Chapter 85—Ghost Dreams

  Yu Han buckled at the knees, collapsing in a most inelegant manner. This split-second decision saved him as the green shadow flew over his head.

  “What the actual flying fuck?” Yu Han rolled forward and sprang to his feet. “What was that?”

   Fei Rui said. He clicked his pincers and grew to his full size, shielding Yu Han from the front. He pointed at another portion of the dreamscape wall. The white, chalk-like surface rippled as if it was water. Then a line of green shot out!

  “It’s fast!” Yu Han shouted, instinctively echoing his halberd.

  The green line was like a zigzagging comet. It had a blazing tip and an iridescent tail, flying through the air.

   Fei Rui said, bringing a pincer down on it faster than Yu Han could react.

  But the green comet dodged! It swivelled around Fei Rui’s claw, going straight for Yu Han.

  Not this time. Yu Han’s mind was far calmer than he had expected. By the time the green comet was within mere feet, Yu Han had already gone into Mountain Root Stance.

  The blade of the illusory halberd hit the comet head-on. This halberd had not been memorycast, so it only had the default level of reality. But it deflected the green comet away. The comet was absorbed into the dreamscape floor like sinking into mud.

  Yu Han’s dreamscape was shaped like a shallow bowl with a curved lid. The floor was flat in the centre but curved upward around the edges. Instead of a perfect dome overhead, the ceiling reached its highest point off to one side, creating an asymmetrical curve. As if they were inside a strange clam. The passage leading to Fei Rui’s crabscape was built into the inner wall near the hinge of this clam-like space.

  So technically, there were no “separate” walls, as all of it was contiguous. It was hard to say which direction was east and which was south.

  I need to set a reference point after this.

   Fei Rui said. His periscope-like eyestalks followed the creature across the floor of the dreamscape, then to the walls, and all the way to the ceiling, near the umbo.

  Directly above Yu Han’s head.

   Fei Rui stood to his full height with his elongated legs, easily stepping above Yu Han to act as an umbrella.

  Each second passed with a hundred beats of Yu Han’s heart. Fei Rui’s gaze moved back and forth. A few times, he almost struck out with his claws, but stopped at the last second. As if the attack he was expecting didn’t come.

  Think. Think! What could it be? Yu Han’s mind raced. The Parasitic Fireworm? Why is its flame green? It resembles the flame of the green meteor, and the one that burnt the watch Fei Rui projected. And the accord scroll.

  The flames are dangerous. Yu Han’s gaze fixed on a charred patch on the halberd’s blade where the metal was already beginning to fray and flake away, disintegrating into nothingness starting from the site of the burn. It was just an echo, not the real thing. But until now, only Yu Han and Fei Rui had been able to damage echoes. Of course, no other creature had the opportunity yet. Let’s memorycast.

  “Fei Rui, drop me some pearls.”

  

  Yu Han nodded, and Fei Rui conjured all thirteen pearls he had left for the day. He’d used up the rest for memory management and Yu Han’s experiments.

  Yu Han took one and memorycast his halberd. With another, he memorycast the coveralls.

  “Can you project them?” Yu Han placed the two pearls on the ground.

  

  A green flame shot out from the wall opposite the crabscape passage. Fei Rui hammered it from above like a mason swinging down a hammer. Just the force of the wind was enough to dishevel Yu Han’s hair.

  He scrambled to pick up the pearls again, the others jangling in his pocket.

  The flame dodged, but Fei Rui’s second claw was waiting. The two forces clashed, followed by two pained roars.

   Fei Rui cried.

  A beastly growl blared. The flame flickered off, revealing a translucent worm with a segmented body. It growled, fire covering its form again.

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  “It’s the Parasitic Fireworm.” It has to be. Yu Han was sure of it. How did it get into his dreamscape? Was it before the trial mentioned it, or after?

   Fei Rui had taken the chance to project Yu Han’s coveralls and halberd.

  Ideally, Yu Han would have loved to memorycast a single scene where both the objects were present to save on pearls. But he had no way to ‘equip’ objects that appeared within event memories. They also vanished after the event finished replaying. Hopefully, the extra boost of substantiality that came from being memorycast object echoes would give them better resistance against the green flame.

  Under Fei Rui’s protection, Yu Han put on the coveralls. Even with deft hands, it took longer than normal.

  The Parasitic Fireworm had charged thrice more, but was deflected by Fei Rui each time.

  “Thanks, Fei Rui. You’re the best!”

  

  “I’m so sorry. This is my fault,” Yu Han apologised. He stood straight with Mountain Root Stance, ready to attack with a Stone Cutting Chop the moment the Parasitic Fireworm appeared.

  

  Yu Han had only got a glimpse of the worm. He echoed the image in front.

  Fei Rui smashed down on it, hitting the floor so hard that Yu Han was afraid he would smash it open. After all, Fei Rui had vandalised Yu Han’s dreamscape walls many times before the accord was established.

   the crab apologised.

