"Soul fluctuation, bloodline detection, identity verification — passed!"
A mechanical voice emanated from a small serpent mother statue held in the squad leader's hand.
As the detection wave swept over him, Leilin sneered inwardly. With the concealment of his soul and bloodline — and above all, the unwitting cover provided by Agnes — his original information had been effectively written into the database, sealing what should have been the most vulnerable point of failure: personal identity verification. No amount of inspection could touch him now.
"Inspection over? Then get lost, will you?"
Thomas watched the group of guards slink away in disarray, a satisfied gleam in his eyes.
"Sister
He immediately began ingratiating himself with Sophia.
Leilin quietly rolled his eyes. He knew perfectly well that if the Bellinda sisters hadn't been present, Thomas would never have rushed out to play the hero on his behalf.
"Nick, are you all right?"
The Bellinda sisters stepped into the small courtyard. Taking in the cramped layout and the low buildings, Bellinda's brows furrowed slightly.
"Why don't you move in with us?"
"There's no need!" "Absolutely no need!"
Leilin and Thomas spoke almost simultaneously. Noting the veiled threat in Thomas's gaze, Leilin gave a cold, silent laugh before putting on a bright face for Bellinda. "It's great here! Besides, Young Master Thomas has waived all my rent — that's already exceedingly rare in the Holy City... In truth, just being able to become a free citizen of the Holy City, even for only ten years, is more than I could ever ask for..."
Leilin deliberately placed extra weight on the last few words. To Thomas, this sounded like a declaration of loyalty, and he nodded with satisfaction. Bellinda, however, studied Leilin with visible surprise. In her memory, this was absolutely not who he was.
"But... Brother Nick! How can you live in a place like this? Sophia feels so sorry for you..." Sophia tugged at Leilin's sleeve from the side.
"All right, all right! Both of you, stop making things worse for me!"
Leilin wore an expression of irritation as he ushered the Bellinda sisters out and shut the door behind them.
"Well done! Nicely played!"
Once the door was sealed, Thomas's secretive mental transmission reached his ears, along with another piece of information. Then came Thomas's voice from outside, dripping with arrogance and smugness: "Don't bother with that Nick anymore — look at how he treated you! Sister Sophia, shall I take you to see the Holy Mother's statue?"
Listening to the three voices gradually fade into the distance, Leilin shook his head with a faint smile.
"Sometimes you don't go looking for trouble, but trouble comes looking for you. Did I put on too good a show on the road here?"
For him, right now, he wished the entire world would simply forget he existed, so he could tend his fields in peace.
But as things stood...
...
Night fell. The purple lunar halo drifted downward, and the Holy City shed its daytime clamor. Even the holy light that permeated every corner dimmed into obscurity.
After a full day of citywide searches — and several dozen unlucky souls without proper identification dumped straight into the moat until not even bones remained — the streets stood completely empty, carrying a desolate chill.
"Bloodline seal — activate!"
In the small courtyard, beside the flowerbed, Leilin studied his right arm. There, lined up along his wrist, were over a dozen small white serpent brands.
These, naturally, were bloodline seals he had crafted using the Devil White Phosphorus Serpent's bloodline.
"Hsss hisss..." A fifth-tier beast soul tattoo materialized, making Leilin's manipulation of the bloodline seals far easier.
"With the power of the beast soul, I can effectively suppress resistance and push the bloodline seals to their maximum effect!"
A trace of a smile touched the corners of Leilin's mouth. He watched one of the brands rapidly dim and vanish from his wrist.
[Alert: Host has consumed a Devil White Phosphorus Serpent bloodline seal. Initiating connection to the Dream World!]
The Devil White Phosphorus Serpent already possessed dream-related talent — it could even traverse the Dream World directly. Through the bloodline seal, Leilin had acquired this ability as well.
However, in his heart, he still harbored certain reservations about the result. After all, this was a gain that the Thousand-Eyed Woman had triggered during the last venture into the Dream World.
Therefore, when his true spirit power connected with a bizarre, kaleidoscopic world, Leilin did not choose to cross over directly. Instead, he only attempted to siphon dream power.
*Szzzz...* The air seemed to warp as if being steamed, and wisps of dark crimson dream power began drifting downward, sinking into the soil of the flowerbed.
The green Seed of Wisdom, true to form, accepted everything without discrimination, drawing the dream power inside itself. A tiny green sprout had already emerged from it, brimming with the breath of life. The dark crimson dream power swirled around the sprout like mist, continuously absorbed and seemingly converted into nourishment.
