Bai Sha’s decision to add Jingjing as a friend was a spur-of-the-moment thing, but she hadn’t expected the request to be approved the moment it was sent.
A message came from Jingjing: “Who are you?”
The simple text conveyed Jingjing’s confusion. She clearly had no idea when she had ever interacted with a Demon Cultivator named Bai Sha.
She replied that fast?
Bai Sha pondered for a moment before saying: “After all we’ve been through, you don’t remember me? Well, then there’s no point in saying anything.”
Jingjing: “???”
Jingjing: “When did we meet? Where did we meet? Can you be clearer?”
Bai Sha didn’t answer.
Naturally, Jingjing wouldn’t know about events from the previous life. If she did, it would be Bai Sha who was horrified.
She was just teasing Jingjing a little. In their last life, they shared a bond of dying together, after all.
Bai Sha then moved to leave the Seven-Colored Shell.
While she currently had no Contribution Points to aid her cultivation inside a Cultivation Shell, cultivating outside was still an option. In short, there was no need to waste this period of time.
Bai Sha left to cultivate in peace, but somewhere else in the Seven-Colored Shell, Jingjing felt her head spinning.
Who exactly was this Bai Sha?
…
In the vast Eastern Sea, seaweed swayed with the currents, bubbles slowly rose among the seabed rocks, and fish and shrimp quietly shuttled back and forth.
This scene had repeated for countless days and nights.
Over the long years, the occasional fish or shrimp would suddenly awaken its intelligence and embark on the path of cultivation.
Gradually, to this day, no one knew how many Demon Cultivators had appeared in the ocean. The Eastern Sea alone held an uncountable number.
What fate awaited this multitude of Demon Cultivators?
As one of the masses, Bai Sha couldn’t help but ponder this while cultivating.
Mainly, she knew the Heavenly Devil Palace had their sights set on the Eastern Sea. That Devil Empress Di Xuan would, to refine the Ten Thousand Demon Sea Map, sacrifice every Demon Cultivator in the Eastern Sea. Was that truly the fate of the Eastern Sea’s demons?
“No. Whether the Heavenly Devil Palace will actually succeed is an unknown. It’s just that I’ve never lived a life long enough to see the outcome.”
Bai Sha mused thoughtfully.
She continued to glide through the seawater, thinking about various things as she cultivated. When hungry, she swallowed fish or shrimp. When tired, she would rest.
Time passed unnoticed. In the blink of an eye, nearly a month had passed since Bai Sha’s return.
Over twenty days of cultivation had not brought her a breakthrough to Late Qi Condensation, but she wasn’t discouraged. She felt that the Late Stage wasn’t far off. If she could use the Cultivation Shell’s assistance, she might progress even faster.
When this time came, Bai Sha immediately headed back toward the Seven-Colored Shell.
In the dark seabed, Bai Sha looked around, identifying the route.
“Going this way leads to the Seven-Colored Shell. The Water Jade Stone Vein is over there. If coming from the Water Jade Stone Vein in a straight line to the Seven-Colored Shell, this path is unavoidable.”
Bai Sha found a suitable location.
It was a wide Undersea Grotto. The stone walls inside were covered in moss, and many stalactites hung down, making it dark and deep.
After entering the grotto, Bai Sha did nothing more, simply settling behind a pile of rocks to wait.
One day, two days… amidst Bai Sha’s waiting, the thirtieth day since her return finally arrived.
Having waited patiently, at a certain moment, Bai Sha suddenly sensed a disturbance in the water.
“Finally here?”
Bai Sha focused her attention and looked toward the source.
She saw a figure rapidly shoot through the water and enter the grotto. It glowed with a blue-green luster and was shaped like a squid—it was the Blue-green Squid, Mo Hen!
The moment she saw him, Bai Sha unhesitatingly spat out the Dream Stage she carried in her mouth. Inputting Demonic Power, she locked onto Mo Hen.
In the next instant, the Dream Stage flew out, rapidly enlarging as it did. Almost in the blink of an eye, it had become the size of a normal stage, settling in the center of the Undersea Grotto.
“Who is it?”
Mo Hen quickly halted at the sight. Before he could do anything else, an irresistible suction force landed on him, pulling him rapidly toward the enlarged Dream Stage.
In Bai Sha’s eyes, Mo Hen’s body rapidly shrank. Once he was shrunk to roughly the size of an adult human, he appeared on the stage.
Then, the stage lit up. Lights from an unknown source shone upon it.
Under the lights, besides Mo Hen, several Eerie Paper Men appeared.
Each Paper Man had heavy makeup and was painted with beautiful clothing, both male and female. They began their performance.
“What is this? An Ancient Forbidden Artifact?”
Having been forcibly brought onto the stage, Mo Hen was greatly alarmed. He desperately tried to rush off the stage, but an invisible barrier blocked him at the edge, preventing him from leaving no matter how he charged.
While Mo Hen tried to flee, the performance continued unhurriedly.
It was a love story, telling the tale of a sheltered Young Miss and a poor scholar falling in love, only to be obstructed by her family. Mo Hen was cast as the poor scholar.
“Not seeing you for a day, I lose all appetite. Not seeing you for two days, I grow thin and haggard. Not seeing you for three days feels like a thousand autumns… Seeing you today, I finally realize the brightness of the world.”
The Paper Man playing the female lead walked gracefully to Mo Hen’s side, speaking with deep affection.
It was Mo Hen’s turn to respond.
But how could Mo Hen have ever encountered such a situation? He had no idea what was happening. Instead, he shouted outward, “Whoever is doing this, I don’t know when I offended you, but we can talk this over!”
No answer came from outside.
The female lead Paper Man didn’t receive an answer from Mo Hen, and its painted eyes flickered.
The other actors on stage who had taken their positions all turned their heads to look this way.
If the male lead didn’t cooperate, this drama could not continue. And if the drama could not continue…
The atmosphere on the stage grew sinister and terrifying.
Even as a bystander, Bai Sha felt a chill. The scene presented within the Dream Stage was not dreamy at all; instead, it radiated a horror-like eeriness.
Most importantly, Bai Sha found her body moving uncontrollably.
She recalled the price of using the Dream Stage: while the target performs on stage, you will also perform uncontrollably outside the stage.
So, was she performing right now?
Bai Sha split part of her attention to observe her own actions, trying to determine what kind of performance she was doing.
The other part of her attention remained on the stage.
Mo Hen was refusing to cooperate with the performance. How would the Dream Stage handle this?
i guess that really would be horrifying. it would be really unfortunate to be remembered like that.