Li Mu carefully observed the stones. Mrs. Hong came over and asked, “Li Mu, do you have any idea about what they are?”

“I’ve no idea what they are. Mrs. Hong, do you know what’s going on?”

Mrs. Hong shook her head and said, “I’ve no idea, either. It’s my first time to see skulls with flesh turned into stones. It’s a strange thing!”

“Human skulls with flesh turned into stones. Bloodstones. This name is quite suitable for them. We’ll call them bloodstones then!” Li Mu murmured.

Mrs. Hong smiled, “Bloodstones. What an interesting name! Let’s not look at them anymore. We should keep on moving.”

Li Mu assured the rest and said, “Don’t be afraid, guys. Follow me and let’s get going!” The few of them continued moving forward and tried to stay close to each other, as they were afraid they would be left behind.

After a while, Lin Wan suddenly said, “I think I know where these bloodstones came from.”

“You’ve got any ideas what they are? Tell me!”

Lin Wan said solemnly, “They’re most probably the victims!”

“The victims. Why do you say so?”

“Mrs. Hong said that this Dream Valley is a cursed land. People who failed to escape might have turned into stones like these.”

Li Mu stopped walking and questioned her, “It’s possible. But the question will be where are their bodies and why only their heads are left here?”

Lin Wan shook her head and said, “I can’t tell the exact situation. But this is my guess. So just take it with a pinch of salt.”

Everyone nodded and Lin Wan continued talking, “I guess these people could not get out of their dreams and they were trapped here until they died. Then, after a long time, their bodies rotted into ashes.”

As she said that, she pointed at those stones.

“But their consciousness still exists. That’s why their brains did not rot but weathered into bloodstones. They may not realize that they had long died. They may think that they’re still alive in their dreams.”

Li Mu pondered for a while and nodded slowly.

“It makes sense. The victims might be walking in this valley and then falling into their dreams without realizing it. If they could wake up from it, they would be able to walk out of the valley. But if they could not stay awake, they would lose their consciousness. Even if someone gets to rescue their bodies, their consciousness stays here forever.”

“There is another possibility, though. Another crueler one!” Lin Wan continued.

“What’s it?”

“Have you thought about the corpse puppets that were chasing us just now? There’re so many of them. And compared to the usual ones, their thinking ability was slightly weaker.”

Li Mu said in shock, “You mean...”

“Just as what you guessed it is. Their heads are here!”

This conjecture was so shocking that everyone was terrified by it.

Lin Wan said to the group again, “No matter what the possibility is, we have to keep an eye on each other from now on. Wake the person up quickly if you see anyone looking dull. We must not let anyone of us fall asleep.”

Everyone agreed with her except Li Mu, who was not bothered by it.

“Among the group, all of us are no ordinary people except Xiaoyu. How could we fall asleep so easily as all of us are capable of protecting ourselves?” He thought.

Seeing them as if they were facing a great enemy, Li Mu said indifferently, “There is nothing to be afraid of. Honey, all of you are cultivators. So you shouldn’t be afraid of this kind of hypnotic technique. The Gu worms will keep you guys awake so you shouldn’t be worried about it.”

Then he pointed at his nose and said, “I’m a half cultivator and I’m not afraid of this kind of magic too. The only one whom we need to worry about is Xiaoyu. It’s okay. I’m here for her. I’ll make sure she’s awake. With my help, I’m sure she won’t fall into it.”

He Xiaoyu said shyly, “Li Mu, so am I!”

“So are you? What do you mean?”

Suddenly, Li Mu came to his realization. “I see. Since when did Xiaoyu become so strong? Though she had gone through professional training, she’s still an ordinary person. Yet, she didn’t bring any trouble to us throughout the escape. It’s indeed something strange!” He thought.

He Xiaoyu dragged Li Mu aside and whispered to him, “We already knew that you’ve changed your bones. And I’ve changed mine too!”

“You’ve changed your bones too? Which part have you changed? Who did that for you?” Li Mu asked in shock.

Meanwhile, Lin Wan came near them when they talked to each other. When she heard his words, immediately, she answered for He Xiaoyu, “She has changed her rib bones, using the Cheng Family’s Bone of Death. Mrs. Hong and I replaced them for her.”

“Really?” Subconsciously, Li My looked at Xiaoyu’s chest.

Lin Wan gave him a slap and said jealously, “What are you looking at?”

“Nothing. I didn’t look at anything. Xiaoyu, it’s good that you’ve changed them. What a happy thing to know about. That’s the way to treat the Cheng Family!”

Lin Wan rolled her eyes and could not help but complain, “Don’t you feel ashamed talking about it? You’ve left so much evidence for the Cheng Family to find out. They would have known who did it if we didn’t help you remove all the evidence.”

“Really?” Li Mu said in surprise, “I thought three of us had handled it quite well. We didn’t know that we’d failed in removing the evidence. Thanks, honey.”

“No problem. Please don’t run away like this again!” Lin Wan groaned.

Then, she waved and asked the rest to come near her. Meanwhile, she told Li Mu, “Honey, don’t let your guard down. This Dream Valley is not that simple as you thought it is. Even for us, it’s something dangerous.”

“You mean the Gu worm is not going to stop us from falling asleep?”

