After Transmigrating into an Evil God - Chapter 32

The moment Li Chi sensed the Dream-Eating Tapir’s aura, he entered the dream.

Within this Dream-Eating Tapir’s own aura, there was also a faint trace of a special essence mixed in. Though dim, to Li Chi it was so distinct, instantly triggering his recognition.

This recognition came so swiftly that drowsiness surged up in an instant, making it difficult for Li Chi to resist. Before long, he sank deeply into the dream.

……

A sacrifice.

A deity gazed down from above.

The altar was as vast as a city, surrounded by nine terrestrial springs. Mist drifted over the springs—these were karmic threads extending from the void into the waters.

Beyond the terrestrial springs, human figures were densely packed, shrouded in mist.

Music played faintly, and the figures danced in worship to the gods.

……In this world there is the Underworld, judging cause and effect. Nine springs and nine prisons, sentencing crimes and washing away sins. Grievances and sorrows have their appeals, good and evil receive their due……

The supplicants sang, and the deity lowered its gaze to receive the sacrifice. The supplicants’ thoughts coalesced at the deity’s fingertips, forming the towering shadow of an Underworld. This was not yet a true Underworld, but under the divine power and the thoughts of all living beings, it would gradually solidify and become part of this heaven and earth.

……The great sun burns bright, the Xuanming governs the shadowed depths……

The forms of the worshippers were hidden in the mist, their singing ethereal as if illusory.

But the deity suddenly seemed to sense something amiss. He raised his hand to cover his left eye, and beneath his palm, purple-gold hidden scales emerged.

This is a dream…

Da Xuan lowered his hand, and the purple-gold hidden scales had already been concealed.

He looked at the multitude of worshippers offering prayers in the old dream, the corner of his mouth lifting in what resembled a smile, yet appeared mocking and desolate.

……

The Dream-Eating Tapir stood at the center of the dream web, its drooping eyes coldly observing the illusory dreams hanging on the web, like a spider watching prey stuck on its net, quietly waiting for them to sink deeper before slowly devouring them.

The prey in the dreams had already sunk deep, but it wasn’t enough yet. He wanted to wait until they sank deeper, became weaker. The sweet bait had already been swallowed; next would come the venom.

The rhinoceros horn on the Dream-Eating Tapir’s forehead emitted a dark light that spread along the dream web beneath its feet. One by one, the dreams filled with illusory colors gradually became dark and obscure, while the creatures already trapped in the mire had long since lost the strength to struggle.

The Dream-Eating Tapir pulled back its lips, revealing sharp teeth.

This was his own dream, a dream perfectly suited to the present moment.

……

The Dream-Eating Tapir was indeed born with dream realm divine powers, but as he fed on dreams, he had only this one type of divine power.

No dream realm supernatural creature was born knowing all dream techniques—those required step-by-step cultivation. Just as the Cinnabar Tree avoided fire and the Bifang Bird consumed fire, they were born with different flame-related divine powers. If they could ultimately cultivate to prove the Dao through fire, they would be like the Flame Lord of the Northwestern Lands.

These innate divine powers merely gave them a foundation for cultivation.

But the path of cultivation was difficult, while supernatural creatures were numerous. Why hadn’t anyone thought to collect the different divine powers of similar supernatural creatures and gather them all in one body to advance their own cultivation?

The Dream-Eating Tapir drew out a sinister, savage smile.

He loved eating dreams, while the Dream-Weaving Spider loved weaving dreams. One wanted to practice dream-weaving divine powers but found dealing with the aftermath troublesome; the other craved delicious food but hated wandering everywhere searching for different dreams.

They hit it off immediately, regretting not meeting sooner. One would weave dreams as they pleased and then toss them to the other to eat; the other would boss them around like a personal chef. They quarreled and laughed, not knowing how many years passed in joy.

Until that day……

……

The Dream-Eating Tapir looked at the dream web beneath its feet. Those dark lights fell along the threads into each illusory dream, transforming into black shadows.

Each person in the dreams was immersed in peaceful dream worlds, just like him and the Dream-Weaving Spider back then, seeing only the happiness before their eyes. So when catastrophe struck, aside from panic, they could do nothing.

The shadows seized each dreamer and forcibly dragged them from their own illusory dreams. Thus the dreams corroded by the dark light shattered one after another. The dream web contracted, forming one enormous dream realm, and all the dreamers captured by the shadows fell into this massive dream.

This was a black dream.

The sky, the ground, all around—everything was black. Dark patterns covered the surfaces, with dark blue and vivid red light flowing along them, becoming the only illumination in this prison.

The ground was flat, but the sky and surrounding walls were curved, like an overturned jar, with people like venomous insects raised within.

