Chapter 1549: Dominating the Inner Realm, Ancient Temple, Night Rain, Return of the Soul

Wang Lin stared blankly at the sky, watching as the two long rainbows, with their whistling sounds growing weaker and weaker, gradually disappeared into the dark clouds and vanished into the distance.

"Who… is she? So familiar, so familiar…" Wang Lin murmured. Unknowingly, a strange, stabbing pain arose in his heart. This pain formed a Fusion with the sorrow that had just dissipated, seemingly transforming into a bizarre force that caused Wang Lin's breathing to hitch and his complexion to instantly turn pale.

His body staggered, and he retreated a few steps, his gaze fixed on the end of heaven and earth until it collapsed. He pressed his right hand against his chest, where the stabbing pain engulfed him like a tide. In that indescribable agony, it felt as if his heart were being torn open, and a lingering sense of melancholy emerged.

All of this stemmed from the woman who had flown across the sky earlier. Her figure seemed to have existed in Wang Lin's mind for countless years, yet accompanying this figure was a complex train of thought.

After a long while, a trace of color returned to Wang Lin's face. He gasped for air and closed his eyes.

"So, Immortals truly exist… Then my dream… was it really just a dream?" Wang Lin remained silent on the damp soil after the rain until the sky grew completely bright. He opened his dazed eyes and walked forward silently.

"Did I dream of the Immortal, or… did the Immortal dream of me…" Wang Lin could not understand. It seemed his life had completely changed its trajectory because of the dream he had while drunk the day before.

Stepping back onto the official road and heading towards the county town, Wang Lin no longer had the calm heart to observe the surrounding scenery. Instead, he walked in silence. The bamboo book box on his back swayed with his footsteps, emitting a creaking sound that accompanied him as he traveled into the distance.

Sunrise, sunset.

Walking on this official road, treading through puddles, Wang Lin walked for an entire day. When exhausted, he would sit on the side, take out dry rations from the bamboo box to eat, and after a brief rest, he would continue forward.

The sounds of horse hooves and carriages occasionally came from far behind him. Whenever these sounds arose, Wang Lin would step aside, and only after those carriages or horses had galloped past on the official road would he resume his journey.

In the blink of an eye, seven days passed. During these seven days, Wang Lin's weak body seemed to slowly grow stronger. He walked at sunrise and rested at sunset; if he could encounter an inn, that would be best.

Or, if he could see a village along the official road with smoke rising from chimneys at sunset and stay there for the night, it would be even more comforting to Wang Lin than staying at an inn.

But most of the time, at sunset, Wang Lin would have the illusion that he was the only person left in heaven and earth. Lonely, he would find some shade by the roadside, lean against it, cover himself with thick clothing, count the stars in the sky, and under the twinkling starlight, think of the warmth of home and the kind smiles of his parents, slowly falling asleep.

The campfire he had built in front of him would also gradually go out with crackling sounds, a wisp of blue smoke drifting up from the pile, rising into the sky and merging with it.

The night wind, carrying a chill, would often wake Wang Lin. Each time he woke, in the surrounding silence, he would silently gaze into the darkness, as if this darkness made him feel even more familiar. In the pitch-black night, he felt no fear; instead, his heart was like still water. Gazing and gazing, he would huddle into his thick clothing and fall asleep again.

At this time of year, the State of Zhao was in the rainy season. Even when the rain stopped, the sky remained covered with dense clouds, and thunder occasionally echoed. Often, after stopping for half a day, it would pour down again, washing over the earth.

At dusk on the eighth day, Wang Lin held an umbrella and traveled forward with a bitter smile. Outside the umbrella, the rain was pouring, and lightning and thunder roared. Although it was only dusk, heaven and earth had already darkened.

"One more day of travel and I will reach the county town, but this rain is getting heavier and heavier." Water vapor permeated the ground, and as the rain fell, it splashed droplets onto Wang Lin, causing his blue clothes to be soaked through, sticking to his body and constantly sapping his body heat, slowly making Wang Lin feel very cold.

Especially when the wind carrying water vapor blew by, it seemed to drill into his bones. Wang Lin shuddered. He kept most of the umbrella over the bamboo book box on his back; the books, dry rations, and spare clothes inside could not get wet.

Wading through the accumulated rainwater on the ground, Wang Lin quickened his pace, looking through the surrounding curtain of rain for a place to take shelter. In the distant woods, he vaguely saw a blurry outline, appearing like a house.

Without time to look closely, Wang Lin held up his umbrella and walked towards it. As he approached, the blurry outline gradually became clear; it was an abandoned Earth Temple.

Bursts of creaking sounds drifted eerily through the rainy night, and upon entering his ears, they carried a sense of eeriness.

The temple was not large and appeared very dilapidated. It had two doors; one was closed, and the red paint applied years ago had turned dark with the passage of time. Even the door knocker was covered in rust, allowing the rain to gather in rings upon it and drip down like a stream.

The other temple door was severely damaged. It was still slightly connected to the door frame but could no longer be closed. Instead, it swayed continuously in the wind and rain, emitting the creaking sound Wang Lin had heard earlier, which spread far away.

