Chapter 272: Dream Map (Part 2)

Pei Ye was startled upon hearing this: "You saw it while in a coma?"

"Yes, Young Hero Pei." Zi Huang took a deep breath, "I don't know if I was awake, and I don't know if it was the hazy truth I saw when I occasionally opened my eyelids or a messy dream during the coma."

Zi Huang felt he had been thrown to the ground.

Even in the darkness, he vaguely felt that he was not the only one around. He should have replaced the fate of the original black-robed person.

The serious injury to his body was being repaired by the power gushing out from his abdomen, but that was by no means a task of a moment. He had never suffered such a serious injury. His consciousness was buried in thick darkness, and this darkness was not quiet, but constantly churning and tossing, with psychedelic and gorgeous bright flakes flashing from time to time.

He didn't know how long this muddled state lasted. He didn't know if what was flowing in his mind was an uncontrolled consciousness or a confused dream, he just vaguely felt the shaking—he seemed to be being moved by someone.

Then it seemed to stop, and he began to feel a distant silence.

The dream seemed to be wrapped in a layer of faint blue. In the haze, a strange, hoarse female voice drilled in like a thin thread, as if drilling from the ear hole all the way into the heart. Zi Huang began to feel a terrifying suffocation. He couldn't move, feeling like a fish dying out of water. Heart, lungs, brain, consciousness... anyway, there was always one place about to explode.

He felt himself struggling to climb toward the direction of the sound. Thus, some part of his body was mobilized by his intense desire, and a scene suddenly appeared in his consciousness.

He didn't know if it was through his eyes, but he saw the Cang Mountains like rice grains under the dragon's body.

As if a loud bell suddenly cleared away all noise, those confused and bright miscellaneous things vanished into ashes in an instant. In Zi Huang's consciousness, only this sacred, lofty, immortal, magnificent, submissive, and worshipful scene remained, firmly branded in his heart.

Before his consciousness, which had been stimulated, fell completely asleep, the last thought flashed through Zi Huang's heart.

This... is that true masterpiece

's corner.

"The later things, Young Hero Pei should know."

In the quiet room, Zi Huang whispered: "I was taken to another place and fought like a bug with those people until Master Zhu discovered that place and replaced me."

"I lost my cultivation, but I also escaped the fate of becoming nourishment. After crawling out of the deep mountains, I lay on the bed for half a month. During that time, the Immortal Platform of the Divine Capital came to find me. I told them everything I knew... they wanted me to keep my mouth shut and forget about this matter."

Zi Huang was silent for a while and said unexpectedly: "I agreed."

Pei Ye looked at him with slight surprise.

The man before him revealed a weak and powerless light smile: "Young Hero Pei thinks too highly of me. The villains I have fought in my life were just some bandits and evil disciples. The strongest opponents I have hidden in my heart were just Meng Chuyuan and Lu Defeng. I believe this is not something I should touch. Let the past be the past."

Then the man put away his light sigh and looked quietly at the night window, saying after a long time: "But it has been entangled with me."

"Since I returned, every night I dream of that god-like scene." Zi Huang withdrew his gaze and slowly covered his face with both hands, "At first, I thought it was just the aftermath of emotional agitation, but later I found that it simply wouldn't dim or disappear. I couldn't control wanting to know its full picture, couldn't control wanting to see it again. As soon as I closed my eyes, it firmly occupied my entire consciousness..."

"It took me a month to barely adapt to living under its gaze, but I still feel its summons to me from time to time." Zi Huang said dazed, "Xu Yanhe advised me to just accept it like this. Perhaps in ten or twenty years, it will dim and leave... but I can't stand that."

"Since it refuses to let me go, I must turn around and see what it is." The man whispered, "After getting out of bed half a month ago, I went to Xiangzhou again..."

He was suddenly silent and smiled again: "Young Hero Pei, when I carried the Eighth Life meridian tree in the past, I didn't feel anything too special. Traveling was still by carriage and horse, and daily life was still eating and drinking. But when I truly lost all this... I truly found back the weakness of being an ordinary person."

"Heavy, dragging, powerless—all this brings a narrow range of hearing and seeing, and a frighteningly low efficiency. The world seems to have covered my eyes with fog. I wandered there for half a month but found nothing." This man, who still looked imposing and sharp, revealed his vulnerability at this moment, "August is also the most important time for Bai Zhu in several years. Xu Yanhe didn't have time to help me, so only in these few days did he find the time."

"That is how it is."

The candle flame flickered silently. Pei Ye said slowly: "What does that picture look like?"

