Chapter 169 — Into the Dream Again

At Gao Song's words, everyone turned pale with shock: "An Eternal Slumberer?!"

This was utterly beyond their expectations. Even the ever-composed Hedy nearly lost her grip on her staff. Her eyes wide, she glanced at the mercenary captain lying dead on the ground: "This mercenary was a cultist of the Eternal Slumber in disguise?!"

"No, he was merely used as a springboard by an Eternal Slumberer," Gao Yang said, rubbing the space between his brows as he relayed what he had learned from the cultist. "This fellow must have had the misfortune of suffering a nightmare at some point in the past, and a powerful Eternal Slumber cultist used that nightmare to leave a coordinate in his mind. That turned him into a one-time 'vessel,' allowing a Shadow cultist to swiftly 'descend' whenever the need arose."

Such grotesque facts made Amber break out in goosebumps: "How does this kind of cultist sound even more sinister than that Society of Universal Demise?!"

"The Eternal Slumberers are indeed more bizarre than the Society of Universal Demise," Pi Yun said in a low voice. As a druid who had truly received the tradition, he knew a great deal about matters concerning cultists. "The Eternal Slumberers devolved and transformed from the Church of the Dream God. They were originally priests who calmed hearts and banished nightmares, but after their fall they became past masters at weaving nightmares and terror. The most powerful Eternal Slumber bishops all possess the ability to walk within people's dreams, and they can link one person's dream to another's, making themselves all the more elusive and impossible to guard against. Their special powers make them more terrifying than ordinary cultists—but if there is any good news in this, it is that... the Eternal Slumberers do not act with the extreme bloodthirst of Universal Demise or the Sons of the Storm. They merely drag people into all manner of nightmares and illusions, occasionally commit a kidnapping or two, but rarely take the initiative to cause slaughter."

Hearing this, Hedy said thoughtfully, "I have also heard of the Long Slumber cult. They truly do seldom cause large-scale deaths, but their actions are stranger and more grotesque than those of other cults. Personally, I feel that a cult like theirs—one that seems to conceal some vast plan and does not often kill—is all the more frightening."

Gao Yang felt the same: "Any dark sect is dangerous, without exception. That they do not kill only means they are doing things more terrible than killing—things even harder to guard against than slaughter. Besides... the Eternal Slumberers are the only sect apart from the Sons of the Storm that deals with the Society of Universal Demise. Both Universal Demise and the Sons of the Storm are cruel, bloodthirsty sects. Eternal Slumberers who can get along with them... cannot possibly be good folk."

"The more I hear, the more creeped out I get," Amber said, unable to resist rubbing her arms as though to scrub the goosebumps away. Then she raised her head and looked at Gao Yang with curiosity: "So just now, you were dragged by the Eternal Slumberer into their 'nightmare'? And then what? You got out?"

Gao Yang laughed: "We had a little contest in the world of consciousness, and then that fellow died. Most likely he wasn't any great figure."

Amber said "Oh," and Hedy looked at her great-great-great-grandfather with considerable admiration and conviction. Only Pi Yun eyed Gao Yang up and down with suspicion: "An Eternal Slumberer capable of descending through will alone... would that be a minor character?"

"At any rate, not as strong as me," Gao Yang shrugged. "The fellow's dead anyway. How strong he was in life hardly matters now."

Hedy looked somewhat worried: "But the key question is why an Eternal Slumber cultist would attack you... Last time, the Society of Universal Demise could be called an accident—that fallen druid's true target was Tamsin Town. But this time the Eternal Slumberer was clearly coming for you. When that mercenary captain was 'possessed,' he called out your name clearly!"

Gao Yang's expression turned serious as well. He knew Hedy's worry was not unfounded.

Gao Yang Cecil, risen from the dead, had indeed begun to draw the attention of certain dark forces.

The memories he had read from the cultist's residual soul were not many, but they were enough to piece together some of his recent thoughts and experiences. Gao Yang could confirm that this cultist had been active in the Southern Region for many years, leaving nightmare coordinates on thousands of victims across the area—and that mercenary captain happened to be one of them. His capture by Gao Yang during the slave-taking operation was itself a coincidence, but the Eternal Slumberer behind that mercenary captain had been watching him for quite some time.

From the conversation, he learned that the Shadow cultists cared a great deal about a certain secret voyage of Gao Yang Cecil and the so-called "Sea of Eternal Darkness." So after Gao Yang rose from his coffin and spread the news, the Shadow cultists had likely already been planning this contact.

And the mercenary captain who happened to fall into Gao Yang's hands had merely handed him a perfect opportunity ahead of time—except the Shadow cultist himself could never have imagined that he would simply perish within that very opportunity...

An Eternal Slumber bishop had died just like that, for no clear reason—but that did not mean the harassment was over. Gao Yang believed there must be other Shadow sects or mysterious organizations watching him. That so-called "Sea of Eternal Darkness" and "secret voyage" likely involved an enormous secret, one sufficient to make even the most cautious and hidden cult bishops take reckless risks—and naturally capable of stirring the curiosity of other lurkers as well.

But the problem was that Gao Yang himself was terribly curious about what on earth that so-called "Sea of Eternal Darkness" was!

By now, the only thing Gao Yang could console himself with was that the Eternal Slumber bishop had died cleanly and swiftly. He had perished on Cecil family territory without stirring up the slightest ripple—and perhaps that would serve as a warning to certain prying eyes.

In any case, if any bold ones still came looking for trouble, Gao Yang had no other option—he could only take them on. After all, he had a family to look after now; he couldn't very well tuck his tail and flee at the first sign of trouble, could he?

Pi Yun looked at the stern-faced Gao Yang, then at the anxious Hedy. He sighed softly and, with an equally serious expression, said: "Your Grace, I believe it is time you gave my resignation request some proper consideration..."

"If you really wanted to run, you'd already be gone by now. Are you the sort who would politely inform his employer before bolting?" Gao Yang shot a glance at this disgrace of a druid, then waved his hand. "Whatever comes, I'll take it. A few small fry aren't going to stir up much of a storm. I refuse to believe that bunch of cultists, who've spent seven hundred years with their tails between their legs, would dare muster an army and march on us now."

Then he glanced at the mage mercenary sitting nearby, still groggy and dazed.

Seeing this, Hedy immediately asked: "Ancestor, shall we continue the interrogation?"

Gao Yang shook his head: "No need. Keep him locked up and we'll see how things stand after a while."