Dream Realm

For the past while, Yun Hu had been almost entirely absorbed in the dozen or so swordplay manuals sent by the Ning Family.

During the day, his True Qi was consumed like flowing water in battles.

On his way home, though his steps appeared steady, his senses were fully alert, guarding against every rustle of grass and movement of leaves.

Upon returning to his residence, after a brief moment of playful banter with Yun He and Shi Chen, he would dive headfirst into his secluded courtyard.

The lamp flickered.

He held his longsword, practicing tirelessly.

Every move, every stance, was dissected and reassembled in his mind, repeatedly cross-referenced with the Qingcheng Swordplay he had learned, in an attempt to achieve complete mastery.

He only felt tired, extremely tired.

His eyelids felt as heavy as a thousand pounds.

Every inch of muscle in his body groaned under the unbearable strain.

Finally, he could no longer hold on.

Leaning against the cold stone table, his sword still clutched tightly in his hand, Yun Hu fell into a deep sleep.

His consciousness immediately plunged into a boundless darkness.

Strangely, he felt as though he was still practicing his sword.

One by one, the sword manuals flipped open on their own in the deep black void.

The pages turned without wind, transforming into countless shadowy figures that demonstrated exquisite sword techniques.

Yun Hu's arms, to his surprise, began to move involuntarily, mimicking the movements of the shadowy figures.

Once.

And again.

He couldn't remember how long he had been practicing.

It was as if time had lost all meaning here.

His body knew no fatigue.

Yet, his spirit was in a state of peculiar exhilaration.

Those sword moves and crucial points that were normally obscure and difficult to comprehend now melted away like ice and snow, dawning upon him with sudden clarity, as if receiving a divine revelation.

Suddenly!

The sword in his hand, or rather, the sword condensed from his will, erupted with a blinding radiance.

The sword light was vast and magnificent, sacred and majestic, like the very first ray of dawn born at the creation of heaven and earth, tearing through the endless darkness before him.

As the light faded.

He found himself standing at the foot of a towering, verdant mountain.

The mountain's terrain was rugged and precipitous, with clouds and mist swirling up from its slopes, creating a dreamlike, ethereal vista, like a fairyland.

An elder, dressed in a simple blue robe with white hair and beard, gazed at him with a smile.

Behind the elder stood an extremely ancient mountain gate.

Above the lintel, three ancient seal script characters were inscribed in a flamboyant calligraphy: Qingcheng Mountain.

Yun Hu's heart pounded like a drum!

A thought, like lightning tearing through the night sky, flashed through his mind!

Could this be the Yun Family ancestor who taught him the Qingcheng Swordplay?!

"Child, you wish to learn the sword?" the elder's voice was gentle and kind, yet it seemed to possess a power that could penetrate the human heart.

"I do!" Yun Hu nodded without hesitation, his voice slightly hoarse with uncontrollable excitement.

"Not afraid of hardship?" the elder asked again, his gaze deep, as if he could see through Yun Hu's soul.

"Not afraid of hardship!" Yun Hu replied resolutely, each word sharp and clear.

"Not afraid of pain?" the elder's voice remained calm, betraying no emotion.

"Not afraid of pain!" Yun Hu's answer was firm and resonant, his eyes unwavering.

"If that is so," the elder nodded slightly, his gentle smile undiminished, "then first learn ten thousand different mundane sword techniques."

"I will be waiting for you."

Before his words had even finished.

The green mountain before him.

The mountain gate.

The white-haired elder.

Everything shattered like kyōka suigetsu, dissolving into nothingness.

Boundless darkness engulfed him once more.

"Ancestor! Ancestor!" Yun Hu cried desperately in the darkness, reaching out as if to grasp something, but only grasping emptiness.

Yun Hu's eyes snapped open!

He jolted awake from the boundless darkness, still unconsciously shouting.

He gasped for air, his forehead covered in a fine sheen of sweat that dampened his temples.

The first thing that met his eyes were his own father, Yun Ji, and his elder brother, Yun Long!

On their faces was an expression of unspeakable shock and disbelief.

They stared at him, unblinking, their gazes so complex they made Yun Hu's heart skip a beat.

"Dad, Big Brother, you guys..."

Before Yun Hu could finish speaking, Yun Ji cut him off with a raised hand.