The Dream-Eating Tapir watched as people fell into it, watched as they became confused and lost, filled with terror, watched as they shouted loudly or cowered fearfully……

……

When he and the Dream-Weaving Spider had first awakened, they had seen this same scene. Only back then, those imprisoned with them in the jar were not humans, but supernatural creatures born with dream realm divine powers.

How could no one have thought to collect the different divine powers of similar supernatural creatures and gather them in one body to advance their cultivation?

Someone had thought of it!

The patterns flowing through the blackness were called a Gu Array. When the supernatural creatures in the Gu Array devoured each other until only one remained, that one would possess the divine powers of all the supernatural creatures in the Gu Array.

Dream-eating was the Dream-Eating Tapir’s divine power; dream-weaving was the Dream-Weaving Spider’s technique.

The Dream-Eating Tapir laughed savagely.

You must escape..…. the Dream-Weaving Spider, gravely wounded and near death, had told him.

No, he didn’t want to escape anymore. He wanted to be the one who survived to the end!

He had devoured the Dream-Weaving Spider whose blood had already grown cold.

……

The Dream-Eating Tapir’s voice echoed through the Gu Array. “Kill the others. The last one remaining will survive.”

The people of Shuigu Town were terrified.

They knew there had been some trouble in town recently—many people had fallen ill with the same sickness, every household had to wear medicine pouches distributed by the Yun Family Medicine Shop, they couldn’t fall asleep when entering or leaving town……

But they had no idea these minor matters would evolve into something so terrifying!

Weren’t those sick people all not seriously ill? After everyone wore the medicine pouches, didn’t the number of people falling ill decrease and their symptoms become milder? When entering and leaving town, weren’t there deities inspecting and watching over them?

Why had it become like this?

Where was this place? Who was that voice telling them to kill each other? And where were the deities they worshipped?

Young children cried out for their parents, the elderly called for their sons and daughters. Relatives were separated, old friends divided. People were forced apart among strangers. In the pitch-black heaven and earth, only the eerie dark blue and bright red patterns flickered.

People were fearful and uneasy, watching every person around them with wariness.

Even if one didn’t want to kill, what if others wanted to kill you?

The people grew restless, but no one made a move.

The Dream-Eating Tapir sneered coldly. They would eventually strike. All people had their path to death.

The rhinoceros horn on his forehead emitted dark light once more. The runes in the Gu Array flowed with light, instantly generating fierce, malevolent qi. The eyes of the corrupted people gradually became savage, and they seemed about to lose their reason and begin slaughtering each other.

The entire dream array suddenly trembled.

No, it wasn’t the dream array that trembled—it was that each person’s heart within the dream suddenly trembled. Stable, heavy earth qi wrapped around each person, connecting everyone as one. They had grown on the same land, and the land that had sheltered and nurtured them was trembling steadily and powerfully.

Once, then again, like a fetus in its mother’s warm, safe womb hearing her heartbeat.

The people in the Gu Array awakened as if from a dream, the malevolent qi in their eyes gradually fading.

The Dream-Eating Tapir’s expression changed, then returned to a cold sneer.

The array within the dream was complete. Even if the Earth God forcibly used earth qi to shake it from outside the dream, it was merely twice the effort for half the result. Let’s see who could outlast whom!

Just as the Dream-Eating Tapir was about to exert force again, the dream array suddenly trembled once more. But this time it wasn’t the Earth God’s technique—someone outside the dream array wanted to force their way in.

Chi Zhenzi……

His great array was complete. Did this old Daoist think he would fear him?

Without needing to exert more force, the Dream-Eating Tapir let him enter.

Chi Zhenzi’s figure appeared abruptly above the Gu Array. With just one glance, he recognized the array’s purpose, and couldn’t help but cry out in fury. “Demon!”

The Dream-Eating Tapir had already revealed itself, but Chi Zhenzi didn’t dare act rashly for the moment.

Even though the Earth God had suppressed the Gu Array, every person in Shuigu Town still had a dream thread attached to them. If the Dream-Eating Tapir wished, he could directly devour the essence, qi, and spirit of the people of Shuigu Town through these dream threads.

“Don’t dare to act?” The Dream-Eating Tapir let out a mocking low laugh. “Afraid I’ll go mad and kill people directly?”

Chi Zhenzi said nothing, his hand hidden in his sleeve secretly forming a hand seal. He didn’t want to let this Dream-Eating Tapir harm more lives, but he absolutely couldn’t let it escape. Not to mention it had consumed half the people of Taiwu County—if this demon was released, who knew how many more people it would kill in the future!

“You’re responsible for chasing me. What about those responsible for investigating the others? It’s been so long, there should be news by now, right? Have you discovered those people’s identities?” the Dream-Eating Tapir asked.

“You’re with them—don’t you know?” Chi Zhenzi countered.

