Chapter 38 She dreamed of going home
Since the new disciples arrived in Kunlun, Shen Cangyu has rarely stayed on Dragon Ridge Mountain. She is afraid that if she looks at Shen Qingyan even once, she will not be able to resist killing him.
But she also wanted to glean glimpses of her story from the snippets of the plot, like searching for her own reflection in someone else's dream.
Shen Cangyu suddenly felt that this world was like a series of dreams stacked together, each person's dream was different, but they were all intricately connected.
Who is she? Is she really herself?
Shen Cangyu was staring blankly at the book in her hand when suddenly a figure blocked her view, obscuring the light. She looked up and saw Elder Huang.
Elder Huang took a sip of wine from the pot, looked at the book in her hand that described dreams and ascension, and said, "What are you doing reading our 'Free and Easy Wandering' book all day long? You've read so much, yet you never come to our 'Free and Easy Wandering'."
Shen Cangyu had been staying in the Scripture Pavilion for quite some time, but this was the first time she had encountered Elder Huang. Since their last argument, she had not seen Elder Huang again, neither in the Scripture Pavilion nor in the Yunmeng Marsh of Xiaoyao You.
At first, Shen Cangyu thought that Elder Huang was avoiding her. Later, she asked the people around her and learned that it was normal for Elder Huang to not be able to find people.
The wandering wanderers were rarely seen. The author of *The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons* designed name tags specifically to find them. However, it was later realized that the wandering wanderers never wore name tags when they went out, so the name tag design wouldn't be able to keep them there, and the project was eventually abandoned.
"Does Elder Huang dream?" Shen Cangyu asked.
Huang Menglu simply smiled and said, "You only know me as Elder Huang, but you don't know my real name, right?"
Shen Cangyu truly didn't know that everyone called her Elder Huang, and no one ever addressed her by her given name. Even though she shared the same surname as Hall Master Huang, people only used "Elder" and "Hall Master" to distinguish between them.
“My name is Huang Menglu,” she said, picking up the book that Shen Cangyu had placed on the ground. She opened it, pointed to the words on the page, and said, “I am the dreamer, unaware of my dream. I am that dream.”
Shen Cangyu looked in the direction she indicated.
“Within a dream, one interprets another dream; only upon waking does one realize it was a dream. Moreover, only upon a great awakening does one realize it was a great dream.”
A person asleep is in a dream, unaware that they are dreaming. Only upon waking do they realize they have just had a dream. But how can they prove that they are not in a new dream after waking? Only those who see through the illusion that life is but a grand dream can attain enlightenment.
But now that she is so deeply involved, how can she distinguish whether what she is in is real or just a dream?
How could she know whether she was truly reborn after her death, or whether it was all just a dream she had after her death?
“I dream every day. I have countless dreams. I have experienced many things and met many people in my dreams,” Huang Menglu said lazily, taking a sip of wine and looking at Shen Cangyu’s bewildered eyes. “Speaking of which, I have even seen you in my dreams.”
Shen Cangyu's breath hitched: "What did I look like in your dream?"
Huang Menglu muttered, "I'm old, I can't remember many things. Asking me to remember now is just making things difficult for me..."
She leaned against the bookshelf, looking up as she thought. After a while, she took another swig of wine, as if the wine could stimulate her nerves and remind her of things she had forgotten: "In my dream, you grew up on Dragon Ridge Mountain. Come to think of it, I even held you when you were only the size of a cat."
She opened her eyes and met the sadness in Shen Cangyu's eyes, saying, "No wonder I felt you were familiar at first glance; it turns out we've met in a dream."
Huang Menglu's words shattered Shen Cangyu's forced composure, and tears streamed uncontrollably down her face.
No wonder... no wonder Pei Wenjing said he felt like he'd seen her somewhere before when they first met; no wonder Qiu Sheng and she hit it off immediately; no wonder Senior Brother Gou kept saying the dumplings she made tasted familiar; no wonder the other disciples of Wanqi Guixin all got along so well with her...
It was all like a dream, and in that dream, they grew up together.
