488: Chapter 488 The Gamble in a Dream

"Where is this?"

Long Tianxing stood up, first clenching his fists to test the feeling, then pinching himself.

After confirming he was still within a dream realm, he looked around once more.

This was a wasteland where trees had turned into withered branches and wild grass swayed in the wind, revealing grim white bones beneath.

Long Tianxing was momentarily dazed at the sight.

This was different from any dream he had ever had before.

He was currently in a dream, yet his perspective wasn't fixed, nor was he forced to watch specific scenes. Even his memories and thoughts weren't muddled by the dream; instead, he was clearly aware that he was still dreaming.

Before Long Tianxing could figure it out, he spotted a monk wearing a bamboo hat on a distant hillside, leaning on a wooden staff and dressed in yellow-brown robes, slowly walking toward him.

"Who are you?"

Seeing someone appear, Long Tianxing instantly became alert and took a defensive stance.

Based on past experience, his dreams were mostly chaotic and disorderly nightmares.

These wild grasses and white bones were likely a subconscious projection of a nightmare, and this living person appearing here was probably the core of it.

However, his words and actions failed to affect the monk in the slightest; the man continued to approach step by step.

Long Tianxing gradually lost his patience and decided to strike first.

He shifted to the left in a flash, then used momentum in mid-air to leap behind the monk's left side in an instant, one hand striking toward the scapula and the other toward the Dantian.

If the opponent resisted, he would attack the Dantian; if there was no resistance, he would first restrain the scapula and then see what happened next.

Once he executed this thought and movement, Long Tianxing couldn't help but feel surprised.

His thoughts were so clear, and his combat movements were exactly the same as in reality—was this truly a dream?

His speed was extremely fast, his thoughts and body almost in sync, with none of the sluggishness usually found in dreams.

Seeing that the monk had no intention of resisting, he didn't strike heavily, only wanting to lock the other's scapula.

Unexpectedly, as soon as his hand touched the monk, it passed right through him. He tumbled twice from the momentum before stabilizing himself and looking back at the original spot warily.

"He's gone!"

Long Tianxing's pupils contracted, his eyes filled with tension as he hurriedly searched for the figure, eventually finding him behind himself.

The monk was crouching before the withered skeleton he had first seen, as if whispering something.

At this sight, Long Tianxing's vision blurred again, as if something had crawled into his eyes, making it difficult to keep them open.

But the more it was like this, the more he wanted to see clearly.

While struggling, he saw a ghostly blue figure emerge from the skeleton, and a voice rang out at the same time.

He had never heard those syllables before, yet he could somehow understand their meaning.

"Bodhidharma, you've lost again."

Long Tianxing's eyelids were too heavy to lift, as if a force were trying to drag him away from this place.

His temper flared, and he used all his strength to force open a sliver of vision. Unfortunately, just as he saw a glimmer of light, his vision plunged into darkness again.

However, this struggle seemed to buy him a little time. Before his consciousness completely sank into a stupor, he heard this conversation.

"Lihui, you use the hearts of men, so you will never see them clearly."

"Just as you only think of eating the flesh of cattle and sheep."

"How could you ever find them lovely?"

"Hmph, fallacious reasoning!"

"Since you are so certain, let us gamble once more."

"I bet that there will always be something you cannot buy."

The darkness was silent for a moment, followed by a cold laugh.

"Fine."

"I will bet with you."

The voices vanished.

Long Tianxing woke up with a start, drenched in a cold sweat.

"Ah!"

A loud shout rang out, but it didn't come from Long Tianxing's mouth; it came from right in front of him. Following that shout was another voice.

"What are you screaming for? You're getting spit all over my face!"

"No, Boss, the kid is awake!"

Long Tianxing looked ahead to see two fellows roasting some unknown meat. He looked down at the rope tying him up. I've been kidnapped? What happened?

Before he could think further, the short one among them stood up with a look of pleasant surprise and walked toward Long Tianxing with a swagger.

"Long Tianxing, we..."

He stopped mid-sentence and just walked forward with his head down, his expression becoming increasingly awkward with every step.

Crap!

He was too short and the distance was too far; the dialogue couldn't keep up!

Swallowing awkwardly, Wan Jinqing quickened his pace and took two hurried steps. After pausing for several breaths, he finally reached Long Tianxing, patted his face, and said,

"We meet again!"

It's fine! As long as I'm not embarrassed, the embarrassment doesn't exist!

"Boss, why didn't you finish your sentence all at once? This is a bit awkward," Er Liangzhong scratched his head and said honestly.

It was this single sentence that made Wan Jinqing's composure crumble instantly. He turned back and cursed,

"I like it this way!"

