…
At exactly ten o'clock in the evening, Yang City still shone with many lights beneath the night sky.
The farther one went, toward the Taihe Mountains, the fewer the lights—only a scattering from small towns remained.
At the Lishan Martial Hall, its walls blocked any glow from within.
From outside the courtyard, one could hardly notice that inside this old-fashioned residence, two rooms were still lit.
One was Lin Tuo's study.
The window stood open, the night wind drifting in. From the courtyard, one could glimpse a young man casually seated by the window, eyes closed as if asleep.
Not far away, the other lit room held Hua Xi.
Dressed in silk pajamas, she sat cross-legged very earnestly on a mat laid across the floor. Her back was straight, chest lifted, her expression calm, her breathing steady and rhythmic.
It was the standard meditation posture.
And at that moment, above her head, the invisible Ether thread connecting her to the unseen beyond suddenly trembled.
"Eh?" Mid-cultivation, Hua Xi sensed something wrong—only to feel her consciousness reel, as though being pulled into a mysterious elsewhere.
…
…
Within the empty dreamscape, the instant Lin Tuo tugged on the Ether thread, he instinctively gave a pull outward.
To his surprise, not far from him, the space twisted—revealing the faintly translucent figure of Hua Xi, barefoot in pajamas, bewildered.
Her form was clearly not physical, tinged with unreality.
The girl was instantly tense. The moment she appeared, she retreated a step, lowered her body, and raised her arms in the defensive stance of the Ancestor's Soldier-Fist.
Prepared to meet any danger.
The next second—
"Te… teacher?!"
Seeing Lin Tuo standing before her, Hua Xi froze. Her face—rounder and smoother these days from better nutrition—was a portrait of shock. "Wha… what is this place?"
"Don't be nervous," Lin Tuo said, smiling calmly at her reaction. "I'm testing a new ability. I called you here to cooperate."
Was that it?
Hearing this, Hua Xi's expression shifted to realization, her tension easing all at once.
After all, from her perspective, it was perfectly normal for Lin Tuo to wield strange abilities.
Meanwhile, Lin Tuo keenly noticed that her expressions here were more exaggerated than usual, and faintly, he could sense her emotional shifts.
"Mm… so this is a side effect."
He recalled the report's note: those pulled in would have their psychological defenses lowered…
Reasonable. Just like how people immersed in dreams found it hard to lie.
"Sit down. I'll need you to answer a few questions." With a thought, Lin Tuo conjured a second rattan chair on the ground for her.
He sat as well, conjuring a notebook and pen in his hands.
These familiar objects were easy to manifest here, and worked normally.
Hua Xi, watching these changes, couldn't help but grow curious:
Teacher's ability… is so interesting…
"First question: when you entered here, what did you experience? Describe it in detail." Lin Tuo asked.
Hua Xi thought carefully, then replied:"I was cultivating, when suddenly the mysterious energy around me started vibrating, as if following a rhythm, and then…"
"Good. Second question: here, what do you see?"
"Here? I see Teacher, myself, two chairs, the floor, mist…"
Lin Tuo raised his brows at that, ticking a note in his book.
Clearly, she could not see the sandbox sitting beside him.
Meaning that even within this consciousness-constructed space, the sandbox remained visible only to him.
"Third question…"
For the next ten minutes, Lin Tuo tested every angle he could think of— even tossing in a few riddles for her to answer.
In this way, he rapidly mapped the boundaries of his new ability.
That was why he had pulled Hua Xi in.
"All right, that's enough for now. I'll send you back. Continue your training. If I need you again, I'll call." At last, after filling more than ten pages in his notebook, Lin Tuo closed it.
Though Hua Xi's curiosity was burning, she obediently nodded.
With a thought, Lin Tuo "cut the link." Hua Xi's figure faded and disappeared.
Once again, the hall of illusions held only him.
Yes—he thought "Illusion Space" or "Hall of Illusions" was a better name than "Dreamscape."
After all, no one thought clearly or logically in dreams.
…
…
"Rustle."
Pages turned in the notebook.
Alone in the empty hall, Lin Tuo reviewed his notes, deepening his grasp of the ability.
Hua Xi's presence resembled that of the "Spiritual Essence": halfway between real and unreal—tangible, yet lacking warmth, heartbeat, or pulse.
More like a projection of the soul.
Moreover, within this space, her supernatural ability was gone. The same held for Lin Tuo himself. In other words, here, supernaturals and ordinary people stood equal.
Thought remained clear, logic intact—but emotions and expressions became unusually vivid. Whether this transparency applied only to him, the "Illusion Master," remained uncertain.
As for harming a target's consciousness… Lin Tuo hadn't tested it. But instinct told him he couldn't yet.
At most… he could give people nightmares, leaving them mentally weakened.
"No wonder it's called Nightmare," he muttered, his eyes drifting back to the sandbox.
This ability lacked destructive power, unlike Hua Xi's own talent to rapidly heal wounds by consuming nutrients.
In other words, it wouldn't directly boost his combat strength.
But it carried tremendous potential.
Especially when combined with the sandbox. Together, the two added up to far more than the sum of their parts.
"If I can use the sandbox to forcibly pull in anyone connected to Ether within my observation range…
Then theoretically, as long as my Ether and mental strength could sustain it, couldn't I drag all of Yang City's near hundred thousand people in at once?
Or, in Sandbox No. 2, any individual practicing the method could be pulled in…"
The possibilities, when combined with the Illusion Space's properties, were staggering.
The sheer scope… the countless "applications"…
"Too bad, for now it's just imagination. Ether can be stockpiled, but my mental strength definitely can't support something on that scale yet."
Indeed, the ability had side effects.
Though untested, his spiritual intuition told him: with his current mental strength, he couldn't pull too many at once.
Numbers, strength of targets, duration—all would strain his mind.
"One step at a time. As my body evolves, my mental strength will grow. One day, I'll sustain much larger scales."
He consoled himself, reeling in those grand fantasies.
"Mm. Still, even pulling just a handful of cultivators in at once could be very useful."
Lounging in his chair, stroking his chin, Lin Tuo stared at the sandbox before him—at Yang City glowing with lights, and at the countless Ether threads stretched across it.
Slowly, a plan began to take shape.
"Should I… pull in someone else to test?"
(End of Chapter)