Zi Huang was silent for a while before getting up and returning to the bookshelf, taking out a heavily wrapped short scroll: "I painted it myself. I didn't dare ask anyone to hold the brush... I actually don't want to show it to anyone."

The man heavily placed it slowly on the table, as if moving a demonic curse. Pei Ye took it and, without the slightest pause, unfolded this scroll.

A magnificent scene came into view.

Zi Huang loved painting and had polished his own painting skills, but no one would pay attention to the brush and ink techniques in this picture. The objects depicted in it had already taken away all attention.

A section of a twisting dragon-python shape occupied the vast majority of the scroll's space. No head, claws, or tail were seen, but judging by the growth trend of the scales, it should be from top to bottom. What was different from a dragon was that its abdomen was also covered with smooth and dense scales, and the whole body was round and smooth, with no distinction between top, bottom, left, or right.

Two extremely thin and long faint blue fine lines climbed irregularly on this section of the body. If one didn't look carefully, one would miss them.

In the lower half of the scroll was a section of mountain shadows, clouds, high trees, blue birds, and the blue underworld, etc., filling the remaining space.

Even though Pei Ye had never had the experience of appreciating paintings, he could see at a glance that this was a withered copy.

The ethereal immortal intent, the cold scales—this was a divine, secluded, and magnificent scene of an immortal dragon descending into the world, touching the soul and reaching the deepest part of the Mind-Spirit Realm. It was not facing the eyes, but all of a person's spiritual perception. And now, even though Zi Huang had tried his best to display it, those spiritualities and divine intents could only fall into human colors and shapes, becoming a flat picture.

But it was still fascinating to look at.

Pei Ye examined it for a long time before saying softly: "Is there only this section?"

"I only saw this section."

Pei Ye raised his head: "But didn't Xi Wantian see the full view? Didn't the picture he left behind present it to the senior through the painting disciple?"

Zi Huang was silent: "... I forgot."

"What?"

"I forgot." Zi Huang looked at him, "I know I have seen that complete one, and I also clearly remember the dazed obsession when I first saw it... but I forgot its content."

"When this section of the true masterpiece appeared in my mind... the forgery could never be found back. My consciousness... does not allow me to fill in what is in that memory onto this section of the true masterpiece."

"..."

Pei Ye looked at this claw and scale. This should be the rightmost and topmost part of this picture. What did the remaining parts depict?

This dragon fell from the sky. Where was it going, and what was at the end... could it be...

After a long while, Pei Ye said softly again: "Senior... didn't you tell the Immortal Platform about this?"

"I told them, but they didn't find what I said. They later asked me to confirm and fill in the details twice, but there were still no results. Precisely because of this, I doubted even more whether it ever existed and whether everything was just my psychedelic delusion."

"... But senior still went to search for that scroll after all, and now you are indeed targeting this peddler."

Zi Huang smiled powerlessly again: "I'm just wandering around."

"Why not talk about it?"

"... Are you sure you want to find it?" Zi Huang was silent for a moment, looking at the youth, "It will only end without a cure. Even if you find a gap by chance... what you get will only be a nightmare."

Pei Ye said softly: "... Unlike senior, even if it doesn't entangle me... I won't let it go."

"... Good." Zi Huang took a deep breath, his gaze slowly condensing, "From the moment I got out of bed, I knew that to find this picture, I couldn't start from my own matter."

"I don't remember anything, and going to the place I went to back then again is meaningless—I already told the Immortal Platform, but they found nothing." Zi Huang said softly, "To investigate this matter, one must start with Xi Wantian back then."

"First, why did Xi Wantian suddenly go deep into the wild and accurately find the location of that picture? If it were a coincidence, it would be too far-fetched. He must have had a motive unknown to outsiders. Second, as a painter with no cultivation, how did he come and go in the deep mountains for a month unscathed? Did he enter the mountains alone? Or was he escorted by someone?"

"Clarifying these two points, one can grasp the tail of the matter. It's just that thirty years have passed..." Zi Huang was silent for a moment, "That's how I targeted the Qiyun Chamber of Commerce."

Pei Ye raised his head and looked at him.

"Xi Wantian's paintings back then were mostly sold under the name of the Qiyun Chamber of Commerce. Many paintings we searched for later were also purchased through Qiyun. If it is said that thirty years have passed, where else can some news about Xi Wantian be left? I'm afraid it would be them first."

"But these days, Xu Yanhe doesn't have time." Zi Huang smiled helplessly, "He also won't let me go to Xiangzhou again. Therefore, hearing that Qiyun had come to Bowang, I dragged Xu Yanhe to watch, but I didn't expect to really have a harvest. It's just that this harvest is now in the hands of the Immortal Platform."

