Chapter 75: Dream within a dream, Cheng Ling’s dreamscape
Qi Huang opened her eyes and saw the ceiling of the cultivation chamber. She seemed to be lying on the ground. She instinctively wanted to turn over, but unfortunately, it was like being pressed by a ghost, completely unable to move. It was then that her mind finally registered that she was “dreaming,” and what she was seeing were Cheng Ling’s memories. Naturally, it was impossible to manipulate someone else’s “body” across time and space. She hadn’t dreamed in a long time and had forgotten this.
The next moment, Cheng Ling used her spiritual sense to control her body to stand upright and then float in mid-air. Her gaze fell upon a corner, where she saw Cheng Hong Ling had fainted due to excessive exhaustion. She had practiced using clones in the Guiyi Realm; it was already a miracle she was alive.
Cheng Ling then observed herself using her spiritual sense and discovered that her body was just a face-skin. Although it was as thin as cicada wings, it appeared very complete. The dark red marks on her right cheek were also exceptionally conspicuous.
“Heaven truly aids me!”
Cheng Ling thought so.
Since Qi Huang was seeing Cheng Ling’s memories, she knew what this woman was thinking.
Cheng Ling then controlled the face-skin and stumbled towards the stone door. The reason for stumbling was simple: at this time, even the spiritual sense strength of Cheng Hong Ling, the main body, was only at the late stage of the Guiyi Realm, let alone her clone.
‘How did she get out?’
The question arose in Qi Huang’s mind again, as the stone door of the cultivation chamber was heavily reinforced, and Cheng Ling’s current spiritual sense was insufficient to open it.
Cheng Ling controlled the face-skin to fly to the stone door and then began to examine it from all sides, up, down, left, and right. In just a moment, she actually found a thin crack at the bottom.
‘Heaven truly aids me!’
A look of joy appeared on Cheng Ling’s face-skin.
‘So that’s how it is!’
Qi Huang’s doubts were finally resolved. Although the crack was very thin, less than a centimeter, it was enough for a face-skin to pass through. After all, most people’s faces are only about half a centimeter thick, let alone Cheng Hong Ling, a young woman with delicate skin. It was not an exaggeration to say it was as thin as cicada wings.
Cheng Ling knew that the longer the delay, the more trouble, so she wanted to control the face-skin to escape through the crack below. However, before acting, she looked back at the main body: “I will bear this ugly face for you, and you give me freedom in return. This is fair. I hope we never see each other again!”
After saying this, Cheng Ling controlled the face-skin and escaped from under the stone door. This process took all her strength, as the crack was narrow, and her spiritual sense was weak, making the difficulty self-evident.
When Cheng Ling escaped to the outside, her consciousness had already begun to blur, but she dared not linger. She relentlessly controlled the face-skin and floated out of the HongHua Sect, because she knew that once the main body woke up, she would not be able to escape.
Cheng Ling staggered in the night sky, like a toddling infant. She used all her might to escape the vicinity of the HongHua Sect and then lost consciousness.
In the final moments, the cicada-wing-thin face-skin was like a kite with a broken string, or a lone boat in the vast ocean, helpless, swept far away by the night wind.
Qi Huang naturally also lost consciousness. She had imagined ten thousand scenes of what she might see the next time she opened her eyes, but what happened next completely subverted her understanding.
The next “dreamscape” continued!
Qi Huang opened her eyes again, only to see a dilapidated roof directly above. The thatch was sparse, and occasionally a few drops of rain could be seen falling. The beams, due to long-term dampness, had begun to rot. This perfectly illustrated the saying, “When it rains, it pours.” The only advantage was that it was conducive to “lighting,” and even on a cloudy day, the situation indoors could be seen clearly.
Qi Huang instinctively tried to control her body, and the result was as expected.
‘Why am I so forgetful? This is Cheng Ling’s memory, and I’m trying to control someone else’s body for no reason?’
Qi Huang immediately mocked herself. Since she had experienced this countless times, she was not surprised and her mind quickly calmed down.
‘Since I’m indoors, it means that the face-skin must have been found by someone.’
Qi Huang speculated.
Qi Huang believed she controlled everything, but at this moment, her body sat up. Her peripheral vision landed on hands, feet, hair, and a body. Except that it looked very small, it was clearly a complete little loli.
‘This… this is impossible!’
Qi Huang trembled violently in her heart. If this were the real world, she would be sweating profusely. After all, everything before her completely defied logic. According to her expectations, the next time she woke up, it should still be that human skin mask. So where did this complete body come from? These two dreams were clearly not sequential.
‘Could I be having a different dream?’
Qi Huang, after a moment of thought, considered this possibility. After all, there was no rule that she could only dream about Cheng Ling when she slept.
The more Qi Huang thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed, and her mind gradually calmed down. Although having other dreams while sleeping was a waste of time, it was not something she could control.
Thus, Qi Huang watched as the three or four-year-old loli clumsily put on tattered clothes and shoes, and then, tripping over her own feet, walked out.
