When the litter finally came to a stop, Ye Qing squinted at the signboard on the temples roof and muttered, The Five Viscera Temple?
The temple was made from bones, and it looked like a bone giant without a head from the outside. There were five niches[1] placed at the east, south, west, north and center of the temple, but instead of statues, they held a human heart, liver, spleen, lungs and kidneys respectively.
All five organs looked bloodied and fresh. It was as if they had just been dug out of a living humans body.
Ye Qing narrowed his eyes some more. A temple that was shaped like a headless human, and five organs placed in five directions to represent the five phases[2]. This is definitely the Five Viscera Temple.
Despite Chus best efforts to educate the people, there remained some places in the realm where the people were particularly ignorant and superstitious. One such superstition involved using the heart, liver, spleen, lungs and kidneys to build a Five Viscera Temple and worship the Five Temple God. They believed that they would gain his blessing and protection if they did this, and fresh viscera was the best offering they could give him.
This was a thing even back in Ye Qings world where the supernatural didnt exist, so of course human sacrifice was still a thing in certain places. This was particularly prevalent for those who worshiped the Five Temple God where a temple of bones were built, and a living humans internal organs were splayed across the floor as offerings.
Are these paper dolls planning to sacrifice me to the Five Temple God?
Ye Qing had more or less figured out the Strangers objective at this point. Paper dolls sacrificing humans to worship a deity instead of the other way around? Interesting.
But why is this dream unfolding this way? I entered Nanke to train, and this doesnt look like training!
As expected, the two paper dolls dragged him into the temple as soon as they set down the litter. The paper dolls outside the temple had dropped to their knees as well.
Inside the temple, the two paper dolls summoned a paper knife and severed the paper rope binding him. Then, they got ready to dig out his internal organs.
The second the paper rope was severed, Ye Qing suddenly realized he could move his limbs and channel his energies like normal. He didnt hesitate to unleash his astral qi and burned the two paper dolls into dust.
Rumble!
The Five Viscera Temple shook once, and bright red blood began seeping out of the five organs placed at the five phases. At the same time, a loud and imposing voice boomed inside the temple,
You dare blaspheme against a god, mortal?
As if on cue, the paper dolls outside the temple swarmed in like locusts.
Ye Qing threw a punch. The Burning Wind burned dozens of paper dolls into ash in an instant.
Their numbers were endless, however. As more paper dolls quickly flooded into the temple, Red Sleeve slipped into his hand, and he spun a full circle on his feet. A gentle breeze joined the night, and the blade flashed crimson.
Spring Wind
Love was the graveyard of all heroes. An entire horde of paper dolls dissolved into dust just like that.
Not done yet, Ye Qing threw Red Sleeve into the air, blade facing toward the ground. When it fell, countless saber forces burst out of its body and rained on top of the paper dolls like thin, fine rain.
Fine Rain
Ye Qing didnt wait for the attack to hit his enemies. He threw another punch with his left fist.
Cloud Vaporization Style
The fine rain was long and seemingly unending. Countless paper dolls were shredded into itsy bitsy pieces by the saber forces. Then, Ye Qings fist force gathered up the remains like a vacuum, plowed into the thick of it like a vacuum, and exploded like a bomb. The invisible flames howled like a hurricane as countless paper dolls were consumed by it.
The moment didnt last, however. Just a few breaths laterthe second the invisible flames grew a tad weakermore paper dolls climbed over and around the flames and surrounded Ye Qing.
Divide
Break Through
Flowing Cloud, Flying Sleeve[3]
Illusionists Grace
Nine Impetus of Tai Chi
Hellfire Red Lotus Saber Art
Ye Qing danced through the paper dolls like a phantom. Movement art, fist art, saber arthe used it all.
The paper dolls were only as strong as a late-stage Vessel Augmentor, but the problem was that their numbers seemed infinite. Ye Qing was a Spirit Purifier with an immense amount of astral qi, but he lacked the one advantage that put him above all othersthe Annon Sutra.
For whatever reason, the Annon Sutra didnt exist in the dream, and so he was unable to pop a dragon-serpent rune and restore his strength. As a result, he slowly ran out of astral qi and could only rely on his body to fight against the paper dolls.
Having depleted his true qi, his techniques were far less powerful than they were before. At first, he still used complicated and powerful techniques to clear swathes of enemies. However, he quickly realized that the results were subpar, and they cost stamina he couldnt afford to waste to execute.
