Radiant Blade of the Wilderness

When he’d been sneaking around committing his crimes, his fear of being discovered was half rooted in terror of being thrown in prison and living a fate worse than death, and half in dread of his master finding out and erupting in fury.

He had been taken on as He Yuanzhi’s personal disciple at age thirteen and subjected to strict discipline. His fear of his master had long been carved into his bones.

”Now this is more like it. This is my Dream Tribulation...” Chen Jindong wasn’t surprised in the slightest. He even muttered it with a smile.

He dipped slightly at the waist, his movement light and nimble as he closed in on the dream’s He Yuanzhi, smiling through gritted teeth.

”You old fool, I’ve wanted to kill you for years!”

......

”You old fool, I’ve wanted to kill you for years!”

Watching his personal disciple bear down on him with a frenzied expression, hand raised to strike, He Yuanzhi nearly flew into a rage.

He was a Grandmaster with a Resolute state of mind. But Resolute only meant he was undisturbed by doubt in his own choices and unperturbed by changes in circumstances. It didn’t mean he was without ordinary emotions.

When the personal disciple he had poured his heart into raising from childhood—the one he’d placed his highest hopes in—not only called him an old fool but also said he’d wanted to kill him for years, even a Heaven-Man Realm Supreme Master would feel a brief flare of anger.

Furious as he was, He Yuanzhi didn’t lose his head or strike to kill his unfilial disciple on the spot.

With his Resolute state of mind, he understood that Chen Jindong’s current behavior was likely the result of Soul Displaced Sickness and the Dream Tribulation combined. Those dark thoughts might be real, but they had to have been amplified. Besides, who had never harbored dark thoughts?

Judge a person by their deeds, not their thoughts. If one was judged by their thoughts, no one in the world was without fault!

”Wretched disciple!” He Yuanzhi cursed, raising both hands.

He bent both thumbs, ring fingers, and little fingers halfway, while the remaining four fingers angled diagonally toward each other, forming a strange hand seal.

He extended the seal forward, just barely intercepting the fist Chen Jindong swung at him.

As he formed the seal, He Yuanzhi kept his eyes half-closed as a faint glow seeped out from between the gaps.

The Great Dream of Three Thousand Years!

He intended to use the Great Dream of Three Thousand Years to let his disciple live through an entire lifetime, working in tandem with the Fuyu Mountain Cinnabar Grass’s Resolute to find the opening for him to clear the Dream Tribulation.

......

All of Chen Jindong’s thoughts surged and churned within his sea of consciousness, swept into He Yuanzhi’s Huangliang True Qi reaching in from outside.

He became the slightly timid boy again who had always been hungry for satisfaction and always full of strange ideas.

Pa!

Kneeling on the ground, he received a lash across the back from He Yuanzhi that split flesh from bone.

The searing pain made Chen Jindong wince, and he heard his master say in a low voice, ”All you ever do is chase after girls. How do you expect to focus on your martial arts?”

Chen Jindong lowered his head further. Resentment and fear of his master swelled in equal measure.

Year by year he grew. He showed a talent for the Great Dream of Three Thousand Years that far exceeded his fellow disciples. At last he earned his master’s approval, saw him smile more and more, and stopped suffering any punishment.

He grew arrogant quickly and began quietly experimenting on all manner of ideas—some were genuine innovations on the Great Dream of Three Thousand Years, others were pure indulgences of his darker impulses.

Every time he committed some wrong in secret, Chen Jindong would feel an inexplicable pain in his back, as though his master had somehow found out and punished him from the beyond.

He grew increasingly afraid of his crimes being uncovered. At some point, another self had taken up residence inside him, one that was more vicious, more cunning, more single-minded, and having none of his guilt over doing evil.

With this other self around, Chen Jindong was free to play the part of the Huangliang Sect’s future hope and the orthodox path’s pillar-in-waiting. He no longer had to commit wrongs himself; all he did was enjoy the results.