Yuwen Tong did have a point. Ling Zhang looked over his shoulder into the impenetrable darkness in which the path they had just just trodden was shrouded, believing that, unless he was very much mistaken, they had stepped into an Illusion Formation unawares. By now they had lingered here for a few moments, but none of the others had caught up with them, which would on no account have happened if the circumstances had been normal.
Had Yuwen Tong not been holding his wrist all along, even the two of them might have got separated.
Without further ado, Ling Zhang resumed proceeding with Yuwen Tong. Every Illusion Formation had flaws. The two of them were both observing this passageway.
After they walked for some time, a bright light suddenly appeared ahead of them without warning. Ling Zhang and Yuwen Tong did not hasten up there but slowly and vigilantly approached it. It was a door which was ajar and seemingly led into a room. When the door was within their reach, Ling Zhang gingerly opened it. His hand had just touched the door when he had a foreboding feeling and promptly withdrew his hand, but it was still too late. An overwhelming wave of drowsiness swept over him, routing all his resistance efforts.
“Watch out. It’s … ” he trailed off.
“Brother Zhang!”
Yuwen Tong’s voice came vaguely to Ling Zhang, who, feeling Yuwen Tong’s grip on his hand loosening, came to realize that Yuwen Tong standing beside him had probably fallen prey to the trick as well. The next moment, he blacked out.
After they passed out, a white light suddenly emerged from and enveloped each of them …
“Eek? These two are pretty interesting.”
A voice emanated from the shadows.
However, Ling Zhang could no longer hear anything.
He felt himself struggling before slipping into a coma. Before long, he found himself rid of the grogginess and with that he abruptly opened his eyes, instantly wide awake. “Yuwen Tong!”
But there was no hand around his wrist, and Yuwen Tong was not beside him.
Also, he was not in that passageway any longer. The surroundings … This was so weird – he seemed to be in Shengzhou!
No. He couldn’t be. Shengzhou Pass did not look like this any more. This place was more like the Shengzhou Pass that he had seen five years ago, when the three countries had not been reunified yet …
No, that couldn’t be the case either. This place seemed to be different from the Shengzhou Pass he had visited at that time as well.
Astonished, Ling Zhang perceived that he must be in a reverie. What other explanation was there for him being sent to Shengzhou Pass which was thousands of miles away in only a few moments?
“Lao Zhang, you’re going downtown?”
“Yeah. Yesterday I shot a fox. I’m going downtown to trade its fur for something I need.”
“A fox? You lucky dog. This piece of fur is almost intact. I think it’s worth at least a hundred taels of silver!”
… Voices suddenly came from nearby. Ling Zhang looked in that direction and found that the speakers were two men in a hurry to enter the city. One of them was carrying a piece of fox fur, and the other loads of green vegetables on a shoulder pole. Both of them were from out of town and heading for the gates of Shengzhou Pass not far away.
Looking at the two of them and listening to their conversation, Ling Zhang found this reverie incredible. It was so real. He might really have been hoodwinked were he not aware of what he had been doing a few moments ago. Moreover, he keep having this feeling that there was something queer about this Shengzhou Pass in front of him, but he was unable to figure out the reason for the moment.
“Well, that depends on whether I’ll have the luck to meet a buyer that generous. By the way, are you delivering vegetables to Marshal’s Abode again?”
The two men resumed talking. The hunter carrying a piece of fox fur on his back asked the vegetable grower beside him a question.
Marshal’s Abode? Ling Zhang was somewhat confused. He had not heard the word “Marshal” for a very long time. It had been ten years, and he had almost forgotten Yuwen Tong’s former title.
“Ha ha. A gentleman living in Marshal’s Abode likes my vegetables. The cooks working in there always clean me out every time they see me selling vegetables,” said the vegetable grower proudly. “Pity my wife and I don’t have that much time. Otherwise we’ll make a larger vegetable patch, and then I’ll be selling cartfuls of vegetables.”
The hunter said enviously, “You should really count your blessings. I mean, a gentleman living in Marshal’s Abode is struck on your vegetables. Maybe even Marshal Yuwen himself has been eating them.”
The vegetable grower said, “I’m not sure about that, but look how good my vegetables are. I think they’re fit even for Marshal Yuwen, aren’t they?”
Marshal Yuwen? Could it really be that coincidental?
Frowning, Ling Zhang looked at them. After giving it some thought, he decided to go and ask them about it. He found it hard to believe that a reverie could be so real.
However, he was standing right before the two of them, but neither of them seemed to notice him. He made towards them, but they still did not glance at him. He had no alternative but to reach out a hand in an attempt to stop them. “Excuse me. May I have a moment?”
The two men, appearing as though they still had not heard or seen him, walked straight past him.
Ling Zhang furrowed his brows and withdrew his hand. Were these men unable to see him, by any chance?
He had every reason to have such a suspicion, for apart from anything else he was in a dreamy place.
Ling Zhang caught up with them. “A moment, please, sirs.”
