At midnight, when Gu Qiu opened his eyes and found himself back in that familiar temple, he knew he must have fallen asleep while playing on his phone, and that he was dreaming again.
And dammit, the dream was picking up right where it left off.
It was a serialized dream.
Gu Qiu wanted to shake his head in resignation, but in this bizarre dream, he was like a spectator trapped inside the protagonist's body, completely unable to move.
Normally, after waking from a dream, a person's memories of it should begin to fade before long.
Yet he still remembered with absolute clarity that the last dream had ended right after he finished bandaging the wounds of a woman who looked strikingly like Su Jiuyue.
And this dream was starting from that exact fragment.
It was like switching to the next episode of a TV drama; Gu Qiu even felt as though he were binge-watching a show.
One that didn't even require a VIP subscription, and was completely ad-free.
Having finished bandaging the woman's wounds, Gu Qiu pulled a rush mat over to place beneath his knees. Then, sitting cross-legged upon it like an old monk entering a state of deep meditation, he began striking the wooden fish percussion block while rolling Buddhist prayer beads between his fingers and chanting sutras.
Hey, big brother, she hasn't kicked the bucket yet! Is it really a good idea to start hitting the wooden fish and chanting sutras to rack up good karma right now?!
Isn't that a bit disrespectful to the wounded?!
Gu Qiu couldn't help mentally complaining at the sight.
It was a pity he had no control over the body, so he could only recite his grievances silently in his mind to scratch the itch.
Just like that, amidst the chanting of Buddhist scriptures and the hollow knocks of the wooden fish, time slipped rapidly away. Out of the corner of this body's eye, Gu Qiu watched the long stick of incense that had just been lit before the Buddha statue burn down to ashes.
Who knew how much longer passed before the woman in front of him let out a painful groan. Following that, her body shuddered from the pain, trembling a few times as she slowly opened her eyes.
A trace of faint irritation flickered vaguely within her gaze.
"Bald... bald donkey... can you keep it down... stop hitting that thing and stop chanting... it's so damn noisy..."
Hearing her speak, Gu Qiu didn't feel any resentment over her rude language; instead, her voice shocked him beyond all measure.
Though her voice sounded extremely weak, Gu Qiu realized that he had clearly heard this exact voice earlier today.
This woman's voice was an exact match for Su Jiuyue's!
Nearly identical looks, and that identical voice...
Oh no, could it be that he really harbored some weird, improper thoughts about her?
How could every single detail of that woman be so perfect in his dream?
Besides, the person in front of him was currently injured and extremely weak.
A lone man and woman in a deserted temple...
What the hell, is this some kind of cliché domestic visual novel plot?!
No way, this can't be happening?!
Gu Qiu began to panic.
Could this actually be a wet dream?! That would be way too realistic, wouldn't it?
It's over, it's over, I'm going to have a nocturnal emission.
The moment he pictured his roommates laughing at him tomorrow morning as he washed his underwear, his heart turned to ash.
"Amitabha... Beneficiary, do you need a doctor?"
The owner of the body likewise paid no heed to the woman's rudeness, nor did he ask about the origin of her wounds. He simply asked with kind intentions whether she needed him to go find a physician.
Faced with this kind inquiry from Gu Qiu's body, far from appreciating the gesture, the woman in front of him let out a cold snort and said:
"You humans are always so sanctimonious. There's no need to trouble yourself, I'll be leaving on my own in a moment."
Tsk.
With a face like Su Jiuyue's, how could she possibly have such a nasty personality?
Although her motives were unclear, at least her temperament... forget it, that seemed a bit abnormal too.
But why would he conjure up Su Jiuyue's personality in his dream as something so unreasonable and overbearing?
Bizarre, extremely bizarre.
And what about what she had just said... humans? What was that all about?
Could it be that she wasn't human herself?
Gu Qiu smiled inwardly, thinking that if that alluring woman was some kind of non-human creature, she could only be a fox spirit.
"Beneficiary, your injuries are not light; this poor monk merely performed some simple first aid for you... you..."
Before the owner of the body could finish speaking, the woman who looked like Su Jiuyue covered her chest with both hands, glaring at him with a face full of shame and anger.
"You! Who told you to do such a thing without my permission!"
Well then.
Gu Qiu was now entirely certain that this woman merely looked like Su Jiuyue and shared a somewhat similar voice.
Judging by his understanding of Su Jiuyue over the past couple of days, if this exact scenario played out between the real him and Su Jiuyue, she would undoubtedly reply with something like: "Why aren't you looking a bit longer? Touching a bit more is fine too."
How could such a shy, maidenly expression ever appear on *her* face?
Yet, thinking about it this way, this look-alike woman did let Gu Qiu witness all sorts of expressions he never normally saw on Su Jiuyue's face.
"Amitabha, this poor monk felt that if we didn't administer some treatment... even if Beneficiary is a demon, you would still have perished from excessive blood loss, wouldn't you?"
A demon?!
Gu Qiu's brows furrowed as he realized things were not so simple.
Seemed like his dream had a rather complicated composition, huh?
"Hah... even so, I didn't need you bald donkey to meddle."
The woman glanced around her, a hint of mockery in her tone: "What? Aren't you afraid the Buddha himself will be angry that you brought a demon into a place like this?"
"Amitabha, all living beings are equal; saving a single life builds a seven-tier pagoda, and saving a demon is no different."
Hearing this, the woman frowned and slowly sat up, looking Gu Qiu's body up and down.
"You're a rather strange monk."
Yet she didn't need to worry about him harming her.
After all, while she was unconscious, even a child could have easily taken her life. If he had wanted to harm her, why bother beating around the bush?
Furthermore, during their exchange just now, she had repeatedly emphasized her identity as a demon, while he had remained completely unperturbed and unconcerned.
It was clear he didn't care much about what she was.
Thus, the woman's vigilance seemed to ease slightly, and she stated her name:
"I am Su Jiuyue."
???
Oh no, oh no... something is seriously wrong with my dream.
Hearing this name surface, Gu Qiu's mind dissolved into a complete mess.
If he weren't paralyzed as if suffering from sleep paralysis, he would have loved to slap himself a few times to jolt himself awake from this bizarre dream.
Never mind that the setting of the dream was in ancient times—after all, he was a guy, and what man didn't have a martial hero fantasy?
Yet why on earth was he a monk? And why did he dream of Su Jiuyue?
Was she supposed to be some kind of demon, too? Even her personality was completely different from the Su Jiuyue he knew.
Besides, shouldn't a person be omnipotent and occupy the dominant position in a dream? Why was he acting like a spectator who couldn't do a single thing?
Just as Gu Qiu couldn't stop complaining in his heart, the owner of the body put his palms together, lowered his gaze, bowed slightly, and said calmly:
"This poor monk is Gu Xia, and my dharma name is Xia Xuan."