Second Senior Brother stamred for a long ti but couldn't complete his sentence. Behind him stood another man: Xu Lai's Third Senior Brother, Qing Chunqiu.
Third Senior Brother also kept waving his hand. "Qingfeng, co here quickly."
After becoming an Emperor, Xu Lai hadn't dread in a long ti, let alone dread of his master and two senior brothers.
In the dream, he forgot his identity, forgot everything, and ran quickly towards his two senior brothers. Xu Lai didn't know why, but he desperately wanted to hug them, to talk to them.
He just ran and ran for a very long ti.
Even though they were less than a hundred ters apart, no matter how much he ran, Xu Lai couldn't reach them. Instead, the distance between them grew, so far that their figures gradually beca indistinct.
"Senior Brothers!"
Xu Lai shouted anxiously. He stretched out his hand, trying to grab onto sothing, but grasped only air.
The scene around him changed.
Xu Lai was still imrsed in the sorrow of not catching up to his senior brothers when he heard a stern voice.
"Qingfeng, can you see your senior brothers?"
"..."
Xu Lai's body stiffened, and he slowly turned his head.
In his line of sight was a sowhat gaunt silhouette, a sight that made Xu Lai's mind explode. His eyes gradually reddened, and he began to smile silently, but the smile was uglier than crying.
Xu Lai finally understood why he couldn't catch up to his senior brothers.
Because this was a dream.
Xu Lai rembered everything. He rembered that his senior brothers and master had passed away one by one over the past hundred thousand years, a mory that caused him such heartache he could barely breathe.
THUD.
Xu Lai knelt on the ground. Staring at the silhouette, he choked out, "Master, I've finally seen you again."
Xu Lai didn't dare to look away, fearing his master would disappear in the blink of an eye. With no outsiders to interfere, everything in a dream was random and beyond control. All changes were simply the workings of the subconscious.
Xu Lai's dream was very simple. He was on the back mountain of his Sect, a place covered with plum trees. A hazy white fog surrounded him, creating a small, isolated world. Even the stars in the sky were a blur.
"Qingfeng, how big do you think this world is?"
His master stood with his hands clasped behind his back. Without turning around or even turning his head, he just gazed up at the obscure stars.
"There are the Four Immortal Domains and countless star systems. The world is imasurably vast."
Although emotionally unstable, Xu Lai still respectfully answered his master's question, even in the dream.
"Yes, it's enormous... limitlessly vast."
Yu Shouzong slowly turned around.
Before Xu Lai could clearly see his master's face, the surrounding white fog instantly engulfed him. He let out a tearing scream, "No!"
"Get out... survive and get out..."
From within the mist ca the blurred voice of his master.
Xu Lai got to his feet, wanting to rush into the mist to grasp his master's gradually fading form, but he grasped only empty air.
HUFF!
「In Haitang Court.」
Xu Lai suddenly sat up from the sofa, instinctively reaching forward and calling out anxiously, "Master!"
A muffled groan ca from in front of him.
Ruan Tang, holding a wet towel, asked in pain, "Xu Lai, did you have a nightmare?"
Xu Lai then realized it was eight o'clock in the morning. A full half-hour had passed since he'd lain down on the sofa. And he was forcefully grabbing Ruan Tang's arm.
Xu Lai quickly let go, apologizing, "Honey, I'm sorry."
"I woke up and ca downstairs. I saw you were covered in sweat and thought I'd wipe it off for you. Did I startle you awake?" Ruan Tang asked, feeling a little guilty.
"No." Xu Lai shook his head. "I just had a very strange dream. I dread about my master and my two senior brothers."
Ruan Tang didn't ask for details, gently wiping the sweat from Xu Lai's brow. "Have you been up all night researching those characters again?"
"Yes." Xu Lai said, nursing a headache. "It's incredibly difficult. It requires a massive amount of ntal energy to decipher them. This second character alone will probably take half a year to crack."
And half a year was just his conservative estimate. If the research went poorly, it could easily take a century.
"Let help you," Ruan Tang said earnestly, staring into Xu Lai's eyes.
"...You can understand them?" Xu Lai looked at Ruan Tang intently.
He still hadn't gotten over the shock from a few nights ago when she'd managed to record all the Cloud Water Rust Characters. After all, Ruan Tang had effortlessly accomplished sothing that even he and Divine General Taotie of the Quasi-Emperor's Fifth Heaven could not.
"I don't understand." Ruan Tang shook her head.
She pinched Xu Lai's cheek gently. "But I'll do my best to learn. I can't bear to watch you run yourself ragged day and night."
Ruan Tang lowered her head and whispered into Xu Lai's ear, "My heart aches for you."
Xu Lai's ear tickled, and he felt imnsely touched.
Ruan Tang then said, "You know, I had a dream yesterday, too."
"What did you dream about?" Xu Lai asked with interest. "Was I in it?"
"I dread that a certain soone was so worn out they had to hold onto the wall to walk, all while begging for rcy."
"..."
"Dreams are the opposite of reality," Xu Lai said seriously. "When have you ever not been the one begging for rcy?"
"Daddy, why is Mommy begging for rcy?" Yiyi sat on the steps of the staircase, blinking her big, innocent eyes.
She had been there the whole ti, but Xu Lai hadn't noticed her when he first woke up.
"Little kids don't need to understand," Xu Lai waved his hand.
Yiyi made a face and stuck out her tongue. "Bleh! Daddy, I'm not a three-year-old anymore! I'm a big girl now, so I can understand!"
Xu Lai couldn't help but chuckle.
He said, "Being an adult isn't just about saying so. You need to have responsibility and commitnt. Do you understand?"
Yiyi pondered for a long ti, then honestly shook her head. "Not really."
"You'll understand when you're older. I'm going to make you two breakfast."
Xu Lai got up. He ruffled his precious daughter's hair, ignoring her pouty expression, and headed for the kitchen.
"Co here, Mommy will redo your hair." Ruan Tang gave Xu Lai a reproachful look. "I spent a long ti on her ponytail, and you ssed it up just like that."
Suddenly, Xu Lai poked his head out from the kitchen and suggested seriously, "Honey, you'd look great in a ponytail. You should wear one, too."
"Really?"
"Yes, it'd be very convenient when we have etings."
WHUMP!
Ruan Tang's face flushed. She grabbed a cushion from the sofa and threw it at him. "You shut up!"
「After breakfast.」
Xu Lai's family of three left the house in high spirits.
anwhile, Ruan Lan, who had suffered all night, finally erged from her sealed room. Clutching her stomach and leaning on the wall for support, she cautiously made her way to the bathroom. Each step was a monuntal challenge.
「Half an hour later.」
Ruan Lan shut the bathroom door and let out a sigh of relief. "Ah, much better. I almost didn't make it."
Biting down on her canine, she muttered with a mix of sha and vexation, "That rotten brother-in-law... he almost ruined my pristine reputation forever!"
As she was grumbling, her phone vibrated. Ruan Lan answered it.
"Daoist Ruan, this is Xu Wandao. Is tonight a good ti to go to Chang'an City to set up the Formation? If it is, I can make the arrangents imdiately."
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