Lanke Chess Edge
Chapter 254: Just One Dream Alone Can Change You

Hearing Ji Yuan’s words, Lu Chengfeng, who had already prepared himself for disappointment, was stunned for a moment, then finally realize what Mr. Ji said.

“Mr. Ji, are you serious?”

Lu Chengfeng stood up from the stone bench and looked at Ji Yuan with a shocked expression.

“Is there really an underworld? Are you really an immortal?”

Instead, Ji Yuan sat back on the table, poured himself another bowl of Tusu wine, and sipped it, before looking back at Lu Chengfeng.

“Master Lu, you are from Yuchang County, Desheng Prefecture, right?”

“That’s right. Although Yuchang County isn’t that big. It is located at the junction of Desheng Prefecture and Tianyue Prefecture, and it is considered to be prosperous. It also enjoys a small reputation in the martial arts world because of our Cloud Pavilion.”

Ji Yuan nodded. With a flick of his fingers inside his sleeves, he knew that Yuchang County did not have a local city god, but that it was also under the jurisdiction of Desheng Prefecture’s City God.

“Mr. Ji, when are we leaving? How will we get to the underworld?”

For some reason, the words that came out of Mr. Ji’s mouth were very convincing. In just moments, Lu Chengfeng gave up his doubts and suspicious, but it was replaced with nervousness and anxiety.

Ji Yuan looked at him and said:

“Master Lu, you drank so much wine, aren’t you drunk?”

“Huh? I just drank one bowl, how would it be possible for me to be drunk…”

In Lu Chengfeng’s eyes, Mr. Ji’s face grew more and more blurred… or perhaps it was his head that was growing more and more dizzy. He swayed on his feet, and couldn’t stand firmly, so he sat down on the stone bench. Then he fell back onto the stone table.

At this moment, his eyelids grew heavier and heavier, and he soon fell asleep.

“Ah…”

Ji Yuan, who had used illusion techniques to hypnotize Lu Chengfeng, sighed lightly.

Then Ji Yuan stretched out his hand and patted Lu Chengfeng’s back. A translucent Lu Chengfeng was pulled out of his own body, looking confused and a little sluggish.

Although he had never specifically learned a method of drawing out souls, it was not difficult for Ji Yuan to perform this in an altered form today, though his method was just a little rough.

“Take good care of his body.”

After telling the jujube tree these words, Ji Yuan waved his arm, and the sluggish Lu Chengfeng was sucked into his sleeves. Then he pushed off from the ground and his figure rose, disappearing into the sky in an instant.

On the stone table under the jujube tree, Lu Chengfeng smacked his lips and scratched an itch from time to time, as if he was dreaming.

In less than half an hour, Ji Yuan had already appeared outside the City God Temple in Desheng Prefecture’s capital. With another wave of his sleeves, the Yang world changed into the Yin world in front of him, and he was standing at the gates to the underworld.

The Yin Qi here was already quite strong. It belonged to the boundary between Yin and Yang, blocking the light from the sky.

Only now did Ji Yuan release Lu Chengfeng’s soul from his sleeves. The latter was startled by the Yin Qi, and he woke up in shock. He looked around. Seeing Ji Yuan by his side, he felt a little relieved.

Now, in the underworld, Lu Chengfeng’s translucent figure had changed to appear just like a real human body, no longer appearing empty.

“Mr. Ji, where are we? Why does it feel so dark? Wasn’t it daytime just now? It doesn’t look like your courtyard.”

“Where are we? Hahaha…”

Ji Yuan smiled and pointed to the road ahead.

“Where did you say we were going earlier?”

Lu Chengfeng looked in the direction Ji Yuan was pointing. He saw a building that looked like a city gate in front of him. On the plaque above it were written a few characters that glowed with dim light. These large characters read, “Desheng Prefecture Ghost Gate.”

“Desheng Prefecture Ghost Gate… The Ghost Gate!”

Lu Chengfeng startled as if waking from a dream, and suddenly felt a chill. He subconsciously walked closer to Ji Yuan.

“What? Is Warrior Lu afraid? Haha, it’s too late to be scared now, let’s go!”

Ji Yuan didn’t pull him, he simply took the lead and walked out of the crossroads of Yin and Yang and towards the Ghost Gate. Lu Chengfeng looked behind him; he could vaguely make out the bustling crowd of people outside. However, after hesitating for a while, he still followed Ji Yuan.

As soon as the two exited the crossroads of Yin and Yang, the ghost messengers guarding the gate of the underworld immediately noticed them.

“Who are you, and why did you break into the underworld of Desheng Prefecture?”

But before Ji Yuan could speak, as the two approached and the ghost gatekeepers saw who was coming, the underworld officials were startled and hurriedly bowed in greeting.

“We greet Mr. Ji!”

“It turns out it was Mr. Ji who came to the underworld. Please wait a moment, sir, we will will inform the Lord City God immediately!”

One of the ghost messengers said, and immediately entered the gates of the underworld.

Ji Yuan was a little surprised. It wasn’t strange that a few of the underworld officials could recognize him, but how come so many ghost messengers near the gates of the underworld seemed to know him?

What he didn’t know was that “The Enlightenment of the Realm-Wandering God”¹ was already a famous painting in the underworld of Desheng Prefecture, and it hung in the hall of the Rewards and Punishment Division.

The story of The Enlightenment of the Realm-Wandering God was quite miraculous. Although it wasn’t spoken of outside, it did spread quickly in the underworld of Desheng Prefecture. Most underworld officials had heard of it, though they hadn’t had the chance to see it. In addition, the underworld officials would always find some reason to go to the Rewards and Punishment Division, so they would secretly take a close look at the painting when they passed by.

