Immortals of the End Times

Chapter 52: The Art of Marrying Dreams, the Empress is Punished
The next day, as dawn broke, the Imperial Medical Academy's approval document had already been issued and lay quietly on the desk.

Zhao Wuji stroked the newly received gilded waist tag, on which the four seal characters "Imperial Physician" gleamed faintly in the candlelight.

This is a rare act of kindness and support from the Imperial Medical Academy.

Practicing medicine and treating illnesses, reading ten thousand books is not as good as traveling ten thousand miles.

In the past, Li Shizhen collected medicinal herbs and wrote books, and Hua Tuo traveled around to help people. Which master doctor didn't travel all over the mountains?

Inside the room, the young apprentice Xiaoyue, her eyes red-rimmed, tightly tied the blue cloth bundle.

"My lord, the autumn clothes have all been scented with mugwort, and the silver is hidden in three secret pockets."

"Okay, Xiaoyue, don't look like that. This trip is a long one, so I really can't take you with me."

Zhao Wuji chuckled as he ruffled Xiaoyue's hair.

"Go back, no need to see me off. Keep a low profile. I'll be back in a month and a half at most."

Zhao Wuji, sitting in the carriage, waved his hand, cracked the whip, and drove the carriage away.

Inside the carriage, he carried some books, medicinal herbs, alchemy furnaces, and other items for use along the way.

In this degenerate age of cultivation, he had never seen any legendary storage bags or other objects that could hold a mustard seed within a Mount Sumeru.

Even the old fox and the deceased cultivators of the Linglang Cave Heaven had never seen it before, making travel very inconvenient. Only when they learned the Pot Heaven Technique would things improve.

At this time, taking advantage of the early morning to travel, he rode his horse out of the city and then suddenly cracked his whip and turned around.

Following the route remembered by Lian Yunxuan, a cultivator from the Linglang Cave Heaven, they sped towards the Hengyun Mountains, hundreds of kilometers north of the imperial city.

The four kingdoms of Tiannan, though only a small corner of the Great Wilderness, are not large in territory.

However, traveling from Xuan Kingdom to the left bank of the Chishui River in the southern border of Yu Kingdom by regular official road would take more than a month on horseback.

However, if one takes a shortcut through the Cangshan Pass and then travels south along the Chishui River, it will save more than twenty days compared to the official road, and it will only take more than ten days to reach the southern border of Yu Kingdom.

This is a path that Ye Wu's father, the wine seller, once recorded.

Kobayashi and Ye Wu have successfully crossed the barrier.

Zhao Wuji now only needs to follow the route.

The Hengyun Mountains are not far from the Cangshan Mountains.

He planned to take this opportunity to secretly observe the Linglang Cave Heaven, as a preliminary step in order to join it in the future.

The resources hidden deep within the clouds and mist of that blessed land for cultivating immortality may hold the key to breaking through the shackles of this Dharma-ending Age.

As the carriage rolled over the ruts on the official road, the further away from the imperial city, the more desolate the villages with wisps of smoke rising from their chimneys appeared in the twilight.

Compared to the magnificent palaces and embroidered halls of the imperial city, these humble thatched-roof scenes seem like another world altogether.

Along the official road, in the ridges of the fields, several emaciated farmers were bending over to glean ears of grain.

Further away at the cemetery, several corpses wrapped in straw mats could be vaguely seen, but there was not a single coffin in sight.

"If the situation is like this near the capital, it's not impossible that there are rumors of starving people in villages and towns far from the capital."

Zhao Wuji shook his head slightly, occasionally cracking the whip to change direction while sitting in the carriage.

In his other hand, he was engrossed in studying the Lankavatara Sutra, specifically the chapter on the manifestation of mind, which was recorded on the old fox's fur.

The fourth set of Dream Marriage Techniques within the first Yin Pearl has been 90% deciphered, with numerous mysterious tadpole-like characters gleaming silver.

They drove on until noon, and the dream-marrying technique within the Yin Pearl was finally completely deciphered.

