The Aloof Master Relies on This Cat's Kisses to Survive - Chapter 16

Dream Ravings of the East Street

“Gloating over our misfortune!”

Wu Loud-Mouth slapped the stall. “You… you are simply—shameless!”

“Shameless?” Ji Fang’s expression seemed more filled with helplessness than anything else. “I don’t understand it either, but you are dead, and while I feel deeply sorry, I can’t stop being happy. I can’t control it.”

After saying this, Ji Fang laughed again.

The sound of her laughter was just like before: quite eerie.

“Uh… this, this thing called emotion, who can really control it perfectly, right?” Dongfang Qianyao had never seen such a scene before; she was stuttering as she spoke.

Because of her high-spirit constitution, she was originally meant to follow Ancestor Ji Wu to practice the sect known as “Righteous Body.” However, cultivating a temperament of few desires and cold detachment since childhood was too bitter, and Dongfang Qianyao did not want to suffer.

“There’s nothing wrong with not wanting to suffer; you aren’t in the wrong.” Her tone was certain, yet her expression was extremely complex. She then turned to Ji Wu for help. “Sister, look at what’s happening. What kind of words are these? Ji Fang… she’s not right.”

“Exactly, what kind of talk is this? Just listen to it!” Wu Loud-Mouth once again cut off someone else’s answer, shouting, “Neighbors! This woman says we are dead, and she is happy!”

“She’s happy!”

“We are dead!!”

In an instant, the emotions of the departed souls were stirred up once more.

“Ah, otherwise? People die every day; can one never be happy?” Ming Xi stretched her waist. “Having been swallowed in one gulp by a monster and yet not dying—why shouldn’t one laugh?”

“How can you laugh when people have died!” The woman at the flatbread stall stood with her hands on her hips in dissatisfaction. “An entire street of people was eaten, and only you are left. How can you laugh!”

Ming Xi possessed no human joys or sorrows, so naturally, she did not understand. “When the whole city joined forces to surround and kill the Spirit Mountain God Lord, did you laugh then?”

Everyone’s expression collapsed.

Even Dongfang Qianyao’s face turned pale instantly. These words were so indiscreet, showing utterly no regard for the fact that Ji Wu, a survivor of that siege, was standing right there.

The Great Ancestor, however, did not change her expression; she wasn’t particularly moved.

A survivor of the battle to kill the God Lord—this was merely a fake identity the Dongfang clan had given Ji Wu to make it convenient for her to walk the world while recovering her cultivation.

Ji Wu knew herself that the reason she survived was a thousand times, ten thousand times more absurd.

And the culprit who had gifted her this joke was still playing around. Ming Xi clearly enjoyed arguing with humans. “Oh? You can laugh when killing a bad person, you can laugh when you find money, but when you narrowly survive a catastrophe, you aren’t allowed to laugh?”

They were already keeping their joy to themselves—that was already quite polite, wasn’t it? Ming Xi felt Ji Fang was not in the wrong.

But Ji Fang could not let herself off the hook. “I suppose I shouldn’t.”

She shook her head, laughing on one hand while appearing deeply distressed on the other.

It was precisely because of this inner conflict that she chose to borrow Ming Xi’s spiritual power to create this dream, preserving everyone’s emotions to interrogate herself.

Should a survivor feel guilt, or should they feel lucky?

Should one rejoice for oneself, or mourn for others?

“Strange, strange, strange.” Ming Xi naturally couldn’t figure it out, but seeing that the people on the street were about to riot, she became excited. “Good! The more indignant you are, the tastier the meat will be.”

“Tasty!”

“We were eaten!”

“This little girl wants to eat us!”

Dongfang Qianyao rushed over in a panic. “Little Junior Sister, don’t cause trouble, you can’t talk nonsense.”

“It’s not nonsense, Beautiful Sister. If they are angry, their blood boils; they will taste much fresher and sweeter.” After saying this, Ming Xi looked back at the rioting neighbors. “How about I mince you into meat filling for pancakes? Those willing to be lean meat stand on this side, fat meat on that side.”