  “No, I should’ve warned you first,” Yu Han said through gritted teeth. It wasn’t friendly fire, but man, did it scare the hell out of him. He echoed the Parasitic Fireworm again.

  It looked as though it were made of glass or gel-like plastic, its segmented body almost transparent except for the faint green vein going from one end to another. It was flat. The hole in one end was bigger, with jagged, shard-like protrusions hooking inside in circular layers. That was probably the mouth. The tail end also had a hole at the tip of what looked like a spike.

  The dreamscape quaked.

  “What’s happening?” Yu Han asked.

   Fei Rui was looking straight at the floor.

  Before the crab could finish speaking, the floor began to ripple.

  

  “To the crabscape!” An ominous feeling gnawed at Yu Han. “Hurry!”

  Fei Rui shrank—he wouldn’t fit through the tunnel otherwise. Yu Han ran forward, kicking against the ground like his life depended on it.

  But his feet sank.

  “What—?”

  

  Yu Han sank into the white dreamscape floor.

  Then, while retaining his momentum, flew up towards a starry sky from the grass-covered ground.

  “What the fuuuu—”

  He reached the peak of his trajectory, flailing his hands and feet.

   Fei Rui had also appeared from the rippling grassy ground. The crab grew to his full size midair and hooked around Yu Han’s waist.

  “Why the hell are there trees on the other side of the dreamscape wall?” Yu Han shouted as Fei Rui crashed through spruce and fir. “Wait, spruce?”

  That was an Earth tree! Yu Han’s world also had spruce-like trees—the locals called them a word that Yu Han translated to spruce in his mind. But it wasn’t.

  These were.

   Fei Rui warned.

  But Yu Han couldn’t help looking around. They were in a forest. Probably on a mountain somewhere. The ground was covered in weeds and plants that kicked Yu Han’s nostalgia into overdrive.

  Far above, there were barely any stars in the sky. Through the canopy, on the horizon, he saw a dome of diffused light.

  Was that a skyglow? Was that… light pollution?

  “I’m… back?” Yu Han pinched his cheeks. It hurt. But it proved nothing. Thanks to his Deep Sleep bloodline art, he couldn’t distinguish dreams from reality using pain. He echoed a memory of Huang Niuniu, of her sneaking him ginseng on the Verdant Blade ship. The mirage refused to take root. This place wasn’t like his dreamscape or the crabscape!

  A cold shiver raced down Yu Han’s spine.

  Where are we?

  He projected the same memory into a pearl. It turned lime-green. A ghost of Huang Niuniu appeared inside. At least memorycasting worked.

   Fei Rui picked him up and jumped. Not a second later, a foot-thick line of green flame scorched the spot they were just standing.

  “Sorry!” Yu Han bit his tongue, using the pain to focus. I’m in a life-or-death battle now. I can worry about returning to Earth later!

  Yu Han could feel pain in the dreamscape. But he didn’t know what would happen if he died here, assuming this forest—which resembled the Taiwanese forests so much it hurt Yu Han’s brain to even think about it—was still his dreamscape.

  What if it wasn’t? What if it was really Earth? What an arrogant thought that would be!

  Yu Han spotted another line of green flame coming their way. This time, he rolled out of the way with Horn-Bearer’s Roll, a dodging technique that was part of the Ox Tail 72 Sweeping Forms.

   Fei Rui shouted.

  A moment later, a barrel-thick green comet hurled towards them.

  Fei Rui grabbed Yu Han and jumped.

  “It’s huge!” Yu Han yelled.

  The worm changed its course midair. This time, Yu Han saw jet-like plumes bursting from its sides, as if using them to change direction.

  “Not good—”

  Fei Rui grabbed a spruce tree, crunching into it with a claw. Then, like Spider-Man, he swivelled left, dodging the worm again.

  “You’re awesome!” Yu Han shouted, the air escaping his lungs as the g-force-like momentum threatened to knock him out.

  Fei Rui laughed!

  

  “I have no clue,” Yu Han replied. “But we have to kill it!”

  That was his trial.

  They said trials were supposed to be easier! Yu Han cursed. This was harder than his tribulation! If not for Fei Rui, he’d be dead already. That worm was way above his level!

  The cat-and-mouse game continued between Fei Rui, who carried Yu Han, and the worm.

  After a while, Yu Han had determined three patterns.

  The worm would shoot a flamethrower, but while shooting, it had to remain still. As it did so, the flame on its body would go out.

  It could burrow into the ground and then lunge forward, tackling with massive force and a flame-covered body.

  While in midair, it could change directions once, and only once. At the end of its lunge, it could directly burrow into the ground.

  Sometimes, Fei Rui would try to clash with the Parasitic Fireworm while Yu Han hid behind him. The worm would do its single manoeuvre and go for Yu Han. But I can dodge!

  Yu Han had a plan.

  Fire was weak to water. And what were worms weak to? Salt.

  And Yu Han had an ocean’s worth of salt in his memories.