He Jiaqing followed Old Train out of the city and arrived beside the railway tracks.
The surrounding scenery was a blur of grayish white; only the two rails shone silvery bright as if brand new, slightly dazzling to the eyes.
After waiting a moment, a whistle sounded, and a train chugged in from the distance.
Old Train leaped up onto a car, and He Jiaqing hurried to follow.
The two crouched on the roof. Before they had gone far, Old Train said to He Jiaqing, "See that big bridge ahead? The moment the train gets onto the bridge, jump down. Don't use any techniques. At this train's speed, by the time you land below the bridge, you'll be right in the middle of the river. Drift downstream with the current, and you'll reach the exit. Got all that down?"
He Jiaqing nodded.
Old Train asked again, "I told you before, the haul is to be split three ways. You can't keep it all for yourself. Got that down too?"
"Got it," He Jiaqing said.
"Get ready to jump."
He Jiaqing hated being pushed around, but he knew too little about Dream-Tethering Tower. A few days of experience was nowhere near comparable to Old Train's, so whatever Old Train said, he had to listen.
Reaching the head of the bridge, He Jiaqing leaped from the train and plunged into the middle of the river. The water had no buoyancy whatsoever, clinging to him wet and sticky. He hadn't drifted far before he sank into the riverbed.
With his cultivation, a situation like this naturally caused him no panic. When he crawled out of the riverbed, the train was gone, the bridge was gone, and even the river from before had vanished.
He Jiaqing had crawled out of a mud puddle. Looking around, he recognized this place: it was Hongnigang.
Hongnigang was a well-known newland outside Lüshuiwan. Riddled with swamps and deep mires, many newland hunters had lost their lives here.
Escaping Dream-Tethering Tower and ending up right near Lüshuiwan was quite a stroke of luck for He Jiaqing.
After quickly wiping the muddy water off himself, He Jiaqing was just about to hit the road when an honest, simple-looking newland hunter caught his attention.
The hunter was looking all around the swamp, seemingly hunting, yet also seemingly searching for something.
The hunter hadn't spotted He Jiaqing yet, but He Jiaqing dared not be careless. He slipped back into the silt, poking his head out every now and then to peek.
The reason he was so cautious was that the hunter's behavior was abnormal.
Newland hunters generally didn't come to Hongnigang to hunt. The strange beasts in the swamp were too ferocious, and most prey wouldn't fetch a good price, making it not worth the hunters' risk.
As for searching for something in the swamp, that was even more absurd. For ordinary people, losing something in a quagmire like Hongnigang meant practically zero chance of finding it again.
There was one type of hunter who specifically ventured into mires looking for clay, but those hunters were exceedingly rare and used very specialized tools. The hunter before his eyes clearly wasn't in that line of work.
He wasn't searching for an object; he was searching for a spot—a spot to hide something.
After wandering through the swamp for a good while, the man finally found a suitable location. He dug a hole in the mud and buried a wooden box inside.
Once it was buried, the man stuck two twigs into the mud. In the blink of an eye, the twigs vanished, and the signs of digging in the mud disappeared as well.
A Fool cultivator's Confusing Flowers Dazzling Eyes Array.
He Jiaqing was indeed knowledgeable, recognizing the array's origins right away.
Once the honest-looking newland hunter left, He Jiaqing emerged from the mud and walked over to the spot where the hunter had buried the object.
He was in no rush to break the array. Circling it twice and observing for a moment, He Jiaqing produced an iron wire and probed it into the mud.
A Thief Cultivator technique: Suspended Gold Thread Pulse.
Though the name sounded like a Doctor Cultivator technique, it was actually a high-level Thief Cultivator technique. Using this iron wire, He Jiaqing could determine what was buried in the mud without disturbing the array or traps, and without damaging the item.
The wire sank more than three feet deep, giving He Jiaqing a precise feel.
This wasn't just because of his consummate skill, but also because he was intimately familiar with the item's shape.
The Mysterious Life Red Lotus.
Looking grave, He Jiaqing twirled the wire with his fingertips and poked gently at the Red Lotus twice.
After waiting for a long while with no response, He Jiaqing withdrew the wire.
He waited beside the swamp for a short while, then got up and left.
Every footprint he made in the swamp was wiped completely clean, and even the hole made by the wire was smoothed over.
As He Jiaqing's back faded into the distance, two figures materialized on the swamp: one was Old Train, and the other was Meng Qian.
Old Train asked Meng Qian, "Did he see through it?"
With a wave of Meng Qian's hand, the swamp suddenly hardened, and the muddy ground turned into blue bricks.
