In a haze, Li Ling felt a wisp of his mind rise like curling smoke, crossing the barrier between the mortal world and the void to enter a mysterious, ethereal space.
This place somewhat resembled the world he saw during soul projection, but it was darker, and things were harder to sense.
Everything around him was dim and indistinct, shrouded in darkness like thick ink. When he swept his spiritual consciousness through it, there was no sky above or earth below, only chaos like the inside of an egg.
Being in such an empty, nonexistent place involuntarily stirred a hollow, unsettling terror, as though he stood in the depths of outer space.
But as thoughts began to stir, everything changed.
Without warning, it became a scene of birdsong and fragrant flowers, a gentle breeze, and brilliant sunshine.
Chao Shu galloped ahead on horseback, brimming with joy.
Watching her, Li Ling could not help smiling. "You don't even know how to ride, yet you dreamed of riding a horse?"
As though it had heard Li Ling's comment, Chao Shu's horse suddenly soared into the air, giving him an impromptu demonstration of a heavenly steed flying through the skies.
This was clearly her dream. She could do as she pleased.
Why does this scene look a little familiar? Right, it's from last year's spring outing. Some of the scenery is off, but it's still broadly based on what happened.
Li Ling considered how to use the Nightmare-Suppression Arts. If his spirit body lunged forward now and killed the flying horse, making her fall to her death, this would become a nightmare in the truest sense.
The most important key to the Nightmare-Suppression Arts was frightening the other person's spirit body and making them realize they were being harmed.
In other words, changing the state of their subconscious awareness.
If the target were a mortal, a fall would inevitably cause serious injury, satisfying this condition. But if they were a cultivator or martial expert who subconsciously believed they were not so frail, the result might be different.
This already touched upon the faculty of thought and the workings of the seventh consciousness. The difference was that the dream domain of the soul arts served as a bridge.
Aside from that, he could directly attack the dream's central figure-Chao Shu herself, who was dreaming.
But everything in this world had arisen because of her. Attacking her directly was practically equivalent to destroying heaven and earth, making it far too difficult.
In terms of quality, cultivators rarely cultivate their souls before the Nascent Soul stage. Before reaching profound realms, there isn't much difference in their essence. I'm different, though. I was born with an unusual soul, and its quality far exceeds that of mortals.
In terms of quantity, a cultivator naturally possesses more mental power than a mortal, but only a wisp of it is sent into a dream.
The method of entering dreams emphasizes nourishing things silently and subtly. The amount of mental power sent into a dream is extremely small, far less than the dreamer's.
So in the dream domain, the contest is over who is more lucid and who can fully control their consciousness and faculty of thought, not who has greater brute strength.
Li Ling thought for a moment, then separated a wisp of divine sense and tried to change the dream as he would manipulate gang and baleful intent.
Layers of dark clouds immediately replaced the blue sky and white clouds. Torrential rain poured down, catching Chao Shu, who had been enjoying the countryside scenery, off guard and soaking her like a drowned rat.
So this is what controlling a dream feels like.
Chao Shu hasn't realized she's dreaming, nor does she know she can control the dream, so I can change it too.
But if she consciously controlled it, things would be completely different.
Of course, that would make it a lucid dream.
A lucid dream was a very special phenomenon in the dream domain. Its fundamental distinction from an ordinary dream was that the dreamer remained lucid, and it was still controlled by the subjective awareness of the sixth consciousness.
At this thought, something stirred in Li Ling's mind.
I've never had a lucid dream myself. In theory, I should already be able to do it easily.
Even without learning these methods of controlling dreams from the Ghost Soul Secret Manual, the strength of my spirit body alone should let me try to remain lucid while dreaming.
This was what it meant for The Dao Suffices, and Dharma Power Arises Naturally. Cultivation and realm were a cultivator's foundation. Once certain thresholds were crossed, many things would fall into place as naturally as water flowing into a channel.
Before long, Chao Shu's dream changed again. This time, however, Li Ling was not controlling it; it followed a change in the dreamer's subconscious.
In reality, after being caught in the rain, one needed to find shelter or warm oneself by a fire.
Influenced by that subconscious understanding, she dreamed of entering a large house in the countryside and warming herself by a fire with everyone.
Why there was a large house in the countryside was not her concern.
How everyone had suddenly appeared did not matter either.
In any case, they were all happily warming themselves by the fire inside.
He himself, the Ninth Princess, and the household's other maidservants and attendants all appeared, clearly remnants of memories from that spring outing.
"Hm?"
Li Ling suddenly discovered that he had an inexplicable connection to the version of himself here.