Yun Ji's lips trembled, as if he were struggling to calm the turmoil within him.

After a long moment, he found his voice again, pointing above Yun Hu's head, his tone carrying a barely perceptible tremor. "Hu'er, you... you just now..."

Yun Hu was still groggy, lost in the incredibly vivid dream he'd just had.

He followed his father's finger and looked up, but saw nothing.

While he had been asleep, Yun Ji, who had been quietly watching over him, was the first to notice something unusual.

At first, it was just faint wisps of pale cyan light, subtly emanating from Yun Hu's body.

These lights, like fireflies on a summer night, swirled around him, carrying a mysterious aura.

Then, the lights gradually condensed and compressed.

They transformed into sword shadows, each smaller than an embroidery needle!

More and more sword shadows appeared.

Dense and numerous.

They spun and danced.

Yet, they were completely silent, making no sound at all.

Finally, as if guided by some unseen force, all the tiny sword shadows suddenly converged upwards!

A palm-sized card, shimmering with a strange golden-green luster, appeared out of thin air.

It floated silently about three inches above Yun Hu's head.

The pattern on the card was clearly visible.

It depicted a majestic, verdant mountain range, shrouded in mist and exuding an ethereal aura.

At the foot of the mountain stood an elder with white hair and beard, a gentle smile on his face.

Behind the elder was an ancient-looking mountain gate.

Above the gate, three characters written in a flamboyant calligraphy clearly read "Qingcheng Mountain"!

This scene was exactly the same as what Yun Hu had seen in his dream!

Yun Ji was so terrified he nearly lost his soul, at one point thinking he was hallucinating from excessive worry.

He forcefully suppressed the storm raging in his heart, steadied his trembling body, and immediately rushed out of the small courtyard.

He urgently called for Yun Long, who was cultivating in the ancestral hall.

When Yun Long arrived, the card shimmering with golden-green light was still floating there.

Yun Long's heart was also thrown into a tempest!

A guess, buried deep in his heart and almost too terrifying to touch, was now undeniably confirmed!

Their three siblings had indeed merged with a mysterious Inheritance Card!

When he himself had broken through to the Qi Refining Stage, a similar phantom card had flashed through his mind.

However, it was nowhere near as solid and substantial as the one above Yun Hu's head.

And it had never manifested externally like this!

Now, it seemed the divine nature of the card within Yun Hu far surpassed his imagination!

It had actively appeared, revealing its true form!

Only after the light on the card gradually faded and it transformed into a stream of light, suddenly vanishing into Yun Hu's forehead, did Yun Ji and Yun Long, as if waking from a dream, let out a long sigh of relief, their backs already soaked with cold sweat.

Yun Hu listened to his father and elder brother's fragmented, yet still undeniably excited, description.

Combined with his own incredibly vivid dream, his heart was also stirred by a tremendous wave, which took a long time to subside.

He recounted the instructions of the Qingcheng ancestor from his dream, word for word.

He particularly emphasized the phrase, "First, learn ten thousand different mortal sword techniques."

Yun Ji and Yun Long were dumbfounded, staring at each other in horror.

A long silence followed.

The air seemed to freeze.

Suddenly, Yun Ji slapped his thigh hard!

His face was a mixture of ecstatic joy, excitement, and a desperate resolve.

Under the bewildered gazes of Yun Long and Yun Hu, he abruptly turned and stumbled towards the family ancestral hall.

"Ancestor! Oh, Great Ancestor!"

Yun Ji fell to his knees with a heavy thud before the ancestral tablets of the Ning Family.

Tears streamed down his face as he cried hoarsely and mournfully, "Since you have already manifested to protect my son Yun Hu, I beg you to guide me, your unworthy descendant!"

"The Ning Family is in turmoil now, and I, Yun Ji, am incompetent and stuck! I beg for the Ancestor's mercy!"

"If you ignore me, I will kneel here forever! Please, Ancestor!"

He kowtowed heavily, his forehead striking the bluestone floor with dull thuds.

He chanted, repeating the same heart-wrenching pleas over and over.

Yun Long and Yun Hu stood at the entrance of the ancestral hall, exchanging glances.

They didn't know whether to laugh or cry, yet a difficult-to-describe bitterness welled up in their hearts.