His techniques began growing simpler and simpler. In the end, he was killing the paper dolls using basic techniques alone. A straight punch, an elbow strike, a basic kick, a basic sweep; a simple cut, a basic swing, an orthodox block, a standard parry. He was able to hone his techniques to the point where every part of his body had become a weapon.
Finally, he managed to kill all of the paper dolls before his stamina ran out. But before he could even let out a sigh of relief, the temple suddenly shuddered unnaturally, and the heart, liver, spleen, lungs and kidneys flew out and turned into semi-transparent silhouettes.
You dare blaspheme against a god, mortal?
Ye Qing looked up at the five silhouettes. One silhouette was holding a Five Fire Cover, another was gripping a Wooden Talisman Sword, a third was wielding a Qilin Shield, a fourth was swinging a White Tiger Truncheon, and the last silhouette was grasping a Water Splitting Battle Axe.
The next moment, five Vermillion Birds flew out of the Five Fire Cover and covered the sky in crimson fire, the Wooden Talisman Sword turned into the Azure Dragon and caused the forest to grow like crazy, the Qilin Shield turned into an actual Qilin that ripped the earth asunder, the White Tiger truncheon turned into the legendary White Tiger, and the Water Splitting Battle Axe turned into the Dark Tortoise.
Motherfucker!
Faced with such an apocalyptic scene, Ye Qing could only let out a furious, impotent cry before a sea of fire and water annihilated every atom in his body. The next moment, he opened his eyes and saw Nanke floating in the air, and its bronze double doors slowly swinging shut.
Youre awake, master, White Lord greeted him smilingly after the doors were shut.
How much time has passed? Ye Qing asked.
Seven or eight minutes or so, Black Lord replied.
Only eight minutes? Ye Qing raised an eyebrow. He had survived over six hours in the dreamscape before the Five Temple God got serious and annihilated his ass, but in reality only eight minutes had passed. It really was the Nanke Dream.
Did you get what you were wishing for, master? White Lord asked.
I have! Ye Qing answered honestly.
As the saying went, there was no better teacher than experience. The six-hour long battle was short, but his understanding and mastery of his fist arts, saber arts, movement arts and more had jumped a level. His combat experience especially had increased drastically.
I lasted shorter than I expected though. Ye Qing looked at White Lord. Is every dream this difficult?
He lasted six hours only because he was strong. Anyone else at his cultivation level would probably last three hours at most. If he was a weakling, what improvement could he possibly derive from several minutes of combat?
The point was, this wasnt the significant improvement he was promised.
White Lord explained, Master, your dream is created based on your strength, the martial art you wish to improve in, and many more variables. To put it simply, the difficulty of the dream is directly proportional to your strength, the level of improvement you desire, and the number of martial arts you wish to improve at the same time.
Realization struck Ye Qing. No wonder the dream was as difficult as it was. When he constructed the dream, his wish was to improve in everything. Since every martial art he practiced was exceptional to a certain degree, it was no wonder he faced the Four fucking Symbols[4] themselves just six hours into the battle.
The next time he uses Nanke, he should envision one or two martial arts at most. This way, the dream would be more on point, and it wouldnt be so unbelievably difficult that he was booted out just six hours into the dream. That was the best way to maximize the Strange Artifacts effectiveness.
Why didnt you tell me this before? Ye Qings voice turned a little icy.
You didnt ask, White Lord complained in an aggrieved voice.
Can I use Nanke again? Ye Qing asked.
White Lord shook its head. No. Youll need to wait a full day starting now.
Fine. By the way, may I know what your next request is? Ye Qing asked another question.
White Lord answered, It doesnt work like that, master. Well only make a request the next time you use Nanke.
Fine. I shouldve known it would be a waste of breath! Ye Qing grunted.
Uwu I knew that all men are bastards! White Lord began weeping, When you need me, youll call me baby. But as soon as youre done with me, youll kick me aside like a pair of sandals!
Despicable! Black Lord spat on the floor.
Ye Qing: ... Im not even attacking you specifically. You can speak with my lawyer if you think that. Why are you acting like Im a playboy who dumps his woman as soon as he gets tired of her?
In the end, Ye Qing shrugged. If thats what you think, then sure. I dont care to change your opinion. He then put Nanke away before they could make a response.
Maybe Im a playboy after all. When it comes to Strange Artifacts at least, muahahaha!
