The Witch's Taste

Chapter 9 Shadow Cloak
If the "conscious layer" is compared to a photo, and the "preconscious layer" is compared to a realistic oil painting, then the "subconscious layer" is an abstract oil painting.

Realistic oil paintings can still depict and imitate reality, while many elements in abstract oil paintings make it difficult to distinguish the real body.

Chen Ziang woke up from the sofa, only to see that the living room had changed greatly.

The original dilapidated wallpaper has been renewed, the dining table has been replaced with heavy mahogany, the sofa has become side-by-side armchairs, bamboo mats have been placed where carpets are placed, and a large number of portraits of people are hung on the walls, almost all of which are not People you know.

The younger sister, Chen Xiaozhu, was sitting in one of the armchairs. She was wearing a complicated and delicate princess dress, holding a folding fan in her hand, fanning the wind gracefully like a court lady.

Like the upper dream, although this Chen Xiaozhu is not blind, it is just a phantom.

As for why she is wearing a princess dress... I can only say that anything can appear in the subconscious, there is no need to get to the bottom of it.

Chen Ziang wandered around the living room for a while, and found that everything here was changing randomly, abruptly, and constantly.

The mahogany dining table suddenly turned into a bar with tablecloths, the armchairs were replaced by soft beds with curtains, and the mats on the ground were transformed into grassy fields, which seemed to grow directly from the cracks in the floor.

Chen Xiaozhu had already disappeared from the chair, transformed into Yue Gong Suzuna, kneeling on the grass and crying helplessly, the tears flowed down from between the fingers of her hands covering her cheeks.

Looking at the spiritual pressure meter on the wrist again, the environmental pressure has reached 30 at this time.

In a world with environmental pressure of 30, the possible weirdness is very dangerous, and it is not comparable to those low-level weirdness with an activity depth of 0-10.

If you stay at this depth for a long time, even if you are not killed by the weirdness, your spiritual vision will gradually approach 30, which will lead to a sharp increase in the risk of encountering these weirdnesses even if you return to reality in time.

However, the subconscious level, although grotesque, is still his own spiritual realm.

But to find those dangerous and unknown mysterious knowledge, one must go down to the bottom "collective subconscious layer".

According to the relevant knowledge of "Dream Walk", in the vast collective subconscious layer, there is an ancient city named "Enrank", where a large number of nightmares live.

Nightmare is a rare and mysterious race that is willing to communicate with humans, so Chen Ziang plans to go to the ancient city of Enrank to seek a cure for his sister's disease from Nightmare.

He closed his eyes again and activated the power of dream walking.

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Chen Ziang struggled to wake up and found himself lying on the grass by the river.

He grabbed the mandala sword beside him, and then quickly stood up, looking around vigilantly.

The river next to it seems to be the Tonegawa River, but there are no dams around it, only clear water flowing through it.

There are large grasslands on both sides, dotted with star-like blue flowers, and they are constantly swaying with the wind... No, they are not swaying with the wind, but these flowers themselves can move.

Chen Ziang raised his head, and found that the sky was based on a gradually changing violet color, with solid streamers like cloud rolls, and countless bright and dark twinkling stars.

...it's a weird and dreamy world.

"Hello." A voice suddenly sounded from the side.

Chen Zi'ang quickly turned back his sword to block and turn around, but the visitor didn't seem to have any intention of attacking, and was just standing 20 meters away.

The other party was wearing a dark black, gorgeous and complicated robe, with a slender neck protruding from the neckline, and an expressionless face...to be exact, a smooth face without facial features, and a curved face A pair of horns with spiral patterns.

From the shoulder blades on its back (if the monster had one), protruded a pair of huge bony wings, folding gracefully like a fan.Under the cuffs are the same shriveled hands, holding a staff of unknown material but with extremely complicated outlines.

Chen Ziang noticed keenly that the opponent's hand holding the staff had six bony fingers.

"Don't be nervous, human." Although the other party didn't have a mouth, his voice sounded directly in Chen Zi'ang's mind as if telepathically.

