Tianyan Shape-Shifting Technique
All four were stunned.
Ci Li asked, “How can you be certain we’re in a dream? Just because ti passes quickly? Isn’t that too hasty a conclusion?”
“No,” Yun Qing lifted the copper divination coins in her hand slightly, “Because of this.”
She had divined her master’s location so many tis before, and the results had always been blank. But now, in this sealed prison cell, she had actually obtained a result.
Her master was to their northeast.
After Fu Xue heard her explanation, she scratched her head, “It’s naturally good that we have master’s location, but how does this prove we’re dreaming?”
Jiang Baiyu said, “Yun Qing ntioned that Senior Le Chenzi had been pulled into a dream by Qiguang Zi before.
Previously, the divination always showed his location as blank. I think it was precisely because he was in Qiguang Zi’s dream—that was a different space from reality.
Now that he has a location, it ans we’ve entered the sa space as him. So we should have been pulled into a dream by Qiguang Zi without realizing it.”
Yun Qing nodded. “Baiyu is right. Of course, there’s another possibility—that master was suddenly released from the dream back to reality by Qiguang Zi, but I think this possibility is small.
Combined with the fact that we all felt ti had sped up, I think we must have entered the dream.”
Cheng Suiyan looked incredulous. “But this dream is too realistic, isn’t it? There aren’t any flaws at all? In the dream, my parents were exactly the sa as in reality, and so were Ruoshui and the others, and Princess Anping—equally unreasonable.”
“I think they’re all real too.”
“…What do you an?”
“I an all the people you encountered, like us, entered the dream. This is a collective, grand dream.”
“What did you say?!”
Yun Qing sighed softly. “This is the Way of Butterfly Dreams, this is immortal-level Way of Butterfly Dreams.”
Fu Xue was dumbfounded. “Senior sister, then what do we do? How can we wake up from this dream?”
“Breaking the dream would be best.”
“How do we break it?”
“I don’t know.” Yun Qing shook her head helplessly.
“Then, could we wake up once we’re roasted?”
Jiang Baiyu shook his head. “Senior Le Chenzi’s location being blank in reality ans his true self resides in the dream. This also aligns with the Way of Butterfly Dreams’ principle of swapping reality and dreams.
So our true selves are actually in the dream, while those in reality are illusions. If we die in the dream, it ans the death of our true selves—complete death.”
Everyone fell silent.
The rustling sounds outside had disappeared, presumably the scarecrow had finished sealing with mud.
The prison cell was very quiet, quiet enough to hear only breathing. This feeling of waiting for death was truly unbearable. Fu Xue stared blankly at the candle in her hand, its fla flickering as it was swept by their breath.
The wax dripped like tears, overflowing and flowing down onto her fingers, burning her enough to make her hiss.
Then she cried.
“In the end, I won’t be able to see master one last ti, wuu wuu.” She wiped her tears.
Seeing her cry, Cheng Suiyan’s eyes also reddened as he muttered to himself:
“I didn’t even say a proper goodbye to my parents. They’re so old, they’ll surely be devastated. There are several good cousins in my clan—I hope one or two can be adopted into my family to serve them in my place.”
The prison cell was slowly heating up. Everyone knew the fire below had been lit.
The cold cell gradually beca warm. No one felt comfortable—only oppressed, as if heavy stones blocked their hearts, making breathing increasingly difficult.
Cheng Suiyan sat on the small bed by the wall and said, “Since we’re all going to die anyway, let’s chat for a while. You’re not sitting now, but you’ll have to sit later.”
Fu Xue asked, “Why?”
“If it keeps burning like this, the ground will definitely beco too hot for our feet.”
“That makes sense.”
The four sat neatly on the bed. Ci Li transford into a small cat and lay by the bedside, imdiately scooped up by Fu Xue. His body was warm, his fur soft, his head small—one palm could cover his entire skull.
Fu Xue: “What should we talk about?”
Cheng Suiyan: “I don’t know, let’s talk about our childhoods. We’ve never sat down so peacefully to chat like this.”
