Chapter 227: Youwan Wants to Love Young Master Lu
Chapter 227: Chapter 153: Youwan Wants to Love Young Master Lu
If this Dream Demon had a normal body of flesh and blood, Lu Changyuan could have even followed up with the Blood Burst Technique and given it a real surprise.
Su Minghan’s shell shattered completely, disintegrating into pieces like broken porcelain.
A twisted, indistinct, and transparent humanoid shape shot out from the remains in a panic.
This was the Dream Demon’s true form.
It recklessly detonated its residual Original Dream Sea. Riding the resulting wave of Chaos, it shot toward the distant sky like lightning in a desperate bid to escape.
“Hm?”
Lu Changyuan was about to press forward with his sword, but a sudden flash in his eyes left him dazed.
Suddenly, another Su Youwan appeared before him. Silver hair, red eyes, and a rosy flush on her cheeks, she looked like a Goddess who had fallen to the Red Dust—utterly intoxicating.
As the Five Desires and Six Dust Heart Transformation Technique circulated, it wildly devoured the Dream Sea’s energy, causing his Five Desires to run rampant.
Certain scenes from the past reappeared before Lu Changyuan’s eyes.
It was the Su Youwan he had seen on that dead-end path. The Silver-haired Maiden’s soft body was wrapped around his. She nibbled his ear and whispered in an ethereal, fractured voice, “Youwan wants to… you.”
‘This is not the time to be thinking about that!’
Lu Changyuan hurriedly suppressed the Five Desires and Six Dust Heart Transformation Technique, and the fleeting vision finally receded.
But when he opened his eyes…
“Young Master Lu? That Dream Demon detonated its own dream.”
The real Su Youwan stood before Lu Changyuan, her expression as impassive as a tranquil well, but a thoughtful look lingered in the depths of her eyes.
Lu Changyuan paused. He studied Su Youwan carefully and, seeing no difference, finally said, “It’s nothing.”
“Your willpower is truly formidable, Young Master Lu. A life-risking skill from a Sixth Realm master could only daze you for a moment.”
‘Was *I* the one who was dazed?’
Lu Changyuan hadn’t entered a dream at all. It was merely his Five Desires and Six Dust Heart Transformation Technique devouring the Dream Sea, which had stirred the Five Desires that the Desire Demon had manifested back then.
‘Wait.’
‘It can devour the Dream Sea?’
To his surprise, Lu Changyuan discovered that the Desire of Sleep, one of the remaining four desires, was beginning to be filled.
‘A Dream Demon’s lair is a vast Dream Sea. If I were to devour that entire Dream Sea… ‘
‘I daren’t imagine it.’
‘I’m getting a little hungry.’
Su Youwan said softly, “Should we give chase? It can’t have gotten far.”
“Of course.”
The Silver-haired Maiden lowered her head, her thoughts unreadable.
“Miss Su, you didn’t… see anything just now, did you?”
“I didn’t.”
“Really?”
A rare smile touched the Silver-haired Maiden’s divine features. “I just felt your heart beat faster, Young Master Lu, and my own emotions became a little hard to control. I imagine that in that moment of distraction, you must have seen something quite extraordinary.”
‘It certainly was extraordinary.’
Lu Changyuan didn’t give it another thought. After all, it was a memory stirred by the Five Desires and Six Dust Heart Transformation Technique, not a dream. Logically, only he should have been able to see it.
~~~~~~~~~~
‘Ink Sword Technique? Not bad, but it’s still missing something.’
In a courtyard high above the Cloud Sea, Li Qingcao held a longsword. The blade transformed into ink, becoming like a Paintbrush that used the sky as its canvas, splashing ink to create a painting.
This was a Swordsmanship Li Qingcao had found in the Qingcao Sword Sect’s Sword Pavilion. Instead of venturing down the mountain with his sword as he used to, he had spent the last half-year in the Sword Pavilion, studying the Hundred Schools Sword Technique and learning Group Skills.
This was because he had not yet chosen his path to the Fifth Realm. The Fifth Realm was close at hand, but he was still missing a little something.
He was just that little bit away.
No one could help him; this was something he had to figure out for himself.
“Qingcao.”
A gruff voice called out from a distance.
Li Qingcao immediately rose, turning to bow respectfully. “Master.”
Li Dashu yawned as he descended from the sky, taking great care not to step on the blades of grass in Li Qingcao’s garden.
“How’s it going?”
“I’m still a little ways off, Master.”
“That’s enough. I’ve told you many times, you don’t need to stand on such ceremony with me.”
Li Qingcao gave a bitter smile.
His master might have a carefree nature, but as his disciple, he couldn’t afford to be impolite.
Besides, his master hadn’t just saved his life; he had taken him in, brought him to the Qingcao Sword Sect, given him a new name, and taught him the Dharma.
This debt of gratitude could never be repaid.
