The journey to the Secluded Mountain Prefecture over the new year ended on a bad note.
Fang Yuan returned to Qinghe County completely unaffected by the sudden rise in tensions in the country.
To Fang Yuan, to be able to enter the dream world to practise martial arts, grow and cultivate his spiritual plants and to impart his teachings to his two disciples on a daily basis was a joyful way to live his life.
Furthermore, he had several precious treasures waiting for him to master and control. He did not have the time to bother about what was going on around him.
Within the dream world.
"Bang!"
The corpse of the Sect Head of the Five Ghosts Sect fell to the floor.
Ling Yin chuckled dryly and said, "Congratulations on defeating such a great enemy senior. You need not live your life in worry in the future anymore!"
"This person is scheming and had inserted for a spy within my county. His objectives and intentions were not to be underestimated...Thankfully we made him expose them during this operation to hide the treasure map..."
s.h.i.+ Yutong oozed with confidence. This was so unlike the pathetic state of her future self.
This scene was from the war over the treasure map in Lieyang County!
Furthermore, Fang Yuan was watching from a third person"s perspective. Even though he was standing next to the two ladies and observing them, they were completely oblivious to his presence.
"I have a stronger control over Ling Yin"s dream world now and I can already retrieve her memories..."
Even though this was in an imaginary realm, it was in fact Ling Yin"s memories of what happened before.
To a dream master, nothing was a secret!
"The works of a dream master are simply so..."
As Fang Yuan immersed himself in the scene, he was equally awestruck. As long as a dream master was determined, n.o.body could hide their thoughts or secrets from him.
Even a person"s life experiences, memories, wealth could be taken away in the dream world.
"How is this called a dream-building master? It should be called a dream-stealing master...even a pig could become a Wu Zong pig if it trained for many years in a Wu Zong"s dream world!"
Fang Yuan guessed that as long as any dream master had the heart, he could become the top martial artist anywhere he went!
"Of course, I also have to consider the issue of natural talent and amount of effort put in...a dream master must focus on his cultivating path and spend less time on other useless aspects. To invest this way over the long term, might also bring about some negative impacts...but it is also too unfathomable!"
Whatever Fang Yuan was doing to Ling Yin was of another kind. He was not extracting her experience in alchemy. Instead, he was looking through her other secrets.
The bright moon illuminated the dark starless sky as a crow flew south.
The violent commotion from afar died down slowly.
It was obvious that those martial artists realised which side had already won and did not dare to take a second look before escaping swiftly.
As long as s.h.i.+ Yutong and the head of the Five Ghosts Sect were not both seriously injured, there was no way for any of them to take action at all. It was the best time for them to get away while they still could.
Fang Yuan stood aside and watched silently.
"Treasure map?"
A spark flickered in Ling Yin"s eyes.
As Fang Yuan was in control of her dream world, he could also sense the curiosity that popped up in Ling Yin.
"Why? Junior Ling Yin, you are from a rich family and have an alchemy master, why would you be interested in my little treasure?"
s.h.i.+ Yutong forced a closed lip smile.
A spark flickered again in Ling Yin"s eyes as she pressed further, "Senior, you are making fun of me again. Tell me more about it..."
"I only just learnt about this!"
s.h.i.+ Yutong continued, "Do you know that the ancestors of the head of the Five Ghosts Sect were not from this country?"
"Hmm?" Ling Yin was taken aback and she continued to ask, "Could it be they were immigrants? But there is nothing inappropriate about this!"
"It does not just end there!"
s.h.i.+ Yutong shook her head, "The ancestors of this person were from the Da Qian Empire!"
"What?"
Ling Yin shuddered.
"Now do you also find that something is wrong? Da Qian is situated so far away from here and the road here is incredibly perilous. His ancestors defied all odds to reach here. They had to be incredibly strong to pa.s.s through the many mountains and rivers to reach this place...Furthermore, these people picked a poor rural area like ours to settle down in. It is extremely suspicious!"
s.h.i.+ Yutong spoke on slowly.
Ling Yin thought about it quickly and then replied, "But...How do you know all this? Did you also plant spies within their sect?"
"I just returned the favour..."
s.h.i.+ Yutong waved her hand. It was common for big powers to plant spies in each other"s sects.
Even if the head of the Five Ghosts Sect did not plant the Guo family as spies in their county, she would have done the same. This was nothing to do with favours, it was most basic thing to do to a potential rival sect.
"The ancestors of the head of the Five Ghosts Sect were from Da Qian, could it be that the treasure map was his?"
Ling Yin"s eyes lit up.
"Indeed!"
s.h.i.+ Yutong nodded her head in admission and replied, "It was rumoured that the particular ancestor was incredible power and unpredictable. However, he did not live a long life and died soon after he reached here. Apparently, he sustained a serious injury and before he died, he left a set of treasure maps split into three sets to be looked after by three of his disciples!"
"Three sets?"
Ling Yin asked curiously, "Why? If he had such a precious treasure, wouldn"t it be better to just hand it over to his heir?"
"I am not sure about this, maybe he had a deeper intention!"
s.h.i.+ Yutong continued saying, "After he died, the three disciples fell out with each other which made it impossible to piece back the full treasure map. It stayed that way until now. Now, the three of them are already dead and they do not have surviving family members. However, it is the descendants of the particular ancestor himself who are now trying to reclaim the treasure map!"