He attempted to grab the hunter’s arm to stop him, but there was nothing in his hand after he closed it.
When his hand went through the man’s forearm, Ling Zhang was really stupefied.
This was his first time seeing this kind of thing happen. It was so odd.
His speculation that the two men were unable to see him proved right.
” … Fortunately we have Marshal Yuwen protecting the Great Yue. Otherwise Shengzhou wouldn’t have enjoyed all these years’ peace.” The two men were still talking with each other.
The Great Yue? Ling Zhang came to understand why this place struck him as fairly queer. The armor worn by the soldiers guarding the gates of Shengzhou Pass was of the style adopted during the reign of the emperor surnamed Zhou, not the improved version that the army had been equipped with after Yuwen Tong ascended the throne. A few moments ago he had glimpsed the armor but had not noticed the fine discriminations.
So he was in a reverie of the past?
He was baffled. A reverie was supposed to deceive the one in it into believing that everything they saw was real, to have them immerse themself in it so deeply they were unable to distinguish between reality and fantasy, and to cause them to lose their mind eventually, but why was this particular reverie doing the opposite? There were obvious flaws everywhere. It was as though whoever had put him into this dreamy place was trying to make sure he knew this was not real. Why were they doing this?
In addition, wasn’t a reverie supposed to display false scenes created based on the thoughts of the one inside it? Before the change of dynasty, he had merely traveled past the boundary of Shengzhou and had never been to Shengzhou Pass. This place had long since become part of the jurisdiction of the Great Wen by the time he had first visited Shengzhou Pass.
What was going on exactly?
Ling Zhang was thrown into perplexity. Knowing that he wouldn’t be able to find the answer by staying where he was, he gave it some thought and then followed the hunter and the vegetable grower towards the city in an effort to find out if everybody in here was unable to see him, and whether or not the soldiers would let him through when he had no security pass or anything like that.
At the gateway, he found that none of the soldiers was looking at him, as though he did not exist at all.
Ling Zhang, following in the wake of the hunter and the vegetable grower, successfully entered the city without being asked any questions.
He tried to touch those soldiers but, as expected, failed.
This feeling was so weird. Were he not still clear-headed, he would suspect that he had been reduced to a spirit.
Once inside the city, he found what he was seeing both familiar and unfamiliar.
Most of the occupants in this border city were soldiers garrisoned here, and civilians, curiously enough, were in the minority. Looking at those soldiers in old-fashioned armor, Ling Zhang was somewhat bewildered. For an instant he was in a dreamy state, feeling as though he had spent the past ten years in a dream, one that he had woken up from only a while ago …
Then he abruptly jerked out of his trance and was instantly on the alert, inwardly cautioning himself not to be deluded by these scenes, that all these were unreal.
But what did he need to do to get out of this place?
Normally, a reverie was meant to cause the one in it to lose their ability to differentiate reality from fantasy, but he had been clear-minded all along. Why did this reverie even exist? None of this made any sense.
What did he have to do to extricate himself from this utterly counter-intuitive situation?
And then there was Yuwen Tong. Had he fallen victim to an eerie reverie as well?
As he thought of Yuwen Tong, he recalled the Marshal’s Abode that the hunter and the vegetable grower had mentioned a short while ago.
What was Yuwen Tong like in this reverie? Was it possible that Yuwen Tong, with whom he had fallen prey to the trick together, was in this dreamy place as well?
Ling Zhang’s heart gave a lurch and with that he set off to look for Marshal’s Abode.
No matter what, he needed to go there and take a look first.
If there was something in this reverie that could pique his interest, it would be that place. Maybe he would be able to find a way out of this reverie in there.
…
Yuwen Tong abruptly opened his eyes with a start, waking up from his dream, having difficulty breathing from a strong sense of loss, his heart throbbing painfully.
He had just had a dream, in which there had been something important, something he could not afford to lose.
He closed his eyes and tried to think back to the dream but could recall nothing.
Yuwen Tong opened his eyes again, feeling fretful and, quite inexplicably, a stab of intense unease.
“Marshal, there’s nothing in particular we have to deal with today, so Jiang Ke and I are going out of the city to do some hunting. We could do some recon for good measure and see if those bastards from the Wan Kingdom have been making trouble lately.” Jiang Xi, his former deputy commander, walked inside, rubbing his hands in a somewhat rapturous way.
Yuwen Tong looked up at him. For some unknown reason, he felt a trace of mingled wariness and distrust as he saw the man, who was his most trusted lieutenant, one he was most familiar with.
Jiang Xi seemed to be startled by the piercing look in Yuwen Tong’s eyes. “Wh–What’s the matter, Marshal?”
Yuwen Tong looked at him from head to foot. It was when Jiang Xi felt the hair on the back of his neck rising that Yuwen Tong said, “Hunting? You’re having itchy feet again?”
Jiang Xi was shamefaced at these words, but he still said, “I’ve been cooped up in this city for over a month, and those bastards from the Wan Kingdom have been too afraid to mess with us lately. I can feel myself getting moldy with idleness.”