The paved corridor of blue bricks stretched out in both directions amidst pitch-black space. This was the real place.
The swamp, the Red Lotus, and the honest newland hunter He Jiaqing had seen all originated from a dream. Part of it was He Jiaqing's own dream, part was created by Meng Qian, and part was inherent to Dream-Tethering Tower itself.
Meng Qian was very confident in her methods. "In Dream-Tethering Tower, if he woke from the dream, I would notice immediately."
Old Train didn't think so. "He Jiaqing is a top-rate Thief Cultivator. Some of the things he's pulled off slipped right past Old Pincers Xiao's eyes. It might not necessarily be beyond him to slip past yours."
Meng Qian shook her head. "The world knows too little about Dream Cultivators, assuming our path has little combat power. Little do they know our combat power isn't calculated like that of ordinary people. A person inside a dream is in an entirely different state than normal. In Dream-Tethering Tower, I am in charge. Let alone He Jiaqing, even if it were you, as long as you woke from the dream, I would definitely know. Though whether I could beat you in a fight is another matter."
Old Train said, "No need to be modest. Ever since the Dream Cultivator Founder disappeared, you've been the one with the highest achievements in your entire sect, haven't you?"
Meng Qian said, "That depends on what kind of achievements you mean. If we're only talking about cultivation, the highest before wasn't me, nor will it be after. It was I who took the wrong path."
Old Train didn't quite understand. "You've built Dream-Tethering Tower up to this level, so why do you still say you took the wrong path?"
Meng Qian sighed. "Zhao Lanmeng's path is the correct one, and someone walked it even earlier than he did."
Old Train pondered Meng Qian's words, then thought about the tunnel Zhao Lanmeng had dug into Dream-Tethering Tower. The reason Meng Qian hadn't filled the tunnel in was probably because she had other intentions.
Meng Qian interrupted his train of thought. "I've done what I promised you. You should honor your word, leave Dream-Tethering Tower at once, and take that friend of yours with you."
Old Train pondered. "I still don't understand. Why didn't He Jiaqing take the Red Lotus?"
Meng Qian said, "I find it quite reasonable. Back then, he didn't bring the Red Lotus back to Puluo Province, and thanks to that brilliant move, he avoided many a storm."
Old Train shook his head. "Back then, he was in plain view of everyone. But now, with such a golden opportunity, I don't believe he isn't greedy."
Meng Qian had no desire to keep speculating. She only wished for Eighteen Wheels to leave as quickly as possible; no one could tell when he might go mad.
Old Train was a man of his word too. "Deliver this dream to Li Qi, and I'll take Face Not Big and leave Dream-Tethering Tower immediately."
Meng Qian frowned. "I don't even know where Li Qi is."
"He's in Boundless City. You definitely have a way to find him." Old Train prepared to go look for Face Not Big.
Meng Qian thought this was completely unnecessary. "You could just tell Li Qi about the dream yourself. Why insist that I go find him?"
Old Train looked back and said, "I don't want to see him. I don't want to bring harm upon him."
***
He Jiaqing walked out of Hongnigang. A gentle breeze brushed against his face, and he suddenly perceived an unusual chill—a welcoming, tangible chill as the wind blew against his cheeks.
Inside Dream-Tethering Tower, such chill seemed imperceptible. Yet he had already left Dream-Tethering Tower for some time. Why was this chill so late in coming?
Could it be that he had only just left Dream-Tethering Tower? Could everything earlier have still been a dream?
He Jiaqing grew a bit nervous. Looking back at Hongnigang behind him, he hesitated over whether to go back and verify it, whether to see if the Red Lotus was truly at that spot.
But on second thought, whether the Red Lotus was there or not, and whether it had been a dream or reality, the way he had handled it was not wrong.
He Jiaqing walked all the way toward Lüshuiwan, unable to keep from sighing inwardly. Even having reached this level of cultivation, one still lived in trembling vigilance.
***
Li Banfeng was sleeping in Yucui Tower. Lately, he was constantly drowsy, and even when not sleepy, he refused to go outside.
In his dream, he was holding his wife, riding a train, watching the sunset over Suihuang Plain.
A gust of cold wind swept past, and the wife in his arms suddenly transformed into another beauty—a peerless beauty dressed in white, with delicate facial features and a languid expression.
If this were in Dream-Tethering Tower, Li Banfeng would have found it all perfectly natural. Thoughts in dreams were never continuous, and dreamers could accept sudden leaps in circumstances most of the time.
But this wasn't Dream-Tethering Tower; this was Yucui Tower, Li Banfeng's own residence.