*Pop!* At that moment, something in the void snapped like a taut string, producing a muffled, resonant sound. The dream power plummeted, vanishing in an instant.
"What happened? The dream power I pulled over this time with the bloodline seal is only this tiny amount... even less than before? Could it be..."
Leilin's expression turned grim in an instant.
[Alert: Drastic decrease in dream power detected. Assessment — onset of the trough period.] The Chip projected the reason directly before Leilin.
"Just my luck. An unreliable, backstabbing variable like this..." Bitter amusement was all that remained on Leilin's face.
Dream power, at its peak, could rival the power of natural law, but it was filled with uncertainty. Now, the weak period had clearly arrived. Dream power at this trough might well be inferior to even ordinary bloodline power.
"I can feel it! The entire Dream World seems to have fallen into hibernation, withdrawing all of its dream power!"
Leilin's expression grew solemn. Through the Devil White Phosphorus Serpent's beast soul and bloodline, he perceived a great deal.
Not only had dream power dropped to its trough, but the Dream World itself had entered a dormant phase, meaning that drawing dream power required far more effort than before — and the yield was even worse!
"As expected, relying on dream power would have been the wrong call. This kind of random, unpredictable pattern is practically designed to screw people over..."
Leilin shook his head. At the same moment, understanding dawned on him: "No wonder the Mother of Serpents performed so poorly today! She was barely matching the true spirit clone of an eighth-tier existence — it turns out the Dream World power was in hibernation and her strength was compromised..."
The weakening of dream power was a double-edged sword for Leilin. The greatest benefit was that the Mother of Serpents clearly could not draw on dream power freely either — effectively cutting off one of her arms.
"In that case! The Dream World entering its dormant phase is, on the whole, more advantage than disadvantage for me!"
Leilin stroked his chin. "Besides, with my existing reserves of chaotic power and this many bloodline seals, even if the cost is a bit higher, I'll still have enough to complete the stockpiling I planned!"
By Leilin's estimation, if one bloodline seal could previously pull over ten units of dream power, now it could only pull one.
That terrifying rate of decline was nothing short of a nightmare for any being that relied on dream power as its foundation!
Even a being at the level of an Evil God, when dream power entered its decline, would have no choice but to hole up inside the Dream World — or even voluntarily fall into slumber to reduce consumption and wait for dream power to recover.
But Leilin, with his ample supply of bloodline seals, could simply expend a few more to make up the difference.
After all, he had harvested a large number of bloodline samples from the Bellinda family last time — more than enough to sustain this level of consumption. And the Devil White Phosphorus Serpent's bloodline was hardly exclusive to that one family.
"Speak of trouble, and trouble arrives!"
Leilin's brow twitched, and he let out a helpless sigh. His right hand swept through the air, and a whirlwind of energy particles materialized immediately, sweeping across the courtyard.
Although he had made preparations beforehand, some energy signatures would inevitably leak out. Leilin certainly was not going to leave such a gaping vulnerability unattended.
After waiting a short while longer, a hazy figure emerged from the moonlight.
"Nick!" The newcomer looked at Leilin, a complicated expression on her face.
Her platinum-blonde hair shimmered with a vibrant luster beneath the moon, and her scarlet pupils gleamed like rubies — the very embodiment of beauty, suffused with a strange, magnetic allure.
"You're here," Leilin greeted casually without turning his head.
"I left a message before, remember?"
Bellinda walked straight up to Leilin, her beautiful eyes locking onto his without the slightest hesitation. "I knew that having outsiders present earlier might cause you trouble, so I snuck over. No one else knows. Was it that disgusting Thomas who's been pressuring you?"
Bellinda was, without question, an exceptionally clever girl. And rightly so — after all, she had been a high-ranking officer in the Eye of Sacrifice, ruthless enough to wage vengeance against her own family. She was no stranger to scheming. And Leilin's transformation had been far too obvious; anyone with eyes could spot the cracks.
"So what if it was?"
Leilin spread his hands. "Inside the Holy City, do we have any other choice?"
"I'll go kill him." Murderous intent coiled around Bellinda's body — she was not bluffing.
"And then what? End up with a Holy City bounty on your heads, truly on the run for the rest of your lives? Grow up."
Leilin's voice was cold and dismissive.
"So what?" Bellinda bit her lip, her eyes glistening with the faintest trace of moisture. "Even if we don't kill him, we can just move out — become mercenaries, take contracts, and manage to live in the Holy City that way..."