A Psychiatrist's Bizarre Game Journey / Dream of the Mist

Long Aotian got up from the ground, unable to help but fall into a state of existential doubt. "Could it be that we've been buffed? The second wave is already this much harder? I guess I'll barely make it to the third wave... I guess I should just kill all the other players to improve my ranking..."

Indeed, Zhou Ke'er nodded upon hearing this. Their strength had increased significantly compared to the first wave, almost several times over. If the other players who came out to fight later were to underestimate these monsters like Long Aotian, many of them would likely be caught off guard and killed.

It's a pity we missed the first and most likely opportunity to penetrate deep into enemy territory eighteen years ago. It seems we can only wait and see if we can break through when the fighting starts and the monsters' formation is disrupted...

But... just then, an indescribable call, seemingly rising from the depths of her soul, suddenly came from somewhere among the vast horde of monsters, urging Zhou Ke'er to hurry over there.

Under this sudden stimulation, Zhou Ke'er's right eye instantly turned dark and black without warning. Countless thick black mists surged directly from her eye socket, like burning black flames, trembling and shaking wildly in Zhou Ke'er's right eye.

A distorted piece of ancient Chinese script suddenly appeared in Zhou Ke'er's mind, as if it had been forcibly engraved there by someone.

“I have often heard that it is not people who are diligent in seeking knowledge, but rather those who are knowledgeable who are diligent in seeking others. However, I know this is wrong. Those who are knowledgeable are not seeking others, but rather chasing after others. They are ruthless and heartless, like hawks and hounds chasing rabbits.”

[Note: I've heard that it's not people who are constantly pursuing knowledge, but rather knowledge that is constantly pursuing people. But I know that's wrong. Knowledge doesn't pursue people; it chases them. Its pursuit is cruel and emotionless, like a falcon and hound hunting a rabbit.]

It was as if countless eerie murmurs were chanting this passage in unison in Zhou Ke'er's mind. Although it was a jumble of languages ​​that she had never heard before, after all the sounds were mixed together, she could still hear the meaning contained within the chaos.

In this state, Zhou Ke'er's mind was both chaotic and unusually sharp. He quickly realized the consequences of absorbing the strange phenomena without restraint in a short period of time. The residue left after he absorbed them did not disappear without a trace, but rather merged into the strange phenomena within his own soul.

This caused the strangeness that was already present in his soul to gradually expand, encroaching upon and devouring the rest of his soul.

One consequence of this is that Zhou Ke'er is increasingly inclined to change in a bizarre direction, and she seems to have developed a faint connection with some indescribable things, even being able to hear their murmurs and calls.

Honghe, who was standing next to Zhou Ke'er, quickly noticed that something was wrong with him. He frowned almost imperceptibly and subconsciously wanted to get closer to see what kind of trouble Zhou Ke'er was up to.

But as he got closer, he heard a low, eerie, and chaotic murmur emanating from his mouth. Upon hearing it, the flamingo instinctively took several steps back, feeling an unsettling chill run down his spine, as if he were terrified of the murmur deep within his soul.

A gigantic phantom of the Grim Reaper's scythe instantly appeared in her hand. She could sense that these whispers were an evil even deeper than the strange things in the city...

"Back off! Get away from Zhou Ke'er!"

Fortunately, Honghe was always very calm, and even under such circumstances, she was still able to spare the energy to remind Long Aotian and Long Aojiao.

She figured Zhou Ke'er wouldn't have deliberately caused such a mess by using something so extremely dangerous on his companion... Clearly, he himself had inexplicably gotten himself into some kind of trouble. Unfortunately, Red Crane couldn't help him; she could only try to prevent the trouble from escalating.

Without Honghe's reminder, Long Aotian had already dragged Long Aojiao back a considerable distance. Extremely sensitive to danger, the moment black mist appeared in Zhou Ke'er's eyes, before he even understood what was happening, his body had already instinctively acted on its own.

Zhou Ke'er had no time to pay attention to the others around her. Instead, she moved slowly yet quickly towards the monster group, like a puppet being pulled by something.

As expected, the monsters did not retaliate. Instead, as if Moses had parted the sea, the monsters in front of Zhou Ke'er parted to the sides, making way for a path that only allowed one person to pass.

Red Crane tried to follow Zhou Ke'er down the path, but as soon as she got close, she was knocked away by the monsters on the outside and slammed hard to the ground—the force was even greater than when she attacked Long Aotian.

Only Long Aotian and Long Aojiao remained, looking at each other as Zhou Ke'er's figure slowly disappeared into the monster horde.

## Chapter 438, Section 433: The Mysterious Monarch's Seven-Chapter Secret Scripture

Unable to control himself, Zhou Ke'er walked toward a direction that was calling to him, and the closer he got, the more he felt a strange, almost boiling, energy coursing through his body.

The monsters seemed to submit to something, making no attempt to stop Zhou Ke'er, and instead automatically made way for her.

Just like... something chose Zhou Ke'er, and that being's command was something these monsters could not disobey.

