With virtue

Chapter 100 Nightmare

The house was still burning, flames were shooting into the sky, and the heat was so intense that even standing ten feet away, you couldn't open your eyes.

The wood in this house is quite good; it burns very well.

However, such a good fire should naturally be used for lighting. Let's first see what is recorded in the yellow book.

But what appeared in the book were the old lady, the daughter-in-law, and—the surrounding houses.

This is also a visualization-level drawing; it is extremely clear, and you can see the things in it very clearly.

There was also text written below.

"nightmare."

Nightmares are a type of evil spirit, without a fixed form, hidden in the darkness, unseen as they pass by. They neither fly nor walk, but wriggle and crawl. They have no skin, bones, or limbs inside their bodies, only a mass of darkness.

As one sleeps and the mind gradually relaxes, nightmares crawl over, pressing down on the chest and binding the throat and tongue. The person under the influence of nightmares remains clear-headed, yet cannot open their eyes, rise, or speak. It is as if a huge rock is pressing down on their body, freezing their veins, and their limbs are bound by iron chains, making it difficult to move even an inch.

Nightmare does not affect flesh and blood, but only disturbs the soul. Those afflicted by Nightmare will see a multitude of illusions, hear whispers around their ears, or see shadowy figures lingering, and their soul will be gradually depleted.

After waking up, the person is covered in cold sweat, has palpitations for a long time, and cannot fall back asleep. This repeated disturbance easily leads to mental exhaustion and weakness, causing the person to gradually become frail and develop various illnesses.

According to popular belief, nightmares arise from a state of confusion and ignorance. They will avoid those with strong yang energy, and when their minds are at peace, they are difficult to approach.

Nightmares are inherently illusory and are most afraid of people with abundant Yang energy, a strong mind, and a firm will. When people have abundant Yang energy, Yin evil cannot invade them. When they are at rest and clear-headed, their minds are not relaxed. When a nightmare approaches, it is suppressed by the Yang energy and cannot possess them. It will retreat on its own without being driven away.

If one encounters someone whose mind is scattered, whose qi and blood are deficient, or who is troubled by worries and anxieties, whose yang qi is weak and whose spirit is unstable, then that person will take advantage of them and harass them night after night.

Nightmare fears the piercing sound. Trapped in a nightmare, though unable to speak, one can break the nightmare by loudly calling out the name of the person being haunted, or by banging gongs and drums.

Upon closer examination, the nightmare is not a naturally occurring spirit or monster, but rather a malevolent force fabricated by witchcraft.

Some spells rely on dark places, old houses, dark rooms, and deserted places to use the breath of darkness to suppress nightmares and to perform spells in a state of confusion.

Therefore, the method of exorcising nightmares only treats the symptoms, while the root cause must be eliminated.

Wherever the nightmare dwells, whatever it attaches to, whatever it hides in, simply set it on fire. The embers will be extinguished, the curse's foundation severed, and the nightmare, having nothing to rely on, will naturally dissipate, eliminating any future trouble.

Ordinary suppression and expulsion can only provide temporary relief, but will lead to endless troubles in the long run.

Its ability is one of the following:

It is said that nightmares can enter dreams and cause trouble within them. This requires a time when the person's mind is scattered and their yang energy is weak, to enter their dream and disturb their mind.

God.

There are many methods to subdue nightmares, but this one comes from the Nightmare-Suppressing Woman.

Forbidden Nightmare:

The residents of Yazhou in eastern Guangdong are half Li people, and there is a distinction between raw Li and cooked Li.

The uncivilized people lived in the Five Finger Mountains and did not submit to the king's rule. The civilized people respected their officials and would crawl on their knees to enter when they came to see them.

The Li women possess a curse that can kill people.

The technique involves taking the hair or beard of the person to be cursed, or the leftover betel nut, and putting it into a bamboo tube. At night, the person lies naked on their back on a mountaintop, casting spells and chanting incantations under the stars and moon. After seven days, the person will be haunted by the nightmare, and often they will die, their bodies unharmed, and their skin as soft as cotton.