He knew who his wife was in bed just as he knew his shoes out of bed. Li Banfeng shoved Meng Qian away at once, realizing this woman had invaded his dream.
"What are you trying to do?"
Meng Qian shook her head slightly. "I bear no ill intent. I only came to deliver a dream to you."
She presented He Jiaqing's dream at Hongnigang to Li Banfeng. "Eighteen Wheels asked me to show you this. It took me quite a bit of effort to track you down."
Li Banfeng bowed deeply, and to show his gratitude, he set Meng Qian's clothes on fire.
Meng Qian looked down at her burning garments. "Why did you burn my clothes again?"
Li Banfeng said, "I told you the last time we met: don't startle me!"
Meng Qian nodded slightly and left with smoke and flames trailing off her, looking ethereal yet singed.
Li Banfeng woke from his dream, sat in silence for a moment, and took Zhao Xiaowan back to the companion dwelling.
Why He Jiaqing hadn't taken the Red Lotus was something Li Banfeng couldn't figure out either.
If he couldn't figure it out, he might as well ask directly.
Li Banfeng carried both the Red Lotus and the television into the fifth room. First, he asked the Red Lotus, "Why did He Jiaqing leave you behind in the campus supermarket back then? Why didn't he take you back to Puluo Province?"
The Red Lotus said, "How should I know? I had refined plenty of pills for him beforehand, but the next day he stuck me in that locker. From then on, I never saw him again."
"When did you fall into his hands?"
The Red Lotus said, "Right when he started college. That was all thanks to Yuan Miaoping's help."
The television lit up. Yuan Miaoping still sported her sharp, angular bangs, chewing bubblegum. "I don't remember the exact time. When I walked out of the room, a box suddenly appeared in my hands. I peeked inside by accident and found it was the Mysterious Life Red Lotus. At the time, I still had to do work for someone else—that guy named Du you mentioned. I didn't dare make a scene and was just wondering how to get the Red Lotus out when Song Shu contacted me, telling me to just drop the Red Lotus in the corridor."
Li Banfeng thought about the process; it made no sense.
Back then, Yuan Miaoping was teaching Du Wenming about electromagnetism. A'yu and Heavenly Maiden had used some unknown method to slip the Red Lotus into Yuan Miaoping's hands, and Song Shu told Yuan Miaoping to leave it in the corridor.
Du Wenming wasn't blind. Could he not see such a huge Red Lotus?
Yet on second thought, Du Wenming really might not have seen it.
The Red Lotus left in the corridor might not actually have been in the corridor. Li Banfeng remembered the snake in the campus supermarket locker—that was Mu Yuejuan's snake.
Li Banfeng looked at Yuan Miaoping. "Do you know the connection between the Dark Star Bureau and the lockers?"
Yuan Miaoping shook her head. "I don't know what lockers you're talking about. When I was locked up, I was always inside a glass display case. Is that what you mean?"
As she spoke, Yuan Miaoping blew a bubble.
Looking at her, one always felt this person had no scheming mind, always felt she was speaking the truth.
Zhao Xiaowan squeezed Li Banfeng's wrist. This matter couldn't be answered here; it would have to be investigated through the second room.
Li Banfeng asked the Red Lotus again, "Once you reached He Jiaqing's hands, what did you do during those four years?"
"What else could I do? Refined pills for him, of course! I've been with you for nearly four years too. Don't you know my pill-refining craft?"
The Red Lotus stroked Li Banfeng's cheek with a lotus leaf. Zhao Xiaowan wasn't angry; she gently stroked the lotus's receptacle as well.
Li Banfeng asked, "Where did He Jiaqing get the materials for refining pills?"
The Red Lotus sighed. "That I don't know. He Jiaqing was extremely cautious. Every corpse he brought back had been thoroughly dealt with—some had no heads, and even the ones with heads had unidentifiable features. Not like you, tossing them into the house willy-nilly and leaving the rest for us to clean up."
Zhao Xiaowan chimed in with a question: "How many pills did you refine for He Jiaqing?"
"I can't remember. He Jiaqing's cultivation progressed so fast; you could roughly deduce how many pills he took."
Zhao Xiaowan nodded. "Having refined so many pills for him, you definitely took plenty of kickbacks. Even if you suffered injuries before, four years should have been enough for you to recuperate. Yet when I first saw you in our home, your condition was pathetic. You didn't even want to spare the half of a clock pendulum Yuni left behind, looking like you were possessed by a starving ghost."
