Chapter 309

Her sword was fending off a mindless attack from a sand demon, while wrapped around her waist—

Was a demon vine, completely blended with the dark demonic energy, making it nearly impossible to detect.

Ning Ning’s mind exploded with a barrage of thoughts.

Why was this tentacle demon grabbing her?

Were these demons attacking indiscriminately?

Why wasn’t it following the script?

She was just an innocent and vicious female supporting character?

Before she could finish complaining in her head, the vine tightened and coiled forcefully.

The girl’s figure and the vine fell together.

At the same time, the ground surged with yellow sand, forming a swirling vortex not far away that quickly swallowed Ning Ning, leaving no trace of her behind.

Tian Xianzi shouted in alarm, “Ning Ning—hey! Pei Ji! Why are you jumping in?!”

He was too busy to do anything else, so he could only grit his teeth and glance at He Zhizhou: “Take care of Elder Wen and Junior Brother Lin; I’ll bring them back!”

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Ning Ning felt like she was dreaming.

Everything in the dream was incredibly blurry, with light and shadow flashing back and forth, forming countless ever-changing silhouettes.

She saw majestic mountains spreading like ink paintings, long streets lit brightly by lanterns, and sword strikes flying across the sky.

The scenes flickered, then suddenly stopped, and the scattered images coalesced into the slender figure of a person.

Around her was an endless void, as if the world had shrunk to only her and that person.

Whew, that was close.

She almost thought she had died without realizing it and was now seeing her life flash before her eyes.

It wasn’t until she saw this figure that she realized she was dreaming.

Because she had never seen this person before.

It was a man—or rather, a young boy.

Ning Ning stood there quietly, looking at him, and an out-of-place thought popped into her head: It’s a shame this isn’t Pei Ji. If she saw him in her dream, she might be a bit bolder than usual.

As she let her thoughts run wild, she curiously stepped forward.

The boy was made of mist, without a solid body, merely an intangible figure.

He wore a clean, white robe, but his face was like a scrambled puzzle—his features were blurred, completely unrecognizable.

Ning Ning looked him over from head to toe and tried speaking to him in the dream: “Uh… hello?”

The figure didn’t respond, like a lifeless corpse or a puppet.

To be honest, it was kind of creepy.

Ning Ning wasn’t used to such an eerie and silent atmosphere.

She focused on the mosaic of a face and was about to reach out to touch him when, suddenly, the figure trembled.

The sudden movement startled her, and she instinctively took a step back, but the figure didn’t move any further.

The only change was that blood had begun to spread from his chest.

The boy’s white robe was stained with bright red blood, spilling out like a tide, making it look all the more jarring and terrifying.

For some reason, though she couldn’t see his face, Ning Ning had the strange feeling that this person was staring at her.

Even though she had never met him before, she suddenly felt her chest tighten.

Her heart started pounding violently, each beat heavy like a boulder, leaving her a bit dazed.

All demons and ghosts were paper tigers.

Ning Ning reassured herself, trying to calm down.

Drawing on years of reading cultivation novels, she filled her head with stories that matched this fantasy world.

Like soul possession, reincarnation, or perhaps lost memories and forgotten people.

But the more she thought about it, the more melodramatic it seemed, giving her goosebumps.

She’d rather believe this guy was an alien from the M79 Nebula, communicating with her on a deeper level through brainwaves or subconscious signals.

The silence around her was suffocating, like death.

Ning Ning poked the boy’s shoulder, but her finger passed through him like a white mist.

She was about to say something else, but before she could open her mouth, another voice—one she had never heard before—sounded in her ear, from a woman.

“Wake up.”

The voice dragged her out of the muddled dream, and Ning Ning abruptly opened her eyes.

Great, her body hurt like it had been torn apart.

This definitely wasn’t a dream.

Too many strange things had happened since they entered the Tianhe.

She forced herself to sit up, looking around while trying to remember what had happened before she blacked out.

They had been ambushed by the demon clan’s demon-luring incense, and in the chaos, she had been grabbed by a demon vine and pulled into a vortex.

To escape its grip, she had drawn her sword and cut the vine.

Then what happened?

Ningning frowned as she recalled. The vortex had been so deep that she couldn’t see anything in the darkness.

She had lost her footing and kept falling.

She had intended to stabilize herself using her sword, but then another, stronger force engulfed her, and she lost consciousness.

…Was it the power of this place?

Her heart stirred as she looked up.

All she could see was an immaculate white world, completely different from the mist-covered desert she remembered.

It was, however, very similar to the dream she had just experienced.

But unlike the dream, the boy with the blurred face was nowhere to be found.

All that floated in front of Ning Ning was a thick cloud of white mist.

She couldn’t figure out what was going on.

Staring blankly at the white mist, she hesitated to reach out, but before she could touch it, a woman’s voice emerged from the mist, light and soft, as if laughing: “You’ve come again.”

…Again?

Had she been here before?

Ning Ning’s head was a mess. Ignoring the pain, she asked, “Who are you?”

At this, the air around her suddenly stilled.

The scattered white mist froze, and with a hint of confusion, the voice responded, “You don’t remember me? For so many years… every time you’ve come here, you’ve never forgotten.”

It sounded like she was talking to herself, her voice growing softer, tinged with disbelief: “How could you forget me, just like the others? You’re supposed to be different… you’re the only one who’s different.”

Everything that Ning Ning had seen and heard today was far beyond her understanding.

Her head had never been so filled with countless questions.

What was this place? Who was this woman? Why did she act like they knew each other?

And who was that boy who appeared out of nowhere in her dream?

Ning Ning’s head throbbed painfully.

“So pitiful.”

The white mist gathered, forming into the shape of a woman, her face still unclear.

As she floated closer, her features slowly began to take shape.

A cold chill spread through Ning Ning’s body, and the woman’s hands gently cupped her cheeks.

She continued speaking to herself, her empty eyes staring unblinkingly at Ning Ning, her voice as ethereal as smoke.

“The aura of death around you is still so strong… If you’ve forgotten me, then do you at least remember—”

Ning Ning couldn’t understand what she meant, but in the next moment, she froze.

The woman whispered softly, as if sighing, every word echoing clearly in her ears:

“That soon… you will die?”