381: Chapter 381 Zhou Gong's Interpretation of Dreams (Part 1)

"Buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz, buzz."

"Hiss, ouch, ouch, ouch."

Zhou Yan suddenly clutched his forehead, feeling a pain in his temples.

"Senior Brother, are you alright?"

Shi Suiyan looked at Zhou Yan with a face full of concern. Xuanyuan Qingyao also wanted to come over and check, but she was currently controlling the Nanming Li Fire.

This thing was troublesome in that way; once it left the caster's control, even the caster themselves would need quite some time to resolve it.

So Zhou Yan and the others were originally waiting for Xuanyuan Qingyao to disable the trap, but they hadn't expected Zhou Yan to suffer a sudden change.

"I'm fine, but something's happened to Long Tianxing."

Zhou Yan clutched his forehead, feeling the pull of a certain power. He didn't have time to say much, only telling Shi Suiyan and Xuanyuan Qingyao.

"Xuanyuan Qingyao, continue disabling your setup. Junior Sister Shi, act as my Protector first; I have some matters to attend to."

After speaking, Zhou Yan sat cross-legged on the spot, circulating the Law of the Heart and releasing the Six Desires Heaven to respond to that pull.

Shi Suiyan watched Zhou Yan as he meditated, then glanced at Xuanyuan Qingyao, who was peeking over from time to time. She stood up to shield the two of them, facing the distance and remaining alert for any accidents.

Seeing there was nothing for her to do, Xuanyuan Qingyao remained worried but continued to pour her focus into the Nanming Li Fire.

"Where is this? The signal is so good it can even connect to me?"

"Is the spatial connection of this Secret Realm too good? Did the ancients have this level of quality?"

Zhou Yan opened his eyes again to see darkness before him, with a speck of light in the distance.

This place was within Long Tianxing's Heart Demon.

For a "suicide truck" like Long Tianxing, given his state at the time, it was impossible for Zhou Yan not to leave a backup plan.

Thus, to prevent him from encountering accidents or suffering Qi Deviation in the Secret Realm, Zhou Yan had left a mark in his heart while using the Six Desires Heaven to help him recover. This mark would provide a warning and suppression should Long Tianxing fall into a Heart Demon again.

But for some reason, Long Tianxing's Heart Demon suddenly erupted, sending him feedback.

It was fine at first since he was prepared, but who would have thought that shortly after the Heart Demon erupted, a much more violent wave followed, instantly trapping him.

That intense pulling force was forcibly making Zhou Yan use the Six Desires Heaven remotely to take over Long Tianxing.

This left him with only two choices.

Either sever the connection and risk a demonized Long Tianxing spawning in the Secret Realm.

Or activate his Divine Ability and follow the power to see what was going on and if it could be resolved.

Knowing how troublesome a blackened protagonist could be, Zhou Yan consciously chose the latter.

What he didn't expect was that outside this Heart Demon lay a completely new map. On the map, there were only four green dots, indicating that besides Long Tianxing, there were three other people he knew.

"Forget it, now is not the time to complain about using a Divine Ability across space."

Zhou Yan activated his Golden Eyes of Delusion Breaking and immediately began his analysis.

After one comprehensive analysis, Zhou Yan's health bar dropped significantly, and his mana bar was mostly depleted.

Feeling a sense of emptiness, Zhou Yan quickly cut off the Divine Ability.

"Whoa, that was a real eye-opener."

Just now, Zhou Yan had swept the area with his Golden Eyes of Delusion Breaking, instantly lighting up many regions of the Heart Demon map.

Then he saw Long Tianxing's massive Heart Demon world, which was more "open-world" than many open-world games.

"What on earth has this guy been through?"

"Yuan Chenling's Heart Demon only converged into a single monster, and although Wang Yao's had multiple layers that were hard to see clearly, it was only a few times stronger than Yuan Chenling's."

"But yours... isn't this too exaggerated?"

In the darkness, while recovering health and mana, Zhou Yan dragged the mini-map, intending to see the overall outline.

Finally, he discovered that the currently lit area of the Heart Demon was already as large as Jiangzhou.

"Things have become troublesome."

"I can't just spam Divine Abilities like this anymore. Luckily, the mini-map is open and some information has been recorded. I'll search around first."

Having experienced much, Zhou Yan's capacity for acceptance had strengthened. He quickly began to grope through the darkness according to the outlines and terrain on the mini-map.