Recalling what was recorded in the Nightmare-Suppression Arts, his dream spirit flew over and instantly occupied the body of himself created by Chao Shu's mind.
Just as I thought. After replacing this character, my connection to this dream has deepened, and my authority over it has grown!
I'm influencing this dream through her own mental power!
If this were the Demonic Path, they would probably exploit the gods in ordinary people's minds, wouldn't they?
In their subconscious, gods control heaven and earth and possess limitless might. Wouldn't that let the intruder turn guest into host and do whatever they pleased?
Handing someone a handle to wield against you... so this is what that means!
Just then, Chao Shu seemed to notice Li Ling and pressed herself against him.
Her face held a measure of ardor.
"What are you trying to do?"
Somewhat embarrassed, Li Ling fled in disarray.
Alas, the ways of the world decline by the day, and people's hearts are no longer what they were!
Who would have thought this seemingly unremarkable maidservant was so wild inside?
Li Ling was the master of these bedchamber maidservants. Anything he wanted to do, he could do in reality. Wouldn't the real thing be better?
He disdained taking liberties when the other person was not lucid.
Still, this made him realize something extremely serious.
There really is a reason evil arts are called evil arts.
This spell can be used to harm living beings, pry into private matters, satisfy selfish desires, and more. If someone with a crooked heart used it, trouble would come all too easily.
I can only use it as a bridging method. I must never become engrossed in it.
Li Ling sighed softly, settling that point in his mind.
Soon, another important matter occurred to him.
I can interfere with Chao Shu's dream. Doesn't that mean the Sleep-Aid Incense is actually useless?
Could calming the mind and clearing dreams not be the key to countering the Nightmare-Suppression Arts?
Still, that's hard to say. When I first entered, everything I saw was dark and empty. She might not have been dreaming yet.
Perhaps the essence of my mental power was too strong, stimulating her mind into creating a dream!
I'll have to use the divine statue as a bridge and invade a dream through the divine kingdom's domain to see its true effect.
But doing that might establish a connection to the Great Lin River God in her mind. I'd better not choose anyone in the household. Tomorrow, I'll have someone else try this incense.
After some thought, Li Ling toured several other people's dreams, then ended this experiment.
The next day, he found an excuse to visit the Imperial Palace and presented Sleep-Aid Incense to his father-in-law, the Mystic Xin King.
As agreeable as ever, the Mystic Xin King immediately had the palace attendants distribute the incense Li Ling had brought.
That night, Li Ling performed soul projection again and went straight to Barren Mountain in the northern outskirts, entering the dream of that beauty in the Imperial Palace through the divine kingdom's domain.
Come to think of it, Li Ling had not checked on her for quite some time.
The Demonic Path had planted this hidden pawn beside his father-in-law, though he did not know for what purpose. Perhaps she was merely keeping watch in secret so they could track the movements of the Mystic Xin Kingdom's upper ranks.
There was indeed a connection between the beauty and the Great Lin River God. The Divine Domain in her room was clearly visible, allowing Li Ling's mind to slip smoothly into her dream.
The instant Li Ling realized he had succeeded, he frowned. "I can still get in!"
This meant the Sleep-Aid Incense truly served no purpose.
Li Ling was deeply disappointed. It seems my entire line of thinking was wrong. Simply calming the mind and clearing dreams won't eliminate the influence of the Demonic Path's Nightmare-Suppression Arts.
But on second thought, he did not end this exploration immediately.
Since I'm here, I might as well see what she's dreaming about.
The beauty's dream seemed rather indistinct. Her mental spirit body had not appeared; there were only scattered, disordered scenes.
Li Ling knew this was the unconscious sorting of memories.
Many people did not remember dreaming after they woke, but that did not necessarily mean they truly had no dreams. Rather, they had scattered dreams like these.
Li Ling began actively invading the dream, seizing control and changing it.
Before long, a dim main hall appeared before him. An old woman who seemed to be the Foundation Establishment cultivator accompanying Lin Rouniang sat at the head of the room and spoke. "Infiltrate the royal palace and keep watch on that Mystic Xin King. If necessary, poison him with this!"
"Once the Unusual Events Bureau is thrown into chaos and lacks the strength to investigate, our plan can proceed smoothly..."
This seemed to be something buried deep in the beauty's memories. The sight startled Li Ling.
A plan? What plan?
They even intend to poison my father-in-law as a smokescreen?
Suddenly, he recalled the map he had once seen at Special Envoy Mu's place, along with certain major events on the Mystic Continent he had learned about through case files and historical records. A bold conjecture naturally surfaced.
Could they mean the Great Flood?
