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

To be honest, Zhou Ke'er had her doubts about this matter. This might stem from her distrust of the Dream Realm—who knows, this might just be a staged drama orchestrated by the Exorcist Organization itself.

It's also possible that the guy deliberately let Zhou Ke'er and the others go, so that Ming Mengjing could legitimately infiltrate Zhou Ke'er's side—after all, Zhou Ke'er herself really didn't believe that a purple-level exorcist could be so stupid.

Besides... who knows if Ming Mengjing's explanation was true or not? Maybe he was just taking advantage of Zhou Ke'er's lack of knowledge about these things and deliberately lying to her?

If that's the case, then we need to consider what her true purpose is.

“I don’t know either. I just told them the information you asked me to give to your superiors. Then, out of the blue, they asked me where I was. I had no idea they were after me, so I answered instinctively.”

Ming Mengjing frowned and replied, "The problem now is that I don't know if this is a decision made by just one high-ranking official or a unanimous decision by all high-ranking officials. I initially thought it was just a decision made by the high-ranking official I contacted, but after I sought help from other high-ranking officials, although they all said they would send people to support us immediately and stop that high-ranking official... as you've seen, nothing of their promises has materialized. If it weren't for your support, I estimate I would already be dead at that guy's hands."

"Hesitant. So what are you planning to do next?"

Zhou Ke'er shrugged, thinking to herself: As long as she doesn't come back with me, that's fine. I'm just afraid she'll cause some trouble once she gets to my house.

"What do you mean I should prepare to do something? You're the one who asked me to do this, and now I'm in this mess... No matter how you look at it, you should be responsible for protecting me and cleaning up the mess!"

Ming Mengjing stared wide-eyed at Zhou Ke'er, never expecting that this guy would be so eager to get rid of her, which was truly outrageous.

"How can I protect you? You're a dignified Azure-Rank Exorcist, while I'm just a nobody without a rank! You should be the one protecting me. But I don't need your protection, so..."

Zhou Ke'er shrugged and shamelessly uttered the most despicable words: "Fine, actually I just don't want you to come with me. What do you suggest we do?"

## Chapter 512, Section 507: The Sequel

Although Zhou Ke'er had clearly told Ming Mengjing to climb quickly, she didn't expect that this guy would actually become shameless and insist on following Zhou Ke'er, saying that it was all his fault and that he had to take responsibility.

Fortunately, Zhou Ke'er's parents didn't hear him say that, otherwise he would have simply vanished into thin air.

As it turns out, Zhou Ke'er is actually kind-hearted despite her cold exterior, and she's too easily swayed. In the end, she agreed to let Ming Mengjing stay with her for the time being.

However, this would likely lead to her encountering exorcists who were hunting her down, and if a fight broke out, it would be extremely dangerous. Naturally, Zhou Ke'er would not take her back to the Zhou family.

So Zhou Ke'er told her to find a place to wait not far away, and if she encountered danger again so soon, she could call him again.

He didn't care whether the old men in his family were ready or not; he just wanted to go find them now and have them finish telling him what they wanted to say.

So now Zhou Ke'er is sitting in a chair, facing a group of old men from the Zhou family.

Although she could never distinguish the generations or recognize the people in her own family, since the relationships were too complicated and Zhou Ke'er didn't have many opportunities to interact with them, she always maintained a show of respect outwardly because she respected the elderly and cared for the young. So she waited patiently for them to start speaking.

The elderly men in front, whose lineage was unclear—whether they were Zhou Ke'er's grandfather or great-grandfather—exchanged glances and then took out some odds and ends from a cabinet.

Zhou Ke'er glanced around and found all sorts of strange things inside, such as ancient books that looked very old, small stones that emitted a faint glow, and broken swords with only the hilt remaining...

Good grief, are they planning to teach Zhou Ke'er how to cultivate immortality? This is so relatable.

But... if you're going to teach her, why didn't you teach her earlier? Now Zhou Ke'er has completely misplaced her talent points, putting them all into the evil aspect. How can she possibly practice this stuff?

Regardless, they should all know about supernatural things; there's no reason for them to teach Zhou Ke'er this after she joined the exorcists...

Furthermore, to be honest, Zhou Ke'er didn't sense any spiritual energy from them. And if they had cultivated, they wouldn't have aged so much.

Then the old man at the head of the group waved his hand, signaling Zhou Ke'er to step forward.

Zhou Ke'er blinked, momentarily unable to recall the old man's identity. After all... she didn't seem to have met him before. So she could only feign a very reserved demeanor, remaining silent and simply stepping forward with a slightly apprehensive expression, nodding slightly and bowing her head—otherwise, it would be embarrassing to call the wrong person.

