Chapter 93: The Soul-Lost One (4th Update, Please Subscribe!)

Chapter 93: The Soulless (Fourth Update, Subscription Appreciated!)

Li Wei entered the second layer of the dream world.

He fell into the River of Dreams, then stood upon its surface.

The water was shallow, barely covering the soles of his feet.

Yet when he looked down, it seemed bottomless.

Drifting along the current were countless shimmering, multicolored dream bubbles—born and dying in endless flux.

Just moments ago, he had passed from beneath the river’s surface to above it.

An ascent in appearance, a descent in truth.

Dreams are the reverse of reality; the closer one draws to dreams, the farther one drifts from waking life.

Like a playing card, Li Wei had once been caught in the crevice between sides—but now he stood upon the card’s reverse.

The river remained shrouded in mist, an endless veil that vanished into unfathomable depths. Beyond, darkness reigned.

Above, suspended in the black vault of sky, hung one hundred and eight colossal stars, each glowing with a different hue.

The largest star was the farthest from Li Wei.

After gazing too long, he began to feel the darkness itself squirming—the stars like watching eyes fixed upon him.

He quickly lowered his head, unable to bear their gaze.

“Is this the true dream world? So vast, so magnificent!”

An infinite river of dreams. One hundred and eight stars hanging over a pitch-black sky.

Li Wei crouched, peering at the dream bubbles drifting beneath his feet.

He sensed he could enter any one of them at will.

Every moment, bubbles burst and new ones formed.

They vanished faster than he had imagined possible.

“Shadow Servant.”

Using his spiritual energy, Li Wei nourished the nightmare core, helping the Shadow Servant reconstruct its body.

With a casual spell, he cloaked it in an invisible armor.

No layered defenses this time—he wouldn’t risk the servant vanishing again while traversing dream realms.

Now he understood why it had disappeared before.

Nightmares were fish dwelling in the River of Dreams, feeding on dream bubbles to grow.

Most fish could never leave the river.

To do so meant death.

But the Shadow Servant’s dream core resided within Li Wei—thus, it had not truly perished.

With a thought, a gate slowly rose from the river.

Opening it revealed the safehouse on the other side.

Once certain he could return at any moment, Li Wei began exploring the River of Dreams.

He donned his invisibility cloak and vanished.

The Shadow Servant, robed in black, walked across the water’s surface—appearing as though alone.

Upon entering the second dream layer, replicas of items like the invisibility cloak and magic wand had manifested directly within the dream.

Their effects matched those in reality.

Even if destroyed, the real-world objects remained unharmed.

Li Wei suspected that in deeper dream layers, one might even pull actual objects from the waking world into the dream.

It was strange.

The deeper he ventured into the dream world, the more he should have drifted from reality.

Yet the opposite seemed true.

The deeper he went, the closer he drew to reality.

If the dream and waking worlds were two sides of a single card, then delving into dreams wasn’t moving away from the face—

but thinning the card itself.

Until reality and dream became indistinguishable.

When truth becomes illusion, illusion becomes truth!

The boundary between real and unreal dissolved; materialism and idealism coexisted in harmony.

Li Wei wandered the River of Dreams without direction.

Looking down, he occasionally glimpsed fragmented scenes within passing dream bubbles.

Here, by the river, the number and scope of dreams he could access had expanded dramatically.

After only a few steps, he encountered dreams that did not belong to Maple Leaf City.

“Hmm? A vortex?”

Li Wei halted, staring at a small whirlpool ten meters away.

Within it, dream bubbles formed and vanished at a pace far exceeding the normal flow of the river.

Cautiously approaching, he stared into the vortex.

Moments later, astonishment crossed his face.

“So this is Han Sha City’s massive fused nightmare dream?”

He noticed the vortex was gradually shrinking—slowly, but undeniably.

This meant the fused dream of Han Sha City was nearing dissolution.

Just as Li Wei prepared to enter the fusion dream with the Shadow Servant, to hunt nightmares and strengthen it—

the dream mist nearby stirred violently, shifting unnaturally.

Seeing this, Li Wei froze, turning sharply toward the disturbance.

The churning gray fog drew nearer.

Splash, splash, splash!

He heard footsteps—someone running swiftly across the water’s surface.

“Someone?”

Li Wei’s expression turned surprised.

Anyone encountered upon the River of Dreams must be a dreamwalker.

But all ordinary dreamers dwelled within the river itself.

Soon, a figure darted into Leo’s field of vision.

Whoosh!

It flashed past in an instant.

A moment later, the figure seemed to notice something and abruptly turned, rushing back toward him.

“Help me! Together—we fight the Lost One!”

“The Lost One?”

Leo felt puzzled but remained silent.

Better not reveal himself.

As the figure drew closer, Leo realized he recognized her.

It was Tanya—the half-elf archer of the Archer Guild, ranked third-tier.

“Hold the Lost One for just a moment—I’ll strike!”

Tanya called out swiftly.

The shadow servant stood motionless. Tanya halted, took position behind it, and nocked an arrow.

Magic light slowly gathered around the shaft.

Whoosh!

The creature Tanya had named—the Lost One—entered Leo’s sight.

A mutilated warrior in armor, grotesque-faced, corpse-like, shrouded in gray mist.

Seeing the shadow servant, the Lost One charged without hesitation.

Leo willed his shadow to intercept.

Boom! Crack!

The Lost One swung its sword down hard, shattering the invisible armor with a single blow.

The shadow burst apart with a thud, scattering into nothing.

Tanya’s eyes widened—she hadn’t expected the shadow to be so weak!

Leo, too, now understood: the Lost One must be at least high second-tier.

Otherwise, it couldn’t have shattered the armor in one strike.

Though short-lived, the shadow had bought Tanya a chance.

Fwip!

The enchanted arrow shot forth, aimed straight at the Lost One.

The creature swung its greatsword to block.

Boom!

The arrow exploded midair, splitting into seven or eight beams that pierced through the Lost One’s body.

Wounded severely, the creature trembled violently, flickering in and out of existence.

After a moment, it stabilized—but its form had dimmed greatly. More of its limbs had become translucent, fading away.

Its left side was now nearly transparent, on the verge of vanishing.

Only the right half remained solid.

Tanya sighed. She regretted not landing the killing blow.

Ordinary attacks could not harm the Lost One.

Only arrows imbued with spiritual energy could wound it.

She raised her shortbow, drawing the string taut.

Twang! Twang! Twang!

Green magical energy formed arrows upon the bowstring, fired in rapid succession.

Weaker than the earlier splitting arrow—but the Lost One was already gravely injured.

With persistence, it would die.

Whoosh!

The Lost One leapt upward, soaring into the sky, disappearing into the mist.

Tanya stared tensely at the heavens.

Every time it neared defeat, it used this move—vanishing from sight, then diving down in a deadly strike.

That blow—terrifying in power.

A direct hit could mean grave injury, even death.

Chapter Five updated tonight.

(End of Chapter)