Chapter 7

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Chapter 7: Lucid Dream

Standing outside the house, Jiang Yun hesitated for a moment before deciding against entering. Instead, he stopped at the door and whispered, “Grandpa, I’m leaving now.”

Wanting to avoid the pain of parting, Jiang Yun had chosen to slip away quietly, hoping to leave without disturbing anyone in the Jiang clan. Little did he know, his grandfather had been secretly following him ever since he left the village the night before.

Jiang WanLi clearly heard his words. He considered stepping forward to offer some final advice but, in the end, chose not to.

“Thud! Thud! Thud!”

Jiang Yun knelt on the ground and solemnly kowtowed three times toward the house. “Grandpa, believe me! I’ll be back in less than five years!”

Rising to his feet, he took one last, lingering look at every corner of the village. Then, gritting his teeth, he turned and headed toward the village entrance.

Upon reaching the entrance, he knelt once more. As a token of gratitude for the love and care he had received over the past sixteen years, he bowed three more times—to the village and to everyone in it.

Then, with a heavy step, he left.

Sixteen years ago, Jiang Yun had arrived in this village with nothing. Sixteen years later, he left with nothing but the stone Jiang Yuerou had given him.

Instead of using the Hundred-Mile Free Talisman, he chose to travel on foot, following the familiar mountain paths. He wanted to spend more time in the One Hundred Thousand Mang Mountains, engraving these memories deep in his heart.

“Uncle Jiang, are you really letting Yun leave just like that? He’s never been around outsiders. How will he survive beyond the Mang Mountains?”

Watching Jiang Yun’s figure fade into the distance, Jiang Mu, hidden in a tree, couldn’t contain his emotions. He silently hoped Jiang WanLi would change his mind, perhaps stop Jiang Yun or at least allow him to say a proper goodbye.

Jiang WanLi remained silent. Only when Jiang Yun had completely disappeared from sight did he slowly turn his head. His usually narrow eyes suddenly widened.

At that moment, thunder rumbled in the night sky, where a bright moon hung high. The sound was so loud it seemed to shake the heavens. Two beams of golden light shot from Jiang WanLi’s eyes, striking the center of Jiang Mu’s forehead. The light morphed into a strange rune before sinking into Jiang Mu’s brow.

Jiang WanLi’s voice echoed like a command. “Wake up.”

A buzzing sound filled the air. As the golden rune fused with his body, Jiang Mu trembled violently. Powerful spiritual energy erupted from him, rippling through the tree and the entire Jiang village like an earthquake. The energy spread rapidly, extending beyond a hundred miles.

Then, Jiang WanLi uttered another word. “Merge.”

Jiang Mu shuddered again, and in an instant, all the spiritual energy disappeared. Eight colorful marks appeared between his eyebrows, and his eyes gleamed with golden light. Though he still looked the same, his aura had changed completely.

Taking a deep breath, Jiang Mu furrowed his brows, then turned to Jiang WanLi. “A Lucid Dream?”

Jiang WanLi gave a slight nod.

“For Yun?”

“Yes.”

“Uncle Jiang, where did Yun really come from?”

“I don’t know.”

“What?” Jiang Mu was stunned. “Uncle Jiang, you don’t even know Yun’s background, yet you cast the Taoist Magic Art ‘Lucid Dream’ and brought the entire Jiang clan here just to accompany him for sixteen years? Why?”

“This was a request from a friend, and I promised to fulfill it.”

Jiang WanLi’s cold response made Jiang Mu hesitate to ask more. While immersed in the Lucid Dream, he had been unaware, but now fully conscious, he understood his uncle’s true identity and temperament. For someone as powerful as Jiang WanLi to go to such lengths for Yun, the person behind this must be incredibly influential and significant. It was best not to dig any deeper.

After a moment, Jiang Mu looked in the direction where Jiang Yun had left and asked, “Uncle Jiang, should we wipe out the Feng clan and the Samsara Sect, especially Feng WuJi? He’s a serious threat to Yun!”

Jiang WanLi narrowed his eyes slightly before shaking his head. “A threat can also serve as motivation. Feng WuJi does have some talent; he could push Yun to grow stronger.”

After a brief pause, he continued, “As for the Feng clan, their numbers are small, and what they’ve done isn’t enough to warrant their extermination. They probably just caught a whiff of Yun by accident. Even I nearly lost control and wanted to bow to him when I first sensed his presence—let alone them!”

Jiang Mu took a deep breath and hesitated before asking, “Then does Yun… have an Innate Tao Physique?”

Jiang WanLi furrowed his brows in thought. Clearly, this question had troubled him for a long time. “Maybe, maybe not. I can’t say for sure. But regardless of what he is, I’ve already concealed his special nature with the Jiang clan’s arcane arts.”

