Chapter 215: Long Dream

The old man screamed and pleaded, but the executioners simply carried out their duties without asking any questions. The mocking laughter of countless evil spirits nearby was shrill and piercing.

During the periods when the executioners left, a vacuum formed. Mutilated ghosts and monsters, some limping, others crawling, all gathered around the old man, desperately trying to tear and gnaw at him. Their twisted madness and greed were, sensually, more terrifying than any demon on earth. Yet, the cultivator's soul, while feeling every bit of the agony, could not suffer fatal damage.

As soon as the executioners returned, these crippled spirits instantly transformed from malevolent and eerie to panicked, scattering in all directions. The old man would then face a new form of torment. This cycle repeated almost endlessly, with little duplication. If a torture was repeated, it was only because its inflicted pain and mental devastation far surpassed others, warranting another round.

Above the lowest level of the Hell of Punishment Department, its chief official and the Military Judge of the Merit and Demerit Department observed the fate of the wicked old cultivator through the misty, dark aura. They witnessed his desperate longing for release.

"Hmph, with such a disposition, it's no wonder he chose this path of evil."

The Military Judge twitched his mouth. The bottom of the Hell of Punishment was a place that even many other ghost officials in the Underworld dreaded. Even a cultivator's soul, subjected to the most horrific torture, could only endure so much before collapsing.

"Should we question him about Jinzhou now?"

The chief official of the Hell of Punishment smiled and shook his head.

"No hurry, no hurry. This man's soul is solid, and his former body was tempered by spiritual energy and magical power. He's been cultivating for a long time. Let him suffer a bit more. In a while, as soon as the executioners show any intent to interrogate him, I guarantee he'll confess everything, right down to when he was weaned before he began cultivating."

"Indeed!"

The Hell of Punishment Department had its own interrogation methods, with clear limits and measures. The Military Judge said no more. Such a degenerate cultivator was not worthy of sympathy. The real tragedy would be when the evil cultivator had confessed everything he knew, only to learn he would still continue to be tortured.

As for the pregnant woman, her interrogation was much simpler. Apart from her decent appearance, her disposition was that of a simple village woman from a remote area. Although she practiced evil arts and consumed human hearts, once she truly arrived in the Underworld and saw the infernal constables and evil spirits, she nearly collapsed.

Such a person naturally didn't know much. Aside from revealing the evil art her master taught her—which supposedly allowed one to fly, burrow, devour gods, and destroy immortals as the Nine-Child Ghost Mother—her knowledge was limited.

However, those in the Underworld scoffed at this claim. Generally, a fetus gains sentience at three months. Given her belly seemed seven or eight months along, and even the ghost infant within her had an incomplete soul, such grand claims naturally lacked credibility.

Ji Yuan temporarily put aside his concerns about the affairs of the Chunhui Prefecture Underworld. If they couldn't get anything out of the evil cultivators there, he, Ji, would naturally be at a loss.

At this moment, Ji Yuan had already returned to Ju'an Small Pavilion in Ning'an County. When he arrived home, his embroidered pouch was still hanging outside the main house. The courtyard was covered in fresh snow, with no paw or footprints visible, indicating that Hu Yun had not visited recently.

It was early morning. Ji Yuan tucked the pouch into his robe, opened the door, and sat down at the wooden table inside. From his sleeve, he took out several talismans and a yellowed book.

One of them was the still-potent Grand Void Earth Escape Talisman. There was also a Spirit Concealing Talisman and a Heart Purifying Talisman. These three talismans were clearly not common items; the spiritual glow on them was extraordinary.

However, the path of talismans was a specialized branch of cultivation. It was time-consuming and slow to yield results, so not many people focused on it. Nevertheless, those who achieved mastery were highly sought after, as everyone desired a wondrous spiritual talisman. Thus, it was considered a secret art, with various talismanic methods passed down orally and kept confidential. Even the Old Dragon was not fully aware of the specifics of talismancy.

Ji Yuan didn't expect the evil old cultivator to offer any pleasant surprises in this regard. His only disappointment was that the talisman capable of substituting death was gone.

Other items related to talismancy were merely extensions of various techniques. The death-substituting talisman, however, was truly extraordinary, and the cost of creating it would not be small.

The book itself was entirely ordinary, with no spiritual essence lingering within it. As expected, it contained the evil art, titled "The Great Art of Imperial Ghost Mother Refinement."

"Hmph!"

Ji Yuan scoffed. From the title, he knew it was a crooked path, similar to refining corpses or raising ghosts. Even if successful, the woman would ultimately be a sacrifice, not a true disciple.