After he put Nanke away, Ye Qing lay down on the bed and was out like a light.
Technically speaking, whatever he experienced inside the Nanke Dream wouldnt transmit to reality. But the dream was so real that he felt like he had just fought a six-hour long battle. Naturally, he needed a good sleep to wash away the fatigue.
It was midnight when it began raining cats and dogs again. The downpour was so strong it was as if the rainwater had merged with the night to form a black prison.
Suddenly, a patch of still shadow began to move unnaturally. It was an inn, but it was moving about like it was alive. The walls were wriggling, and a pair of giant eyeballs abruptly appeared to the left and right of the main entrance of the inn. The double doors opened and closed as a puff of hot air was ejected into the surroundings almost like a yawn.
Then, the inn shook and began rising into the air. What looked like four tortoise legs appeared on the four corners of the inn. The legs stretched and bent for a bit like a man who was stretching his legs, and the giant eyeballs shone with clear comfort.
Whoosh!
The next moment, the main entrance of the inn swung open, and the walls beside it crumpled inward. The strong wind and the cold rain were sucked into the inn until it grew an entire size.
Finally, the inn took off into the rain like a horse, except that it was an inn. It crossed mountains and rivers like they were nothing and traveled several kilometers in just the blink of an eye. Strangely, its movement didnt cause any sound whatsoever.
Mm
Inside his room, Ye Qing was deep asleep. However, his brows would knit together, and his breathing would turn rapid from time to time. He seemed to be sleeping very poorly for some reason.
Ye Qing was dreaming himself sleeping in his bed, but instead of getting twice the satisfaction, he dreamed that a pair of giant eyes would flutter open and stare at him from the ceiling every time he closed his eyes. But when he opened his eyes to look, the eyes would disappear like they never existed.
He knew they existed though. They just wouldnt appear when his eyes were open. It was almost like the pair of eyes was playing peekaboo with him. It was as eerie as it was preposterous.
1. A shallow recess, especially one in a wall to display a statue or other ornament.
2. Coincidentally the same as the five elements, namely wood, fire, earth, metal and water. Or maybe its literally the same thing, just different name.
3. Man, it has been a while.
4. Referring to the four divine beasts.
When the litter finally came to a stop, Ye Qing squinted at the signboard on the temples roof and muttered, The Five Viscera Temple?
The temple was made from bones, and it looked like a bone giant without a head from the outside. There were five niches[1] placed at the east, south, west, north and center of the temple, but instead of statues, they held a human heart, liver, spleen, lungs and kidneys respectively.
All five organs looked bloodied and fresh. It was as if they had just been dug out of a living humans body.
Ye Qing narrowed his eyes some more. A temple that was shaped like a headless human, and five organs placed in five directions to represent the five phases[2]. This is definitely the Five Viscera Temple.
Despite Chus best efforts to educate the people, there remained some places in the realm where the people were particularly ignorant and superstitious. One such superstition involved using the heart, liver, spleen, lungs and kidneys to build a Five Viscera Temple and worship the Five Temple God. They believed that they would gain his blessing and protection if they did this, and fresh viscera was the best offering they could give him.
This was a thing even back in Ye Qings world where the supernatural didnt exist, so of course human sacrifice was still a thing in certain places. This was particularly prevalent for those who worshiped the Five Temple God where a temple of bones were built, and a living humans internal organs were splayed across the floor as offerings.
Are these paper dolls planning to sacrifice me to the Five Temple God?
Ye Qing had more or less figured out the Strangers objective at this point. Paper dolls sacrificing humans to worship a deity instead of the other way around? Interesting.
But why is this dream unfolding this way? I entered Nanke to train, and this doesnt look like training!
As expected, the two paper dolls dragged him into the temple as soon as they set down the litter. The paper dolls outside the temple had dropped to their knees as well.
Inside the temple, the two paper dolls summoned a paper knife and severed the paper rope binding him. Then, they got ready to dig out his internal organs.
The second the paper rope was severed, Ye Qing suddenly realized he could move his limbs and channel his energies like normal. He didnt hesitate to unleash his astral qi and burned the two paper dolls into dust.
Rumble!
The Five Viscera Temple shook once, and bright red blood began seeping out of the five organs placed at the five phases. At the same time, a loud and imposing voice boomed inside the temple,
You dare blaspheme against a god, mortal?
As if on cue, the paper dolls outside the temple swarmed in like locusts.
