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In the Nine-Foot Daoist Temple, Jin Wanliang let out an agonized wail as golden light erupted across the sky.

Invisible, Zhang Xuezhou squeezed his eyes nearly shut, but after only a brief moment, that instinctive act of self-protection became involuntary, and his body swiftly collapsed.

In his bedroom, Zhang Xuezhou rubbed his head. The dream had left him feeling somewhat on edge.

As a fine young man of the new era, Zhang Xuezhou didn't think he was evil at heart, and he still found it a little awkward to throw ash at a demon.

"Maybe I've been too tense lately, and it's made me abandon all restraint!"

After summing up his own behavior, Zhang Xuezhou began describing the dream that had continued for so long.

If his guess was right, the events unfolding in the dream had not come to an end.

Zhang Xuezhou thought something had gone seriously wrong with his thinking, causing the events spawned in his dream to spiral further and further beyond his control.

If things continued like this, Zhang Xuezhou thought he would likely be drawn into an even fiercer conflict, turning it into a nightmare in which he might die.

"Dad finally saw fit to send me some royalties, and it's Sunday today. I need to see Doctor Ren!"

Zhang Xuezhou finished recording the relevant details and stretched his arms and legs. After checking his e-wallet, he was quite satisfied with the amount in his account.

He thought the many things he had obtained in the dream were delusions. The Supreme Purity True Technique was probably unreliable, and what he had seen might have been the effect of a "Yin-Yang Reversal Formation" spawned by the dream. Much of it was either hallucination or illusion, purely his own perception.

If he could obtain the Supreme Purity True Technique through dreaming to treat illnesses and suppress injuries, why had the Qi and Blood Pill he swallowed shown no effect?

Zhang Xuezhou looked at his somewhat slender arms.

He had dreams to thank. At least they had fulfilled his dream of becoming a strongman.

As for his physique in reality, Zhang Xuezhou thought it was better left unmentioned.

He got himself ready and completed his daily routine with great regularity.

Only after breakfast did Zhang Xuezhou stroll over to the Sunshine Psychologist Clinic.

"Doctor Ren, ever since I learned the Sequel to the Essential Instruction for Recuperation you gave me, I feel like my condition has gotten worse!"

At the clinic, Zhang Xuezhou handed over his diary as usual.

He pointed at the diary, then at himself.

"If this keeps up, my dream might turn into a nightmare, and I could die in it, causing the death of a certain brain region and triggering schizophrenia..."

"Don't rush. Let me take a careful look at your description of the dream in question!"

Ren Anran raised a hand, stopping Zhang Xuezhou's eager account.

"I had a hard time scraping together enough money to come see you," Zhang Xuezhou said dejectedly. "Could you read it a little faster?"

"The more you talk, the more you disturb me and hold me up!"

Ren Anran spoke unhurriedly, immediately putting an end to Zhang Xuezhou's thoughts of complaining about his situation. He couldn't even bring up the strange developments with the Supreme Purity True Technique lately.

"You must come to understand yourself and your own mind before you can free yourself from the bonds of your mind!"

Five minutes later, Ren Anran closed Zhang Xuezhou's diary.

She pushed up the gold-rimmed glasses on her nose and gazed into Zhang Xuezhou's eyes.

She had never seen a patient with a psychological disorder like Zhang Xuezhou.

Unlike most patients with psychological disorders, Zhang Xuezhou was methodical in what he did and thought logically.

If Zhang Xuezhou had not insisted so firmly that he was ill and had been trapped in a dream for a long time, Ren Anran would have thought he was a normal person.

In Zhang Xuezhou, Ren Anran saw none of the hysteria and madness found in many patients.

On the contrary, Zhang Xuezhou possessed an exceptionally perceptive mind for cultivation.

That perceptiveness even made the always proud Ren Anran feel he was a rival.

There could be nothing wrong with the Essential Instruction for Recuperation, nor could it have caused Zhang Xuezhou's condition to grow more serious.

