Rescue

Aise took a deep breath.

He was truly too weak.

So weak that this guy actually thought he had a way to kill him.

Aise slowly stood up from the sofa, his entire figure swaying as if about to collapse, yet an suffocating pressure still radiated uncontrollably from him, causing the very air in the dream to stagnate.

Though his current state was pitiful—chased and beaten by Xia Lun earlier without even a chance to fight back, and now like a flickering candle in the wind, clinging to his last breath—his opponent was Xia Lun, after all.

Ordinary people wouldn’t even have the opportunity to cross blows with Xia Lun; they would be instantly annihilated.

Those who could exchange a few moves with Xia Lun were already demon lords on the level of this world.

“Mian... even if I stand here without moving a muscle, you have no way to kill me.” Aise’s gaze turned icy as he looked at the young man before him, who appeared to be about the same age as when Aise himself had died. His tone carried a weary condescension.

He actually wanted to kill him?

What did he think he was? There was only one person in this world capable of killing him—Xia Lun.

Even Aina—Aise didn’t want to die at her hands; that would be far too boring. Only dying at Xia Lun’s hands would be dramatic enough to satisfy him. Only Xia Lun, his biological father, was worthy of being the one to strike the final note of his life.

As for the one before him...

Aise smirked darkly.

With a raise of his hand, a thin, sharp ice spear shot toward Mian’s thigh.

He didn’t plan to kill the kid just yet. If the boy died, his father would immediately come to execute him.

But making him suffer a bit... Aise had no objection to that.

He had been avoiding this until now, fearing it might stir his killing urge. But now, he couldn’t be bothered to worry about it anymore.

This chatterbox had irritated him.

“Clang—”

A faint trace of surprise flickered in Aise’s blood-red eyes. His ice spear had been deflected by the dagger in Mian’s hand.

Given Mian’s strength, he should not have been able to do that.

Mian’s arm trembled, but he still held the blade firmly, its tip aimed at Aise. His voice quivered: “This... is my dream.”

Though he couldn’t yet fully control this dreamscape, he seemed able to sense what was about to happen. Just before the attack struck, he had foreseen the trajectory and landing point of the ice spear.

“Hah, a pointless struggle.”

Aise’s patience rapidly wore thin. His eyes froze over completely. Without warning, countless ice spears shimmering with cold light materialized above their heads, dense as a forest of suspended blades, and in the next instant, they rained down upon Mian.

This kind of indiscriminate saturation attack—even if Mian could foresee it, he would have no way to dodge.

Mian took a deep breath. Facing this deathly crisis, he instead fell into a strange calm.

Then, as if resigned to his fate, he closed his eyes and stood still, seemingly ready to accept his end.

A bizarre scene unfolded—those sharp ice spears, capable of piercing steel, passed right through Mian’s body upon contact, as if he were nothing more than a phantom bubble, leaving not a single scratch on him.

Then, Mian’s form began to blur, finally vanishing completely like dissipating mist.

“Tch... clever brat.” Aise snorted coldly, immediately understanding what had happened.

Mian knew he was dreaming now... so obviously, by simply exiting the dream, the dream’s attacks couldn’t harm him.

In short, Mian had woken himself up just now.

By now, after coming here so many times, Mian had figured out how to leave.

A moment later, Mian’s figure re-solidified in the space, and he shuddered, as if waking—while in reality, he had fallen asleep once more.

“You actually dare to come back?” Aise felt a flicker of genuine surprise, then laughed in anger. “You might have some talent in the spiritual realm, but do you really think, with such shallow understanding, that you can oppose me here?”

His current state was absolutely terrible. Any movement aggravated the wound on his chest, causing excruciating pain. That was why he was only using basic magic.

The last of his reserves was kept for his duel with Xia Lun, so naturally, he wouldn’t waste it here.

Aise had no desire to expend much energy on this kid. He was actually hoping the boy would leave quickly so he could catch his breath and recover a little.

Mian did not answer. He only gripped his dagger tighter, his knuckles whitening from the force. His gaze locked onto Aise like a hawk, searching for even the slightest opening.

Aise’s expression slowly turned serious.

He could also sense the threat that dagger posed to him—a faint yet direct, source-level trace of danger... If he were struck by it, it might truly snuff out his last thread of life.

There was no way Mian was the dagger’s true owner.

His mother must really hate him, huh...

No, he was probably overthinking it. Knowing his mother’s nature, that dagger was likely meant for Mian to kill himself.

Either way, the goal was the same—to end his life.

Aise shook his head. His mind was in chaos. The unrelenting agony he was suffering left him incapable of thinking about anything else.

Right now...

He would just deal with this pest.

A swarm of ice spears materialized once more, gleaming with fatal coldness, and shot toward Mian like a sudden storm.

But this time, Mian did not leave the dream to evade the assault.

“Ora!”

A vigorous battle cry rang out, and then a mountain-like, sturdy figure blocked the path before Mian, radiating a reassuring solidity.

Two fists swung out in quick succession, a gale of continuous punches roaring forth like an invisible wall, shattering the falling ice spears into dust and crystals.

The newcomer was actually Musen.

When Mian left the dream and woke up earlier, he hadn’t just been idle.

Musen, as a vessel spirit, was itself a spiritual entity, and so could naturally be brought along by Mian into the dream.

“Poor child...”

The bald priest’s entire body gleamed with a metallic sheen, bulging muscles swelling. After neutralizing the attack for Mian, he slowly crouched, then launched himself like a shot from a cannon, charging at Aise with irresistible momentum.

Aise could almost see the man’s fist growing larger and larger.

A thick wall of ice instantly formed before him, attempting to block the charge. But Musen did not dodge. Using his sinewy, steel-like shoulders, he crashed headlong into it.

Boom—

The ice wall shattered on impact, scattering chunks of ice in all directions.

In the next moment, Musen’s fist landed squarely on Aise’s face.

Bang—

Aise was knocked backward like a broken kite.