Sudden Phantasms

"Dao Master Li, please rest here..."

A Four Seas Pavilion guard surnamed Zhang chose a spot by the temple wall that offered better shelter from the wind. He diligently spread out a felt mat and invited Li Qingyun to settle down and rest.

During the journey, Guard Zhang had carelessly nearly been bitten on the arm by a Corpse Dog. Fortunately, Li Qingyun had struck down a bolt of lightning in time and destroyed it.

"Sorry for the trouble!"

Li Qingyun smiled and nodded. He did not refuse, but sat down cross-legged, half-closing his eyes as he began to meditate.

Meditation could increase one's cultivation. Whenever there was time, naturally one had to sit down and cultivate.

The battle on the road had affected him deeply. Wang Muyun, the female cultivator from Azure Nether Temple, had made her Dharma pearl roar and flames blaze, forcefully controlling the field.

Compared with cultivators like Wang Muyun, whose cultivation was accomplished and who possessed formidable Dharma artifacts, he was still somewhat lacking.

"No wonder they say Junior Brother Qingyun enjoys meditating to comprehend the Dao, but the Precious Furnace Qi Absorption Art does not contain only one posture for meditating and gathering qi..."

The weary-looking Zhao Yifan also spread out a mat nearby and sat down to rest. Seeing Junior Brother Qingyun already meditating with his eyes closed, he felt both admiration and speechlessness.

Not far away, Wang Muyun washed her face with the fresh water offered by the caravan guards, making her features appear even more delicate and fresh.

She looked at the young man meditating there, and the corners of her lips seemed to curl into a faint smile. Then she returned to her dedicated carriage to rest.

Qian Fuguan directed the others. Those who needed treatment treated their wounds, and those who needed to stand watch stood watch. He also had them place the Daoist effigies along the outer edge of the little square outside the ruined temple, then led people to burn incense and worship devoutly.

The clear light on many statues that had dimmed during the journey gradually brightened again.

In the end, circles of clear Daoist light connected with one another, forming a halo that warded off evil and subdued demons, protecting the people and horses behind it.

More than thirty Daoist effigies of varying sizes emitted faint clear light, appearing ever more inviolable. Ghostly shadows, demonic beasts, and the like around the ruined temple sensed this majesty and actually kept far away.

In the boundless dark night, the ruined temple teemed with human presence. To demons and Ghostly Creatures, it stood out as clearly as a candle in the darkness. Yet because of its overwhelming presence, ordinary ghosts and demons did not dare approach.

Cultivators like Li Qingyun, however, could sense that although the ruined temple had long fallen into decay, the land on which it stood still retained wisps of Daoist aura, enough to intimidate some low-level demons.

For a time, the ruined temple became unusually peaceful.

The night wind was bleak, the distant stars faint, and scattered inexplicable sounds occasionally rang out around the ruined temple.

Aside from those keeping watch, everyone in the ruined temple gradually drifted into dreams.

Li Qingyun sat cross-legged on the straw mat, his mind tranquil as he visualized and silently recited the Precious Furnace Qi Absorption Art.

Within his mind, the mysterious Daoist effigy's phantom lowered its eyes and brows, while threads of clear qi continually drifted from the top of its head.

Specks of Dharma power arose one after another within his meridians, only to vanish without a trace like mud sinking into the sea. He did not know where they had gone.

"Cultivation, cultivation—naturally, realm comes first. If I possessed cultivation at the eighth or ninth layer of Qi Refining like Wang Muyun, I could have faced Corpse Dogs and ghostly creatures calmly just now!"

"Time waits for no one! Without the methods for the fourth layer of Qi Refining and above, am I supposed to waste my days away? Dharma power is clearly still arising when I meditate now..."

Li Qingyun was unwilling to accept it, but he was also testing whether, without the later-layer methods of the Precious Furnace Qi Absorption Art, the mysterious Daoist effigy in his mind could bring him another surprise.

Thus, although he had already completed today's meditation time, he still wanted to give it a try.

A quantitative change could bring about a qualitative change; by accumulating small steps, one could travel a thousand miles. It was merely the fourth layer of Qi Refining, not some earth-shattering leap across a major realm...

