Chapter 52 052 The escort only remembered that the name contained the character "Dream"...
Desire...
The moment he heard the name, the boy felt a sudden darkness before his eyes, and his head began to throb with pain as if it were about to explode, as if some force was trying to force open his skull.
He clutched his head in his hands, his forehead beaded with cold sweat from the pain.
Desire...
Desire to dream, desire to dream...
The gods dream...
Strange memories of the Heavenly Court pierced the depths of my brain like awls, causing the world to spin and turn upside down.
Inside the celestial palace, with its carved railings and jade steps, a bright-eyed girl with pearly white teeth is imprisoned in a golden cage.
He was captured by a god named Fu Luo, who severed his Achilles tendons and threw him in front of the ancestral tablet of the god Yu Meng.
"Here, from now on, you will stay here and be solely responsible for offering incense to this shrine, understand?"
A handful of incense sticks were forcibly shoved into his hand, but he clenched his fist and snapped them all in two.
The torment, worse than death, ended with the girl's shout.
He scoffed, thinking that he himself was already in dire straits and barely able to save himself, so how could he possibly have time to heal him?
"Kid, do you want to leave here?"
The girl, imprisoned in a golden cage, crossed her legs, beckoned to him with her finger, and smiled as bright as the moon.
He feigned submission, secretly hoarding incense, which helped her break free from her confinement.
Fu Luo, enraged, gave chase, but he was shielded in her arms by her, her face deathly pale.
"You...you can't escape by doing this, right? Your body will be seriously injured, so you...you did this just so I could escape?"
"You child, don't pry into adult matters."
...
When the boy regained consciousness, he was lying face up in the empty temple.
The old woman had long since disappeared; it was unknown when she had left.
He remembered everything, including how he was beaten to the point of near death while protecting the statue of the goddess Yu Meng in the mortal realm. In his delirium, he vaguely saw the girl's face, but she had erased all his memories of Yu Meng.
"Why do you enjoy erasing other people's memories so much...?"
His eyes were red, filled with resentment and grievance. He stared intently at the unfeeling white jade statue, and vaguely seemed to see the girl's smiling eyes again.
"Why should I..."
"Why should you be the one to dictate my memories?"
"You want me to forget you? I'll never forget you..."
The boy was filled with hatred, and his gaze toward the statue grew increasingly gloomy and obsessive.
"Even if no one in the world worships you anymore, I will still worship you. As long as I am your only pilgrim, you will not disappear. I will find you, even if you become a demon, a ghost, or are reincarnated as a flower, plant, insect, or fish, I will still find you..."
After hearing this so many times, even the boy himself began to believe that Yu Meng had not died, but had simply been reincarnated and was hiding in some corner of this world.
As long as he keeps searching, he will eventually find it...
...
In recent years, the underworld has been quite turbulent.
The Heavenly Court repeatedly invaded, and the Lord of the Underworld, Ghost King Yan Lie, personally led his troops to fight, but was ambushed from two directions by the Heavenly Prince Lin Shen and the God Venerable Kenian, suffering heavy casualties.
Yan Lie was seriously injured and gradually could not hold on. His personal guards were desperate and prepared to use the tragic method of exploding the spirit body into ashes in exchange for their master breaking through the encirclement.
However, at this moment, a young man wearing a silver mask appeared out of nowhere. His black clothes fluttered in the wind, and he was as nimble as a serpent. He held a broken iron pestle and charged left and right through the heavenly army, creating waves with every stone he touched.
Although his spiritual power was not high, his movements were unpredictable and elusive. In a short time, he single-handedly disrupted the Heavenly Court's army formation.
Yan Lie was overjoyed at the sight and ordered his personal troops to take advantage of the chaos and work together with the boy to find a weak point in the encirclement and break through successfully in one fell swoop.
The boy's figure gradually disappeared into the millions of heavenly soldiers, his fate uncertain.
After Yan Lie escaped, he wanted to send someone to rescue the boy, but his subordinates dissuaded him.
"Your Majesty, we are still within the territory controlled by the Heavenly Court. We have finally managed to break through. If we rashly send someone to meet us, we may expose our location. Our brothers have been fighting hard for a long time. If the Heavenly Soldiers catch up with us, we may not be able to escape again. I hope Your Majesty will reconsider!"
Yan Lie valued talent, and the young man was his savior, so he ordered them to stay put and wait for the young man. If he could escape on his own within an incense stick's time, they could retreat back to the Ghost Realm together.
"Which department did that boy belong to?" Yan Lie asked his subordinate.
The subordinate replied, "From a distance, I saw that the boy's attire did not seem to belong to the army; he was merely a commoner from the ghost realm."
"A commoner... with such skill and courage, it's a real pity he couldn't serve in the army." Yan Lie couldn't help but sigh.
The time it takes for an incense stick to burn is almost up, but the boy is nowhere to be seen. Although Yan Lie is heartbroken, as the lord of the Ghost Realm, he must prioritize the overall situation. Just as he is about to order the camp to be moved, a sentry reports—
"Your Majesty! It's that young man! He caught up! He's still alive!"
...
The boy searched countless places, but still found no clues about Yu Meng.
Day after day, his anger grew stronger and stronger, and he knew that continuing to search for a needle in a haystack was not a viable option.
He needs more people to find him, and to have more people obey him, he needs greater influence.
He wanted power and influence.
Having heard that the Ghost Realm and the Heavenly Realm had been at war for a long time, he had always wanted to find an opportunity to make a name for himself. However, without any connections or introductions, he joined the army as a lowly lustful ghost. If he was lucky, he could only start from the bottom as a lowly ghost soldier. It was too slow for him to climb up to the position he wanted.
He needs a shortcut.
Where the two armies clashed, civilians retreated, but he remained hidden nearby, secretly observing the battle. After learning that the Ghost King Yan Lie's troops were surrounded by the Heavenly Army, he pondered for a long time and found a way to disrupt the Heavenly Army's formation.
Although it was a near-death experience, it was worth it.
It was less of an adventure and more of a high-stakes gamble.
Fortunately, he won his gamble.
When he was brought before the Ghost King Yan Lie, he was so badly injured that he only had a sliver of consciousness left.
"I am deeply grateful for the righteous man's rescue today. May I ask how this young man is called?"
When Yan Lie asked about his name, it was as if he had been transported back to that rainy night—
"Hey, what's your name?"
"I don't have a name, I only know that my surname is Cang."
"No name? How can you not have a name? How do people address you?"
"No one gave me a name, and no one called me. If I offended others, they would call me a little beggar."
"This isn't a name. A person needs a name to walk through the world."
Would you... name me?
"Are you serious?"
"It is my greatest honor to receive your name."
"Hmm... Today happens to be the Minor Cold solar term, so how about I call you Canghan? There are only twenty-odd days left until the New Year. I hope your life gets better and better, your future is bright, and you have peace and safety every year."
It's so cold...
This was the name she gave him, and only she was worthy to call him that.
The boy raised his head, looked at the Lord of the Underworld before him, and answered in a hoarse voice: "I have been dead for a long time and have long forgotten my name in the mortal world. I only remember that my name contains the word 'Dream'."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