As the wind and rain intensified, the swaying half-door became even more violent, as if it were about to be blown off the door frame.

Wang Lin quickened his pace and entered. He glanced at the temple and stepped inside. In the temple courtyard, the ground was covered with gravel and weeds. Under the wind and rain, those weeds were bent, swaying rapidly, and amidst the roaring rain, there was a rustling sound.

A peal of thunder roared, followed immediately by lightning, illuminating the world in an instant. This allowed Wang Lin to see everything inside the temple clearly. He exclaimed in surprise and subconsciously retreated several steps; he saw a few white skeletons at the edge of the temple courtyard.

His heart pounded. Wang Lin's face was pale, but the rain was getting heavier. Gritting his teeth, he chose not to look at the skeletons that had died there an unknown number of years ago and walked into the main hall of the temple.

A statue of the Earth Deity, several zhang high, stood at the very back of the temple hall. Its features were unclear, and one could only vaguely see that the colors on it had long since faded; it was very dilapidated, covered in spots.

There was also standing water inside the hall. Many tiles on the temple roof were broken, and rain fell from above, leaving many places on the ground covered with water.

An eerie atmosphere lingered within the temple. Wang Lin took a deep breath, his face pale, and first bowed to the Earth Deity statue. Only then did he find a spot without water, put down the bamboo box on his back, sat there, and took out some dry branches he had collected during the journey when the rain had stopped. He piled them in front of him and tried to light them with a fire starter.

Perhaps these dry branches were not completely dry and had also become damp. Wang Lin tried lighting them several times without success. His body was very cold, and he tried again with trembling hands.

But just at this moment, a peal of thunder seemed to explode inside the temple. The rumbling sound made Wang Lin's hands tremble. Moreover, in that instant when the lightning roared and illuminated the world, a huge shadow loomed over Wang Lin.

"Who!! " Wang Lin suddenly looked up, suppressing the panic in his heart, and looked towards the temple gate.

His voice was loud, almost a roar. In the quiet rainy night, at the very moment the thunder had just dissipated, it gave the person who had just stepped in from the temple gate such a fright that they shuddered.

"Who!! " A voice filled with terror came from outside. A middle-aged man in tattered clothes, his face covered in water as if he had just crawled out of the water, retreated several steps at the temple gate, his face pale, almost falling down.

After vaguely seeing Wang Lin inside the temple, the middle-aged man let out a long sigh of relief. He hurriedly walked into the temple, glared at Wang Lin, slapped his chest hard, and roared at Wang Lin.

"You scared me!! "

Wang Lin was stunned. With a bitter smile, he also let out a sigh of relief. He cupped his fists at the middle-aged man and apologized, "It is dark, and I could not see clearly. The lightning came too suddenly. I hope you will not mind, brother."

The middle-aged man snorted, muttered a few words, and ignored Wang Lin. Instead, he sat to the side, reached into his bosom with his right hand, took out a small, soggy chicken leg, looked at it, and then burst into loud wails.

His wailing in the rainy night was very shrill, making Wang Lin feel vaguely terrified. He moved to the side, clicked the fire starter with a pa sound, and this time he managed to light the paper strips on the first try, gradually building up a campfire.

Flickered by the firelight, everything inside the temple became a bit clearer in the alternating light and shadow.

The middle-aged man cried and cried, then took a bite of the soggy chicken leg, grinned, and actually started laughing again. His hearty laughter made Wang Lin freeze for a moment.

"He is a madman…" Wang Lin moved further away. If not for the even heavier rain outside, he would definitely have chosen to leave. In this wilderness, even if it was by the official road, the sudden appearance of such a madman in the rainy night would still make one's heart cold.

The middle-aged man laughed and laughed, then started crying again.

"No one cares about me anymore, no one cares about me… I cannot remember… Who am I…"

His wailing filled the temple. Gradually, it stirred pity in Wang Lin's heart. He turned to look at the madman and sighed softly.

"A dream is like life before waking; life is like a play—who am I… Is a dream life, and waking death, or is a dream death, and waking life… That instant between closing and opening one's eyes is the space between life and death; perhaps that is a life where one cannot distinguish between true and false…"

"This life may be a Reincarnation, perhaps it is also a Karma… But, when to wake…" Wang Lin murmured, his eyes filled with confusion. The dreams he had had over the past few days seemed to always speak of a thought he could not grasp, causing him, in these seven days of silence, to vaguely feel as if he had sensed something.

Sighing, Wang Lin took out dry rations from the bamboo box on his back. Looking at the campfire in front of him, with the sound of rain outside the temple rushing into his ears, he put the food to his mouth and ate silently.

The rain of heaven and earth fell leisurely, shrouding the mountains, shrouding the earth, shrouding the temple. Inside the temple, by the firelight, two dream souls that did not seem to belong here met.

One gazing at the firelight, the other gnawing on a chicken leg. Between them, the Earth Deity statue, illuminated by the flames, always wore that unfathomable smile, as if watching the two of them, for eternity.