# 307
Chapter 307 – Hunting Yiyu
Black crows wheeled overhead, shrieking.
Lin Qiye picked his way along a crumbling alley, stepped out from between two low houses, and sighed when he saw the figure crouched in the open space.
“You’ve broken into my dream again,” he said quietly.
Wu “Old Dog,” still in his hospital gown, didn’t turn. He stared at a sword-scar gouged into the ground, as though watching some scene play out across it; cloudy eyes glistened with sorrow.
“This… is the deepest part of your dream,” the old man said hoarsely. “Someone who mattered to you died here, didn’t they?”
Lin Qiye’s gaze slid from the familiar little house nearby back to the empty lot, and in his mind the rainy night returned—the figure standing in the downpour, blade in hand…
“Yes.”
After a long silence, Lin Qiye nodded.
“So you keep slipping into my dream just to reach this place?” He frowned. “What exactly do you want?”
“I only wanted to see if we’re the same kind of people.” Wu “Old Dog” rose slowly, turning to face him. The cloudiness was gone; in its place, eyes deep with age.
It was the first time Lin Qiye had seen the old man stand and speak like an ordinary person.
“And?”
“We are.” Wu “Old Dog” gave a small, certain nod.
Lin Qiye studied him. “What really happened between you and the Spirit Medium squad?”
The old man flinched, pain flickering across his gaze. He shook his head. “I can’t tell you…”
“Then answer this instead.” Lin Qiye pressed, “Do you want out of here?”
“Here?”
“The Purification Chamber.”
“No.”
No hesitation—just a flat refusal.
“Why?”
“Someone outside wants me dead,” Wu “Old Dog” said calmly. “I can’t die yet…”
Seeing how adamant he was, Lin Qiye dropped the idea of recruiting him—only to grow more puzzled.
Someone wants him dead? Who? The Spirit Medium squad?
“But if you ever want to leave, I can help.” The old man spoke again while Lin Qiye was thinking.
Lin Qiye blinked. “Why would you help me?”
“You don’t belong in here.” Wu “Old Dog” shook his head. “This place isn’t for you.”
He went on, “Getting out of the Purification Chamber isn’t simple… we have to wait for the right moment.”
“When will that be?”
“No idea.”
“……”
Lin Qiye couldn’t decide whether the man was faking madness or truly mad.
“When the time comes, I’ll tell you.” The old man patted his shoulder.
The next instant the dreamscape shattered and Lin Qiye’s consciousness snapped back into his body…
…
Thousands of kilometres away.
Over a barren desert, a hurricane roared, flinging endless sand into the sky. Deep within the uninhabited Vast Desert a colossal sandstorm blotted out the sun.
Suddenly space twisted in its path; a figure in a black tail-coat appeared, glanced toward the storm’s heart, and frowned.
“Annoying hyenas…”
Yiyu snorted. Shimmering, illusory light rippled around him; his body began to fade—
Seven huge silver pillars punched through the clouds, plummeting with crackling arcs of lightning that danced between them, aimed straight at Yiyu!
His pupils shrank.
BOOM—!!!
The thunder-laden pillars slammed into the desert like a god’s hammer. The shockwave collided with the sandstorm, sending out a deep, mournful howl.
The entire desert shook.
“Cough, cough…” Yiyu materialised a hundred metres away, clothes scorched and coated in sand, coughing violently.
Behind him the seven pillars stood half-buried, each as tall as a dozen-storey building even above ground.
Rolling黄沙 glinted beneath the harsh sun, halos shimmering off the silver shafts.
CRACK!
An arc leapt between the pillars; seven black-cloaked figures wearing wide hoods appeared in the flashes, standing motionless atop each column.
Heads lowered, faces hidden, they said nothing—cold judges of death.
“Spirit Medium.”
Yiyu stood dishevelled in the sand, glaring upward, eyes venomous. “Two years—you’ve hunted me for two whole years! What do you want?!”
The seven remained statues. After a long silence they spoke a single, icy syllable in unison.
“Kill—!”
The word tore the sky. Darkness swirled; violent hurricanes sprang into being, whipping up the sand. From the wind shot razor-sharp blades straight at Yiyu’s face.
His expression twisted. Shimmering dream-coloured light flared around him, then dimmed into a deep black vortex that swallowed every wind-blade.
He stared at them, then sneered. “Fine—if you force me onto a dead end, I’ll give you a parting gift!”
He stamped the ground; illusionary light rippled across the sand and a dozen thick nightmare tentacles burst forth, lashing at the silver pillars!
Lightning exploded.
Terrifying bolts blasted from the seven pillars, obliterating the tentacles in moments—but when the nightmares dispersed, Yiyu was gone.
“He fled southeast, toward the sea,” a low voice said from beneath one hood.
On the foremost pillar the leader narrowed his eyes, gazing in that direction, puzzled.
“The sea to the southeast…”
Then, as though remembering something, his face changed.
“Damn.”