Those who suffer from this must be captured and reported to the authorities. First, a long bamboo tube must be threaded through it and tied around the neck. The victim must be dragged along, otherwise, if they get close to the victim, they will be imprisoned and haunted.

According to the old woman, if one does not use the curse, one will surely die before the time is up.

Among the women, there are young ones who can perform rituals even before they reach marriageable age, which is a family tradition.

His incantation was extremely secret; even when he was beaten to death, he refused to tell anyone.

There are witches who can banish nightmares, but no men who can banish nightmares; their arts are passed down to women, not men.

After seeing all this, Zhao Yunshu looked up at the burning house in front of her.

nightmare----?

As the Yellow Book states, this thing is not a naturally occurring monster, but rather man-made.

If we're talking about the origins, we can actually trace it back to the time of ancient shamans. It was originally a method that blind shamans and carpenters discovered through trial and error.

This method requires taking a person's emotions and breath as a guide to create an invisible evil spirit out of thin air. This evil spirit is called a nightmare.

It has no physical form, and compared to methods like poisonous insects and sharp blades, Nightmare is extremely secretive, silent, and impossible to defend against.

Curses can be traced back to their source in many ways, but nightmares are truly untraceable. Even if they are dispelled, they can regenerate as long as their roots remain intact, which is extremely disgusting.

Furthermore, once affected, the mind is filled with revulsion, and the hands and feet feel as if they are bound, unable to move or cry out. It is silent, invisible, and intangible, making it very difficult to trace who is causing the mischief. Therefore, conspirators throughout history have often used it.

During the Western Han Dynasty, there were even more audacious sorcerers who secretly used puppets and sorcery to plot against Emperor Wu of Han.

In his later years, Emperor Wu became a devout believer in ghosts and gods, and witchcraft flourished in the palace. Many sorcerers and magicians secretly practiced nightmare magic. Among them, one audacious individual planned to use nightmare magic to weaken the emperor's mind day and night, causing him to become confused and ill, in order to fulfill his selfish scheme.

Normally, Emperor Wu, having ruled the world for a long time, possessed imperial aura and national destiny concentrated within himself, his body brimming with dragon energy, and his soul extremely resilient. Nightmare...

Even if they managed to infiltrate the palace, they could not suppress his mind. However, there were also inside agents. Emperor Wu's favorite concubine, ministers, and relatives of the empress joined forces to use drugs to harm his body. When Emperor Wu was about to go to Ganquan Palace, they had a sorcerer bury wooden puppets on the imperial road to curse him, weaken his yang energy, and avoid the protection of the emperor's aura.

At this time, sorcerers and various shamans gathered in the capital, and most of them were sorcerers who came for wealth and glory. They were audacious and did whatever they pleased. Some witches went to and from the palace, teaching the palace beauties how to avoid disasters. They buried wooden figures in every room and performed sacrifices. When they quarreled because of jealousy, they took turns accusing each other of cursing the emperor, which was extremely treasonous. Everyone was used to it and thought it was just the foolish thing that the palace women did out of jealousy. After killing a group of them, they didn't care. Little did they know that someone was actually manipulating things behind the scenes.

As the number of shamans in the palace increased, witchcraft began to spread, and sorcery became rampant in the imperial palace, finally breaking the balance and causing a rift in Emperor Wu's soul.

Once, Emperor Wu was taking a nap when he dreamed that several thousand wooden figures holding clubs were trying to attack him. He suddenly woke up and felt unwell, mentally confused, and his memory was greatly impaired. The nightmare magic, with the help of thousands of palace servants and the dense array of visiting sorcerers, finally broke through the defenses and took effect on Emperor Wu.

After this matter was exposed, it sparked a witchcraft turmoil. Emperor Wu was unable to find the source of the nightmare, so he could only order the palace servants to dig everywhere in the palace to look for wooden figures. They were shocked to find that there were thousands of puppets in the entire palace!