“Good idea,” Fu Xue stroked Ci Li’s small head and asked, “Little cat, I’ve been curious for a long ti—were you often hungry as a child? Can you let know the answer before I die?”
Ci Li’s ear fur was touched, making him shake uncomfortably. He said, “So what if I was.”
“You weren’t a stray cat, were you?”
“So what if I was.”
“Then you must have eaten mice.”
“So what if I did!” Perhaps considering he was going to die anyway, there was a reckless boldness in his words.
Ci Li had prepared to accept their mockery, but heard none.
Fu Xue sighed sadly. “If I had t such a cute little cat, I would have taken you ho to raise long ago. You were just unlucky—those people you t had no taste.”
Ci Li softly humd and said, “Why are you suddenly saying such things? So mushy.”
Fu Xue smiled: “This is probably ‘when a person is about to die, their words are kind.'”
Later they talked about Cheng Suiyan’s childhood, which was truly wonderful—roughly like a book describing worldly wealth. Fu Xue listened while exclaiming “I really haven’t seen the world.”
The prison cell grew warr and warr, about like late spring and early sumr. As Fu Xue was talking, she suddenly slapped her forehead and rummaged through her treasure pouch.
Cheng Suiyan watched curiously as she pulled out pepper.
“What are you doing? Can pepper prevent fire?”
“No, I was thinking that even if I beco roasted at, I should be fragrant roasted at.”
“…” He was the one who hadn’t seen the world.
Fu Xue politely asked, “Would you like so?”
Cheng Suiyan laughed dryly and waved his hands. “No, no need, I’ll just be original flavored…”
Ci Li cursed. “Two lunatics.”
Fu Xue held the pepper, about to sprinkle it on herself, then stopped and muttered, “I’ll sprinkle it when we’re almost cooked.”
At this mont, Yun Qing, who had been deep in thought, suddenly asked Jiang Baiyu, “Baiyu, how much do you know about the Way of Butterfly Dreams?”
Jiang Baiyu carefully recalled the relevant texts he had read. There were more than three thousand great Ways, and many techniques had gradually been forgotten in the passage of ti, leaving only fragnts in the classics.
“The texts say the Way of Butterfly Dreams is extrely difficult to cultivate, because practitioners easily fall into a state where they cannot distinguish reality from dreams, leading to qi deviation. Since the beginning of the Way, only Qiguang Zi is recorded as having ascended to immortality through the Way of Butterfly Dreams.
Every enlightennt in the Way of Butterfly Dreams is accompanied by sleep. The higher the level of enlightennt, the longer the sleep. ‘Seemingly real yet not real, seemingly dream yet not dream’ is the core of its principle.
People who die under the Way of Butterfly Dreams appear as if in a dream—usually unhard but simply dead, dying with expressions either of terror or smiles, as if they had different dreams. The books say this technique is extrely ethereal.”
“Extrely ethereal? Ethereal?” Yun Qing murmured, “Why is the Way of Butterfly Dreams called ethereal? Because it can pull people into dreams? Or because it can swap reality and dreams at any ti?”
Cheng Suiyan said, “Presumably the person who wrote this book thought it ethereal. What’s strange about that? Everyone looks at problems from different angles, leading to different evaluations.”
“Is that so.” Yun Qing lightly rubbed her chin with her index and middle fingers, her eyes vacant. After pondering like this for a while, she suddenly said, “What do you think are the limiting conditions for Qiguang Zi to pull people into dreams?”
The others found her question strange. Jiang Baiyu said, “Isn’t it distance limitation? Your master fled for so long without being pulled into dreams, only entering when caught up to him.
He wanted to find Shenle Valley but didn’t pull anyone from Shenle Valley into dreams for interrogation. Instead, he set a trap at Hundred Herbs Valley, presumably because the distance was too far.
When you and Fu Xue entered dreams in the suburbs of Guangling City, he should have been nearby, though we didn’t notice then… Magical techniques are mostly like this, aren’t they? If the opponent is far away, naturally nothing can be done.”