The information, transformed into a large number of spells and key points, flooded into Zhao Wuji's mind.

The Hengyun Mountains in the distance are already visible in the distance.

"Dream Infiltration. Weaving and Creating Dreams, Interpreting Dreams and Providing Warnings."

As Zhao Wuji pondered the many memories that surfaced in his mind, he gradually mastered the art of dream marriage.

The art of dream marriage is not as simple as infiltrating someone else's dream to deliver a message, as Consort Zhang did.

There are also those who use their powerful souls or magic to weave illusions to deceive others.

It can even involve hypnosis to alter someone's short-term memory.

When one cultivates to a high level, one can, like the Duke of Zhou interpreting dreams, integrate a great deal of potential information from the mind and the surrounding environment, and through the changes and deductions in dreams, achieve the effect of foreknowledge and warning.

This technique is very powerful, and Zhao Wuji is quite satisfied.

"I'm just a beginner. I can only infiltrate dreams and alter the short-term memories of ordinary people. I also need to use other people's hair or personal belongings to infiltrate."
Once you've grasped the basics, you can use the scent of others to locate and infiltrate their territory.

Zhao Wuji nodded slightly, looked towards the distant mountains, carefully put away the fur, and drove the carriage to a nearby grove to park and hide it.

He then used his movement technique, transforming into a wisp of green smoke as he sped towards the Hengyun Mountains.

The Grandmaster of the Returning to Truth Realm unleashed his speed twice as fast as a steed that could travel a thousand miles, leaving only shallow frost marks on the sand.

In less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, he had already entered the mountainous region of Hengyun Mountain Range.

According to the memories of the cave cultivator Lian Yunxuan, he did not directly search for the location of the Linlang Cave Heaven, but went straight to the entrance of the cave heaven.

Instead, they went around to the western cliff.

With the needle-crossing body technique fully displayed, the steep cliff was like flat ground.

Upon reaching the misty, cloud-shrouded area, he made a hand seal to conceal his presence, stopping precisely on Eagle Beak Rock, a thousand feet away from the Linglang Cave.

In the distance, the mountains were shrouded in mist, their peaks occasionally jutting out and rising from the clouds like the masts of sailboats—a truly ethereal and misty place. There was nothing unusual about it.

"The formation is like a leaf obscuring the view, preventing me from seeing the magnificent cave with my naked eye." Zhao Wuji made a hand seal and used the technique of communicating with the spirit world.

The spirit rose like wisps of green smoke, and the ghostly eyes of the underworld shone with a green light.

The world on the other side is clearly different now.

But where the clouds and mist parted in the valley, spiritual flames soared into the sky, and rainbow bridges spanned the seven main peaks.

At the peak of that aura, a dragon-like aura coiled around the summit.

With just a fleeting glance, Zhao Wuji quickly looked away, unable to look directly at her.

"Fortunately, he concealed his form and spirit even though he was thousands of feet away. This aura is even more terrifying than that of the Emperor of Xuan Kingdom. He is probably in the late stage of Qi Refining."

Zhao Wuji suppressed his heart palpitations and hurriedly memorized the formation's movement on the outer perimeter.

Suddenly, the weather on the distant mountain peaks changed dramatically.

A powerful and familiar spiritual force surged out of the mountain cave.

"This is... the Demon Queen!?"

Zhao Wuji immediately recognized the familiar spiritual aura and was astonished.

Almost at that moment, a woman in purple robes stepped across the rainbow bridge and caught up with the Demon Queen.

Although they were far apart, the spiritual pressure emanating from the female cultivator was much stronger than that of the Demon Queen.

With a flick of her wide sleeves, the female cultivator caused the Demon Queen to let out a miserable groan as her figure flew out of the palace like a kite with a broken string, crashing heavily against the mountain wall behind her.

Subsequently, more than ten blood-red chains were pulled from the Demon Queen's body and returned to the female cultivator's hands.