Such a book, with only text and illustrations but no inherent spiritual guidance, would easily lead to errors if one practiced carelessly. The old man himself didn't seem to have received any genuine transmission, suggesting the woman also served as a test subject.

After reading it carefully, Ji Yuan grew increasingly exasperated. If not for his curiosity about how one could survive after being beheaded, and his desire to see if there was anything worth scrutinizing within, he would have long since destroyed the book.

Some of the content was extremely repulsive. After forcing himself to read through it once, a burst of fire instantly ignited in Ji Yuan's hand with a "boom," startling the paper crane that had just peeked out of his pouch, causing it to shrink back inside.

"Keeping it would only harm people!"

Under Ji Yuan's control of the flames, in just half a breath, the entire book was completely incinerated, turning to fine ash that floated out of the house and drifted away with the wind.

"Phew... my divine abilities and wondrous methods are better. Time to practice the Great Dream Art!"

Ji Yuan wondered if anyone else could cultivate in their dreams as he did. He wasn't sure if his cultivation efficiency could compare to meditating and achieving enlightenment in immortal abodes and sacred lands, but when it came to comprehending the wondrous and divine, his dream realm was certainly extraordinary.

He awoke from his first dream the next day because the Chunhui Prefecture Underworld had obtained results. The news was relayed to the local spirits and deities at the border of Desheng Prefecture, then passed on between the borders of various counties, eventually reaching Ji Yuan.

As expected, the old man had little to do with the true demons, at least on the surface. However, he did represent a very small fraction of those who, out of curiosity about the rumors from the Pavilion of Heavenly Secrets, liked to act clever.

As for the evil cultivator's ultimate fate, the Chunhui Prefecture Underworld didn't elaborate, and Ji Yuan didn't bother to ask.

After learning this news, Ji Yuan saw off the visiting infernal constable and eagerly returned to his dream-filled sleep.

This time, his sleep was even longer. As luck would have it, with no one disturbing him for an extended period, this dream lasted for four or five months with no signs of him waking.

Everyone in the county who knew Ji Yuan assumed that Mr. Ji had likely gone on another distant journey. Only the spiritual energy gathered in his courtyard remained dispersed... until the following year, when the large date tree bloomed, filling Ning'an with its fragrance.

It was spring once more. One day, a red fox, carefully avoiding crowds and the county's cats and dogs, hurried through the streets and alleys to Ju'an Small Pavilion, located in a secluded part of Tianniu Square.

It looked at the large date tree in the courtyard, full of blossoms, then leaped over the wall and into the yard.

This was at least Hu Yun's tenth visit to Ju'an Small Pavilion since last winter, and each time he hadn't seen Mr. Ji. But this time was slightly different. As soon as he entered the courtyard, he sensed something and looked up at the date tree branches.

A paper crane was actually mimicking the nearby bees, using its paper beak to poke at the tiny date blossoms.

"Paper crane, has Mr. Ji woken up?"

Hu Yun's heart leaped with joy at the sight of the paper crane, and he immediately asked the little paper crane, which seemed to have gained sentience.

However, the latter's intelligence wasn't high enough for smooth communication with a fox. It merely heard its master's name, flew down, landed on the stone table, and looked at the red fox. Then, in the next moment, it suddenly flapped its wings, flew towards the main house, landed at the doorway, and then quickly compressed itself to slip through the gap under the door.

"Oh..."

Hu Yun had barely uttered a single sound when the paper crane vanished.

A few breaths later, a yawn echoed from inside the house.

Hearing this sound, Hu Yun's first reaction was not surprise but a sudden surge of guilt and even panic.

'Oh no! If Lord Lu Shan finds out I woke Mr. Ji, I'm dead!'

Hu Yun's next reaction was to flee. So, with a running start, he scrambled onto the small pavilion's wall, leaped to the ground, and bolted away from Tianniu Square as if escaping.

"Hoo... Ah..."

Ji Yuan yawned and stretched, sitting up in bed. A layer of dust had settled everywhere in the room except for the area around the bed.

"That was a long dream!"

He looked towards the door, as if his gaze could pierce through it, and muttered.

"Has this fox grown distant from me now? Why did it run away when I woke up?"

By the embroidered pouch near his bed, a paper crane slipped inside. Ji Yuan, of course, hadn't been woken by the paper crane; it had merely sensed its master was about to awaken and specifically entered the pouch.

"I can't sleep anymore. If I keep sleeping, I'll miss Master Yin's second child being born. I wonder if Yin Qing has gone there yet."