It was an exceedingly rare secret technique for building a mental foundation. Although she had casually changed its name and presented it as a treatment, it was undoubtedly a lavish experiment and could not have caused an illness.

If not for her connection to Song Fengying, Ren Anran would never have made such an investment.

The investment was good, and Zhang Xuezhou's development was going well too. The only problem was that his condition seemed to have grown more serious, completely exceeding Ren Anran's understanding.

Ren Anran pondered for ten seconds before offering a very cautious suggestion.

"What you're saying sounds a little mystical," Zhang Xuezhou said, bewildered. "Are you saying I don't understand myself? If I don't understand myself, who understands me better, and who can guide me in understanding myself?"

"I'll recommend someone to you," Ren Anran said. "But whether you can become his disciple depends on your own fortune!"

"You mean you can't treat my illness and want to recommend another doctor? Is it hard to get through that doctor's door? Are his fees expensive? Can I hold out until then?"

Zhang Xuezhou fired off question after question.

His dream had changed drastically lately. Judging by Ren Anran's manner in recommending someone else, she seemed unable to continue treating his current symptoms of schizophrenia.

"He doesn't charge for treatment!" Ren Anran shook her head. "But he's very averse to trouble, so you'll at least have to go somewhere near his home. You don't need to worry too much about your current condition, either. People like you can live safely into their thirties without treatment before the illness fully develops. There's no way you'd become confused and delirious at seventeen or eighteen!"

"Give me the address. I'll take a taxi there and rent a place so I can get treatment!"

Hearing that his condition was relatively stable and the doctor wouldn't charge for treatment, Zhang Xuezhou immediately perked up.

He wasn't afraid of a long journey; he was afraid of expensive medical fees.

If he could get free treatment, he could visit the doctor every day.

"He's on the sixth floor of Building Two of the Xuanshi Building at Canglan Academy in the Western Capital," Ren Anran said with a smile. "Only academy professors and some of their students have access to that place, so..."

"So I need to sneak into the Xuanshi Building to find him?"

Ren Anran had left him in suspense, and Zhang Xuezhou couldn't help asking.

He felt for the eight hundred yuan left in his pocket, a faint sense of unease rising in his heart.

The doctor in the Xuanshi Building didn't charge for treatment, but Ren Anran had always taken payment as a matter of course. If she asked him for another thousand or eight hundred yuan, Zhang Xuezhou would have to resign himself to it.

His heart ached a little. As he tried to change the subject in hopes of a different answer, Zhang Xuezhou felt that the money in his hands hadn't even had three days to warm before he would have to hand it over.

"You can only walk in openly," Ren Anran said, shaking her head. "Otherwise, you'll be handed over to the patrol bureau for investigation that very day!"

"You can be sentenced just for entering a building?"

"More or less!"

Ren Anran nodded and used a finger to push up her gold-rimmed glasses.

Zhang Xuezhou's heart sank to the bottom of a valley. He pressed his lips together and asked a question.

"Is there a way you can get me in for treatment? Do you have a special connection that would let you take me there yourself?"

Zhang Xuezhou thought of how Ren Anran charged a thousand yuan for ten minutes of treatment, calculated the distance from Sudong City to the Western Capital, and then roughly worked out the time. He didn't think he could afford to buy Ren Anran's time.

"I do have a special connection, but I hate seeing him, so you'll have to go on your own," Ren Anran said.

"I don't have any special connections. If I go to the Xuanshi Building, I'll be arrested. I... Do you think my illness can't be treated, so you've been taking my money and stringing me along, and only now you're looking for a way to pass me off?"

Zhang Xuezhou thought it over, and his train of thought swung around.

"If the treatment doesn't work, I'm getting my consultation fees back. If you won't refund me, I'll report you!"

Zhang Xuezhou touched his wristwatch. It didn't have many functions, but it did have an emergency call function that could quickly determine his location and call the local patrol bureau to file a report.

If Ren Anran couldn't give him a proper explanation, Zhang Xuezhou thought he would have to activate the emergency call function on his wristwatch.

Chapter 30 is awaiting review. I can't see anything that violates the rules...