Chapter 93 - 90 A Startling Dream in the Garden

Chapter 93: Chapter 90 A Startling Dream in the GardenNine inches two, nine inches five... one foot! The first incense in Zhou Xuan’s Divine Revelation Secret Realm, burned visibly fast as all the Buddha Power from the tumor surged into it, leaving the desk covered with fallen incense ashes. As the last inch of incense was consumed, the flame greedily burned the wooden incense base as well, until it became a solitary flame, rising and suspended a foot above the incense burner. Zhou Xuan’s form in the Secret Realm completely overlapped with the Paperman Boatman, but in the next moment, they separated again. For the first time, Zhou Xuan had freedom in the Divine Revelation Secret Realm. He could walk freely on the boat, stand on the deck, and gaze at the sky. Above was a layer of mist, thick mist, obscuring the stars and moonlight. But strangely, when Zhou Xuan looked down at the vast and boundless black water waves around him, he saw the reflection of the Bright Moon and stars in the water. The Bright Moon on the pitch-black water surface appeared like a silver hole with a diameter of hundreds of meters. When the boat passed over it, it seemed extremely small, surrounded by silver light, causing some dizziness. *He felt a delusion of being enveloped by mystery and sanctity.* The illusion did not last long, Blood red, began to emerge, starting from the center of the Bright Moon, a bright splash of blood appeared, The blood-red grew rapidly as the boat traveled just dozens of meters in the water, turning most of the Bright Moon crimson, The boat sailed another four or five meters, The silver Bright Moon was completely washed in blood, becoming a Fei Yue, with the mysterious sanctity replaced by eerie suffocation. The pitch-black water seemed to loathe this Fei Yue, raising hundreds of massive waves to smash down on it heavily. The Fei Yue was not willing to be outdone. From its center, a well slowly rose, its mouth stained with blood, each stone on its walls covered with faces. "Blood Well!" Zhou Xuan realized something—the two Secret Realms in his body, Divine Revelation and Blood Well had collided. The Blood Well grew madly underwater, reaching a height of dozens of zhang, as blood from its mouth flowed like a mountain torrent, dyeing the faces on the stone wall red. The faces then began to laugh, hysterically, maniacally, frantically, the laughter echoing through the Secret Realm, shattering every rolling black water wave as if the Blood Well was a blood tower standing amid countless wave peaks, unwavering, Black water also changed, transforming the waves into cross-waves, crashing at extreme speed on the Blood Well along the water surface, With each crash, besides creating a vast splattering mist, it also cracked the well wall slightly... The clashes between the Blood Well and Divine Revelation grew increasingly fierce and violent, and Zhou Xuan’s boat was not at peace within such ferocity. The boat rocked violently, seeming at any moment to capsize amid the waves. He and the Paperman Boatman could at any moment be swallowed by the boundless black water. Finally, The solitary flame could not hold back, drifting towards the Helmsman’s abdomen. The Paperman Boatman caught fire, with a spark first flickering at the heart of his stomach, then his body ignited, and finally, his limbs, even the boat pole in his hand, caught fire. Amidst the blood tower ripples and wind waves, the Paperman Boatman knelt on one knee at the boat’s bow, leaning his right hand on the flaming boat pole, shouted to Zhou Xuan, "Master, the advancement... ritual... begins, be born from death!" "Be born from death," the shout was impassioned, yet carried a hint of sorrow. Zhou Xuan awoke from his dreams, He sat up from his bed, feeling a tightness in his chest, his breath turning rapid, and everything around seemed to spin. Then, he felt his body losing its bindings and weight. "The feeling of dying." Zhou Xuan knew death was approaching. He hastily grabbed the pen on the desk, not having time even to open the notebook, and directly wrote on the cover—Sister, Master, goodbye. Before finishing the last stroke of "goodbye," Zhou Xuan’s body lost control, his hand suddenly stiffened, and the pen slipped down, rolling to the desktop. "That feeling again." Zhou Xuan recalled his first death—his soul out of control, as if summoned by some will, heading to Soul Shepherd City. This time, he once more received a summons in the dark, yet this time his soul did not leave his body. He was summoned both physically and spiritually. Where the will summoned him to go, he did not know, just a vague direction for walking in his heart. He numbly, mechanically got up, dressed, took the folded fan and gavel, accepted the will’s summons, and stepped out. Although Zhou Xuan’s body began to lose control, his Perception had astonishingly enhanced. His ears could hear the friction of earthworms crawling through the soil at the far corner of the Zhou Family’s Troupe’s outer yard, hear the small fish in the inner yard’s fish pond nibbling on water plants. His eyes could see many things ordinarily unseen... ... Zhou Xuan stepped out of the house, walked numbly, first passing by Zhou Lingyi’s room. He forced himself to stop, wanting to say goodbye to his sister, but found his body out of control and unable to open his mouth, only muttering in his heart, "Sister, goodbye." Yet, at that moment, Zhou Xuan saw images unseen in normal circumstances, memories about his sister. [In the Luoying Hall of the Zhou Family’s Troupe, Zhou Xuan pointed at Zhou Lingyi, cursing, "My dad’s the Class Leader of the Zhou Family’s Troupe, I’m the Young Master, what does it matter if you came back from Mingjiang Prefecture? What right do you have to speak