Li Banfeng followed Meng De onto the bridge. The suspension bridge swayed three times with every step, mist billowed up from below, and the bottom was nowhere in sight.
After two steps, Li Banfeng moved his ankles from time to time, always ready to use the Wind Riding Cloud Driving Skill; even if he fell, he could still fly back up.
No good—his legs couldn't muster any strength; seemed he wasn't going to be flying.
Meng De reminded him, "Master, only Dream Cultivators can exert their full strength in dreams. Cultivators of the other Taoist Sects are all subject to some limitations. When you meet Ye Haolong in a bit, you mustn't go hard on him. In his own dream realm, you might not be able to beat him."
Halfway across the suspension bridge, Li Banfeng vaguely heard shouts of killing and the clashing of weapons, coming from within Ye Haolong's dream.
Once across the bridge, Li Banfeng first came to a bamboo forest. The bamboo was densely packed, many stalks bore blade marks, many were stained with blood, and some bamboo had been cut clean in half. Amid the mess there was a faint air of desolation.
The farther he went, the more intense the shouts of killing became. By the time he reached the edge of the bamboo forest, Li Banfeng finally saw Ye Haolong.
Ye Haolong was brandishing a long sword, locked in combat with a group of masked men. Behind him was a parked cart, and beside the cart lay the Peddler, barely clinging to life.
This was the scene when the Peddler fought his decisive battle with the Heavenly People?
And this scene was actually being replayed in the dream?
There were over a dozen masked men surrounding Ye Haolong. Which one of them was the Heavenly People?
They all looked more or less the same. Were they all clones of the Heavenly People?
Judging from the dream, after the Peddler was defeated by the Heavenly People, Ye Haolong stood in for him and held out for a while. From this it could be seen that Ye Haolong's cultivation level and combat strength were extremely high—he was one of the top figures in Puluo State.
Was that really the case?
Meng De gripped Li Banfeng's hand tightly and gently reminded him, "Master, this is a dream; you can't take it as real."
The scenes in the dream were different from reality, very different.
Even so, Li Banfeng didn't dare to be careless. He stayed hidden in the bamboo forest with Meng De, silently watching the two sides fight.
Ye Haolong's swordsmanship was exceedingly graceful. Even besieged by more than ten men, his offense and defense were free-flowing, his advances and retreats unhurried, with no obvious flaws.
After more than thirty exchanges, Ye Haolong's long sword danced, flashing out over a dozen streaks of sword-light, knocking the swords from the hands of all the black-clad men.
The dozen black-clad men all had wounds on them, while Ye Haolong also seemed somewhat unsteady on his feet from the heavy expenditure of energy.
But why were all the black-clad men using swords, and why were their sword moves all about the same?
These sword moves looked like something he'd seen before—seemed like they'd appeared in some movies shot in Zhengjing Village.
Right, they were those stock sword routines from the movies.
Just how much truth was there in Ye Haolong's dream?
Time in dreams was a very fuzzy thing, but luckily Meng De had a precise timing function. After half an hour, this tedious battle finally ended. From start to finish, neither side used any Technique at all; they were just crossing swords.
With a narrow edge, Ye Haolong drove off the group of black-clad men, then staggered over toward the Peddler.
"Senior, how are you?" Ye Haolong lifted the Peddler up.
The Peddler looked at Ye Haolong and gasped laboriously, "Brother Ye, you did well."
Ye Haolong said with tears in his eyes, "I was the one who came too late."
"Puluo State… I'll be entrusting it to you from now on!"
"Don't say that, Senior. Rest a bit more. I've got healing medicine here. As long as you take it, you're sure to get better."
The Peddler shook his head. "To hold Puluo State, to keep it from being bullied by the Inner State and the Outside Provinces—this heavy responsibility, I'm entrusting it to you."
With that, the Peddler's head lolled to the side, his eyes closed, and he fell silent.
Ye Haolong sat at the Peddler's side and cried for a long time.
The Earth Skin slowly sank down, forming a pit, and the Peddler's body automatically slipped into the pit.
Just like that, the Peddler was buried. Clearly, this process wasn't very important to Ye Haolong—no more important than a villain's appearance.
After burying the Peddler, Ye Haolong pushed the cart, ready to set out on a new journey. Li Banfeng walked up to Ye Haolong, smiling broadly. "Are you the Lord of Puluo?"
Ye Haolong straightened his chest and said calmly, "Don't call me that. I only wish to exhaust my strength to protect Puluo State. This was Senior's entrustment; this is my mission."
"The Senior you're talking about—that's the Peddler, right?"
Ye Haolong nodded.
Li Banfeng asked, "What exactly happened to the Peddler?"
"He dueled with the Heavenly People and was gravely wounded beyond recovery." At this point, a faint glimmer of tears flashed in Ye Haolong's eyes.
Li Banfeng asked, "What did the Heavenly People look like? I want to avenge the Peddler."
Ye Haolong looked at Li Banfeng and shook his head with a sigh. "Young man, your intent is rare and commendable, but the battle power of the Heavenly People is far beyond your reach."
"You only need to tell me what he looks like. Even if I can't kill him today, once I've completed my training and return, I'll still avenge the Peddler!"
Ye Haolong shook his head with a sigh. "You're still young. This blood-deep enmity is not something you should bear. You should cultivate well and contribute your strength to the great cause of Puluo State!"
Li Banfeng looked at Ye Haolong. "Is it that you actually never saw the Heavenly People at all?"
Ye Haolong got annoyed. "Boy, how can you talk like that? The battle between the Heavenly People and the Peddler was something I saw with my own eyes."
"Then why can't you describe what the Heavenly People look like?"
"It's not that I can't, it's that I can't tell you. I'm doing this for your own good!"
"Anyone who's seen the Heavenly People can describe their appearance. If you refuse to say, that naturally means you haven't seen them. Such a simple truth—what is there to argue about?" Li Banfeng fixed his gaze on Ye Haolong. He wasn't sure if the Foolish Cultivation Technique would work in a dream.