Chapter 242: Time to Eat

Chapter 242 -159: Time to Eat

And so it went. Lu Changyuan got up again and again, and the Right Guardian smashed him into the ground again and again. They fought as they flew, and Liuqing Lake was now close at hand.

The rain soaked the Right Guardian’s hair, plastering it down and obscuring his expression.

But someone did know what the Right Guardian was feeling right now.

Lu Changyuan knew.

Because he was about to seal his own best friend.

Just as Lu Changyuan expected, the Right Guardian raised his longsword. The aura of the Dao on Broken Thought vibrated, blurring the surroundings.

The sword connected with the Dragon Vein. Dozens of chains shot out from the shadows, binding Lu Changyuan tightly before he plunged to the bottom of Liuqing Lake.

Broken Thought let out a clear ring, finally landing on the third layer. It faded into illusion, becoming the Demon-Suppressing Sword.

The seal trembled.

Su Wuxiang’s Demon Body trembled ceaselessly. The earth shook and mountains swayed in the Glazed Dynasty, and more than half the buildings in the Upper Jade Capital collapsed.

But eventually, all fell silent.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Su Youwan opened her eyes at the same time. She looked around, but Lu Changyuan wasn’t there. In her arms, however, a Stupid Fox was sleeping soundly.

‘Did we go to different dreams?’

The moonlight was like water.

The Silver-haired Maiden looked up and saw that she was still at the noodle stall.

Because she was Supreme, even when she willingly entered a dream, she wouldn’t become “someone” within it like Lu Changyuan did.

Instead, she would witness everything as a conscious observer.

Noodle Granny was kneading dough.

Su Youwan walked over, sat down on a stool, and watched the customers come and go.

The noodles in the pot were cooked. This was the last bowl; after this one, she would close up shop for the night.

Noodle Granny suddenly looked into the distance. “Who’s there?”

Someone emerged from the darkness.

It was a woman.

The woman was extraordinarily beautiful, the kind of peerless beauty that could be etched into one’s very soul with a single glance.

The shadows of the moon swayed, tracing a silhouette that seemed to flow with moonlight.

Her long hair was like spilled ink scattered over her shoulders. Her skin had the delicate, fragile luster of porcelain. Her features, which should have held a world-toppling beauty, were now like distant mountains shrouded in mist—hazy and indistinct.

Her lips were so pale they were nearly transparent, like the last red plum blossom in a field of snow that had yet to fall.

The woman leaned quietly in the corner, covered in blood, her breathing as light as a feather suspended in mid-air.

She seemed gravely injured, her life hanging by a thread.

Noodle Granny’s face paled in shock, and she rushed forward. “Sister Ling? How did you end up like this?”

Su Youwan tilted her head.

‘So this is what Master looked like when she was young. So tall and beautiful.’

The woman collapsed limply against Noodle Granny, her voice as faint as a sleep-muttered word.

She spoke.

“I lost him… I… lost him.”

Noodle Granny frantically transferred her True Qi to the woman. “Sister Ling? Who? Brother Lu?”

The woman muttered as if she’d lost her soul, “Starfall Valley, Starfall Valley…”

RIP.

The dream seemed to tear open.

Su Youwan sat where she was, but the scenery around her began to shatter and reform piece by piece.

It was as illogical as a real dream.

It was still the noodle stall.

This time, however, Noodle Granny was sitting on a stool at the stall, watching the moon. Su Youwan was right across from her.

“Who’s there?”

From the same corner, another person emerged.

The person’s face was hidden behind a Platinum Face, and they wore a black robe. Though they stood there, they gave off an illusory feeling of not being there at all.

This wasn’t a real body, just a wisp of Thought that had crossed thousands of miles of rivers and mountains to reach the Glazed Dynasty.

Noodle Granny’s eyes went wide.

“Brother Lu, you’re not dead? Sister Ling told me you had fallen!”

“How is she?”

Noodle Granny was silent for a long moment. “The last time I saw her was decades ago. She was gravely injured, her meridians completely shattered. I’m afraid she’s already…”

“Then let it be,” the Chang’an Daoist said, shaking his head. “I cannot be away from Celestial Mountain for long this time. I’ll be brief.”

“Celestial Mountain, a Platinum Face?”

Noodle Granny finally got a clear look at the Platinum Face on the Chang’an Daoist. “The Chang’an Daoist!? Brother Lu, you’re the Chang’an Daoist.”

But the Chang’an Daoist didn’t answer Noodle Granny’s question, only saying:

“I have already been to see Wuxiang. I still can’t save him. His True Spirit is lost.”

Noodle Granny stiffened, her voice turning hoarse and her eyes suddenly reddening. “Not even you can save him now, Brother Lu, as the Chang’an Daoist?”