It turns out they might actually know each other, but they've all forgotten.
wrong!
Shen Cangyu covered her head; the blood vessels in her head were throbbing, and she felt waves of pain.
"Are you alright?" Huang Menglu looked at her and wanted to help her up. She touched Shen Cangyu's forehead and felt a cold sweat on her hand. She said in a low voice, "Bear with it for a moment, I'll take you to Xingxiang Hall."
Shen Cangyu felt as if her brain had been split in two, but memories were struggling to emerge from the cracks.
It turns out she did remember things from that life, but she remembered them wrong. She always had a memory of when she first started practicing martial arts and tumbled down a mountain. It was Pei Wenjing who caught her and brushed the snow off her head.
The outer sect's Little Kunlun is far from Kunlun. Even if you enter Kunlun, it will take a very long time to get to Dragon Ridge Mountain. At that time, even if she ran around randomly, she would not be able to run to Dragon Ridge Mountain and meet Pei Wenjing.
The memories in her mind began to tear apart, as if two stitched-together fragments were being ripped apart by her. She saw clearly the two figures rolling in the snow in her memory. One of them was wearing a gray outer uniform that gradually faded back to its original bright silver.
She was clearly born in Kunlun, so what altered her memories?
No wonder she was so exhausted when she finished her delivery mission in her previous life. She was delirious and just wanted to get home as quickly as possible while carrying the cargo boxes. But as she walked, she ended up crossing a long mountain path and entering Kunlun. It turned out that she had lost her memory, but she always felt that Kunlun was her home.
No wonder she was bullied by the inner disciples of Kunlun, yet she always longed for Kunlun.
No wonder the first thing she wanted to do after opening her eyes in this life was to go to Kunlun.
She wanted to go home.
"Needle."
Amidst the chaotic sounds, Shen Cangyu heard a single word. Then, a bittersweet sensation washed over her as several silver needles pierced her head. The surging emotions and memories came to a halt at that moment.
Someone covered her eyes with a cloth, and she smelled the rich incense and gradually fell asleep.
"What happened?" Shui Linglong asked as she performed acupuncture.
Shui Linglong is not old, but her aura is stronger than Elder Xu Mei's. When she has a stern face, she is indeed frightening.
Huang Menglu flicked his finger, hiding the wine flask hanging from his waist into his sleeve, and said, "I don't know... She asked me if I dream, and I told her a story, and then she suddenly became like this."
The disciple from Xingxiang Hall, who was holding the needle pouch for Shui Linglong, heard Huang Menglu's words and looked at Shui Linglong with lingering eyes: "Senior Sister, what illness does she have?"
“The evil wind has seeped into my bones,” Shui Linglong said, pressing down the last needle. She took a handkerchief from a disciple and wiped her hands clean. “There’s something unclean in your Scripture Pavilion.”
"What kind of evil spirits?" Huang Menglu tried to think. She had indeed heard the disciples of the Scripture Pavilion say that the lights in the Scripture Pavilion would always turn on inexplicably in the middle of the night. After they turned off the lights, the lights would quietly turn back on, which was very strange. Some people had also heard that whimpering cries would occasionally come from the Scripture Pavilion... Could it be that Shen Cangyu's headaches were really related to these evil spirits?
"Xingxiang Hall only heals people, not exorcises ghosts. Go ask the people in Shan'e Hall," Shui Linglong placed her handkerchief on the tray beside her and stretched out her hand to Huang Menglu. "If Elder Huang has nothing else, please go back. There are still people waiting outside."
Huang Menglu looked at the person outside the threshold and realized that she was blocking the way. Since Shen Cangyu was still not awake, there was no point in her staying. She scratched her head and had no choice but to leave.
Not long after she left, someone rushed over from outside, pushed through the crowd, and peeked inside, causing gasps of surprise from the people.
Upon hearing that Shen Cangyu was injured, Xu Qiubai threw down the incense ash and ran down the mountain. The ash scattered all over the ground, covering his robes, but he did not notice.
