Originally, Zhou Xuan planned to flash the Bone Elder Association Bone Token to intimidate the City God faction and make them retreat,
but now that it’s Lu Yusheng, there’s no need to flash the token.
"Weren’t you planning to kill me? My well happens to need a sacrifice."
Zhou Xuan’s murderous intent had peaked.
However, he wasn’t reckless. After performing divination and inviting the Nuo God to possess him, he became unafraid of Lu Yusheng’s five incense sticks. Yet, the magic artifacts on Lu Yusheng needed to be dismantled, one by one!
Zhou Xuan instructed the Liao Ghost: "In the woods outside, there are people from the kidnappers! Release the papermen."
He intended to use the Liao Ghost to stall Lu Yusheng and force out his artifacts.
Suddenly, four white papermen carrying scissors rushed toward Lu Yusheng.
As for the sole remaining enemy inside—the Jingtang Luo—he wasn’t a threat anymore.
Luo Yunzhou had already been dismantled by Lv Mingkun to the point of being half a corpse. Zhou Xuan struck the gavel, generating a dream that enveloped Luo Jingtang. The rest was left to Fifth Senior Brother.
Zhou Xuan focused entirely on using perception to locate the magic artifacts on Lu Yusheng.
Perception was the nemesis of magic artifacts, and Zhou Xuan possessed the most immense perception. Enhanced by the Red Moon Golden Edge within the Divine Revelation Secret Realm, his perception was fully unleashed yet still undetectable by Lu Yusheng.
Facing the papermen attack, Lu Yusheng remained calm. He employed Divine Armor to propel his movements while shooting out ink lines toward the house again.
The City God faction’s technique using three incense sticks: "Kui Star Ink Line."
The ink line shot toward Lin Xia.
Lin Xia’s perception wasn’t as sharp as Zhou Xuan’s and couldn’t dodge it.
Fortunately, Zhou Xuan was close to Luo Yunzhou’s fragmented corpse. He quickly grabbed the body and tossed it in front of Lin Xia to block the ink line.
The ink line came alive, weaving back and forth through Luo Yunzhou’s corpse. Once the ink line retracted, the body was reduced to numerous pieces strewn across the ground.
Taking advantage of this moment, Zhou Xuan’s perception had already clearly identified the seven magic artifacts beneath Lu Yusheng’s black robe, one of which should be designed to counter storytellers.
When a storyteller rises through the ranks, their Dream Creation Technique becomes a nightmare for many factions.
Therefore, those factions often prepare methods to counter storytellers. Each method varies in effectiveness.
Zhou Xuan locked his perception onto Lu Yusheng, then struck the gavel.
Lu Yusheng staggered, dragged into a dream. A mirror-like artifact flew out automatically from beneath his black robe.
The mirror was made of antique bronze, with Taoist talismanic text engraved on its back. The mirror’s surface radiated golden light.
Lu Yusheng’s gaze became lucid again.
Yun Ziliang tilted his head, threw a melon seed outside, and watched the scene unfold. Seeing the mirror, he remarked to Zhou Xuan,
"Xiao Zhou, that mirror is called the Nightmare Ancient Mirror. It’s a Taoist artifact. The front of the mirror can break a storyteller’s dream, while chanting the talismanic text on the back creates nightmares, pulling people into a dream."
"Don’t mess up that thing; it’s worth a fortune."
No matter how valuable, if I don’t smash it, how can I generate dreams?
Besides, all it’s good for is "dream generation" and "dream-breaking."
Dream generation—I’m a storyteller; I don’t need it.
Dream-breaking? Break my own dreams?
It’s useless; better to destroy it!
Just as Zhou Xuan was about to destroy the mirror with perception, the Blood Well within the Red Moon of Divine Revelation surged, whipping up towering waves of blood.
Faced with the sudden change from the Blood Well, Zhou Xuan first made a sarcastic comment, then immediately understood the underlying intent. His rapport with the Blood Well was growing deeper.
As the Blood Well emerged, he instinctively grasped its tactics.
He removed his mask and completed another "Sukuna Hand" tattoo to maintain the level of four incense sticks. Then he put on Bi Fang’s mask and leapt through the window, swaggering toward Lu Yusheng.
Lu Yusheng had already seen through Zhou Xuan’s storyteller status using the Eye of Insight. He deduced Zhou Xuan must possess four incense sticks; otherwise, Luo Yunzhou wouldn’t have been trapped in the dream.
But he wasn’t afraid—
He had the Nightmare Ancient Mirror.
Lu Yusheng carried the mirror on his shoulder and clapped his hands twice, mocking Zhou Xuan: "You’ve got guts, but not much brains. If you had stayed upstairs with backup, I might’ve struggled to kill you. But since you dared to come down, you’re simply courting death."
Zhou Xuan fully embraced his "courting death" mindset and yelled at the Liao Ghosts: "All of you stay upstairs; I’ll use this City God’s Zhi Jia Master as practice."
The Liao Ghost disciples had planned to jump down and assist Zhou Xuan, but after hearing this, they hesitated, unsure whether to act.
"Listen to the benefactor," Lin Xia suggested after some thought. "The benefactor is capable. If he tells us to stay upstairs, then we should stay upstairs."
"None of you, including the Liao Ghost, are walking out of East Market Street alive today,"
Lu Yusheng said mockingly to Zhou Xuan, gazing at the window. "Our City God’s four incense stick ability, called ’Bone Peeling Soul Hooking,’ can strip your soul right out of your body. The fifth incense stick ability, ’Soul Seeking Ghost,’ links your soul to me with ink lines, turning you into my ghost puppet.
I’ll use your soul to kill all your friends. Exciting, isn’t it?"
"Is that so? I’ve got something even more exciting. Check out your mirror."
Lu Yusheng, wearing a smug expression, glanced toward the Nightmare Ancient Mirror. Suddenly, his smile froze—the artifact mirror had vanished.
Instinctively, Lu Yusheng reached for his pocket.
But Zhou Xuan already knew—while Lu Yusheng had been boasting, a stream of blood surged from his body, transforming into a scarlet hand that snatched the mirror...
Now, the Nightmare Ancient Mirror was inside the Blood Well Secret Realm, devoured by countless eyes.