The Medicine Granny's body trembled, and a sudden gust of wind swept around her, turning the grass and trees into countless sharp blades that pierced her body. The sky descended, and the earth churned up...
This was a sign that the space was about to collapse, and the Medicine Granny certainly knew it.
But just as she was about to exit the dream, the sky suddenly froze, and the earth stopped moving.
The collapse stopped, just as Pangu used his boundless power to prevent the heavens and earth from closing together.
However, the wind continued to howl, and the sharp blades formed from the grass and trees continued to pierce her body.
She felt as if her body was being scraped by invisible daggers, one cut at a time.
Although the conscious body does not feel pain, the feeling is a hundred times worse than drug withdrawal, and the feeling of ten thousand ants constantly gnawing at you is so real.
At that moment, she felt a desire to die.
But she won't die.
She was in her dream.
Heaven and earth had frozen, space was fixed by an invisible force, and she could not escape her dream.
Unable to wake up, she could only endure the torture of wind blades—ten thousand swords piercing through her body, gradually weakening her soul.
"You... you are a dream controller!" The Medicine Granny said to Qingmu amidst endless pain.
"What is a dream controller?" Qingmu's voice boomed in the wind, like the distant tolling of a bell.
"I don't know, I really don't know! Please, please, let me go!" she pleaded. "I've only heard my master mention it, but I'm not even Awakened, I'm only half Awakened, so I don't know anything about what happens after awakening."
Who is your master?
"My master..."
Just as the Medicine Granny was about to speak, a sudden, fierce resistance arose within her, preventing her from answering the question. The more she resisted, the stronger the wind blades became, and she cried out in agony...
"Huh?" Qingmu exclaimed in surprise, "There's a rebellious spirit in your subconscious that doesn't belong to you! Did your master plant a seed of resistance in your consciousness? It seems he doesn't trust you!"
The Medicine Granny was still resisting, her body curled up in pain.
"What is it that's so shameful that they'd rather their disciple suffer like this than let him reveal his identity?" Qingmu grew increasingly curious.
The wind grew stronger and stronger, and nothing was left of the surrounding world except the howling wind and countless invisible blades.
The Medicine Granny's body was almost collapsing; she finally couldn't hold on any longer and stammered, "My master... she... she's called Duwa."
Where is he?
"In Mianyue."
"That's so far!" Qingmu, a little disappointed. "Then how will you meet?"
The Medicine Granny said, "We rarely meet. I don't know where my master lives. Sometimes she comes to me in my dreams. Sometimes, if there's something important, I go to Masuba to wait for her, because there are people there who can deliver messages to her."
The wind subsided, and the Medicine Granny felt a little better than before.
Not far from her, several purple Ganoderma lucidum mushrooms were growing at an extremely rapid pace visible to the naked eye. In no time, they grew into a huge five-lobed Ganoderma lucidum canopy, like five large purple umbrellas gathered together.
A kind-looking woman appeared on the Lingzhi seat, smiling. She had a more Buddhist appearance than the Medicine Granny had been making delicate gestures with her fingers. However, this woman looked very young, and there was an indescribable charm in her eyes and brows.
This is how the Medicine Granny remembers her master.
But the Medicine Granny herself could no longer distinguish between memory and reality. When she saw her master, she was about to bow down, but as soon as she moved, the surrounding wind blades became fierce, making her unable to move at all.
"Is this Duwa?" Qingmu asked.
The Medicine Granny said, "Yes, she is my master, Duwa."
"Why does she have to name her something like 'Wa' or 'Zhuan'? She really doesn't know how to choose names," Qingmu said. "How old is your master? She looks so young!"
The Medicine Granny said, "I don't know my master's age either. I remember meeting her when I was fifteen or sixteen, and she looked about the same way she does now."
Qingmu exclaimed in surprise, "Oh? Then that means she's at least sixty or seventy years old!"
"My master said that Awakened can freeze time in their dreams and slow down the aging process," the Medicine Granny said with a longing expression. "Unfortunately, I haven't fully awakened. When I was young, I was a beauty in Mangdian!"
Qingmu laughed, "Even if you're a flower, you're already withered. You should repent to your so-called Medicine Buddha for your sins."
"What crime have I committed? I've only done good deeds!" said the Medicine Granny.
The wind picked up, howling and whipping around in circles of sharp white or bluish-green blades, slashing towards the Medicine Granny's body. She screamed, "No! Spare me!"
"Tell me, how many people have you abducted over the years? What are their names?" Qingmu asked.
The Medicine Granny closed her eyes in pain and began to recall one by one the people she had abducted, including their names, where they came from, the details of the abduction, and who they were sold to.
By the time she finished speaking, the Medicine Granny could no longer hold on, and her body turned into a faint, three-dimensional shadow.
The Medicine Granny stared in horror at her increasingly transparent body, pointing at Qingmu and saying, "You... could it be... you are... Situ?"
"Hmm? Who is Situ?" Qingmu was a little surprised to hear this familiar name again.
The Medicine Granny said, "I heard my master say that he was the strongest Awakened she had ever seen, and also the most handsome man in the world... uh... wasn't it you?"
She looked at Qingmu carefully. If you ignored his clothes and hairstyle, he was indeed very handsome, but he was still quite different from what her master had described.
"Unfortunately, I'm not!" Qingmu said.
"Please... let me go..." she pleaded.
The wind has stopped.
The world was shrouded in mist, with countless specks of dust floating about. These were leaves and flowers torn apart by the wind blades.
In the gray world, there is the silhouette of a gray man, his hair and trench coat fluttering gently in the breeze. He has his hands in his pockets, his back slightly hunched, and he walks slowly towards the horizon, his slippers almost dragging on the ground, making a clattering sound.
"You have now endured the torment of wind blades, stripping away your excess consciousness, and will henceforth lose the ability to control dreams... As for the crimes you committed in the mortal realm, human laws will punish you..."
As the eerie sound, as if from hell yet as intense as thunder from the heavens, dissipated, Qingmu's figure slowly disappeared on the horizon.
The dark sky pressed down, the earth churned up again, and everything was plunged into collapsing darkness.
The Medicine Granny's frail figure could no longer withstand the force of the collapse, and for the first time in her life, she helplessly fell to the bottom of the abyss in her own dream.