He immediately arrested a large number of people and subjected them to the torture of burning with iron pincers to force them to confess. Tens of thousands of people died as a result, from the capital and the Three Auxiliary Regions to various prefectures and kingdoms. Even the crown prince was affected and was hunted down by the army.

The court strictly prohibited the use of witchcraft and sorcery. However, although the ban was issued, sorcery was not completely eradicated. Curses such as nightmares continued to circulate among the people. Over the next thousand years, many historical books and miscellaneous records have been written about this. Many famous scholars and important officials were harassed by nightmares.

Some of these people hold high positions and are deeply thoughtful, while others are chronically ill, physically weak, and mentally exhausted. Their souls are inherently vulnerable, making them extremely susceptible to being invaded by nightmares.

The advantage of a nightmare lies in this: it is silent and untraceable. Ordinary nightmares can only trap people in their sleep, creating illusions like sleep paralysis and disturbing their minds. However, a nightmare created by a highly skilled sorcerer can slowly devour the soul, causing people to gradually weaken, become mentally confused, and eventually die silently.

Just like now, if Zhao Yunshu hadn't burned down the house, it probably wouldn't have been so easy to harm those nightmares.

Moreover, upon closer inspection—it seems these nightmares came to chase after Yaomei, because they came when Yaomei was asleep, and they retreated when Yaomei woke up.

Um--

Zhao Yunshu pondered, while looking at the courtyard in front of him.

The fire burned fiercely, its blazing flames erasing the entire courtyard and the house from the world. It burned for a full quarter of an hour, causing the beams and pillars to collapse, the tiles to burst open, and finally, with a crash, it collapsed into charred ashes.

Sparks and debris drifted into the air, but there was still no movement in the ruins.

Forget about old women, new mothers, or babies who aren't even a month old. Even if there were a nest of rats burning like that, there should have been some squeaking.

But no, no.

There was nothing but smoke, sparks, and ash.

Bai Qian gripped his sword, staring at the pile of scorched earth. After a long while, he finally spoke, "It's all burned down, but what about the old woman's wife? Wasn't she supposed to be in confinement after childbirth? Where's the baby?"

Zhao Yunshu looked around and then said, "Did you hear the child crying? Since we came in, has there been even a single cry from a baby in this room?"

The youngest sister's cheeks were red from the heat of the fire. The surrounding area was very hot due to the residual heat, but upon hearing these words, she felt a chill and shivered, shrinking back.

Bai Qian also stiffened slightly, but still looked up and raised his neck: "I—of course I know, I noticed it a long time ago, but I just didn't say it out loud."

"No, you clearly didn't notice," Zhao Yunshu said.

Bai Qian scoffed, "No, no, I'm an old hand at this. I sensed something was off the moment I walked in, which is why I asked this question. After all, as soon as I arrived, I felt that there was no crowing of chickens or barking of dogs in the courtyard, so I was prepared."

The youngest sister looked up, somewhat surprised and admiring: "So that's how it is, Master Bai is so amazing."

Bai Qian scratched his head: "Right? Hahahaha."

Zhao Yunshu was too lazy to expose him.

He pondered the matter of the Nightmare, while gazing at the ruins. Although the fire had burned out, the residual heat was still considerable. He estimated that he wouldn't be able to enter for another day or two unless he used fire magic to extract the flames and heat from the ruins and discard them. However, that would be quite strenuous and tiring, so it was really unnecessary.

Moreover, even though the houses are burned to a crisp now, this courtyard doesn't feel any safer to him than before.

If there were other things in these ruins when he breathed fire, that real fire should have given him a hard time. Real fire is not like other things; although it is a bit slow, it is still very troublesome if you get it on you.

But—he still felt something was off.

So, after a while, he slung his sword over his back and said, "Alright, since we can't stay here any longer, let's travel tonight. Hero Bai, tell me, where should we go next?"

