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Chapter 222 The Road to Awakening
“…I see.” Chen Xuan nodded after listening to her explanation. “I understand the general situation.”

"Dr. Chen, can you cure her?" Gu Zhaoning asked impatiently.

“Hmm… how should I put it?” He looked at Su Xingwan, who was staring at him with a complicated expression—clearly, she both doubted his abilities and wanted to hear an answer different from other doctors. “Actually, it doesn’t matter if she doesn’t get treatment, because she’s not sick at all.”

"Huh?" Gu Zhaoning was slightly taken aback.

Su Xingwan, on the other hand, reacted strongly. She stood up abruptly, "Excuse me, if I heard correctly, you mean all of this is just my imagination? Because it's just a dream, it doesn't matter at all!?"

"Xingwan, don't get excited, sit down first!" Gu Zhaoning tugged at her hand.

"No need! I've heard that from other people so many times!" Her face turned pale with anger. "Because they can't find the cause, they just say it's my hallucination. Anyway, I look perfectly fine! Aning, I'm leaving!"

She had only taken two steps when Su Xingwan suddenly felt dizzy and her legs gave way, causing her to kneel on the ground.

Gu Zhaoning quickly stepped forward to support her, "Dr. Chen, look at her like this... does she really look like she's not sick?"

"It's probably due to excessive fatigue and insufficient blood supply to the brain caused by not sleeping well," Chen Xuan said slowly as he turned around. "Actually, she can recover her health as long as she gets a good night's sleep."

"You make it sound so easy!" Su Xingwan clutched her head, writhing in pain. "If I were to experience another nightmare like that, one that torments me for so long, I... I'd rather die!"

"It's okay, I can help you solve the problem of having dreams."

"Forget it, you don't even believe me, how could you possibly cure me? I shouldn't have come here with any hope—" She suddenly stopped mid-sentence, "Wait, can you stop me from dreaming?"

"Mm." Chen Xuan nodded calmly.

"But you just said I'm not sick!"

“Because you don’t have it.” He shrugged. “Or rather, we should congratulate you.”

"Why?" Gu Zhaoning couldn't help but ask.

"Because you're about to awaken your abilities."

"Awakening... an ability?" Su Xingwan asked, looking bewildered.

Gu Zhaoning reacted even faster, "They're superpowered people! Aren't these kinds of people popping up everywhere these days? Some can breathe fire, and some can fly!"

"Me?" she asked, still somewhat incredulous.

“Yes,” Chen Xuan nodded, “that’s why you dream.”

Of course, this was all made up. He became the manager of an ability shop because he had the same dream for a long time, so when he saw another person also having a super realistic dream, he assumed that the other person would also gain an ability. This is obviously a bit like trying to find a sword by marking the boat where it fell into the water.

His reason for making this judgment was simple: he saw it through his glasses.

In his view, Su Xingwan only had one ability.

--"???"?,White.

Although she is the lead singer of the band, she doesn't seem to have any talent for performing.

Even Fei the dancer has the characteristic of being a "dance genius".

The question mark ability has no description and is not enough for Chen Xuan to judge that the other party is about to awaken an ability. The reason he is making such a bluff is because he has other discoveries.

That is qi.

Su Xingwan had a faint spiritual energy reaction, though it was quite weak, it still emitted a faint flash under the detection of the Heavenly Cloud Technique.

Furthermore, this spiritual energy is scattered and does not condense, making it appear more like a demon.

Su Xingwan is clearly not a demon.

At the same time, she neither cultivated any mental techniques nor was it likely that she absorbed the spiritual energy of demons.

Then the answer becomes clearer.

It's highly likely that a demon possessed her.

Unfortunately, Chen Xuan happened to know of a type of demon that not only possesses humans but is also difficult to detect, and it likes to use the dreams of humans, especially cultivators, to absorb nourishment.

"Shadow Demon".

This type of demon was once used by Liu Zhidong to replace souls, using the "golden cicada shedding its shell" technique to evade the Lianyun Sect's search. However, Chen Xuan was not a demon-slaying expert, so he couldn't directly confirm that Su Xingwan had encountered a shadow demon; he could only say that her description matched the characteristics of shadow demons very well.

"I wonder if Miss Su has heard of the Transcending Tribulation?" Chen Xuan changed the subject.