Ye Qing threw a punch. The Burning Wind burned dozens of paper dolls into ash in an instant.
Their numbers were endless, however. As more paper dolls quickly flooded into the temple, Red Sleeve slipped into his hand, and he spun a full circle on his feet. A gentle breeze joined the night, and the blade flashed crimson.
Spring Wind
Love was the graveyard of all heroes. An entire horde of paper dolls dissolved into dust just like that.
Not done yet, Ye Qing threw Red Sleeve into the air, blade facing toward the ground. When it fell, countless saber forces burst out of its body and rained on top of the paper dolls like thin, fine rain.
Fine Rain
Ye Qing didnt wait for the attack to hit his enemies. He threw another punch with his left fist.
Cloud Vaporization Style
The fine rain was long and seemingly unending. Countless paper dolls were shredded into itsy bitsy pieces by the saber forces. Then, Ye Qings fist force gathered up the remains like a vacuum, plowed into the thick of it like a vacuum, and exploded like a bomb. The invisible flames howled like a hurricane as countless paper dolls were consumed by it.
The moment didnt last, however. Just a few breaths laterthe second the invisible flames grew a tad weakermore paper dolls climbed over and around the flames and surrounded Ye Qing.
Divide
Break Through
Flowing Cloud, Flying Sleeve[3]
Illusionists Grace
Nine Impetus of Tai Chi
Hellfire Red Lotus Saber Art
Ye Qing danced through the paper dolls like a phantom. Movement art, fist art, saber arthe used it all.
The paper dolls were only as strong as a late-stage Vessel Augmentor, but the problem was that their numbers seemed infinite. Ye Qing was a Spirit Purifier with an immense amount of astral qi, but he lacked the one advantage that put him above all othersthe Annon Sutra.
For whatever reason, the Annon Sutra didnt exist in the dream, and so he was unable to pop a dragon-serpent rune and restore his strength. As a result, he slowly ran out of astral qi and could only rely on his body to fight against the paper dolls.
Having depleted his true qi, his techniques were far less powerful than they were before. At first, he still used complicated and powerful techniques to clear swathes of enemies. However, he quickly realized that the results were subpar, and they cost stamina he couldnt afford to waste to execute.
His techniques began growing simpler and simpler. In the end, he was killing the paper dolls using basic techniques alone. A straight punch, an elbow strike, a basic kick, a basic sweep; a simple cut, a basic swing, an orthodox block, a standard parry. He was able to hone his techniques to the point where every part of his body had become a weapon.
Finally, he managed to kill all of the paper dolls before his stamina ran out. But before he could even let out a sigh of relief, the temple suddenly shuddered unnaturally, and the heart, liver, spleen, lungs and kidneys flew out and turned into semi-transparent silhouettes.
You dare blaspheme against a god, mortal?
Ye Qing looked up at the five silhouettes. One silhouette was holding a Five Fire Cover, another was gripping a Wooden Talisman Sword, a third was wielding a Qilin Shield, a fourth was swinging a White Tiger Truncheon, and the last silhouette was grasping a Water Splitting Battle Axe.
The next moment, five Vermillion Birds flew out of the Five Fire Cover and covered the sky in crimson fire, the Wooden Talisman Sword turned into the Azure Dragon and caused the forest to grow like crazy, the Qilin Shield turned into an actual Qilin that ripped the earth asunder, the White Tiger truncheon turned into the legendary White Tiger, and the Water Splitting Battle Axe turned into the Dark Tortoise.
Motherfucker!
Faced with such an apocalyptic scene, Ye Qing could only let out a furious, impotent cry before a sea of fire and water annihilated every atom in his body. The next moment, he opened his eyes and saw Nanke floating in the air, and its bronze double doors slowly swinging shut.
Youre awake, master, White Lord greeted him smilingly after the doors were shut.
How much time has passed? Ye Qing asked.
Seven or eight minutes or so, Black Lord replied.
Only eight minutes? Ye Qing raised an eyebrow. He had survived over six hours in the dreamscape before the Five Temple God got serious and annihilated his ass, but in reality only eight minutes had passed. It really was the Nanke Dream.
Did you get what you were wishing for, master? White Lord asked.
I have! Ye Qing answered honestly.
As the saying went, there was no better teacher than experience. The six-hour long battle was short, but his understanding and mastery of his fist arts, saber arts, movement arts and more had jumped a level. His combat experience especially had increased drastically.
