Two years.

It has been two years since I woke up from that dream.

A dream of the future where I joined the Azure Sky Sect. It was a long dream, a dream with half of the colors missing. A dull dream. A dream that I always wanted to wake up from.

“Yang’er get up or your mother will get angry.” My father peeked into my room, a bump of his head as his voice seemed deeper than normal.

“I am already up.” I turned to him already putting my pillow in place.

“C’mon now, how come you don’t get in trouble with your mother for stuff?” He pouted, acting the child my age should.

“Tian, Wang’er come quick. The breakfast is ready.”

The opposite of his childishness was my mother’s authoritative voice, it reverberated in the entire house whenever my father made a mistake. Which happened more than it should’ve.

“Let’s go before she gets mad with me again, if I get hit a few more times I’ll grow horns.” My father picked me up and bolted for the kitchen, it was our ironclad rule to not mess with mom.

Our house wasn’t that big so we arrived in no time. The kitchen itself doubled as a dining room with a low table on the right side of the entrance. On it were two bowls of noodle soup and steaming dumplings.

“Take a seat you two, any more time and it wouldn’t taste as good.” My mother said, her back towards us.

She stirred a pot, cooking some soup for the orphan children in the nearby city. Every morning, she would get up at dawn and start cooking, she had breakfast before us. I still can’t wake up early no matter how much I tried.

“Oh! It tastes so good! The vegetables must be rejoicing that they get to be part of such a good dish.”

As usual, my father sang praises of the food, only to get no reaction from my mother. I suppose even the greatest compliment loses its value if not used sparingly. But I understand his zeal, I feel the same way.

However, I don’t say it out loud like him.

“Thanks for the tasty food, mom.”

“It makes me happy that you liked it. I’ll make some for you tomorrow too.”

I don’t want to miss on this part like my father, it makes me happy.

“You’ll eat it right?” She asked

“I will!” I picked up the cup of water.

Why wouldn’t I eat food made by my mother?

“Is it all I wan—ted!”

A second voice resounded in my head. It sounded like mine but it had lost its childish touch, just like the voice I had in that dream. The face reflected on the water was mine, but older.

I rubbed my eyes but the face remained, staring at me unblinking. Why won’t it go away? Why is it reaching out to me?

I don’t want it… I don’t want to return to that dream. I don’t want a world without…

“…ang’e… Wang’er…” My mother’s voice brought me out of the daze.

“You are going nowhere.” She said, her arms around me. “You’ll stay with me forever, won’t you, my son?”

“Yes… Yes, I will.” Leaning into her body I grabbed her white robes, the familiar scent of jasmine filled my heart.

If I can, I don’t want to live in a world that lacks this warmth.

“Bye bye mom, I am going to the temple!” I waved goodbye to my mother and ran out of the house.

The scrolls and brush box should be heavy for my body, but I didn’t feel any problem with it. Bolting down the road to the city I waved to my father who took care of the orchards before reaching the city gates.

Near the gates was a temple that taught children of the city for free, I have been studying how to read and write here. There was also a cultivator that visited us often.

I can’t wait for the stories about immortals today. With a smile, I climbed the temple stairs.

And right outside the gate was my teacher, a monk, and a man with a stern face wearing expensive clothes.

“So little Kexin wouldn’t be coming to school from now on?” The teacher asked, his voice full of worry.

“Yes, her engagement has been finalized. So, we have to teach her in the finer arts.” The man said, he was the complete opposite of my father.

“Finer arts? Looks like little Kexin is marrying in a good house, I will handle the procedure on our end. Also congratulations.” The Teacher sounded relieved as I passed by.

Engagement… I remember it happens before marriage from what Father explained. But the bigger shock was to see someone similar to my age getting engaged. It was as good as sealing the deal for marriage, I think?

Well, it doesn’t have anything to do with me. Once the thought entered my mind, the rest of the day flowed like water. Before I knew it night had arrived and we had dinner at home, dumpling soup, and honey roast chicken.

Soon after I went to bed, this time swearing that I’d wake up early to have breakfast with Mother. Even if I ask her to wake me up, she says no.

I’ll really really wake up early tomorrow. With that, I drifted into sleep.

However, a little later I was stirred awake. It was a gentle tug yet my eyes opened identifying the familiar touch. Sitting up, I located my mother, she stood near the open door with her back to me.

“Yang’er, come with me.” She said walking into the corridor.