He rushed into the clinic without a care, searching for Shen Cangyu's figure. Halfway there, someone suddenly yanked his collar out.
"Xu Qiubai, what are you doing here!" A disciple of Xingxiang Hall grabbed Xu Qiubai and angrily rebuked him, "I can tolerate your usual nonsense, but what do you mean by barging around the clinic and disturbing the patients today?"
"Let go of me!" Xu Qiubai slapped her hand until it turned red.
The disciple from Xingxiang Hall who was slapped glared at him angrily: "Believe it or not, I'll tell Elder Xu about your evil deeds. I don't believe she can't deal with you, you little devil!"
"What's it to you? Why are you meddling in other people's business again..."
"Stop arguing."
A voice interrupted their argument. Seeing Shui Linglong approaching, the Xingxiang Hall disciple quickly withdrew his hand and bowed to her: "Senior Sister, I was just looking at him..."
Seeing the disciples of Xingxiang Hall defending him, Xu Qiubai became anxious and was about to speak, but after seeing Shui Linglong's eyes, he swallowed his words.
“Okay, I know. You go ahead with your work and leave him to me,” Shui Linglong replied. The Xingxiang Hall disciple breathed a sigh of relief and slipped into the curtain beside him.
Shui Linglong glanced at Xu Qiubai, then took off her mask and smock and said, "Come with me."
She led Xu Qiubai out and into a side room: "She wasn't injured, but her headache flared up again and she was brought to the clinic."
Xu Qiubai entered the room and, seeing Shen Cangyu fast asleep, finally calmed down.
"When did she develop a headache? How come I didn't know?" Xu Qiubai asked.
Shui Linglong said coldly, "Didn't you swear you would help her? You don't even know she has a headache. How can you help her?"
Xu Qiubai wanted to refute, but couldn't find the words to do so.
"You think you're a savior just because you did something small, and you expect others to be grateful to you? What a pipe dream you're having, Xu Qiubai."
Shui Linglong spoke to him bluntly and incisively. Xu Qiubai's mask was easily torn away, and his face turned pale.
“When you’re truly capable, then we can talk about saving people. Right now, you can’t save anyone, including yourself,” Shui Linglong said calmly, without any expression. She simply stepped forward and blocked his view of Shen Cangyu. “Have you finished looking? If you have, then go out and let her rest.”
Shui Linglong pushed him out of the room, closed the door to the side room, left him outside, and walked away.
The door to the room in front of him was unlocked; he could easily push it open, but he didn't have the courage to do so.
He suddenly remembered that a few days ago, a disciple of the Qizhenfang sent rare treasures to Kunlun. When he went to collect them, he took a liking to a slender but upright and lush grass. It looked very young, but it had the uprightness of bamboo and the lushness of pine tree.
He glanced at it a few more times, and the disciple from Qizhenfang introduced it to him, saying that the plant was called "Penglai Bamboo".
Upon hearing the word "Penglai," his feet seemed rooted to the ground, unable to move. Seeing his interest, the disciples of Qizhenfang wrapped it up for him, saying, "This Penglai bamboo best embodies the style of a scholar; it's most suitable for you."
When he returned to Xingxiang Hall carrying the potted plant, Elder Xu Mei looked at the plant in his arms and asked, "Weren't you going to get the turtle? Why did you bring back a plant?"
Xu Qiubai's fate is special. If one wants to change his luck, a pond must be built in his house and turtles must be kept to balance the energy field.
“This is bamboo,” Xu Qiubai explained. Besides the tortoise, bamboo can also change the energy field in his room.
Elder Xu Mei glanced at it a few more times and said, "Such a small bamboo shoot... do as you please."
He brought the bamboo back into the house and took good care of it, fertilizing and watering it every day. But no matter how he cared for it, he couldn't prevent it from drying out and dying.
Later, he learned that the Penglai bamboo does not like water or fertilizer; it needs to grow wildly and unrestrained.
The Seven Killings uses one cover, the Robbery uses this cover, and the next volume, God of Intrigue, has another cover [pigeon]. I've already bought it, so let me use it! BallBall
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