Li Qiuchen stood up and paced back and forth on the floor for a long time, persisting until his body grew tired. Thinking of tomorrow’s work, he finally lay back down on the table.
His consciousness slowly began to fade from clarity.
He washed his face with cold water several times, but the power of the dream crept in unnoticed, exerting a terrifying force.
Exhaustion surged over him like waves, one after another, until he fell into sleep.
The dream arrived as expected.
First came Belinda’s furious rebuke, thundering like lightning.
“Ellen! Are you still resisting me?”
The angry lion nearly roared.
“Was it them who bewitched you? Ellen, answer me. Answer me!”
Crimson sword energy nearly tore through his mind.
Next came Hestia’s tearful accusation.
“Teacher! You promised me! You said you would always stay with me… You broke your word!”
Emerald vines wrapped around him, carrying heartbreaking sorrow.
Just as his consciousness fully faded, a pure white, overwhelming Holy Light descended, scattering all noise.
Reina’s figure appeared within the light.
Her ice-blue eyes were void of emotion, just like the night before.
She stood upon the marble tiles of the Saint Palace, cold and imposing.
The Holy Maiden’s Eminence’s flawless white skin and perfect figure appeared extraordinarily real in today’s dream, the sacred aura slowly enveloping him, instantly dispelling all inner fear.
It was the Holy Light Chain.
Li Qiuchen realized clearly he had been caught.
On the floor, those chains had skillfully avoided his line of sight, and the moment he “stepped” onto the tile, they burrowed from beneath into his body.
He didn’t even have time to awaken the lingering Zhesi Gem.
If it were whole, he’d never have fallen for the trap.
But now he had not a trace of Mana left, and the Zhesi Gem was reduced to only its Echo.
“A chaotic soul needs the guidance of order.”
She softly chanted the incantation.
Her ice-blue eyes were close to Li Qiuchen’s, and the cold, sacred breath from the Holy Maiden’s Eminence’s mouth and nose sprayed fragrant warmth onto his face.
They were too close.
Yet Li Qiuchen felt nothing strange.
On the contrary, he gradually adapted to and craved this closeness, that pair of lips opening and closing before him.
It seemed to carry a strange fragrance that made him want to taste it.
To serve this holy and perfect Saintess forever, to offer all and receive all, she agreed, she would satisfy his every desire—if he needed it.
His mind unconsciously sank into it, utterly believing what Reina said.
Reina Saintglow’s hands traced patterns in the air.
A complex Holy Light magic array, radiating hypnotic waves, began to slowly take shape.
Like a gentle web, it descended toward the core of Li Qiuchen’s soul.
One step at a time, according to plan—only then could he be saved and avoid that outcome.
It was almost complete…
A victorious smile curled at Reina’s lips.
Her hard work in studying ancient texts had paid off.
How could the meager cleverness of a Philosopher Mage compare to the endless lore of the Saint Palace…
“Li Zi! Wake up!”
“Pa!”
In reality, Li Qiuchen’s face burned as Jocelyn slapped him awake.
In the dream he had just escaped, the majestic Holy Light magic array had only begun to light up its core rune before the target vanished with a “pop”, like a bubble.
Reina, who was preparing the final guidance, froze in place.
Maintaining her elegant casting pose, she stood in the empty dreamlike Saint Palace, and for the first time, the emotion called “bewilderment” appeared in her ice-blue eyes.
Before her, only the faint ripple of Li Qiuchen’s fading consciousness remained—and nothingness.
The ever-confident Saintess of the Time Temple looked down at the half-formed Holy Light Chain in her hands, then gazed up at the emptiness, anger slowly gathering in her eyes.
Li Qiuchen gasped sharply, jolting awake from the dream, his heart pounding, cold sweat soaking the coarse shirt on his back.
He panted heavily, looking at Jocelyn with a mix of pain and gratitude.
“Thank you!”
Li Qiuchen said with deep appreciation.
“It seems someone really is targeting you in your dreams,” Jocelyn murmured, a little shocked.
The two sat in silence, the darkness filled only with the sound of heavy breathing.
After a moment, overwhelming fatigue surged again.
In the depths of the dream, a terrifying suction pulled at him, dragging him back into slumber.
He could no longer resist.
Sure enough, that pure white Holy Light blazed again.
Within the dream, Reina seemed to have recovered from the earlier mishap.
Her eyes were even more solemn and focused than before, as if facing an unstable experimental variable.
Her hypnotic magic array began reconstructing, faster this time, with a resolve that allowed no failure…
“Pa!”
Another merciless “awakening slap” yanked him from the dream’s edge.
