Shi Pengpeng picked up the card and examined it carefully.
It was a very standard Lovers card, depicting a man and a woman standing in front of a tree, with an angel bathed in sunlight above them, and the name of the card written below: THE LOVERS.
However, that was all there was to it.
The card itself was quite ordinary, with nothing sinister about it.
“No, there’s nothing wrong with the card,” Shi Pengpeng said and was about to return the tarot card to Jin Saosao when her phone in her pocket vibrated.
Shi Pengpeng picked it up and saw that it was Yan Jing calling.
She was a bit surprised but still answered, “Brother, what’s up?”
“Can’t I just call you for no reason?” Yan Jing’s tone was displeased.
“That’s not what I meant,” Shi Pengpeng explained.
“It’s just that I’m in the middle of something right now. Can I call you back later?”
Yan Jing snorted coldly, “What could be more important than me?”
Shi Pengpeng: “…”
No, why is this guy’s spoiled brat syndrome getting worse?
Although their relationship had improved a lot recently, his possessiveness couldn’t be this excessive.
Shi Pengpeng felt a bit helpless but still patiently explained, “I just encountered some demonic activity and am trying to deal with it.”
“Demonic activity?!” Yan Jing immediately became worried.
“Isn’t that very dangerous!”
Shi Pengpeng didn’t think much of it ands said: “It’s okay”
“You’re a girl, don’t push yourself too hard,” Yan Jing interrupted in a domineering tone.
“I won’t allow you to put yourself in danger. Where are you? I’ll come protect you.”
“Acting tough? Protecting me?” Shi Pengpeng’s brows furrowed, her voice suddenly turning cold.
“Who are you?”
The real Yan Jing would never say something so confident and clueless!
In a daze, she realized something and quickly formed a hand seal, tapping it onto her spiritual center.
The foggy illusion instantly dissipated, clearing her mind.
The strange feeling that had been lingering in her heart suddenly made sense.
Shi Pengpeng turned to Jin Sao and asked, “How can you still see Ginger?”
“Oh!” Jin Jie immediately reacted upon hearing this.
Since Jin Sao had already been exorcised, she should be an ordinary mortal now.
How could she still see his spirit?
“Because everything that just happened was an illusion,” Shi Pengpeng’s voice grew serious.
“From the moment we stepped into this room, we were trapped in a dream it created.”
“What?!” Jin Jie was stunned, trying to recall everything that had just happened, but his mind was a chaotic mess.
He couldn’t remember anything, and his heart raced in fear. “H-how could this be?”
“Don’t be nervous.” Shi Pengpeng remained calm, flipping her free hand to reveal a talisman for vanquishing evil.
“It’s just a minor nightmare demon.”
A nightmare demon, as the name suggests, is a creature that confuses people’s minds through dreams.
These demons aren’t particularly difficult to deal with, but due to their nature, they are very cunning and often catch people off guard.
Shi Pengpeng initially thought someone was performing a ritual to capture Jin Jie, and then she was misled by Jin Jie’s cries, thinking Jin Sao was causing trouble.
Thus, she didn’t pay much attention at first.
Little did she know, the nightmare demon had already set its trap the moment Jin Jie entered the room.
The dream created by the nightmare demon was undoubtedly very realistic, but it still had a flaw-it didn’t understand Shi Pengpeng, nor did it understand Yan Jing.
Once the illusion was broken, it no longer posed a threat.
The Lovers card in her hand sensed the danger and began to tremble violently.
A strong wave of negative emotions surged out of the card, crashing towards Shi Pengpeng like a tidal wave.
Shi Pengpeng felt her heart sink, overwhelmed by a sudden sense of fear and sadness.
She was startled and cursed, “Still causing trouble?!”
She immediately steadied her mind, quickly completed a hand seal, and pressed the talisman onto the Lovers card.
The cinnabar lit up, and a sharp, piercing scream erupted from the card.
The voice was a mix of male and female tones, as if countless voices were intertwined.
The words “THE LOVERS” on the card turned into a wisp of black smoke, fleeing towards the window.
But there was no escape.
Shi Pengpeng immediately activated a Four Symbols Talisman Array, trapping the black smoke within it.
With a tightening motion, the smoke condensed into a small coal ball.
With the nightmare demon subdued, Jin Jie finally woke up completely.
Upon closer inspection, Jin Sao was still lying on the bed, sound asleep.
Everything that had just happened was merely a dream.
“Wake up.” Shi Pengpeng shook Jin Sao gently.