“They are my enemies!” the Dream-Eating Tapir snarled.

Chi Zhenzi remained impassive, neither expressing belief nor doubt in the Dream-Eating Tapir’s words, only saying, “If what you say is true, you can still turn back now. Release these people and assist us in tracking down those people.”

But the Dream-Eating Tapir only asked, “Have you actually discovered those people’s identities or not? Or are you… unwilling to tell me?”

Bloodshot crept into his eyes, and the dream threads attached to people began to tighten, like sharp mouthparts ready to drain their prey dry in the next moment.

The earth qi’s trembling, like a heartbeat, grew more intense, attempting to snap the dream threads. These tremors fed back to the Dream-Eating Tapir’s body, but he paid no mind to whether he would be injured by the shaking, his eyes growing increasingly vicious.

“We don’t know yet,” Chi Zhenzi said.

Chi Zhenzi wasn’t lying, and the Dream-Eating Tapir could tell—this was his dream domain, after all. But this answer of not knowing made him even more manic.

The earth qi’s trembling prevented the Dream-Eating Tapir from instantly devouring people, but Chi Zhenzi also wasn’t confident he could kill the Dream-Eating Tapir in the brief few moments while it was blocked by the earth qi. After all, this was the Dream-Eating Tapir’s dream array. If he made one wrong move and drove this evil demon mad, the lives of Shuigu Town’s people would be impossible to preserve. Chi Zhenzi needed to wait for the right moment……

“If you truly hate them, it’s not too late to turn back now. Release these people,” Chi Zhenzi said.

But the Dream-Eating Tapir laughed, his crimson eyes nearly dripping blood, his pale teeth savage and fierce: “Not too late? You tell me what ‘not too late’ means!”

“Where were you when they were capturing supernatural creatures en masse? Where were you when we were forced to kill and devour each other in the Gu Array? Now that I’ve escaped, you’ve come!”

“It’s already too late. Now I’m going to eat these people to heal my wounds. Swear you won’t pursue me anymore, and I’ll only eat half the people. If you refuse, they’ll all die!”

The people in the Gu Array heard every word clearly and saw the terrifying threads connected to their bodies.

Save us! Won’t someone save us?

Terror, panic, unwillingness… dark emotions accumulated and fermented, but before they could transform into something more extreme and uncontrollable, that steady, heavy heartbeat like the earth itself sounded again.

The Earth God……

In this world there were demons and ghosts that harmed people, but there were also immortals and gods!

“We beseech the immortals to save us!”

“We pray to the Earth God!”

Someone was the first to kneel and kowtow. They prayed to Chi Zhenzi, to the Earth God, to the deities they worshipped daily.

Chi Zhenzi’s lips moved. “Release everyone, and I can swear never to pursue you again.”

This demon seemed lucid but was actually manic. His words couldn’t be trusted, yet Chi Zhenzi had no choice but to trust them now.

The Dream-Eating Tapir laughed manically. “I need to heal my wounds. If you don’t agree, at worst I’ll eat them all and fight you to the death!”

“You see how devout they are now, but you didn’t see what they did in their own dreams before. If you had seen it, perhaps you’d want to kill them just as you want to kill me!”

Chi Zhenzi suddenly shouted. “Insolence!”

This shout was like thunderous roar, shocking the Dream-Eating Tapir into losing its wits for a moment.

The sword seal Chi Zhenzi had been forming in his hand suddenly struck out, one sword stroke aiming to sever all the dream threads.

His sword seal had only struck halfway when a tremendous terror suddenly enveloped him, causing his movements to freeze. The sword strike went astray, severing less than half the dream threads.

This was the Nightmare’s divine power—how could the Dream-Eating Tapir possess it? Chi Zhenzi immediately steadied himself. Realizing something was wrong and having no time for confusion, he moved to unleash the next sword strike.

Too late.

The Dream-Eating Tapir had already recovered from the thunder sound’s shock. It let out a fierce shriek, and the remaining dream threads forcibly broke through the earth qi’s blockade, plunging directly into the depths of the others’ souls. In an instant, these people lost control of themselves, becoming as dull as marionettes, though their eyes were filled with terror.

“I’ve changed my mind. I want you dead! For every moment you don’t die, I’ll eat one person! For every ten moments you don’t die, I’ll eat ten people!” the Dream-Eating Tapir shrieked.

With a flick of the rhinoceros horn on its forehead, it seized a child and opened its mouth to swallow them whole!

“Stop!” Chi Zhenzi’s eyes nearly split with rage. He was about to rush forward but was blocked by people controlled by the Dream-Eating Tapir.

Just as the child was about to fall into the Dream-Eating Tapir’s mouth, the dark sky of this dream realm suddenly brightened.

A clear, pure, vast and majestic light suddenly illuminated this dream realm.