Unwilling to let it go, Jiang Mu pressed on, “Then, Uncle Jiang, are you really going to stop looking after Yun from now on?”

“I can guide him for a while, but I can’t protect him forever. Besides, he doesn’t belong to our clan and can’t cultivate using our methods. I’ve already done everything I could for him over the past sixteen years. From now on, his future is up to him.”

Jiang Mu nodded in agreement. “That’s true. If word got out that he stayed with you for sixteen years, countless people would be envious. Not to mention the medicinal baths he took—the recipe was created by you! Even top cultivators would dream of having that kind of treatment. Yun might have an Innate Tao Physique, and with your personal guidance, he has inherited your knowledge of the Medicine Tao. His future is limitless! I’d love to witness his achievements firsthand!”

Jiang WanLi rolled his eyes. “Then stay here.”

“No, no!” Jiang Mu frantically waved his hands. “Everyone has their own destiny. Yun will carve his own path; I wouldn’t want to interfere with his cultivation!”

“Alright, then wake everyone up. Since Yun has left, it’s time for us to return as well.”

“One last question, Uncle Jiang. Yun may not be able to cultivate the same way we do, but you’ve mastered more cultivation techniques than anyone could count. Any one of them would shake the world if revealed. So why don’t you teach him? Why send him to the Seeking-Tao Sect instead? That place is nothing compared to your guidance! He’ll just waste his time there!”

Jiang WanLi fell silent for a moment before replying, “The reason we came to this world is because Yun’s fate is tied to this place. As for the Seeking-Tao Sect… it’s a sect I cannot fully comprehend.”

“What?!” Jiang Mu’s eyes widened in shock. He blurted out, “How could there be a place beyond your understanding? In such a small world?!”

“There are always hidden talents and masters of Tao cultivation. It’s not surprising that there are things even I can’t see through. Let’s go back for now. I’ve been feeling uneasy these past days—like something bad is about to happen. That’s why I had Yun leave.”

Hearing this, Jiang Mu’s expression turned serious. He said coldly, “If anyone dares to go against the Jiang clan, they must be tired of living!”

He said no more and turned back toward Jiang Village. The eight-colored mark between his brows spun rapidly, releasing beams of multicolored light that formed a massive halo, covering the entire village. At the same time, he shouted, “Wake up!”

A deep buzzing sound echoed through the One Hundred Mang Mountains. Streaks of colorful light shot into the sky from every house in Jiang Village but were instantly suppressed by the halo.

One after another, confused voices rang out:

“Huh? Why am I here?”

“I can’t sense my Tao Spirituality!”

“What?! Why am I only at the fourth level of the Meridians Unclogged Realm?!”

“This must be Grandpa Jiang’s Taoist Magic—Lucid Dream, right?”

The villagers stepped out of their homes, still dazed. But soon, their eyes landed on something unexpected—gifts left at their doorsteps.

“Rapid Beast?” Jiang Lei ran his hand over the five-foot-tall beast before turning toward the direction where Jiang Yun had left, lost in thought.

“Did Yun leave this? He’s really a good kid” A middle-aged man admired the tiger-tooth dagger in his hand.

Yuerou clutched the bird with three-colored marking. She didn’t say a word, but her eyes shimmered with unshed tears.

Jiang WanLi turned to Jiang Mu and ordered, “Erase all traces of our presence here.”

Jiang Mu nodded. With a wave of his hand, every person in the village rose into the air. Beneath them, the cottages and everything else in Jiang Village crumbled into dust, vanishing in an instant.

A deep rumble followed as saplings burst from the ground where the village once stood. Within moments, they grew into towering trees, completely covering the land.

Jiang Village was gone, as if it had never existed.

As Jiang Mu finished his task, Jiang WanLi opened his eyes wide, and a golden light flashed through them. That light transformed into a radiant golden door before the Jiang clan.

“Let’s go home.”

The Jiang people stepped into the golden door one by one.

Jiang Yuerou was the last to enter. She hugged the bird with three-colored marking tightly and whispered, “Brother Yun, keep the treasure I gave you safe! We’ll meet again one day!”

Once everyone had entered, Jiang WanLi looked down at the Mang Mountains and whispered, “I’ve lived here for sixteen years—consider this my parting gift. How much you can grasp… will depend on your own fate.”

With that, he flicked his fingers, sending a beam of green light into the earth—a Dan medicine.

As the pill sank into the soil, the entire One Hundred Mang Mountains seemed to tremble with excitement.

Jiang WanLi glanced in the direction where Jiang Yun had disappeared and smiled warmly. “Yun, perhaps we’ll meet again someday.”

With those final words, he stepped through the golden door, which closed silently behind him.

Peace returned to the land.

Only Jiang Village… had vanished without a trace.