Records of Mysterious Things in the Southern Dynasties

Chapter 22: The Immortal Pillow

"Because of this pillow?" Ren Yuan took the stone pillow at the signal of the mountain god A Yao. It was agate in color and warm to the touch, unlike ordinary stone pillows that were icy cold.

"Yes, this is not an ordinary pillow, but the 'Traveling Fairy Pillow' which is said to allow one to travel to ten continents, three islands, four seas and five lakes in a dream if one sleeps with it." A Yao said proudly, "It is said to be a treasure handed down from ancient times."

"Is it so amazing?" Ren Yuan was immediately in awe, and looked at it carefully. He saw that the pillow was carved into the shape of a boat with two upturned ends. The carving was quite crude, and two seal-style characters "Youxian" were engraved on the side.

But after a closer look, he found that the carvings on it seemed to be some kind of array runes, which made him feel creepy and as if he was being sucked in. He was so scared that he quickly looked away.

"Of course." A Yao said proudly, "It is said that there is a secret to becoming an immortal hidden in it. Wu Xiang plotted against me just for this treasure, but it was a pity that it would be useless to him, so he could only let Fang Liang keep it, hoping that one day I would suddenly speak up and tell them the real use of this treasure."

"I think you probably don't know either." Ren Yuan looked at this unreliable mountain god.

"Hate it! How can you poke someone's lungs?" Ah Yao's pretty face immediately fell, and she rubbed the civet cat's head vigorously and said, "But I'm not completely ignorant of it."

As she spoke, she let go of the ravaged and deformed civet cat, looked at Ren Yuan coquettishly and said, "This thing may not be of much use to others, but it will be of great use to you."

"What do you mean?" Ren Yuan asked.

"It can save you from being troubled by those recurring nightmares. Do you think it is very useful?" A Yao asked him with a blink.

"Really?" Ren Yuan's eyes lit up immediately. He was really interested in this... Feeling the pain of skinning every night was almost driving him crazy.

Especially since this nightmare was of no use at all and was nothing but pure torture.

Now that someone told him that they could help him get rid of this nightmare, it would be strange if Ren Yuan was not tempted.

"Is it true? You will know if you sleep with it as a pillow for a night," A Yao said with a smile.

"Okay, I'll give it a try." Ren Yuan readily followed suit.

~~
Ren Yuan continued searching, but he couldn't find the magic weapon or elixir he wanted most.

Ah Yao sat on the box and said with a smile, "This is normal. Firstly, magic weapons and elixirs are extremely scarce in this world. Secondly, even if there are any, they will not be in the hands of wild ghosts like us."

"What about this Immortal Pillow?" Ren Yuan asked.

"This was left with me by my master. It will be mine when he dies." A Yao answered without hesitation.

"..." Ren Yuan's mouth twitched, and he was powerless to complain.

He was about to end the search when he suddenly discovered a secret compartment in the secret room. He fumbled around excitedly and pulled out a locked wooden box.

After a lot of trouble, I finally opened the box.

A Yao and the civet cat also came over curiously, their six eyes staring at the six black porcelain jars with yellow talismans on them in the box.

"What's inside?" The civet cat stretched out its paw curiously, wanting to find out.

But Ren Yuan stretched out his hand to stop him and said, "Don't move. Curiosity kills the cat."

"A Yuan is right." A Yao also put away his smile and said seriously, "It's better not to touch this thing."

"Ah?" The civet cat asked nervously with round eyes, "What's in here?"

"I don't know either." A Yao shook her head lightly and pointed at the talisman on top and said, "But I know this is a talisman to suppress evil spirits, so the things sealed inside must be evil."

"Think carefully, have you really never seen this thing?" Ren Yuan looked at the civet cat.

The civet cat spread out its paws and said, "I don't know everything."

"Forget it." Ren Yuan closed the box again and said, "Let's dig a deep pit and bury this thing underground to prevent it from causing harm to others."

"Leave this matter to me. I have a little brother named Pangolin." A Yao took the initiative to take responsibility.

"Okay, we'll go together then." Ren Yuan responded. He was too unprofessional in this kind of thing, so it would be better for him not to get involved.

~~
When I came out of the basement, the moon was bright outside.

The inner courtyard has been completely destroyed, and since Ren Yuan is the second young master of the Xie family, he has to keep vigil for the Xie family at night.

