Demonic Cultivator: Immune To Common Side Effects - Chapter 77

Chapter 77: Return—Can Dreams Change History?

Everything had happened too quickly. Even with Li Yan’s cultivation base, he couldn’t fully grasp their movements.

All he saw was the Old Demon vanishing into thin air, leaving behind a bloody, severed arm on the ground.

Clutched in the severed hand was the Blood Glazed Lotus Lamp he had longed for.

Li Yan raised his hand and drew the bloodstained lamp toward him. He examined it closely.

It was virtually identical to the replica Lotus Lamp.

Yet the feeling of holding it was entirely different.

He hefted it in his hand, a smirk forming on his lips.

“Not bad. Excellent indeed.”

As Li Yan looked up, several lines of text materialized before his eyes:

The host has altered the history of the Illusionary Realm. In the battle against the Demon Shadow Sect, the Sword Immortal achieved a flawless victory, successfully preventing the Ancient God’s awakening. The Sect Master of the Demon Shadow Sect fled, his whereabouts unknown.

The Illusionary Realm Master’s wish has been fulfilled. Departure from the Illusionary Realm is imminent.

What?

As his body began to fade, Li Yan’s first thought was to snatch the Storage Ring from the severed finger.

Clutching the Blood Glazed Lotus Lamp in his left hand, he pried the Old Demon’s Storage Ring off his right.

Li Yan’s figure gradually faded, becoming increasingly indistinct.

Seeing him vanish, the Obscured Moon Sword Immortal grew flustered. “Senior, are you leaving already?”

Li Yan raised an eyebrow, a playful smile playing on his lips. “What, you’ll miss me?”

The Obscured Moon Fairy hesitated, pressing a hand to her chest, and voiced the confusion that had plagued her. “Junior has been experiencing strange dreams lately. For tens of thousands of years, I’ve been trapped reliving the same day, where the Demon Shadow Sect’s Old Demon releases the Ancient God. But then you appeared, Senior…”

Unbeknownst to her, the Obscured Moon Fairy had been trapped in this recurring nightmare for countless millennia. Day after day, she relived the battle against the Demon Shadow Sect, repeating it countless times—tens of thousands of times. Yet each time, she failed to prevent the Old Demon from unleashing the Ancient God. And each time, the Ancient God’s descent drained all the spiritual energy from heaven and earth, ending the Immortal Art Era and ushering in the Era of Dharma Decline.

She repeated this cycle endlessly, until today… had the dream finally broken?

But before she could even bid farewell to her senior, Li Yan’s body vanished completely into thin air. The Obscured Moon Fairy’s sorrowful eyes lingered on the spot where he had disappeared.

“Will we ever meet again, Senior?”

Li Yan awoke from the Illusionary Realm, clutching the genuine Blood Glazed Lotus Lamp.

As his consciousness returned, he immediately assessed his gains.

He sighed inwardly.

“The real Blood Glazed Lotus Lamp! I actually brought it out of the Illusionary Realm!”

“And this Storage Ring—it must be where the Old Demon kept his treasures.”

Probing the ring with his Divine Sense, Li Yan was astonished to find it brimming with Spirit Stones!

Spirit Stones, a relic of the Immortal Art Era, long vanished during the Era of Dharma Decline.

Yet here he had a vast hoard of them, brought back from the Illusionary Realm!

These stones alone would fuel Li Yan’s cultivation for an extended period, ensuring he wouldn’t lack resources anytime soon.

Intermingled with the Spirit Stones were miscellaneous items: Magic Artifacts forged by the Old Demon himself and books he had collected.

Any single item from this Storage Ring could cause a sensation if revealed.

Staring at the ring, Li Yan mused inwardly, “The Old Demon wore an even more valuable Storage Necklace around his neck… too bad I couldn’t get my hands on it.”

While obtaining the ring was undoubtedly a stroke of luck, who would ever refuse more resources? The more, the better.

In addition to the ring, he had acquired the Moonbow Sword and the Moon Essence Stance he had comprehended from the Sword Immortal’s enlightenment.

Li Yan had also learned the Cinder Annihilation Fairy’s signature technique, the Cinder Annihilation Slash, reaching the elementary stage.

This journey through the Illusionary Realm had yielded nothing but rare Ancient Immortal Techniques, the kind one could never learn in the outside world.

