Chapter 503: Seeing Dreams

"Senior Brother Li? Senior Brother Li?" Bai Lingmiao called softly. In front of her, Li Huowang's chopsticks hung suspended, his gaze fixed on the cooling noodle soup, lost in thought for quite some time.

"Senior Brother Li, what's wrong?" It wasn't until Bai Lingmiao gently placed her hand on his that Li Huowang suddenly snapped out of his trance.

"Nothing, just thinking about that dream from yesterday." Li Huowang handed her his bowl and chopsticks.

"That bad dream? It's fine, my mother always said dreams are the opposite of reality." Bai Lingmiao took the bowl and chopsticks and walked towards the river.

"The opposite?" Li Huowang silently stared at Zhuge Yuan in the distance.

When he saw Bai Lingmiao return with the washed utensils, Li Huowang shook his head vigorously and stood up. "It's just a dream, after all. Perhaps what one thinks about during the day, one dreams about at night."

Just as he was about to continue walking, Li Huowang suddenly realized someone was missing. "Miao Miao, where's Li Sui?"

"She's playing in the water about ten zhang ahead."

Li Huowang shook his head helplessly. "She's just like a small child." He started walking along the river to look for her.

When he spotted Li Sui's wide straw cape, he didn't see her playing in the water.

Li Sui was currently lying by the river like a dog, guarding a few wriggling carp. "You caught fish, why aren't you eating them? Just watching?" Li Huowang asked, walking up to her.

"I ate my share. This is Second Mother's share; I'm waiting for her." Li Sui's words made Li Huowang slowly retract the hand he had reached out to touch her head. Li Huowang looked at Li Sui with a complex expression. Had she still not realized that Second God was gone? Suddenly, there was a rustle in the bushes to the left. Li Sui abruptly propped up her slender body, but when a gray wild rabbit darted out, she sadly lowered her head, resting it on her crossed front limbs. "Li Sui, don't wait anymore. Second Mother is gone, she's not coming back."

For the first time, Li Sui didn't believe Li Huowang. "Second Mother will definitely come back, she told me she would."

"Li Sui!"

Li Huowang's stern tone made a hint of grievance appear on Li Sui's face.

"Why won't you let me wait for Second Mother? Second God clearly said she'd return."

Li Huowang sighed deeply, then reached down and pulled her up from the ground into his embrace, gently stroking the wriggling tentacles on her back, again and again.

"Everything is in the past now. We should look forward..."

Just as he said this, Li Huowang felt a familiar chewing sound coming from behind him.

"Second Mother!" Li Sui broke free from Li Huowang's embrace and rushed forward excitedly. "I knew you'd definitely come back!"

When Li Huowang turned around, he was immediately shocked to see Second God, still wearing her red veil, continuously picking up the wriggling carp and stuffing them beneath it.

"This... how is this possible! It can't be!" Li Huowang rushed over and tore off Second God's red veil.

"Hah!" Li Huowang was instantly terrified by what he saw inside and jolted awake. Soaked in a cold sweat, he sat up in the carriage, gasping for air.

Bai Lingmiao took out a white handkerchief and gently wiped the beads of cold sweat from Li Huowang's forehead. "Senior Brother Li, you seem to have been having a lot of bad dreams these past few days."

Li Huowang didn't answer immediately. First, he looked at her as if she were a stranger, then at everything around them with the same unfamiliar gaze. He immediately pulled out a dagger from his hem and plunged it into his left forearm.

The piercing pain made Li Huowang exhale a long, trembling breath. That had been a dream; this was reality.

"Ah! Senior Brother Li, what are you doing!" Bai Lingmiao quickly moved from sitting to kneeling, frantically searching for needle and thread to stitch the wound.

"It's nothing, I'm fine. I just need to... be more awake!" Li Huowang said, slowly twisting the dagger's hilt to the left.

"Senior Brother Li, why don't you stop training like this, hiding by day and practicing by night? There's no rush right now anyway."

"No! I only have two years; I must make every second count! Besides, I feel this has nothing to do with cultivation! I just feel there's something wrong with these dreams!"

As Li Huowang spoke, his expression grew serious. "Could it be Dice? I never meet outsiders. Perhaps he saw there were no openings in reality, so he decided to trick me through dreams?"

This might be a guess, but Li Huowang had to be on guard. When dealing with Dice, one could never be too cautious.

"Miao Miao, Li Sui, have either of you had any dreams these past few days?" Li Huowang asked the two who were with him.

"Senior Brother Li, I haven't."

"Father, what are dreams?"

These words allowed Li Huowang to relax a little. At least this situation was only happening to him and hadn't affected them.

Li Huowang pulled back the curtain and shouted loudly into the misty, rainy forest outside: "Dice! Stop playing games! I can't help you with this! Go find someone else!"

His shouts echoed through the forest, but aside from startling a few birds, there was no other movement.

Li Huowang coldly pulled the carriage curtain closed and said to Bai Lingmiao, who was still wiping his blood: "We're not moving anymore. Let's find a place to settle down. We'll wait for six months to a year, then we'll go back. We'll wear him down!"

"Um... Boss Hongzhong, is there a possibility that Boss Dice didn't come at all, and this is all just your imagination?" the Faceless, Eyeless Zuowang Dao suddenly spoke.

"You're all Zuowang Dao; who are you trying to fool! This has become a hallucination, and you still want to team up with Dice to trick me?"

The carriage no longer wandered aimlessly on the road but moved towards the distant green mountains.

Upon reaching the mountain, Li Huowang found a sturdy rock face and began to work with his spine sword.

The hard rocks of Daliang were neatly transported to Daqi. Soon, a clean and tidy cave dwelling appeared before Li Huowang.

As the carriage blocked the opening like a massive door, the cave instantly became quiet.

A bonfire was lit, and its orange-red glow reflected on the rock walls, making the entire space much warmer.

After the fragrant, roasted flatbread was eaten for dinner, it was time for Li Huowang to resume his cultivation.

He wasn't afraid that Dice would dare to do anything while he was cultivating. Even he himself wouldn't dare approach a mind essence during cultivation.

Li Huowang sat directly at the cave entrance like a guardian deity, cross-legged with his eyes tightly closed. With a deep breath, he used the so-called "divine light" from his eyes to guide the Innate Qi within his body towards the abdominal chakra, the second of the seven chakras.

Li Huowang gradually entered a world of self-forgetfulness. He forgot the rain, forgot Dice, forgot everything. In his mind, there were only two masses slowly approaching each other: one was the ineffable, enveloped Innate Qi, and the other was his own empty abdominal chakra.

Li Huowang cultivated in this trance-like state, unaware of how much time had passed. Suddenly, the Innate Qi seemed to be drawn by something, and its movement speed increased rapidly.

After the Innate Qi forcefully collided with the abdominal chakra, it swiftly swept past it, eventually settling into a leisurely pace, slowly rotating around the chakra.

A pale yellow light gradually seeped from the Innate Qi into the abdominal chakra, and six lotus petals of the same color began to appear and disappear around the chakra.