First, the enemy tried and failed to assassinate him with a Nightmare. Then, they hired the Fanx Brothers to set an ambush. Two attempts on his life in a single night. Their methods were vicious, fueled by a hatred that demanded his death.
If Hee Lingchuan’s luck had been even a little worse, Jiao Yu would probably be picking out a coffin for him right now.
Not even half the night had passed, and the enemy was already at his door again!
This was truly pushing their luck, showing no regard for the Crown Prince Envoy, no regard for the authority of the King of Chiyan.
"Let’s focus on what’s important first. We’ll keep a running tab on these scores," Hee Lingchuan said, patting the tiger’s head. "I have a feeling we’ll be settling them soon."
By resorting to such measures, the enemy had made it clear: they were now irreconcilable foes. There was no room for negotiation.
Weren’t Zhongsun Mou and the Cen Mansion’s brazen actions just a sign of their desperation?
At a time like this, he knew he had to remain calm.
As it turned out, the next "important business" he attended to was sneaking out to the street for a bowl of steaming hot savory congee.
It was made by simmering diced dried tofu, diced radish, diced meat, and dried clams with rice porridge. Any available vegetables were thrown in, and it was all cooked until the rice grains burst open and the congee became thick and viscous. A lethal dose of pepper was added before serving.
Hee Lingchuan took a bite. It was delicious, but the reason the stall was so packed wasn’t just the congee. It was also the two balls of "salted milk" served alongside it.
These things were as white as snow and as plump as sweet rice balls. Anyone foolish enough to bite into one raw would get a mouthful of dry crumbs—not tasty at all. But if you pressed it deep into the scalding hot congee and let it soak for a few dozen seconds, it transformed into a chewy, soft, and springy treasure. With a gentle bite, the savory flavor of buffalo milk would explode in your mouth!
"Awesome!" It was Hee Lingchuan’s first time trying something like this, and he immediately polished off two huge bowls of the savory congee.
When his third bowl arrived, he also ordered two freshly fried dough sticks and a bowl of Houlin beans.
These yellow beans were cooked until they were soft and starchy, with a texture like red bean paste but a savory flavor. The local way to eat them was to scoop them up and stuff them into the crevices of the fried dough sticks. Then you could crunch away—crispy on the outside, soft and starchy on the inside. Double the deliciousness.
Even on a midsummer morning, it wasn’t particularly cool. Everyone crowded around the low tables, wiping away sweat as they slurped down their food.
Jiao Yu, who could only eat cold food, went to the adjacent market and bought a fresh leg of lamb—more than half a hindquarter, butchered at dawn and weighing just under twenty pounds.
Its appetite wasn’t great, so it was just having a small bite.
...
Cheng Yu was also having breakfast.
A fragrant and delicious medicinal congee, with its cheapest ingredient being hundred-year-old ginseng, tasted like wax in his mouth.
A nauseating tightness filled his chest. He forced down a few more bites, but the food nearly shot back out of his throat.
He had no choice but to push the bowl away. "Take it away."
Seeing his sallow face and listless expression, Elder Wu, who was standing nearby, said with concern, "You must find a way to get some sleep."
’This guy... such a big reputation, such a hefty payment, and so arrogant before. He even dared to boss the Young Master around.’
’The Young Master had placed great hopes in him, thinking he would succeed in one fell swoop.’
’And what happened?’
’He failed to assassinate the Crown Prince Envoy, got himself seriously injured instead, and now our side has to take full care of him, stuffing all sorts of expensive medicine down his throat.’
’It’s utterly ridiculous.’
"If I could sleep, I would have been in bed long ago," Cheng Yu said, glancing at him coldly. "The fact that he could kill Hundred Faces proves he’s also skilled in Curse Arts. If I fall asleep, I’ll be giving him an opening."
Everyone knew that good sleep was essential after a serious injury. Only sufficient rest could restore one’s energy—something no Miracle Medicine could replace.
’But how could he dare to sleep now?’
His Spell failed last night, and no sooner had he left than his opponent tracked him to the inn. This meant that Hee’s Tracking Magic was formidable. He might have even gotten some clues from the Hundred-Faced Nightmare.
The Hundred-Faced Nightmare had actually been defeated. It was still unbelievable to him. That was a Nightmare transformed from an Immortal’s Divine Soul!
But the facts were laid out before him, and he had no choice but to believe them.
Elder Wu was inwardly scornful. ’Is this guy so scared of Hee Xiao he doesn’t even dare to sleep?’
But outwardly, he sighed on Cheng Yu’s behalf. "But isn’t it daytime?"
’Don’t people like them only cast their harmful Spells at night?’
Cheng Yu remained silent.
’He suspected his opponent also had a Nightmare, perhaps one even more powerful than Hundred Faces.’
"Elder Wu added, ’Forcing yourself to stay awake like this isn’t a solution. You’ve already had to regulate your breathing several times.’"
Even a healthy person feels terrible with no sleep. For someone as seriously injured as Cheng Yu to force himself to stay awake, he would probably just end up collapsing.
Elder Wu said, "My young master just left to find this Hee personally. Why don’t you take the opportunity to get some sleep?"
With Hee Xiao having to deal with Cen Boqing, he shouldn’t have the spare capacity to launch a sneak attack on Cheng Yu.
Cheng Yu heard this and thought it was a viable plan.
As he relaxed, his head grew even foggier.
"Then I’ll sleep for a while. Have someone sit in the courtyard and keep a close watch on the Rope Bell Array!" Cheng Yu slowly shuffled to the bed. "No matter which direction the Rope Bells ring from, it means an invisible evil entity is approaching. You have to wake me up immediately."
He had already set up several Talisman Arrays in the room. He also had his men string red ropes around the four corners of the room, the four corners of the courtyard, and the four corners outside the courtyard, tying eighteen, thirty-six, and seventy-two Silver Bells to each rope, respectively.