"It dwells nowhere, yet forms and objects manifest themselves; its movement is like water, its stillness like a mirror, its response like an echo; it is elusive as if vanished, silent as if clear; those who are in harmony with it are harmonious, those who gain it lose it; it has never been ahead of others, but has always followed them..."

Countless sounds intertwined and roared in Zhou Ke'er's mind, constantly chanting some inexplicable words.

When he finally arrived at the place that had called him, he saw only an ancient bamboo scroll placed alone on a building that resembled an altar.

But with Zhou Ke'er's current confused mind, she couldn't possibly understand why there would be an altar in such a place? And such a huge altar at that, how could it possibly fit in a monster formation?

Furthermore, if such a large altar really exists here, why wasn't it discovered during the first wave, or even when we first arrived outside the monster formation?

Moreover... just as he stepped onto the altar, all the monsters around him seemed to vanish without a trace, leaving only him and that bamboo scroll.

The moment Zhou Ke'er saw the bamboo scroll, he felt an absolute resistance and dread, but he could not resist the call of the bamboo scroll—it was not that he was being led, but that the evil within his soul was being called and pulled.

When he arrived at the altar, and uncontrollably stretched out his trembling hand to unfold the scroll of bamboo slips...

He discovered that the bamboo scroll was not long; in fact, once unfolded, one could hold the edge with both hands and look at it directly in front of their eyes. It was at most half the length of a table.

But... the characters on the bamboo slips kept flashing and jumping, countless ink marks gathered and scattered, twisting and swirling, like a bizarre and fantastical ukiyo-e painting.

Finally, the ink marks gathered together, as if someone had used a brush to write a few powerful characters on it:

"The Seven Chapters of the Mysterious Monarch's Secret Scripture"

Volume One: Immortal Sand Resurrection Talisman

Volume Two: The Record of Longevity Through the Meat Fungus

Volume Three: The Talisman for Subduing Demons and Ghosts

Volume Four: Earthly Dipper Summoning and Examination Records

Volume Five: The Record of Taiyin Corpse Dissolution and Metamorphosis

Volume Six: The Record of Ascending to the Mysterious Realm of Contemplation

Volume Seven: The Holy Mandate of the Righteous One.

(Of course, the original text did not have punctuation.)

The words lasted only a few seconds before collapsing instantly, then began to meander and twist, rapidly spreading from the bamboo slip to Zhou Ke'er's hand that touched it.

Immediately afterward, as countless ink stains rushed onto Zhou Ke'er's body, the bamboo scroll quickly lost its luster and even began to turn gray and decay. Logically speaking, a bamboo scroll that had been killed shouldn't have decayed like this, but it seemed that its fundamental vitality, or rather, its "existence," was being gradually erased as these ink stains disappeared.

They surged wildly into Zhou Ke'er's dark right eye. It wasn't that Zhou Ke'er deliberately absorbed them, but rather that they seemed to know that Zhou Ke'er's right eye could absorb evil, and deliberately amplified this absorption function from the outside in some way.

However, this dose of evil was far too much for Zhou Ke'er, even more than the giant monster that had just hung him up and beaten—it was several times more than that. As for how many times, it might be two or three times, or it might be hundreds of times. In any case, it was a dose that Zhou Ke'er could not withstand, so the exact amount was meaningless to him.

His biggest problem now is... Originally, when he was absorbing the evil energy of that great monster, he could automatically stop absorbing it if he could hold on, but now... it's beyond his control. This evil energy is frantically drilling into Zhou Ke'er's body. Originally, only a small portion had just entered, which was enough to completely fill Zhou Ke'er, but the remaining 99.99% is still pouring in relentlessly.

This is like a balloon that's already inflated but keeps being pumped in, expanding beyond its safe capacity until...

"boom!"

explosion.

At a certain point, Zhou Ke'er suddenly felt as if something inside her body had exploded—it was the source of alienation.

Originally a core within Zhou Ke'er's body that bore the evil spiritual power, the Source of Transformation had now exploded under the strain, and the evil contained within it was rampaging through Zhou Ke'er's body, constantly washing over every corner of her body.

However, as the container that originally contained the evil broke, the speed at which the evil poured in did not slow down, but instead became even faster.

"no!"

Zhou Ke'er's chaotic thoughts raced: if these evil beings were allowed to continue like this, he would soon cease to be human and become a pure humanoid evil being!

This is no joke. If it were just a change of character type in the game, Zhou Ke'er wouldn't care much... but the problem is that these evil influences not only affect the body, but also... something mysterious and elusive, the soul.

Zhou Ke'er was quite certain that the changes the game caused to a player's soul would also occur in reality. He had already witnessed this before.

In fact, those people who recently got sick and were hospitalized after playing games may not have physical illnesses, but rather their souls have been corrupted, which is why they initially showed symptoms similar to mental illness.

The only thing we can do is see if death can stop this situation.

The Death Fang instantly appeared in Zhou Ke'er's left hand. He used all his strength to raise his left hand and plunge it fiercely into his own throat.

"Pfft"

But no blood gushed out.

As if air had leaked out, countless black mists roared and were squeezed out from the pierced throat.

