There's a big problem with dreams in this world.

The priest stopped abruptly in front of the door, his face grave.

He gestured for Lu Qing to stay, then drew his mithril sword and carefully pushed open the door.

A strong stench wafted from the room through the crack in the opened door, causing Lu Qing's face to change and nearly vomit on the spot.

She was very familiar with this smell; it was unforgettable, exactly the same smell she had smelled in the town square back then.

However, the aroma wafting from the bakery owner's house was even stronger than the aroma in the square!

Watching the old priest walk into the room expressionlessly, holding the mithril sword, Lu Qing couldn't help but feel a surge of admiration.

Looking at the bakery owner next to me, I saw that his face was pale, and he was obviously also unable to stand the smell.

"Don't you often spend time with this lump of meat? Why can't you stand the smell either?" Lu Qing asked.

"No, it didn't smell this bad before," the bakery owner said, his face grim.

"Ahhhhh!!"

No sooner had the bakery owner finished speaking than a piercing scream suddenly echoed through the room.

Upon hearing the scream, the bakery owner's legs went weak, and he collapsed to his knees.

"It's Anna! Yes, it's her! I remember that scream, I keep dreaming about her these days!"

"Yes, that's right, that's Anna's scream as she was burned!"

"dream?"

Looking at the man before her, so terrified he couldn't walk, Lu Qing drew her mithril dagger from her waist and asked:

What did you dream about?

"I, I..."

Before he could finish speaking, a soft sound was heard, and the priest pushed open the door and ran out of the room, looking at Lu Qing and the other person, saying:

"Everyone, step back!"

Without hesitation, Lu Qing grabbed the bakery owner on the ground and ran backward. The next moment, a rapidly wriggling lump of meat rolled out of the room.

The moment Lu Qing saw the chunks of meat, the sign in her mind jolted, displaying a line of text:

Secondary objective: Find out the source of the raw meat in the bread (Completed!)

After quickly glancing at the notice board and finding that there was only this one message, Lu Qing turned her attention back to the notice.

At that moment, the priest was fiercely fighting the lump of flesh with a mithril sword in hand.

The mass of flesh kept writhing, and chunks of flesh flew out of its body, turning into sharp spikes that pierced the old priest, while it uttered strange babbling.

Lu Qing listened intently for a while without realizing it, and suddenly felt a headache coming on. She quickly shifted her attention to the priest.

The priest wielded his mithril sword with practiced ease, slashing cleanly at the fleshy mass. Each strike made a hissing sound, like a hot knife cutting through butter.

Dark gray gas gushed from the wound.

Seizing the opportunity, the priest flicked his left hand, and a bottle of pale golden liquid was splashed onto the fleshy mass.

Anna's pitiful screams rang out from the monster's body once again, and the priest seized the opportunity to cleave the mass of flesh in two with a single sword strike!

------------

Chapter Seventeen: Flesh and Blood Crystallization

After the lump of flesh was cleaved in two by the mithril sword, the two halves of the flesh continued to writhe, but could not heal together no matter what.

Taking advantage of his illness, the priest seized the opportunity and began hacking away without hesitation until the lump of flesh on the ground completely lost its vitality before stopping.

Puffs of black smoke rose from the mass of flesh, and to Lu Qing's astonishment, the lump of flesh in front of her evaporated completely.

Where the corpse had been, a dark red polygonal crystal was left behind, and the crystal itself shimmered with a pure white light.

"Game items!"

Lu Qing was startled. She shifted her gaze to the crystal, and the next moment, the notice board displayed the crystal's information.

[Item Name: Flesh and Blood Crystal]

[Item Quality: Gray]

[Description: A flesh and blood monster formed for unknown reasons, possessing the characteristic that its flesh and blood will reassemble even when separated. When its body dies, all the essence within its flesh and blood will gather together again, forming a dark red crystal.]

[Skills: None]

[Note: Less is more!]

"grey......"

Looking at the properties of this crystal, Lu Qing felt that it seemed to be of little use.

The notice board didn't explain its purpose; it only explained why the crystal formed.

This also indicates that the crystal is filled with the essence of the monster's flesh and blood from just now.

The priest, of course, also noticed the crystal. He picked it up, glanced at it casually, and said:

"Most monsters' bodies are usable after they die; they are good alchemical materials. This should be flesh essence, which is formed by many low-level monsters whose bodies can heal automatically after death."

