They Want My Train

The Train Grandpa asked Li Banfeng if he still wanted to go out.

Li Banfeng certainly wanted to go out.

Zhao Dajun was still admiring the peaches he had carefully calculated when the Train Grandpa coughed.

Huff~

A cloud of steam instantly dissipated, and Teacher Lisha had been perched in front of Zhao Dajun, suddenly appeared fifty years older.

The peaches are ripe.

Seeing the once smooth and firm peach suddenly become loose, Zhao Dajun was shocked and cried out.

With his shouts, Teacher Lisha disappeared, and the entire villa shattered.

The garden was destroyed, and even the lake outside the villa disappeared.

All that remained was overgrown weeds. Li Banfeng said, "The dream that Zhao Dajun painstakingly built, just like that, is gone?"

The Train Grandpa nodded and said, "He's awake."

After a moment of silence, the Train Grandpa said, "Was I too cruel?"

Li Banfeng nodded. "That's true to some extent."

A gentle breeze blew by, and the two men grinned wickedly.

"Hahaha, being a little cruel is just right."

"Hehehehe, such a good peach, and it still needs to be pruned. Don't you think it deserves it?"

As the two were laughing happily, the weeds suddenly receded, and a new villa appeared before them.

Zhao Dajun reconstructed the dream.

He was writing down equations on the wall; he was still somewhat dissatisfied with the design of the bedroom.

Before long, the garden was back, the lake was back, and the teachers were back too.

The Train Grandpa took Li Banfeng and left Zhao Dajun Station.

"See? He woke up, but then fell asleep again in the blink of an eye."

Li Banfeng looked back at the dream world that was slowly returning to normal, and he could imagine Zhao Dajun's state in the real world.

As soon as he opened his eyes, he turned over and went back to sleep.

"Senior, I don't have any Dream Cultivator techniques, so how can I enter other people's dreams?"

The Train Grandpa turned around and said, "Because I have methods."

"Why did you bring me here?"

The Train Grandpa shook his head and said, "You still don't understand. I didn't bring you in."

As they were talking, the Train Grandpa stopped again.

Ahead stands a quaint two-story building, its style typical of Pro State architecture.

A girl of about thirteen or fourteen was staring blankly on the second-floor balcony, while shouts and cries came from the first floor.

Her eyes were bloodshot, and her fists were clenched tightly.

Her father is beating her mother.

The girl gritted her teeth, grabbed a wooden stick from beside the bed, and went downstairs.

The father, who was beating his mother, revealed a ferocious smile. He hit her harder and harder, and could beat her to death at any moment.

The girl swung the wooden stick and hit it.

When he received the first blow to the head, he was shocked and terrified.

When he was hit a second time, he saw blood.

After being struck a third time, he began to wail and beg for mercy.

The girl held the stick with both hands, gritted her teeth, and swung it again and again.

She wasn't tall enough, and normally she wouldn't be able to hit her father's head at all; with her clumsy movements, she wouldn't even be able to hit him.

But Dream Tether Tower didn't have nightmares; every strike she made was precise.

The Train Grandpa sounded and said to Li Banfeng, "She can't get out either."

Next stop: a woman won twenty times in a row at the mahjong table.

At the next stop, a man slept with twenty people in a room.

At the next stop, a man knelt on the ground and kowtowed twenty times to another person.

Li Banfeng frowned and said, "Kowtowing counts as a good dream?"

The Train Grandpa said, "I've had this dream before. This person always dreamed of going to the Bastard Slope,' but he couldn't go. In the dream, he finally went and was very happy."

These people's hearts are stuck in their dreams, so they can never escape. Do you understand what I mean?

Li Banfeng nodded and said, "I understand."

"You still don't want to stay here?"

"In no mood."

The Train Grandpa put Li Banfeng down by the roadside and slowly swung his arms. "If you didn't want to stay here, why did you come to Dream Tether Tower?"

Li Banfeng didn't know how to explain to this crazy old man, "You carried me here; I didn't want to come at all."

The Train Grandpa paused for a moment, then the spitting sounds gradually stopped, just like a train turning off.

He looked at Li Banfeng very seriously and said, "I carried you to the Dream Tether Tower because I saw your dream. You were already in the dream before you saw me. I just took you to where you were supposed to go."

"Did I see you before I entered your dream?" Li Banfeng couldn't understand what had happened.

The Train Grandpa asked, "Do you remember what happened back then?"

Li Banfeng recounted the scene to the Train Grandpa.

The Train Grandpa looked at Li Banfeng and said, "You were looking for new land in Black Stone Slope, and a crane operator gave you the wrong directions, so you ended up in Inner State?"

Li Banfeng nodded.

It sounds a bit absurd, but that's the reality.

The Train Grandpa stared intently at Li Banfeng, his powerful gaze seemingly capable of piercing through Li Banfeng's body at any moment.

In this situation, as long as the Train Grandpa suddenly accelerates and leaves Li Banfeng's sight at an incomprehensible speed, Li Banfeng will turn into a lump of minced meat.

Under immense pressure, Li Banfeng couldn't help but shiver.

Suddenly, the Train Grandpa approached Li Banfeng and said, "You want my train, don't you?"

Where did this come from?

Your train is right here in my hands, isn't it?

Li Banfeng was still pondering how to answer when the Train Grandpa suddenly grinned menacingly, "Your master wants me to build him another train, doesn't he?"

Li Banfeng shook his head and answered honestly, "I have no owner."

"Aren't they still going to give up? Do they really want my train that badly?" The Train Grandpa's breathing quickened.

Li Banfeng deduced something. "You mean the people in Inner State want your train?"