It was a soft and charming voice like a young woman:

"I'm the High Priest from Enrank Temple, you can call me 'Neko'."

The other party's generous self-introduction is obviously well versed in the etiquette of human society.

Chen Ziang didn't want to tell her his real name, because the real name also has a special meaning in the mysterious world, so he coldly said a fabricated pseudonym:

"Ask."

"Mr. Asker." Nicole said with a smile, "If it's convenient for you, I would like to invite you to visit Enrank City."

Chen Ziang was silent for a long time, and asked:

"Is this common? I mean, humans come to this world and are invited by you as guests?"

"Yes, and no." Nicole said leisurely, "Human beings are not frequent visitors in this world, but they are not extremely rare."

"As for inviting you as a guest, this is what the Lord of the Great Deep Sea means."

"The meaning of the gods?" Chen Ziang thought in astonishment.

"Don't worry." Nicole laughed again, "The sublime lord of the deep sea has no malice towards you. Isn't it the best proof that you can gain the power to come to this world?"

That's not necessarily the case, in the concept of gods, the boundary between goodwill and malice is extremely blurred... Chen Ziang thought slightly, and asked again for confirmation:
"Can you make it more clear? The so-called guest, what exactly do you mean?"

"It seems that Mr. Asker is still quite wary." Nicole smiled nonchalantly, "Well, we can talk while walking."

She waved the staff lightly, and a path of light rushed out from the top of the staff, flying towards a certain direction in the distance.

"Please?" Nicole said.

Chen Ziang sighed secretly, thinking that there was no reason to back down here.

The two walked side by side along the direction guided by the light path. Chen Ziang was contemplating a problem when he heard Nicole say:
"Although the Lord of the Great Deep Sea didn't explain it, our family can actually guess the general reason...Mr. Asker, do you know the 'War of the Three Realms'?"

"War in the Three Realms?" Chen Ziang asked in astonishment.

"The so-called Three Realms are 'Shadow', 'Mist' and 'Flesh'." Nicole explained patiently, "They correspond to the three supreme gods in the abyss."

"Probably long, long ago, these three gods clashed, so the Three Realms also began to fight each other endlessly."

"We, the Nightmare Clan, belong to the shadow camp and serve the supreme chaos. Since the Lord of the Deep Sea has shown kindness to you, presumably it is because you possess certain qualities that can bring victory to our shadow camp..."

"Trait?" Chen Ziang asked warily.

He wanted to press on, but the severe headache that followed interrupted his thoughts.

Due to learning too much knowledge, Chen Ziang's spiritual vision began to rise sharply, and his sanity as a human being was also faltering—in his vision, chaos, shadows, and wriggling dark things, along with Nicole's The voice fell, as if tentacles stretched out from the abyss, densely entangled around him.

But there was a cold feeling between his brows, but it was Nicole who held a badge and stuck it to the center of his forehead.

"O ignorant child, in the cradle suddenly caught a glimpse of a corner of the real world, and drowned in fear, terror and restlessness." She said as if singing, "Please accept this cloak, and the shadow will protect you. You no longer lose yourself."

Chen Ziang's headache has receded like a tide, he tremblingly took the badge handed over by Nicole, and said hoarsely:
"Thank you. This is..."

"Shadow cloak." Nicole replied, "It can help you isolate the influence of the mist, so that you will not be tortured by knowledge to mutations, and it can also lock your spiritual vision, so that you will not fall into endless weirdness." under attack."

cloak?Chen Ziang looked at the badge carefully.

The insignia is a round, angular shape with... eh?

He was rather horrified to find that he seemed unable to recognize the shape of the badge and the pattern engraved on it.

It looks round at first glance, but it has countless sharp edges and corners when you look closely.The dharma seal on it is also in an unstable state between "clear" and "fuzzy". He can clearly see the thickness and direction of each line, but if he turns his attention to the whole, he can only get a blurry state. unknown pattern.

(End of this chapter)