A dream like a landscape painting.

In a paradise made entirely of ink.

In a strange school that is tall, solid, and rigorously built, but has no door and only a small window.

A little girl with pigtails mixed in with a group of young children, as numb and dull as the tool man in the dream.

He actually resisted!

He was also beaten with a board.

At this moment, Zhao Rong was a little dazed.

And this was happening in his lucid dream, which was really outrageous.

Zhao Rong opened his eyes wide and looked at the expressionless little girl in front of him.

Well, it’s most likely Yu Huaijin.

This feeling of being beaten, this little expression that asks for a beating, and these rigid movements.

However, it’s okay for you to do this during the day. After all, sometimes Qingjun is not here, and we are not in calligraphy class, so this young master with his mere Ascension Realm cannot suppress you.

But in my dream at night, you dared to be so fierce... Well, it was just a pinch on your little face.

Zhao Rong felt a little itchy.

He was going to let her see the power of the Dream Master who could do whatever he wanted, and he would hang her up and beat her in every position he knew.

But the next second, Zhao Rong frowned, remembering that this dream was a little strange and it didn't seem like something he could have created by himself.

Because of these strange scenes and the vague and inexplicable images behind them.

None of it seemed to suit him.

What you think about during the day you dream about at night, not to mention the water in your heart hidden beneath the ripples on the lake's surface.

These are the nutrients for dreams.

Just like at this moment, the pain in Zhao Rong's palm made him feel very familiar.

After a moment's thought, I remembered that this was exactly the same feeling as when I was hit with a stick during my piano lessons a few days ago.

Past experiences are the nourishment of dreams.

This is true of people, sounds, and touch.

Well, the feeling of pinching this little girl's face just now was the same as pinching Qian's face during the day...

But right now, this strange dream of a strange landscape ink painting seemed a little crooked, and it didn't seem to have grown from absorbing his "nutrients".

To put it in plain language, it means... 'This child doesn't look like me'.

Zhao Rong decided to be cautious and not fight back.

At this moment, he was secretly alert in his heart, and at the same time silently stared at the little girl with pigtails in front of him who was suspected to be Yu Huaijin.

The latter was also looking at him.

The two looked at each other.

However, the facial expression created by ink and wash is a bit blurry. Only the outlines of the nose and eyes can be seen, and some subtle expressions are difficult to capture.

But Zhao Rong knew without thinking that she must have a stern face.

But this Yu Huaijin...

Is it alive or not?

Was she in the same dream as him, or was it Zhao Rong who broke into her dream?

Zhao Rong didn't pull his hand back for a moment.

Instead, he looked around and found that no one seemed to notice this place.

Just like before, the tall and thin old teacher was still standing straight on the podium, and the other young students below were all reading seriously with their heads down.

He asked tentatively: "Yu, Yu Huaijin? Brother Huaijin?"

The little girl with a topknot stood still, facing Zhao Rong.

Zhao Rong said in a friendly tone, "What a coincidence, you are here too, I am Tzuyu."

After a pause, seeing that she still didn't move, he glanced at the hand she had caught and said seriously:

"Ahem, I didn't expect Senior Yu was so cute when he was a child. He looks a lot like a childhood playmate I once knew. Ahem, I just thought I dreamed about her, so I wanted to pinch her face..."

The little girl with topknot hair stood still.

At a certain moment, she suddenly let go of her hand, turned her head back, and did not look at Zhao Rong.

The little girl with pigtails glanced at the tall and thin old teacher on the podium, then lowered her head and went back to reading as if nothing had happened, just like the other children around her.

Zhao Rong frowned slightly and looked at the strange little girl with a topknot carefully.

Is this Yu Huaijin alive or just a tool in the dream?

Could it be that he was overthinking it and it was just the normal resistance of a tool?

Thinking of this, Zhao Rong couldn't help it anymore.

The hand that had just been beaten with a stick resumed its old ways. He quietly extended an index finger like an ink stick, approached the face of the little girl with pigtails, and suddenly stopped.

Zhao Rong learned from his previous lesson and picked up a brush next to him. He put the tip of the brush close to her face and poked it lightly...

Snap!

whoosh!

Bang!

The world was spinning around, and Zhao Rong was thrown out of the school window by someone. He flew in a parabolic trajectory and landed on the ground like a wild goose falling from the sand.

“…”

Zhao Rong pushed himself up with his hands and jumped up.

In that instant, before he could see clearly, he was thrown out.

Zhao Rong quickly ran to the school window and looked inside.

What came into view was an extremely strange scene.

The seat where the little girl with pigtails had been sitting was now empty and had disappeared without a trace.

The tall and thin old teacher and the other twenty child students were frozen in place like stone, either standing or sitting.

Keep the posture and movement from the previous moment.

Zhao Rong raised his eyelids, then suddenly turned his head and looked towards other places in the village.

The previously busy village had become silent.

All the villagers were like the stone carvings in the school, frozen in place, motionless, like solidified ink.

Next second.

