The monsters looked vivid and lifelike, showing that Lin Rouniang had already attained considerable skill at controlling dreams.
If ordinary people were injured by these monsters in a dream, their subconscious would believe they had been hurt, subjecting their minds to considerable torment.
The highest dream-path divine abilities could even extend the meaning of Cultivating the True Through the False, turning injuries suffered in dreams into reality. It was nothing short of incredible.
Yet Li Ling remained utterly unmoved.
He could send his spirit out of his body and split off a strand of his consciousness to enter a dream, where it likewise existed as a Soul Departure spirit body.
No matter how vivid and lifelike these monsters were, if they could not touch him, they could not touch him. That alone was enough to put him beyond defeat.
But suddenly, Li Ling caught a few unusual scents.
How could this be incense and fire prayer power?
The scent emanating from these Demon Monsters was actually that of incense and fire prayer power.
Not that beauty's musky scent, nor the little wench's own bloody sweetness, but the smell of incense, candles, and paper offerings from incense and fire prayer power?
Li Ling quickly understood. She had summoned these things through divine authority. In essence, they were incense and fire prayer power originating from a divine kingdom domain!
They did not need to make physical contact at all. Their mere presence could corrode someone else's mind.
It was like remaining within a divine kingdom domain for too long, gradually becoming entranced and losing oneself.
Li Ling stopped, spreading the power of his divine sense in every direction.
Boom!
An invisible repulsive force seemed to strike through the air. The Demon Monsters nearest him collided with what felt like a solid wall forged from steel.
In an instant, claws snapped, teeth shattered, and some even bashed their heads bloody.
The Demon Monster army could advance no farther.
This was the evil-repelling incense essence Li Ling had condensed through the Myriad Wonders Incense Transformation Art, perfectly recreating the way he filtered prayer power incense essence in reality.
Seeing this, Lin Rouniang and the old woman were both astonished. "How could this happen?"
Li Ling pointed a finger.
Whoosh!
An arm-thick flame shot out like a ray of light, carrying terrifying heat as it pierced the monsters blocking his path.
Their flesh was like paper, and it began to burn.
The old woman beside Lin Rouniang hurriedly conjured the phantom image of a Magic Treasure shaped like a bronze mirror before her. When the fiery light struck it, it was instantly absorbed, as though it had encountered a black hole.
But the fiery light streaming from Li Ling's hand did not stop. He abruptly redirected it, sweeping it around in every direction.
Every monster in the hall was swept away in an instant.
Watching the monsters catch fire and burn amid anguished howls, the old woman's expression grew even more astonished.
"Young mistress, you must be careful. This man is very powerful. He won't be easy to deal with."
Lin Rouniang reminded her, "Force his true form out first. I want to see just who this person is who keeps harassing me!"
At those words, the old woman swept a hand across her eyes. Clear radiance blazed, and her gaze shone toward him like moonlight.
This was a secret eye technique of the Ghost Soul Sect. In reality, she did not know how to use it, but merely knowing it existed and having once been fortunate enough to hear its characteristics described allowed her to manifest it in a dream.
As long as one believed, one could create miracles.
Remaining seated, Lin Rouniang suddenly declared, "I don't know how you slipped in, but this time your luck has run out. You've delivered yourself right to our door."
"The divine ability Nanny is using is called the Nether-Seeking Divine Eye, one of the renowned divine transformations of our Ghost Soul Sect. Let us see what your true form really is!"
Li Ling listened in puzzlement. What is this supposed to mean? Is she giving me a lesson now?
Is this Nether-Seeking Divine Eye very powerful? Could it be a Nascent Soul-level spell?
At that thought, his mental resolve wavered, and he faintly felt as though he were about to become visible.
Not good. I nearly fell into her trap!
Li Ling was clever enough to understand the cause and effect in a flash.
Lin Rouniang could have left those words unsaid. In a battle outside, she would not have revealed her own secrets so readily.
But because dreams were so unusual, openly letting the opponent know was actually preferable.
As the saying went, the ignorant knew no fear. When relying solely on one's own understanding, strength or weakness rested entirely with oneself. At heart, it remained a head-on clash of mental power.
But if the opponent also acknowledged it, one side would weaken as the other strengthened, making it easier to establish a shared belief.
This was essentially a contest of subconscious minds. Ultimately, the opponent had to know how formidable one was before they could truly be cowed.
The Nether-Seeking Divine Eye sounded formidable, so it was hardly surprising that it could break a spirit body's incorporeal state within a dream.
In his subconscious, Li Ling also knew that his opponent came from an extraordinary background and possessed many hidden trump cards.
I can't let her see through me!
With a thought, Li Ling used Dharma-Form Transformation. His three-headed, six-armed Child Celestial Aspect appeared before others for the first time, naturally exuding the mighty aura of a genuine Nascent Soul master.
