, knowing that his meridians were still blocked.

He hadn’t expected to find himself in such a desperate situation, but it was still impossible for him to use his Mana. Bian Zhonghua gritted his teeth and stood up, intending to search for anything in the darkness. However, except for his feet touching the ground, Bian Zhonghua was unable to touch anything at all.

It was impossible to know how long he had been searching for something, anything, but Bian Zhonghua was already exhausted again, so he had to sit down to rest.

Bian Zhonghua tried to remain awake, but the fatigue and exhaustion forced himself to close his eyes.

At that, a dream came upon him.

In the dream, Bian Zhonghua saw two tiger-shaped beasts jumping and biting each other on the slope of Pingding Mountain. They roared loudly, biting and scratching as the mountain forests shook from the battle. There was an immensity of shattered rocks and trees, as well as huge craters formed in the ground scattered everywhere.

The White Tiger and Qiongqi had countless wounds on their bodies. Bite marks and sharp claws pierced the flesh, causing quite a bit of blood to ooze out from their fur, which also ended up dripping onto the ground.

Still, the two beasts were unwilling to show weakness, so they both got up and fought. Suddenly, the ferocious claws of the Qiongqi stabbed at the White Tiger, gripping it tightly. As the Qiongqi swung its wings, it rose into the air and threw the White Tiger towards the cliff.

The White Tiger rolled to the foot of the mountain, smashing several trees along the way. As it reluctantly struggled to get up, the Qiongqi jumped out of the air and bit the White Tiger in the belly! Tearing off a piece of flesh and causing a large amount of blood to spurt out of the wound!

Once again, Bian Zhonghua woke up from a restless sleep. Feeling a severe headache, Bian Zhonghua slowly clutched his head.

‘Will I really be able to sit here, doing nothing, and just wait for death? Tortured and suffering in this Illusory Realm created by Hundun, with nothing I can do or touch?’

Bian Zhonghua suddenly gritted his teeth and pounded the ground with his right fist. Then, he tried to forcibly gather qi into the palm of his hand.

But his internal meridians were disordered, and by trying to move his qi, he only caused his blood to spill out all over his body. The pain was as intense as being stabbed by ten thousand swords. Bian Zhonghua knew that this could kill him, but he had no choice but to gamble.

Bian Zhonghua endured the pain and continued gambling with his luck. At that moment, a silvery light gradually appeared in his palm, gradually turned into the blade of a sword.

The qi in his blood overflowed into his body, until his body was finally unable to withstand such self-harm. Bian Zhonghua coughed up a mouthful of blood, feeling dizzy and bewildered.

The silver light, which had just transformed into the steel blade of a sword, began to gradually disappear. Bian Zhonghua didn’t even try to wipe the blood from the corners of his lips as he ruthlessly gambled with his luck again. In that instant, the silver light rose up and completely turned into a sword.

Bian Zhonghua, with his last ounce of strength, gripped the hilt of the sword and swung it against the endless darkness.

At that moment, a real crack appeared in the darkness!

Bian Zhonghua was happy with this result. As he was about to take a step towards the crack, he felt a horrible pain in his chest. As he coughed up a mouthful of blood, he fell to the ground in bewildered pain, seeing with his own eyes how the crack began to close….. Bian Zhonghua raised his arms and crawled towards the crack in the darkness, but he moved so slow that the crack had become nothing more than a small gap.

Frustration and despair intensely racked Bian Zhonghua’s heart, corroding the last shred of his sanity.

But all of a sudden!

A faint golden light overflowed from that small gap in the infinite darkness! Then, as if there was something, or someone, on the other side of the gap, the darkness was violently ripped apart!

Bian Zhonghua couldn’t see clearly who had come, as he had fainted from straining his meridians without caring that they were blocked and in disarray.

When Bian Zhonghua woke up again, he found that he was no longer in Hundun’s Illusory Realm. Instead, he was lying down in front of a Memorial Archway1.

Beside him, there was a man.

This man had a leopard head and eyes2, and a somewhat strange appearance. His face looked particularly iron-like, terrifying, with a beard and curly sideburns and an upright demeanor. When he saw Bian Zhonghua, he stood up and said: “You have woken up.”

Bian Zhonghua could still feel the taste of blood in his mouth, so he assumed that he hadn’t passed out for a long time. He got up slowly and respectfully saluted the man: “Thank you for saving me. May I ask how to address you?.”

“There’s no need to thank me. Someone entrusted you to me.” The man held up a yellow paper talisman in his hand and said: “If it hadn’t been because your friend temporarily sealed Hundun, and because you managed to open a crack in the Illusory Realm, I wouldn’t have been able to save you. I used to be a Top Scorer in the Imperial Examinations, native of the Zhongnan Mountains, but my name isn’t worth mentioning.”

After hearing that, Bian Zhonghua immediately recognized him: “Could you be Zhong Kui3, Heavenly Master Zhong?”

Zhong Kui nodded, stroked his beard, and said: “I didn’t expect you would recognize me.”

Bian Zhonghua replied: “I was in charge of one of the Temples in Hell, of course I have heard of you.”

Zhong Kui: “You’re so modest. Demon Emperor Zhonghua’s reputation has shocked both the Underworld and the Earth, so next to you, my name is not of such importance. In fact, I cannot travel to the mortal world, and I’m only in charge of hunting down the ghosts in the Underworld. Now that the Four Fierce Beasts have escaped, the whole world depends on you.”

As soon as Zhong Kui said those words, he saw Bian Zhonghua frown, revealing a puzzled expression. It was as if he was trying to remember something.

“Hmm? Could it be that your soul is still guarding the Naihe Bridge?” Zhong Kui was surprised to see that Bian Zhonghua was still puzzled, so he couldn’t help but sigh and pat his thigh. “Really…. Demon Emperor Zhonghua, follow me.”

Ko-fi goal for extra chapies~~ (.❛ ᴗ ❛.)