Chapter One Hundred Thirty-Seven: Dreams of a Former Dynasty
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“Honggui, Honggui!”
In the imperial garden, a dignified man stood beside the pond, smiling warmly at the child before him.
The boy was five or six years old, with red lips and pearly teeth. His black eyes were unusually bright, and a hint of heroic spirit between his brows made him look exceptionally handsome and refined.
“Father!”
After playing beside the pond for a while, the child suddenly ran to the dignified man and tugged at his sleeve.
“It’s so boring here. Take me out to play.”
The man lovingly stroked the boy’s head and said softly, “Honggui, be good. Once you’ve celebrated your tenth birthday, Father will take you to visit the Immortal Mountains.”
“Wow! The Immortal Mountains? Wonderful, wonderful! Father, you mustn’t go back on your word.”
“Nonsense! I am a man whose word carries the weight of nine tripods. How could I treat such a promise as a child’s game?” The dignified man pretended to be angry, puffing out his beard as he spoke.
But the boy paid no heed. He merely burrowed into the middle-aged man’s arms and cried, “Father is the best!”
A smile touched the dignified man’s face as he lovingly stroked the child’s head. The setting sun shone upon father and son, draping them in a warm afterglow.
…………
Time passed in a flash, and the child of old had grown into a youth.
The youth now wore plain clothes and stood outside a courtyard deep within an ancient mountain forest.
Behind him stood a dignified man dressed in a yellow imperial robe. Before him was a dust-covered wooden door.
At that moment, an aged voice came from within the courtyard.
“Li Zhi! Though I once had dealings with your ancestor, that was hundreds of years ago. Surely you don’t imagine that such a connection alone will persuade me to accept him as my disciple?”
The man in yellow robes immediately became solemn and replied respectfully, “This junior would never dare. Our soldiers obtained this rare treasure in a remote place, and I have come especially to present it to the Immortal.”
As he spoke, he took out a piece of refined iron the size of a goose egg, placed it upon his palm, and raised it reverently above his head.
Whoosh!
A gentle breeze swept past.
A disheveled old Daoist suddenly appeared before them.
His face was dark and he had no beard. His murky yellow eyes fixed upon the lump of iron in the man’s palm, and two sharp glints suddenly flashed from them.
“Heavenfall Iron!”
The old Daoist murmured the words. Then, with a sweep of his voluminous sleeve, the iron in the man’s hand vanished without a trace.
“Heh heh. You have been thoughtful, Nephew Li.”
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The old Daoist’s former coldness vanished completely. He reached out and placed a hand upon the youth’s crown.
“Hmm. An excellent spiritual root indeed. He is qualified to enter my sect.”
Joy flashed across the face of the man in yellow robes. He kicked the gray-clad youth from behind and hurriedly said, “What are you waiting for? Perform the formal ceremony of discipleship!”
The youth, still dazed and confused, knelt on the ground and knocked his head three times against the earth before the old Daoist.
“Good child, rise. From now on, follow your master and cultivate the Way. I grant you the Daoist name Cloud Void.”
“Thank you, Master!”
…………
Deep in the clouds, one knows not where it lies; once departed, there is no telling when one will return.
The white clouds drifted lazily as the years rolled on, while the world changed beyond recognition.
The prince who had once entered the mountains to cultivate the Way now looked back, only to find that everything had changed.
“Father! Father!”
With a hoarse cry, a young man in black robes raced through a palace. Flames raged within, turning everything a blazing red.
Inside and outside the palace lay the corpses of soldiers and guards who had died in battle, along with palace maids and consorts.
Severed limbs flew through the air. The fire devoured everything. Cries, screams, and pleas for help transformed the place into a living hell.
But none of that mattered to the young man. There was only one person he cared about.
The Imperial Study!
The young man pushed open the door with trembling hands. Inside, a man dressed in yellow robes sat upright, glaring furiously toward the entrance.
“Father!”
The young man shouted. His legs gave way, and he collapsed to his knees.