The Train Grandpa didn't answer, continuing to mutter to himself, "They sent so many people just to try and trick me into revealing my dream, thinking I was so easily fooled while I was asleep?"

"Senior, there might be some misunderstanding between us."

Two puffs of steam came out of the Train Grandpa's ears. "So many people were sent before, and not one of them succeeded. What makes them think you can succeed?"

"Just because you're Travel Cultivator, a member of my Daoist sect, and you seem to have some talent, they assume you can become familiar with me?"

Li Banfeng shook his head and said, "We're not that familiar with each other yet."

"Yeah, we're not familiar. I don't even know your name, and you want me to teach you how to ride a train?" Huff! Huff! Huff! The Train Grandpa was about to sprint at any moment.

"I didn't want to learn how to work on trains, I'm not a mechanic." Li Banfeng was prepared to run away. Faced with such a madman, Li Banfeng couldn't think of a better option.

"We're complete strangers, yet you expect me to teach you how to ride a train? You're dreaming!" The Train Grandpa burst into laughter.

Li Banfeng shook his head and said, "I had no delusions."

After laughing, the Train Grandpa took out a toy train that was over a foot long and said to Li Banfeng, "Many people think that when making a train, you should make the body first. My approach is different from theirs; I make the wheels first!"

Li Banfeng's eyes widened. "I see!"

The Train Grandpa immediately put away his model train and shouted, "You really did come here to steal my skills! I wasn't wrong about you!"

Li Banfeng was furious and shouted at the Train Grandpa, "Old man, I have something to say to you, so listen carefully!"

The Train Grandpa was practically spitting fire. "Tell me what you have to say!"

Li Banfeng looked directly at the Train Grandpa and asked, "Aren't we brothers?"

"Really?" The Train Grandpa looked somewhat bewildered.

Li Banfeng said, "I'll take a loss and let you be the elder brother."

The Train Grandpa blinked and asked, "Did I really get a good deal?"

"Whether we gain or lose, we brothers don't care about that," Li Banfeng said sincerely. "For the sake of our brotherhood, from now on, neither of us will mention the train. Is that alright?"

The Train Grandpa was silent for a moment, then asked Li Banfeng, "Isn't this Fool Cultivation Skill?"

"Really?" Li Banfeng shuddered.

The Train Grandpa muttered to himself, "Has this foolish cultivator not yet become extinct?"

Li Banfeng nodded seriously and said, "I heard that it has become extinct."

The Train Grandpa looked at Li Banfeng and said, "Since it wasn't Fool Cultivation Skill, were you telling the truth just now?"

"That's the truth!"

"Alright! I'll do as you say. Since we're brothers, let's not talk about the train anymore," the Train Grandpa nodded vigorously. "Let's talk about the tracks first. The reason I made the train wheels first is to choose the type of track. There are many types of tracks, the most common being..."

"Brother!" Li Banfeng stopped the Train Grandpa.

This old man is erratic and unpredictable, making him truly difficult to understand.

But Li Banfeng could understand him.

He wanted to talk to someone.

"Brother, let's not talk about trains or railway tracks. I don't want to learn, and I can't learn, but there are others who can learn, and there are people watching."

The Train Grandpa paused for a moment, then suddenly laughed, "I know they're watching. They knew when I first drove the train into Inner State."

They don't like people wandering around their territory, but since they can't catch me, they're trying to bribe me.

They gave me elixirs, territory, and a fairly high status; by old standards, I would be considered a regional warlord.

I don't care. We Travel Cultivator for freedom, to go wherever we want. Why should we be restricted by them?

Later they set their sights on my train. I sold it, but they still kept an eye on me.

I really wanted to have some fun with them, but unfortunately, I messed up this time and got trapped.

Li Banfeng tensed up. "Will they be able to see your train?"

"They can't see it; most of the time, even I can't see the train."

Li Banfeng was relieved.

"But I can see the key, hehehe..." The Train Grandpa suddenly revealed a sinister smile.

If it weren't for the top hat holding it down, Li Banfeng's hair would have stood on end.

The surrounding environment has changed; the once lush forest has disappeared, leaving only bare rocks.

Whose dream is this?

The Train Grandpa?

Did he see the keys on me?

Uncertain.

This is a dream, and my dream and his dream are intertwined, but my real self and his real self should be very far apart.

The key is inside my body; he shouldn't be able to see it.

The Train Grandpa looked at Li Banfeng's hands and asked, "Why do you always like to touch your pockets? Is there something in them?"

Li Banfeng did not answer; he didn't know what to say.

The surrounding scenery became even more desolate, without a single grain of sand or stone, leaving only pure emptiness, without even a chance to take temporary refuge.

The Train Grandpa lowered his voice and said, "Don't be afraid. They can't see us now, nobody can see us. I'll ask you one more time, you must tell the truth, you really don't want to stay here?"

Li Banfeng nodded. "I don't want to."

The Train Grandpa sighed and said, "Your cultivation level is too low. It's too difficult for you to leave Inner State, but we can take a gamble."

"How do we gamble?"

The Train Grandpa said, "If you manage to get into the Inner State, you can forget about escaping. Stay here and keep me company."

"If it's just a dream that led you into the Inner State, I can still find a way to get you out."

Li Banfeng said, "Why are you helping me? Just because I'm Travel Cultivator?"

The Train Grandpa chuckled, "That's definitely what they're thinking. They think that by capturing a Travel Cultivator, they can gain my trust, but that's not what I'm thinking."

What are your thoughts?

"You'll know what I'm thinking once you get out of here."

P. S.: The Train Grandpa is a bit crazy, but he's not confused.