“If you have too little to do, help me deal with these military affairs.” Yuwen Tong pointedly glanced at the pile of documents on his desk.
“Well, Jiang Ke is the one you need when it comes to this kind of stuff, Marshal. The very sight of these documents gives me headaches. I really want to help, but I’m afraid this task is beyond my capabilities,” Jiang Xi hurriedly said, fearing that Yuwen Tong might really assign the paperwork to him.
“Yesterday I told you to … ” Yuwen Tong, having seen through him some time ago, began to speak with the intention to remind Jiang Xi of his unfinished tasks, but he had only uttered a couple of words when he suddenly found himself unable to recollect what happened yesterday. His forehead corrugated in a frown in spite of himself.
“Marshal?” called Jiang Xi tentatively after giving a shudder as he saw Yuwen Tong’s face turn serious without warning.
Yuwen Tong knitted his brows. He had an eidetic memory and had never forgotten anything. How come he couldn’t even remember what happened yesterday? Not only his memories of yesterday but also those of all the recent events were rather vague. He could only recall fragments of them.
He opened some of the pamphlets and account books on the desk and read them carefully. Before opening them, he had tried to recall the contents of them only to find his recollections of them very fuzzy, but after he opened them, those hazy memories quickly became distinct, as though they had been hidden in the depths of his mind and were now being awoken, which struck him as really weird.
Yuwen Tong impassively closed those pamphlets.
The tongue-in-cheek air about Jiang Xi had disappeared, for he had perceived Yuwen Tong’s long silence and the uncharacteristically grave expression on his face. “What’s wrong, Marshal?”
He had lost some of his memories. Apart from what presumably had occurred in this reverie, he had forgotten many trivial matters as well, and this had happened after a mere sleep. Though his mind was in a turmoil, Yuwen Tong’s countenance, now even colder and more serious, gave little away.
“Nothing,” said Yuwen Tong. Though Jiang Xi was his most trusted lieutenant, he was subconsciously unwilling to confide to Jiang Xi that there was something wrong with his memory. This kind of thing had never happened before. Jiang Xi and Jiang Ke were not only his most trusted lieutenants but also deputy commanders, and normally nothing would stop him from telling them that he was having difficulty remembering things, lest anything go awry in the handling of military affairs. If the enemy launched an attack at this point in time, things would be even more troublesome. He was not the kind of person who would comport himself with such irresponsibility …
However, Yuwen Tong found himself unable to place trust in this Jiang Xi in front of him, no matter how hard he tried to convince himself.
“You may leave. Come back after you return with Jiang Ke,” said Yuwen Tong.
Though still a little worried, Jiang Xi, who could tell that Yuwen Tong was adamant, had no choice but to take his leave.
“Yao Yi,” called Yuwen Tong.
Yao Yi standing guard outside the doors immediately entered. “Marshal.”
Looking at his most trusted bodyguard, Yuwen Tong opened his mouth and was just about to tell Yao Yi about his suspicion and have him look into it when he was on the alert and closed his mouth.
The look in Yuwen Tong’s eyes changed briefly.
This couldn’t be happening. Jiang Xi and Jiang Ke were his most trusted lieutenants, and Yao Yi was his most trusted guard. In fact, Yao Yi had been his guard since childhood and was also the leader of his secret bodyguards. There had never been any secrets between the two of them.
Due to the spate of anomalies, Yuwen Tong immediately came to realize that there was something queer going on.
“I’m going on a tour of inspection of the encampment.”
Yao Yi was surprised but still answered, “Yes, Marshal.”
…
Ling Zhang soon found Marshal’s Abode. Looking at the mansion, he felt a dawning comprehension. It turned out that the marshal’s residence in Shengzhou Pass had been like this in that year.
He had walked in the city for quite some time now. The important part was that he still had not met anybody able to see him.
Though aware that this Marshal’s Abode was fake, he felt an affection for it nevertheless.
He made towards the gates. No sooner had he entered the residence than he caught sight of a team of men filing out. The one heading the team was the very person he had been looking for – Yuwen Tong.
Ling Zhang’s eyes lit up. He was just about to walk up when he noticed that Yuwen Tong was wearing informal marshal’s dress. He had not seen Yuwen Tong clothed in such attire for a long time, which was why he was somewhat astonished.
Yuwen Tong walking out of the gates looked up in the direction of Ling Zhang, presumably having sensed something.
Ling Zhang gasped. He thought that Yuwen Tong saw him, but the next moment, Yuwen Tong knitted his brows confusedly and then withdrew his gaze.
Ling Zhang was thrown into puzzlement. Yuwen Tong was unable to see him?
So this Yuwen Tong was also … unreal?
Yuwen Tong had suddenly felt a gaze upon him when walking through the front gates. From early in the morning until this moment, he had been leery of everybody around him. Only when that gaze had been upon him had he felt relaxed, that he could trust the owner of it, and he had also felt something more profound. He had subconsciously looked in that direction only to find that there was nobody there.
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