The True Lord has arrived

Chapter 290 Mist shrouds Langzhong, Sword in Hand Attendance at the Banquet
The chilling blade slashed down, carrying a murderous intent honed through countless trials. Zhou Yan instinctively tried to grab the Earth Soul Sky-Shattering Beast, but it had already been lost inside the giant dragon turtle's belly and could not be retrieved.

Zhou Yan grabbed a stool next to him, channeled his magic power, and used it to block Shen Cangming's knife.

When Shen Cangming's blade encountered resistance, it instantly changed direction, following the object in Zhou Yan's hand and slashing against Zhou Yan's wrist. The blade's path covered the wrist, neck, and brow. Only when facing him directly did one truly understand how troublesome Shen Cangming was.

Fortunately, Zhou Yan had been disciplined by the Master of War, and his martial arts skills were already outstanding.

Holding two stools, Zhou Yan channeled the innate earth elemental energy he had obtained from Zhongnan Mountain, making the stools as hard as black stone. He finally blocked Shen Cangming's continuous slashes. Zhou Yan's basic swordsmanship was taught by Shen Cangming, so this was a disciple sparring with his master.

When an apprentice attacks his master, he can't break through the master's moves.

The pace of the battle quickened, exploding with layers of cold light that enveloped the surrounding area.

As the two clashed, Zhou Yan glanced left and right, noticing the thick fog and that all his companions were asleep.

...Oh no.

Is this a counterattack from the other side?
Zhou Yan's mind raced—a giant dream array capable of encompassing over 300,000 people in Langzhong was an ultra-large-scale ritual, its power equivalent to a Taoist grand ceremony, which a single Xuan Guan (a high-ranking official) would find difficult to resist.

Even Shen Cangming, Ao Xuantao, and the lion cat entered his dream.

This lion cat is definitely faking its spiritual practice!

As Zhou Yan's mind raced, Shen Cangming's blade slashed down heavily, but stopped abruptly just before reaching Zhou Yan, the blade whistling and a clear, resonant sound spreading out.

Shen Cangming's eyes were still tightly closed; he was still dreaming, but he held a heavy sword in his hand.

Shen Cangming spoke:
"Zhou Yan?"

Zhou Yan felt relieved and asked, "Uncle Shen, are you still conscious?"

Shen Cangming 'opened his eyes'. In Shen Cangming's vision, he was standing on the border of the Tang Dynasty, at the rear of the Anren Army. The military governor, his brothers, and Su Hexuan were all there, and everyone was resisting another invasion by the foreign tribes.

With comrades-in-arms on all sides, the shouts of battle were like a tidal wave.

On this battlefield fraught with danger, Shen Cangming saw nothing but enemies, yet he abruptly stopped his attack: "Am I under an illusion, or some other kind of magic?"

Shen Cangming is still in that dream.

However, his lifelong combat experience, accumulated and sublimated instincts, and direct sensitivity to killing intent allowed Shen Cangming to remain completely unconscious even while in a dreamlike state.

In his eyes, in Zhou Yan's direction was a ferocious and terrifying barbarian with tattoos on his body and wearing half-body heavy armor. He looked extremely bloody, but Shen Cangming did not sense any real killing intent. Instead, he vaguely felt a sense of familiarity.

Zhou Yan reached out and placed his hand on Shen Cangming's shoulder.

The Primordial Dao Foundation circulated, attempting to communicate with Shen Cangming at the level of the divine soul:

“It’s me, Uncle Shen.”

"So what happened?"

Shen Cangming's voice was calm: "After you investigated with your avatar, fog suddenly rose, and then I returned to the battlefield. I sensed something was wrong and was not pulled into the dream."

Shen Cangming's response was somewhat ethereal and uncertain, yet it carried a strong stench of blood, as if he were standing amidst mountains of corpses and seas of blood, struggling to convey his message.

Zhou Yan noticed that all of his teammates were asleep.

The same mist as when they encountered Luffy was spreading all around them.

This special fog, combined with the local formations of Langzhong, blurred the line between life and death, and attracted and bred many monsters. Originally, the people were pulled into a dream, and their souls and bodies were separated, which was a great danger. Under such circumstances, it was difficult to deal with the dangers from the outside world.

However, everyone here was safe and sound, and each person was well protected, including Zhou Yan himself, who had just used his incarnation technique to defeat the enemy.

Instead, many monsters fell to the ground around them.

Suddenly——

With his eyes closed and his soul lost in a dream, Shen Cangming suddenly stepped forward, his body taut like a bowstring. He slashed out with his horizontal sword, and a burst of blazing flames rose up, swirling like a vortex and killing a man who approached him.