After saying that, the old priest smiled and tossed the crystal in his hand to Lu Qing.

Seeing the surprised expression on Lu Qing's face, the old priest waved his hand and said:

"Take it, it's useless to me. I'll go out to town and find an alchemist, maybe he can make some gadgets."

"Thank you..." Lu Qing felt like she had repeated this sentence countless times...

"Ok?"

Suddenly, the old priest frowned and drew his mithril sword from his waist again.

"Aaaaaah, don't come any closer!"

The bakery owner suddenly let out a shrill scream. His whole body convulsed, his eyes rolled back, and he struggled on the ground with a look of terror on his face.

Before Lu Qing could react, the bakery owner's voice suddenly stopped.

"What's wrong with him?" Lu Qing asked.

Hehehe~

A strange, mocking laugh suddenly rang out, and a grayish-white figure floated out from the fallen body of the bakery owner.

"It's a symbiotic evil spirit!"

Lu Qing recognized the guy in front of her at a glance, but compared with the companion evil spirit last time, this companion evil spirit was slightly different.

The face that had been grotesquely roaring in the mist was now that of another person.

Upon seeing the symbiotic evil spirit, the priest waved his left hand, and a handful of silvery-white crystals were thrown from his hand, scattering them at the symbiotic evil spirit.

However, this symbiotic evil spirit had no intention of fighting the priest at all. It turned around and ran away, dodging the salt that the priest had scattered.

How could the priest let the other person go? He quickly caught up, but stopped after running only a couple of steps.

He gazed at the evil spirits that had also stopped in the distance, and fell into deep thought. He analyzed:

“A companion evil spirit cannot have the wisdom to escape; it can only obey its instincts or the evil spirit that drives it.”

"This symbiotic evil spirit didn't attack me; it chose to run away. I suspect it's a trap."

"What should we do then?" Lu Qing asked.

After a moment of silence, the priest gripped his mithril sword and followed.

"You stay here," the priest said to Lu Qing.

"I want to help too!" Lu Qing said quickly.

Just kidding. If something like this really happened in real life, she would definitely run as far away as possible. But this is a mission in a dream, and she absolutely has to complete it.

Since it's a mission within a dream, how could she possibly complete it simply by waiting here?

So, no matter what, she needs to go back!

Frowning, the priest looked at Lu Qing and said, "Are you serious? If something goes wrong, you could die!"

If you die in a dream, the dream will fail!

In an instant, Lu Qing also had the thought that she wouldn't go. Even if the priest failed, she could look for other clues and find a way to pass the level.

But the next second, she dismissed the idea. Taking a deep breath, Lu Qing looked firmly at the priest and said:

"I'm going!"

"can."

The priest nodded, then took out a bottle of holy water and handed it to Lu Qing, saying, "If you feel anything unusual or have a headache, drink the holy water."

"Remember, never hesitate. Even if you only have one bottle of holy water left, it's the same. You can't be stingy with anything. After all, you have plenty of resources, but you only have one life!"

"I understand!" Lu Qing took the holy water and nodded.

"Let's go!"

The priest sheathed the mithril sword and strode after the evil spirit.

Seeing this, Lu Qing quickly followed. The priest slowed down to accommodate Lu Qing's pace, but even so, when the evil spirit at the front stopped, Lu Qing felt as if her lungs were about to burst.

"This, this body, ha, it's really too bad!"

Despite the dryness in her throat, Lu Qing took deep breaths, savoring the sweet taste in her mouth.

"call!"

A gust of cold wind blew by, and Lu Qing subconsciously covered her clothes. In Lu Qing's vision, three gray-white companion evil spirits slowly appeared in front of her and the priest.

Including the one we chased earlier, there are now a total of four companion evil spirits!

The priest drew his mithril sword from his waist, assuming a fighting stance. However, at that moment, a ghostly blue spirit slowly emerged from the shadows, and the face of a little girl struggled against its misty surface.

"A true evil spirit, so it really is Anna." The priest said with a sorrowful expression as he looked at the struggling face on the dark blue evil spirit.

The old hunter was his friend, and he was also very familiar with Anna. Seeing his old friend's daughter turn into an evil spirit must have been quite a complicated experience for him.

"Even if you are Anna, you have become a monster. Let me end you before you kill more people!"

The grief on his face vanished in an instant. The old priest stood ramrod straight, holding a mithril longsword, exuding a fierce aura.