“Wait! Mom!” I jumped and rushed after her. I didn’t know why, but I felt dread building up in my stomach.

She held a lit candle, her steps slow but steady. However, no matter how fast I ran the distance between us didn’t shrink, as if we were in different worlds. The corridor kept on getting longer no matter how much I tried, my face paled when the distance grew.

“Mom! Mom! Stop!” My shouts fell on deaf ears, my small legs started to burn.

I stumbled, my face grated against the wooden floor, my twisted ankle swollen. It hurt, this small body couldn’t cover that distance. If I… if I don’t run fast enough, she’ll go away. Mom will…

The realization made my chest tighten, a pain that I was all too familiar with. The pain that came because my mother wasn’t there.

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“Mom stop!” Maybe it was because I knew that it was time, my voice mirrored the one in that dream.

Same with my body, but I didn’t care. With the longer legs, I strode faster than I ever could, the distance shrank as my strength soared.

“Stop right there!” I grabbed her hand bringing her steps to a halt. “Don’t leave… Please don’t… mom…”

“I am not your mom… you know that, don’t you?”

Her words made me freeze in place.

“This is nothing but a wraith made from your wish. You know it is fake, you have been provided with a way to leave, yet you choose to stay behind.” Her voice was calm, even though it sounded full of anger, it had gentleness hidden within. “Why are you still here?”

“I…” Why was I here? That much was obvious even to a dull person like me.

“I wanted to meet you, Mom. I wanted to see you.” I have only known my mother’s voice, that gentle but firm tone, I always remember it before I go to sleep.

But I didn’t remember her face. It is a big blur that I can never fill in myself because I have never seen her.

“I am not your mother. I am the spirit of this treasure, a spirit that lures the onlookers into a dreamscape of their most cherished memories and devours them.” The corridor started to crack, plumes of dark qi pouring in as she turned around.

Behind the veil of silky black hair was a dark purple hole. No eyes full gentleness, no firm nose, or glistening skin in sight, not even a mouth. Just a hole that seemed adamant on devouring my very being.

“The only reason it didn’t work on you is because you didn’t even know the face of your mother, along with the intervention of that blasted man outside my hold on you couldn’t grow stronger. If it wasn’t for him cutting off his vision, I would’ve eaten a man laden with regrets like that in a moment.” She walked towards me, her voice echoing in the corridor. “You will find nothing but deceit and cruelty in me. I shall inflict upon others what has been inflicted on me, that is what I am. That grudge is the sole reason for my existence.”

“W-Wait!” My shout was in vain as the corridor collapsed like an old mirror.

“Begone… I don’t need a dirty human’s sympathy.” She turned away once again.

Falling between the shimmering shards I could only reach out to the woman walking away. She granted my wish, although these were short two years and the only thing that resembled my mother was her voice, I saw my family together.

“I promise… I’ll free you from this never-ending humiliation.” My vision darkened as the memories from before flooded in. The ones I had seen while opening the book.

I saw a woman in a small mansion, a woman more beautiful any I have ever seen. She lived a happy life with her husband, and soon that happiness grew as they welcomed their child.

However, when her husband left the house for work another man arrived.

He slaughtered the village the woman lived in and ate her child in front of her, he dragged her out of the village and slit her throat. Drained her blood, crushed her bones, made a paste of her organs, and separated her nerves. With those, he created a painting, a painting of the woman and trapping her soul in it.

The woman, humiliated, tortured, and trapped for eternity cursed everyone who laid their eyes on her. Her grudges bled through and turned that painting depicting a goddess into a monster of hell that lived to torment.

I swear… I’ll help you. And like that, my dream once again came to an end.

“U..gh…” My eyes stung from the sudden burst of light.

However, that light soon dimmed and retracted to the necklace around my neck. Before I could question the situation, my master’s voice came into my ear.

Since you have woken up, make your way to the cavern immediately.

“Weird, the voice isn’t coming from the token.” I muttered, my confusion reaching its peak.

I am conversing through the formation. The answer came timely.

“That is possible?”

Normally yes, but because of the characteristics of this place, it isn’t.

How were we talking then?

“It is prerecorded.” The voice cut through my thoughts.

“So, you predicted all my questions and recorded the answers?”

“Yes.”

“That’s… impressive.” I couldn’t wrap my head around it, this sounded like he was sitting next to me.

“It becomes easy when you know the person well enough.”