He wore the Flying Immortal Brocade Robe and held the Cicada-Wing Gauze Sash, his features handsome and refined, his skin like jade.
Clouds and mist swirled around him as the substance of incense took form. A Seven-Colored Auspicious Cloud lay beneath his feet, while a cloak formed from golden clouds trailed more than ten zhang behind him.
Every detail proclaimed his standing and cultivation realm.
"A Nascent Soul master!"
The instant Lin Rouniang and the old woman saw this dharma form, both cried out, then seemed to be struck by lightning.
Fine cracks appeared across their bodies, signs that their spirit bodies were collapsing.
One glance!
With just one glance, both their dream spirits suffered devastating injuries!
Illusion and reality resonated, their souls reverberated, and the instantaneous shock to their understanding inflicted tremendous mental damage.
Lin Rouniang and the old woman had clearly witnessed a Nascent Soul master in action before and knew how formidable great cultivators at the Nascent Soul Realm and above were.
Such beings could destroy their bodies and souls in a single instant. They were nothing like ordinary living creatures.
The rules of dreams were intimately tied to understanding. If someone knew how formidable a Nascent Soul master was, that knowledge would naturally manifest within the dream.
Li Ling instinctively glanced at the beauty. Sure enough, apart from covering her mouth and staring wide-eyed, she showed no other unusual reaction.
Leaving aside the fact that she was the owner of this dream and actually possessed the strongest dream spirit, this was ignorance knowing no fear in the truest sense. As long as Li Ling did not actively attack her, she would remain unaffected.
"Sometimes ignorance really is a blessing."
With a soft sigh, Li Ling returned his attention to Lin Rouniang and the old woman.
The old woman had already begun to disintegrate. Strange light resembling bloody water seeped from her entire body, and her face twisted in horror.
Before long, her dream spirit body vanished without a trace.
Lin Rouniang's response, however, was somewhat unexpected. After trembling in terror for a time, she actually began to stabilize.
As bloody light coiled around her, the cracks across her body gradually disappeared.
At the same time, the scent of incense and fire prayer power filling their surroundings grew increasingly strong.
Li Ling frowned. She actually resisted it through divine authority? Her command of divine authority and incense and fire prayer power is already this accomplished!
Recalling that the Demon Monsters he had defeated earlier were also transformations of incense and fire prayer power, Li Ling could not help forming some guesses about the composition of Lin Rouniang's dream spirit body.
She often entered dreams under the guise of a deity. Within her believers' dreams, she could probably wield power comparable to the Great Lin River God's.
The former Great Lin River God had indeed possessed a cultivation realm sufficient to contend with a Nascent Soul Great Cultivator. This was a contest on the same level.
But the Great Lin River God was also slain by a Nascent Soul master. Even his head, body, tail, and claws were cut apart and laid atop a volcano on land!
With a thought from Li Ling, flames erupted all over his body.
They came from the golden-cloud cloak behind the Child Celestial Aspect. It transformed into a Flame Dragon roughly a foot thick, baring its fangs and brandishing its claws.
Then the fiery dragon spat out an enormous fireball. A violent explosion turned the place where Lin Rouniang stood into a sea of flames.
Lin Rouniang swept her sleeve, and towering waves appeared from nowhere, flooding the entire hall.
In mere moments, an immense river resembling a long dragon appeared below. At some point, the beauty had been delivered to a platform rising above the water, surrounded by invisible protective barriers. Though the flood surged to the heavens, she remained entirely unaffected.
Lin Rouniang floated above the suspended river, forming hand seals and summoning a strand of bloody light.
As that bloody light poured into it, the river beneath them immediately turned scarlet and terrifying.
The Great Lin River, originally the color of yellow mud and sand, filled with bloodlike liquid. Bones bobbed amid its furious waves, and countless ghosts wailed, as though it were a boundless inferno.
The sight was utterly chilling. An atmosphere like the Netherworld Ghost Domain enveloped the entire dream.
But Li Ling knew none of it was real.
With Lin Rouniang's cultivation, there was no way she could summon such a river of blood from nothing.
Perhaps she would be able to do so once she reached the Nascent Soul Realm.
Her primary cultivation method was the Yellow Springs Sect's Blood God Great Method, and she also possessed a blood soul dao body. The dharma form she cultivated in the future might be accompanied by such a wondrous spectacle of heaven and earth.
As the saying went, appearance arose from the heart. A cultivator's dharma form was usually tied to their origins, disposition, and the source of their dao path.
Some masters had developed a method of Cultivating the True Through the False based on this principle, deciding beforehand on the dharma form and dao fruit they desired, then turning them into reality step by step.
"Blood Spirit Divine Attendants!"