Lu Chengfeng to the side was more surprised than happy. He didn’t expect that even the ghost messengers would know Mr. Ji. However, it was too early for him to be so surprised.

After entering the underworld, the City God of Desheng Prefecture personally accompanied them to the City God Temple, personally questioned them, and sent people to the deceased Lu family father and mother. Only then did Lu Chengfeng realize how capable Mr. Ji truly was.

This time, instead of bringing the Lu family father and mother to a different hall of the underworld, he brought Lu Chengfeng to the Lu family’s Yin world house.

The moment Lu Chengfeng saw his parents, he couldn’t hold back his tears. He cried, “dad, mom!” and then ran over and knelt in front of the two ghosts.

At first, the Lu family and mother thought that Lu Chengfeng was also dead, and they were quite sad. At this moment, Ji Yuan realized that ghosts could also shed tears.

However, this sadness didn’t last long. When they learned that Lu Chengfeng wasn’t actually dead, and that he had taken the initiative to ask someone to bring him to the underworld to see his parents, the two elders were stunned for a moment, and then immediately began to teach their son a lesson together.

The underworld was not a place for him to come by himself. As his parents, they were so angry. Lu Chengfeng, who was still in mourning, was scolded, and became stunned. Ji Yuan, standing not too far away, wanted to laugh.

When Lu Chengfeng followed Ji Yuan out of the underworld, his expression was still a little dazed. His parents hadn’t scolded him much since he had become an adult.

“How do you feel, Warrior Lu?”

Ji Yuan asked teasingly outside the gates of the underworld. Lu Chengfeng’s expression changed many times, before he finally smiled.

“I feel… a little complicated…”

“Hahaha……”

Ji Yuan laughed. He raised his hand and sucked the soul back in his sleeve, then went directly out of the underworld and returned to Ning’an County.

​​. . .

Under the jujube tree in Ju’an Pavilion, a ray of mottled sunlight fell on Lu Chengfeng’s face, passing through the gaps between the branches and leaves as they swayed in the wind.

“Hmm… ughhh…”

Stimulated by the light, Lu Chengfeng, gradually awoke from his sleep. He raised his yead and looked around, recalling that he was in Mr. Ji’s home. Then he looked at the table, seeing Tusu wine and wine bowls atop it. Ji Yuan was nowhere to be seen.

“Was I just…drunk?”

His memory was a little fuzzy. It seemed that he had a drink with Mr. Ji when he arrived in the courtyard, and then he fell drunk at the table.

“It seems like I had a dream…”

At this thought, he suddenly remembered what had happened in the dream. Everything else was very vague, but he remembered one thing clearly: in the dream, he dreamt of his parents, and of being scolded by them. He was scolded quite badly, but it wasn’t harsh at all. Occasionally, they even scolded Lu Chengyun as well, lambasting him all over.

The scolding contained concern for the two brothers, but they didn’t mention Cloud Pavilion at all.

Lu Chengfeng thought about it, then laughed out loud.

“Warrior Lu, are you awake? I made sobering tea. Please try my jujube honey tea, not even the emperor can drink it.”

Ji Yuan looked at Lu Chengfeng, who had a silly grin on his face, as he came out of the kitchen with a tea tray and a smile. He sat down at the table, poured the tea, added honey, and brought it to Lu Chengfeng.

After a sip of tea, Lu Chengfeng’s desire to chat became stronger again.

With the help of the refreshing honey tea, Lu Chengfeng hide anything this time. He told Ji Yuan all about the ups and downs of the past few years. After recounting everything, he also talked about the dream he had of being scolded by his parents, and asked Ji Yuan to interpret it.

Ji Yuan saw that he had blurred memories of most of his visit to the underworld, but only a deep memory of that time when he was scolded by his parents. Ji Yuan couldn’t help but laugh at himself; his methods were indeed crude, and not as good as those of the underworld messengers, but he felt that this experience was appropriate.

Half an afternoon passed. Lu Chengfeng didn’t make any other requests, as if he was really just here to talk, he was already content.

After drinking a pot of tea, Lu Chengfeng naturally stood up and said goodbye.

“Today’s conversation with Mr. Ji has relieved my sadness. I still have responsibilities in Cloud Pavilion, so I will no longer disturb you!”

Ji Yuan smiled and replied.

“Alright. Warrior Lu, please take care. Helping your brother take care of Cloud Pavilion is no less honorable than bringing justice out in the martial arts world!”

Lu Chengfeng nodded solemnly, bowed deeply with cupped hands, said “goodbye,” and strode out.

He did hear Du Heng comment about Mr. Ji’s supernatural abilities, but at this moment, he felt that he didn’t need to covet anything from Mr. Ji.

The moment he was about to walk out of the shade of the tree, he heard the sound of something flying through the air. Lu Chengfeng subconsciously moved his hand and grabbed a fiery red jujube before it hit the top of his head.

Looking up, he couldn’t see any jujubes in the shade of the green leaves. Occasionally, there would be a touch of bright red when the wind blew through the branches.

“Huh? Mr. Ji, your fruit fell.”

Ji Yuan waved his hand and pointed to the jujube tree.

“Take it, it’s for you.”

“Hahahaha…Okay, thank you Mr. Ji. I will take my leave now!”

When he had arrived, his footsteps were heavy; as he was leaving, his movements were light and brisk. Ji Yuan accompanied him to the courtyard gate, then looked at his aura from a distance. It was already full of energy, and his heart was burning red. All of this from nothing more than a dream.

1. See ch. 191