"Transcending...transcending tribulation?" Su Xingwan had just recovered from the matter of awakening her abilities when she was stumped by this question. "The kind in cultivation stories?"

"Yes, to break through to a new realm, you must overcome the many obstacles of the old realm, otherwise you will suffer a backlash. Of course, you don't need to undergo tribulation, but the situation you encounter is similar... Abilities can bring you power, but before you truly adapt to them, they can actually harm you."

Su Xingwan stared blankly at Chen Xuan, seemingly trying to figure out whether it was the truth or just a joke.

"Believe it or not, it's up to you." Chen Xuan guessed what she was thinking. "Those doctors weren't wrong. This isn't an illness at all; it's a gift of fate. The only reason they treated you was because your attitude and your friend's status influenced them, making them do useless work with a placebo mentality."

She lowered her head and fell silent.

“Xingwan…” Gu Zhaoning said to her, “You have to trust Dr. Chen. He is really amazing. He cured all the illnesses that even Beitian Hospital couldn’t solve by himself.”

After a moment, Su Xingwan gave a wry smile. "Now I understand just how difficult it is to immediately believe something that defies common sense. I'm sorry, Dr. Chen, I was being unreasonable just now..."

Chen Xuan nodded but did not reply.

He wasn't surprised at all by her previous reaction.

Anyone would go crazy if they couldn't even get a good night's sleep for a year. The fact that she hasn't completely lost her mind already shows how resolute she is.

"What should we do next to stop her from having nightmares?" Gu Zhaoning asked on behalf of her friend.

She never doubted Chen Xuan's words from beginning to end.

"You just mentioned that a monster was chasing you in your dream, right?" Chen Xuan asked instead of answering.

“Yes…” Su Xingwan nodded gently, “It’s not just one kind. Sometimes it’s a giant spider, sometimes it’s like a bandaged monster from a horror movie, and sometimes, I don’t even know how to describe it. I try to resist in my dreams, but I never succeed. In the end, I just die in different ways.”

Will you wake up if you die?

“No… I’ll just start having a new nightmare. I don’t know what triggers me to wake up. The longest I’ve ever stayed in a dream was thirty days.” Su Xingwan’s voice trembled slightly as she spoke. “Sometimes, even when a monster catches me, it won’t kill me immediately. Instead, it will torture me repeatedly, making me wish I were dead…”

"The monster you see is the manifestation of the tribulation you are undergoing," Chen Xuan said confidently. "Once we destroy it, the nightmare will end."

The shadow demon was most likely attracted by Su Xingwan's soon-to-awaken ability, attaching itself to her and absorbing her emotional fluctuations by creating fear and pain in her dreams.

"But I'm no match for it at all!"

"So I will enter your dreams to help you."

Upon hearing this, both of them were stunned.

How can something as ethereal as dreams be interconnected?

Chen Xuan was also quite surprised when Liu Shuyue first mentioned this method, but it was also the most common method used by Lianyun Sect cultivators to deal with shadow demons—no conventional demon-slaying technique could touch a shadow demon unless the caster also appeared in the dream created by the demon. Since this dream was not naturally formed, there was also a flaw that could be exploited by external forces.

Su Xingwan felt a little scared at the mention of sleeping. "Is this really feasible?"

"Since you've come to me, this is the only answer I can give."

"What if I fall asleep... and don't have nightmares?"

"Then just consider it catching up on sleep. When you wake up, go back to sleep until you have nightmares."

Su Xingwan's face showed an extremely conflicted expression.

For most people, a sleep lasts only seven or eight hours at most, and they can just close their eyes and get through it. But she's different. She either doesn't dream at all, or when a nightmare strikes, it's not something that can be resolved in just a few hours.

"If I understand correctly, you will also appear in her dream and fight the monster with her, right?" Gu Zhaoning asked.

Chen Xuan nodded. "That's how it is theoretically."

“Then give it a try.” She helped her best friend up from the floor. “You’ve always faced nightmares alone, but this time Dr. Chen will fight alongside you, and things will definitely change! Didn’t you tell me that you wanted to cure this strange disease even at any cost? This might be the opportunity you’ve been waiting for!”

Su Xingwan was finally persuaded. She mustered her courage and looked at Chen Xuan, saying, "Then... I'll leave it to you."

(End of this chapter)