Thousand Dusts Ferry Me - Chapter 62

Jiang Baiyu knew that Jiang Binghe was already eager to hypnotize him.

He pretended to be innocent and confused, softly calling out, “Father, is that you?”

In the darkness where faces couldn’t be clearly seen, the jackal’s laughter was particularly obvious as he said, “It’s me. Yu’er, why aren’t you asleep so late?”

“Mm. I can’t sleep.”

Jiang Binghe sat by his bedside and reached out to stroke his head. As Jiang Baiyu felt the familiar palm touching his head, he desperately suppressed the urge to flee.

“Yu’er, why is your heartbeat so fast? What are you nervous about?”

“Ah… Father, I had a nightmare.” Jiang Baiyu’s voice trembled—half acting, half genuinely frightened. He struggled to squeeze out some tears, “I dreamed that you were about to die, wuwu.”

“Don’t be afraid, dreams are reversed.”

“Father, please don’t die.”

“I won’t die. Father still needs to ascend to immortality. Your mother will ascend too.”

“What about me? What will I do when you’re all gone?”

“Hehe, naturally you’ll also go to heaven.”

Jiang Baiyu felt cold inside, but he held onto Jiang Binghe’s palm and said, “Father, tell me a story.”

So Jiang Binghe began telling him a story, just like usual, continuing to weave that beautiful yet cruel dream.

Jiang Baiyu fell asleep to the sound of this story. He knew he had to sleep.

The next day, Jiang Baiyu began observing how people around him looked when they slept.

The main differences between sleeping and waking were in heartbeat, breathing, and eyes. If he could make all these convincingly realistic, then his pretense of sleeping wouldn’t be discovered, right?

That way, Jiang Binghe’s hypnosis would be for nothing.

So as long as he didn’t sleep, he wouldn’t become a living puppet.

With this belief, he persevered for over ten days. He didn’t dare practice at night, so he could only practice during the day.

The most difficult part was controlling his heartbeat. When people are deeply asleep, their heartbeat slows down somewhat, but heart rate is something humans cannot consciously control. Jiang Baiyu, harboring fear of becoming a living puppet, attempted to consciously control his heartbeat.

Perhaps because the Golden Frost Jade Dew Lotus, a natal magic treasure, resided in his heart field, he actually succeeded.

That night, Jiang Baiyu lay in bed with his eyes closed, pretending to be fast asleep, listening to Jiang Binghe enter the room.

The jackal lit a stick of strangely scented incense, then chanted some odd spells to him and said many things, after which came the sound of the door closing.

Jiang Baiyu didn’t dare open his eyes and turned over to continue pretending to sleep.

After about half an hour had passed, he suddenly heard another door opening and closing sound.

So during that half hour, Jiang Binghe had remained in the room the entire time without leaving, secretly observing him!

Jiang Baiyu felt a chill of fear afterward.

…..

During this period, besides pretending to sleep, he also learned to “pretend to eat.”

If he didn’t eat anything at all, it might arouse the couple’s suspicion, but Jiang Baiyu really couldn’t stomach any food. So he often went to the kitchen to steal rice, creating the false impression of “pretending not to eat on the surface while secretly eating behind everyone’s back.”

Gradually, everyone around him knew about his strange habit, so when food was brought to him, they would avoid the area. These meals eventually benefited the nearby birds and beasts.

When he was very hungry, he would steal fasting pills from the Huayang Sect disciples. These pills were extremely easy to refine, and ordinary people wouldn’t think much of losing a few. He stole the most from Yu Beiting.

Naturally, besides pretending to sleep and pretending to eat, he also continued pretending to be stupid. Gradually, when many people spoke of the Huayang Sect’s young master, they couldn’t help but shake their heads and sigh that although this person had good spiritual roots, he was held back by poor comprehension.

In cultivation, spiritual roots and comprehension were both indispensable. To some extent, comprehension was even more elusive than spiritual roots—after all, spiritual roots could be detected through bone reading, but comprehension couldn’t be felt out.

Many major sects could refine pills to improve spiritual roots, but no one had ever heard of any sect mastering methods to enhance comprehension.

That Huayang Sect young master looked intelligent and clever, like a little immortal child, but who would have known he was actually quite dim? Indeed, one couldn’t judge by appearances.

Thus, Jiang Baiyu was like an actor hastily thrown onto the stage, clumsily putting on his costume and standing trembling on the platform.

And he finally understood the looks people gave him. Besides flattery, there was more observation and surveillance—monitoring every move of this actor. If he didn’t perform well, they would immediately tell Jiang Binghe.

Ordinary actors who performed poorly might get scolded or beaten, but what would be the price if he performed poorly? Imprisonment? Abuse? Becoming a living puppet? Death? Or perhaps all of the above?

****

Not long after, when Jiang Binghe returned from an expedition to subdue demons, he was indeed “on the verge of death.”

