A new dream came for Huaiyin.
For as long as she could remember, her midday naps had always been safe.
Only during the day could she escape the restless spirits and hateful phantoms that haunted her dreams.
Only then could she sleep without seeing pain, death, and the grotesque.
But that fragile rule was broken— by the one closest to her.
A dream about Dou Tang seeped into her mind, pulling her consciousness deeper and deeper. Even though she lay nestled in his arms, the warmth of reality slipped away, replaced by another world entirely.
When she opened her eyes again, she was standing in a small, worn courtyard. In the middle of the yard, a young man was training bare-chested.
He was lean—almost wiry—but what caught her breath were the countless scars crisscrossing his body.
They stripped away the beauty of his form, replacing it with something both terrifying and tragic. They intertwined and overlapped, some new and some faded, as though his flesh had once rolled through a mountain of blades.
It made one shudder to imagine the life that had carved them there.
Huaiyin recognized that face instantly—those youthful features just beginning to shed their boyishness.
It was Dou Tang.
Ren Dou Tang.
He exhaled, sweat rolling down the ridges of his scars, glistening under the harsh sunlight.
The sight filled Huaiyin's heart with a dull ache. She wanted to reach out, to trace those wounds with her fingertips—
but in this dream, she could only watch.
He was practicing martial arts. His fists sliced through the air, sharp and whistling. Each punch split the silence, scattering sweat into the light like crystal dust.
The courtyard was humble: a small house behind him, a flowerbed in front.
No flowers grew there now—only a single tall tree stood, its roots sunk deep in a dark pit.
It looked as though there had once been two trees. But only one remained.
Golden leaves drifted down, carpeting the flowerbed.
Red brick. Green tiles. The scent of autumn fading into rot.
Everything here was unfamiliar to her—yet it all whispered the same truth again and again:
Ren Dou Tang's past did not belong to this land.
Then came a knock at the gate—heavy, hurried, anxious.
Dou Tang drew a long breath, brought his fist up, and stomped the ground once. His next punch cracked through the air with a sharp snap!
Only then did he say calmly, "Come in."
The iron gate creaked open.
A woman stood outside, dressed neatly in a simple suit. She stepped in, but hesitated at the entrance, not daring to move closer.
Dou Tang turned, jumped lightly, and plucked a towel from a branch overhead. He wiped the sweat from his body, asking,
"And you are?"
The woman's eyes widened at the sight of his scarred torso, though she quickly composed herself.
"May I ask if Mr. Ren Zhanyi is here?"
Dou Tang paused for a moment, then answered flatly,
"My father passed away not long ago. He died fighting a malevolent spirit. I'm his son—Ren Dou Tang. You can tell me what this is about."
"Mr. Ren… passed away?"
His hand, still wiping away sweat, faltered slightly. Understanding flickered in his eyes, and his voice grew quiet.
"There's no 'Mr. Ren' anymore.
And whatever you're looking for—it's not here. You should go."
"If Mr. Ren is dead, then…"
The woman lowered her head. Her tone sharpened—cold and venomous. Dou Tang exhaled softly.
From beneath her lashes, her eyes began to glow— crimson light flaring like bloodied embers.
Huaiyin instinctively took two steps back.
"Then, boy," the woman hissed, her voice twisting, "perhaps you don't even know why he died."
Dou Tang slowly shook his head.
"Evil spirits roam the world without end," she snarled. "There will always be those who fall into darkness.
Those who think themselves above law and morality. Those who call corruption strength."
As she spoke, her body began to distort.
From her sleeve lashed out a whip—woven from pulsing, blood-red veins.
Huaiyin's breath caught. A yokai.
So in his former world, there truly had been monsters.
And judging from his words… his family had been exorcists.
Her brother—
he had already lived in a world of spirits long before this one. Then what had granted him that strange Candy Bean power here?
The woman cracked her whip with a hiss, snapping it toward him.
"There must also be someone to send your kind to the grave, reckless fool!" Dou Tang gritted his teeth.
His body twisted sharply, knees bent, one hand gripping the towel. With a fierce swing—
CRACK!
Droplets of sweat burst into the air, refracting sunlight like shattered glass. The wave of force roared outward.
The towel struck the blood-red whip—
—and shattered it.
It broke into fragments like brittle jade, scattering across the courtyard.
"You—!" the red-eyed woman shrieked, her teeth splintering as her face contorted with rage.
Dou Tang tossed the towel aside.
"You enslave spirits for your own gain. Clearly, you're no better.
Since you know what happened to my father, I have no reason to hold back." His voice hardened, his steps deliberate.
"Do you know why the Ren family is so hated by your kind?"
The air shifted— thickened.
"Why they never stop hunting us, even when all that remains of the bloodline is a single brother and sister?"
He stepped forward.
Though his body was lean, his presence swelled with every stride. The air itself began to spiral around him.
Huaiyin could feel it—the difference between his world and hers. In that world, monsters were stronger.
But humans… were far more terrifying.
The yokai tried to flee. But Dou Tang was faster.
He flicked his foot, kicking up a brick, then launched it like a bullet. It struck the iron gate with a deafening clang, slamming it shut.
"To be unbending is to break easily—everyone knows this," he said softly, almost conversationally.
"But the Ren family…"
He stopped before her, close enough to touch.
Reaching out, he brushed a strand of her hair aside, rolling it gently between his fingers.
"The Ren family has lasted for generations. Do you know why?"
His hand came to rest lightly atop her head.
A low, awful creaking filled the courtyard—the grinding of bone against bone. The yokai's body trembled violently as her knees buckled, forcing her to kneel.
"…Because every generation of the Ren family carries a boundless hatred for your kind," he growled, his voice thick with fire.
"For those who willingly fall into darkness."
Light began to pulse from every scar on his body—glowing brighter, one after another. And his voice… changed.
It wasn't just his anymore.
Dozens—no, hundreds—of other voices echoed with him: some ancient, some youthful, all resonating as one.
"I am the walking grave.
I am the scourge of evil spirits.
I am the nightmare of monsters.
I am the echo of every ancestral soul." He leaned close, eyes like burning steel.
"Do you understand?"
"I am the new Master Ren." He pressed his palm down.
The red-eyed woman's body disintegrated into dust.
Then, slowly, the scarred young man turned— and looked straight toward the void.
Huaiyin froze.
Because in that instant— their eyes met.
She and the Ren Dou Tang in her dream were looking directly at each other.
◇ I'll be dropping one bonus chapters for every 10 reviews. comment
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ You can read 50 chapter ahead on P@treon if you're interested: patreon.com/FicBridge