บท 8: Chapter 7: Discussing Dreams_1
"Young Brother Pei, how did you wake up?" The gentle words of Shen Yanping startled him.
After being slightly startled, Pei Ye didn't hide anything and recounted his dream from last night.
First, compared to the unexplained Black Chi, Pei Ye naturally trusted these familiar faces that he had known for over a decade. Second, he didn't understand these mysterious events at all, so it was better to seek the help of Master Shen.
However, to his disappointment, the three of them were also clueless.
Feng Zhi furrowed his thick eyebrows, "What does this have to do with the dream—what do you think, Shen Yanping?"
Shen Yanping also shook his head, "At least in the Immortal Platform documents I have access to, I don't recall any Immortal Hunting that takes the shape of Black Chi and invades dreams."
Chang Zhiyuan said, "Then for now, we can attribute it to the stimulation of pain. Tonight, if we get the chance, we can try to see if pain can wake up the unconscious."
"Tonight there will be seven more people... But this fire mark doesn't seem to appear ahead of time, how do we determine which individuals are more appetizing to this 'Divine Spirit'?"
The three of them fell silent.
"I think, maybe it depends on one's martial arts talent," Pei Ye slowly suggested.
Shen Yanping's eyes widened slightly, "That makes sense!"
Martial arts talent is, of course, a combination of many factors, but all three of them understood that the young man was referring to the quality of the 'Dantian seed.'
Feng Zhi said goodbye, "I'll go verify this now."
Chang Zhiyuan said, "Master Shen, the road down the mountain has been washed away by the flood. We need the Soul Bird to send a message to the Immortal Platform."
"When I saw this incident at home, I already released the Soul Bird, noting the urgency and asking the Immortal Platform to present it to the prefecture, asking Commander Jing to rush over as soon as possible."
Chang Zhiyuan sighed, "There are many people in the prefecture who can defeat this villain, but only Commander Jing has the ability to arrive on time."
Feng Zhi soon verified the identities of the victims and provided a definite answer.
"So, we'll leave this place to the two of you for now," Chang Zhiyuan deliberated for a moment, donned his straw hat, ordered someone to hand him a long staff, and said, "I'm going to supervise the notifications and investigations throughout the county, and gather potential victims in the county office for protection."
"Are you worried that they might start capturing people in advance?"
Chang Zhiyuan nodded, "We don't know whether they have already identified the twelve candidates, or if their 'god' selects seven people at the start of the ceremony. If it's the former, they might try to capture them before help arrives."
"But even with our full preparation, Feng Zhi and I probably won't be able to withstand his attacks," whispered Shen Yanping. "Even if these people are gathered in the county office, they might... all be caught at once."
Chang Zhiyuan paused, "We can't just watch as the criminals harm the people. At least this way, only the three of us would die at most. If they remain at home, seven entire households would perish. As for how many neighbors that affects, we don't know."
Shen Yanping nodded heavily.
Pei Ye bowed and asked for leave, "Honorable gentlemen, I would like to go home too."
"You can, but you must return to the county office as soon as possible for protection." Chang Zhiyuan hesitated, then added, "Little Pei, Sir Lin and I have been discussing you... Please take care of yourself. The culprit this time is extremely dangerous. Don't... act impulsively on your own."
After a pause, Pei Ye reassured him, "Mr. Chang, don't worry, I know my limits."
Without waiting for Chang Zhiyuan's response, Pei Ye tore off a piece of cloth, wrapped it around his forehead, and headed south.
Although the rain he had been drenched in all night hadn't triggered his pain, that didn't mean he would continually be lucky. His abdomen was already starting to ache faintly, and if it rained non-stop tonight, he would inevitably experience a flare-up. Pei Ye needed to fetch some wine and medicine.
Walking on the street, Pei Ye was lost in thought. Although the three gentlemen all had quite negative attitudes, the speculation about the Chi dream still swayed his mind, with every word of their conversation imprinted in his memory.
If such a Chi really existed, where did it come from?
"One glory, all glory; one loss, all loss", were his destiny and the Chi's fate bound together to some extent?
He remembered that phrase, "the rest is up to you," implying that he would still be one of the seven tonight?
Last night, the unconsciousness was woken by that Chi, and obviously, there wouldn't be a similar help tonight. According to it, he had to use the supposed "Quail Head" to resist the 'Immortal Lord's Spirit Call.'
Then where could he find the usage method?
The cause...
With furrowed brows, Pei Ye did indeed sense a familiar feeling about the character "Quail", but it was elusive.
Given that Pei Ye rarely read, encountering an uncommon character like "Quail" definitely was not common, so leaving an impression even after briefly seeing it once was an occurrence. But this impression was too vague, and despite much deliberation, Pei Ye couldn't remember when he'd seen it.
However, since his reading was limited, there were few books he had read—it was definitely not in the two reading books at home, so it must have been in the county office where he had borrowed Uncle Lin's convenience to read some stories.
When he got back to the county office, he could look for it.
On his way back home, Pei Ye tried several combinations of phrases and finger routines to activate this supposed "fruit", but nothing happened. Only after feeling himself chattering like Old Xiang did Pei Ye give up.
After crossing the main street to the south of the city, he quickly arrived back at the familiar alleyway.
When he arrived at his home, Pei Ye didn't enter, but directly crossed over to the neighboring courtyard.
Aside from fetching wine and medicine, there were two other things Pei Ye needed to do at home. The first was interchanging days on the east and west sides of the river, where he would ask Old Xiang to elaborate on the story of "Big Ears becoming an immortal" for him. The second was to ask Grandpa Yue if he had any information about this symbol.
The worn-out wooden door was not bolted, just tied with a rope. Pei Ye pulled it open and strode in.
The already narrow yard was in a mess, leaving only a narrow path to the house.
"Old Xiang!" Pei Ye called out, but no one answered.
Pei Ye walked towards the small house. When he pushed the door, he smelled a thick, musty and damp smell. Black smoke rose from the ground - scattered, crushed incense ash.
This small house was like a bizarre temple. In the middle, the Laughing Buddha was smeared with patches of greasy dirt; smaller Arhats and Bodhisattva statues were lying on the table, and there were two extinguished incense stubs on the incense burner.
In the corner, there were the Three Pure Ones, the sagacious Confucius and Mencius, Lord Guan, the God of Wealth, Lv Zu, the God of Stove and so on, you could say they had everything. It's just that many had decayed, some were covered with patches of mold, and even the relatively intact ones were covered with a thick layer of dust.
There were only three rooms in the house; Pei Ye opened each room to find they were all empty. One room was piled with clutter, another room had a bed supported by stones, on which lied a blanket greasy with ointment.
ของขวัญ
-- ได้รับของขวัญแล้ว สถานะพลังงานรายสัปดาห์
-- การจัดอันดับด้วยพลัง 
-- หินพลัง