Dreaming for 10,000 years

Chapter 372 Planting Trees
Although they are all called "jianghu" (江湖, meaning the martial arts world), they are not the same thing.

Just as all people are called human, some people are not human.

Lu Xiaofeng had spent several years navigating the treacherous world of martial arts, witnessing its harsh realities firsthand. He learned that people can become beasts in their struggle for survival.

People in the martial arts world are more terrifying than wild beasts.

Although Lu Xiaofeng didn't know which sect Huashan belonged to or what kind of world Linghu Chong was in, he could tell from Linghu Chong's dull and foolish behavior that...

That martial arts world must be quite ordinary. Because someone like Linghu Chong, in the martial arts world he's seen, probably wouldn't live to that age.

“In the martial arts world I’ve been in, those who live past twenty have either learned to forget or gone mad long ago,” Lu Xiaofeng said to Linghu Chong.

Linghu Chong opened his mouth, then sighed and said, "We are different."

“It is indeed different.” Lu Xiaofeng tilted his head back and took a sip of wine.

"I grew up on Mount Hua." Linghu Chong's voice suddenly softened, as if he had traveled back to his childhood. "There, there is snow that never melts, reflecting the gentle gaze of my master when he taught me swordsmanship. There are stone steps where my junior sister skipped and jumped, her footprints still remaining on the moss. There are shouts from my junior brothers during morning exercises, startling the birds all over the mountain."

Linghu Chong's eyes seemed to light up at this moment, a longing for the past: "Mount Hua is my home. I thought I would die there and be buried there, like all the disciples of Mount Hua in the past, with my name engraved on the stone tablet in the ancestral hall for future generations to admire."

“But now, I don’t even have the right to go back. I’ve been driven out of my own home.” Linghu Chong’s eyes were filled with desolation.

Lu Xiaofeng noticed that Linghu Chong's hand was trembling. The hand that was as steady as a rock when holding a sword was now like a withered leaf in the wind.

“They said I stole, they said I was a thief! But I don’t even know what that sword manual looks like. They believed those rumors, believed I was a thief, believed I betrayed Mount Hua. But Mount Hua is my home…”

Linghu Chong was filled with pain, because it was this small courtyard that gave him a sense of home and reminded him of his real home.

His home is gone.

Lu Xiaofeng looked at Linghu Chong, who was in great pain, and said, "Take it easy. Your Huashan Sect wasn't wiped out. Why are you acting like you're dying?"

It must be said that Lu Xiaofeng was quite skilled at comforting people.

"I..." Linghu Chong felt like he was talking to a brick wall. How could Lu Xiaopang not understand his inner pain?

"Such things are perfectly normal where we're from," Lu Xiaofeng said, patting his shoulder. "Disciples kill their masters for sword manuals. Masters make their disciples risk their lives for sword manuals—there are far too many cases like this."

“My master is a gentleman swordsman, not that kind of person!” Linghu Chong shook his head and said. He believed his master was a gentleman.

“What respectable person has the nickname ‘Gentleman’?” Lu Xiaofeng complained. “In the martial arts world, nicknames are all like Meteor Sword, Cold Rakshasa, and Master Hands Boss. Where is there a Gentleman Sword?”

"..." Linghu Chong didn't want to continue the conversation, so he got up and said, "I'm going to sleep."

"If you want to become the leader of the Huashan Sect, it's quite simple!" Linghu Chong heard Lu Xiaofeng say from behind him.

"If I were you, I'd create a new Mount Hua and oust them as the old Mount Hua!" Lu Xiaofeng continued, "In the martial world, it's all about might. Then, who will say you're not the leader of Mount Hua?"

Linghu Chong shook his head and pushed open the door, the night wind whipping up fine sand that stung his face. The little fat boy's twisted logic was more dizzying than the desert sun.

He pushed open the door and went back to his room. After tossing and turning, he finally fell asleep. The next day, just as dawn broke, he was woken up by Shi Fei. Fortunately, he had now begun cultivating his internal energy, so he only needed to sleep a few hours each day to be full of energy. And the reason he cultivated his internal energy was simply to... plant trees.

Carrying saplings to work is a physically demanding job. Most people with weak constitutions would die from the sun, let alone doing manual labor.

Shi Fei's bookshelf was filled with strange martial arts manuals, such as "The Three Chapters of the Mysterious Lord," "The Number One Water Under Heaven," and "I Am Not a Martial God." Linghu Chong chose one that was slightly less bizarre.

"The Overlord is the Ultimate Overlord!"
Yes, that's the name of this martial arts manual.

The cover of "Three Chapters of the Mysterious Lord" features a distorted human face, the title page of "The First Water Under Heaven" is stained with suspicious dirt, and the spine of "I Am Not a Martial God" has a charred fingerprint. In comparison, the simple and unadorned title "The Overlord is the Overlord of the Extreme" seems more normal.

According to martial arts records, after mastering the "Overlord is the ultimate Overlord" technique, one's entire body will possess extremely powerful and domineering qi, making one unparalleled in the world.

After Linghu Chong practiced the Extreme Yang Overlord technique, he was unaware of it, but he became much stronger and healthier. His tree-planting efficiency also increased significantly.

After the meal, Linghu Chong went to plant trees with Shi Fei and Lu Xiaofeng.

The blazing sun gradually climbed overhead. Linghu Chong carried the sapling, walking with uneven steps, when he suddenly felt his internal energy become unusually active.

The scorching desert sun, like countless golden needles, stung his skin until it burned, but it also caused the internal energy in his meridians to surge like boiling water.

"Huh?" He stopped to sense it, and the scorching true energy actually condensed into a ball in his dantian, as if he had gained ten years of cultivation out of thin air.

Shi Fei glanced at him, sized him up, and said, "You actually chose this martial art? The Extreme Overlord Technique is suitable for cultivation under the sun, so that you can complete the transformation of True Qi into Extreme Yang Overlord Qi."

Linghu Chong was overjoyed, but then he heard Shi Fei continue, "No wonder it's a technique specifically designed for planting trees."

Linghu Chong nearly slipped the sapling off his shoulder. So, after all this time, this domineering name was actually tailor-made for planting trees?

Under the scorching sun, three figures were busy among the sand dunes. Newly planted saxaul seedlings stood in neat rows, swaying gently in the hot wind.

Linghu Chong wiped his sweat and suddenly felt that compared to the complicated sword moves of Mount Hua and the deceit and treachery of the martial world, this kind of life under the trees was simple and enjoyable.

He looked at the boundless desert, and the trees that Shi Fei and the others had planted seemed like just a drop in the ocean in this sea of ​​sand.

"May I ask you, Elder Shi, how big is this desert?" Linghu Chong asked Shi Fei.

The nickname "Boss Shi" was learned from Lu Xiaofeng. The chubby boy kept calling him "Boss Shi" all the time, and Linghu Chong unconsciously started calling him that too.

"I don't know," Shi Fei said, shaking his head as he planted the trees.

Linghu Chong gazed at the undulating sand dunes in the distance and asked again, "How long would it take to plant trees to cover this entire desert?"

Shi Fei said calmly, "I don't know."

"...Since he didn't know, why did Boss Shi still go and plant it?" Linghu Chong thought that Shi Fei truly lived up to Lu Xiaofeng's description of him as an oddball.

“As long as we plant, the desert will disappear one day,” Shi Fei said.

(End of this chapter)