When the man's body flew out, it turned into a skeleton and scattered.

The surrounding area was filled with corpses like these!
Even when Shen Cangming was trapped in a dream and his senses were distorted, he still protected everyone.

Shen Cangming's knife was pressed against the ground.

"My five senses have been distorted."

"However, the sense of impending doom remains."

"As long as I stand, no one can threaten you."

What happened on your end?

Shen Cangming closed his eyes. The tall man was no longer as unkempt as before. He was wearing a Taoist martial arts outfit with cloud patterns on the hem. His curly black hair was simply tied with a straw rope. His eyes were closed and the blade was pressed against the ground.

Having taken the beacon tower as his initial path to becoming a Xuan Guan (a high-ranking official), and after experiencing countless battles, he gained a profound understanding of the way of killing intent. At this moment, Shen Cangming is stripping away his five senses and using his killing intent to create ripples that spread left and right, enveloping a ten-zhang radius around himself.

Shen Cangming's killing intent dissipated and spread outwards in a steady manner.

If another entity with murderous intent were to enter within these ten zhang, the incoming killing intent would be like another river crashing into Shen Cangming's killing aura domain, creating ripples that would naturally prompt Shen Cangming to draw his sword and kill the enemy.

Shen Cangming had demonstrated such methods before, but Zhou Yan only realized now that this was clearly the prototype of the [Dharma Realm]. Although it was still extremely far from the true Dharma Realm, it had already formed a system in terms of sensing and counterattack.

Even a rudimentary Dharma realm is sufficient to handle the vast majority of crises.

Zhou Yan quickly recounted the events.

Although he couldn't help Shen Cangming break through the dream using his own Dao foundation, he could still transmit the message. Shen Cangming asked, "How are the others, Zhou Yan?"

"Not very good."

Zhou Yan's gaze swept over the crowd.

Li Zhenyue gripped his shield tightly, his face taut like a mountain, remaining silent. Xu Zhilan hugged herself tightly, murmuring, "Teacher, teacher, save me. I don't want to become the water god's wife."

"I don't want to, I don't want to..."

Ao Xuantao knelt on the ground, struggling and growling, "No, Jinghe River, Dragon Clan!"

"How...could that be..."

Consort Shen seemed to be mired in the night she was abandoned, panicked and, like Xu Zhilan, tightly hugging herself. Zhou Yan immediately understood that the formation placed here was definitely not a simple dream, but a nightmare-like existence.

It represents the deepest fears, resentments, and pain in everyone's heart.

Thus, Xu Zhilan and Consort Shen are both immersed in the sorrow of the past; Ao Xuantao struggles with the destruction of his family and the old affairs of the Dragon Clan, while Li Zhenyue and Shen Cangming are left on the endless battlefield.

In this situation, three guys were absolutely overjoyed.

"Ha ha ha ha!"

"Medicinal herbs, countless medicinal herbs, hehehe, don't run away, don't run away! Good medicinal herbs, three thousand-year-old Xuanxue Ginseng, five hundred-year-old Lingzhi, eight hundred-year-old Huangjing, hehehe, they're all mine, they're all mine."

"I will refine you all into elixirs and then distribute them to the people." "To heal the sick and save lives."

"What terminal illness? Get out of my sight! Then I can be on par with my grandmaster."

"Hehe, don't run away..."

Xuan Zhuzi hugged his medicine pouch, drool dripping down his face.

"I want to save the young lady of a noble family and become her son-in-law."

"Inherit the family business, and, and also, his sister-in-law..."

"Then, I opened a porridge shop and distributed medicine to relieve the people, hehe..."

Zhou Yan: "…………"

Zhou Yan was helpless:

"I don't know if you're a good guy or just ridiculous."

"The left and right brains don't fight each other like this."

"No wonder the Medicine King Master took you as his grand-disciple and then put you in the Taoist sect to be raised..."

He picked up the black pearl.

Pei Xuan Niao gripped the knife in one hand, struggling and roaring, "Pei Xuan Bao!"

"I am going to kill you!"

Are you indulging in your own desires and the things you are most unwilling to accept?

Zhou Yan thought to himself.

Pei Xuan Niao truly values ​​his family's reputation and the prestige of his aristocratic clan. However, although this child is a bit arrogant, he also has a pure heart.

But at this very moment, the furious Pei Xuan Niao suddenly panicked.

"Ah, you, don't come any closer!"

"Zhou Yan!"