The loli pushed open the door, revealing a similarly simple courtyard. In a corner lay several worn-out hoes. Other than that, not to mention livestock, not even a chicken could be seen.
‘It’s even poorer than my home in Huatian Village!’
Even though she was dreaming, Qi Huang couldn’t help but sigh.
“Yao Yao woke up?”
Just then, a woman’s voice was heard.
The little loli turned her head and saw a woman over fifty years old coming out of a side room. Although she was still relatively young, her face was full of wrinkles, her skin was slightly dark, and her spirit was weak.
“Grandma, where are Mom and Dad?”
The little loli, named Yao Yao, asked in a childlike voice.
“Oh, they’re still in the fields. They should be back soon!”
The woman replied.
“I want to find Mom and Dad! I want to find Mom and Dad! Wuwuwu…”
The little loli, being ignorant, began to cry.
“Okay! Okay! Good granddaughter, don’t cry! Grandma will take you to find them now.”
Seeing this, the woman quickly came over to comfort her. From their address, it was clear they were grandmother and granddaughter.
Next, the woman carried the little loli and walked towards the main gate.
‘With these frail grandmother and granddaughter, they dare to go out? Aren’t they just offering themselves to the wandering ghosts!’
Qi Huang instinctively lamented, completely forgetting that this was actually a dream, as what she saw was too realistic.
The grandmother and granddaughter left the house and walked along a dirt road towards the outskirts of the village.
“Grandma, what is he eating?”
During this time, the little loli saw a passing boy eating tanghulu and couldn’t help but ask her grandmother.
‘She doesn’t even know what tanghulu is?’
Qi Huang was stunned.
“Yao Yao, that’s tanghulu. Grandma will buy you a skewer next time we go to town.”
The grandmother was taken aback for a moment, then a bright smile appeared on her face, devoid of any sadness, as if she were used to it.
“Okay!”
The little loli swallowed her saliva and then put her small hand into her mouth.
The grandmother and granddaughter left the village and soon arrived at the fields. Due to the dense vegetation, they heard a young couple talking before they could see anyone.
“Wife… wife, I want to tell… tell you something.”
The young man spoke haltingly.
“Husband, just say what you need to say.”
The young woman replied.
“Do you remember I took Mother to the county town for treatment a couple of days ago? Actually, she doesn’t have abdominal pain, but a severe ‘tumor disease’ in her body. Sigh!”
The husband said with a sigh.
“What? Tumor disease? The incurable illness that Father-in-law had?”
The wife exclaimed, her voice trembling.
Upon hearing this, Qi Huang felt the body of the woman carrying her tremble violently. Then her hands became limp as if they had lost their bones.
The little loli gradually fell, so she quickly reached out and grabbed her grandmother’s shoulder.
The grandmother suddenly reacted and firmly held her granddaughter again.
“Speak softly! I didn’t tell the truth, I was just afraid Mother would find out.”
The young husband beside her quickly shushed her.
“Wuwuwu… Husband… why is this happening? Father-in-law died less than two years ago, and now Grandmother also has this incurable disease?”
The wife began to sob quietly.
‘An entire family, two elders consecutively suffering from incurable diseases?’
Qi Huang’s mood became unusually heavy. Even in a dream, she couldn’t ignore it.
“Alas! This is likely fate!”
The husband sighed deeply, then said, “Wife, you should go back to your mother’s home!”
“What… what are you talking about? If I leave you because Grandmother is sick, am I still human?”
The wife said firmly.
“Wife, you need to think clearly. I will not abandon my mother. If you continue to stay with me, you will likely never have a chance to turn your life around.”
The husband reminded her again. It could be seen that he was a responsible man, but the wife remained unmoved!
Qi Huang’s emotions surged violently. Just as she was marveling at the depth of their marital affection, the scene suddenly went black, and the dream ended.
…
When Qi Huang opened her eyes again, she found herself in a forest. The surroundings were somewhat familiar, seeming to be outside the HongHua Sect.
‘It seems this dream is also about Cheng Ling’s memories!’
Qi Huang’s spirits immediately lifted.
At this moment, Cheng Ling’s inner voice suddenly rang out: “Did I dream? What a strange dream! A family with two elders consecutively getting incurable diseases, how pitiful.”
‘What? The scene just now was Cheng Ling’s dream? Then what I saw was a dream within a dream?’
Qi Huang was utterly shocked. She hadn’t expected that her ability to read memories would lead to such a strange experience.
In fact, it made sense. Cheng Ling’s memories naturally included not only her real-life experiences but also the dreams that left a deep impression on her.
Since she was near the HongHua Sect, Cheng Ling dared not delay and continued to control the face-skin to escape. But at this moment, she discovered something extremely bizarre: the color of the red marks on her body, that is, the face-skin, had actually faded a bit, but the area had expanded.
‘What is going on?’
Cheng Ling was instantly dumbfounded.