So he asked Chibao to keep an eye on the inner courtyard, and he went to the mourning hall in the front yard.

A Yao's mountain temple had long been destroyed, and he had nowhere to go for the time being, so he followed him with the civet cat in his arms. The mourning hall was all white, with four coffins placed under the big word "葬" (meaning "to bury the dead"), and the white candles were struggling and shaking in the sobbing wind, which made Ren Yuan's heart creep out.

"They won't fake their deaths, will they?" he asked in a low voice.

"Don't worry." A Yao chuckled nonchalantly and said, "Just kill it again like that."

"That's right, you haven't taken revenge yourself yet. If I were them, I would never give you this opportunity." Ren Yuan also relaxed and went into the next room where the vigilants rested.

"You live in the small room inside." He said to A Yao.

"No need to go through so much trouble, we can just stay in one room." A Yao snapped his fingers and a string of sparks flew out, lighting the candlestick in the room.

"Okay." Ren Yuan followed suit. He needed a little sense of security tonight.

So he asked the maid to bring dinner, and also asked someone to send two fat geese to Leopard.

There was only a table in the room, and the maid wanted to move another snack table in, but Ren Yuan didn't like to cause trouble for others, so he asked her to put the food for both of them on one table.

Soon, Ren Yuan regretted it.

He originally thought that A Yao looked like someone who didn't care about worldly things. He estimated that she was not only a vegetarian but also had a small appetite, so he asked the kitchen to prepare a small but fine vegetarian dish for her.

Unexpectedly, the other person eats a lot of meat and has a bigger appetite than him, and eats very fast.

Ren Yuan stared at A Yao who was swept away by the wind in astonishment. He felt that the fairy filter he had in the morning had shattered into pieces before it lasted even a day...

"Oh my god, I finally had a full meal after three years." After finishing her meal, A-Yao patted her still flat belly and said, "That old witch only gave me a little millet and water every day, which was not even enough to fill my teeth."

"Uh..." Ren Yuan looked at the empty plate and said speechlessly, "Do you know that there is a rice immortal who can eat rice without vegetables?"

"Ah? That's so uncomfortable." A Yao said sympathetically: "It's better to match the food with the dishes, so that you can eat comfortably."

"Why don't you leave some food for me?!" Ren Yuan said unhappily.

The civet cat eating dried fish rolled on the ground with joy.

"I'm sorry, we haven't eaten together for a long time and forgot that you also have to eat vegetables." A Yao stuck out her bright red tongue apologetically.

"It's okay." Ren Yuan accepted her apology magnanimously, and ate up the rice in the bowl with the dried fish that the civet cat gave him.

But I secretly decided in my heart that we should eat at separate tables from now on.

~~
After washing up after dinner, Ren Yuan couldn't wait to try the stone pillow to see if it was as magical as A Yao said.

Ah Yao reminded him, "You can't just sleep like this, or you'll die of thirst if you don't starve to death."

Ren Yuan was puzzled and said, "I never feel hungry in my dreams."

"You were just dreaming, of course you're not hungry." A Yao said, "But if you sleep with the Youxian Pillow, even your body will enter that dream world. And if nothing unexpected happens, you will not wake up until five days in the dream."

"I understand." Ren Yuan nodded. The time he spent in his dreams every night was indeed five days.

So he asked the maid to bring a bag of dry food and a large bucket of water, and then asked, "How can I bring it into my dream?"

"Lie down first." A Yao let him lie on the stone pillow, then held the dry food bag with her left arm and the water bucket with her right arm. She clapped her hands and smiled, "That's all right."

"A Yuan, you look like the Chinese character '奭'." Seeing Ren Yuan's funny look, the civet cat jumped for joy.

"You look like the character '丌'!" Ren Yuan retorted.

"You two are not allowed to swear." A Yao gave them both a slap on the head, and then said to Ren Yuan: "Go to sleep, A Yuan."

"How can I sleep like this?" Ren Yuan was speechless. He was lying on a stone pillow, shaped like the Chinese character "奭", and there were two funny people laughing beside him. It would be strange if he could sleep.

"That's easy." A Yao smiled sweetly, drew a sleeping charm on her palm, and pressed it on his forehead.

Ren Yuan's eyelids drooped and he fell into a deep sleep.

(End of this chapter)