These solidified inks.

Melted.

People, houses, trees, rocks.

All melted.

Ink dripping.

Zhao Rong didn't have time to react.

The entire ink painting-like dream quickly melted like paraffin under candlelight.

Falling apart.

But Zhao Rong did not feel the heat that melted them, nor did he feel any sound.

Everything happened silently and quietly.

Like a silent death.

The ink poured down like heavy rain.

The ground beneath his feet also melted.

The light that had illuminated everything suddenly disappeared, like a room with the lights turned off.

Zhao Rong fell, face down, with an endless abyss below.

Dark, dark.

I can't see anything.

There is water.

Zhao Rong fell into the water silently.

No, it's not water, it's ink.

It is the ink after the whole world melted.

Warm and thick, filling the mouth and nose.

Suffocation, suffocation.

call--!

On the bed in the north room, Zhao Rong, who was face down under the quilt, suddenly jumped up.

Zhao Rong opened his eyes wide, turned over and sat on the bed, taking big gulps to replace the turbid air in his chest and lungs.

He looked around.

The room was quiet and dim, with only an oil lamp on the desk not far away emitting a hazy orange light, illuminating a small area around the desk.

The rest of the room was still gray.

It was still dark outside the window.

Zhao Rong came back to his senses and his breathing gradually calmed down.

He supported himself on the bed with one hand, rubbed his face with the other, looked at the solitary lamp in the room, and muttered softly.

"Ink...Dream...Yu Huaijin...Ink..."

…

The next morning.

At Mochi Academy, Zhao Rong takes a calligraphy class in Zhengyi Hall.

During the break, he found Gu Yiwu.

"Brother Gu, let me teach you something."

Gu Yiwu glanced at Zhao Rong, who had a serious expression, and patted him on the shoulder.

"Brother Zhao, what's the urgent matter? Just tell me. Um, are you talking about the recent rumors in the academy? Oh, Brother Zhao, you don't have to care about them. We students of the Hall of Justice will not take those rumors seriously, nor will we spread them..."

"Wait a minute." Zhao Rong interrupted.

He frowned slightly and looked at Gu Yiwu, "Someone in the academy said something about me behind my back? Oh, no matter what they say, it's boring. That's not what I'm asking."

Gu Yiwu touched the back of his head and asked, "What's the matter, Brother Zhao?"

Zhao Rong pondered for a while, "A few days ago, yes, that was the day when I first met Brother Gu, in Mr. Zhu's Yilanxuan waiting pavilion. Several other seniors from the academy were there at the time. Do you remember?"

Gu Yiwu glanced at him and said seriously:

"Of course I remember. I still remember that day, before Brother Zhao entered, I felt something in my heart. I looked at the gate and felt that something extraordinary was going to happen and an extraordinary person would appear."

He spoke sincerely, patted Zhao Rong on the shoulder and looked straight at him.

"I even felt that at that moment, the air around me darkened a little, waiting for the person outside the door to appear and make a brilliant appearance. And from the rhythmic knocks on the door afterwards, I knew that the person who came must be a well-educated and gentle person. Later, when I saw him, it was indeed true! I was attracted by Brother Zhao's heroic appearance at first sight..."

Zhao Rong was originally planning to step forward to ask, but in the end he couldn't get a word in.

At this moment, he opened his mouth slightly, and then slowly closed it. He looked at the honest expression of the man in front of him, and heard his endless words.

Zhao Rong had a blank expression on his face.

As Gu Yiwu spoke, he seemed to notice Zhao Rong's expression and his voice became lower and lower.

The air quieted down.

The two of them stared at each other, and the atmosphere gradually became awkward.

Gu Yiwu covered his mouth and coughed twice.

Zhao Rong looked at him calmly, waiting for him to speak.

Can you talk? Speak more.

Gu Yiwu felt that he had indeed gone too far, and turned away somewhat embarrassedly, and whispered: "So, Brother Zhao, what I mean is that I still remember what happened at that time very clearly."

Zhao Rong was silent for a while, nodded slightly, and suddenly said:

"At that time, the Mo Xin Zhu fruit that Senior Han from the Cultivation Hall took out, well, it should be called this name, does Brother Gu still remember it?"

Gu Yiwu was slightly stunned, probably because he didn't expect him to ask this question.

"Of course I remember. The Mo Xin Zhu fruit is very interesting. It is indeed like what Senior Li Wenyuan from Guangye Hall said. It can make people fall asleep at night and enter a dreamland that looks like a landscape ink painting."

He glanced at Zhao Rong's serious expression, raised his thick eyebrows, but still smiled:

"A few days ago, I had nothing to do, so I deliberately fell asleep for several nights in a row and played in this ink-like dream. It was really interesting. I even found that I could practice calligraphy and painting in this ink-like dream. It was very convenient. It really killed two birds with one stone."

Zhao Rong listened quietly, thoughtfully.

Gu Yiwu shook his head.