This created three nested squares of protection.
’The strange thing was, the bells tinkled before they were hung up. The guards thought the noise would be unbearable, but once the red ropes were pulled taut, they all fell silent.’
The wind was quite strong today, yet not one of the hundred-plus Silver Bells made a sound. How bizarre.
After giving his instructions, Cheng Yu lay down on the bed at the very center of the Rope Bell Array.
He was so utterly exhausted that he fell asleep in a second.
Elder Wu immediately dispatched two men to stand guard in the courtyard, with another two to relieve them every double-hour.
Time passed slowly.
Elder Wu stretched, thinking he had other matters to attend to. Just as he was about to get up and leave, he suddenly heard the faint, crisp sound of a bell.
TING, TING, TING—
It seemed to be coming from the east.
At first, only the outermost Rope Bells rang. In the blink of an eye, the bells in the middle layer started ringing too.
Elder Wu didn’t dare to delay. He strode to the bedside and shook Cheng Yu’s shoulder forcefully. "Wake up! Wake up!"
’If the bastard didn’t open his eyes, he wouldn’t mind giving him a couple of slaps.’
Suddenly, blood trickled from Cheng Yu’s nose.
Elder Wu was startled, thinking he had been hit by a sneak attack after all.
However, Cheng Yu opened his eyes.
The moment he did, the crisp ringing stopped abruptly.
The three men standing by all looked up, a sense of unease washing over them.
Cheng Yu hadn’t slept for long, so he still looked drained. He asked weakly, "How long was I asleep?"
"A quarter of an hour," Elder Wu said in a low voice. "He actually came."
For someone so badly injured, such a short nap was worse than no sleep at all. Cheng Yu pressed his temples, his head throbbing. "I set up Talisman Arrays. An ordinary Curse Master shouldn’t be able to track me here."
Those Talisman Arrays were like a maze; a Curse Master with weaker skills would get trapped and die inside.
Elder Wu said, puzzled, "He’s just a teenager. His Martial Arts look decent, but he doesn’t seem to be an expert in Curse Arts. And those Guards with him look even less likely."
"How can you tell if someone knows Curse Arts just by looking at them?" Cheng Yu snapped. "Besides, the one skilled in Curse Arts might not even be human."
"So, what do we do now?"
Cheng Yu thought for a moment, then took a transparent seashell from his robes.
The shell was almost perfectly clear, but inside it, snowflakes swirled as if in the middle of a blizzard.
In the center of the shell stood a small wooden cabin with its doors and windows shut tight, a warm light glowing from within.
If Hee Lingchuan were here, he would probably have recognized it as a snow globe.
There was also a small stopper at the shell’s opening.
Elder Wu asked curiously, "What is this?"
"A Dreamland," Cheng Yu said, reluctant to part with it. "It’s a fixed, sealed Dreamland that no other Curse Arts or Nightmares can invade. But it can only be used three times... I’ve already used it twice. This is the last time."
It was a life-saving last resort, and each use was one less.
But then again, if not now, when?
He instructed Elder Wu, "Do you see the lanterns outside the door?"
"Yes." Looking through the shell, Elder Wu could see a pair of red lanterns hanging by the cabin door, swaying in the wind and snow.
"As soon as the red lanterns light up, you must plug the stopper in tight to seal the entire Dreamland," Cheng Yu said sternly. "Wait until the red lanterns dim before you open it again. There can be no mistakes!"
"Understood."
"During this time, guard the Dreamland and my body. Don’t let anyone take them."
"A trivial matter," Elder Wu said with a smile. "You are resting in the Cen Mansion. No one would dare force their way in here."
"In that case..." Cheng Yu coughed a few times, his complexion worsening. "That’s good."
His face was deathly pale, but he forced himself to give one last warning. "Absolutely, under no circumstances, remove the stopper early. I’m too severely wounded this time and need a long time to recover. Removing the stopper prematurely will cause my Divine Soul to scatter. Not only will something happen to me, but the person who removes it will suffer bad luck as well. Remember this! You must remember!"
Elder Wu readily agreed.
Only then did Cheng Yu swallow some Pills and lie back down.
As Elder Wu held the shell, he felt that something had entered the room the moment Cheng Yu closed his eyes.
Before long, Cheng Yu began to snore.
The snowstorm inside the shell suddenly paused, and the red lanterns lit up.
Not daring to be slow, Elder Wu quickly pressed the stopper into the shell’s opening, sealing it completely.
Afterward, the snowscape inside remained the same, and the orange light from the cabin was warm, but it seemed...
Was that a figure moving?
Elder Wu leaned in for a closer look and saw that a figure was indeed silhouetted against the window paper, seemingly pacing back and forth inside the cabin.
’Was that person Cheng Yu?’
About half an hour later, the Rope Bells outside the courtyard suddenly began to ring again.
TINKLE, TINKLE. TINKLE, TINKLE.
The ones outside the courtyard rang.
The ones in the courtyard rang.
Something was rapidly approaching the room.
Soon, the Rope Bells inside the room—also began to ring!
The ringing was crisp, cold, and chaotic, its urgency tinged with an eerie quality.
For the first time in his life, Elder Wu hated the sound of bells.
He knew the opponent was already inside the house, right here, wandering around him and Cheng Yu.
But he couldn’t see or hear the opponent, and it was very likely the opponent couldn’t see or hear them either.
Perhaps they weren’t in the same space at all.
The opponent seemed to be getting anxious, probably because they couldn’t find Cheng Yu. All the bells on the four ropes inside the room began to ring at once.
’Was this thing just spinning around the room?’
Elder Wu looked at the shell in his hand.
The figure in the small cabin was also moving about, seemingly just as nervous.