Sichuan's Mad Dragon (Novel) - Chapter 103 - Immortal Dream

Chapter 103 – Immortal Dream

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Translated by Heavenly Cat
Edited by Celestial Knight

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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The sky was dreamlike and impossibly distant.

The fog hung low and thick, yet vision was clear… the view opened wide.

It looked just like a sea of clouds.

“This is…”

Ju-seong murmured softly, running his fingertips through the fog that touched them.

Then, a voice came from beyond the mist.

“Hello! Is anyone there!”

Ju-seong immediately moved toward the direction of the voice.

Parting the fog as he went, he found Taoist Song-un and Young Master Zhuge Xian looking around.

“…Young Hero Ju-seong? How did you end up here?”

Ju-seong answered honestly, without hiding anything.

“Actually, I have unusually good hearing. I heard everything when Young Master Zhuge recited that strange Persian incantation. My head went hazy and when I woke up, this was the scenery.”

“So, it seems eavesdropping on others’ secrets leads to misfortune. Look… you’ve been dragged into this strange space along with us.”

“A strange space…”

Song-un stroked his chin and murmured.

“Is there something you recognize?”

Instead of answering, Song-un grabbed his own middle finger and bent it backward.

“D-Taoist! What is this?!”

“In Taoism, we often use dreams as a subject for various discussions. Master Zhuangzi dreamed of being a butterfly and attained enlightenment, and during circulation meditation one falls into a trance and sees mental images… things like that.”

Song-un matter-of-factly bent his index, ring, and little fingers backward as well.

“Practicing the Taoist way often involves exploring the realm of the unconscious.”

“Exploring the unconscious. That sounds like saying you sometimes fall asleep during the meditation sessions at the temple.”

To Zhuge Xian’s reasonable skepticism, Song-un paused momentarily before continuing.

“…Sometimes, one gets lost in a dream. Practitioners have their own methods for distinguishing whether this is reality or a dream.”

“If you fall asleep during circulation meditation, you might have nightmares and enter qi deviation. Because of that, a methodology for recognizing dreams was developed.”

This time, Ju-seong chimed in with an explanation, and Song-un sighed as he answered.

“Please leave us Taoists with some mystique. We need to eat too, don’t we?”

“Anyway, one of those methods is bending fingers backwards?”

At Ju-seong’s question, Song-un nodded.

“If you bend your fingers backward in a dream, it doesn’t hurt and bends endlessly.”

“Oho.”

When Ju-seong tried it himself, indeed his fingers pressed flat against the back of his hand with no pain.

Watching this, Song-un stroked his chin and spoke.

“At any rate, for the three of us to fall into the same dream… how interesting.”

Zhuge Xian answered coolly.

“You’re saying we three are sharing the same dream? I thought you two were illusions I created.”

Ju-seong also nodded.

“That’s possible. Anyway, that’s not important. Young Master Zhuge, please interpret the Persian you just read. What did it mean?”

Zhuge Xian rolled his eyes upward for a moment, recalling the content, then spoke.

“‘Come to Yunmeng Marsh, and upon the lake, read this alone.'”

“Hm?”

“That’s what it said, and the content that followed was an incantation I could only read but not understand.”

“So it was a letter Master Li Bai was sending to someone.”

Zhuge Xian nodded.

“Likely an arrangement to draw that someone into this dream.”

“Then… was it a vendetta?”

“If it were a vendetta, the person surely wouldn’t willingly do as Master Li Bai instructed. I suspect it was someone close.”

This was something from centuries ago. Fully grasping the intent of a person from that ancient time was a difficult task.

Later generations could only grope through scanty clues and fill the gaps with guesswork.

“At any rate… what is this place?”

Song-un looked around and answered.

“My guess is, the rumor that Master Li Bai learned mystical arts on Mount Min was not baseless. To be drawn into this dream upon reciting an incantation… This place is probably the center of ancient Yunmeng Marsh.”

When Zhuge Xian waved his hand to disperse the mist, indeed they were standing atop a tiny stone island.

“Cloud and Dream Lake… Truly a fitting name.”

Ju-seong murmured as he gazed upon the endless plain of mist.

Zhuge Xian tapped the ground with his foot and said.

