ATEG Chapter 52.1

“Don’t be afraid, I won’t do anything to you.” Daoist Feiying continued unhurriedly stroking Shuoyue’s fur. “I learned about it from the soul of that snake demon.”

“That was a little white rabbit, wasn’t it? You tried so desperately to let her escape. After not seeing her for six hundred years, you must miss her terribly, right?”

“Help me find what I want, and I’ll let you go.”

Shuoyue didn’t know how long she remained frozen. She numbly nodded her head.

By the time Shuoyue came to her senses, Daoist Feiying had already left.

Shuoyue lay where she was, slowly trembling more and more violently.

That was a threat.

She knew very clearly what kind of person Daoist Feiying truly was.

He hadn’t killed Shuoyue—it was never out of mercy.

……

Six hundred years ago, when Feiying chose to refine the snake demon’s flesh, blood, and vital essence, it was because the snake demon’s cultivation and vital essence far exceeded Shuoyue’s. After Feiying had refined all of the snake demon’s flesh, blood, and vital essence……

That day, Shuoyue’s heart had been ice-cold. She had already tried numerous times to escape, but no matter what, she couldn’t break through the array formation that Feiying had set up.

Should she end her own life? Shuoyue listened to the sounds of Daoist Feiying emerging from his breakthrough, her heart growing increasingly desperate.

Even death would be better than having her soul forcibly extracted and refined.

But just as Shuoyue steeled herself to act, she heard Feiying, who had just emerged from his breakthrough, break into loud wailing.

That cry was mournful, grieved, resentful, and unwilling—it sent shivers down Shuoyue’s spine.

Feiying wailed uncontrollably. Only after a long while did his voice gradually weaken, becoming suppressed sobs caught in his throat. When Feiying’s crying reached its lowest point, the choking sounds in his throat gradually transformed into low laughter. The laughter grew louder and louder, full of cynicism, rage, mockery, and venom.

Shuoyue listened with horror.

Feiying laughed maniacally for who knows how long. His murderous spiritual power suddenly surged outward, and he rushed out of the cave dwelling like a madman.

Shuoyue curled up in the corner. Only after that crazed Daoist had disappeared from sight did she slowly crawl up.

The array formation imprisoning her had been broken open by the Daoist’s spiritual power. Whatever madness had seized that Daoist, she had to seize this opportunity!

Shuoyue took advantage of the opening to escape. She carefully concealed her tracks all along the way, fleeing for several days.

But just when Shuoyue thought she had escaped with her life, a figure appeared before her like a ghost, materializing in an instant.

That figure had disheveled clothes and blood-red eyes. His appearance was half-mad, half-demonic, with killing intent soaring to the heavens. Shuoyue couldn’t even recognize him at first—this was actually Feiying.

Feiying’s terrifyingly red eyes stared at her for a long moment. He seemed to have already fallen into madness, yet his murderous spiritual power was even more horrifying than before.

He flicked his finger, and suddenly Shuoyue’s belly roiled with excruciating pain. Only after her strength was exhausted did he say, “I’ve placed a blood parasite in you. Don’t think about running away. Obediently do things for me, and I’ll spare your life.”

From that day on, Shuoyue had been forced to follow by Daoist Feiying’s side.

Shuoyue had always appeared very obedient. She had never resisted Feiying’s commands.

Heaven seemed to be playing a joke on her. She had despaired in the snake’s jaws, and when Feiying appeared, he gave her hope of living. She despaired upon discovering Feiying was an evil cultivator who refined demons, only to gain hope of escape when Feiying went mad. She despaired when the crazed Feiying recaptured her, yet was not killed by him.

She had once harbored the cruel intention to end her own life, but now, she had developed resilience instead.

She wanted to live!

As long as she stayed alive, there would be a chance to wait for hope. No matter how illusory and distant.

Clinging to this resilience, she endured six hundred years under Feiying’s control. Though living in constant fear day and night, she never thought of giving up.

During these six hundred years, she had witnessed all kinds of bloody and ruthless techniques from Daoist Feiying, seen how he would utterly annihilate his enemies, how he would stop at nothing to achieve his goals.

But the more afraid she became, the more unwilling she was. The more unwilling, the more persevering.

Why should she accept this? Three times she had fallen into desperate straits, three times she had not died, three times she had gained hope, yet three times she had fallen back into danger.

She would survive!

But just now, Daoist Feiying’s words had chilled her to the bone, fear piercing straight into her soul.

Wangyue, Wangyue… Daoist Feiying had learned of Wangyue’s existence from the snake demon’s soul six hundred years ago, but he had never mentioned it until now.

Shuoyue knew Daoist Feiying’s methods. If Wangyue also fell into his hands……

No, she had to calm down.

If Wangyue had also fallen into Daoist Feiying’s hands, he wouldn’t just mention it in passing. He would not hesitate to capture Wangyue and bring her over for Shuoyue to see, forcing her to reveal all the clues she had discovered and help him pursue them to the end.

Shuoyue had indeed made discoveries these past few days. She was skilled in dream arts, and dreams hid people’s deepest secrets—memories that even they themselves had forgotten or that had been forcibly concealed would leave traces in the depths of the dream realm.

This was also one reason why Feiying had kept her until now. Though Shuoyue was weak, with Feiying’s spiritual power and cultivation assisting her, there were few secrets in this world that could remain hidden.