"Now that you've joined the Exorcists, you must know something about the Old Era, right? Our family is one of the survivors of that catastrophe, and all of these things in front of you are things that our family has been keeping, passed down from the Old Era."

The old man slowly spoke, “According to the legends passed down in our family, our ancestor… well, it’s not so much an ancestor as an ancestor, but rather an ancestor from the era of the final war of the old era. He was a powerful cultivator. Even after humanity’s battle to protect its own survival was completely defeated, he still found a place to hide and protected his few remaining family members until he persevered.”

Zhou Ke'er narrowed his eyes. The first sentence puzzled him. So joining the Exorcists would make him know about the final battle of the Old Era? But why had no one told him? All the information he knew about the Old Era was gathered by himself.

Did the Exorcists never trust him from the beginning? Or... was it not that they didn't trust "him," but rather that they didn't trust the "Zhou family"?

As for what they said afterward...

Judging from their current state, it's clear that no matter how powerful their ancestors were, they probably didn't pass down anything.

"actually..."

One of the elders pondered for a moment before slowly speaking, "Logically speaking, for some reason, no one in our family has ever been an exorcist. We inquired with the exorcist organization about the reason and learned that... none of the families we've intermarried with have the 'evil' within them that serves as a source of power for exorcists. When we first heard that you had joined the exorcists, we quickly investigated your... well, your background, and confirmed that you were indeed from our family before we felt comfortable letting you come here."

Good heavens, so she thought Zhou Ke'er wasn't a member of the Zhou family and even went to get a genetic test, huh? Good heavens, truly good heavens.

Zhou Ke'er didn't know what to say.

"Since you are an extremely rare exception and have become an exorcist, we are prepared to give you one or more of these inherited items. At the same time, you must answer our questions truthfully and swear that you will never betray our family."

The elderly man at the head of the group said with a serious expression.

Zhou Ke'er got goosebumps. Good heavens, betraying the family? So there really are these kinds of elderly people with delusions of grandeur in the family? What if they end up telling him that they're just a bunch of delusional people fantasizing about restoring their ancestors' glory, but actually have no real skills?

They even answered the questions truthfully... Telling them some things might put them in danger too. It seems they have little ability to protect themselves.

Furthermore... as for these so-called inherited items... I haven't seen any recorded in ancient books, so I won't comment on them. As for the other scattered items, they are either basically devoid of spiritual power or have only a very small amount of remnants left, making them completely useless—they are far inferior to the Taijia Dingguang Sword that Xu Qingming brought to show him before.

To be honest, I'm a little disappointed.

Well, they are elders after all. If they want to play, then Zhou Ke'er can only satisfy them.

With a sigh, Zhou Ke'er nodded in agreement with their statement.

According to his prediction, their first question would probably be how he acquired the power to become an exorcist.

There's no need to guess.

It is human nature to want to gain power.

But Zhou Ke'er pondered... even if they really had a way to implant this evil entity into their bodies, they wouldn't be able to withstand it, right? They'd probably just turn into mindless monsters.

Forget it, I'll just use some rudimentary Qi cultivation techniques to appease them.

Sure enough, the next second the leading elder spoke up and asked, "My first question is, how did you obtain this power? Is there a way for others to obtain it as well?"

## Chapter 513, Question 508: The waters here are too deep; you can't handle it.

Zhou Ke'er narrowed her eyes, but then just sighed silently in her heart—what could she do?

These old men weren't coercing or bribing him, their positions weren't opposing, and besides, they were all family... so he didn't need to hide anything from them.

Besides, these old men have known since childhood that there are all kinds of supernatural powers in the world, but in the end they can't even possess or control a single one of them.

In a sense, it's quite tragic. Zhou Ke'er is probably just trying to appease her elders.

"Phew... I'm going to tell you something next, but don't be afraid."

Zhou Ke'er frowned and spoke to the old men in front of her in a serious and solemn manner.

Upon hearing this, the old men exchanged glances for a while, their expressions gradually becoming serious. They then nodded to Zhou Ke'er, holding their breath and waiting for her to continue: "We've eaten more salt than you've eaten rice. If you're not afraid, why should we be? Speak up."

You guys have pretty salty tastes, huh?

"Actually, you might not believe it, but this is how it is."

Zhou Ke'er, as if she were telling the truth, recounted to the old men: "One day I was sleeping soundly, and suddenly! I vaguely dreamed of a man with white hair and beard, but who didn't look very old, with a profound and dignified air, standing in front of me."