“The incantation I recited earlier must only take effect when recited within Yunmeng Marsh. The hillock where we were standing was a stone island floating in Yunmeng Marsh several centuries ago.”

When Master Li Bai was alive, this place would have been an island in the lake. But now it was just a lonely hill rising in the middle of a plain.

“Why did Master Li Bai try to draw that unknown person into this dream? Do you have any guesses?”

At Ju-seong’s question, Song-un shook his head as if he had no idea.

Zhuge Xian, on the other hand, stared at the horizon for a long while, gnawing on his thumbnail before speaking.

“The sun is setting. Night will come soon. When night comes, stars will be visible, and…”

Zhuge Xian murmured, then suddenly rummaged through his robes.

“Ah, it’s still here even though I’ve entered the dream.”

“What is?”

When Ju-seong asked, Zhuge Xian produced a brilliantly colored jade inkstone.

“An item our family purchased at Huguang Province’s black-market auction. They said the craftsmanship was extraordinary, so I brought it. Upon appraisal, it turned out to belong to Master Li Bai. See here?”

Turning the inkstone over to examine the tiny characters, there was an inscription reading ‘Chukuang’ (楚狂).

“…The Madman of Chu?”

“In one poem, Master Li Bai referred to himself as such.”

“He wasn’t even from Chu, so why…”

“There was a person called Chukuang during the Warring States period, and Master Li Bai likened himself to that man.”

“Then couldn’t this belong to that Warring States-era Chukuang?”

“The craftsmanship and style are definitely Tang dynasty. Only someone with considerable learning could recognize the true owner of this item. Fortunately, people of our family are well-versed in poetry and calligraphy, so we identified it. Anyway… look here.”

In the ink-well portion, drawings of several trees and a star constellation were inscribed.

“We confirmed that the constellation drawn on the inkstone is the sky viewed from this place, Lake Dongting, and began our search.”

The Zhuge Family had judged that this inkstone was a kind of guide pointing to the treasure’s location.

Of course, even with extensive knowledge of astronomy, one could only determine that it showed the night sky near Lake Dongting… finding anything further would be difficult.

Ju-seong nodded and asked.

“Then we should go to the location marked on the treasure map I brought.”

“A good idea. Before that… Taoist Song-un, what clue did you possess?”

Song-un nodded and rummaged through his robes before producing something.

“A ring made of strange metal. Look at the inner surface.”

“‘Dongyan Wanderers’ Society Shiling Huan’…”

When Ju-seong read the inscription, Song-un explained.

“Dongyan Wanderers’ Society means ‘Recluse of the Eastern Cliff with the surname Yan.’ In this case, it refers to Dongyan-zi, who was Master Li Bai’s teacher.”

“Then what does ‘Shiling Huan’ mean?”

“Spirit-Eating Ring… but… I’m not certain.”

Song-un eyed the ring with a wary look before tucking it back into his robes.

Then he walked to the edge of the stone island and gazed at the water’s surface before speaking.

“Young Hero Ju-seong, and Young Master Zhuge. To leave this dream, we should go to the place marked on the treasure map. Don’t you agree?”

“That makes sense. But with water all around, I’m not sure how to proceed.”

Song-un gazed at the water and waved his hand.

-Clunk.

A small ferryboat appeared, parting the mist, and drifted to the lakeshore.

“Let’s ride this.”

Song-un hopped onto the boat as casually as could be.

* * *

“What sorcery is this?”

When Zhuge Xian asked with wide eyes, Song-un answered nonchalantly.

“Remember that this is a dream. If you imagine it, you can make it happen.”

‘Is that so?’

Ju-seong furrowed his brow and stared at the ferryboat.

This space was surely an illusory dream created by a master of arcane arts centuries ago. The creator was likely Master Li Bai himself.

In such a space, it shouldn’t be easy to exert control and summon objects as if it were one’s own dream.

‘Come to think of it, when Zhuge Xian was reciting the incantation, Song-un showed no sign of losing his senses.’

Ju-seong, too, and even Zhuge Xian himself had been half in a trance as the incantation was recited.

Yet Song-un had been unaffected by the incantation and remained perfectly lucid.

‘Something’s different. Did he learn some mental technique for protection at Wudang? Come to think of it, I, too, learned the Stillness-Bright Incantation…’

Just in case, Ju-seong waved his hand experimentally.

