Inside Dream World, three figures entered a certain area near Gu Nan and Zi Dian, and the scene suddenly became chaotic.
"Another nightmare that's awake, this is already the sixth!" One of the men exclaimed angrily.
They were precisely the three dream masters who received Zuo Zuo's order to find Ying Ge. But they encountered a series of troubles not long after they started their search.
Dream masters were a very special profession. They weren't very strong; of the three, only one was at Void Cutter Realm. But they were a group of people who understood dreams the best.
In a special place like Dream World, they weren't even afraid of those Void Cutter cultivators who were normally extremely powerful, because this was their home field.
"Those two must've done this!" Another man beside him spoke in a heavy voice. His face looked somewhat similar to the previous man. Perhaps they were brothers.
"They woke up the nightmare before they left the area," an old voice rang in the two's ears. It was their party's third member who spoke.
This was a white-haired old lady whose face was full of wrinkles, but she looked full of spirit.
This was a Void Cutter dream master known as "Grandma Tu." She and the Zhao brothers beside her were constantly making seals to pacify the restless nightmare.
Dream masters really did have many methods to deal with nightmares, so they could handle nightmares easier than amateurs could.
After finally pacifying the nightmare with much difficulty, the eldest of the Zhao brothers went up to Grandma Tu and suggested, "Grandma, it won't do if things continue like this. Should we create some trouble for those two first?"
Dream masters were truly powerful inside Dream World. Even the eldest Zhao brother, a mere Prodigious cultivator, could sense Gu Nan and Zi Yi's existence.
Grandma Tu's face was expressionless. Her mouth curled up slightly as she replied, "They are already in trouble."
...
Standing in front of Gu Nan was indeed Red.
But to be precise, this person wasn't the Red that Gu Nan met before. Rather, this was a much younger Red.
Her childlike face and petite figure all indicated her true age—even powerful Star Rulers seldom maintained a young child's appearance.
"Are you leaving?" The young Red coldly eyed Gu Nan as she asked in a low voice.
Red seemed to recognize Gu Nan, but Gu Nan knew that the one Red recognized wasn't himself, but the original owner of this illusion.
In other words, Gu Nan took that person's place here.
'Who is it?'
Ying Ge, Zi Dian, and even Zi Yi were possible. It might also be the memories of someone who visited Dream World before and just happened to have Red in their memories.
An inexplicable mix of emotions welled up in Gu Nan's heart. Guilt, pity, remorse… This was also the emotions of the illusion's original owner. Gu Nan, who'd learned about Dream World beforehand, naturally wouldn't be confused by this.
Dreams were places very suitable for killing people without leaving any trace, so they'd been studied a lot. The methods to deal with nightmares' illusions had long been summarized.
Ultimately, it boiled down to a single word—disbelief.
As long as one's will was firm enough to not be fooled by the illusions, they would be able to quickly escape.
But memories were gradually gushing out— 'About this place, about myself, and about the girl in front of me… Red, so she really was called Red even ten thousand years ago?'
The scene before Gu Nan's eyes seemed to blur for an instant, then immediately became clear again.
The next second, Gu Nan had already swung his fist without hesitation, hitting child Red's delicate little face.
In this illusion, the power of shadows, the law nullification attribute, equipment, and skills were all sealed, but at least Gu Nan still had his own body, and he could still fight with his fists.
Young Red seemed to have never expected the other party to attack, and attack her on top of that. She looked at Gu Nan with an incomparably shocked and despairing gaze.
The inexplicable sense of guilt deepened, almost crushing Gu Nan until he couldn't breathe, as if attacking Red was some kind of reprehensible crime.
However, this artificially-imposed sense of guilt didn't affect Gu Nan's actions at all. His eyes remained indifferent and calm, and his fist didn't tremble at all.
Crack!
Another punch landed, and the poor child's skull broke instantly. Her entire body was sent flying by Gu Nan's punch and crashed heavily into the snow.
There was blood on her face, while white snowflakes fell on her cheeks. The mixture of white and red gave the picture a strange sort of beauty.
"Wh—" Red, who fell to the ground, was still staring at Gu Nan. Her voice was full of incomprehension, but soon came to an abrupt end.
Because Gu Nan had already slammed his foot down on her neck, snapping it.
Whose illusion this was, and what relationship that person had with Red—Gu Nan didn't care about these at all.
Gu Nan wasn't a curious child, nor did he aspire to be a famous detective. He just wanted to finish his mission and get paid.
"You… You actually killed her?!" A voice came from beside Gu Nan.
Gu turned to look. It was Zi Yi, and behind her was a group of unfamiliar people.
Zi Yi's attire was somewhat different from today's Zi Yi, but her face wasn't much different. Perhaps it was because ZI Yi froze her appearance ever since she reached a certain realm.
While Zi Yi was roaring at Gu Nan, Gu Nan had this thought in his heart: 'If the role I'm playing isn't Zi Yi, then who is it?'
This thought only lingered for an instant before Gu Nan's body moved again. Another punch!
His emotions became increasingly intense. Gu Nan even had a feeling that his body was going to explode. The countless emotions directly projected into his mind were enough to make people's consciousness hazy.
But Gu Nan didn't feel dazed. He was as awake as ever.
The punch landed squarely on Zi Yi's face. Gu Nan took her all the way to the middle of the group, then swung his fist relentlessly around him.
...
On the other side, it was far easier for the three dream masters to find Ying Ge and Zi Dian.
The three didn't need to manually search around at all. They could search the entire area directly through a secret technique, which was even more efficient than searching by themselves.
"Zi Yi, a Star Ruler born in Zi Luo Heaven. She's very experienced, but she has never found a suitable astral world," Grandma Tu took advantage of this opportunity to tell the Zhao brothers about their opponents.
"She's actually a Star Ruler?" The second Zhao brother muttered in a low voice. After all, the two brothers were merely Prodigious Realm cultivators. Faced with an enemy two realms above them, they weren't too confident.
In theory, a Star Ruler without an astral world of their own was essentially just a Void Cutter cultivator with more complete laws, but… that was still a Star Ruler!
If you insisted on dividing people based on cultivation realms, then the two powerhouses currently confronting each other in Star Realm were also just Star Rulers. It's just that their astral worlds were strong enough for them to crush most other people.
Grandma Tu naturally understood the second Zhao brother's thoughts. She added, "That's why we definitely can't target this person to break through their defense."
"Oh? Isn't the other one also difficult to deal with?" The older Zhao brother asked.
Through Dream World, they already knew the enemy's identity. The name Gu Nan was well known among Lord Zuo Zuo's subordinates.
Many people were puzzled or even panicked by the failure of Gu Nian and Shang Rong's operation.
Even Lord Shang Rong, one of the "Five Steles," died at Gu Nan's hands. Apart from Lord Zuo Zuo personally making a move, can anyone else defeat him?
But Grandma Tu revealed a mysterious smile. "Gu Nan, he has a weakness."
"What weakness?" At this moment, the curiosity of the Zhao brothers was fully piqued.
"He's young."