In the last instant before his consciousness departed, Li Qiuchen seemed to glimpse the compassionate Holy Maiden’s Eminence once again, her eyes wide with disbelief at the empty space before her, her sacred hands unconsciously clenching tighter.
Just a little more, just a little more!
Reina struggled to suppress her anger.
Whenever it involved that damned Ellen, she lost all reason.
She needed to stay rational, rational.
But the more she tried, the harder it became to restrain the rage within.
She continued operating the magic array.
As this “fall asleep—hypnosis—slap awake” cycle reached its third round, the door of the second-floor guest room creaked open.
Demon Hunter Kaili, preparing to go out at night to investigate the “Vampire,” tiptoed down the stairs.
By the faint moonlight filtering through the window, she saw a scene she would never forget:
The handsome helper named Li Qiuchen lay on the makeshift table bed, eyes tightly shut, as if just fallen asleep.
His companion, the petite girl named Jocelyn, raised her hand expressionlessly—and then—
“Pa!”
A crisp, resounding slap landed firmly on the young man’s face.
He awoke with a start, clutching his cheek in pain, his eyes filled with both gratitude and despair.
After a moment of silence, the young man fell asleep again.
Then the petite girl raised her hand once more…
Kaili froze halfway down the stairs, the corner of her mouth twitching.
She had trained for years at the Temple of the God of War, hunted countless monsters, and witnessed all kinds of bizarre rituals, but this scene—so rational yet twisted, so absurd yet reasonable—was far beyond her comprehension.
At that moment, in the Time Temple’s Saint Palace, the command of the Holy Maiden resounded.
Initiate the Great Sacred Array.
Infuse Mana into the central hall.
The devout priests on night duty obeyed, each producing a Violet Crystal filled with Mana and guiding its power into the array’s nodes.
With Mana vast as the sea, Reina became nearly godlike in the dream.
She easily scattered the interference of Belinda and Hestia within the dream, then forcibly pulled Li Qiuchen back in, her hypnotic magic array accelerating.
This time, Jocelyn’s slap was completely ineffective.
Watching Li Qiuchen’s swollen face sleeping soundly, she anxiously spun in circles.
She immediately fetched a basin of water and splashed it over Li Qiuchen.
Still no reaction.
Gritting her teeth, she grabbed a wet cloth and covered Li Qiuchen’s nose.
The threat of suffocating death caused his body to spasm, finally wrenching him out of the dream.
His eyes flew open.
“Ah! Ah—!”
Li Qiuchen gasped like a drowning man, still managing to give his rescuer a grateful thumbs-up.
He had no idea how bizarre this looked to the Demon Hunter lady.
“Slap… suffocation? Is this… is this how young people express love these days?”
“Goddess of War above, if they are impure, please punish them.”
She muttered, deciding to steer clear of these performance artists and silently slipped out of the tavern.
But Jocelyn called out, “Demon Hunter lady, where are you going?”
Jocelyn’s voice rang through the quiet tavern, instantly ruining Kaili’s attempt to sneak away.
She froze, then turned with a smile.
Meanwhile, deep within the Saint Palace, Reina had no idea that her use of the array’s power signaled a new phase of war to the other two.
Within the depths of the Royal Palace of the Taya Empire, Belinda’s leonine roar echoed.
“Summon all Imperial Royal Mages in the city! Have them here within a quarter of an hour!”
“Your Highness, they’re in the Central Spire… discussing this year’s Magic Association fee allocations…”
A servant official tried to stammer a report on the Mage Association’s affairs.
“Bring. Them. Here.”
The Princess gripped her greatsword Judgement, the fire of the Lion King Bloodline blazing.
The pressure was nearly tangible, dropping the official to his knees.
“Yes, Your Highness!”
The might of the Imperial Royalty unfurled.
All thirteen Imperial Mages who received the order immediately rushed from the spire to the Second Princess’s palace.
Deep within the Moonshadow Forest’s Elven Tribe, Hestia, thrown out of the dream, sat up abruptly, her pointed ears twitching.
After a moment’s hesitation, determination shone on her face.
She had made her decision.
Beneath the giant Golden Sacred Tree, the continent’s most famous Assassin Elf, Hestia, picked up an iron pot and spatula, standing by a refined treehouse.
She banged the pot and shouted loudly through the quiet tribe.
“Clang—Everyone wake up!”
“Clang—Daddy, Mommy! Uncles, Grandmas! Wake up!”
“Clang—Grandpas! Elders! Ahh, Hestia needs you all!”
“Clang—Great-grandpas and great-grandmas! Waa, please wake up!”
“Wuwu ꒦ິ^꒦ິ, bad, bad people are bullying Hestia, come help!”
As one ancient presence after another awoke, the isolated Elven Tribe began to reveal its terrifying power passed down for millennia.