Jin Sao opened her eyes, looking dazed. “Ah, what happened to me?”
“You had a very long dream,” Shi Pengpeng said, taking out a cinnabar lipstick and dotting it on her forehead.
“Now you’re finally awake.”
Jin Sao was momentarily stunned.
Although she had been in a daze for a while, she hadn’t completely lost her mind to the nightmare demon.
After a moment, her memories slowly began to return.
She told Shi Pengpeng that the Lovers card was indeed drawn during a divination event in Ginger’s fan group.
However, unlike what she had just mentioned in her dream, she had only found it amusing at the time and didn’t intend to keep the card.
But that very night, she miraculously dreamed of meeting Jin Jie and even had a sweet date with him.
The dream was so vivid that when Jin Saosao woke up, she could still clearly recall every detail.
Shortly after, the fan privately contacted Jin Saosao, saying that it was rare to draw such a good card and suggested sending it to her as a keepsake.
Looking back now, the whole thing was clearly suspicious from the start.
But at the time, Jin Saosao was completely immersed in that beautiful fantasy and, as if bewitched, agreed.
From then on, she frequently dreamed of being with Jin Jie and gradually began to blur the lines between dreams and reality, becoming a true “dream girl” who acted in all sorts of bizarre ways.
As for the rest, she had no idea.
Shi Pengpeng grabbed the lump of coal, kneading it like slime, and said sternly, “You’ll answer whatever I ask, got it?”
The nightmare demon didn’t dare resist and immediately confessed obediently.
It explained that nightmare demons are a type of demon born from human nightmares and delusions, and they are much harder to cultivate into a physical form than ordinary spirits.
Their path of cultivation involves using illusions to confuse people’s minds, making them lose their sense of reality, and eventually replacing their thoughts until they fully take over their bodies.
The more the victim believes in the dreams woven by the nightmare demon, the stronger the demon’s power becomes.
This nightmare demon initially only wanted to take over Jin Saosao’s body, but when Jin Saosao pursued Jin Jie offline, it discovered that Jin Jie was actually a demon.
If it could devour Jin Jie’s demonic power, it would be a huge boost for the nightmare demon.
However, the nightmare demon itself wasn’t particularly strong, and in a direct confrontation, it might not be Jin Jie’s match.
A safer method was to first lure him into a dream and then ambush him.
The nightmare demon thus connected Jin Saosao’s and Jin Jie’s dreams and, using the power generated by Jin Saosao’s dreams, attempted to draw Jin Jie’s spirit over.
Unexpectedly, Jin Jie was too timid and only sent a substitute each time.
But the substitute was incredibly lifelike and even had a physical form.
To Jin Saosao, it was almost like dating a real person, which made her even more convinced of her dreams.
The nightmare demon’s power grew stronger and stronger, eventually making it difficult for Jin Jie to resist.
Shi Pengpeng still had one thing he couldn’t figure out.
From what he had heard, the nightmare demon had been haunting Jin Saosao for months, and she had been so convinced of her dreams.
In such a situation, it should have been more than enough for the nightmare demon to completely erode her mind and take over her body.
But until just now, Jin Saosao had clearly retained most of her consciousness.
“Whimper-” the nightmare demon let out an unwilling whine.
“That’s how it should have been, but for some reason, this woman always wakes up at the climax of the dream. It’s so infuriating.”
Shi Pengpeng was puzzled, “What climax?”
The nightmare demon snorted twice, “The kind that even TV dramas wouldn’t dare show. I’ve been so good to her, arranging dates with Ginger every time—”
The bed scene, but she wakes up as soon as they kiss, what a useless thing!!!”
“Stop glorifying yourself.” Shi Pengpeng hit the Nightmare Demon, who clearly didn’t have such good intentions.
Arranging this kind of dream was probably just to make Jin Saosao even more immersed in it.
However, Shi Pengpeng looked at Jin Saosao with some surprise, “Are you really that pure? You wake up as soon as you kiss?”
“Ah, it’s not like that.” Jin Saosao’s face turned slightly red, and she regretfully slapped her thigh, “It’s just that for some reason, in the dream, Ginger’s mouth is particularly spicy. Every time we kiss, it feels like I’m biting into old ginger, and it wakes me up immediately.”
Shi Pengpeng:”…..”
Jin Jie:”…..”
“So, it turns out that it was her keen sense of taste that saved the girl.”
Shi Pengpeng patted Jin Saosao’s shoulder and gave her a reassuring look, “Your feeling is right, it was like biting into ginger.”
Jin Saosao:”???”