With a wave of her small hand, Ming Xi split East Street into two halves. “If you don’t choose, that’s fine too. I just ate a meat pancake and am feeling a bit greasy. Some soft bone wouldn’t be bad; I’ll roast it.”

“Sister Ji Wu, do something about her!” Dongfang Qianyao was terrified by what she heard and hurriedly retreated to find Ji Wu.

Having heard the origin of this dream, Ji Wu was pondering if there was a gentler way to break the dream—at least one that wouldn’t harm Dongfang Qianyao, who had the highest spiritual power here.

She had forgotten that with Ming Xi here, there was no possibility of a “gentle” resolution.

This beast loved pleasure; the more chaotic it was, the more delighted she became.

“Don’t panic, Qianyao. I am still thinking if there’s a way to save Ji Fang.”

Ming Xi’s whisker carried the protection of Spirit Mountain. To be able to use that object as a “vessel” at the brink of death to prop up a realm of vanity, drawing in deceased souls and even accommodating three living people—Ji Fang’s talent as a Vessel Cultivator was truly no joke.

It was a pity she had given up on progressing because she couldn’t balance it with her daily life; if she were to pass away like this, it would be even more lamentable.

Fortunately protected, yet using that protection to bind and destroy herself—Ji Wu had seen too many such “geniuses” within the clan.

The one named Zhubai, who had followed Ji Wu out of the mountain gate tonight, was likely one of them.

“Do you remember the anomaly in the array?” Ji Wu looked at the gathering crowd of souls ahead and asked in a low voice.

“The array?” Dongfang Qianyao had long been distracted. Tonight’s experience was so chaotic that she couldn’t remember why she had actually called Ji Wu out in the first place.

Right, it was because something had manifested out of Spirit Mountain and triggered the array that she went to find Sister Ji Wu.

“The anomaly originated from within Spirit Mountain. There are only a few types of monsters in the mountains.” Ji Wu certainly knew what had come out. “It is a Nightmare Demon (Yandemon).”

“A Nightmare Demon!” Dongfang Qianyao, lacking composure, became even more panicked upon hearing this.

The monsters of Spirit Mountain were different from those in the mortal world. They were all born from dreams. There were ordinary monsters born of obsession, and ghosts formed by the gathered emotions of the dead. But the most taboo of all was the almost unspeakable Nightmare Demon.

A Nightmare Demon can take human form and live in the world without being noticed in the slightest, eroding every corner of your surroundings.

She might be your neighbor, your classmate, or—more despairingly—she might be your lover.

Whether it was “Clearing Thoughts” or “Silencing Ravings,” these were mandatory courses for disciples of the Xuanling Sect. However, as for how to kill a manifested Nightmare Demon, even the Spirit Mountain Bestiary could not say for sure.

Because every Nightmare Demon is different, just as every person is different.

“Ji Fang keeping the emotions of the neighbors was likely due to being bewitched by a Nightmare Demon. The reason these gathered emotions are so uncontrollable is that they have long ceased to be simple dream ravings.”

Ji Wu pursed her lips, once again inwardly lamenting the inconvenience of having no spiritual power to use.

She hadn’t even noticed that she was being followed by a Nightmare Demon and had even let that creature stay behind to save people.

If Ming Xi hadn’t just mentioned giving Ji Fang a whisker, Ji Wu wouldn’t have been able to connect the dots.

Now it was clear: Zhubai was a Spirit Mountain Nightmare Demon. Unlike Thought Monsters or Raving Ghosts, she was not “simple.” She was human-like and highly intelligent; she knew how to think, and she also knew how to fear.

Zhubai saw Ming Xi’s whisker and was afraid.

Yet, after Ji Wu left, she used that whisker—full of spiritual grace—to entice Ji Fang as a medium and designed this trap.

The target was not Ji Fang, nor was it Dongfang Qianyao. It was Ji Wu.

“Ming Xi.”

Ji Wu called out toward the front.

The Dream Beast, who was in the middle of her excitement, froze for a moment. She tilted her head and turned around. “Oh?”