The curtains of the small stage gradually closed, signifying the end of the sweet dream. The audience member faded into a nondescript shadow as they stood up to head towards the exit. After the audience departed, the theatre door closed and Gu Jun’s consciousness retreated. He saw in his sea of consciousness that the sweet dream bubble that he just exited was no longer a colorful bubble but had changed into a cotton candy cloud. He could sense that it had grown firmer because it was rejuvenated by Dirty-minded Yu’s mental power. ‘The dream has become hers, and it can now be used repeatedly, this is a good thing.’

Gu Jun opened his eyes and put down the phone, he was still inside that small hotel room. 20 minutes had passed, similar to how much time had passed in the dream. The 20 minutes of ESP connection did not make Gu Jun feel mentally exhausted, no wonder it was a sweet dream. Gu Jun immediately clicked on the cotton candy cloud to see if he could summon Wu Siyu again. He failed probably because he lacked stronger connection and bond, perhaps that could be overcome when the sweet dream was stronger in the future but for now he still needed a medium like the phone call. In any case, the good news was he could now have unmonitored communication with Siyu through this.

There were still two more sweet dream bubbles left, he should be able to build similar bonds with 2 more people. However, it shouldn’t be as easy as it was with Dirty-minded Yu because he had had ESP training with her before. Regardless, this was a valuable asset. ‘I should try to make contact with Elder Tong, what would that old man’s sweet dream be like? Winning the lottery?’ Gu Jun gave it some thoughts before his mind returned to the Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan. ‘What is the source of its power? Is it the earth’s god or some kind of darker force… It might not be a good thing to study too deep into it because it will change the personality of its trainers.’ Gu Jun previously felt a kinship towards the tome because it did not belong to the R’yleh Cult and Afterlife Cult’s faith, and it originated from the intelligence of his ancestors, but now he couldn’t be so sure. Thankfully, fellow disciples, Atal and Peacock’s group appeared like they were fine. As strange as the background of Peacock’s group was, they at least did not surrender themselves to darkness, if anything, they appeared to have more faith in light and goodness than normal people, especially in the way they would give up everything for their tribe.

With many questions waiting to be answered, Gu Jun returned to the larger room. Peacock, Kathlyn and the rest were waiting for him, some were standing, others sitting.

“Peacock, I have some questions to ask all of you.” Gu Jun enquired whether there were any symptoms among their people from learning the Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan. What exactly were the seven secrets? Gu Jun did not ask Peacock and Malachite any of these on the journey from Ulthar to the City of Kindle because he was afraid it might hinder him from leaving Dreamlands. The five looked at each other, some of these information was supposed to be confidential but now that they had a new mission…

In the end, they decided to share everything they knew and Kathlyn was the translator even though she had no idea what these people were talking about. Gu Jun got the answer he wanted, none of them had a preference towards the color yellow, none of the tribe’s people had their personality change and they suffered no psychological disturbance. ‘Why is that the case? They derive their power from the same source so what’s the distinction? Is the content different somehow?’

“When you reach the end of the third chapter, you’ll come in contact with the source of the book’s power.” Peacock said, “Put it this way, it is a power that can connect oneself to the sky and earth. The Professors will conduct a ritual around the statues of the Phecda Heroes. The Phecda Seal will help us stabilize our journey into the fourth chapter.” The homesickness in her voice caused the faces of the rest to withdraw.

“Do you mind giving me more specific details?” Gu Jun frowned, he realized this ritual was the distinction he was looking for, and naturally the ‘Phecda Seal’ in question was the Ancient Seal.

“Erm…” Peacock tried to elaborate, “The earth is a cradle for everything, both good and evil. The power itself has no differentiation between good and evil, it is us who will have to make that distinction. However, we are ourselves a creature of both opposites, therefore, during the ritual, the Phecda Seal will give us the blessing by temporarily sheltering us from the corruption of evil. It will cast away the evil for a few moments as we move towards the fourth chapter.”

Gu Jun understood it immediately. Peacock was proud when she introduced the Phecda Seal as a blessing, she was not talking metaphorically, but literally. What Atal had said rang in his mind as well, “Barzai the wise believes the seal contains some kind of power that will help you rise about the gods.” Other than that, Gu Jun remembered that Barzai was the master of both Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan and the Pnakotic Manuscripts, but was it as Atal claimed that the two were not related? There had to be some reason that compelled Barzai to believe that he could rise above the earth’s god with his own intelligence.

Gu Jun looked at Peacock’s group and then glanced at the old rock placed on the couch. No, he now believed, there had to be a connection between these two…

Atal did say that the Pnakotic Manuscripts was not a spell book, and that was confirmed when Gu Jun skimmed through it earlier, if anything, Gu Jun had a feeling that the tome had some kind of power that utilized rationality unique to humanity to counter the… technicality of spells. To quote Peacock, it helped to ‘cast away the evil’. Perhaps Barzai had figured out a way to use the manuscripts to counter the side effect from the Seven Cryptical Books of Hsan… and that led to his pride. The two tomes originated from different power sources but that incidentally contributed to their contradictory yet complementary nature.

“This Phecda Seal.” Gu Jun asked Peacock. “How can it be used?”

“One needs a ritual and…” Peacock paused. “And with a spell from the tome, the seal can be used to help cleanse our mind shadow.”

‘Mind shadow?’ Gu Jun’s eyes widened. ‘That is quite clearly another moniker for mental corruption!’

“Mr. Nightmare Man, I’m telling the truth.” Peacock said hurriedly. Gu Jun’s widened eyes caused the atmosphere in the room to chill.

“Then do you mind showing me an example?” Gu Jun urged. “Please.”

Peacock did not dare to dawdle. She placed her palm over the seal and said, “Just press on it like this and use your mind to sense it. Draw out its shape in your mind. The cleansing will be painful but it has proven useful. But, sir, as you know, there is nothing that we can be certain of anymore.” When Gu Jun had been in close proximity to the stone before, he responded with disgust. He now asked whether Peacock felt the same thing.

“Yes.” Peacock nodded and said with some pride, “Because the righteousness of the Phecda Hero repels the evil energy within us.”

“Then I shall give it a try.” Gu Jun walked forward and sat down on the couch next to the stone. Amberlite and Aquamarine quickly stood up. Currently his mental corruption rate was 24.68 percent and the system missions had been refreshed during midnight. With a switch in his thought, he opened the system tab and clicked to accept the abyssal mission.

Abyssal Mission: Deplete 10 percent corruption rate within a week. Reward: Unknown

Mission accepted!

“Mr. Nightmare Man, according to our tribe rules, a person can only accept cleansing once every 3 days and the ritual will need other people’s help. The number of people varies depending on the situation.” Peacock said urgently, “Mr. Nightmare Man, the cleansing of the mind shadow is something very dangerous. There are no statues of the Phecda Hero around here and without the protection of the Phecda Hero, we can’t be sure what will happen.”

‘I am the Phecda Hero.’ Gu Jun said silently as his right palm pressed on the ancient seal. He closed his eyes and started to draw the seal in his heart…

Suddenly, a giant pain exploded in his mind. It reared its ugly head like a wild beast.

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