Dreaming for 10,000 years

Chapter 377 Wake up
Linghu Chong was tense all over, facing the terrifying giant ape that was ten feet tall, his internal energy surging, ready to fight to the death!
"quiet."

Shi Fei's voice drifted out from inside the room, as light as a feather, yet carrying an irresistible force.

In an instant, the colossal ape that blotted out the sky froze, as if bound by some invisible force. Its roar ceased abruptly, and its massive body shrank rapidly like a deflated balloon, its fur disappeared, its fangs vanished, and it finally shrank into a naked child curled up on the ground.

It was Sun Wukong!
A night breeze swept by, stirring up wisps of dust. Linghu Chong stood frozen in place, his throat tight, and it took him a long while to come to his senses.

"Boss Shi! Lu Xiaofeng is missing!" He rushed to Shi Fei's door, his voice filled with panic.

Inside the room, Shi Fei's voice remained calm, even tinged with a hint of languor: "What's the panic? Lu Xiaofeng has just woken up. Go and tidy up; we still have work to do tomorrow."

Linghu Chong paused, then turned to look at the ruins. Collapsed walls, shattered beams, scattered rubble... but Lu Xiaofeng was nowhere to be seen.

He strode forward and searched through the ruins, his fingertips brushing against the cold sand, but he found no trace of blood or signs of a struggle.

It was as if Lu Xiaofeng had never existed.

Where is Lu Xiaofeng?

Lu Xiaofeng shook his heavy head, a dull pain shooting through the back of his neck. His eyelids felt like they were filled with lead, and it took a lot of effort to open them.

What came into view was a dilapidated little temple.

The broken clay statue of a deity lay askew on the altar, half its face peeled away, its empty eye sockets staring directly at him. Spiderwebs covered the corner of the wall, and a black spider hung silently on its silken thread, swaying gently in the draft.

"Where...is this?"

He propped himself up, his palms touching the cold floor tiles, feeling a fine layer of dust. He was clearly sleeping in Boss Shi's yard last night, so how did he end up in this godforsaken place when he opened his eyes?
"and many more--"

Memories flooded back like a tide. Deserts, oases, planting trees, building houses... and that strange little boy with a tail, Sun Wukong.

"So...it was a dream?"

He gave a wry smile, touched his pockmarked face, and felt the prickly texture of it.

Now, the dream is over.

The temple door was suddenly kicked open, and blinding sunlight streamed in.

"Here it is! That meddlesome pockmarked man was indeed hiding here!"

Three burly men blocked the doorway, their long knives gleaming coldly. The leader was a dark-faced man with a scar running from his brow bone to the corner of his mouth on his left cheek, resembling a centipede crawling across his face.

Lu Xiaofeng squinted—the sunlight was too dazzling, but he still recognized the black tiger pattern embroidered on the other person's clothes.

Black Tiger Gang.

"**Pockmarked guy, what are you pretending to be stupid for?" Scarface spat, pointing the tip of his knife at his nose. "Weren't you quite the big shot by the Blackwater River last time? You even dared to interfere with our Black Tiger Gang's business!"

Blackwater River?
The fragments of memory suddenly came together.

Two weeks ago, he was passing by the Qingshui River when he witnessed the Black Tiger Gang robbing and killing people. Seven or eight farmers were pinned to the riverbank, their blood staining the river red.

Blackwater River and Tiger Head Mountain are where the Black Tiger Gang has been committing crimes.

Seeing this, Lu Xiaofeng naturally couldn't resist getting involved. So he intervened, saving the remaining people and killing the Black Tiger Gang members.

So, they've come seeking revenge...

"Remember now?" The scarred man grinned maliciously as he approached. "Today, Grandpa will teach you a lesson—"

The sword flashed!
Lu Xiaofeng suddenly turned to the side, the blade grazing his ear and severing a few strands of hair. He rolled behind the altar, his fingers touching half a broken brick.

"A busybody—"

The second blow shattered the altar, sending wood chips flying!
"You won't live long!" Almost instinctively, Lu Xiaofeng raised his hand, his fingertips twitching slightly, about to unleash a sharp burst of true energy, just like when he dealt with Linghu Chong in his dream, he could repel a powerful enemy with a flick of his finger.

But the fingertips are empty.

There was no surge of powerful internal energy, no gust of wind breaking through the air; only damp dust inside the temple slowly floated in the sunlight.

He suddenly realized that he was just an unknown nobody in the martial arts world, neither a disciple of a prestigious sect nor possessing any unparalleled martial arts skills. In the eyes of others, he was just a meddlesome, pockmarked fat man who only meddled in the affairs of third-rate gangs like the Black Tiger Gang.

Right now, he was being cornered in this dilapidated temple by three burly men wielding knives.

Scarface's heart tightened when he saw Lu Xiaofeng suddenly raise his hand, thinking the fat man was about to unleash some hidden weapon. But after waiting for a while, nothing happened.

"You're asking for death!" Scarface roared, his long sword transforming into a streak of cold light as he slashed straight at Lu Xiaofeng's hand, which was still suspended in mid-air.

Just as the blade was about to sever the wrist—

Snapped!
Lu Xiaofeng's hand flipped like a nimble snake, his five fingers striking the blade with pinpoint accuracy. This seemingly light strike contained a hidden force, causing Scarface's hand to go numb and the long sword to almost fly out of his grasp.

"what?"

Lu Xiaofeng himself was stunned. Without the support of internal energy, the moves he had honed in his dream seemed to be etched into his bones. His body moved faster than his mind, and he naturally unleashed the "Flowing Clouds Sweeping Sleeves" move.

The book "100,000 Sets of Martial Arts" was indeed true!
He stopped tumbling and instead stood up straight. Inside the dilapidated temple, sunlight streamed through holes in the roof, casting dappled shadows on him.

"You've got some skills." Scarface shook his numb wrist, his eyes flashing with even more ferocity. "No wonder you dared to provoke our Black Tiger Gang!"

Before the words were even finished, the three of them attacked simultaneously.

Three long swords slashed down from different angles. One aimed straight for his throat, ruthless and deadly; another swept across his waist and abdomen, determined to cut him in half; and the last one blocked his escape route, its tip pointing directly at his heart.

The flashing blades wove a web of death, enveloping Lu Xiaofeng within it.

In that instant, it was as if three Lu Xiaofengs appeared simultaneously inside the dilapidated temple.

The first one sidestepped the blade at the throat, his fingertips pecking at the wrist of the knife-wielder like a crane's beak.

He ducked to avoid a slash to the waist, and at the same time swept his opponent over with a leg sweep.

The third one circled around to the back like a ghost and delivered a heavy elbow strike to the spine of the last big man.

"Ugh!"

Three cries of pain rang out almost simultaneously. The three burly men felt a blur before their eyes, and a piercing pain shot through their wrists. When they came to their senses, their long knives had already slipped from their hands, and they were kicked backward by a tremendous force.

Choking——

Three long swords twirled in the air, their blades reflecting the sunlight filtering through the dilapidated temple roof, tracing three bright arcs.

Lu Xiaofeng leaped forward and caught one of them steadily.

The moment the knife touched his hand, the temperature plummeted. It wasn't that the knife had gotten cold, but rather that his hand holding it was as steady as a rock, without the slightest hesitation.

The sword suddenly appeared.

The slash was so fast it was almost invisible, leaving only a silvery-white afterimage in the air. Blood spurted from the necks of the three burly men as the blade passed.

Lu Xiaofeng had his back to the three of them, because of a dream, he had stepped into the person he was yesterday.

Now, he has to deal with the Black Tiger Gang.

(End of this chapter)