Chaos exploded in a matter of seconds.
"Use the Talismans! Use them quickly!" screamed Wang Tai, his voice shrill with terror.
The two disciples remaining behind him reached into their pockets with trembling hands, pulling out shabby yellow paper talismans—cheap defenses bought from the sect's black market. However, their fingers were too slippery with sweat and blood.
A single second of hesitation is a death sentence in the Dream Realm.
Sraaaat!
One of the Dream Hounds, its skin blistered and watery, lunged with a speed invisible to the naked human eye. Its jaws didn't aim for the neck, but for the leg. It knew how to cripple prey so the meat stayed fresh.
"AAAGHHH! MY LEG! SENIOR WANG, HELP—!"
The disciple was dragged down. His shinbone shattered like a dry twig. Before he could chant the talisman activation spell, two other dogs pounced on his fallen body. The sound of tearing wet flesh and cracking bones sounded sickening, drowning out the screams for help that slowly turned into a gurgle of blood.
The second disciple retreated, his face as white as paper. He turned, intending to run to the side, away from Wang Tai.
However, Wang Tai moved faster.
Shen Mu's eyes, observing from the tree, caught the movement of Wang Tai's hand. There was no hesitation, no empathy. Wang Tai kicked the knee of the fleeing disciple, causing him to stagger toward the pack of feasting dogs.
"Forgive me, Junior Brother! You are useful for buying time!" roared Wang Tai.
As the second disciple was pounced upon as a "side dish," Wang Tai seized the narrow opening. He crashed through the thorny bushes, jumping frantically into the black water of the Resentment Swamp, heading toward the only place that looked "safe"—the mound of earth in the middle of the swamp where the Nightmare Fetus pulsed.
Shen Mu watched the scene without blinking. His heart beat steadily, 60 beats per minute.
"Pragmatic," Shen Mu muttered softly, assessing Wang Tai's actions. "He sacrificed a pawn to save the king. A strategically correct move, but fatal in execution."
The problem was, Wang Tai didn't know what was in the center of that island.
Wang Tai stumbled through the waist-high swamp water. The thick black mud felt like glue, trying to hold his steps back. But the fear of death gave him superpowers. He reached the edge of the dry mound and crawled up, gasping for breath.
"Hah... Hah... I... survived..."
Wang Tai turned around, his iron sword pointing shakily toward the edge of the swamp.
There, the four Dream Hounds stopped. They stood at the water's edge, low growls emanating from their throats. They stared at Wang Tai—easy prey only ten meters away—but none dared to dip a paw into the swamp water.
Animal instinct. They knew the hierarchy. This territory already had an owner.
On the mound, right behind the oblivious Wang Tai's back, the Fetus Cocoon began to react.
The purple light pulsating on its surface accelerated. The intense fear emotion from Wang Tai, plus the "steam of death" from the two disciples who had just been torn apart, flowed like invisible smoke toward the cocoon.
Shen Mu leaned his body forward, his eyes narrowing in focus.
"Now," Shen Mu thought. "Response Phase."
Blob.
The surface of the swamp frothed. Not air bubbles, but hair.
Thousands of strands of long black hair shot out from the mud surrounding the small island. They moved wildly like snakes, weaving themselves into a net around Wang Tai.
Wang Tai, who had just felt relieved, realized the danger too late. He turned and saw the cocoon—the object he thought was a treasure—now cracking.
A single red eye opened behind the stitching of the cocoon's skin.
"What...?"
SWIIISH!
The hairs attacked. Not at Wang Tai, but shooting past his head, straight toward the dogs at the edge of the swamp.
Apparently, the Nightmare Fetus considered the Hounds as competitors trying to steal its "food source" (Wang Tai).
The dogs howled, trying to retreat, but the strands of hair were faster. They wrapped around the dogs' necks, and with one brutal yank—
CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!
The heads of three dogs were severed instantly, black blood spraying to soak the swamp water. The last dog, the largest matriarch, howled and managed to tear the hair with her claws, then scrambled into the forest, scared half to death.
Silence fell instantly.
Wang Tai froze. His legs went weak. Urine seeped out, soaking his trousers. He realized he hadn't run to a safe place. He had run into the lion's mouth to avoid the wolves.
The cocoon trembled. The cracks widened. The sound of a distorted baby's cry could be heard from within. Black amniotic fluid began to seep out.
Its energy was at its peak to Hatch.
This was the most dangerous moment for an ordinary human, but the most precious moment for a Dream Tamer.
Up in the tree, Shen Mu slowly stood up.
The time for "Inaction" was over. Phase two of the plan: "Surgical Intervention."
Wang Tai was being paralyzed by the Fetus's Fear Aura. He was prey that had been mentally skinned, ready to be eaten. If the Fetus ate Wang Tai's soul now, it would hatch into an uncontrollable wild monster.
Shen Mu took a stone from his robe pocket. Not an ordinary stone, but one he had smeared with blood from the wound on his own chest earlier—blood full of adrenaline and cold killing intent.
With the accurate movement of a veteran knife thrower, Shen Mu threw the stone.
Tak!
The stone hit the right side of Wang Tai's head hard.
Fresh blood flowed from Wang Tai's temple. The physical pain jolted him out of his catatonic state (frozen from fear).
"ARGH!"
Wang Tai clutched his head, his eyes wildly searching for the source of the attack. He looked up at the tree, into the shadows.
There, a pair of eyes darker than the night stared back at him. Shen Mu stood on the branch, his face flat and emotionless.
"Shen... Mu?" Wang Tai gaped, his brain failing to process how that "trash" could be there, looking so calm, so dominating.
Shen Mu jumped down.
His body landed lightly on the muddy ground at the edge of the swamp. He didn't run. He walked casually toward the black swamp water, as if strolling in his own backyard.
"Wang Tai," called Shen Mu. His voice was low, echoing strangely amidst the silence of the swamp.
He pointed at the blooming cocoon behind Wang Tai.
"That thing is hungry. And you..." Shen Mu grinned, a genuine devilish smile for the first time since he came back to life. "...You look delicious."
"Bastard! You set me up?!" Wang Tai roared, his fear turning into desperate anger. He raised his sword, forgetting the monster behind him, wanting to slash this insolent new kid.
However, Wang Tai's aggressive movement was exactly what was waited for.
The wave of "Rage" emotion was the final catalyst the Fetus needed.
PRAANG!
The cocoon shattered completely. No physical monster came out. But a shadow.
A figure of a baby, made of pitch-black smoke with gaping holes where its eyes and mouth should be, floated up. It had no legs, only a tail of smoke spiritually connected to Wang Tai's navel.
The Shadow Fetus had been born.
And it stared at its "mother"—Wang Tai—with unstoppable hunger.