As night fell, Shi Li held the Dream-Following Yearning Pendant in the palm of his hand. This treasure was crystal clear and transparent, resting in his palm like a pool of clear water with a soft, flowing light.
The two halves of the jade pendant fit perfectly together. Shi Li detached the left half and handed the right half to Jun Yanye. “See you in the dream.”
The shimmering light illuminated Jun Yanye’s face. “See you in the dream.”
Each holding one half of the jade pendant, the two lay down fully clothed. Soon, their primordial souls entered the realm of dreams.
When Shi Li opened his eyes again, he found himself in a bright palace filled with mirrors.
Every wall was a mirror, and large and small mirrors of various shapes hung high in the sky. Countless mirrors reflected countless versions of him.
Shi Li clearly saw that he was bound by heavy chains to a crystal pillar in the center of the palace. Chains shackled his neck, wrists, waist, and ankles. Because it was a dream, the sensation of pain was not entirely realistic.
“Finally, finally,” a familiar, smiling voice echoed through the palace. “I have finally met you.”
Shi Li looked toward the source of the voice and saw a person dressed in white clothing with a silver crown, a jade sash, and snow-white shoes stepping out gracefully from behind a mirror. This person was actually the young master of the Changming Sect, Shi Chen!
After entering the dream using the Dream-Following Yearning Pendant, the person Shi Li met was not Jun Yanye, but Shi Chen.
Shi Chen’s voice was identical to Shi Li’s, but because their tones and intonations differed, they sounded slightly distinct.
Shi Chen walked composedly over to stand in front of Shi Li and looked into his eyes.
Their appearances were completely indistinguishable, just like looking in a mirror, except that one was perfectly neat while the other was captured in a miserable state.
“How could it be you?” Shi Li said coldly.
“If I did not see you one more time, I am afraid I would truly go mad.” The way Shi Chen looked at Shi Li was filled with obsession.
This was not a form of love, but rather a strong desire for possession.
“You have already obtained everything of mine, my identity, my status, my adoptive father’s favor, and the ability to deduce the heavenly secrets. Why must you come to pester me again?” Shi Li averted his gaze, lowering his head slightly.
“Because you are a stain on the Changming Sect. Defecting to the Demon Realm, corrupting the sect’s reputation, and being intolerable to heaven and earth, the sect master ordered me to eliminate you. Furthermore, to eliminate future troubles and prevent you from staging a comeback, I must also kill you.”
Shi Chen reached out and forcefully raised Shi Li’s chin, forcing him to look at him. His smile was as innocent as a young child’s. “Is this what you wanted to hear me say?”
Shi Li remained silent.
“As for the position of young master or the ability to communicate with the heavens, I do not care about them at all!” Shi Chen’s voice rang through the grand hall. He gazed deeply into Shi Li’s eyes and said resolutely, “From beginning to end, the only thing I have wanted is you.”
“Me?” Shi Li was bewildered.
He did not understand.
He only felt that the current Shi Chen was very dangerous. Although Shi Chen had always been a dangerous figure to him, the current Shi Chen seemed to be in a state of frenzy, saying words that he could not comprehend.
Shi Li closed his eyes, concentrating his mind and gathering his energy as he attempted to seek a divination sign within himself, but his neck was suddenly pressed down by Shi Chen. “Do not waste your efforts. With me here, you will not be able to calculate anything.”
The divination signs within his mind were in utter chaos, and countless threads of thought were frozen beneath a glacier.
Upon meeting Shi Chen, Shi Li returned to that previous state where he could calculate nothing. He could feel that Shi Chen was able to restrain his ability.
“Who on earth are you?” Shi Li felt a faint ache in his forehead, his brows furrowing slightly. “I.”
Shi Chen chuckled. His laugh sounded like a phantom as he drew close to Shi Li’s ear. “Brother has forgotten who I am and has never taken me seriously, but I have not forgotten Brother for even a single moment.”
The entire grand hall instantly fell silent.
Shi Li felt a wave of dizziness, as if the blood in his entire body were flowing backward, and his heart skipped a beat.
Brother?
Shi Chen called him brother.
“This is absolutely impossible! The Shi clan of the Changming Sect possesses eyes that see the heavenly path and hands that hold the heavenly secrets. Only one child can be passed down in each generation, and there is absolutely no possibility of twins!” Shi Li’s voice trembled slightly.
It was precisely because it was impossible for the Shi family to have twins that Yan Moxiao concluded there must be one true and one false between Shi Li and Shi Chen, leading him to abandon Shi Li.
“Yes, everyone felt it was absolutely impossible, which is why they abandoned you.” Shi Chen looked at Shi Li with a face full of sorrow and pity. “Have you not had enough of their expressions? Brother, you are clearly the true young sect master, yet no one acknowledges you. Even your most respected adoptive father, Yan Moxiao, has abandoned you.”
“Stop talking!”
Shi Li struggled unbearably, wanting to cover his ears, but both of his hands were restrained by the chains.
Shi Chen carelessly uncovered the fact that he was least willing to accept, touching the most painful part of his heart.
All the mirrors in the entire palace instantly shattered completely. The brilliant shards of the mirrors flew in all directions, and the figures of the two were immediately covered in fractures.
Something within Shi Li’s heart was rapidly collapsing, falling, and fading away.
“Brother, tell me what else in this world is worth lingering for.” Shi Chen lowered his eyes to look at him, his pupils quiet and without ripples, like a secluded pool in a cold valley. “What is pursued cannot be obtained, and what is obtained cannot be kept. Brother might as well go together with me.”
“Uh…” Shi Li felt somewhat unable to breathe, his consciousness scattering.