"I... I'm broke! Don't come any closer! Don't steal my purse! No, no... Ah! Big Black's bean cakes are all gone! How could you steal Big Black's bean cakes..."

Zhou Yan: "..."

"What do I look like in this kid's eyes?"

Amidst Xuan Zhuzi's frantic air-gathering of herbs and Pei Xuan Niao's constant clutching of his money pouch, stood a white jade lion cat, upright, paws outstretched, as if embracing the vast sky: "Meow meow meow!!!"

"My little balls, you're back!"

"Come back, everything I have, my sky, my earth."

"From today onwards, I will be completely myself, and I will lack nothing, meow."

Zhou Yan couldn't hold back any longer. He raised his hand and delivered three clean and decisive hand strikes. Pei Xuan Niao, Xuan Zhu Zi, and the Lion Cat all fainted without a sound. Zhou Yan shook his hand, and a layer of yin-yang aura spread out from his palm.

With that one swift chop, those three guys fell into a deep sleep, their very souls and spirits gone.

The little fox, Lingxi, slept soundly, curled up in a ball, its fluffy tail completely covering itself. What worried Zhou Yan was Li Zhiwei and Li Pingyang. The latter, in sword spirit form, had returned directly to the sword. Li Zhiwei, on the other hand, sat quietly with her eyes lowered, showing no reaction.

"Everyone has entered a dream..."

"I wonder where Kaiming has gone again."

Zhou Yan opened his eyes, and two clusters of golden flames ignited in them. He broke through the layers of mist in front of him, but the mist seemed to be boundless, and it became denser the further out he went.

Several miles away, it was difficult to see with the naked eye, surging like mountains and rivers.

Looking back, the fog in Langzhong City had gradually dissipated, and it looked extremely peaceful.

They should disregard everything and break through the fog to transport everyone out first, then use their incarnation to return safely, or turn back and head to Langzhong City for the time being. The former requires immediate risk, as currently, besides Zhou Yan himself, only Shen Cangming still has the fighting power.

This array of mist is powerful enough to pull hundreds of thousands of people into their dreams.

Among the hidden enemies are demon gods of the level of the Primordial Dragon Turtle.

Even if they manage to break through, there will inevitably be casualties. Zhou Yan himself is strong enough to protect himself—he possesses a top-tier inheritance, profound martial arts skills, and great supernatural powers. He may not be invincible in this world, but killing him is much more difficult than defeating him.

Xu Zhilan, Shen Fei, Xuan Zhuzi who is good at alchemy, Pei Xuan Niao, and Li Zhiwei, who are almost just ordinary people, will inevitably remain forever in the mist and in dreams.

Moreover, there are ordinary people who are also lost in their dreams.

If you turn back, you can go to Langzhong.

This means that he and everyone else would be willingly thrown into the ultimate danger set by the enemy, which could either break through the core crisis or lead to the annihilation of the entire army.

This time, it's not an avatar, but the real body.

Even Zhou Yan's true form was no match for the Primordial Dragon Turtle—one would inevitably have companions die in the mist array and fall into eternal slumber, while he himself would most likely be able to escape.

One option is to proactively delve into the core, taking on the possibility and responsibility for the total annihilation of the entire army, even if it means that he himself might perish completely in this crisis.

Everyone has a sense of self-preservation, and Zhou Yan was no exception. He naturally had a faint feeling in his heart that he wanted to retreat. With his own strength, he was capable of protecting himself in this era. His rationality made him understand that Langzhong Ancient City itself was one of the points of Yin and Yang circulation.

But the instinct of the living is to try to stay away from danger.

Zhou Yan remained silent for a long time before saying, "Uncle Shen."

Shen Cangming, holding the knife, asked, "Hmm?"

Zhou Yan withdrew his gaze from the thick fog and looked at the peaceful and serene ancient city of Langzhong. He knew that it was the most dangerous place, and also the only place where he might be able to break the deadlock. The terror brought by the ancient dragon turtle was still there.

Zhou Yan's lips curled up little by little as he spoke, each word deliberate and deliberate:
"Let's enter the city."

Since there is an enemy inviting us, let's block the way with fog.

So how could we not keep our appointment?

Friends, comrades.

The common people, all kinds of people.

I will save them all!

The prefect exhaled, his eyes sweeping across the mist, where the shadowy figures of monsters appeared. Zhou Yan gripped his sword, standing in front of the crowd, his voice softening as he whispered, "Uncle Shen, follow me."

Heaven and earth sing a mournful song, yet we proceed with magnanimity and slowness!
(End of this chapter)