"But it's really boring to play alone after playing too much. I've been busy these days and I haven't had a dream for a while. I don't know if the miraculous effect of the red fruit has dissipated. However, Brother Li said it should last for quite some time. This thing is really rare."

Zhao Rong nodded slightly, thought for a while, and started from the beginning.

"Can this Mo Xin Zhu Fruit allow people to fall asleep and enter a dreamland that looks like a landscape painting?"

Gu Yiwu glanced at him and nodded absentmindedly, "Brother Zhao, you don't know? Oh, that's right. When Brother Li from Guangye Hall introduced this item, you were not there yet."

The corner of Zhao Rong's mouth twitched and he nodded slightly.

How could I know that you mountain people are so good at playing, eating fruit would make so many circles...

He just felt aggravated from his practice at that time and wanted to eat some refreshing fruits. At most, he thought that the "spiritual fruits" they were sharing could increase his spiritual energy.

So Zhao Rong didn't really care about Han Wenfu's expression. Everyone has one? I want one too.

He also got one for free.

Gu Yiwu thought about it and explained slowly.

"According to Senior Li from Guangye Hall, this Ink-Hearted Vermilion Fruit is popular among the private circles of scholars and hermits on Nanwangque Mountain. It is considered an elegant item for private gatherings. After eating this fruit, it is said that the eater can enter a dreamland like a landscape painting when he falls asleep..."

He told Zhao Rong everything he had heard that day and what he had found out later about the Mo Xin Zhu Fruit, without feeling bored.

Not long.

Zhao Rong suddenly asked, "Brother Gu, are you sure that this landscape painting dream can only be entered by one person? Will you not meet other fruit eaters?"

After he finished speaking, he frowned slightly because he thought of Yu Huaijin.

At that time, she and he took away the only pair of black-hearted red fruits left in Han Wenfu's hands.

Zhao Rong felt that only this way could explain why the strange ink dream last night contained scenes, objects, and people that he had never seen before.

So, this dream of ink painting is shared by me and that guy Yu Huaijin?

Different beds, same dream?

However, before Zhao Rong had time to think more, Gu Yiwu spoke in a firm tone.

"Only one person."

He shook his head.

"For practitioners, dreams are inherently mysterious and are related to the mystical waters of the heart."

Gu Yiwu said in a serious tone: "Let alone exploring its mysteries, this should be the domain of senior monks of high rank. We young monks attach great importance to it and protect it. How can we allow it to share a dream with others?"

Zhao Rong narrowed his eyes and nodded slightly.

The tall student from the Hall of Justice in front of him kept talking.

"Just imagine that the water of the Heart Lake involves our thoughts and past memories, and contains countless secrets. Dreams are nourished by it, just like the bubbles on the surface of the Heart Lake. If you share a dream with someone..."

"At the very least, your private secrets will be exposed. At the worst... your mind and thoughts will be affected, and your personality will be changed. The impact is too far-reaching. I heard that in the cultivation world on the mountain, some powerful people have magical powers that can use dreams as a breakthrough point to infect the waters of other people's hearts."

He shook his head slowly, looked at Zhao Rong, and took a breath.

"So it's better for us little monks at the foot of the mountain to sleep less. Besides, we have so many things to do, such as practice, study, and homework. We shouldn't sleep if we have nothing to do. Besides, how can we sleep?"

Zhao Rong suddenly felt inspired by Gu Yiwu's words, and the corners of his lips twitched slightly.

After Gu Yiwu made a joke, he patted the shoulder of 'Mr. Zhao' who liked to assign them a lot of homework.

"Although that Ink Heart Vermilion Fruit is rare, it is not the kind of magical object that can make people dream about it. Brother Zhao, don't think too much about it. By the way, did you also enter that landscape dream? How was it, Brother Zhao, did you find it interesting?"

Zhao Rong came back to his senses, lowered his eyes and chuckled: "It's okay, I didn't know it before, I thought there was something weird."

Gu Yiwu also laughed.

Zhao Rong thought about it and was about to ask again.

Gu Yiwu suddenly asked: "Brother Zhao, did you dream about other people?"

Zhao Rong paused.

Gu Yiwu looked at him.

There was a slight silence between the two.

But in the next second, Zhao Rong immediately moved.

He smiled and nodded: "Indeed, I dreamed about it. To be honest, I dreamed about Brother Gu. Hey, it should be because I kept talking about him during the day. Brother Gu was also there in my dream, and he looked quite energetic."

As he spoke, Zhao Rong raised his hand and gently placed it on the back of Gu Yiwu's hand that was resting on his shoulder.

Outside the Hall of Justice, two grown men stared at each other lovingly, their hands covering each other.

Gu Yiwu's shoulders shook slightly and he shuddered.

He quickly pulled his hand away, left a few words, and hurried back to the school.

"Haha, Brother Zhao really knows how to joke."

Zhao Rong laughed as he watched Gu Yiwu leave.

At a certain moment, Zhao Rong clapped his hands, turned around with a smile, and looked in the direction of the monastery.