I wanna do that someday, it sounds kinda cool and mysterious. I wonder what Kexin’s reaction to this would be.

“Stop meandering and go out, an attack should be happening on the pond around this time.”

“Seriously!” I shot up to my feet, the formation around me dimmed and stopped working.

“Yes, I have been leaving false traces around the forest coupled with yours to mislead the pursuers behind Yingyue and Zhi Rou for some time now. But they should arrive at the cave while I am facing their leader. Go out and help if you can, though you most likely won’t have to.”

With that as the last message, I picked up the lamp and took a step towards the wall on the left. But my eyes lingered on the painting for a moment.

It was as horrifying as when I first saw it, but nothing happened this time. Like the painting itself was rejecting me. After a moment of thought, I decided to roll it up and take it along with the book. A promise was a promise.

“Where did that corpse go?” I couldn’t find the skeleton from before though.

I intended to give it a proper burial before my mind was pulled in by the painting. I guess I’ll look for it later.

The formation sent me out without problems, last time it almost made me throw up but nothing happened this time. Rushing out of the small tunnel, I arrived in the cavern.

Heaven’s pond was before me as a cacophony of voices echoed.

No doubt the enemies had arrived.

“Let go of me you fucking bitch!” A young man in all black barked.

“You have a foul mouth there, sir. That’ll earn you extra punishment.” Senior Zhi giggled, tightening the thorned ropes around his body.

“Agh! Gah! B-Bitch!” The guy had his entire torso and arms squeezed, any more than that he might just burst. “K-Kill me!”

The young man was the only survivor of the twenty people that attacked. His comrades formed a pile right next to him. Many cut clean in half, most with several missing limbs, and heads. The attack happened and was taken care of already, just like Master said.

Before I could register, Senior Gu was already in front of me wiping the blood off her sword.

“Wang Yang, glad to see you are safe.” She smiled not a drop of blood on her clothes.

“Yeah, sorry to worry yo-AGH!” Before I could finish, a fist landed on my head, a very familiar situation to me.

“Goddamn it! How thick is your skull!” Kexin roared, half in anger and half in pain from her throbbing hand.

Only an awkward laughter escaped my mouth, I didn’t know how to explain it but my body had gotten stronger somehow.

“Oh, Junior Brother Wang is back. I didn’t doubt Senior Li, but it is good to see you are healthy.” Senior Zhi came over, dragging the guy behind her like cattle.

“Aunt, why did you leave one behind?” Yingyue asked.

“To extract information of course. They were only able to plan an attack on us because they had information on my low poison resistance and your position, both of which are confidential information.” Senior Zhi said.

“But will he talk? Demonic cultivators are notorious for being tight-lipped. And they have poison too.” Lingling said.

“No worries, this lands in my area of specialties.” Senior Zhi showed us a purple tablet covered in saliva, probably taken out of the guy’s mouth before he could use it. “And Senior Li is nearby too.”

“I suddenly feel a bit of pity for him.” Yingyue sighed for some reason.

However, before I could ask a question the young man scoffed.

“Senior Li? Iron Fiend will crush that noname bastard, then he’ll come here to rip you bitches in half!” He shouted, spit flying and all.

“My My, I am shaking over here.” Senior Zhi almost chuckled.

“Is Master fighting someone strong?” I couldn’t help but ask.

“Yes, Iron Fiend has a bounty of 50,000 spirit stones. Many cultivators tried but no even their corpses were found.” Senior Gu answered, her face a little tense.

The mood turned heavy and our eyes turned to Senior Zhi who just chok-gagged the young man with a rotten fish for some reason.

“I know what you kids are thinking, but I’ll only get in the way if I try to help.” She said before turning to Senior Gu. “Yingyue, do you remember Lady Gu’s favorite line?”

“Ah… I don’t fear the person who has practiced ten thousand techniques one time, but the one who has practiced one technique ten thousand times. I believe she heard it from the head of the Buddhist Temple’s Victorious Fighting Buddha Hall.” Senior Gu said, her eyes shining a little.

This was the first I heard of the saying, but even I could understand the meaning behind it.

“I once asked Lady Gu, what would she feel from a person who practiced every one of the ten thousand techniques ten thousand times?” Senior Zhi smiled turning towards tunnel. “She said, you’ll know when you see Li Muchen.”

It seemed that my Master was more amazing that I had initially thought.