The Lord of Void and Real

Chapter 88: Chapter 87 Jia Lan Temple

“I was about to tell Master Luo about this. On my recent return home, my father spent a fortune to purchase an unusual vermilion fruit from a foreign merchant. He claims it’s a great nourishment. After consuming it, the Yang Gang Qi inside my body greatly increased, and I’m close to reaching the state of Perfection.” A chill ran down Shen Luo’s spine, and he muttered under his breath that it’s finally happening. However, he showed an excited look.

As he spoke, a strong red light emanated from his body.

Luo Daoist wanted to reach out to sense the condition inside Shen Luo’s body. But seeing the red light on him, he lowered his hand, carefully observed the red light, and showed a surprised expression.

“Master Luo, once my Small Transformation Yang Skill is fully cultivated, I entrust the Pure Yang Sword Technique matter to you.” Shen Luo noticed Luo Daoist’s movements and quietly heaved a sigh of relief, but spoke as such.

“I’ve promised you, naturally I won’t go back on my word. But what type of Vermillion Fruit did you consume?” Luo Daoist stared at Shen Luo and asked.

Shen Luo had prepared a suitable response long ago and described a mysterious fruit that was oval, fiery red throughout, and had fiery patterns on its surface.

The description of the vermilion fruit wasn’t entirely fabricated by him. It was based on a spiritual fruit he had read about in a book named “Fire Origin Fruit” which was known to have the effect of strengthening foundations and fostering vitality.

However, he didn’t entirely describe it as Fire Origin Fruit either. He made some changes with 70% truth and 30% lies, so that Luo Daoist wouldn’t think he was lying and would be unable to confirm whether it was the Fire Origin Fruit therefore not seeing any inconsistencies.

“Based on your description, the fruit you ate could possibly be Fire Origin Fruit or even a different species. However, I can’t confirm it. Either way, you are quite lucky. It must be your destiny,” Luo Daoist remarked with surprise.

“All thanks to your vast blessings, Master Luo” Shen Luo laughed and replied.

“Since you had such a fortunate encounter, you must put more efforts into refining the Small Hua Yang Technique to achieve Perfection as soon as possible. Then, break through and advance to the Qi Refining Stage to solve your lifespan issue.” Luo Daoist advised, not delving too much into the matter.

“Yes, I will certainly work hard and won’t let you down,” Shen Luo promptly and earnestly promised.

Afterward, Luo Daoist didn’t ask further about Shen Luo’s cultivation and drove the Water Cloud Pouch to continue the journey.

Seeing this, Shen Luo dared not speak and stood respectfully by the side, both of them continued their journey and returned to Spring and Autumn Pavilion in the afternoon.

Luo Daoist went to report back to the head of the pavilion, while Shen Luo went back to his residence by himself.

After being busy for half of the night and one day, he was mentally exhausted. Upon returning to his residence, he immediately hit the sack.

He slept for a long time. When Shen Luo woke up, it was already pitch black outside, a bright moon hung halfway in the sky, signalling it was the second half of the night.

He stretched lazily and felt well-rested, his spirits unusually lifted at the moment.

“Is there any change to the jade pillow?” Suddenly remembering something, Shen Luo took out the jade pillow from under the bed and put an exorcism charm on himself. Activating the charm with mana, his eyes became a bit blurry.

Shen Luo then looked at the jade pillow and gasped softly.

Now, there was nothing on the jade pillow, the transparent light silk threads did not appear.

“How come there’s nothing? Could it be…” A conjecture sprung into Shen Luo’s mind and he stared intensely at the jade pillow, hoping to spot any changes.

After observing for a while, his eyelids began to feel heavy, and sleepiness overcame him.

“How can I suddenly feel sleepy when I just woke up?” Shen Luo was shocked and hurriedly slapped his cheeks, attempting to shake off the sleepiness.

But instead of disappearing, the sleepiness welled up even more intensely.

He strained to resist, but in the end, he couldn’t fend off the sleep demon. Softly collapsing onto the bed, he pressed the jade pillow under his body and drifted into Dreamland.

After who knows how long, Shen Luo groggily opened his eyes.

He rubbed his somnolent eyes, suddenly feeling a cold wind assail him. He couldn’t help but shiver, waking up immediately and sitting upright.

When he lifted his eyes, he found the surrounding sky dim lit, unable to distinguish whether it was dawn or evening. All he saw was a dilapidated and desolate ancient building standing not far in front of him.

Shen Luo’s heart tightened, and he quickly looked down at himself, only to discover he was wearing only a thin inner garment, stained with dried blood.

The dress was clearly what he had worn when he was in Feng Chi City. He still remembered clearly that his outer robe had been taken off when he had used it to gather ash and hide from the Blue Wolf.

“It seems like I’ve entered Dreamland again…” Shen Luo immediately understood his predicament.

He hastily opened his clothes and carefully checked his body, finding that the injuries from the battle with the Demon Wolf had healed, which slightly reassured him.

At this moment, a look of disbelief flashed in his eyes, and then he quickly pulled down the shirt over his right shoulder to take a look.

“Why is it gone?” Shen Luo exclaimed. n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

His voice was not loud pero it still startled a few crows perched in a nearby dead tree, and they all flew away, “fluttering”.

Shen Luo was so surprised because he found that the skull pattern on his shoulder had mysteriously disappeared, and the talisman fork that he always carried with him was also not by his side.

It was understandable that the talisman fork was missing, but why did the tattoo-like skull pattern also disappear?

“Could it be that the mana also…”

With a feeling of anxiety, Shen Luo hurriedly activated the magic spell, operating the Nameless Cultivation Technique.

A moment later, when he discovered that the strand of mana in his Dantian was still responsive, he finally let out a sigh of relief.

He dressed himself, steadied his mind, and carefully scanned his surroundings.

The wilderness was full of wild grass, the air was damp, condensing into a thick fog. Beyond several feet, it was impossible to see clearly.

Beneath his feet seemed to be an ancient green brick road, with many damages on the surface. Weeds grew from the cracks and the road extended towards the old building in front.

Shen Luo walked a few steps forward, only to find that the old building was indeed the mountain gate of a temple. The roof tiles on the gate were covered in wild grass and the vermilion lacquer on the gate wall had also fallen off due to weathering. He could still vaguely see the four large characters “Bao Xiang Zhuan Yan”.

The half-closed mountain gate was almost toppled. Hanging crookedly above it was a plaque, with “Jia Lan Temple” engraved on it.

“Given its dilapidated state, it must have been abandoned for at least a hundred years, right?” Shen Luo murmured to himself.

He had read many strange tales in which ancient temples in deserted mountains often housed enchanting ghosts using illusion techniques to lure scholars traveling to the capital for examinations, always written extremely romantically.

While these couldn’t be taken literally, it was also mentioned in “Zhang Heavenly Master’s Demon-Subduing Chronicle” that places like temples and Daoist temples, as well as land deities, if thriving with incense fire, have divine protection. However, once the incense fire dies out and becomes a ruin, it is easier for such places to attract ghostly specters compared to ordinary ones.

Considering his previous two dream encounters involving ghosts and demons, he was now somewhat hesitant about whether or not to enter this temple.