-Thunk…

Likewise, something appeared, parting the mist.

But this time, instead of a ferryboat, it was a measly reed leaf.

“…”

“It would have been nice if Young Hero were Bodhidharma.”

Zhuge Xian snorted and climbed onto the ferryboat. He was referencing the legend of Bodhidharma crossing the river on a reed.

Annoyed, Ju-seong quickly followed him onto the boat and pressed.

“Young Master Zhuge, you try too. Let’s see what great thing appears.”

“I can’t do it at all. I was impressed by the reed leaf.”

Ju-seong was frustrated, but he inwardly thought the reed leaf might have been possible thanks to the Stillness-Bright Incantation.

If this mysterious art forcibly made those who heard the incantation dream of Yunmeng Marsh…

Then Ju-seong, who had learned the Stillness-Bright Incantation, at least had partial control over his own dream.

‘Then how did Taoist Song-un manage to summon such a large ferryboat?’

Ju-seong muttered to himself even as he rowed hard.

He and Song-un each took the port and starboard sides and rowed.

Since Zhuge Xian was the only one who remembered the exact location marked on the treasure map.

“Young Master Zhuge, are we there yet?”

Zhuge Xian set his thumb and forefinger at a right angle to gauge the distance and nodded.

“Seems like just a bit more… It’s nighttime and fog everywhere, so this is tricky.”

The entire surface of the lake was blanketed in low-lying mist.

White moonlight seeped through gaps in the cozy, billowing fog… this was truly a realm of immortals.

* * *

A Taoist, a scholar, and a street performer loaded their small boat and crossed the sea of clouds in the dream.

“According to the map, it should be over there…”

Where Zhuge Xian pointed was a sheer cliff.

Ju-seong rubbed his palms together and murmured with anticipation.

“Every worthwhile thing in jianghu is found near cliffs.”

“We’ll have to climb… That cliff would be difficult without internal energy. This is tricky. I wonder if internal energy can be used inside a dream.”

“I don’t think that will be necessary. Look carefully. Isn’t the mist flowing somewhere?”

“Ah!”

Observing the movement of the mist on the water’s surface, it was subtly drifting somewhere.

Upon closer inspection, there was a narrow gap in the cliff.

“It’s like a natural formation. At a glance, you’d never notice.”

The party steered the ferryboat into the fissure in the cliff.

Inside was a small cove shaped like a gourd, entirely filled with mist, damp and lush with rare flowers and herbs.

“Look behind.”

At Song-un’s words, Ju-seong and Zhuge Xian turned their heads.

Zhuge Xian lifted the inkstone and let out an exclamation.

“Ah!”

The constellation engraved in the inkstone’s depression.

Normally, when carving a picture into an inkstone, one uses the bottom surface, not the ink-well. Ink gets stuck in the incised lines, making cleaning difficult.

Yet this inkstone had a constellation deliberately carved on the inner depression.

The ridges on either side of the inkstone represented the cove’s entrance, shaped like an open gate.

The night sky viewed through the cove’s entrance was what had been engraved on the inkstone.

“So this was the clue…”

Zhuge Xian murmured in wonder.

-Clunk.

The ferryboat touched the shore, and the moment they set foot on land, the atmosphere around them transformed.

-Hwiiing…!

A sudden gust blew through the entrance, and the mist within the valley churned wildly.

“Ugh!”

As sand and dust from the lakeshore whirled around inside the valley, the party groaned and covered their faces with their sleeves.

How much time passed?

At last the gust subsided and the mist cleared.

The party stood gaping, speechless at the sight before them.

“That… Is that what I think it is?”

“…It appears so.”

Standing at the lakeshore was a tall old man whose demeanor truly matched the phrase ‘immortal spirit and Taoist bone.’

His eyes were as black as if the night sky had been poured into them.

His beard had gone pure white, yet his exotic features sat upon dark skin.

In other words, he had the appearance of a Westerner from beyond the frontier.

‘In this situation, there’s only one Westerner it could be.’

In the Tang era, there was a man of letters who wielded his brush like an immortal, composing poetry as if by divine will. Born in Suiye City of the Anxi Protectorate in the Western Regions, they said.

The Recluse of the Blue Lotus, Li Bai, stood before the young jianghu men, having crossed through the centuries.