As for that speck of light, it hadn't appeared in the previous scan results.

It only seemed large because it was far away. If he explored in that direction, Long Tianxing might become demonized before Zhou Yan could even find his Heart Demon.

Zhou Yan ran quickly through the darkness.

As he ran, he seemed to trigger some condition, and the originally dark space instantly brightened.

The place where he stood had turned into a small room, looking like a child's bedroom. The green dot corresponding to Long Tianxing was right here.

"Whoa, a lucky find on the first try? Is Long Tianxing lucky, or am I?"

"Creak—"

"Xiao Long, this will be your home from now on."

Seeing the child who suddenly pushed open the door and entered, Zhou Yan knew this was Long Tianxing.

He had now entered the Heart Demon's perspective.

"Is this... Long Tianxing as a child?"

"He had a Heart Demon even then? Does he even know what a Heart Demon is at this age?"

Since he had found Long Tianxing right at the start, time suddenly became plentiful, and Zhou Yan wanted to see what the other's Heart Demon actually was.

After all, if he pulled him out now, what if he turned dark? He didn't even know why Long Tianxing was turning dark so frantically.

In reality, Long Tianxing had fallen into this state because he failed the trial after touching that piece of bamboo, triggering his own Heart Demon, which was then blocked by Zhou Yan's preemptive setup.

But just as he came out, he happened to find that piece of bamboo that had refreshed because Suo Jialuo destroyed it—and it refreshed right in front of him.

He woke up under the bamboo's suggestion, and in his groggy state, he subconsciously grabbed the bamboo again, falling into a Heart Demon once more.

That was the reason for the two consecutive Heart Demon waves on Long Tianxing's side.

However, Zhou Yan had no way of knowing this.

At this moment, Zhou Yan was just curious: what kind of Heart Demon could a six or seven-year-old like Long Tianxing have? Then, he witnessed an unforgettable scene.

It was a familiar scene; the story of Xiao Long and Long Tianxing played out again. Just as Zhou Yan was lamenting how endearing Long Tianxing was as a child, a turning point in fate occurred.

Xiao Long died, right before his eyes.

Children are very sensitive; he had already seen this with Han Yue, a local child.

After experiencing life and death, especially witnessing such a cruel scene, the psychological shadow could truly crush a child's will.

Fortunately, Han Yue had been talked back by him using Talk no Jutsu, and Long Tianxing was also lucky; his parents and relatives comforted him all day, and they even hired several professional psychological doctors.

Although Zhou Yan really wanted to complain about the name, the effect was indeed good.

Long Tianxing recovered well. If it had stopped there, it would have been fine.

Then, a shocking scene occurred.

The seventh day after the little mutt's death arrived.

Because of the previous scan with the Golden Eyes of Delusion Breaking, most of the recorded data was already stored in Zhou Yan's panel, so he understood the situation very clearly.

Having been fed many herbs by Long Tianxing, that little mutt had already gained some human-like intelligence, so its Soul had a certain subjectivity. It wouldn't simply turn into an unconscious ghost and head to the underworld after wandering for a while.

Its intelligence returned to its peak on the seventh day after death, so following the attachment in its heart, it returned to Long Tianxing's side.

Zhou Yan watched the scene of the little mutt—reminiscent of a Western gore film—struggling to crawl toward Long Tianxing on a pitch-black rainy night, and couldn't help but break into a sweat.

Never mind a child; even if he himself had seen this before he started cultivating, he would have been shaking in his boots.

"It seems this is the reason for Long Tianxing's consecutive Heart Demons this time."

Zhou Yan stood up from the chair, his hand—carrying the power of the Six Desires Heaven—reaching toward the little mutt. He intended to convert its state, adjust the Heart Demon, and help Long Tianxing temporarily overcome this tribulation.

But just as his hand was about to touch the puppy's head, a large hand suddenly grabbed his wrist.

At that moment, Zhou Yan was so startled that even his Dao Heart trembled.

This is impossible! How can something inside a Heart Demon touch me?

Zhou Yan's hand was covered in concentrated power—deep purple with iridescent edges. He struck out with a palm, which was the full release of the Six Desires Heaven.

But when he saw clearly who the newcomer was, he quickly pulled back the strike he had launched, looking at the person in disbelief.

"Fifth Elder, why is it you?"