The Lord of Void and Real

He carefully recollects everything that happened last night, and the more he thinks about it, the more it feels like he truly experienced everything that happened in the mountain village.

“To ascertain whether it was a dream or not, there’s only one way to find out.” Shen Luo murmurs to himself.

With renewed vigour, he takes off his shirt again, leaving his upper body bare. Biting down on his index finger harshly, he draws two bloody runes on his chest. It was exactly what he did in his dream the night before.

One was a “exorcism charm,” and the other was “Small Thunder Talisman,” both of which had genuinely incited the previous night.

If everything that happened in the mountain village was real, then he should be able to reproduce it in reality.

Shen Luo closes his eyes and begins to slowly guide the Yang Gang Qi within his body into the bloody runes on his chest. He is replicating last night’s process.

No anomalies occur as the Yang Gang power enters the “exorcism charm” rune.

At this, Shen Luo’s heart slightly sinks. He redoubles his efforts and channels the Yang Gang power into the “Burst Rune” rune, but still, no changes occur.

After swiftly considering his options, he grits his teeth and increases the injection speed of the Yang Gang power several folds. Finally, he feels the rune on his chest start to warm up. It gets hotter and hotter, and he feels a vague sense of the scorching sensation from the moment before the rune burst in his dream.

Overjoyed, Shen Luo goes to inject more Yang Gang power, but the temperature of the “Small Thunder Talisman” on his chest suddenly cools down, and nothing unusual happens again.

He is momentarily stumped, trying to inject the rest of the Yang Gang power into the rune on his chest in one breath, but still, nothing changes.

Has he succeeded or failed in activating it?

Shen Luo himself is also somewhat confused!

He is not ready to give up. After developing some Yang Gang power through meditation, he draws another new “Small Thunder Talisman” on his body, but the attempt yields the same results as before.

The rune drawn with essence blood only heats up a little before nothing happens again.

Unable to figure it out, Shen Luo’s stomach starts growling loudly.

“Forget it, I need to leave it be for the time being, it’s lunchtime and I need to eat.” Shen Luo reluctantly stands up. After all that wear and tear, the body aches have mostly disappeared.

However, after taking a few steps outside, he abruptly returns, takes out a talisman from his sleeve, sticks it in the middle of his jade pillow. Only after carefully lifting the pillow off the bed and placing it under the table does he breathe a sigh of relief.

The dining hall is the most crowded during lunchtime. Shen Luo arrives a bit early and the place is not very full.

He takes his meal and sits down at his usual seat to eat.

Halfway through his meal, more people begin to stream into the dining hall.

Just then, someone pats Shen Luo’s left shoulder.

As he turned his head to look around, he noticed that the bench on his left was empty, but someone had already taken the seat on his right.

It was Bai Xiaotian.

“Junior Brother Shen, I have to say this; you must not slack off just because you’ve made a few progresses in your cultivation…” Bai Xiaotian put down his meal, assuming a demeanor of a senior painstakingly advising a junior.

“Why does Brother Bai say this?” Shen Luo asks, puzzled.

“This morning, after finishing my cultivation, I went to find you at the big rock in the Jade Emperor Hall, but you were not there. You’ve never missed a day, rain or shine, where were you?” Bai Xiaotian asked, his playful demeanor dropped.

“Oh… I was feeling a bit unwell when I woke up this morning. I was just meditating in my room.” Shen Luo hesitated slightly, choosing not to mention his dream, and replied as such.

Bai Xiaotian carefully examined Shen Luo’s complexion and noticed that he looks a bit out of sorts. He couldn’t help but worry. “How are you feeling now? Do you want me to take you to Master Luo for a check-up?”

“No need for that, I’m fine now. I’ll rest a bit after eating, and I should be okay by tomorrow.” Shen Luo responds with a smile.

“If you say so, then I won’t insist, just take it easy and rest.” Bai Xiaotian nods in agreement.

Shen Luo smiles and continues eating.

“Hey, you know, if you have some secrets… you can whisper them to me, I promise I won’t tell anyone,” Bai Xiaotian, after holding himself back, leans in and whispers.