The other three nodded, agreeing with Jiang Baiyu’s view.
Yun Qing frowned. “I think if he could break distance limitations to pull people into dreams, such a technique would seem more ‘ethereal.'”
Cheng Suiyan disagreed. “Yun Qing, why must you fixate on such trivial word choices?”
Jiang Baiyu asked, “Yun Qing, have you thought of so new approach?”
Yun Qing nodded. “I just feel that we habitually assu it’s distance limitation, perhaps overlooking other possibilities.”
“Such as?”
“Such as, since the Way of Butterfly Dreams is ‘seemingly real yet not real, seemingly dream yet not dream,’ then first the practitioner himself must be able to distinguish what is real and what is dream. That is to say—” She looked toward Jiang Baiyu.
Jiang Baiyu imdiately understood and continued her thought. “That is to say, his limitation for pulling people into dreams might not be distance, but that he must have seen this person in reality, recognized this person’s ‘reality,’ in order to create ‘dreams.’
He hadn’t seen Senior Le Chenzi initially, so he couldn’t pull Senior Le Chenzi into dreams. The sa applies to the Shenle clan.
When you and Fu Xue were pulled into dreams in Guangling City suburbs, he should have seen you before—perhaps a passing encounter, perhaps secret observation—in any case, he had seen you.”
“Mm.”
Cheng Suiyan listened in bewildernt. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, “So which limitation is it? I feel both explanations make sense.”
Jiang Baiyu unconsciously imitated Yun Qing’s chin-rubbing gesture, thought for a mont and said, “If it’s the first distance limitation, we can’t break it for now, but if it’s the second, perhaps we can verify it.”
“How do we verify?”
Jiang Baiyu suddenly drew his sword and cut his arm. The blade sliced through skin, and a red line appeared on his pale arm, quickly thickening as blood gushed out.
Cheng Suiyan was startled. “Hey! What are you doing?!”
However, the blood on Jiang Baiyu’s arm only erged briefly before the wound rapidly healed.
Seeing this, Ci Li said, “Let try.” He removed his soft sword from his waist and also cut his arm.
“Why are you doing it too? Are you both going mad?”
Jiang Baiyu explained. “Qiguang Zi’s dream principle is swapping reality and dreams. Reality and dreams are at least superficially identical, equally real, like a person looking in a mirror.
If one side changes, then the two cannot correspond, naturally breaking the dream.”
“Is that so.” Cheng Suiyan looked expectantly at Ci Li.
Blood dripped from Ci Li’s arm to the ground, but nothing around them changed.
“Let try.” Cheng Suiyan snatched the sword and said, “Qiguang Zi should recognize faces, right? Let cut my face and try.” He pressed the blade to his cheek and quickly slashed a wound.
He used too much force and couldn’t control the strike. The wound was very deep, blood gushing out and forming a large bloodstain on his face.
Yun Qing shook her head. “It’s useless. I was wounded by his wind blades in the dream, but didn’t wake up.”
Jiang Baiyu was stunned, inexplicably feeling heartache.
Cheng Suiyan waited quietly for a while, and indeed, nothing around them changed.
Jiang Baiyu summoned the Golden Frost Jade Dew Lotus and healed both Ci Li’s and Cheng Suiyan’s wounds.
The wounds itched as they healed. Cheng Suiyan gently wiped his cheek with the back of his hand and said, “So, Yun Qing, you were wrong.”
Yun Qing said, “It’s too early to say I was wrong. I think acquired scars cannot change innate reality. To change it, we need to change the innate ‘truth,’ so both sides cannot correspond.”
“How can we change that? We can’t crawl back into the womb and be reborn, can we?”
Yun Qing touched her chin, her eyes straight and vacant. In this instant, many thoughts flashed through her mind like dense lightning in the dark night.
Finally, she suddenly smiled and said, “All things generate and restrain each other. There is no principle in the world that cannot be countered. Perhaps I’ve found the technique to counter the Way of Butterfly Dreams.”
