Chapter 1242: Hidden Dragon, Sleep and Dreams

The Taoist was the Taoist of Sleep, of course. Everything that happened tonight was machinated by him as well.

First, he used “Hidden Dragon Enters Dream” to take control of Old Farmer, the evil scholar, Lady Bones, and the other two warriors. Then, he made them infiltrate Cloud Hue Pass, seek out Ye Qing, and commit suicide.

That’s right. From the start, his plan was for them to commit suicide. They were his pawns and his baits.

He never expected the five warriors to be able to kill Ye Qing. The thought had never even crossed his mind. Although there was actually a fair chance that they might be able to kill Ye Qing in his current state, the problem was Taba Xuanwu’s presence. It was already next to impossible to kill Ye Qing under Taba Xuanwu’s watchful eyes, but to escape from Cloud Hue Pass as well? That was yet another near impossible task.

The entire point of this endeavor was to steal the Earthly Sovereign Bell. If the five warriors could not kill Ye Qing, and if they could not escape from Taba Xuanwu, then what was the point? Hell, he would be doing Taba Xuanwu’s dirty work for him!

Therefore, the five warriors were never meant to kill Ye Qing. They were simply fodders he was using to lower Ye Qing and Taba Xuanwu’s guard. It also allowed him to infest the general’s residence with the Sleep Zhis and put Ye Qing into sleep.

And once Ye Qing was asleep, he was free to do whatever he wanted.

His “Hidden Dragon Art of Sleep and Dreams” and “Hidden Dragon Enters Dream” worked best when his target was asleep.

“Hidden Dragon Art of Sleep and Dreams” could put any living being to sleep, but his true self was outside Cloud Hue Pass right now. Not even he was strong enough to put a Great Grandmaster like Ye Qing into sleep from so far away. So, he could only rely on the Sleep Zhi.

The Sleep Zhi was as small as a speck of dust, and it was practically invisible even to the eyes of a warrior at night. However, it couldn’t survive outside a living being’s body for long, and it would immediately start putting everyone around it to sleep as soon as it was outside. If someone happened to see this, then his efforts would all be for naught.

So, he made sure that wouldn’t be the case. First, he hid an incredible amount of Sleep Zhis inside the five warriors and had them infiltrate the general’s residence. Then, he transferred the Sleep Zhis to a soldier without being noticed by anyone. This allowed him to sacrifice the five warriors to Ye Qing and Taba Xuanwu without them noticing the presence of the Sleep Zhis.

The Taoist of Sleep had studied Ye Qing’s past carefully prior to the assassination, so he knew that the young man was as strong as he was intelligent. He believed that Ye Qing would guess that someone would try and assassinate him tonight and be on guard against it, and he would be right. Tonight was the best time to assassinate Ye Qing, and the Taoist of Sleep was unwilling to let the opportunity slip through his grasp.

But how could he do it when Ye Qing was on guard? The solution was simple. Get someone to commit suicide so that Ye Qing and Taba Xuanwu would think that they had already dealt with the threat; that it was now fine to lower their guard.

Sure, it was a bit of a waste to sacrifice five Great Truemen like that, but as the saying went, a hunter who wasn’t willing to risk their children could not catch the wolf. If he did not do this, then he would never be able to dispel Ye Qing and Taba Xuanwu’s guard.

The entire world was built on the principles of give and take. Only by giving up the Five Great Truemen could he take away their guard.

After the baits were dead, Ye Qing would surely grow lax and complacent. He was already seriously injured and mentally fatigued to begin with, so it was inevitable that there would be chinks in his mental armor.

At his current state, the Taoist of Sleep was confident that his Sleep Zhis could put Ye Qing into sleep without any effort whatsoever. Once Ye Qing was asleep, he could use “Hidden Dragon Enters Dream” to infiltrate his dream, take control of his mind, and make Ye Qing give up the Earthly Sovereign Bell himself all without leaving behind a trace[1].

Yes, his plan was perfect. Flawless.