The Red Lotus laughed. "Who are you calling a starving ghost? My condition was decent back then, wasn't it? I didn't cry hunger to Director Li every single day like you did, did I? As for what you said about kickbacks, you're truly wronging me. Whenever I refine pills for you all, I pour out my heart and soul; I've never held back any kickbacks."
Zhao Xiaowan smiled. "Now that sounds disingenuous."
Li Banfeng suddenly asked the Red Lotus, "Why do you know how to refine pills?"
The Red Lotus was taken aback. "Does that even need asking? I was born knowing how to refine pills. The Heavenly Maiden created me precisely for the purpose of refining pills."
Everyone took it for granted that the Red Lotus ought to know how to refine pills, but today, Li Banfeng insisted on finding out the underlying reason.
"Refining pills is clearly her technique, called Hundred Flowers Slay." Li Banfeng looked toward the wall of the fifth room, laying everything bare.
The figure of the young lady of the fifth room appeared on the wall.
She was still dressed in a blue school uniform, her right hand clutching a bouquet of fresh flowers. The blossoms had already withered, their petals drifting with the wind. Her ear-length short hair hung disheveled over her face, through which her blood-red eyes were faintly visible.
She glared at Li Banfeng with eyes full of resentment, and the temperature in the fifth room seemed to drop considerably.
Li Banfeng shivered, picked a book off the shelf, and smacked it right onto the fifth room young lady's face with a loud thwack. "I've told you not to startle me! When I ask you something, just answer properly!"
The young lady of the fifth room took the book off her face, straightened her hair and makeup, resumed her melancholic, resentful expression, and gritted her teeth. "The Red Lotus came from me!"
Li Banfeng looked at the Red Lotus, then at the fifth room lady. "You mean you made the Red Lotus?"
She shook her head. "The Red Lotus is my flesh and blood."
Li Banfeng thought again. "You mean you gave birth to the Red Lotus?"
The young lady of the fifth room looked at Li Banfeng helplessly.
She had tried her hardest to craft a persona filled with sorrow, fury, and even a touch of terrifying dread, but with Li Banfeng, it was utterly pointless.
Smoothing her hair, she spoke plainly in an even tone: "What I mean is, the material used to refine the Red Lotus was my flesh and blood."
Zhao Xiaowan arched a brow, glancing at the Red Lotus and Yuan Miaoping.
Yuan Miaoping waved her hands repeatedly. "I had no idea about this!"
The Red Lotus flapped its leaves. "I didn't know about this either."
The fifth room young lady choked back a sob and said, "Back then, I was killed by the peddler. He gave my soul to Eighteen Wheels and my body to the Heavenly Maiden. The Heavenly Maiden used my flesh to refine the Mysterious Life Red Lotus, while Eighteen Wheels sealed my soul into Little Train. Having undergone the tribulation of life and death, I lost most of my memories, but this blood debt is something I will never forget for all eternity."
"A blood debt?" Zhao Xiaowan tilted her head and thought. "When A'yu broke into our home carrying the Heavenly Maiden, you even tried to help the Red Lotus escape. I couldn't see any deep-seated hatred between you and the Heavenly Maiden."
"Where is that coming from?" The fifth room young lady flipped her hair. "I was plucking flowers the entire time, keeping the Red Lotus deceived. I was helping our own family! Little Train can testify for me on this!"
The companion dwelling coughed twice.
It did not agree with the fifth room's claims; it had no recollection of Old Train sealing Lai Wuju's soul inside itself.
Yet the companion dwelling had lost many memories, and logically, it could find no flaw in the fifth room's story.
Li Banfeng didn't plan on asking any further. He took Zhao Xiaowan and left the companion dwelling.
Back in Yucui Tower, Zhao Xiaowan asked Li Banfeng, "Darling husband, how much of what they said do you think was the truth?"
"A lot," Li Banfeng rubbed his temples. "But why do I feel that the more truths there are, the more troublesome it gets?"
Zhao Xiaowan felt it was troublesome as well. "My husband is right. Sometimes the truth can deceive better than lies."
Li Banfeng stretched and walked to the entrance of Yucui Tower.
Zhao Xiaowan stepped outside, looked at Li Banfeng, and said, "Husband, your humble servant knows you are reluctant to leave home, but it would be best for us to return to the Outer States to look into this thoroughly. The entanglement between the Heavenly Maiden and the Red Lotus is definitely not so simple. Now she resides right in my husband's manor; if someday she uses some trick to meet with the Red Lotus, even your humble servant cannot say what consequences might ensue."
