Chapter 1 The Beginning

Xiahou Aotian pondered and said, "Miss, there's no need to be surprised. I was just joking. This is a desolate wilderness, and it's not easy to have company. That's why my words were a bit frivolous. I hope you don't take offense."

He used a wet, withered branch to stir the charcoal fire, making sparks fly, and said, "Hurry up and come warm yourself by the fire, lest you catch a cold."

The beautiful woman then softened her expression a bit, politely thanked him, and sat down by the charcoal fire.

The heavy rain continued to fall, the dark clouds layered upon each other, and the sky was dim, as if it were night. The woman shivered as she warmed herself, and her face gradually turned rosy.

Xiahou Aotian glanced at the basket, which was full of very ordinary herbs, some for treating trauma, some for treating colds, and some for resolving phlegm and moisturizing the lungs.

To think that in an S-class dungeon, there are only ordinary herbs, and no heavenly treasures! Xiahou Aotian grumbled in disappointment in his heart.

"Are you a medicine farmer from a nearby village?" Xiahou Aotian took the initiative to start a conversation. "This is a desolate wilderness, full of bandits and wild beasts. How can they let a woman like you enter the mountains to gather herbs?"

The woman sighed. "My father went up the mountain to gather herbs a few days ago and broke his leg. There are still two younger siblings at home to feed, so I have no choice but to enter the mountains to gather herbs and exchange them for some money."

Xiahou Aotian asked again, "Do you have any wealthy relatives?"

The woman shook her head.

Xiahou Aotian said "Oh," paused for a few seconds, and suddenly pointed behind her. "Look there!"

The woman subconsciously turned her head to look. Xiahou Aotian took the opportunity to raise his repeating crossbow, aimed at the woman's chest, and pulled the trigger.

With a twang of the bowstring, the crossbow bolt deeply pierced the woman's chest, and blood quickly spread, staining her clothes red.

The young woman turned her head, looking at Xiahou Aotian in disbelief, then tilted over and died with wide eyes.

Xiahou Aotian took the herbs from the woman's basket and put them into his own. Once he got to Chang'an, he could exchange them for some money.

His logic for killing the woman was simple. Chang'an was not far from here, only a day's journey. Since entering Chang'an was a side quest, there would definitely be dangers along the way.

Every NPC he encountered on the one-day journey could be a sinister enemy.

Killing the woman was equivalent to nipping the danger in the bud. If he killed the wrong person, it was just a dungeon NPC, and she would respawn next time anyway.

The only thing he needed to confirm was that killing the young woman would not actively trigger a crisis, so he had just asked the young woman if she had any wealthy relatives and received a negative answer.

As steady as an old dog ↓

Just as he was thinking this, he suddenly heard a knock on the door, "Dong, dong." The sound was abrupt and eerie in the silent rain.

Immediately, a woman's soft voice came from outside the door, "Young master, I am a medicine farmer from nearby. I entered the mountains to gather herbs and was caught in a heavy rain. I would like to enter the temple to take shelter from the rain."

A woman's soft voice came from outside the door.

The voice outside the door was exactly the same as the young woman he had just killed, even the lines were the same.

Xiahou Aotian's face slowly froze, and he suddenly looked at the young woman he had shot. Immediately, his pupils shrank. The young woman's body was gone.

At this time, the woman inside and outside the door said, "Is anyone there? I'm coming in."

A chill rose in Xiahou Aotian's heart. He stared intently at the temple door, gripping the bow and crossbow in his hand.

He had predicted correctly that the woman was the danger he would encounter on the way to Chang'an, but what he had not expected was that the young woman who had clearly been shot and killed had actually returned.

"Dong, dong, dong." The knocking on the door continued, and the woman outside the door asked again, "Young master, is young master inside? I'm coming in."

Seeing that Xiahou Aotian in the hall did not respond, the woman outside the door seemed to be getting anxious. Her tone became hurried, with a hint of despair. "Open the door! Why won't you open the door? I know you're inside. You haven't left. If you don't open the door, I'm really coming in!"

Didn't you just open the door and come in yourself? Xiahou Aotian cursed in his heart, and the hairs on the back of his neck quietly stood up.

"Why won't you open the door? Why do you treat me like this? Why do you treat me like this..." The woman's cry outside the hall door became more and more shrill, losing the soft and gentle charm she had just had.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The doors and windows shook violently, constantly making "bang bang" sounds.

It seemed like there were people standing outside.

"You killed me!" the young woman's voice outside the door said venomously.

Xiahou Aotian tensed his body and aimed the crossbow directly at the temple door. As long as the woman outside dared to come in, he would reward her with an armor-piercing arrow.

At this time, the shaking of the doors and windows stopped, and there was silence outside the hall. Except for the pattering rain, the young woman outside seemed to have left.

Left? Afraid of being shot by me again? Well, I have to leave quickly too. I can't stay here any longer! Xiahou Aotian immediately ran towards the skinny horse, intending to leave this strange, dilapidated temple immediately.

