Chapter 121: The Nightmare Beast

Whose voice is that?

Gu Weiyu frowned slightly. The voice sounded very familiar, yet she couldn't place it for a moment. At this instant, she felt an inexplicable sensation, as if a part of her memory had gone missing.

"You idiot, you'll be the death of yourself with such stupidity!"

The voice rang out again, sounding somewhat exasperated. Gu Weiyu’s temper flared; who was this person, acting so arrogant and overbearing? Ignoring the state of her father’s arm, she searched furiously for the source of the voice. Soon, she realized the sound was coming from her own sea of consciousness.

Her consciousness returned to her sea of consciousness in a flash, where she saw a small green book standing at the very center. At this moment, a stream of grumbling and scolding was pouring out from the little green book:

"To think that I, the illustrious, peerless, and greatest divine book of all the heavens and earth, have ended up with a master as dim-witted as a pig! It’s enough to make me furious... blah, blah, blah..."

Accompanied by its scolding, the little green book hopped up and down with human-like expressions, as if it were truly enraged to the extreme. Upon seeing the book, the fragmented memories that had been blocked in Gu Weiyu’s mind instantly rushed back.

Fuming at the book's words, Gu Weiyu felt her face turn livid. She couldn't help but put her hands on her hips in a defiant stance and snapped back: "You little piece of junk, what did you just say?"

Perhaps intimidated by Gu Weiyu’s fierce aura, the little green book, which had been bouncing around in a tantrum, instantly lay flat on the ground. Closing its pages, it said in a pitiful tone, "Master, you just fell for a Nightmare's trick!"

A Nightmare? What was that? Gu Weiyu was puzzled; she didn't seem to have heard of such a demon beast before.

"A Nightmare is an exotic beast, particularly skilled at spiritual consciousness attacks and weaving illusions. If a cultivator is careless and falls for it, they will be trapped in the dream world created by the Nightmare, unable to free themselves..." Knowing that Gu Weiyu might be ignorant of such creatures, the book explained it to her considerately.

Hearing this, Gu Weiyu felt as if she had been struck by lightning. Her consciousness fully returned, and she cast a complicated gaze at Gu Yun, the Qin family, and Little Stone inside the stone house. If this was just a dream, was everything before her nothing but an illusion?

Gu Weiyu looked at her father, mother, and Little Stone with lingering attachment before slowly closing her eyes. Details she had subconsciously ignored began to surface in her mind one by one: It was deep autumn, yet the clansmen she saw were all wearing light summer clothes.

This was exactly how the clansmen had looked when she last returned to Qingshan Village! Furthermore, she had been away from Qin County for three years; it might be one thing for Sister-in-law Ah Hua to look unchanged, but her younger brother, Little Stone, was still the same size as in her memory. Thinking about it now, Little Stone should have grown from a toddler into a young boy, right? She wondered if he would even recognize her if they met! And her father and mother...

There were too many flaws. Even though she was unwilling to believe it, everything was telling her: It’s fake, it’s all fake!

Something wet touched Gu Weiyu’s cheek. When she opened her eyes again, the scene before her began to dissolve into nothingness like foam. Indeed, it was all just a dream. Gu Weiyu was still sitting cross-legged on the stone at the bottom of the abyss, surrounded by gray mist. She had never left the abyss at all!

This Nightmare was truly formidable! She had fallen into its trap without even realizing it. She had even foolishly congratulated herself on being lucky enough not to encounter any of the abyss's exotic beasts, never suspecting she was already caught in the Nightmare's spell.

"Little Book, thank you," Gu Weiyu said, sitting quietly on the boulder. After a long while, she spoke with sincere gratitude. If not for the book scolding her awake, she would likely have become like those other cultivators, muddled and walking like a zombie.

Inside her sea of consciousness, the little green book flipped over smugly, turning its back to Gu Weiyu with an air of haughty pride. "What a pretentious little thing," Gu Weiyu thought, caught between laughter and tears.

She stood up from the boulder, intending to cross the fog and climb the cliff on the other side. She paused, a thought flashing through her mind. She pulled out a small storage bag, placed a jade slip inside, and tucked the bag beneath the boulder. She dusted off her hands and stood up, marking the spot.

Just as she finished, the Little Sprout poked out its tender leaves: "Ah Yu, I'm hungry—"

Gu Weiyu took a "stone" from her storage bag and handed it over: "Eat up!"

"Ah Yu, I want to eat that one—" The little sprout’s tender leaf pointed to a dark black stone on the ground, sounding somewhat hesitant.

"Then come out and eat it." Seeing the sprout being so well-behaved this time, Gu Weiyu was quite satisfied. The little guy was finally showing some sense; in the past, it would have vanished in a blink of an eye. The sprout darted out from Gu Weiyu’s dantian and happily pounced onto a dark black stone.

Gu Weiyu crouched down and picked up a stone to inspect it, but she couldn't see anything special about it. However, the sprout had always been picky; since it liked to "eat" these, they must have some unique quality. Consequently, Gu Weiyu had collected a small pile at the bottom of the abyss and kept them in the corner of her storage ring.

"Little Book, is that the Nightmare beast?" Ever since she had accidentally fallen into the Nightmare's illusion, Gu Weiyu had been extra cautious, keeping her spiritual consciousness in a state of high alert. Thus, she was the first to spot the strange beast hiding within the gray mist. The creature had a single horn on its head, a pitch-black body, and a pair of ghostly blue eyes hidden behind the heavy mist, looking quite unsettling.

"That's right!" The book’s voice rang out at the perfect moment. "That is a Nightmare! I didn't expect to find a third-tier Nightmare beast in a place like this!"

"A third-tier Nightmare?" Gu Weiyu gasped. A third-tier demon beast was equivalent to a human cultivator at the Golden Core stage! No wonder even Golden Core cultivators passing through the abyss had nearly fallen for its tricks!

"Exactly!" The book’s voice suddenly grew excited. "Nightmares are skilled at spiritual attacks, but they are very fragile in other aspects..."

"Little Book, are you planning something?" Having spent a long time with the book, Gu Weiyu knew its intentions before it even finished.

"Rumor has it that the horn on a Nightmare’s head holds the essence of its power. If you could obtain it and integrate it into your own spiritual tool..." The book’s voice carried a strange temptation, but just as it was about to continue, Gu Weiyu interrupted:

"No, Little Book, I don't agree with your idea!" Gu Weiyu refused, her heart clearer than ever. "The Nightmare's horn may be good, but it is not something I can covet!"

Within her sea of consciousness, the little green book, which had been flipping its pages rapidly, suddenly paused for a moment before continuing to turn them in a leisurely manner.

"Master, you are right," the little green book’s voice gradually calmed down. It had forgotten that Gu Weiyu was only at the early stage of Foundation Establishment; rashly hunting a third-tier Nightmare would indeed be too risky.

Having glimpsed her family in the dream, her desire to return home grew all the more urgent.