Chapter 1244: A Taste Of His Own Medicine

“Hahaha! You overestimate yourself! Your decision to enter my headspace is your folly!”

The Taoist of Sleep burst out laughing like a madman after Ye Qing was engulfed by his spiritual light and dreams.

In his headspace, he was the lord and master. He might not be able to threaten Ye Qing outside his headspace, but inside? He believed that Ye Qing’s decision to come here was like lighting a lamp inside a toilet—suicide.

“Succumb! Slumber forevermore in my Hidden Dragon’s dreams!”

His Hidden Dragon of Sleep and Dreams was created using countless dreams. It contained all sorts of dreams and emotions. Anyone affected by it would plunge into an infinite world of dreams, never to escape for all eternity.

No matter how powerful Ye Qing was, there was no way he could break free and escape his Hidden Dragon’s dreams. His ultimate fate was to be assimilated and destroyed.

“Hahaha! The heavens favor me! The heavens favor me!”

The Taoist of Sleep seemingly recalled something and burst out laughing once more.

Just a moment ago, he was ready to submit to his gruesome fate. However, there was a light at the end of the tunnel. His fearsome opponent had shown up just to commit suicide. So long as Ye Qing’s yang god was trapped inside his headspace, he would have all the time in the world to tame and control it. It was only a matter of time before he gained control of the Earthly Sovereign Bell, that strange painting, and every other opportunity and treasure he possessed.

“Hahaha... mine! Mine! All mine! Hahahahaha!”

It was at this moment an ephemeral, singsong-like voice rang from where the Taoist of Sleep could neither see nor hear.

“A butterfly is like a dream and not like a dream, a grand dream lasting from spring to autumn...”

The next moment, the immense spiritual light and the infinite layers of dreams gradually vanished into nothing. The Hidden Dragon of Sleep and Dreams was also shrinking and transforming into a colorful, dreamlike butterfly.

The butterfly flapped its wings and released halos of light that seemingly breached some sort of illusion. Then, it landed on a person’s palm. The light swayed gently as it illuminated the sky and the face of the owner of the palm.

It was, of course, Ye Qing.

Right now, Ye Qing was sitting cross-legged while wearing a yin yang crown on his head and a dark yellow robe around his body. To his left was a bronze bell, and to his right a painting. It looked mysterious and profound.

Beneath him was a phantasmal, five-colored divine dragon floating in what looked like an infinite void. It was none other than the Taoist of Sleep’s yang god, the Hidden Dragon of Sleep and Dreams.

Ye Qing was sitting on top of the yang god right now, and yet the Hidden Dragon of Sleep and Dreams hadn’t awakened. Instead, it was sleeping deeply with its eyes tightly closed.

“A man dreamed that he is a butterfly, or is he the butterfly who dreamed of being a man? Who knows, who knows.”

Ye Qing said softly while examining the butterfly on his palm.

This was the Taoist of Sleep’s real headspace. Everything the Taoist of Sleep experienced earlier was but a dream Ye Qing had weaved for him.

In fact, the Taoist of Sleep had not awakened even once since he fell asleep. Be it his real body or his yang god, both were completely trapped in the throes of sleep.

This was all thanks to the “Dream Butterfly True Scripture”. A martial art he had obtained by killing the Dream Master of the Eight Legions of Devas and Nagas. Just like the Taoist of Sleep’s “Hidden Dragon Art of Sleep and Dreams”, it was a dream-focused martial art.

There were some clear differences between the two martial arts, however. The “Hidden Dragon Art of Sleep and Dreams” was a true art of Taoism. Sleep was the main theme of the martial art, and dreams the auxiliary. It emphasized on practicing in a half-asleep, half-awake state, and the ability to enter dreams and take control of them existed only to support this function. Although the Taoist of Sleep improved the martial art to possess multiple types of anomalous yet profound offensive abilities, their potency was ultimately limited.