Since ancient times, the Great Lin River God had always presented himself as an evil god. Bringing floods that submerged towns and fields along both riverbanks was a frequent occurrence.
Now it seemed these were not entirely natural disasters, but man-made calamities as well?
The Demonic Path wielded divine authority, practiced nightmare suppression, oppressed the common people, and harvested the power of their prayers.
But that was still far from enough!
What they ultimately wanted was also a vast harvest of corpses and souls, turning innocent commoners who died unjustly into Corpse Soldiers and Demonic Monsters, or resources for their own cultivation.
At the same time, the faith spread through such terror would become deeper and harder to eradicate, laying the groundwork for a new population to multiply after several decades of recovery!
A chill suddenly rose in Li Ling's heart, along with profound concern for the lives of the common people along both riverbanks and his father-in-law.
I was mistaken before. I thought the calm surface meant this was merely an itch of the skin, but the actual situation is far more dangerous than I expected.
Li Ling did not act rashly. There was no need to deal with her yet.
After all, she had been lying in wait for so long, and there were no signs she would be activated in the immediate future. There should not be any trouble just yet.
Keeping her alive would let Li Ling follow the vine to the melon. She was a useful pawn connected to Lin Rouniang's hiding place, a backup means of finding her if contact was lost.
For safety's sake, however, Li Ling still searched around with his Fragrance-Sensing Talent. He discovered the poison that had appeared in the dream hidden in a rockery outside the courtyard and quietly took it away.
The king had cultivators protecting him, so ordinary assassination methods would not work. With this hidden poison removed, even if the beauty wanted to act, she would be unable to carry it out.
As for whether this would beat the grass and startle the snake, Li Ling could not concern himself with so much. It was enough that she could not escape for now.
With that thought, he quietly left and went to the Unusual Events Bureau to examine details he had overlooked in the past.
What he found gave him a fright.
Certain official notices revealed that places along the river had begun experiencing continuous rain.
In some upstream areas hundreds or thousands of miles away, torrential rain had even fallen for an entire month!
Vast quantities of water were gathering from different places, yet some force was strangely collecting it, apparently waiting to use it at a critical moment.
The Unusual Events Bureau had already begun noticing this phenomenon and was investigating everywhere. But Li Ling was not their superior, so he had no way of learning the specifics.
Recalling the recent spectacle at the Boat-Racing Festival, when countless people had given rise to faith, Li Ling could not help sighing inwardly.
Faith breeds divine power, divine power brings terror, and terror breeds more faith. These are the ways of the Demonic Path, not the deeds of an Orthodox God!
Fortunately, they still seem to be gathering their strength.
Though the momentum of disaster has already appeared, there's still hope of easing it if that power can be drained away.
Over the next few days, Li Ling continued researching incense formulas and felt that his earlier thinking had indeed gone somewhat astray.
Perhaps he should not have started with calming the mind and clearing dreams. After all, even a peaceful, dreamless mind could still be invaded by an outside evil and forcibly made to dream.
Li Ling had already verified this with both his own maidservants and the beauty in the palace. He could stimulate their minds into producing dreams.
What truly worked was probably burning incense for Evil-Repelling, interfering with the operation of the divine kingdom's domain.
There was textual support for burning incense for Evil-Repelling. It came from the Flood Compendium and was also quoted in The Incense Compendium, a definitive classic of the Incense Path.
The original passage read: "The demonic and evil vapors upon the earth rise straight into the heavens for forty miles. People burn greenwood fragrance, frankincense, and benzoin resin in their sleeping quarters to repel foul, turbid vapors and dispel evil, polluted mists. Thus celestial persons, jade maidens, and Great Unity follow the fragrance and come."
The final phrase, "celestial persons, jade maidens, and Great Unity follow the fragrance and come," might have carried the flavor of myth and legend. Burning incense for Evil-Repelling supposedly drew celestial beings and immortals to offer protection, which was rather exaggerated.
Still, this also showed that its effects were indeed extraordinary.
The main ingredients in this formula were greenwood fragrance, frankincense, and benzoin resin. Its principle was to repel foul, turbid vapors and dispel evil, polluted mists.
If the mental realm produced by the divine kingdom's domain was regarded as foul, turbid vapors and evil, polluted mists, then that sentence became very easy to understand.
It could prevent this kind of Divine Domain from spreading and interfere with its influence on the material world, working somewhat like signal shielding.
This time, Li Ling prepared the incense simply, shaping it into an Incense Stick.
As soon as he lit it and used the divine statue to establish a mental connection, he discovered that things were completely different.
Not only the dream, but even the corresponding area in the real world was shrouded in dense fog!
"It really works!"