Chapter 1526 - 1081: Gamble (Part 2)

Chapter 1526: Chapter 1081: Gamble (Part 2)

After a brief intermission, she thought for a moment and continued, "After I discovered that the Ten Thousand Puppet Sect had acquired so many innocent souls, I no longer dreamed of avenging my disciple and myself.

After all, to engage in soul trading with Evil Cultivators and foster numerous vile transactions, I don’t believe the Sect Leader is unaware!

If they find out that I can use the Nightmare Technique to gather the discarded souls together, they would surely destroy my soul at any cost to prevent the secrets of the Ten Thousand Puppet Sect from spreading.

The ease with which large numbers of souls could be bought and sold meant they were not cherished.

Many souls in the puppets were merely experimental subjects, as the Puppet Masters, in pursuit of perfection, casually sealed the souls inside without caring if the puppets were suited to possess consciousness.

Awakening without memory or a past, they found themselves turned into puppets, and many souls had a grotesque, mismatched new body. Suffering torment and abuse, once they were deemed useless, they were discarded.

The Puppet Masters believed that as long as the soul remained intact, it wasn’t considered killing, so they refused to release those souls. Otherwise, leaving the puppet body would lead to them scattering into dust, thus it was preferable to leave them in the garbage heap.

Thus, I could only act secretly. Whenever a disciple of the Ten Thousand Puppet Sect entered, I would disperse the dream. This way, from time to time, ’people’ would mysteriously disappear, having been chosen and taken away by those disciples.

Unable to find a self-rescue method and unwilling to sink into despair in the garbage heap, I could only construct dreams with those lonely souls.

Cultivators had stronger Soul Power; mortals and children were very fragile. I was worried too much agitation would harm them, so I fabricated reasons, leading many residents to remain unaware of living within dreams.

Later, the Ten Thousand Puppet Sect moved away.

Many newly joined souls were hastily crafted for combat, and even their memory seal wasn’t properly executed.

They said the Demon Realm invaded on a grand scale, and the Ten Thousand Puppet Sect tried to resist but kept failing. When I saw no more disciples coming to seek treasure, I realized the Demon Realm had successfully invaded, and the Puppet Masters of the Ten Thousand Puppet Sect would never return."

After a long period of silence, fortune seekers started coming in search of the Ten Thousand Puppet Sect’s name.

The Puppet City grew increasingly desolate, and occasionally, the arrays exposed outside would activate, allowing Demonic Energy to slowly seep in. Those treasure seekers were captured by Yan Zheng’s dream, entering the Dream City, known as ’hawkers.’

Both sides negotiated trades, and when dealing with reliable Cultivators, the City Lord would select relatively good puppets for them to take away.

In exchange, they would help clear the Demonic Energy and reinforce the array, so that the ’garbage heap’ could last a little longer.

Unfortunately, as times grew worse and people’s hearts less virtuous, reliable Cultivators were very few and none could handle the Demonic Energy, only helping to reinforce the arrays in exchange for taking one or two usable puppets;

As for Cultivators with ill intentions, they were greedy beyond measure, even threatening the lives of the city’s residents. Yan Zheng wasn’t a pushover; with souls captured into dreams, it wasn’t difficult to let them quietly perish.

More people entered while fewer left, gradually leading the ’treasures’ of the Ten Thousand Puppet Sect to be forgotten.

Moreover, the Demonic Energy on Mingqi Star grew denser, and no Cultivators dared venture, until Jiang Yuan’s group broke the Dream City’s tranquility.

"If City Lord Yan trusts me, let me depart from the Dream Realm and pack all the discarded puppets into my Personal Space," Jiang Yuan could open the system interface, but couldn’t show it to the opposite party, lamenting, "There’s too much limitation within the dream, so I can’t prove to you whether the Personal Space exists."

He passed the choice to the other side.

Trust, and everyone moves collectively; don’t trust, and other ways must be sought to find clues in the garbage heap.

Putting oneself in their shoes, if Jiang Yuan were in the same situation, it would be difficult to trust 100% based on such a short time and a few promises. He could only gamble; clearing the Demonic Energy to eliminate threats to the Dream Realm might add some leverage for trust.

"I need to think carefully," Yan Zheng wavered indeed.

With tens of thousands of souls in the city, their lives and futures were tied to him, and if he gambled wrong, they would be doomed to Myriad Tribulations!

Yet, if he didn’t wager, Mr. Jiang’s words were true, as the external Demonic Energy thickened, how long could this little space persist? Even though they had a Defensive Array, how could a group of disembodied souls operate it? How could it provide an endless supply of power?

The other party had already cleared the invading Demonic Energy, maintaining the status quo was indeed not threatening in the short term, but what about future invasions?

The Dream City had long been without external visitors, Mr. Jiang’s group might be the last batch of Cultivators to visit.

Negotiating with him was favorable; his two puppets seemed not to be mistreated; he could easily clear the Demonic Energy; and he possessed the ability to transport all discarded items with his Personal Space.

Overall, Mr. Jiang might be the best-tempered and strongest Cultivator they could contact over the years. Missing this opportunity would mean everyone in the Dream City, including himself, would be waiting here to die.

If the gamble was lost...

Yan Zheng had no one to consult with.

The numerous mortals had to be kept in the dark about the reality; even among the Cultivator souls, few understood all the secrets; after all, less knowledge meant more happiness, and soul fluctuations could remain tranquil.