In comparison, the “Dream Butterfly True Scripture” was a pure offensive martial art that used dreams as its weapon. Derived from the “Zhuangzi Dream Butterfly Scripture” invented by the ancient Taoist Sage Zhuang Zhou, it was a martial art that could plunge an entire corner of the world into a dream and annihilate it when the dreamers awakened. It allowed the practitioner to transform into a butterfly, invade a target’s dream, weave falsehoods, and put them into a senseless dream all without leaving behind a trace.

Therefore, in terms of offensive potency and its ability to use and manipulate dreams, the “Dream Butterfly True Scripture” was much more powerful than the “Hidden Dragon Art of Sleep and Dreams”.

After obtaining the “Dream Butterfly True Scripture”, Ye Qing quickly discovered that it was similar to the “Paranirmitavaśavartin Heavenly Demon Sutra” in some ways. So, he extracted the essence of the martial art and combined it with the “Paranirmitavaśavartin Heavenly Demon Sutra”, making it so that the latter possessed the power to enter and control dreams as well. Now, the “Paranirmitavaśavartin Heavenly Demon Sutra” was even more potent and profound than the “Dream Butterfly True Scripture” in the way of dreams.

𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

This was why Ye Qing was unaffected by the Taoist of Sleep’s “Hidden Dragon Enters The Dream”. This was also why he was able to locate the Taoist of Sleep’s true body and infiltrate his headspace without being detected.

What happened after that was simple. He gave the Taoist of Sleep a taste of his own medicine and contaminated his mind and consciousness using the techniques of the Dream Butterfly.

Therefore, everything that the Taoist of Sleep had experienced thus far—from him detonating the splintered portion of his mind, to him getting flustered and enraged, and finally devouring Ye Qing with his Hidden Dragon—was all just a dream Ye Qing had weaved for him.

Even now, the Taoist of Sleep was still trapped inside the dream Ye Qing had weaved for him. He had never woken up from the start until the end.

If Ye Qing were to be honest, the Taoist of Sleep was an impressive opponent. His methods were excellent, his plan was flawless, and his execution was meticulous and careful. If he didn’t happen to be an expert in the art of dreams himself, there was a huge chance he might have fallen to the Taoist of Sleep.

He probably wouldn’t die. With the Earthly Sovereign Bell and the Records of Laojun Studying The Dao On A Bull around, there was no chance in hell the Taoist of Sleep would ever be able to kill him. However, his injuries would surely worsen, and there was no way he would be able to capture the Taoist of Sleep.

In conclusion, the Taoist of Sleep was unlucky.

“Go.”

Ye Qing whispered after examining the butterfly in his hand for a moment. The butterfly flapped its wings and slowly turned into a shapeless, formless demonic lotus that sank into the Hidden Dragon of Sleep and Dreams’ head.

“Paranirmita Boundless Heavenly Demon Dependent”

As the Hidden Dragon of Sleep and Dreams were completely absorbed inside the dream he weaved for it, it was completely unable to resist. It wasn’t long before the demonic lotus was planted successfully, and it was transformed into a Heavenly Demon Dependent.

There was no one here but them. Therefore, there was no risk of being discovered.

Besides that, he found out something interesting while looking through the Taoist of Sleep’s memories earlier. Unfortunately, the memories he gleaned through the dreams were rather scattered and incomplete. He needed deeper, more comprehensive information. Converting the Taoist of Sleep into his Heavenly Demon Dependent would make this process much more convenient.

“Taisui Mountain and Westwind Inn, huh? I did not think they would join hands. How interesting...”

After successfully converting the Taoist of Sleep into his Heavenly Demon Dependent, all of the man’s memories and secrets were bare to him. Therefore, Ye Qing quickly found what he was looking for.

To his surprise, Ghost Taisui of Taisui Mountain and the Boss of Westwind Inn were secretly working together and dispatching an obscene amount of warriors to ambush him on the road. Their plan was to capture him alive.

That’s right. They were planning to capture him, not kill him.

According to the Taoist of Sleep’s memories, Ghost Taisui was the one who requested that he be captured alive. In fact, it was also Ghost Taisui who contacted Westwind Inn first. Because of this, the Sage had had to pay a not insignificant price. The Taoist of Sleep did not know why Ghost Taisui wanted him alive though.