While Li Ling pondered, Lin Rouniang formed another set of hand seals. Eight young women appeared, dressed in bright red bridal gowns and wreathed in bloody light.
They had been refined from the souls of maidens once sacrificed to the River God. Here, they had become powerful ghost cultivators, each possessing an immensely imposing aura.
Their auras were no weaker than that of Yellow Cloud True Person, the Core Formation elder Li Ling had met before, stirring his memories of cultivators at the same level.
Yet Li Ling felt no fear whatsoever. He did not even take such summoned beings seriously.
Unlike Lin Rouniang, who cultivated truth through illusion and blew her own trumpet for all she was worth within the dream, his dharma form was the genuine article!
"A paltry trick, and you dare brandish an axe before the master carpenter!"
His six arms extended, and a saber, spear, sword, halberd, and bronze mirror appeared.
"Flame Dragon!"
The Flame Dragon behind him spat fire, and a sky full of blazing flames descended in glorious fury.
Boom, boom, boom!
Pillar after pillar of bloody water erupted from the blood river, each dozens of zhang high. Before the bones within could display anything unusual, they were burned to nothing, and the bloody water evaporated along with them.
"Clones!"
The bronze mirror shone, its radiance illuminating ten thousand li. The entire dream space seemed to tremble.
This bronze mirror was also a wondrous Magic Treasure, seemingly capable of creating illusory clones.
One clone after another, each identical in appearance to the Child Celestial Aspect, stepped out. Eight appeared within moments, rushing forward to pursue and batter the Blood Spirit Divine Attendants relentlessly.
The Child Celestial Aspect possessed vast divine abilities and mighty dharma power. Even his clones could employ the enhancement laws granted by his three heads and six arms.
Under the blessing of these Nascent Soul laws, every portion of dharma power produced an effect equivalent to three portions. His six arms could also act independently on six fronts, making him almost unmatched in close combat.
In moments, the young women wreathed in bloody light were slain one after another, turning into bloody water that flowed back into the Nether River below.
Lin Rouniang watched, dumbstruck.
"Sky-Mixing Sash!"
One of the Child Celestial Aspect's arms relinquished its halberd, pulled down the Cicada-Wing Gauze Sash draped over him, and tossed it forward. Its leading end soon dropped to the river's surface.
He then tugged the long sash and stirred it forcefully.
As heaven shook and earth trembled, waves churned across the river and whirlpools spun wildly. Before long, the entire river was severed, its bloody water flung in every direction.
"How is this possible?"
With a splutter, Lin Rouniang spat out a cloud of Blood Mist.
The Cicada-Wing Gauze Sash rose in a streak of light and hurtled toward her.
Lin Rouniang hurriedly tried to evade it, but how could she match the Magic Treasure's speed? Within moments, it wrapped tightly around her, binding her from head to toe and leaving her unable to move.
The Child Celestial Aspect pulled the long sash, dragging Lin Rouniang helplessly toward him.
In an instant, his halberd pierced her body, staining her clothes with blood.
Horror appeared on Lin Rouniang's face. She felt that their mental powers were on entirely different levels. She had no power to resist at all.
She said in disbelief, "You... just who are you?"
Mystic Continent really was far too dangerous. A Nascent Soul master had inexplicably set his sights on her. Had he finally decided the time was ripe to strike ruthlessly?
"Witch, watch as I capture you!"
The Child Celestial Aspect scolded her in a childish voice, yet his expression was stern, carrying unquestionable authority.
He shook the long sash in his hand. Lin Rouniang's body twisted, and a moment later, it was compressed and condensed into a bead of blood.
It worked!
Subduing her before taking her dream spirit core had indeed been the right approach. Her standing was far inferior to his, leaving her unable even to abandon her dream spirit and kill herself.
The instant Li Ling subdued and took Lin Rouniang's dream spirit, she jolted awake in a house in distant Sourcewater Township.
"Young mistress!"
The old woman had awakened earlier and was waiting beside her bed.
Lin Rouniang touched her forehead, finding it covered in sweat. Even her temples and underclothes were soaked, leaving her damp and terribly uncomfortable.
But she had no attention to spare for that and hurriedly examined herself.
A moment later, her face gradually turned pale.
"My dream spirit... hasn't returned!"
"What?" The old woman blanched in shock. She also practiced Soul-Possession Dream Transmission and naturally knew that this meant trouble.
"Did it collapse, or was it captured?"
A barely perceptible flicker of panic crossed Lin Rouniang's face. Then she smiled sweetly and reassured the old woman, "Don't worry, Nanny. It was merely killed until it collapsed. My mind suffered a little damage, but I'll be fine after resting for a while."
"But I have no idea who that being was. He actually crushed us with ease and destroyed our dream spirits..."
"In reality, he must undoubtedly be a Nascent Soul master too!"