I lasted shorter than I expected though. Ye Qing looked at White Lord. Is every dream this difficult?
He lasted six hours only because he was strong. Anyone else at his cultivation level would probably last three hours at most. If he was a weakling, what improvement could he possibly derive from several minutes of combat?
The point was, this wasnt the significant improvement he was promised.
White Lord explained, Master, your dream is created based on your strength, the martial art you wish to improve in, and many more variables. To put it simply, the difficulty of the dream is directly proportional to your strength, the level of improvement you desire, and the number of martial arts you wish to improve at the same time.
Realization struck Ye Qing. No wonder the dream was as difficult as it was. When he constructed the dream, his wish was to improve in everything. Since every martial art he practiced was exceptional to a certain degree, it was no wonder he faced the Four fucking Symbols[4] themselves just six hours into the battle.
The next time he uses Nanke, he should envision one or two martial arts at most. This way, the dream would be more on point, and it wouldnt be so unbelievably difficult that he was booted out just six hours into the dream. That was the best way to maximize the Strange Artifacts effectiveness.
Why didnt you tell me this before? Ye Qings voice turned a little icy.
You didnt ask, White Lord complained in an aggrieved voice.
Can I use Nanke again? Ye Qing asked.
White Lord shook its head. No. Youll need to wait a full day starting now.
Fine. By the way, may I know what your next request is? Ye Qing asked another question.
White Lord answered, It doesnt work like that, master. Well only make a request the next time you use Nanke.
Fine. I shouldve known it would be a waste of breath! Ye Qing grunted.
Uwu I knew that all men are bastards! White Lord began weeping, When you need me, youll call me baby. But as soon as youre done with me, youll kick me aside like a pair of sandals!
Despicable! Black Lord spat on the floor.
Ye Qing: ... Im not even attacking you specifically. You can speak with my lawyer if you think that. Why are you acting like Im a playboy who dumps his woman as soon as he gets tired of her?
In the end, Ye Qing shrugged. If thats what you think, then sure. I dont care to change your opinion. He then put Nanke away before they could make a response.
Maybe Im a playboy after all. When it comes to Strange Artifacts at least, muahahaha!
After he put Nanke away, Ye Qing lay down on the bed and was out like a light.
Technically speaking, whatever he experienced inside the Nanke Dream wouldnt transmit to reality. But the dream was so real that he felt like he had just fought a six-hour long battle. Naturally, he needed a good sleep to wash away the fatigue.
It was midnight when it began raining cats and dogs again. The downpour was so strong it was as if the rainwater had merged with the night to form a black prison.
Suddenly, a patch of still shadow began to move unnaturally. It was an inn, but it was moving about like it was alive. The walls were wriggling, and a pair of giant eyeballs abruptly appeared to the left and right of the main entrance of the inn. The double doors opened and closed as a puff of hot air was ejected into the surroundings almost like a yawn.
Then, the inn shook and began rising into the air. What looked like four tortoise legs appeared on the four corners of the inn. The legs stretched and bent for a bit like a man who was stretching his legs, and the giant eyeballs shone with clear comfort.
Whoosh!
The next moment, the main entrance of the inn swung open, and the walls beside it crumpled inward. The strong wind and the cold rain were sucked into the inn until it grew an entire size.
Finally, the inn took off into the rain like a horse, except that it was an inn. It crossed mountains and rivers like they were nothing and traveled several kilometers in just the blink of an eye. Strangely, its movement didnt cause any sound whatsoever.
Mm
Inside his room, Ye Qing was deep asleep. However, his brows would knit together, and his breathing would turn rapid from time to time. He seemed to be sleeping very poorly for some reason.
Ye Qing was dreaming himself sleeping in his bed, but instead of getting twice the satisfaction, he dreamed that a pair of giant eyes would flutter open and stare at him from the ceiling every time he closed his eyes. But when he opened his eyes to look, the eyes would disappear like they never existed.
He knew they existed though. They just wouldnt appear when his eyes were open. It was almost like the pair of eyes was playing peekaboo with him. It was as eerie as it was preposterous.
1. A shallow recess, especially one in a wall to display a statue or other ornament.
2. Coincidentally the same as the five elements, namely wood, fire, earth, metal and water. Or maybe its literally the same thing, just different name.
3. Man, it has been a while.
4. Referring to the four divine beasts.