Bai Qian seemed to find the question tricky and quickly shook her head, saying, "You're a Taoist priest, aren't you a professional at catching ghosts and exorcising demons? Why are you asking me?"

Zhao Yunshu spread his hands and said, "I can catch ghosts, but whether the things in this place are ghosts is another matter. Besides, where we go has nothing to do with ghosts. We still need to discuss it. You have a lot of experience in the martial arts world and have traveled all over the country. You should have more experience in making judgments."

These words forced Bai Qian to stand up, but she didn't object. Instead, she snorted twice with her nostrils flared, and said, "Hmph—fine, they really can't do without me right now."

After thinking for a moment, she said, "We need to get out of here first. We can't just stand here. This place is very eerie. If the main room is burned down, there are still the west and east wings. It's still several hours until dawn, and things could go wrong if we stay here. Anyway, we don't know the way, so why don't we..."

First, go up to higher ground and find a place where you can see the mountains, then determine your direction.

Upon hearing this, Zhao Yunshu felt that what she said made a lot of sense this time.

Although he was easily manipulated, Master Bai Qian was actually quite reliable. However, out of caution, he asked again, "Do you know how to find towns by observing the terrain?"

"People need to live, and that's nothing more than firewood, rice, oil, and salt. Firewood and rice come first. You need mountains to chop firewood and water to grow rice. Mountains and rivers are good places to build cities and towns. So if you want to find a city, just follow the mountains and rivers. Have I been wandering the world for so long without any purpose?" Bai Qian raised his eyebrows and crossed his arms.

"Master Bai is amazing!" Little Sister cheered, raising her hand at the perfect moment!

Bai Qian immediately beamed with joy, squatted down, and pinched Yao Mei's cheek.

Zhao Yunshu nodded, then looked at the sky. The east was still dark, showing no sign of dawn. He looked at the stars again and said, "The Big Dipper is turning, and Orion is lying horizontally. When the Big Dipper rotates, it means the night is deep. When Orion is horizontal, it means dawn is approaching. Judging from the state of the Big Dipper, it's still a long way from dawn. We should leave."

"Oh, you know quite a lot too." Bai Qian looked at the young Taoist priest.

The young Taoist priest turned to the girl and asked, "Can you still walk?"

The youngest sister nodded: "Okay!"

Zhao Yunshu then said to Bai Qian, "Let's go, Master Bai, lead the way."

This time, Bai Qian did not refuse. He drew his sword and took the lead, heading up the mountain.

The youngest sister held Bai Qian's hand and followed behind her, while Zhao Yunshu brought up the rear, walking in third place.

The three of them left the courtyard and walked up the mountain along another path.

The journey was very smooth, much smoother than last night.

There were no monsters or wild beasts on the road, not even many strange bird calls, only the night wind blowing from the forest.

After walking for about half an hour, the little girl, being a child, felt her legs go weak and her eyelids droop after being tossed and turned all night and frightened.

Seeing this, Bai Qian didn't waste any words. He tucked the slender sword behind his waist, squatted down, and said, "Get on, I'll carry you."

The little girl hesitated for a moment, then thought for a while, said thank you, and then climbed onto Bai Qian's back, her little face pressed against the back of her neck, and soon she drifted off to sleep.

Bai Qian weighed the weight on his back and said, "This little girl is light, she's fine."

Zhao Yunshu murmured, "These days, just surviving is a blessing; how much meat can one possibly have left?"

Bai Qian didn't reply, but simply steadied her steps a little more.

They climbed up the mountain for an unknown amount of time. When Zhao Yunshu parted a clump of wild vines to let Bai Qian bend down and pass by, they suddenly saw...

Suddenly, everything became clear; they were standing on the mountaintop.

Because it's on a mountaintop, the mountain wind blows constantly, sharp and cold.

Zhao Yunshu followed, first looking around.

But then, all was dark below the mountain, yet a fire blazed not far from the foot of the mountain, burning through the darkness.