Feiying had been searching for six hundred years. In the past, Shuoyue never knew what exactly he was looking for. Feiying had never spoken to her about it, but he had never deliberately concealed it either. Since he needed to use Shuoyue’s ability, it was difficult to hide it from her.

But Feiying seemed not entirely clear himself about what he was searching for. He wandered all over the world, searching here and there without system. The items or information he sought were chaotic and disorganized. Shuoyue could only determine that what Feiying was looking for was roughly related to cultivation.

However, recently, Feiying’s target had suddenly become clear.

An incident of evil demon attack had occurred in Taiwu County, killing half the county’s population in a single night. After receiving this news, Feiying had organized all the information they had collected over the years by himself for a long time. Shuoyue didn’t know what conclusion he had drawn from it, but after he emerged from seclusion, he brought Shuoyue all the way to Taiwu County.

They didn’t enter Taiwu County. The place was under strict investigation, with the Earth God of Taiwu having exhausted all efforts over the evil demon incident. If Feiying, an evil cultivator, went in, it would be difficult to come back out.

He disguised himself as a righteous cultivator traveling everywhere, building his reputation in towns near Taiwu County while investigating the clues behind the man-eating demon.

It was also during this process that Shuoyue gradually learned that the evil demon that had devoured half the county’s population was a Dream-Eating Tapir, and behind the Dream-Eating Tapir, there were other people’s shadows. What Feiying urgently wanted to find was exactly that “other person” behind it all.

This was also the target that the Earth God of Taiwu County urgently sought. However, even the Earth God who had long been established in this area couldn’t find the person behind it all. How could Feiying, newly arrived and afraid of being discovered, possibly find any clues?

But Shuoyue had found something.

Feiying had her repeatedly enter dreams to search for clues. Among the many people whose dreams she had entered during this time, there was one who came from Taiwu County.

This was a survivor who had lost all his family in the Dream-Eating Tapir incident. He no longer wanted to stay in Taiwu County, so he moved away from there.

At the time, Shuoyue and Feiying had entered his dream together, searching through the depths of his dream realm over and over, but aside from sorrow and fear, they found no clues.

This was normal. Before this person moved out of Taiwu County, he had already been thoroughly examined by the deities of Taiwu County.

Shuoyue had assumed this was another failure, but after returning, that very night, she had a dream……

“They’re hunting us…” In the dream, someone’s low voice lingered by her ear. “They want to artificially create a deity of dreams. They want to find a certain place. They can’t find it, so they want to artificially create such a place in the dream realm. They……”

That was the Dream-Eating Tapir’s voice.

Only then did Shuoyue realize that the Dream-Eating Tapir and the people behind him were not on the same side—they were enemies.

The Dream-Eating Tapir had been controlled by those people all along. To escape, he found an opportunity and devoured half the county’s population in one go. Half was to increase his power, and the other half was to attract Divine Court’s attention. Only when Divine Court’s gaze finally fell upon the people behind him would he have a chance to escape from those people’s control.

The Dream-Eating Tapir had not only entered the dreams of half the county’s people back then. He had devoured half the people and spared the other half, and in the depths of those people’s dream realms, he left marks that could only be triggered by demons skilled in dream arts.

He used the Divine Court but didn’t trust the Divine Court. He left everything he knew inside, and though it was only fragmentary and difficult to piece together, it vaguely outlined a terrifying force hidden in the shadows.

Shuoyue didn’t have time to be shocked by this force’s existence before she fell deeply into fear.

Feiying was searching for this force behind the scenes. His purpose certainly wouldn’t be to cause trouble for them like the Divine Court would. The urgency he had displayed while searching was not the hateful urgency of seeking an enemy or foe, but more akin to some kind of deep longing.

As if that force possessed something he had been pursuing for a long time.

That force was capturing dream beasts.

After Feiying found that force, would he let her go? Or would he offer her up in exchange for what he needed?

Shuoyue was horrified at the thought.

She knew such a great secret, yet she was currently under someone’s control and could do almost nothing. She could only conceal it, pretending she had noticed nothing, knew nothing.

But even if she concealed it, wouldn’t Feiying eventually find clues through other channels? Just because he couldn’t find it now didn’t mean he would never find it in the future, did it?

Shuoyue didn’t have much time to continue enduring and waiting for an opportunity.

She had to escape! The sooner the better!

She had seen the methods of those people in the dream realm left by the Dream-Eating Tapir. With that kind of parasite array… even if she was lucky enough not to die, she would probably have already become unrecognizable in temperament and appearance.

She didn’t believe she had the resilience and endurance of the Dream-Eating Tapir, to forcibly break open a thread of survival from certain death. Moreover, after experiencing the Dream-Eating Tapir’s escape, those people’s methods and surveillance would only become more severe.

Only now, while under Feiying’s control, did she have even a thread of hope for escape!

……

Yunyang Village.

This was a small village under Taiwu County’s jurisdiction. Because it was in a remote location, it was far from various troubles, maintaining a regular life of working at sunrise and resting at sunset.

As dusk was approaching, a peasant woman was cooking in the kitchen when she suddenly heard someone knocking at the door.

“Who is it?” The peasant woman asked as she walked toward the courtyard.

Opening the door, outside was an unfamiliar woman holding a sleeping infant.

“Who are you?” the peasant woman asked.

Qing Fu smiled at her, looking lovingly at the infant in her arms, her voice gentle. “I need to go to the county to find someone. It’s inconvenient to bring a child. Could you please help me look after her for a couple of days?”

As she spoke, she took out a silver ingot. “This is compensation for your trouble.”