Fu Xue’s eyes lit up. “What is it? Senior sister, tell us quickly!”
Yun Qing smiled and looked at Jiang Baiyu. “Baiyu, have you learned any techniques of the Way of Formlessness?”
Jiang Baiyu was stunned, “It’s actually the Way of Formlessness?” Then he shook his head and smiled: “I should have thought of it earlier.”
“What do you an, senior sister? Is the solution the Way of Formlessness?”
Yun Qing nodded: “I think so. Our assud premise is that Qiguang Zi must first see a person before pulling them into dreams, and the Way of Formlessness can change appearance.
The appearance changed by the Way of Formlessness is different from disguise techniques—it changes the essential truth.”
“Wow, so using Way of Formlessness techniques to change our faces will let us wake from the dream?”
“I can’t guarantee it will work. But regardless, it’s worth trying.”
Three people and one cat all looked expectantly at Jiang Baiyu. eting everyone’s gaze, his eyes finally settled on Yun Qing’s face, and he couldn’t help but smile:
“I learned so Way of Formlessness techniques from Qin Ranqing. Though I only learned the basics, it should be sufficient.”
“Yay, we’re saved!” Fu Xue jumped excitedly from the small bed, the wax burning her hand again, but she was too excited to notice.
Yun Qing was also excited. “Baiyu, thank goodness we have you!” She quickly hugged Jiang Baiyu.
Jiang Baiyu’s heart sweetened. Noticing the others watching him, he deliberately maintained a calm expression, though his ears uncontrollably reddened.
…..
The prison cell grew hotter and hotter. They felt like they were in a sumr desert, with scorching breath roasting their skin. Sweat soaked their clothes. They brought out the wine Madam Song had given Cheng Suiyan and drank it all to barely replenish their fluids.
The ground was too hot to sit on, so five people squeezed onto the narrow bed.
The best posture for practicing techniques was naturally cross-legged ditation, but current conditions didn’t allow it. The five could only make do, crowding together. Everyone closed their eyes and quietly chanted the introductory incantation of the [Tianyan Shape-Shifting Technique.]
“Not born, not destroyed,
Not floating, not sinking.
No above, no below,
No ancient, no present.
Both void and real,
Both false and true.
Form follows intention,
Shape-shifting births spirit.
…”
****
Qiguang Zi had set up the chess board again.
Le Chenzi had no heart for chess, carelessly dropping pieces. He occasionally used chess pieces for divination, calculating Fu Xue’s whereabouts.
Qiguang Zi paid no attention to his small actions, leisurely placing pieces while saying: “Don’t worry, she won’t die yet.”
Le Chenzi absent-mindedly said “Oh.”
“She has what I want.”
Le Chenzi said impatiently, “Either don’t speak, or speak clearly. Being evasive, vague, wanting to speak but holding back—what kind of behavior is that—”
Qiguang Zi suddenly interrupted, “So the one who can read Emperor Xi’s Wordless Book isn’t you, but her.”
Le Chenzi froze.
“You needn’t deny it,” Qiguang Zi elegantly placed a white piece and curved his lips, “Emperor Xi’s Wordless Book and the Wish Power Pearl—I want them all.”
After a mont of silence, Le Chenzi said, “Have you heard the ‘Dead Ghost Song’?”
Qiguang Zi was confused: “What?”
“The Dead Ghost Song. Let sing you a few lines: The powerful die from arrogance, the weak die from humility, the sincere die from lies, the false die from truth…”
Qiguang Zi’s eyebrow suddenly twitched, his expression darkening.
Le Chenzi didn’t notice his expression. While humming, he picked up another black piece and cast another divination.
Looking at the divination, he exclaid in surprise.
Then he picked up another piece and cast another divination.
Fu Xue’s location was blank, and she was still alive.
There was only one explanation.
The dream was broken!
“Ha, my good disciple, hahahahaha!” Le Chenzi lay among the chess pieces, laughing loudly.
Qiguang Zi placed the final piece and smiled coldly. “Ga over.”
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