paranoianovel Chapter 24 The Dragon Creates a Dream!
Chapter 24 The Dragon Creates a Dream!
night!
Deep and dark as ink!
The wind rustles through the treetops!
It keeps making a whirring sound!
The side hall of the Dragon God.
Lin Shi sat cross-legged, without a lamp lit. The cool moonlight shone through the cracks in the window, casting a few blurry, pale spots of light on the ground, which swayed slightly with the shadows of the trees outside the window.
Lin Shi closed his eyes, his breathing almost inaudible, as if he had merged with the darkness. However, his mind was unusually active, like a nimble cat slithering through the night, keenly capturing every trace of invisible power that connected him to the Azure Wave Pool and the dragon god statue in the Dragon God Temple.
It's been two months!
The uproar caused by the water-fighting miracle and the killing of the toad demon has not yet completely subsided.
The piety of everyone in Shixi Village, regardless of age or gender, is transforming into a more solid and warmer faith than ever before, flowing directly into the dragon god image, and like a gentle stream, into the deep blue pool, nourishing the dragon's ever-growing spirituality and power.
Lin Shi could clearly feel the growth of this power, like a stream flowing into a river, with the water level quietly rising.
But tonight, my attention was not fully immersed in this familiar ocean of faith. My senses, like the finest sieve, filtered all the faith power flowing into the dragon god statue and caught that strange glimpse.
It's too faint!
Like the last embers of a candle flickering in the wind, it seemed as if it might be extinguished at any moment.
The color was different from the warm yellow of the people of Shixi Village, which carried a sense of belonging to their home. Instead, it presented a dull, almost grayish-white color, with fluctuations filled with uneasy fear, deep worry, and a trembling tentacles of prayer instinctively reaching out in a desperate situation.
The source clearly points to Shanghe Village, shrouded in night, on the opposite bank of the Qinghe River.
Lin Shi smiled.
The appearance of the dragon god to vanquish evil did not mean only fleeing and fear for all the people of Shanghe Village.
An irresistible force left an indescribable mark:
When faced with incomprehensible terror and one's own powerlessness, the most primal instinct is to feel awe for a stronger being and a hidden yearning for help.
Lin Shi held his breath and focused his mind, immersing himself in a deeper connection with the dragon clone, following the traces of that strange power.
On the edge of Shanghe Village, in the shadow of the back mountain, lies a solitary courtyard.
The courtyard was dilapidated, the fence was crooked, and it looked particularly desolate under the moonlight.
Lin Shi frowned.
A faint, strangely familiar, damp, and malevolent aura permeated the courtyard—the filth left behind by the blood-sucking toad spirit! This malevolent aura, like a maggot clinging to a bone, clung to a woman in the courtyard whose breath was weak and whose vitality was dim.
The source of the unusual faith came from a man standing beside the woman, breathing heavily and filled with anxiety, exhaustion, and helplessness.
Lin Shi had a sudden thought and immediately remembered that two months ago, when they were confronting each other by the river, this man stood at the edge of the crowd, not shouting and cursing like the others, and was out of place in the intense atmosphere around him. He heard someone call him Liu Laosi.
"Infected by evil spirits! It cannot be cured by ordinary medicines."
Lin Shi quickly made a judgment.
The toad spirit's pus and blood evil nature is inherently yin, poisonous, and filthy. When it invades the meridians of a weak person, a doctor may only be able to diagnose it as cold evil entering the bone or dampness and toxins accumulating inside, and the prescription will be difficult to treat the symptoms.
Lin Shi's heart stirred.
This is a great opportunity!
The dragon god said he needed more faith.
The faith in Shixi Village, after this period of development, is nearing saturation. The devout prayers of a few hundred people represent only the current base, with limited room for further growth.
The only way is to expand outwards, spread the belief in the dragon god to more distant villages, and attract more believers.
I've been following the unfamiliar Xinli in Shanghe Village all this time, and this is the opportunity I've been looking for.
Lin Shi was not in a hurry.
The opportunity has presented itself, but we must be careful how we open this window.
He was a divine messenger and a lucky star in Shixi Village, but he could never personally set foot in Shanghe Village. This would expose him to hostile and suspicious eyes, which was extremely risky.