A tense atmosphere pervaded the entire Huayang Sect. After all, the sect master was still in his prime when suddenly struck by calamity, and he hadn’t had time to arrange his final affairs. With the young master still young and naive, some disciples began to stir restlessly.

Jiang Baiyu acted heartbroken, kneeling before Jiang Binghe’s bed. In front of Qin Ranqing, he struggled to summon the Golden Frost Jade Dew Lotus.

The graceful and beautiful lotus gradually moved toward Jiang Binghe’s chest, but Jiang Baiyu’s face turned pale, and he suddenly “fainted” to the ground. Naturally, the lotus returned to his body.

One could imagine how furious the jackal must have been. Lying on the ground, Jiang Baiyu inexplicably wanted to laugh.

Perhaps this act made Jiang Binghe suspicious, because the next day, Jiang Baiyu discovered recording stone magic devices in his living quarters.

Heh, he wanted to laugh even more.

****

During Jiang Binghe’s “injury,” several disciples indeed caused trouble—not only wanting to kill Jiang Baiyu but even trying to possess Qin Ranqing. And Jiang Binghe “recovered without medicine” amid such chaos and slaughtered the rebellious disciples.

Afterward, Jiang Binghe’s explanation was that he had known some were restless, so he pretended to be injured to deliberately test them.

Jiang Baiyu appeared to have a “sudden realization” while “firmly resolving” to cultivate properly in the future to protect his father, mother, and the Huayang Sect.

Jiang Binghe contentedly patted his son’s head. “Then you mustn’t complain about hardship anymore.”

“Mm!”

To gain Jiang Baiyu’s trust, Jiang Binghe didn’t withhold anything regarding cultivation techniques and inheritance—he taught everything that should be taught. Naturally, whether the fool could understand what he learned was the fool’s own business.

As the saying goes, “The master leads you to the door, but cultivation depends on the individual.” Jiang Binghe was an extremely arrogant person and wasn’t worried that Jiang Baiyu learning these things would threaten him.

His only concern was the Golden Frost Jade Dew Lotus.

Knowing he was anxious about this item, Jiang Baiyu deliberately asked him, “Father, how should the Golden Frost Jade Dew Lotus be used?”

Jiang Binghe’s face showed some embarrassment. “Well, Father isn’t entirely clear either. When my master taught me back then, he said that when cultivation reaches a certain level, one would naturally comprehend it. But for Father, as long as it can save your life, that’s enough.”

Jiang Baiyu looked moved. “Father, you’re so good to me!”

Later, the characteristics and usage of the Golden Frost Jade Dew Lotus were gradually figured out by Jiang Baiyu himself.

For this magic treasure, healing and immortality were insignificant. Its greatest function was to extract spiritual energy from the surrounding environment for its own use—this was heaven-defying, especially in this era of gradually thinning spiritual energy.

No wonder from Huayang Zi to Jiang Binghe, they had always jealously guarded this secret. If others knew the Huayang Sect possessed such a treasure, there would probably be many people coming to steal it every day, and the entire martial world would know no peace.

When Jiang Baiyu cultivated using the Golden Frost Jade Dew Lotus, he wouldn’t extract too much spiritual energy at once. First, because greed led to poor digestion—spiritual energy wasn’t necessarily better in larger quantities. Second, if Huayang Mountain’s spiritual energy decreased too quickly, Jiang Binghe would notice the anomaly.

Gradually, he and the Golden Frost Jade Dew Lotus became more and more in sync, and he could make the Golden Frost Jade Dew Lotus temporarily leave his body for periods of time.

Thus, ten years passed in a flash.

Jiang Baiyu knew it was time for him to leave.

With his current cultivation level, he wasn’t yet capable of opposing Jiang Binghe, who wielded an immortal weapon, let alone when this person also controlled a prestigious sect.

So it would be better to first travel the martial world—he could cultivate freely while investigating his own origins. When his cultivation was high enough in the future, he would return to settle accounts with Jiang Binghe.

Before leaving, Jiang Baiyu cast a Four Directions divination.

The so-called Four Directions divination, also called Four Directions lots, involved drawing one lot from each of four different containers to form a divination.

Most people who cast Four Directions divinations would get four ambiguous or even contradictory prophecies. But the four lines Jiang Baiyu drew were very clear:

Water and fire in perfect balance,
Keep troops at rest.
When night ends and dawn breaks,
A guest will come from the west.

Looking at this set of lots, Jiang Baiyu raised an eyebrow.

He didn’t quite believe that Lanji Palace, arranged by Jiang Binghe like an iron fortress, could receive any guests. However, leaving one day later wouldn’t matter—he was quite curious about his divination skills.

When night ended and dawn broke, an uninvited guest truly came.

Jiang Baiyu allowed the woman to stuff him into a bag, hoist him over her shoulder, and carry him down the mountain. He wasn’t worried about being discovered because he was very confident in his pretend-sleeping technique.

Until she said those words.

“…This person is quite beautiful. If he weren’t Jiang Binghe’s son, he could indeed be my fiancé.”

His pretense of sleeping was broken at this moment.