As soon as he approached the skinny horse, he suddenly felt something moving in the basket. There was a faint glimmer of light in the dimness. Xiahou Aotian moved closer and took a closer look. He saw a woman's head in the basket, with the back of her head facing him, twitching slightly.

As if sensing that someone was watching the head, it suddenly turned around, revealing a pale black face, bleeding from all seven orifices, with dark black lips and eerie white pupils staring straight at Xiahou Aotian.

"You... killed..." A venomous and mournful voice came.

Xiahou Aotian's heart tightened, and he retreated again and again, feeling the hairs all over his body standing on end, and fear filling his heart.

But he didn't retreat a few steps before he bumped into something behind him. He turned his head in panic and fear, and his pupils shrank even more, his heart skipped a beat.

Behind him was a headless corpse, wearing clothes that were exactly the same as the young woman's just now.

Xiahou Aotian's adrenaline soared, his scalp tingled, and he instinctively raised his repeating crossbow and shot it at the headless corpse.

The armor-piercing arrow pierced the corpse's chest, but the corpse, which was already dead, was not affected in any way. It raised its right hand with dark black fingernails and grabbed Xiahou Aotian's neck, lifting him up.

Xiahou Aotian's legs kicked wildly in the air, his face flushed red from lack of oxygen, his eyeballs were covered with bloodshot eyes, and his tongue slowly protruded.

The headless female corpse's strength was extremely great. With his current physique, he could not resist it in the slightest.

From the basket on the horse's back came a mournful and venomous voice, "You killed me, you killed me..."

Xiahou Aotian's consciousness gradually blurred, and the kicking of his four limbs became more and more weak.

Just then, a cool force came from his thumb, like a bucket of cold water, a piece of solid ice, bringing a thrilling stimulation that made his soul shiver.

Xiahou Aotian suddenly "woke up." Why don't I resist? Why am I so afraid of a corpse? Why don't I use the items in my inventory?

He then realized that he had fallen into an illusion. Only an illusion could turn a Lingjing Xingzhe into a panicked ordinary person, become dominated by emotions, and lose calm judgment and reason. The power from the ring helped him break the illusion.

This was precisely the weakness of the illusion. As long as a third-party force intervened, the illusion would collapse without being attacked.

Xiahou Aotian suddenly opened his eyes and found that he had fallen asleep by the charcoal fire at some point. Outside, the wind and rain were bleak, and the skinny horse stood obediently by the campfire, hanging its head and snorting from time to time.

There was no knocking at the door outside the hall, and there was no woman in the hall.

Everything just now seemed like a dream, but the pain from his neck told him that this was not a dream. He had just fallen into an illusion and almost strangled himself to death in the dream.

"Old thing, old thing." He lowered his head and stared at the thumb ring, calling out repeatedly.

The old grandpa did not respond in any way. From the moment he entered the dungeon, he had lost contact with Qin Dai Fangtu.

Although he was sealed by the dungeon, he could sense the movements of the outside world, so at a critical moment, he transmitted the power of the Transcendence realm to wake me up. Xiahou Aotian felt a sense of clarity in his heart.

He no longer spoke to the old grandpa and began to think about what he had encountered.

In the field of illusion arts, there were only the Night Wanderer and the Illusionist professions.

And what he had just seen and heard, the crisis he had encountered, were all in a dream.

From the perspective of professional characteristics, it should be the Dream Weaver.

But to be honest, if it was the Dream Weaver, even with the help of the old grandpa, he would not have been able to break free from the dream.

Xiahou Aotian's gaze swept across the hall, and his thoughts turned rapidly. Possessing dream abilities, not yet reaching the Saint realm, using supernatural elements to scare people... But what I fear the most is not... The opponent's ability to create illusions is limited... The strength is clearly not strong, but how can they enter my dream?

The strength and characteristics displayed by the enemy were contradictory.

"If the strength is not strong, it is impossible to influence me from too far away. They must be nearby..." Xiahou Aotian opened his inventory and took out a black ghost face mask, putting it on his face.

This was a prop of the Illusionist profession. Its main functions were "emotional manipulation" and "mental strike." He did not hesitate to activate the "emotional manipulation" ability. The other party may have special methods to hide, but emotions could not be hidden.

Xiahou Aotian looked around, and when he found nothing abnormal in the hall, he pushed open the hall door, stood under the eaves, and carefully scanned the front yard.

Suddenly, his eyes narrowed.

In the corner of the front yard, in a place overgrown with weeds, he saw clusters of black "smoke" rising from the soil.

It was resentment!

In that instant, Xiahou Aotian understood that a wrongly dead woman was buried in the temple. Her resentment did not dissipate and turned into a vengeful ghost, instinctively devouring the travelers who entered the temple.

Xiahou Aotian opened the inventory... and took out a Changdao (long saber), striding into the rain and came to the corner where resentment was rising. He used the saber as a shovel and turned over the mud.

Layers of soil were turned over, ten centimeters, half a meter... A "crack" sound came from the tip of the blade, and a skeleton was revealed in the mud.