"Based on what know, he has already gotten one set. But, it was stolen away by Han Shou"s disciple. The set that just has emerged is the second set! In order to find out the exact location of the treasure, we need all three sets together!"
"The treasure left by the expert from Da Qian?"
Ling Yin"s eyes lit up and remarked, "My master might also be interested in this!"
"If Master Lu could help us, it would be great!"
s.h.i.+ Yutong then said in a serious tone, "If that person had such a valuable treasure hidden, why didn"t he leave it to his heir? There must be some complication going on that even he found difficult, how could I work alone? Please ask Master Lu...
"There are no doubts that this was s.h.i.+ Yutong. She was clear about her actions and knew the risks and benefits of them. Furthermore, she was not blinded by greed of the treasure...."
Fang Yuan stood aside and watched on. Suddenly, he snapped his fingers.
"Snap!"
He snapped out of the dream world.
After all, this was all the memories Ling Yin had about the treasure map.
He could now know every thought that went through Ling Yin"s mind. Ling Yin could not hide even the smallest idea that she had from him. However, he was powerless against s.h.i.+ Yutong.
This was also after all just Ling Yin"s dream, not s.h.i.+ Yutong"s!
"To do this on a Wu Zong like s.h.i.+ Yutong is a bit too risky based on my current skill level!"
Even though s.h.i.+ Yutong was held captive by him and definitely knew and experienced a lot more than Ling Yin, Fang Yuan was cautious about entering her dreams.
To use such a technique was almost similar to gambling.
If Fang Yuan were to be injured or killed in her dream world, his magical energy would also be damaged. Furthermore, Fang Yuan was not confident of suppressing the malicious intent in a Wu Zong"s subconsciousness.
"When I"ve reached the peak of the Elemental Gathering Realm, after perfecting my dream-building skills, I might try it out on s.h.i.+ Yutong..."
Fang Yuan scratched his chin as he thought of what he just saw.
The treasure map was extremely precious, and he already had two out of the three sets. What he did not expect was that the treasure belonged to an expert from Da Qian, which excited him slightly.
"What a pity the head of the Five Ghosts Sect is already dead. If not, I would definitely be able to obtain the most detailed information from his dream world. Now that the sect is destroyed, their archives have probably been completely looted...At least there is still hope in retrieving the archives, I just have to get Zhou Wenwu and my other disciples to carry out this mission for me!"
This was the benefit of being a major power. He could activate the people under him to carry out these tedious and troublesome tasks for him. He could afford to appear after they have found the relevant items.
"Carry on then!"
After considering his options, he stretched out his arms.
"Whoo whoo!"
The entire dream world changed before him.
The sun rose from the east and set in the west quickly. People moved at an incredibly fast-forwarded pace and it was difficult to properly see them.
Of course, this entire world was from the lens of Ling Yin.
Her entire dream world was now under the complete control of Fang Yuan.
"This is the terrifying part of being a dream master...I just have to work a bit harder and soon I can be in full control of her soul. Almost like Red-eyed White Bird, I can even alter her memories and swear allegiance to me..."
Fang Yuan was clear about his potential abilities, yet he was grounded at the same time.
"If this sort of powers were not controlled won"t the world be in utter chaos?"
"I wonder if there are any laws or restrictions regarding the advancements of dream masters in Da Qian..."
Fang Yuan was aware of the sinister side of humans. If this sort of powerful ability developed without any form of control, Da Qian would have become a h.e.l.lish abyss a long time ago.
Of course, laws and regulations were merely just words written on pieces of paper. What could law enforcement officials possibly do to deal with dream masters?
"Master!"
Fang Yuan got out of his thoughts and observed the next scene.
Within the Secluded Mountain Prefecture, Ling Yin came to the front of Lu Renjia and respectfully bowed and reported, "The preparations have already been made. I successfully convinced s.h.i.+ Yutong to support your claim to the throne!"
"We have to adapt to the changing times!"
Lu Renjia kept his hands behind his back as he sighed.
As Fang Yuan watched from the side, he realised something was amiss and he thought, "This time should be the birthday celebration of the head of the Secluded Mountain Prefecture. It is also before Lu Renjia"s rebellion so why isn"t he all pumped up and ready to fight? Instead he looks so solemn here. Could the rumours of external intervention be true? Such that Lu Renjia was not in control of the situation?"
Ling Yin also sensed that something was not right as the expression on her master"s face was one she had rarely seen.
"Ling Yin!"
Lu Renjia raised his head suddenly and pulled out a secret diagram and ordered, "Memorise this diagram and then destroy it once you are done!"
"This is..."
Looking at the map on her hand, Ling Yin was slightly puzzled.
"This is the location of one of my secret mansions. It is within Lieyang County, and this secret is only between the two of us..."
Lu Renjia dryly said, "If all goes well this time, everything will be alright. If things go south, and if...something bad happens to me, go to this place. Focus your energy on training, do not be involved in the affairs around you, do not look for spiritual knights and do not come out again. Most importantly, do not try to seek revenge for me!"
"Master..."
A strong premonition grew as Ling Yin fell to her knees crying.