Li Banfeng nodded. "We certainly need to get to the bottom of it, but first I have to go to Xiaodu to harvest some vitality, to catch my Dwelling Cultivator cultivation up as soon as possible."
Zhao Xiaowan felt that was unwise. "Husband, going to Xiaodu at this time might play right into Qiao Yi's schemes."
Li Banfeng didn't think so. "Qiao Yi probably has no time to worry about me right now."
***
Yuan Youshang walked along the roads of Chaoge's Fourth Ring City, warily surveying his surroundings.
A great number of noble houses resided in the Fourth Ring City. Their manors were not large, but they were exceedingly particular about protocol. In Yuan Youshang's memory, stepping through the doors of any noble house meant confronting mountains of etiquette. Some paths and some doors were not for ordinary people to tread.
Yet today was exceptional: the front gates of every residence stood wide open, with indentured servants scurrying in and out constantly.
All these servants were doing the exact same thing: carrying out corpses.
Lining both sides of the street were numerous dead bodies; some had been laid into coffins, while others were simply draped with a sheet of cloth. Perhaps because too many had died, there was no time to attend to funeral rites.
Most tragic of all was a three-headed person infected by the epidemic. The sensible middle head had already died, while the remaining two didn't yet know how to control the body. Unable to walk and unable to speak, he could only lie beside the road, waiting for death together.
A Doctor Cultivator ghost servant warned Yuan Youshang, "This is an epidemic! You must be extra careful!"
A Travel Cultivator ghost servant murmured in his ear, "We shouldn't have come back. I told you there'd be danger, but you just wouldn't listen!"
Yuan Youshang had suffered much abuse at home since childhood, but he never mistreated his ghost servants. The ghost servants spoke their minds to him and had been urging him to turn back all along the way.
After falling out with Nian Shangyou before, Nian Shangyou had even sent men to assassinate him. By all rights, Yuan Youshang truly should not have returned to the Inner States.
Yet Qiao Yi had reached out to him, personally writing a letter to Yuan Youshang, stating that everything in the past was a misunderstanding and wiping the slate clean, even promising to enfeoff Yuan Youshang as a viscount. After weighing the matter carefully, Yuan Youshang decided to make the trip back to Chaoge.
Qiao Yi genuinely wanted Yuan Youshang back. He didn't have much of an impression of Yuan Youshang, but he knew this man was capable, and now was precisely the time when he needed talent. As for the conflict between Yuan Youshang and Nian Shangyou, Qiao Yi also had ways to resolve it.
Yuan Youshang trusted Qiao Yi as well, yet the Travel Cultivator ghost servant by his side felt dangers lurking all around. Looking at things now, the source of danger seemed to be this epidemic.
With his cultivation and constitution, Yuan Youshang was confident he could withstand the pestilence's affliction. Two streets away from Qiao Yi's manor, a man resembling a hedgehog collapsed to the ground with a thud, less than ten paces from Yuan Youshang.
Ever since arriving in Chaoge this time, people collapsing sick along the roads had become a common sight.
Yuan Youshang originally didn't want to bother, but then he noticed a dispatch tube beside the man.
The fallen man was a courier. Judging by the design of the tube, it was likely a confidential missive exclusive to the Cabinet. Qiao Yi was the Cabinet Senior Grand Secretary, and he was Qiao Yi's subordinate. Shouldn't he lend a hand in this matter?
Deliberating for a moment, Yuan Youshang stepped forward and helped the courier up. The messenger was burning hot, shivering uncontrollably.
The Doctor Cultivator ghost servant produced a medicinal pill, and Yuan Youshang popped it into the courier's mouth.
After swallowing the pill, the courier's condition improved slightly. He kept staring at the dispatch tube; this missive was of supreme importance to him.
Yuan Youshang picked up the tube for him, but as he did, he felt something was amiss.
The cap of the tube had fallen off, and the letter paper inside was peeking out.
Yuan Youshang quickly picked up the cap and handed both back to the courier. The courier thanked him repeatedly.
He had initially planned to head to Qiao Yi's manor together with the courier, but upon second thought, Yuan Youshang let the courier go on ahead.
The confidential missive's tube had lost its cap; how or why that happened, Yuan Youshang couldn't clearly explain.
Things that couldn't be clearly explained were best left unsaid. One didn't need to claim credit, but one must never take the blame.
Once the courier was far off, a Scrying Cultivator ghost servant said to Yuan Youshang, "I saw a few words."
"What words?"
The ghost servant replied, "On that letter, I saw 'Great Totem', and I also saw 'repairs completed'."
PS: Has the Great Totem really been repaired?
Chapter 784