Thriller Night Talk

Translator-Rhapsodite

Editor- Koneko, Proofreader- Spring Flower

“Blame me.”

Bei Quan apologized to his boyfriend with a smile.

“I didn’t expect to encounter such strong spiritual interference in the dream. I didn’t protect you in advance either.”

As far as Bei Quan’s current strength was concerned, few people in the world could defeat him.

But, in the dream just now, Bei Quan truly felt that his abilities were significantly suppressed: he couldn’t even summon his signature magical weapon, the Qingguang Vientiane brush.

——It seems like I need to prepare in advance.

Bei Quan decided in his mind.

That was all for the next time he entered the dream. Before that, he needed to wake up Jiang Nan’an.

Yes, Comrade Xiao Jiang was still asleep.

In the dream, there was some distance between Jiang Nan’an and Bei Quan, and Bei Quan couldn’t reach him. Naturally, he couldn’t help Jiang Nan’an just as easily as he did with Wei Fuyuan, by drawing a Qingming charm on his palm.

Jiang Nan’an’s willpower was also not strong enough to resist the hypnosis of ‘Master Tianyuan’.

Bei Quan awakened Jiang Nan’an with a charm, just like had before.

Jiang Nan’an opened his eyes, but unlike Wei Fuyuan, he didn’t feel disoriented. Instead, he sat on the cushion in a daze with a blank expression and without any reaction for several seconds.

“Xiao Jiang!”

Tian Jia Xin raised his hand and waved vigorously in front of Jiang Nan’an’s eyes.

“It’s morning, snap out of it!”

Jiang Nan’an blinked his eyes, but his gaze still seemed lost.

“Amazing indeed…”

Those were his first words.

“Wow.”

Tian Jia Xin reached out and patted Comrade Xiao Jiang’s head. “Seems like he was sleeping like a log.”

“This is the influence of dream hypnosis.”

Bei Quan smiled. “He needs some help.”

Next, Bei Quan asked Tian Jia Xin to cook a calming and soothing herbal soup while he drew a charm with the Qingguang Vientiane brush, before tapping it on Jiang Nan’an’s forehead.

Only then, did Jiang Nan’an seem to truly wake up from his dream.

He first blinked his eyes forcefully, then shook his head vigorously, even slapping his face a few times.

“Damn! Damn!”

Jiang Nan’an rubbed his flushed cheeks and kept saying, “I almost wanted to cultivate immortality!”

“It’s not your fault, don’t worry.”

Bei Quan pulled Comrade Xiao Jiang up. “Let’s go to the dining table.”

He smiled and said, “Let’s have some calming tea and then have breakfast. We’ll review things slowly.”

——————————–

On August 31st, Tuesday, at 8:15 in the morning.

Bei Quan, Wei Fuyuan, and Jiang Nan’an sat at the dining table, eating breakfast as usual.

However, both Wei Fuyuan and Jiang Nan’an didn’t have much of an appetite, feeling full after just a few bites.

“So, that so-called ‘sermon’ was actually hypnosis?”

Jiang Nan’an held a steaming cup of calming tea while sipping it slowly.

The taste of this tea was quite peculiar. It was bitter and at the same time, had a sweet taste of licorice and brown sugar. The combination of the two were quite challenging to handle.

But, as he continued to drink this peculiar herbal concoction, it went down his throat smoothly, the warmth spread through his stomach, giving him a strange sense of peace.

“Yes.”

Bei Quan nodded as he confirmed Jiang Nan’an’s guess.

“It is a form of hypnosis, or you can also understand it as a subconscious spiritual guidance.”

Later, he expressed his speculation, “I believe that the so-called ‘Tianyuan City’ is just a fabricated illusion.”

There are actually quite a few secret realms in the world that are not well known to the public, and the Zhu Ling Secret Realm where Bei Quan’s sect was located, is one of them.

But, the Tianyuan City behind the ‘Two Pole Gate’ was not a secret realm in the true sense.

It was created by someone in a certain way, relying on the illusion in the dream realm.

“You can think of it as playing an online game, and ‘Tianyuan City’ is your game map.” 𝑏𝑒𝘥𝑛𝑜𝑣𝑒𝘭.𝘯𝑒𝑡

Bei Quan made an analogy, “Passing through the ‘Two Pole Gate’ or entering the preaching hall is like switching maps at a specific location.”

“I see, no wonder I always felt like something was off!”

Wei Fuyuan nodded, “Now that I think about it, ‘Tianyuan City’ lacked a sense of reality.”

The design of Tianyuan City may be impressive, but apart from being ‘nice to look at,’ it didn’t have any practical value.

Moreover, although the building materials looked like marble, there were no traces of stone joints, not even a scratch or a stain. It was really unrealistic and fake.

Wei Fuyuan rubbed his chin, “Wow, so many loopholes!”

In fact, when he saw the chair that resembled the ‘Iron Throne,’ he already felt that something was unusual about the environment around him.

Upon careful consideration, everything in ‘Tianyuan City’ was just an artificial illusion.

The person who created these illusions may not have the ability to independently ‘design’ a complete city, so they drew inspiration from elsewhere.