"A dream! This is a dream?"

"Could it be that our ancestors have manifested themselves? Is it trying to pass down the lost art of cultivation?"

"I see, this is truly a great blessing for our family! In this way, our lineage can finally be preserved..."

Upon hearing Zhou Ke'er's words, the group of old men erupted like a pot boiling over. They immediately gathered together and began whispering, and all the incredibly childish things they said reached Zhou Ke'er's ears precisely, giving her goosebumps.

Wow, even though you're so old, you still have a childlike heart, huh?

Zhou Ke'er's lips twitched, she coughed to signal them to be quiet, and then continued, "I asked him who he was, but he didn't answer me. He just taught me a few cultivation methods. I didn't believe it at first, thinking I was just dreaming, but I didn't expect that after practicing them casually, they would actually work..."

"so..."

Immediately, everyone looked at Zhou Ke'er with expectant eyes.

"Ahem, although that man didn't say whether it could be spread, I think... it shouldn't matter. After all, we're all family, and since the elders have made the request, the juniors should naturally comply."

Zhou Ke'er, in a spirited manner, asked, "Should I directly tell you how to breathe in spiritual energy, or should I write down the cultivation method and let you study it yourselves?"

The elder at the head of the group pondered for a moment and then quickly made a decision: "In that case, let's record the technique. This way, we won't make mistakes in teaching it, and it can be passed down to future generations."

Zhou Ke'er's lips twitched slightly—passing it down is out of the question. Treating such a basic breathing technique as a family heirloom just seems too strange no matter how you look at it.

Soon, Zhou Ke'er memorized a widely applicable breathing technique from "Two or Three". Because the text was not long, she finished writing it in less than half an hour.

"Um... is there anything else?"

Seeing that the old men were all eagerly looking at the booklet and were quite engrossed in it, Zhou Ke'er waited for a while and couldn't help but ask.

"Oh, okay, here are the things we just took out. Take whatever you want, just don't take them all."

The old man in the lead finally managed to tear his gaze away from the booklet and said to Zhou Ke'er, "Oh, by the way, I remember you've joined the Exorcists now, right? Who's in charge of the production line that supplies the Exorcists with their exorcism tools? It should be Zhou Nasen... How about we put that in your hands too?"

"No, no, no, let him do it. He's excellent at managing things, and it's a perfect fit for his profession. I'm not up to it."

Zhou Ke'er quickly refused. "Are you kidding me? You actually want me to work? Absolutely not!"

As for that pile of things that were of no use to Zhou Ke'er, she casually picked up the broken sword with only the hilt left, said goodbye to the old men, and then ran away.

Not long after Zhou Ke'er left, unbeknownst to him... he saw the group of old men put down the booklet and return to their seats. Suddenly, they seemed much younger, completely devoid of their previous weariness, and chattered amongst themselves as if they were gathered together.

"This breathing technique is indeed a breathing technique, and it can definitely be learned without any major problems."

"Even so, this breathing technique is really bad. It has a rushed feel to it, so it definitely wasn't taught to him in a dream."

"That's right. It makes sense that they found this among some items left over from the final battle of the old era. After all, back then, this level of breathing technique was indeed needed to accelerate the formation of combat power that could be effective."

"Of course. Besides, your perception isn't very strong, so you might not have noticed yet. I could tell at a glance that this little brat doesn't have a single bit of spiritual power on him. He's not cultivating immortality at all; he's just full of evil. When he came in, I was startled and thought some kind of great monster had infiltrated this place."

"Why didn't you say so sooner? This Xieyi thing is too complicated. I was afraid he wouldn't be able to handle it! If something goes wrong, then the key to breaking this deadlock will be in jeopardy."

"How dare you say that? Why didn't I say so sooner? It's as if you can control the evil spirits."

"Uncle can't control it... Uncle can't control it either."

"Isn't that it? None of us have had any in-depth contact with that evil stuff, we might not even know as much as that little brat. Let's not add to the trouble, children and grandchildren have their own blessings."

......

Leaving aside the discussion among the Zhou family elders, Zhou Ke'er hurriedly said goodbye to her family and ran off to find Ming Mengjing.

It wasn't that I was worried about Ming Mengjing's safety, but rather that if she encountered danger, she might panic and run towards the Zhou family. Wouldn't that put them in danger as well?

That won't do. We need to get her away from here quickly, so that even if a fight breaks out, we won't be too restrained.

After leaving the Zhou family home, Zhou Ke'er made a phone call to Ming Mengjing while driving, and the other end answered immediately.