Just as Li Yan was feeling satisfied with his gains, he suddenly remembered something.

“Hmm?”

“That’s strange…”

He looked toward the spot in reality where the Obscured Moon Fairy had been.

The white-haired Blood Corpse that had been kneeling before the tombstone was gone without a trace.

Not only was the Obscured Moon Fairy’s corpse missing, but the tombstone itself had vanished.

Sensing something amiss, Li Yan turned to Corpse Puppet Su Mo beside him.

“Mo Mo, where did that white-haired corpse go?”

Corpse Puppet Su Mo wore a bewildered expression. She spoke slowly, her voice tinged with confusion.

“Master, what corpse? Was there one?”

What was going on?

The Obscured Moon Sword Immortal’s corpse had disappeared, and the tombstone was gone too.

As Li Yan struggled to understand, the Cinder Annihilation Fairy’s residual soul within the Demonic Eye hanging from his waist sent her thoughts into his mind:

Why is this brat standing there spacing out? What corpse is he talking about?

Could he have been cursed and is hallucinating?

Huh? When did this kid get a ring? Isn’t that the Storage Ring of the Demon Shadow Sect’s Old Demon?

The Cinder Annihilation Fairy, residing within the Demonic Eye, was puzzled. When and where had Li Yan acquired the Demon Shadow Sect’s Old Demon’s ring?

Hearing the Fairy’s thoughts, a bold hypothesis formed in Li Yan’s mind.

Could it be…?

By altering the dreamscape, had he reversed the Side Effect System’s curse and indirectly changed history?

Was the Obscured Moon Sword Immortal still alive?

Had she not perished within the God’s Tomb?

Could dreams truly alter reality? Was such a thing even possible?

Though plagued by doubts, he carefully sensed the spiritual energy in the air.

It was scarce and thin.

This confirmed that reality remained unchanged. They were still in the Era of Dharma Decline, with spiritual energy continuing to wane.

This was baffling. Reality hadn’t been altered at all.

Only the Obscured Moon Sword Immortal’s corpse had vanished. Everything else remained as it was.

Li Yan stroked his chin, muttering to himself, “But if the corpse is gone, does that mean I’ve altered some part of history through the Illusionary Realm?”

“Never mind. The corpse is gone. Finding the Obscured Moon Fairy now would be like searching for a needle in the ocean.”

He shook his head, banishing the lingering thoughts.

What connection could Li Yan possibly have with a fairy who lived tens of thousands of years ago?

He decided to put the events of the Illusionary Realm behind him and focus on exploring the Ancient Tomb, hoping to plunder more treasures.

Ideally, he could find some half-dead Blood Corpses to use as gateways back to the Illusionary Realm, allowing him to return to that ancient era.

But just as Li Yan took his first step, a line of text carved into the wall instantly caught his eye.

“What’s this?”

Li Yan focused his gaze. The characters appeared to have been carved into the stone wall with a sword, their elegant forms written in Ancient Immortal Script.

He couldn’t decipher them, but the Cinder Annihilation Fairy within his Demonic Eye read them aloud through mental telepathy:

“I am eternally grateful for my revered master’s teachings, yet I am ashamed of my inadequacy as a disciple. I could not defeat the Bloodline Emperor. Should my master descend to this mortal realm, I beseech you to accept my shattered remains. – Obscured Moon Fairy.”

“Hmm?”

Li Yan’s heart skipped a beat. He hadn’t realized that altering the dreamscape could indirectly change the course of history.

Though it was only a minor alteration…

In the end, the Obscured Moon Fairy still perished in the God’s Tomb, leaving these words etched on the wall for him to find.

If he could recover her remains and re-enter the Illusionary Realm, could he rewrite history and prevent the Era of Dharma Decline from ever occurring?

Admittedly, a mere Golden Core cultivator trying to teach a Great Ascension expert how to slay a god seemed utterly presumptuous.

But if he could plunder valuable treasures from the Illusionary Realm, what did failure matter?

“Well… I should see if I can find the Obscured Moon Fairy’s corpse.”

“But before that, I need to deal with a few little rats.”

Li Yan had noticed something. Several Blood Core Realm cultivators had set their sights on him.

Perfect timing—they could serve as test subjects for his newly acquired Immortal-Grade Cultivation Technique.