A cold wind brushed past the straw curtains of the ancestral hall, causing them to sway under the flickering moonlight.
At the rear entrance of the hall, Little Li Mo tilted his head up, gazing at Ying Bing, whose dark flowing immortal robes and hair fluttered gently in the breeze. Her eyes gleamed with an unfathomable depth, making her seem like a celestial maiden who had just descended from the bright moon.
Why had the ice block suddenly awakened?
But at least she was awake now... Just as Little Li Mo was about to sigh in relief, he suddenly sensed something amiss.
Small things could be quite adorable...
Had she truly just woken up?
Did she remember what had happened before?
At this moment, the pure radiance of the moon surged, bathing the ancestral hall in a silvery glow as bright as daylight. Wherever the moonlight touched, the ferocious tomb guardian beasts froze in place, their menacing forms solidified.
Even the Nian beast was no exception, transformed into a lifelike silver statue—though its eyes could still move, the sinister glint within them had turned to terror.
Yet Ying Bing did not spare it a glance, instead turning her gaze elsewhere.
"Bing'er..."
Beside the statue of their ancestors, Ying Xuliang and Ying's mother stood in a daze, staring at the graceful silhouette before them.
The young girl from the painting and their daughter's small figure seemed to merge in this moment, blurring the lines between reality and dream.
A mix of emotions flickered across the couple's faces—complexity, then acceptance, and finally relief.
"So we... are already dead. This is just a dream..."
"Our daughter has grown up healthy and strong. Hahaha, good, very good... That's enough for us."
As their voices faded, silver light began to emanate from their bodies, just like the other members of the Ying family. Their forms seemed to dissolve into the moonlight, vanishing without a trace.
Reality was the end of dreams.
They were about to fade away along with the dream.
"You—you were awake all along?!"
"Only ten years, and you've reached such heights! You—!"
The silver radiance encasing the black Nian beast cracked as its head broke free, its voice trembling with disbelief.
Huh?
Li Mo leaned back slightly, a small question mark popping up above his head.
Ten years?
He had keenly caught those two words.
This Nian beast knew Ying Bing was dreaming—and that this was her ten years later?
How could a calamity beast existing within a dream say such things?
Unless...
A bolt of realization struck Li Mo. He recalled Zou Yongfeng mentioning that he had once seen a shadowy figure in the Ying family's old residence.
Had this Nian beast come from the outside world?!
So Yongfeng hadn't been mistaken that day!
This Nian beast, like himself, was an entity capable of slipping into others' dreams through special means. No wonder its first reaction upon seeing him had been shock—it clearly hadn't expected him to appear here!
The fact that the Nian beast wasn't dissipating along with the dream was the best evidence!
"Crack—"
Suddenly, the silver radiance encasing the Nian beast shattered, exploding into a shower of glittering fragments.
It realized that the figure before it was no longer the little girl from ten years ago—nor was she merely her future self.
The power to command the moon's essence, even within a dream, was far beyond what someone in the Observation Divine Realm could possess. Otherwise, even in another's dream, it wouldn't have been so helpless.
Li Mo watched as the black Nian beast transformed into a gust of dark wind, retreating toward the void of the dream.
"Hum—"
A sword's hum resonated.
From the moon's radiance, a blade emerged—swifter than the Nian beast's escape.
To Li Mo, its speed seemed almost absurd.
It was as if the sword had appeared and struck in the same instant, as though this event had already happened long ago.
A single slash, yet it felt like a thousand strikes had landed simultaneously.
This sword strike was like a phantom slipping through the cracks of time.
"Ahhh—!!"
The Nian beast let out a bloodcurdling scream as black mist roiled around it. The sword, resembling a shadow cast by the moon, pierced straight through its body.
"You were searching for me, but I was searching for you as well."
Accompanied by the young woman's voice, Li Mo saw the sword's brilliance bloom amidst the black fog—
Exquisite, yet razor-sharp.
"How could I perish in a mere dream?!"
The black Nian beast's desperate roar echoed through the ancestral hall.
Gashes split open across its body, oozing wisps of black miasma. Yet when met with the sword's moonlight-infused edge, they were obliterated without resistance.
......
Outside.
In reality.
The moon, previously obscured by clouds on this dark and windy night, finally emerged, casting its glow over the ruins of the Ying family's old residence and the dilapidated ancestral hall.
A massive shadowy figure lay sprawled in the center of the hall—identical to the black Nian beast from the dream, though not as large.
"It hurts... It hurts so much..."
"Let me out... Let me out!"
The Nian beast writhed in agony, crashing into the crumbling walls around it.
But no matter how violently it struggled, it couldn't wake from the dream.
Gaping wounds began to appear across its body, spewing thick black miasma. Like a deflating balloon, its form rapidly shrank, growing smaller and smaller.
Soon, it was no larger than a calf, motionless at last.
Black blood pooled across the ground.
......
Inside the ancestral hall.
The once-ferocious black Nian beast now lay fallen, swallowed by the silver moonlight before vanishing entirely.
With the beast and the tomb guardians gone, the dream grew eerily silent.
"Dead?"
Li Mo had a feeling this thing hadn't just died in the dream—its fate in reality was likely no better.
Hmm?
He suddenly realized that his perspective when looking at Ying Bing was no longer an upward gaze. He had returned to his original height.
Li Mo understood.
This dream was becoming more and more "real."
Thus, he was no longer a child but had reverted to his teenage form.
The lively New Year's scene from earlier had vanished, along with the Ying family members. The surroundings blurred and collapsed, leaving only Ying Xuliang and Ying's mother, lingering unwillingly.
Yet the ones truly reluctant to leave were not them, but...
"Ice block..."
Li Mo turned to Ying Bing and noticed her face had grown paler.
Her mastery over the moon's essence was tied to the flow of time.
Now, she was the one sustaining the dream, slowing its inevitable collapse into reality.
"Father... Mother..."
The couple gazed at their grown daughter and the young man from the Li family. Though countless words swirled in their eyes, they only smiled.
"My child, the moon must set, and the sun will rise again. No matter how beautiful the dream, one must wake eventually."
"As long as it was a good dream, that's enough... That's enough..."
Their forms dissolved into specks of silver light, fading into nothingness, their faces growing indistinct.
Yet Li Mo could swear that Uncle Ying and Auntie were looking straight at him.
"Thank you... for coming into Bing'er's dream..."
......
Over a decade ago, on an ordinary day.
The sun rose as usual, illuminating the moment of awakening in the Ying family courtyard.
In the clan, some members were practicing their morning exercises in the square before the ancestral hall, while others crouched on the threshold, slurping noodles, greeting the rising sun and the new day.
Sunlight streamed through the window onto the bed in the side chamber, and Ying Xuliang awoke groggily. Gazing at the dawn outside, he murmured,
"My dear, I think I had a very long dream..."
"I dreamed of Bing feeding me dumplings, of her growing up, and then... of her standing with some boy—seemed like... that Li family's kid?"
"I... I did too."
Ying's mother had also woken up, wiping the corners of her eyes as she realized she had been crying at some point.
"You dreamed it too?"
"Mhm..."
"Haha, seems like we’re truly of one mind, even in dreams," Ying Xuliang laughed heartily.
"You fool..." Ying's mother was teased out of her tears and shot him a playful glare.
"My dear, how about we make some dumplings today and take them to Brother Li’s place? Let’s see if his boy is as clever and punchable as he was in the dream."
"I’ll go ask Bing if she’s willing to come along."