The evil creature began to howl wildly, and countless black mists surged out again, covering the wound in Zhou Ke'er's throat. The wound began to heal instantly at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"When the Way of the Nine Truths is completed, the Niwan (upper dantian) will be sealed, the eyes will remain forever, the five internal organs will regenerate, and the blood vessels will be preserved. If one temporarily enters the Taiyin Body and passes through the Three Officials, then the Nine Truths will summon the soul, Taiyi will guard the body, the Three Primal Elements will protect the Qi, and Taishang will gather the soul. The bones and flesh will not decay, the five internal organs will not perish, one can die and be born, one can be Yin and Yang, one can emerge from the void and enter nothingness, and one will be born together with Heaven and Earth!"

"This is the path to immortality through corpse liberation! Why resist?!"

Those eerie voices echoed in Zhou Ke'er's mind again, seemingly filled with great incomprehension, as if they couldn't believe that anyone would refuse such a situation.

Zhou Ke'er was too lazy to argue with it, since it couldn't even speak right now anyway.

Now, there is only one way left for him—to consume almost all of these massive amounts of evil energy, compressing it to a level that he can barely bear.

So... as if subconsciously, Zhou Ke'er used her rudimentary knowledge of manipulating spiritual power to gather the continuous stream of evil energy in her hand, squeeze it into a sphere, and then suddenly launch it out, looking like a phantom cannon or something.

## Chapter 439, Section 434. Always Trying to Make a Big News

"Boom! Boom!"

A series of explosions rang out around Zhou Ke'er—because he was continuously throwing out spherical objects formed from evil energy.

Under such repeated attacks, the entire altar instantly became illusory, almost like a hallucination. The space seemed to ripple, distorting and gradually becoming transparent. Having already lost its energy source after the bamboo slips were removed, the altar was now naturally on the verge of collapse under this barrage of attacks.

However... although these attacks did seem extremely powerful, in reality, they were nothing more than a drop in the ocean compared to the almost endless evil within Zhou Ke'er's body.

After all, the evil energy that Zhou Ke'er could gather and blast away had to be something he could control, or at least something neutral and obedient. But most of the evil energy in his body was currently uncontrollable, rampaging everywhere, and even under the control of some kind of "being." It was even more difficult for Zhou Ke'er to take control of the evil energy in his own body.

Not to mention... those countless noisy sounds were still whispering in Zhou Ke'er's ears, echoing and lingering endlessly.

That being seemed utterly astonished that Zhou Ke'er would actually resist accepting it; its surprise was palpable.

Zhou Ke'er's chaotic thoughts were being pulled by a certain being, forced to watch countless indescribable words and languages, which, in the eyes of that being, were supreme wonders that captivated and enchanted people.

Just then, as if giving a warning, or as if trying to remind Zhou Ke'er of something, the Time and Space God's Divine Spark within him, which had been silent until now, suddenly began to tremble violently, as if trying to convey some information to Zhou Ke'er.

Zhou Ke'er subconsciously received this fluctuation...

Volume Five: The Record of Taiyin Corpse Dissolution and Metamorphosis!

Taiyin Corpse Dissolution and Metamorphosis Record!

This intense reminder repeated itself over and over, similarly compelling Zhou Ke'er to look at the strange text etched in his mind.

Gradually, from those distorted, eerie characters, from behind them, he saw the darkness beneath the deep sea, endless tentacles spreading rampantly—but this was only for a moment, and soon another scene appeared: something indistinguishable to humans. They were slowly moving through various angles. They had no bodies, and they were moving slowly from different angles…

Strange smoke inexplicably billowed from around the corner, then their heads emerged from it, their extremely long, fluorescent blue hollow straws waving wildly like tongues, before their bodies finally appeared in full. At first, they had gleaming eyes and crossed jaws, like wolves, but as they moved, their appearance changed rapidly and unpredictably.

Then, after these eerie creatures finally disappeared... Zhou Ke'er saw time and space—no, not a concrete thing, not seeing a scene and thinking it was time or space, but a "concept" of "time and space." Or perhaps "seeing" isn't quite accurate; more precisely, she "observed" it.

The true nature of time and space seemed to be revealed before Zhou Ke'er's eyes, like a bottomless black hole, beginning to devour her consciousness.

Zhou Ke'er began to forget, but was she forgetting the strange knowledge that had just surfaced, or was she forgetting herself?

But he no longer had the energy to think further. As if by instinct, he poured an endless stream of malevolent energy into his Time-Space Godhead, and then, according to the origins of time and space—no, don't ask him how he operated or understood it, because he himself had no idea—he simply allowed a near-chaotic intuition to guide him. While observing time and space, and simultaneously being swallowed by it, he used his incomplete Time-Space Godhead to initiate a time reversal.

With countless malevolent influences, time, like the flowing light of a rainbow, revealed its true form—mystical and bizarre, breathtakingly beautiful. It flowed forward, like water spilled from a basin returning to its source.

The scenery around Zhou Ke'er receded, as if he were watching a bizarre silent film. He stepped away from the altar, feeling himself walking backward.

The monsters in front of him were gathering, just like Zhou Ke'er was the zipper of the monster pile's outfit. As he retreated, the monsters' formation began to return to normal.