Dreaming for 10,000 years

Chapter 406 Priest
Yu Tian sat cross-legged on a stone platform inside the cave, his hands forming a mudra, his breathing gradually slowing. As his inner energy circulated, his consciousness gradually sank into a state of chaos.

In a daze, scorching sandstorm lashed his face. Yu Tian opened his eyes and found himself standing in the middle of an endless desert. The sun blazed overhead, the sand was burning hot, and the distant heatwave distorted the horizon.

"This is."

He looked down at his palms and saw that his skin was cracking at a visible rate. His throat burned as if he had swallowed a handful of red-hot iron filings.

The desert was eerily silent.

There was no wind, no insect chirping, only a deathly silence.

Yu Tian strode forward, and with each step, sand seeped into his boots, scalding his ankles. He saw his shadow twist and distort on the sand, sometimes elongating like a ghost, sometimes shrinking into a ball.

Suddenly, an oasis appeared in the distance. The silhouettes of saxaul trees swayed in the heat. Yu Tian's eyes lit up with joy—was this it?

Did he dream of Shi Fei again?

Ignoring the scorching sand burning his feet, he staggered toward the oasis.

Every step felt like walking on a red-hot iron plate, but the instinct for survival drove him forward. Strangely, no matter how fast he ran, the oasis remained forever out of reach, as ethereal and unattainable as a mirage.

Just as he was about to exhaust himself, the sand beneath his feet suddenly collapsed. Yu Tian fell into the quicksand, the scalding sand instantly engulfing him up to his chest.

"Ho—!"

Yu Tian suddenly opened his eyes, his pupils flashing with crimson flames. The stone walls of the cave shook violently in his vision, and he realized with a start that he had never left the stone platform where he was cultivating.

The desert illusion just now was actually a prelude to going mad!
The internal energy within his body went completely berserk, transforming into scalding torrents of heat that surged and crashed through his meridians. His skin turned an unnatural crimson, and with each breath he exhaled scorching white steam.

The dry grass around the stone platform hissed and emitted wisps of smoke, while the moss on the cave walls visibly withered and curled up.

The pain of cracked skin and the burning agony in his throat during the illusion were real reflections of his internal energy spiraling out of control. At this moment, he was like a human-shaped furnace, his internal organs being roasted in flames.

The excruciating pain, like being burned alive, made Yu Tian grit his teeth, silently repeating a single word in his mind.

"quiet!"

Who can make the turbid water still, gradually becoming clear when left to settle? Who can make the still water last, gradually becoming active when left to move?
The fire inside the cave grew ever stronger, the flames already licking at the cave ceiling. But in the heart of this scorching inferno, Yu Tian gradually calmed down.

He no longer resisted the pain, but instead, like an ascetic monk in the desert, let the flames consume him, while preserving a sliver of clarity deep within his consciousness.

A miraculous change began.

The raging flames suddenly subsided, like weary birds returning to their nests, trickling back into his seven orifices.

Beneath his charred skin, a jade-like luster shone, and his rampaging true energy slowly swirled into a vortex in his dantian. As the last flame disappeared into his brow, a hazy, clear light rose around Yu Tian, ​​sweeping away the remaining heat in the cave.

"Tian, ​​are you alright?"

The sound of a small bell came from the cave entrance, carrying a hint of cautious probing. She stood at the cave entrance, holding a bundle of freshly picked wild vegetables, the morning light outlining her slender silhouette behind her.

The charred stone walls and lingering heat inside the cave made her heart skip a beat, but a bright smile remained on her face.

"How could anything happen to me?" Yu Tian turned around, the lingering gusts of wind around him brushing away the last wisps of smoke.

A gentle smile played on his lips, and golden light shimmered in his eyes: "I just dreamt of the Cat God and received new insights, which has improved my skills."

Little Bell looked at the scorching wind that suddenly appeared around Yu Tian and said with a smile, "That's good! I've made dinner, come and eat!"

"Hmm!" Yu Tian nodded, stood up, and reached out to ruffle Xiao Lingdang's hair, brushing away a blade of grass clinging to it. Xiao Lingdang was worried about Yu Tian's dangerous training sessions, but she didn't show it. She was afraid that Yu Tian would worry because of her.

After the meal, Yu Tian went to the riverbank to practice his newly acquired swordsmanship. Ever since imitating Shi Fei, he had gained new insights every time he experienced a qi deviation.

The rising sun dyed the river water golden. He lightly touched the surface with his toes, his bone sword tracing a fiery arc in the air. Suddenly, he caught a glimpse of a dark shadow drifting upstream.

That's a person.

Yu Tian's eyes sharpened, and he darted across the river like a hawk, taking three steps across the water to reach the man.

In the flowing water, a emaciated man bobbed up and down, his pale skin exposed beneath his tattered clothes. What alarmed Yu Tian most were the man's wrists and ankles; the deep purple marks from the bindings were festering and suppurating, clearly indicating that he had been bound for many days.

"Still alive!"

It's incredibly lucky that he didn't drown or get eaten by big fish in the river.

Yu Tian reached out and scooped the person up, nearly dropping him in shock. The body was incredibly light, as if it were just skin and bones.

But what's even stranger is that when his palm touched the other person's back, he felt a faint power, different from the internal energy of martial arts, flowing through his meridians.

Fifteen minutes later, under the pressure of Yu Tian's internal energy, the man suddenly convulsed violently and vomited several mouthfuls of turbid river water.

"Cough—cough cough—"

"Is this the world after death?" The man weakly opened his eyes, looked around blankly, and uttered a few words with trembling, cracked lips.

“No, this is Mi Mountain,” Yu Tian said, shaking his head.

Upon hearing this, the man turned his head with difficulty. When he saw Yu Tian's face clearly, a glimmer of clarity suddenly flashed in his cloudy eyes: "It's you?"

His hoarse voice was filled with disbelief, "You... saved me?"

"You...know me?" Yu Tian frowned slightly, his fingers unconsciously tightening. "Are you from Hebo City?"

"."

The man suddenly laughed. The laugh was like that of the last struggling fish on a dried-up riverbed, carrying an indescribable bitterness.

He raised his scarred arm and pointed to his festering hands, where a wavy pattern, destroyed by a branding iron, was faintly visible.

“I was once the priest of the River God,” he said, a trickle of blood seeping from the corner of his mouth with each word, “I saw you at the altar that day.”

"Hmm?" Yu Tian became more alert, and then heard the person say, "But now... I am already a sinner of the River God."

"sinner?"

"Because I have offended the River God, and offended the gods!" The man's voice carried an inexplicable tone.

Aren't priests servants of God?
How could one possibly offend God?
Priests will certainly offend God, because ordinary people don't have the opportunity to offend God!

“So…” Yu Tian slowly stood up, his shadow looming over the priest: “What did you do? Did you offend the River God?”

Yu Tian realized that in this world where humans and gods coexist, those who understand the dark side of the gods best are probably the priests who serve the gods day and night.

(End of this chapter)