“Don’t be in a rush to achieve your Breaking Realm. The Grand Competition is about to start. Go and interact with disciples from the other sects; perhaps you’ll make a new discovery.”
Li Qingcao nodded. “But Master, is it really appropriate for me to participate?”
“You’re not even fifty yet. What’s inappropriate about it?”
Despite his youthful appearance, Li Qingcao was actually older than the young talents from the other Palaces. He was twenty years old when Li Dashu brought him to the Sect, so he got a later start than most. It seemed to be the way of the Qingcao Sword Sect: to experience the highs and lows of the Red Dust in the Mortal World before making a late but powerful debut.
Li Dashu chuckled. “Besides, the prize for this year’s champion is something else. The Daoist Sect is really coughing up something big.”
“Master?”
“They say it’s a sword used by the Chang’an Daoist before his ascension. When the Chang’an Daoist ascended, this sword was left behind.”
Li Qingcao shot to his feet.
“What!?”
Li Dashu added, “The Chang’an Daoist only used this sword once: the moment he shattered the Void to ascend. He used it to break through the Celestial Dao. Although the blade itself is quite ordinary, it still retains a trace of the power that cut the heavens, and a wisp of the Chang’an Daoist’s will.”
When Lu Changyuan attained the Dao, he didn’t have Broken Thought with him. He was actually using his disciple’s Blue Glazed Sword at the time. However, when it came to cutting the heavens, he feared he might break his disciple’s sword, so he just picked another one at random.
“Why would the Daoist Sect put this sword up as a prize?!”
In truth, the sword’s symbolic value far outweighed its practical use.
Those at the Sixth Realm Kai Yang can already draw upon the power of the world, and those at the Seventh Realm Yao Guang already possess their own Dao. Therefore, the sword isn’t of much use to Great Powers at the Kai Yang or Yao Guang realms.
But for those at the Fifth Realm, or even the younger generation who have yet to reach it, the sword’s value was immense.
Swords that retained the will of Heaven-Cutting were few and far between.
Jiang Jiayi had once treasured this sword, as it was one of the few mementos Lu Changyuan had left behind. But now that he was back, there was no longer any need to keep it for sentimental reasons.
So she decided to put it up as a prize to motivate the younger generation.
“Don’t forget, if Bai Lu from the Daoist Sect wins, the sword will just end up back with the Daoist Sect anyway.”
Bai Lu, the genius of the Daoist Sect’s younger generation, was the very same maiden who had brought Su Youwan to Celestial Mountain.
Though she seemed shy around strangers, looking like someone who could be easily bullied, she was in fact incredibly powerful. Having already entered the Fifth Realm, she was a master of Daoist Swordsmanship. Moreover, she never held back in a fight, making her a terrifying opponent.
“Hm?”
A Sword Mark streaked across the sky.
Li Dashu frowned and intercepted the incoming wisp of Sword Intent.
Li Qingcao asked, “Master, has something happened?”
“It’s nothing.”
Li Dashu’s thoughts turned inward as he gazed into the distance.
He could feel it—the aura of the Dream Race’s Clan Leader, emanating from the distant Dream Sea… It was still the aura of someone at the Peak of the Sixth Realm.
“Qingcao, send someone to the Dream Sea. Tell them I am inviting the Clan Leader of the Dream Race to spectate the Human Race’s Celestial Dao Grand Competition.”
~~~~~~~~~~~
「Celestial Mountain.」
A Peak Master came before Jiang Jiayi. “Bai Lu has already departed.”
Jiang Jiayi nodded.
The Peak Master continued, “I have conveyed the Sect Leader’s wishes to Bai Lu, telling her not to fixate on taking first place.”
The Peak Master gave a wry smile, clearly perplexed. “Vice Sect Leader, I don’t quite understand. You watched that child, Bai Lu, grow up. With her talent and power, forget the current younger generation—even many of the Elders within our Sect are no match for her.”
What could Jiang Jiayi say?
‘She couldn’t very well say that a certain little junior sister of hers would likely be participating in the competition too, could she?’
“Ask no more. The world’s young talents are as numerous as fish in the sea. There have been cases in past competitions where youths from outside the Nine Gates and Twelve Palaces defeated one of their True Inheritors.”
“Do you mean Bai Lu should guard against arrogance and impatience? But she has always been a level-headed child.”
Jiang Jiayi simply shook her head, a clear sign she had no intention of discussing the matter further.
The Peak Master took this as his cue to leave.
When the Peak Master returned to his own peak, an Elder approached him. “Peak Master, it seems several Mortal Dynasties are on the brink of war.”
“As long as you confirm no Cultivators are involved, it’s fine. It’s the same with the Mortal Dynasties every few years.”
It wasn’t a major issue.
It would be stranger if a year went by without a war in the Mortal World.
A trivial matter like this wasn’t worth bothering the Vice Sect Leader over.