“Yeah. The Gu worm can tackle the Magic of Mind Control but it can’t stop its host from falling asleep. Otherwise, we can’t sleep every night, can we?”

Li Mu understood what she said instantly. As long as one had not been hypnotized, one would need to go through light sleep to deep sleep. The Gu worm would not disturb its host’s rest. Otherwise, its host would not get to sleep all day and would be tortured to death.

This Dream Valley did not use magic to hypnotize people but induce them to fall asleep slowly. The whole process was similar to going to bed. The Gu worm would mistakenly think that the host was resting and not react in any way.

“How should we tackle this? Do you have any idea?” Li Mu asked Lin Wan.

Lin Wan pulled off the hairpin on her bun and let down her hair. Then, she spoke to Li Mu solemnly, “Everyone has to count out loud now. You’ll be number one. Then it will be me, Xiaoyu, Mrs. Hong, Zixing, Ming’er, and Lin Kun. We have to count from one to seven. Anyone who doesn’t say out his number will be stabbed by the hairpin.”

This method was quite good. As long as they did not fall asleep together, everyone could help each other stay awake. Everyone agreed to it in the end.

The group continued moving forward. After fifteen minutes, Li Mu would start the counting. Everyone would respond with their number from one to seven, respectively.

They had lost track of how long they had been walking. Li Mu started the counting again, “One! Two! Three! Four! Five! Six!”

There was no response after that. Li Mu stopped walking immediately and shouted at Lin Kun, “Boy, it’s your turn. Don’t cry there and say out your number!”

Mrs. Hong took the hairpin from Lin Wan and stabbed Lin Kun’s arm with great strength.

“Ouch!” Lin Kun yelled and asked in shock, “What happened? Mrs. Hong? Did I fall asleep?”

Mrs. Hong teased him, “You fell into a deep sleep. Boy, what had you dreamt? Why were you crying so sadly?”

Lin Kun blushed, “Nothing much. It’s something that happened during my childhood.”

It took such a short time to have one of them fall into the trap. The group was terrified and did not dare to stay in the same spot. They moved forward hurriedly.

“One! Two! Three! Four! Five! Six! Seven!”

“One! Two! Three! Four! Five! Six! Seven!”

…

“One! Two!”

“Xiaoyu. Xiaoyu! It’s your time to say out your number!”

A few of them looked towards He Xiaoyu. Lin Wan waved in front of her but she did not respond and looked dazed.

Lin Wan said nervously, “Honey, Xiaoyu has fallen asleep!”

“Stab her then!”

Lin Wan passed the hairpin to him.

“She’s your friend. You do it!”

Li Mu did not hesitate at all. He pulled He Xiaoyu’s right arm and grabbed her middle finger. He stabbed her using the hairpin mercilessly.

“Ah!” She screamed.

Right after that, she burst into tears.

Li Mu immediately comforted her, “Xiaoyu, you had fallen asleep. I had to rescue you. You’ll be alright. Don’t cry. Don’t cry!”

He Xiaoyu sobbed, “It hurts! Why did you exert so much strength? You hate me, don’t you?”

“I was afraid that you could not wake up from your sleep. So I exerted more strength just now. It went well. Don’t you think so? You’re awake now and don’t have to go through the torture a second time!”

Shen Ming’er was scared and said, “Brother Mu’s so cruel. Sister Xiaoyu’s finger was almost pierced. Zixing, you have to wake me up and not let him stab me if I fall asleep later!”

Shen Zixing smiled, “You have to let him do it for you! With one stab, you’ll be awake. And you just have to go through the pain once. If you let me do it for you, you may not wake up even after I have pierced all your fingers.”

Everyone didn’t dare to be careless after seeing what had happened to He Xiaoyu, as they were afraid to be stabbed by Li Mu. He was filled with fatal energy now and he did not hesitate in stabbing them at all.

Everyone continued the walk after that. And as the group moved forward, they said out their respective numbers. He Xiaoyu was the loudest in every counting and she sounded as if she was still crying.

Li Mu was afraid that she would fall asleep again. He secretly pinched her wound occasionally and it was such unbearable pain!

It was so painful that Miss He put up her middle finger and let Li Mu blow it to reduce the pain. As Li Mu blew her finger, he said, “Xiaoyu, can you stretch out all your fingers? It looks as if you’re scolding me with this gesture!”

The group started losing track of time again. And as time passed, they slowly let down their guard.

“One! Two! Three! Mmm. Five...”

Immediately, Li Mu stopped walking.

“Mrs. Hong, what did you say?”

“Mmm!”

Li Mu pointed at her and shouted, “Take hold of her and show me her finger because she had fallen asleep!”

Mrs. Hong tried to explain but nobody could understand what she was talking about. And everyone reckoned that she was fighting in her dream, so they took hold of her.

Li Mu grabbed her right middle finger and stabbed as hard as he could!

“Ah!” A piercing scream was heard in the valley. Then it came Mrs. Hong’s choking voice, “I’m not sleeping. I was too nervous just now and I bit my tongue. Li Mu, you hate me, don’t you!”

“What nonsense is this? I was afraid that you’d fallen asleep. You’re a grown-up yet you bit your tongue though you’re not eating right now. I’m speechless!”