in the Zhou Family?" "Zhou Lingyi, you’d better listen to Auntie, return to Mingjiang Prefecture now. Whether the Zhou Family’s Troupe lives or dies, it has nothing to do with you!" Auntie barked, poking Zhou Lingyi’s nose, scornfully. "Lingyi, you need to have faith in Dad, the Zhou Family’s Troupe’s business slump is temporary, it’ll get better." "You three, shut up! I’m formally notifying you all, the Zhou Family’s Troupe, I, Zhou Lingyi, am taking over!" Zhou Lingyi’s face was resolute, releasing a red string from her left hand to strangle her father’s and Auntie’s necks, lifting them in the air. Immediately, she released another red string with her right hand, lashing Zhou Xuan’s back into bloody welts! "If you all won’t discipline my brother, I will!" "Big and small affairs of the Zhou Family’s Troupe, from now on, are up to me, Zhou Lingyi!" ] Zhou Xuan saw the scene of his sister taking over the Zhou Family’s Troupe two years ago, feeling sad for her while simultaneously finding her dashing and cool. Simultaneously, he understood that if he could not see any other memories, seeing only this segment indicated that this memory was perhaps the deepest hidden and least willing to be shared with others by his sister! "Sister, goodbye, please don’t overwork yourself. If anyone disobeys you, beat them up." Zhou Xuan silently wished once more before following the path set by the will. Not far from Sister’s room was Yu Zhengyuan’s home. Senior Brother was still awake, chatting with Xu Li in whispers. But their whispers fell into Zhou Xuan’s ears, now bursting with Perception, no different from loud shouting. "Xiao Li, I’m too excited to sleep, ever since Xuanzi won Lady Lianhua’s favor, I’ve been answering calls all night. The days of the Zhou Family’s Troupe are looking prosperous." "We should thank the current Xuanzi. If it were the old Zhou Xuan, the Zhou Family’s Troupe would have been ruined by now. You’re such a fool, Lao Yu. When the other seniors stopped, you still served him!" "Let’s not talk about the past, good days are ahead." Xu Li also said, "Indeed, the best days, brought by Xuanzi. Tell me, Lao Yu, how did you know right after his soul was summoned back that he was not the old Zhou Xuan? Even if you did know, you only met him a couple of times, how did you realize he’d be a good junior brother, not the bad kind like Zhou Xuan before?" "When Xuanzi’s soul was first summoned back, his body was particularly frail, but at the old Class Leader’s funeral, he helped with writing the funeral invitations, and welcomed guests. When few were around, he silently thanked the old Class Leader on the side. Did the old Zhou Xuan ever have such righteousness? With this kind of righteousness, how could he be bad?" Zhou Xuan smiled with bliss upon hearing this. In the first few days at the Zhou Family’s Troupe, only Senior Brother and Senior Sister-in-law were kind to him, and he thought it was due to their warm nature. Turns out there was a reason. "Senior Brother, you knew all along I was not the real Zhou Xuan." Inside, Yu Zhengyuan boasted to Xu Li, "In my years of doing business, I’ve learned to read people. Xuanzi’s a top-notch junior brother, unparalleled in deeds and character. If he had my humor, he’d likely be perfect." "Hahaha." Zhou Xuan was amused to laughter by Senior Brother’s boast across the window, though his body was out of control, and he made no sound. Senior Brother, oh Senior Brother, in terms of humor, I must concede. As Zhou Xuan reached the window of Yu Zhengyuan’s house, his Perception allowed him to glimpse into Senior Brother’s deeply hidden memories. [Inside Yu Zhengyuan’s home. Yu Zhengyuan lay on the bed, his shirt removed, revealing his body decayed for the most part. Where it wasn’t decayed, white fur grew, and his energy seemed drained. Xu Li sat beside him, compressing a cloth to clean his wounds. Yuan Buyu said, "Xiao Yu, when you were a kid, the old Class Leader saved you from ’Food Heaven,’ and you’ve had this ailment since then. This illness could be suppressed before, but in the past two years, it has worsened due to your exhaustion. Eating raw meat doesn’t help like it used to, you must drink child’s blood for a cure, or you’ll have no chance. It’s life-saving, don’t stress about it." Yuan Buyu left, and Xu Li brought a bowl of blood for Yu Zhengyuan. Yu Zhengyuan drank a mouthful and suddenly began to cry, saying, "Drinking human blood, how am I different from a monster like ’Food Heaven’? I despise myself." He then began to slap himself, "Lao Yu, Lao Yu!" Xu Li felt heartbroken, embraced Yu Zhengyuan, and cried, "We’re not taking blood for free. We pay them. Those kids’ families are so poor they can’t even cook. We buy a bit of blood from them, give them more money, your illness gets better, and they overcome hardships. It’s a win-win. You’re a good person, and so am I, we’re not ’Food Heaven’... Don’t be hard on yourself..." "Money, must be given, a lot of it!" Yu Zhengyuan stared dully at the bowl of blood.] Zhou Xuan remembered seeing Yu Zhengyuan in the bamboo forest, gnawing on raw fish like a wildcat, and also recalled how concerned Yu Zhengyuan was about disaster areas, very fond of donations. Despite a high salary, their household lived so modestly, Sister-in-law wore outdated clothes. It turned out, all of this was because of Yu Zhengyuan’s ailment and his kindness. "Senior Brother, goodbye. When the Zhou Family’s Troupe business improves, don’t overwork yourself, and wish you a speedy recovery." "Food Heaven, the Alien Ghost from the Kidnapper Hall, if rebirth follows my death, should I have the ’fate’ to meet you again, I’ll surely slay you!" Zhou Xuan continued walking forward. Just a dozen meters ahead of Yu Zhengyuan’s house was Third Brother Li Shuangyi’s home...