He felt his meridians begin to swell painfully, with faint tearing sensations. Yet he found it barely tolerable. After days of diligent cultivation and hard practice, his physical body and innate bones had improved somewhat under the nourishment of Dharma power, seemingly beginning to extend the time he could spend meditating—though only by an extremely slight amount.

That tiny sign filled him with delight, and naturally, he kept trying to challenge his limits.

"I have heard that cultivators of profound cultivation can enter seclusion and sit in deathly meditation for years or even decades without issue. My innate bones can only support six hours of meditation a day. Compared with those great powers, that is truly child's play. I hope that one day, I can be like them too!"

Dharma power continued to arise in his meridians, then vanished without form.

Li Qingyun's heart was still as water. Enduring the swelling pain throughout his body, he sought to catch the traces left by the dissipating Dharma power.

He vaguely felt that this Dharma power had not vanished into nothingness, but dissolved into the undeveloped Divine Treasury within him—or the inner landscape of his mind—which was as desolate and dark as an empty wilderness.

"Perhaps I simply have not accumulated enough! I will persist and see whether, without the methods for the fourth layer of Qi Refining, I can use this unceasing stream of Dharma power to jolt the Divine Treasury just a little and break through the bottleneck on my own..."

It was only the fourth layer of Qi Refining, not some heavenly barrier or major realm. With the mysterious Daoist effigy as his foundation, Li Qingyun naturally refused to give up like this.

Suddenly, he felt his six senses fall still, leaving everything empty and hollow.

He did not know what hour of the night it was, but the strange sounds around the ruined temple abruptly vanished into the distance. The vast night sky was profound and eerie.

Familiar figures involuntarily surfaced in his heart.

In his daze, the first person he saw was Cui, the Marchioness of the manor.

She sat upright in the high hall, looking down with cold malice.

"Third Brother, everything you eat and use comes from the manor. Why are you so greedily unsatisfied that you even dare covet the Heir's position?"

"I told you that once you arrived at Lingbao Temple, you were to write home to report your safety, and send a letter every month reporting your cultivation progress. Where are the letters? Did you think that after leaving the marquis's manor, you could simply ignore me..."

Cui's malicious, icy gaze pierced like needles, yet Li Qingyun could not help but sneer.

"You poisonous woman!"

"Get lost!"

His thoughts transformed into lightning, and Cui's figure dissipated like smoke.

The next moment, another familiar figure emerged—Lady Liu, the birth mother of this body!

She appeared in the depths of his heart, standing weakly and helplessly in the darkness as she voiced the bitterness of her longing.

"My son, you must mind your health while cultivating. Too much is as bad as too little! Your mother suffers greatly here, and misses you so much..."

The instant Lady Liu appeared, Li Qingyun's mind grew dazed, his consciousness sinking into a dim void.

From the depths of his heart, intense unwillingness, resentment, and longing suddenly surged forth as well.

It was the instinct buried deepest within this body, or perhaps a lingering trace of the former owner's soul, stirring his mind.

He slowly opened his eyes and looked toward the vast darkness outside the ruined temple.

In the distance appeared Lady Liu's vague, frail figure, beckoning to him.

"Come, come, my son, come..."

His mind was muddled, as though he were dreaming. He rose to his feet and was about to take a step.

But in the next instant, Li Qingyun's eyes abruptly became clear, and a cold smile hung at his lips.

"Begone!"

He formed a lightning seal with his fingers and uttered an incantation. Lightning intent erupted within and without, and thunder suddenly boomed in the depths of his heart.

Crack!

The final wisp of obsession deep within his soul was utterly scattered by the thunderclap. The layers of illusion instantly collapsed, and his mind regained its water-clear calm.

This time, without relying on the mysterious Daoist effigy in his mind, he had broken free from the nightmare illusion by himself.

"Those demonic evils actually crossed the clear light of the Daoist effigies without anyone noticing, interfering with and controlling so many people..."

With his clear gaze, Li Qingyun immediately saw the wandering martial folk and caravan guards before him moving as if sleepwalking, about to cross the ring of clear light cast by the statues and walk into that profound, eerie darkness.