"This is called coordinating voice with movement to create a sense of pressure, do you understand!"

"But, you..."

"That's enough, shut your mouth!"

Looking at the two buffoons before him, Long Tianxing was also stunned.

He had just broken free from that eerie dream, only to open his eyes and see a short man who looked like the other's son pointing at the tall man's nose and cursing.

If he hadn't pinched himself again to confirm he was awake, he might have thought he was still in a dream.

After cursing at Er Liangzhong for a few more moments, Wan Jinqing cleared his throat and put back on that face that was honest and cute but trying hard to look sinister. He stood with hands on hips and said to Long Tianxing,

"Are you surprised to see me, Long Tianxing!"

"Who are you?" Long Tianxing frowned, sizing the other up.

This person's appearance was so unique that he shouldn't have forgotten if he'd seen him before. Given the way the guy was acting, he clearly knew him, but he really couldn't remember who this fellow was.

Wan Jinqing's expression grew colder as he shook his head and put his hands behind his back.

"It seems you've forgotten your old friend."

"But then again, thanks to you, I've been reduced to this state, and an ordinary person wouldn't recognize me anymore."

"This seat is named Wan Jinqing, the Nascent Soul Cultivator who explored a Secret Realm with you in the past. Do you remember now?"

Long Tianxing's frown deepened as he whispered the name back.

"Wan Jinqing?"

"Well, do you remember?"

"Not familiar."

With Long Tianxing's flat "not familiar," Wan Jinqing nearly stumbled and fell to the ground.

"You thought about it for so long just to say you're not familiar?" Wan Jinqing grabbed Long Tianxing's collar, his eyes blazing with fire as he glared at him.

"I thought for so long because I'm really not familiar with you," Long Tianxing replied flatly.

"You damn bastard, use your brain and think!"

"Back when you went on a mission to West River and a Secret Realm suddenly opened, who teamed up with you to explore it!"

"There were only five people in total back then. My brother Er Liangzhong and I made it to the end with you, while the other two betrayed us."

"We became close because of that time and agreed to go together again if another Secret Realm appeared."

At this point, the bald man in the distance also gave a friendly wave and said,

"Over here, I'm Er Liangzhong."

Only then did Long Tianxing gain some inkling of a memory.

Back then, he had gone out for experience and happened upon a Secret Realm, so he went in to investigate.

The strongest team at the time consisted of the two before him and two other Nascent Soul Cultivators.

He had good luck and held the key to opening the final Legacy, and for some reason, the key had already bound to him, so those four Nascent Soul old monsters forced him to walk deep into the Immortal Cave.

They were even afraid something would happen to him and took great care of him along the way.

Long Tianxing naturally knew these four weren't good people, so he had remained on guard throughout.

Later, the four had internal strife, and Long Tianxing took advantage of the chaos to obtain the final Legacy item.

Wan Jinqing and Er Liangzhong were quite strong; in the infighting, they killed one of the others and heavily injured the other, but they themselves were also critically wounded and on the verge of death.

Just as they were about to be killed by the remaining Core Formation Cultivators, Long Tianxing had stepped in to save them.

After all, while they were also using him, these two were only greedy for the Legacy and didn't want his life, which was completely different from the other two.

This was also one of the triggers for their internal strife.

Counting it that way, the two of them could be considered to have indirectly saved Long Tianxing's life.

As for why Long Tianxing almost lost his life in the first place... never mind that, just focus on whether it counts as saving him or not.

Because of this incident, he became somewhat acquainted with these two Nascent Soul Cultivators.

Plus, Long Tianxing didn't have many connections in West River, and having a few more helpers when going there for experience was always a good thing, so he reluctantly made friends with them.

Later, he heard they had discovered another Secret Realm and wanted to invite him along.

Long Tianxing knew well that these two didn't have great characters, so he thought he needed to prepare some trump cards if he were to go.

He had planned to use the New Year event to get a Soul Transformation Talisman Treasure before keeping the appointment, but Zhou Yan had intercepted him, and he was even recorded doing a shameful dance to be used as leverage.

After that, he wasn't in the mood to deal with these two's schemes, so he went into seclusion and subsequently forgot all about them.

Now that Long Tianxing looked at the two before him again, there were indeed some similarities in their features... like hell there were!

These two bizarre buffoons were far too different from those two Nascent Soul Cultivators back then!

"How did you two end up looking like this?" Long Tianxing looked at them in astonishment.

At the same time, the Magic Treasure trapping Long Tianxing had already been fully permeated, and he could seize control at any moment.

(PS: The author has created a new account on Douyin to update writing progress, account: Creamy Mutton Skewers.)