“That is no longer him.”

“So, are you here to kill Wuxiang for good, Brother Lu?”

“That is not Wuxiang,” the Chang’an Daoist said, his voice devoid of emotion.

“But it is him!” Noodle Granny’s expression was filled with deep sorrow. She pleaded bitterly, “Brother Lu, I’m begging you, don’t kill him. There must be a way. Just give me a little more time. I want to save him.”

A long moment passed.

But the black-robed figure began to fade, like a drop of ink in water, dissipating into wisps of smoke.

Only a very faint sigh remained, lingering in the air, refusing to disperse.

Only then did Su Youwan understand.

‘If the Chang’an Daoist hadn’t returned to the noodle stall to see Luan Rumeng, no one else in this world would have known his true identity.’

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The two of them were ejected from the dreamscape.

Lu Changyuan touched his forehead. “Watching myself from someone else’s perspective is pretty terrifying.”

It was, indeed, terrifying.

Thinking back, that would have been Lu Changyuan’s second time ascending to the Kai Yang realm. He was already far stronger than others, and with his unreasonably powerful Swordsmanship, an ordinary practitioner of the same realm stood no chance against him.

It was only because Su Wuxiang cultivated a Demon Technique and performed a Sacrifice that he was able to fight Lu Changyuan on even terms.

Su Youwan turned to Lu Changyuan. “What did Young Master Lu see?”

“Just some old stories from the past. And you?”

“Some of Young Master Lu’s past. It was quite interesting.”

‘She saw my past, too?’

‘Is it that much of a coincidence?’

Lu Changyuan narrowed his eyes. “This is less like a dream and more like… using the dreams of mortals to connect with the land, trace back past history, and re-enact it.”

“This isn’t a dream anymore.”

The two of them exchanged a look.

Both recognized the strangeness of this dream.

The Silver-haired Maiden said, “This is the work of the Qingshi Sect. They are quite skilled in the Historical Dao.”

There was no longer any need to check the other dreams.

Lu Changyuan had already guessed what the Dream Demon wanted to do.

History books are written by people, but the true vessel of history is the land itself.

Collect the dreams of mortals, supplement them with the Great Dream Technique, and fuse them into a dream of the past. Then, by combining the Qingshi Sect’s method of depiction and manifestation with the dream’s own ability to turn illusion into reality, they could manifest the existence of the Chang’an Daoist.

But truly manifesting the Chang’an Daoist wasn’t that easy.

Take the dream of the Glazed Dynasty, for example.

The Right Guardian that Lu Changyuan saw was faceless because the manifestation had failed. The Chang’an Daoist that Su Youwan saw had his features hidden beneath a Platinum Face, but in reality, he was also faceless.

Lu Changyuan muttered, “How did the Dream Demon manage this? It shouldn’t be possible. To achieve this step, they would need at least one Seventh Realm Yao Guang who cultivates the Great Dream Dao.”

‘Isn’t the strongest in the Dream Demon Race their Sixth Realm Clan Leader?’

‘What do these Dream Demons want by manifesting me?’

Su Youwan looked at the surrounding dreams. “There are many mortal dreams here, each from a different Dynasty. It seems the Dream Demon has been plotting for a very long time, searching for traces of your past in the history of various Dynasties.”

The places where Lu Changyuan’s traces were heaviest were the Glazed Dynasty and the Great Wei.

The entire nation of Great Wei had been plagued by the Dream Demon, while the Glazed Dynasty, thanks to the presence of Luan Rumeng, had not suffered any major disturbances.

Lu Changyuan thought of something else.

‘Did the Dream Demon want to take Broken Thought and use it as a link to manifest the Chang’an Daoist?’

‘That would be one way to do it.’

‘The connection between Broken Thought and Lu Changyuan was too strong. If they really managed to get Broken Thought, the Dream Demon might have actually succeeded.’

But Luan Rumeng had been in the Glazed Dynasty before, so they couldn’t touch the seal. Later, they attempted Possession on Su Minghan, planning to use the throne to secretly retrieve the sword. But by then, Lu Changyuan had personally gone to the Glazed Dynasty and taken back his own sword.

The Dream Demon’s plans had been completely thwarted.

“Young Master Lu? Young Master Lu?”

Lu Changyuan came back to his senses.

The Silver-haired Maiden said with some hesitation, “It seems… you’re eating these dreams.”

‘Eating dreams?’

Only then did Lu Changyuan look down at his hand, which was resting on a dream bubble. The Five Desires and Six Dust Heart Transformation Technique had begun to operate on its own, slowly devouring the dream bubbles.

The Desire for Sleep was being sated.

Lu Changyuan stared in astonishment at the vast corridor of dream bubbles.