Although the dragon's clone has increased in power and its chains have loosened, allowing it to exert influence along the water veins, directly manifesting its power in this person's home would be too shocking and could easily provoke resistance, or even push them to the opposite side.
"The only way is through dreams."
Lin Shi pondered carefully and came up with a solution.
Dreams are mysterious and elusive, difficult to grasp and hard to trace back to their origins, but they can reach the depths of the human heart. Especially for those who are cornered by reality and exhausted, guidance in dreams often carries a more "destined" or "divine revelation" meaning than any advice in reality, and is more readily accepted by those who are desperate and seeking any remedy.
You can't do what you dream about!
He doesn't have that ability now, but it's a piece of cake for his own clone, the dragon.
Lin Shi withdrew his senses, and with a thought, pointed directly at the dragon.
At the bottom of the emerald pool.
Darkness and silence.
The dragon received the clear intention and precise location of the faint signal from the forest stone.
The cold, vertical pupils shifted slightly in the darkness, reflecting the faint light on the water's surface, a hint of understanding flashing across their indifference.
Removing the faint traces of evil energy left by the toad spirit is now a piece of cake for it.
There's no need to mobilize too much of your primordial power; simply extract a wisp of purifying and nourishing energy from your own vast and pure water spirit and attach it to ordinary water.
What's needed now isn't these things, but a dream.
The dragon slightly raised its massive head, which was bound by chains. An invisible and intangible spiritual fluctuation, yet containing a faint dragon's might and a soothing intention, spread out quietly like ripples spreading silently in water. It precisely followed the faint connection established by that thread of faith, crossed the calm river surface, and seeped into the dilapidated courtyard like night fog, gently enveloping Liu Laosi, who was sitting on a low stool by the stove, drowsy from extreme exhaustion.
Shanghe Village.
A dilapidated courtyard by the Qinghe River.
Liu Laosi nodded his head little by little.
The embers in the stove had long since died out, leaving only a faint red glow that illuminated his face, etched with the wrinkles of life and sorrow.
His wife's suppressed, intermittent moans came from inside the house, each sound like a knife stabbing into his heart.
Liu Laosi's eyelids felt as heavy as a thousand pounds, and his consciousness slowly faded.
The scene that happened by the river two months ago suddenly flashed into my mind:
The feng shui master transformed into a giant, oozing toad, emitting a foul stench.
The deep river water swelled, as if a giant creature was turning over underwater.
And then there was that majestic low murmur that pierced his soul, almost paralyzing him... Chaos, fear, and despair over his wife's illness intertwined into an invisible net, tightly binding him and dragging him into a drowsy abyss.
Liu Laosi struggled to tell himself it was a dream, but it was no use. His consciousness grew increasingly blurred, and just as he was about to lose it completely, everything around him suddenly changed.
It was no longer a cold kitchen, but a vast, boundless expanse of shimmering water.
The water was deep in color but crystal clear.
Soft light emanated from the bottom of the water.
Suddenly, the calm water was silently broken, and an indescribably enormous body covered with dark, night-sky-like scales flashed by underwater.
He couldn't see the whole picture, only glimpsed a fleeting, smooth and powerful silhouette, and a pair of cold, golden vertical pupils that seemed to contain endless years and thunder, which glanced at him indifferently.
There was no sound, but a grand, majestic yet gentle thought flowed directly into my heart like water:
"Clear water cleanses impurities, and sincerity can move mountains. Behind your house, by the stream, beneath the blue stone, there is a clear spring. Fill a bowl with it, face the clear water and pray; drinking it will bring peace to your home and dispel gloom."
The scene before Liu Laosi changed again. He saw the familiar mountain stream behind his house, and the smooth blue stone by the stream where he often rested when chopping wood. Under the moonlight, the spring water seeping from the cracks in the stone seemed exceptionally clear, with a faint, pearly halo flowing on the surface, completely different from the ordinary stream beside it.
The image then abruptly shattered.
Liu Laosi suddenly woke up with a start, his body trembled violently, and he almost fell off the stool. His heart was pounding wildly in his chest, and cold sweat poured down his forehead, instantly soaking his tattered shirt.