"Your crimes have already been reported to the Emperor of Xuan Kingdom. You have refined evil artifacts in the mortal realm, attacked your own kind, and interfered in court affairs. Your crimes have been multiplied!"

Since the Elder of Punishments is absent, I will take charge of the punishments today.

"You can take the position of Empress of Xuan Kingdom for now. Everything will be decided after the Elder of Punishments returns from Tiannan Immortal City."

The female cultivator's voice wasn't loud, but it exploded like thunder.

Even with his true energy gathered in his ears from a distance of a thousand feet, Zhao Wuji could still faintly hear it.

But then the purple-robed female cultivator lightly tapped her fingertip, and the blood-red chains broke inch by inch. With each broken chain, the empress screamed in agony.

"The Empress was treated like a bitch and disciplined? And it was the Emperor who complained? What level of cultivation does this female cultivator possess?"

Watching this grand spectacle from a considerable distance, Zhao Wuji was secretly alarmed.

To avoid being exposed, he observed for a while, then withdrew his divine sense and stopped spying. He then used his movement technique to descend the cliff and quickly moved away.

He worried that if he explored any further, his invisibility technique would be discovered, and if he were caught, it would be troublesome.

"My strength is still too weak. I need to cultivate faster and break through to the mid-stage of Qi Refining as soon as possible."

Zhao Wuji quickly moved away and returned to the carriage. He then drove the carriage towards the Cangshan Mountain Range, which was not far away.

This time, during his exploration of the cave, he unexpectedly witnessed even the Empress being punished by a powerful cultivator, which further solidified his idea of ​​infiltrating the cave in the future to obtain resources and status.

He wanders around outside, seemingly carefree, but he has no resources or status. He has to leave the city to avoid trouble if he offends the empress. He cultivates in secret and is restricted at every turn.

"We should start to study the insights of that cultivator from the Myriad Beasts Cave Heaven."

If one could comprehend the Beast Gathering or Bird Taming techniques among the Seventy-Two Earthly Fiends, one could summon large birds and perhaps even ride a crane into the sky?

For Zhao Wuji, the greatest pleasure of traversing this world was the process of deciphering various techniques and methods on his journey to cultivate immortality.

Different techniques brought him different experiences, allowing him to appreciate the wonders of the immortal path even in the Dharma-ending Age.

...

For the next three days, he drove through the narrow roads of Cangshan Mountain, all the way to the Nujiang River beyond the border.

The journey was quite fruitful.

Several groups of bandits who went out without warning, failed to rob the place, but instead became "good people" who gave away gold, silver and local delicacies.

Eight days later, Zhao Wuji, traveling under the stars and moon, enduring wind and rain, finally made it south with the current and arrived at Chishui Town, a somewhat desolate and chaotic town in the southern border of the Yu Kingdom.

At this moment, his Yin-Yang Pearl contained 5871 strands of Yin energy and only 476 strands of Yang energy.

His cultivation level has also improved considerably.

When one reaches the peak of the True Qi accumulation in the Martial Arts Return to Truth Realm, the True Qi is as abundant as mercury.

His cultivation level in the Immortal Path had reached the level of Qi Induction Level 2, 18/100, and his body was filled with abundant spiritual energy, which had been locked into a nascent core.

However, with all his strength, Zhao Wuji was somewhat at a loss when he found himself in the chaotic and war-torn southern border of the Yu Kingdom.

In the fields outside the town, there were eerie flagpoles made of white bones.

The town's streets were desolate, with a dilapidated wine shop outside.

Several starving people with sunken eyes were fighting over half a moldy cake, and not far away, a corpse lay in a corner.

"Xiao Lin."

Zhao Wuji frowned and walked towards the teahouse.

Xiao Lin had previously written that he was being blocked by local gang members while investigating the digging site for wine, and that he should come to the wine shop to find the two of them once he arrived in Chishui Town.

Could it be that these two underlings had already run into trouble before he even arrived?
(End of this chapter)