“Beat it,” Shen Luo rolls his eyes at him, pretending to be angry.

“Ha ha …”

…

After lunch, Shen Luo didn’t return immediately after parting with Bai Xiaotian. Instead, he went to the Book Pavilion of the Spring and Autumn Pavilion, where he randomly browsed through some classics related to gold and stone materials.

Unfortunately, he didn’t find anything useful. There were no records similar to the bizarre material of the jade pillow.

Having no other choice, Shen Luo had to return to his residence.

As soon as he opened the door, he quickly glanced under the desk and saw the strange jade pillow still lying on the floor obediently.

He closed the door, bent over and placed the jade pillow on the table again, staring at it thoughtfully for a long time.

“No, this time I must determine what you are made of.” After a long time, Shen Luo gritted his teeth and said fiercely.

Having said that, he took out a piece of grey cotton cloth, wrapped the jade pillow in it, rushed out of the house, and headed straight for the back mountain.

At this moment, it was just past noon, the time when the Yang Qi between heaven and earth is most abundant. If there were any Yin spirits or evil creatures, they would be in hibernation. Shen Luo intended to take advantage of this time to thoroughly test the jade pillow for any anomalies.

The back mountain was in the shade, and most areas were only lit by the setting sun throughout the year. After a long search, Shen Luo found a protruding rock with no trees blocking it, bathing in the midday sun.

He placed the jade pillow on the rock and unfolded the grey cotton cloth.

Sunlight fell on the jade pillow, making its originally dim and yellowish color appear a bit more transparent. Yet, besides that, there was nothing unusual.

“I want to see if you really are indestructible.” Shen Luo braced himself, reaching behind his waist and pulling out a brightly polished axe.

He had borrowed this while on his way from the Dining Hall. Under the sunlight, it shone with a sharp and chilling light.

Previously, he had tried to test it with a small knife he carried with him, but it couldn’t leave a mark on the jade pillow. Now he simply swapped it for a bigger, more suitable chopping tool.

Shen Luo held the axe handle, not chopping down immediately. Instead, he scraped lightly on the jade pillow with the tip of the axe’s blade.

A slight noise sounded, and the jade pillow jolted slightly. When he moved the axe away to look, not a single scratch was left on the surface.

Seeing this, Shen Luo gripped the axe handle tightly. He motioned towards the jade pillow and twisted the axe blade, hitting the jade pillow hard with the bulky part of the axe.

A muffled “thud” sound echoed.

The axe was sent into a rebound, while the jade pillow remained unscathed.

This was still just a tentative strike, and Shen Luo didn’t use his full strength. He was worried about smashing the jade pillow into pieces and having something suddenly spring out of it, but evidently, he had underestimated the toughness of this jade pillow.

“Thud,” another muffled sound.

Having tested twice before, this time Shen Luo doesn’t hold back. The axe solidly hits the jade pillow, and the reverberation numbs Shen Luo’s hand. Simultaneously, a “crack” sound is heard.

“It cracked…”

To Shen Luo’s delight, he shook his hand and hurried to check.

In the end, the jade pillow remained intact. Instead, the rock that had endured the wind and sun for a long time had split.

“It seems I need to go all out.” Shen Luo’s brow slightly furrowed.

This time, he flipped the axe, not holding back at all. He raised the axe high, aiming its blade at the jade pillow, and heavily smashed it down.

“Clang…”

A sound of metal against stone rang out, and sparks flew from the jade pillow.

Shen Luo merely felt his hand go numb from the reverberation, and the axe rebounded back. His entire palm felt numb.

He flexed his wrist, held the axe in one hand and leaned it on the ground. He leaned over to take a closer look and was speechless.

The sharp and hard axe was bent like the small knife before, while the jade pillow was still unscathed.

“What the hell is this thing made of…” Shen Luo muttered as he looked at the patterns on the surface of the jade pillow.

At this moment, he was even more certain that the bizarre dream he had last night was definitely profoundly related to this thing.