“Come with me. I want to take Brother to a place free from disturbance and pain.”
Shi Chen stepped forward, wanting to embrace Shi Li, but his body suddenly stiffened. Immediately afterward, he was engulfed by a streak of demonic energy and flew outward, crashing heavily against a jade pillar, causing his primordial soul to almost disperse.
With another wave of his hand, Jun Yanye broke the chains on Shi Li’s body section by section, and he quickly caught the collapsing Shi Li.
“You, how could you.” Shi Chen clutched his chest, coughing up a mouthful of blood. Then he laughed again. “Hahaha… haha, so what if you have entered? This is a dreamscape, and both you and I are merely illusions. Your cultivation is completely useless here!”
Jun Yanye’s red eyes grew sharp. “Is it an illusion, or a primordial soul?”
Shi Chen paused, a trace of panic flitting through his eyes.
For Jun Yanye to ask this question meant that Shi Li had long since seen through his plot.
“If it were not for him wanting to keep you alive, I would kill you right now.”
Jun Yanye felt that even looking at Shi Chen would defile his eyes. He bound Shi Chen to the crystal pillar, took Shi Li into his arms, and turned to leave.
“You truly are a good dog of his.” Shi Chen raised his voice and said, “Unfortunately, he has never taken you to heart.”
Jun Yanye paused in his steps. “He and I are properly contracted Dao companions. May I ask who your distinguished self is?”
Shi Chen coughed up another mouthful of blood.
Holding Shi Li, Jun Yanye walked far away amid Shi Chen’s loud curses.
In the illusory and void dream world, Jun Yanye was waiting for Shi Li to wake up.
On the night they obtained the Dream-Following Yearning Pendant, Shi Li had told Jun Yanye that this was a plot jointly set up by Gui Chi and Shi Chen, with the purpose of separating the two of them to defeat them one by one.
Gui Chi wanted Jun Yanye, while Shi Chen wanted Shi Li. On the surface, this yearning pendant could allow them to enter a dream together.
However, one half of the jade pendant had been switched, so only one person could enter the dream, while the other could not.
The other half of the jade pendant was naturally held by Shi Chen. Shi Chen was responsible for dealing with the one who entered the dream, while Gui Chi was responsible for dealing with the one who did not enter the dream.
Shi Li chose to turn their own trick against them. He told Jun Yanye that he must find the other half of the yearning pendant in Shi Chen’s hands.
“Where is the other half?”
“Is it not a coincidence? It happens to be right inside this cave dwelling as well.”
“Your meaning is?”
“Exactly, Shi Chen is also here, but you cannot kill him. You only need to obtain the jade pendant and enter the dream to save me.”
Things had developed up to this point exactly as Shi Li had previously stated.
However, Jun Yanye felt that he had gone a bit late. He had fought with Gui Chi for a while and had to place their bodies in a safe location, which delayed some time. If he could have entered the dream earlier, Shi Li might not have been in so much pain.
Jun Yanye gazed intently at Shi Li’s face. He was very curious about what Shi Li had experienced in the dream and what Shi Chen had said to him.
If the primordial soul fell unconscious, where did the consciousness of the primordial soul go? Within the primordial soul, was there yet another primordial soul?
Jun Yanye’s thoughts gradually drifted far away.
He seemed to frequently wait for Shi Li to wake up, which gave him a very familiar feeling.
In his blurred and fragmented memory, he seemed to have frequently waited for someone like this, an extremely important person.
Jun Yanye took hold of Shi Li’s hand, attempting to produce some connection with his primordial soul.
Shi Li opened his eyes, and seeing Jun Yanye beside him, tears flowed out just like that.
It was not the first time Jun Yanye had seen Shi Li cry, but his heart still twinged slightly. “How do you feel?”
Shi Li did not speak.
“Shi Chen has already been brought under control by me,” Jun Yanye said. “I suppressed the urge to kill him to the best of my ability, but his primordial soul still suffered a heavy blow. I do not know if he will be able to survive.”
“Kiss me, quickly.” Shi Li closed his eyes.
Although Jun Yanye did not know the reason, he still leaned down and gave Shi Li’s lips a light peck.
After all, Shi Li was very weak right now and needed comfort.
“Continue.” There was no ripple in Shi Li’s eyes.
Even if Jun Yanye was slow-witted, he understood that Shi Li did not want him to kiss him out of affection.
Since it had nothing to do with affection, he could kiss him even more passionately, as neither of them treated it as a product of love anyway.
In Shi Li’s dream, Jun Yanye kissed him to his heart’s content, possessing Shi Li’s lips as well as his tongue. He even bit lightly on Shi Li’s lips, acting entirely according to his own preference.
“I feel much better now.” Shi Li could finally smile again, patting Jun Yanye’s face. “Thanks.”
It was said that people would forget their dreams after waking up. Some people would forget everything, while others would still remember a portion.
Jun Yanye wanted to remember this exceptionally tender and fierce kiss, and then forget Shi Li’s painful eyes and the expression Shi Li had when he requested him to do this.
“Oh, your primordial soul seems clearer than last time.” Shi Li scrutinized Jun Yanye. “Last time, I could not even see your face clearly.”
“Is that so?” Jun Yanye had never seen his own primordial soul.
“Have you remembered something?”
“A little bit.”
There was only a very blurred impression regarding the feeling of waiting for Shi Li.
“Very good. Even remembering a little bit is good. Catching a small thread end can pull out even more.”
“Mm.”
“I will do another calculation for you when we go back,” Shi Li stood up. “Come, let me take you to a place in my dream.”