Only after a long while did he crawl, trembling, toward the man.
The man’s lips had turned black, and blood flowed from his eyes, ears, nostrils, and mouth. When the young man touched him lightly, the entire head rolled to the ground.
The man had been decapitated by a single stroke of a blade!
“Father!”
Unable to endure any longer, the young man collapsed at the feet of the man in yellow robes and began to sob uncontrollably. For a moment, he seemed no more than a homeless child.
“I cultivated the Way, yet the Way was never completed—and now my family is gone! Father, why did you make me embark upon this path?!”
…………
Years passed, and within the Heart Demon Lure, Cloud Void now stood disheveled and wild-eyed, looking completely deranged. Azure spiritual energy erupted from his body, blasting several patches of ground beside him into pieces while leaving him covered in wounds.
He was already grievously injured. Having his heart demons stirred at such a time was like pouring oil upon a raging fire, dragging him toward an abyss from which there was no return.
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Cloud Void’s eyes were unfocused. He opened his mouth and spat out a mouthful of blood, yet a trace of clarity returned to him, like the brief resurgence of light before death.
“All those past events were no more than passing clouds and drifting smoke. I devoted myself to restoring the kingdom, yet suffered setback after setback. Could it be that it was truly nothing more than a dream of prosperity? Now, perhaps it is time for the dream to end.”
He parted his lips, as though he wished to say something. Only then did he realize that he could no longer make the slightest sound.
“It is time to go home……”
That was Cloud Void’s final thought before death.
As the young man in black robes toppled backward, the ninth prince of the Great Tang, who had left home in his youth and entered the mountains to cultivate the Way, ceased to exist in the mortal world.
The surrounding illusion faded away piece by piece, revealing a gray-clad youth and a woman in blue.
“His life was as fragile as duckweed upon the water. In truth, he was a pitiable man,” Zhao Xunzhen said with a sigh as she gazed at him.
Liang Yan said nothing. He walked straight to Cloud Void, placed a hand upon his forehead, and began casting the Soul-Seeking Art.
A moment later, Liang Yan took Cloud Void’s storage pouch and poured out a red pill. He tossed it directly into his mouth.
As soon as the pill entered his stomach, Liang Yan sat down cross-legged and silently circulated his power to refine it.
Only after half an incense stick had burned did Liang Yan finish his cultivation and rise to his feet. Zhao Xunzhen, who had been waiting nearby, asked, “Is the poison gone?”
Liang Yan nodded. “Fortunately, Cloud Void kept antidotes for all the poisons he used on his body so that he could control others.”
“What should we do with Cloud Void’s corpse?” Zhao Xunzhen asked again.
Liang Yan lowered his head and glanced at the body before sighing.
“Whatever else may be said, this man and I were once connected by a period of shared history. Our debts and grievances are settled now. Let us at least help him find peace beneath the earth.”
“That sounds good. Dust to dust, earth to earth.”
As Zhao Xunzhen spoke, she released her spiritual power and dug a deep pit in the ground. Then she dragged Cloud Void’s body into it.
Liang Yan, meanwhile, used his divine ability to move a stone block above the grave.
He hesitated for a moment before reaching out and carving upon it:
“The Tomb of Li Honggui.”
“Brother Liang, are we still within the Three-Nine Formation?” Zhao Xunzhen asked, tilting her head as she gazed toward the hazy region ahead.
“The three trials of the inner formation are the Thunder Refining Sea, the Heart Demon Lure, and the Peach Blossom Miasma. We have already passed the first two. Only the Peach Blossom Miasma remains. But you needn’t worry. With the Spirit Bottle in my possession, this Three-Nine Formation is no more than an empty formality to us.”
The instant Liang Yan finished speaking, a small white jade bottle sprang from inside his robe and landed lightly upon his shoulder.
Two eyes the size of soybeans adorned the bottle’s body. They were listless and dull, giving it the appearance of something utterly bored.
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