Comrade Xiao Wei felt that if he spent some time researching on the Internet, he could more than likely find more similar materials.

“So, this illusion was created by ‘Master Tianyuan’?”

“But, if it’s just to attract people into ‘Tianyuan City,’ why go through all of the trouble and take so many days to gradually bring us closer to the ‘Two Pole Gate’ in the dream?” Jiang Nan’an asked.

“Of course, it’s to make us feel more immersed,” Bei Quan replied.

“Although I don’t know who did it or how they did it, it’s clear that the person’s abilities weren’t strong enough to directly pull someone into ‘Tianyuan City,’ so they chose to do it step by step.”

He smiled, “Actually, the process of us gradually approaching the ‘Two Pole Gate’ is also a form of hypnosis, isn’t it?”

Wei Fuyuan and Jiang Nan’an both understood, and nodded. “I see.”

The whole ‘Two Pole Gate’ incident was actually a gradually convincing deception.

Someone spreads rumors about the ‘Two Pole Gate’ online, constructing this concept in the minds of some people, with the creator establishing a mental connection with these people.

He would then make them repeatedly revisit the image of the ‘Two Pole Gate’ in their dreams, slowly getting closer to it, like a continuous hypnotic suggestion. It would reinforce their trust and obsession with the ‘Gate’ until their belief became strong enough to enter the ‘Tianyuan City’ that was beyond.

The ‘Immortal Lord’ Tianyuan preaching in ‘Tianyuan City’ was another form of hypnosis.

Bei Quan had an excellent memory, almost photographic. Moreover, he was well-versed in Taoist classics, so it was easy for him to recognize that the so-called ‘preaching’ by Master Tianyuan was just a recitation of some collected scriptures with the sources being unknown.

The actual preaching of Master Tianyuan itself was a form of hypnosis.

Those who listened to his preaching would be implanted with a strong cognition in their dreams, feeling that his teachings were profound and mysterious, captivating their hearts.

They believed that they had embarked onto the path of immortality, transcending the mundane world.

“Indeed,” Jiang Nan’an nodded in agreement.

When he woke up, his mind was filled with the Taoist teachings imparted by Master Tianyuan. It was as if he suddenly understood a lot, was filled with self-confidence, and felt that he would definitely achieve enlightenment and ascend in the future.

He couldn’t wait to go back to sleep so that he could listen to Master Tianyuan’s teachings again.

Now that Bei Quan had broken him free from the hypnosis of the Tianyuan, Jiang Nan’an recalls how ridiculous and absurd that idea was.

However, at that time, it was as if this consciousness had taken root and sprouted in his brain, making him firmly believe in it.

“Who exactly is this ‘Tianyuan’? And what is his purpose in doing all this?” Jiang Nan’an was filled with fear and couldn’t help but rub his arm.

“Since he has the ability to create such an illusion like the ‘Tianyuan City’, he must be… quite powerful, right?”

“That’s not necessarily the case,” Bei Quan gently shook his head.

“Have you forgotten about Xu Lei?” Wei Fuyuan heard the name of his junior sister and felt a mix of emotions in his heart.

Xu Lei’s ‘Spirit of words’ ability was not voluntary, but it did indeed cause the deaths of many people.

Later, to conceal her secret, she even tried to kill Wei Fuyuan and others who knew the truth.

Xu Lei may be pitiful, but she could not be considered innocent.

Later, she died at the hands of Ah Song: her three souls, and seven spirits were extracted, even becoming the raw material for creating Hui Gui.

This outcome was truly saddening.

However, when Bei Quan mentioned Xu Lei during this moment, it was only to use her as an example.

“Rather than saying he is ‘powerful’, it is more appropriate to say he has ‘extraordinary talent’.” Bei Quan said.

“Being able to construct a ‘world’ in dreams and make those who enter believe in the rules of that ‘world’ is a very rare ‘gift’ in itself.”

“So, are we going to investigate the true identity of the ‘Tianyuan Master’ next?” Jiang Nan’an poured himself another cup of the calming tea and took small sips.

“The person’s incarnation in the illusion should be able to change at will, right? The ‘Tianyuan Master’ is very likely just a creation of his imagination.”

“That’s right,” Bei Quan agreed.

“So, we just need to find a way to discover the true identity of the creator of the illusion.”

“And we still don’t know whose body the evil ghost is with.”

Wei Fuyuan had been in ‘Santuchuan’ for a few months, and he had some experience.

“Both the creator of the illusion and the people entering the dream could be the targets of the Hui Gui, right?” He tried to recall what he had seen in the dream last night.

“Besides us, sixteen other people were listening to the ‘Tianyuan Master’s’ lecture… It would take a lot of time to investigate them one by one.”

Moreover, in the dream world, there was no way to take photos or record videos. The three of them did not have the ability to draw portraits with their bare hands based on memory. Without any visual information, it was obviously difficult to identify each other solely through verbal descriptions.

“Right.”

Bei Quan smirked, revealing a mischievous smile. This usually meant that he had come up with some not-so-honest idea.

“So, maybe we can try a different approach…”