Chapter 122: An Increasingly Strong Sense of Dissonance
Seeing himself exposed, Mo Lin did not hesitate. With a whip of his body, he pulled away from Lin Rui, then immediately turned and rushed out of the “Yisi” room.
“Enemy attack!!!!”
Unlike last time, this time the cry of enemy attack did not come from others, but from Lin Rui’s own mouth.
Mo Lin, who had just dashed out of the “Yisi” room, stiffened all over.
Unlike last time?
Wasn’t this supposed to be the first time such a thing happened?
Why did he feel such a strong yet discordant sense of déjà vu toward what was unfolding before his eyes?
With that dissonance gnawing at him, Mo Lin rushed out of the resource warehouse and immediately swam toward the Ning River. As long as he entered the Ning River, he would be safe.
Following Lin Rui’s “enemy attack” alarm, the Chairman of Yongzhou’s Chamber of Commerce, Dong Li, rushed out and hurried to Lin Rui’s side:
“What happened?”
Lin Rui pointed toward the direction Mo Lin had fled:
“Chairman, a Anaconda Demon broke into the resource warehouse. After killing Chu Huai and Ning Zhuo, it fled!”
“What! A Anaconda Demon?!!”
Dong Li flew into a rage:
“Could it be that Anaconda Demon again?! It actually dares to come to my territory once more!”
And this time was even more outrageous—not just robbing things on the river, but directly barging into the very core of their Chamber’s headquarters, the resource warehouse, to plunder!
“Let the Vice Chairman, the two Elders, and the two Guards all take action together. We must capture that Anaconda Demon! Otherwise, where would the face of my Chamber be put?!”
Meanwhile, as he fled desperately, Mo Lin felt as if he had gained the ability to foresee the future:
Next, shouldn’t the Chamber Chairman, Dong Li, be ordering the two Guards to bring out ground-to-air artifacts like the Profound Light Cannon and the Soaring-Hong Crossbow?
Then, he would be locked onto and injured by the Soaring-Hong Crossbow, causing him to be caught by Dong Li and the others before he could escape into the Ning River.
But no matter how he fled left or right, though he sensed several Earth Rank cultivators appearing behind him, and quite a few artifacts struck his body, he never once saw the appearance of a ground-to-air weapon.
That Soaring-Hong Crossbow, which should have injured him, was never fired.
What was going on?
He had even been preparing to fold away his wings and switch from aerial to ground escape—yet why had Dong Li still not deployed the Soaring-Hong Crossbow?
Wait.
As he slithered rapidly along the ground, Mo Lin suddenly froze.
Why would he think Dong Li would shoot his wings with the Soaring-Hong Crossbow?
Since when did he even have wings?
Mo Lin glanced at his body crawling on the ground—just the shape of a “long worm,” with no sign of wings at all. The sense of dissonance in his heart grew even stronger.
In his memory, he seemed to have had a pair of wings, wings that allowed him to fly.
It was precisely because he flew in the sky that Dong Li had his men use the Soaring-Hong Crossbow, such a deadly weapon.
But the situation before his eyes…
What was happening?
Though his thoughts churned, Mo Lin’s movements did not cease. He still darted toward the Ning River with great speed. But behind him, unnoticed, “Dong Li’s” expression had turned grim.
Not good!
The “Dong Li” chasing behind Mo Lin was, of course, Jinyue in disguise.
What he needed to do was kill Mo Lin for the ninth time in the dream. That way, Mo Lin’s soul, killed nine times, would never be able to awaken within the dream.
Yet even Jinyue had not expected that Mo Lin’s soul energy was unexpectedly powerful. Before Mo Lin’s soul showed signs of fatigue, Jinyue himself was the one beginning to falter.
If he still had abundant soul force, the dream he constructed would never show flaws. Even if some inconsistencies with reality appeared, under his hypnosis, the dreamer would not be able to sense anything amiss.
But now, though Mo Lin’s soul had indeed been killed eight times, Jinyue’s own soul had also been greatly consumed.
This left him almost unable to simultaneously chase and kill Mo Lin while also maintaining a dreamscape as real as reality.
Thus, in this dream, a major flaw appeared—Mo Lin’s wings were gone!
Without wings, Mo Lin naturally could not take flight.
Without flight, Dong Li naturally would not order ground-to-air weapons to be deployed—for if they accidentally injured their own people on the ground, or caused major damage to the facilities, what then?
And this flaw, born from Jinyue’s spiritual exhaustion, was quickly sensed by Mo Lin—and Jinyue, too, perceived it.
He could, within the dream, to some extent sense the thoughts of the dreamer, and then adjust the dream accordingly, making it even harder for the dreamer to notice discrepancies.
At this moment, he sensed Mo Lin’s thoughts—Mo Lin was beginning to doubt the authenticity of part of this dream.
Even Jinyue, a monk of many years, could not help but grow anxious:
This poor monk already saw two or three times ago that your soul was unusual, but this is far too excessive, isn’t it?
This poor monk has killed you eight times already!
If it were another demonic beast, even if it weren’t dead by now, it would already be in a dull, dazed state, acting only on instinct.
Even if flaws appeared in the dream, even if things were blatantly altered, they would rationalize it within the dream—
After all, isn’t that what dreaming is?
No matter how absurd, in a dream it all feels natural.
But why is it that after being killed eight times, you are still this sharp?
This poor monk himself is already on the verge of collapse, yet you instantly noticed the flaw in the dream?!
Who exactly is the one dreaming here—you, or me?
Precisely because he realized Mo Lin had sensed something wrong, Jinyue’s killing intent grew ever more intense.
A demonic beast with such a strong soul and such clarity of mind, in all his decades of soul arts, he had never encountered.
Now, Mo Lin was still only a mid-tier Earth Rank—yet already so difficult to handle. If he advanced to high-tier Earth Rank? If he went even further in the future?
Wouldn’t he become a great calamity?
This one must not be allowed to live!
With this thought, Jinyue no longer cared if flaws appeared in the dream.
As long as he could strangle Mo Lin before he fully awakened, no matter what talents or abilities he had, it would all be meaningless.
Thus, “Dong Li” turned to the Vice Chairman, the two Elders, and the three Guards and shouted:
“Everyone! Dragon-Binding Net!”
Yes, in this dream, Lin Rui had not been killed by Mo Lin, and the two Guards had not expended themselves with the Profound Light Cannon or Soaring-Hong Crossbow, so their strength was still full.
Therefore, unlike in reality, Mo Lin was now being pursued by two low-tier Earth Rank, three mid-tier Earth Rank—a full seven Earth Rank experts!
When seven people cast the Dragon-Binding Net together, its might was naturally far stronger than when only four people had used it in reality.
Seven people’s Dragon-Binding Net had nearly no flaws. For Mo Lin to attempt to reuse his real-world tactic to escape was nothing but a fool’s dream.
After all, Jinyue had personally witnessed how Mo Lin had escaped from Dong Li and the others before. Now, knowing flaws existed in the dream, he would naturally not leave Mo Lin even the slightest chance of survival.
Yet for some reason, as he watched Mo Lin struggle bitterly within the Dragon-Binding Net, Jinyue felt a shadow of unease sweep through his heart.
Because he did not see panic, unease, or despair in Mo Lin’s eyes.
On the contrary, those huge vertical pupils were locked firmly onto “Dong Li,” flashing with a cold, chilling light—so bright it was terrifying!
Could it be that……