Chapter 435 - 410: The Demon Race’s Assassination

The Demon Race gathered as one to ambush and kill Song Ciwan!

The Big White Goose instantly straightened up, raised its head, and let out an angry, loud honk. HONK! HONK! HONK!

But Song Ciwan just smiled. "Thank you for the warning, Daoist friend," she said. "I’ll be careful. The rabbit is ready. If you don’t mind meat, why not come have a taste?"

As she spoke, she lifted the plump rabbit from the fire spit. With a turn of her palm, she produced three plates and a carving knife.

The blade was as bright as moonlight. With a flick of her wrist, slices of rabbit meat fluttered down like snowflakes onto the three plates.

The moon-bright blade danced among the fluttering slices, and for a moment, one couldn’t tell which was brighter: the snow falling from the sky or the glint of her knife.

The three plates of rabbit meat were now neatly arranged. Song Ciwan sprinkled them with fine salt and various spices. She passed her hand over the slices, and a subtle wisp of fire swept across them. The heat fused the salt and spices to the meat, which instantly let out a sharp SIZZLE.

At that moment, an irresistibly savory aroma burst forth.

The Dream Demon stood dazed under the tree and swallowed hard. The Big White Goose craned its long neck, head extended in anticipation.

Song Ciwan raised her hand and gestured. One of the plates of rabbit meat lifted into the air and shot over to the Dream Demon.

The Dream Demon quickly reached out to catch it, eagerly opening her mouth.

As she did, the corners of her mouth split wide, stretching all the way to her ears!

The once coolly beautiful Dream Demon now revealed a mouth full of sharp, white fangs. She stuffed everything—rabbit meat and plate alike—straight into her maw!

Witnessing this, the Big White Goose nearly forgot about the rabbit meat in front of it. It turned its head, beak agape, and stared dumbly at the Dream Demon.

The Dream Demon chewed and chewed, CRUNCH, CRUNCH, grinding the plate and meat to bits. All the while, a strange expression, a mixture of rapture and a frown, crossed her face.

The Big White Goose: ...

Song Ciwan patted the goose’s back. The Big White Goose quickly lowered its head and opened its beak, gobbling up all the rabbit meat on its plate with noisy chomps.

It was genuinely afraid that the Dream Demon, in her fervor, would turn around and devour its plate and meat, too.

After she finished, the Dream Demon frowned. "Food from the Mortal World is both delicious and not delicious. I can’t understand you Humans."

The Big White Goose: ...

Before Song Ciwan could reply, the Dream Demon continued, "Anyway, there are demons who want to kill you. If they kill you and retrieve Gu Peng’s corpse, they can go to the Supreme Profound Celestial Demon Saint Palace and receive a drop of Demon Saint Essence Blood. Demon Saint Essence Blood... what bloodline demon in the world wouldn’t want that?"

Song Ciwan asked, "Do you want it too, Daoist friend?"

The Dream Demon blinked. "I don’t. I’m not of a bloodline heritage; I am a demon born of illusions and dreams! I exist in the dreams of the living, and in your dreams, too. Didn’t you know?"

At this, she covered her mouth with her hand, let out a soft laugh, and tilted her head.

Beneath the lightly falling snow, her figure began to fade, as if about to dissolve into nothingness.

Before she vanished completely, Song Ciwan called out to her, "Daoist friend, food in the Mortal World doesn’t include the plate. Plates aren’t for eating. You must remember that. Don’t eat plates anymore."

As she spoke, she flicked a finger. The third plate of rabbit meat, still in front of her, also flew up and shot toward the Dream Demon.

The Dream Demon’s form was half-corporeal, half-ethereal, existing somewhere between reality and illusion, no longer a solid entity in the Mortal World. The plate and meat, however, were solid. They shouldn’t have been able to touch her.

Yet, by some method Song Ciwan employed, the plate of meat crossed the boundary between the real and the illusory, falling in a straight line right into the Dream Demon’s hand.

The Dream Demon stared, her hand outstretched, and caught the plate.

Song Ciwan smiled. "Daoist friend, here’s another plate of rabbit meat as a gift. Try to eat it properly this time."

The Dream Demon gasped, a blush blooming on her snow-white skin. She covered the plate with her sleeve, spun around, and vanished without a trace.

The Dream Demon was gone, yet it was as if she were still there.

She came like a dream and left like a dream. In her wake, she left an emptiness in one’s heart, an inexpressible melancholy.

The Big White Goose suddenly threw its head back and cried out. HONK! HONK! HONK!

Song Ciwan gently patted it. "Big White, are you worried we were actually in a dream just now?"

The Big White Goose let out a series of affirmative honks. HONK! HONK! HONK!

Somehow, the Big White Goose felt it could no longer tell dream from reality, and it was terrified.

Song Ciwan said, "Don’t doubt. Believe in yourself. This is reality."

She asked, "Do you know why the Dream Demon can’t enter my dreams?"

The Big White Goose squawked, tilting its head up as if to ask why. GACK! GACK!

Song Ciwan said, "Because my will is firm enough. A sage once said that life has three stages. In the first, you see mountains as mountains and water as water. In the second, you see mountains not as mountains and water not as water. In the third, you see mountains once again as mountains and water once again as water..."

The Big White Goose tilted its head, looking as if it only half-understood.

Song Ciwan smiled. "I am past the stage of self-doubt. I believe in myself, unwavering, at all times. The Dream Demon cannot enter my dreams because her dream abilities have no purchase on me."

This, then, was one of the reasons the Dream Demon had been so friendly and unaggressive when she appeared before Song Ciwan!

Perhaps the Dream Demon truly wasn’t interested in the reward from the Demon Saint Palace. But if Song Ciwan had possessed even a crack in her state of mind, the demon could have pulled her into a dream with ease. Do you think she wouldn’t have attacked then?

This wasn’t to say Song Ciwan was flawless, but rather that the Dream Demon wasn’t yet strong enough to break through the barriers of her mind.

As they spoke, Song Ciwan once again pointed a finger forward.

With that single gesture, hazy ripples seemed to spread through the void. The world, which had seemed so real just a moment ago, now appeared as if covered by a thin veil.

Song Ciwan chuckled. "A mere trick of obscuring the void. How could that possibly stop me? Break!"

The word "Break" had barely left her lips when the character for "Void" shot from her fingertip in a fleeting flash.

Song Ciwan hadn’t just gained insight into the Path of Time; in fact, it was the Path of Space that she had comprehended even earlier!

The "Void" character shot out instantly, faster than Liuguang.

No, to be more precise, the "Void" character transcended the very framework of speed. Its flight was a leap, or perhaps merely a concept.

The very moment the sound of Song Ciwan’s "Break" faded, a faint POP was heard from the void.

The veil-like mist shattered!

The Big White Goose craned its neck, eyes wide, and in that instant felt as if a fog had lifted from both its sight and its mind.

The world before it was clearly the same world as before, and yet, it seemed different.

The greatest difference was this: at the exact moment the veil shattered, a streak of black light—like a fissure in the fabric of the world—came cleaving straight at Song Ciwan.

A demon.

An assassination!

The Big White Goose let out a piercing HONK!