But now, he was having second thoughts. No, not the bad kind of second thoughts. The “oh damn, maybe I should aim higher” kind. At first, his goal was the Earthly Sovereign Bell and the Earthly Sovereign Bell only. It wasn’t until he saw Ye Qing’s magnificent headspace that he realized that the Earthly Sovereign Bell might not be the only opportunity he had encountered. Otherwise, there was no way he could construct such a grandiose, profound and mysterious headspace.

To give an example, he seriously doubted that his Sleep Zhis and “Hidden Dragon Enters The Dream” would be effective against Ye Qing if not for the fact that he had exhausted his mind and spirit during the duel against Taba Xuanwu.

All things considered, he was immensely glad that he chose tonight of all nights to tackle Ye Qing. Otherwise, he did not know when he would get another chance like this. It was very possible that the answer was never.

In the end, he could only chalk this stroke of luck to fate. It was his destiny to obtain all this.

“All these opportunities and treasures will soon be mine! All mine! Hahahahaha!”

The Taoist of Sleep laughed like a madman while transforming into a five-colored divine dragon.

The divine dragon had a head, but not a tail. It had a pair of seven-colored horns and scales that were reflecting a different color. The colorful light blended together to form all sorts of unusual dreams such as joy, anger, sadness, happiness, pain, bitterness, separation, worry, youth, old age, sickness, death and more.

It was as if the dragon he transformed into was a facade of humanity and a window into the myriad red dust.

This was the Hidden Dragon. Based on the Taoist of Sleep’s mind and rooted in his spirit, it was an otherworldly creation that fed on dreams.

The next moment, the Hidden Dragon roared and covered Ye Qing’s entire headspace with its bizarre, colorful, and fantastical light. There was no sound though. Slowly, everything touched by the light began to grow chaotic and bizarre.

It was clear that the Hidden Dragon was corrupting and assimilating Ye Qing’s spiritual world.

Next, the hidden Dragon soared up and reached the top of the nine firmaments in an instant. There floated a massive and noble, mysterious and profound throne with a man sitting on it.

𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

The man wore yin and yang on his head and dark yellow around his body. He was bearing infinite profound light on his head, and standing on the myriad manifestations of a Heavenly Demon. A bronze bell flanked his left side, and a mysterious painting his right. Mysterious and grandiose, the figure looked both good, evil, and profound all at once.

Right now, the figure was sleeping with his head on his knuckle.

“A Heavenly Demon’s marvellous intent combined with the Profound Yellow Mother Qi. What a yang god. What an image...”

For a long time, the Taoist of Sleep could only stare at the impressive yang god slumbering on his magnificent throne in speechlessness. Even his three-hundred-meter long Hidden Dragon was like an ant before the throne and the yang god.

The yang god on the throne was, of course, Ye Qing’s yang god. Although the Taoist of Sleep knew that Ye Qing’s yang god could only be extraordinary after witnessing the gorgeous landscape that was his headspace, what he witnessed still completely exceeded his expectations.

The only silver lining was the fact that the enigmatic yang god looked weakened right now.

If he wasn’t sure before, the Taoist of Sleep was now certain that his Sleep Zhis could never put Ye Qing to sleep if the young man was at peak condition. Not only that, his Hidden Dragon would be detected and killed immediately after he invaded his headspace.

“Is that the Earthly Sovereign Bell?”

A moment later, the Taoist of Sleep finally shifted his gaze away from Ye Qing’s yang god and onto the bronze bell floating next to Ye Qing. It was bobbing up and down and emitting waves of dark yellow light.

“It must be!”

The Taoist of Sleep had never seen the Earthly Sovereign Bell before, but he still recognized it at first glance.

“That painting...”

Next, the Taoist of Sleep noticed the painting floating to Ye Qing’s right.

The painting was shining with spiritual light and surrounded by purple qi. It was also overflowing with the will of yin and yang, lofty and boundless. It was not inferior to the Earthly Sovereign Bell in the slightest.

1. This all sounds fine and dandy—but did everyone conveniently forget that the Earthly Sovereign Bell is sentient? ☜