Seeking Truth with a Sword-Chapter 612 - 523: Sacrifice

Ji Xingwang looked at the "married" couple lying dead, his back soaked with cold sweat.

The perfect illusions created by the Dream Eater were so real that even Nightmares believed them to be true.

What about himself, then? Was he also a Nightmare? Was the body beneath his skin made of wax oil?

The same doubt surfaced in Li Ang’s mind.

He closed his eyes and thought hard for a while, deciding to summon Mo Si and create a pocket watch at his chest.

Taking out the pocket watch, he set the hands to midnight and began to keep time.

Then, he stood on the table, surveyed the chaotic crowd, and shouted, "Everyone, listen to me! I have a way to escape!" 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

The whole hall fell silent, all eyes turned towards him.

"Who is he?"

"Who is this person?"

Since Yu Country’s newspapers had never published Li Ang’s portrait, the common people in the inn’s hall did not know Li Ang’s identity—they merely sensed from the Lu Li Academy disciples’ attitudes towards him that he was a mysterious figure.

"Li..."

Ji Xingwang was about to reveal Li Ang’s identity but then thought it would cause unnecessary uproar and waste time, so he changed his approach. "Sir, what plan do you have?"

Li Ang said, "To awaken, the Dream Eater needs to feed on our Qi Sea and Life Force. It then takes a small part from the extracted Qi Sea and Life Force to create Nightmares. Nightmares serve as its means to feed, as well as constraints making us hesitant to act. However, there is a problem: it cannot create energy out of nothing. Or rather, it will not create Nightmares at a loss."

Jin Wusuan’s guards, who had already drawn their weapons, ready to confront each other for survival, now couldn’t help but frown upon hearing Li Ang’s words and asked, "What do you mean?"

"He means that the energy sustaining the Nightmares comes from the host itself," Ji Linglang’s eyes lit up as she said, "And not from the Dream Eater."

"Exactly." Li Ang nodded. "Consider Spiritual Energy as a stream; it always flows from high to low. The total Spiritual Energy of the host must be higher than that of the Nightmare. The Dream Eater cannot afford a losing deal; a cultivator in the Body Concealing Realm could only produce a Nightmare of a ’lower rank’ than himself, not one from the Candle Cloud Realm. That’s rule one."

He slowly raised a finger and continued, "Based on this rule, among all of us, the one who definitely can’t be a Nightmare is Lu Qingya."

As the dean of Lu Li Academy, one of the most powerful Candle Cloud Mages in Yu Country and indeed the world, Lu Qingya’s ’energy level’ is higher than anyone present here. Therefore, he cannot be a Nightmare.

"As for rule two," Li Ang said gravely, "Only those closely related can become Nightmares."

"What kind of rule is that?" One of Jin Wusuan’s guards squinted, saying impatiently, "Isn’t that obvious?"

Li Ang calmly said, "It is quite obvious, but have you ever thought about why the Dream Eater set it up this way?"

The guard answered without thinking, "If they are not close, the Nightmare can’t effectively restrain..." Suddenly, he thought of something and frowned.

Li Ang took a deep breath and said, "If the Nightmare is a stranger whom the host has only met once and with whom the host has no close relationship, then for a host wanting to survive, killing the Nightmare would be inconsequential. The Dream Eater wants to use the Nightmares to hold the hosts back as much as possible and keep the hosts alive, allowing it to continuously extract Spiritual Power and Life Force to eventually awaken."

After speaking, Li Ang paused for a moment and glanced down at his pocket watch. The second hand and the minute hand of the pocket watch were still moving steadily.

"Based on the above two rules, we can deduce two ways to break the deadlock." Li Ang held the pocket watch in his hand and said gravely, "First, according to social relationships and the amount of Spiritual Energy, divide everyone into different groups. In each group, the person least likely to be a Nightmare should kill the others one by one. Annihilate the Nightmares. This would prevent the Dream Eater from awakening."

"What, what?"

Everyone was shocked and incredulous, doubting what they had just heard. Song Shaoyuan stepped forward, protecting his wife and child, and said through clenched teeth, "Risheng, this is no time for jokes..."

"Brother Song, I am not joking." Li Ang said calmly, "From a utilitarian perspective, this is already the option that ensures the highest survival rate for everyone. The effect of the Dream Eater draining Life Force can easily be seen from everyone’s appearance. Keep killing until the aging stops. With some luck, not all individuals in a social group need to be killed; two to five people may survive in each group. The Ghost Realm created by the Dream Eater cannot be maintained forever; once the time limit is up, the survivors will naturally escape."

Song Shaoyuan’s facial muscles twitched continuously. He knew in his heart that Li Ang was right, but how could he possibly bring himself to do it?

"COUGH, COUGH," Jin Wusuan, who was sitting in a chair, coughed for a while and said hoarsely, "You mentioned there are two ways to break the deadlock. This is the first; what about the second?"

"The second," Li Ang turned his head toward the direction of Lu Li Academy and said calmly, "is to kill Lu Qingya."

?!

Ji Xingwang exclaimed angrily, "Sir, don’t spout nonsense! You just said that the Headmaster, of all people present, absolutely cannot be a Nightmare."

"Indeed, but have you considered why the Dream Eater chose Yuelai Inn?" Li Ang spoke quickly, "Even a sleeping Dream Eater can manipulate memories and alter reality. To awaken it, sacrificing tens of thousands of people might not be enough. Either it needs to drain the Life Force of ten thousand or even a hundred thousand people, or absorb an entire Candle Cloud Cultivator."

Li Ang’s eyes, reflected in the light of the talisman lamp, were cold and calm. "In other words, the main target of the Dream Eater is Lu Qingya. The rest are just incidental."

"..."

The expressions of the Lu Li Academy members changed repeatedly. They held Lu Qingya in high esteem and could never bring themselves to turn against their Headmaster, no matter what. If it weren’t for Li Ang’s high status and significant contributions to Yu Country, they would probably have rushed forward and killed him on the spot for sowing discord and speaking so outrageously.

"Bad man!" Lu Qingya’s young son indignantly picked up a small stone from the ground and threw it at Li Ang. "You can’t hurt my dad."

The child lacked strength, and the stone lost momentum halfway through the air, failing to hit Li Ang, who remained motionless and expressionless.

"Qiu Bai, stop." Lu Qingya raised his hand to halt his young son’s actions. Tired, he sighed deeply and looked at Li Ang earnestly. "If I die, will the Ghost Realm stop?"

"Perhaps." Li Ang glanced again at the hands of his pocket watch and said calmly, "The Dream Eater wants to devour you. Once you die, even if the rest are drained to the point of becoming mummified, it won’t awaken the Dream Eater."