After bidding farewell to Zi Huang and coming out of the Bai Zhu courtyard, the sky was already hazy.

Pei Ye carried the Zhanxin Liuli, held the black cat, and returned to the Cuiyu courtyard in silence, without saying a word.

Until he lay on the bed with his hands behind his head, he tilted his neck and said softly: "Little cat, what do you think this is?"

The black cat took its mouth away from Pei Ye's neck and was silent.

"Scroll... another new thing." Pei Ye thought quietly, "Has anything been connected to it before?"

"No." The black cat said, "It's the first time it has appeared."

"..."

"But we can speculate." The black cat said calmly, "Do you remember when the Huan Si Lou made a move on the Hushan Sword Gate?"

"... The fifteenth of the seventh month." Pei Ye's gaze condensed, "The actions of the Huan Si Lou and the Zhu Shi Sect were almost launched at the same time. One path welcomed the Immortal Lord, and the other path..."

"The other path, presumably, paved the way for the Dragon Lord in case he killed his way out."

Pei Ye was startled.

"You wouldn't want to see the Nine Provinces sink, so I said, even if the entire Bowang is buried, you cannot let Him succeed." The black cat said softly, "The Zhu Shi Sect did not exist in that cage-like valley from the beginning. The place where this painting is located should be their origin."

It stretched its claws and drew two vertical lines on the head of the bed, dividing it into three sections: "The matter of Xincang in August is the middle section. The so-called 'Immortal Painting Scroll' is the cause of this matter. And what the Huan Si Lou took is the future of this matter."

Pei Ye looked at it intently: "But the Immortal Platform of the Divine Capital did not take action against the Huan Si Lou matter."

"Because this is my guess." The black cat said calmly.

"..."

"But I can often guess right." It jumped back onto Pei Ye's shoulder, "Anyway, we have to wait until you can open Yang Yan's jade pendant to see the truth. Now this middle link is broken, and what was originally prepared for the Immortal Lord has become an ownerless object... so these are all the aftermath of that matter."

"Perhaps." Pei Ye's mind was still on the scroll, "That peddler came by the route of the Qiyun Chamber of Commerce. Inspector Wuhe said he was mostly an outer line of the Huan Si Lou, but the Qiyun Chamber of Commerce happened to be vaguely involved with the Zhu Shi Sect..."

"That's why I said they were stirred together."

"... Why would they be stirred together?" Pei Ye looked at the roof beam, "And how did this scroll survive the search of the Immortal Platform of the Divine Capital?"

"Anyway, thinking won't have any results." The black cat looked at him quietly.

"Then why don't we go take a look?" Pei Ye looked back at the black cat with sharp eyes, "Let them entangle with the 'future' here. Let's go see what kind of monster this 'cause' is... do you think it's feasible?"

"Of course it's feasible." The black cat said calmly, "Anyway, you can't help much here, you'll only twist the bed like a maggot."

"... I am a very important bait." Pei Ye lifted it up and said seriously.

But the next day, the bait also lost its effect.

Pei Ye considered himself a part of Inspector Wuhe's plan. After waking up, he originally intended to go to the Immortal Platform to inform them of his plan first, so as not to disrupt the trap, but Ming Qitian returned from there first.

"Pei Ye, do you want to follow me to the Kongdong Sect to ask about the sword?" The woman said.

"... Miss Ming, aren't you staying in Bowang to help the Immortal Platform ambush the Huan Si Lou?"

"They said if I continue to stay here, the Huan Si Lou might not come at all."

"... I also just want to go south for a trip, Miss Ming. However, I can't reach Kongdong. I want to stop in Xiangzhou."

Ming Qitian pondered for a moment.

"You don't have to delay your itinerary for me, Miss Ming." Pei Ye said quickly, "Your time to ask about the sword is also very urgent, you don't have to follow me all the time."

Ming Qitian said peacefully: "I didn't say I would follow you. Xiangzhou is within three hundred miles of Kongdong. As long as you carry the Zhanxin Liuli on your body, the Crane Clothes on the second rank of the Mystic Gate cannot hurt you."

"... Oh."

At this time, the young girl in a green skirt walked out, somewhat dazed: "Are you leaving?"

"No." Pei Ye said, "Miss Ming is going to Kongdong to ask about the sword, and I am going to Xiangzhou to investigate some things... Are you staying in Bowang? Or following someone?"

"I want to follow Sword Master Ming to ask about the sword!" The girl's eyes lit up, and she looked carefully at the youth beside her, whispering, "... Is it okay?"

"Suit yourself." Pei Ye said expressionlessly.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 273 =====