True Solution of the Sword Dao

"Tss!" A needle-like wisp of gray smoke instantly brushed past Lin Fei’s cheek. In an instant, a thin line of blood appeared on his pale skin.

Lin Fei paid it no mind.

Clang!!

The longsword was drawn in an instant, transforming into a streak of silver that sliced at his right side.

He walked forward with ease, as if out for a leisurely afternoon stroll.

The longsword in his hand disappeared and reappeared at his side at intervals. His sword-wielding right hand had become a blur.

"Who allowed you to enter my territory?" Lin Fei chuckled.

"Boom!" A silver crescent flashed by in an instant.

A petite figure was violently struck by the sudden emergence of the sword’s radiance and sent flying, but immediately, countless wisps of gray smoke swiftly surrounded Lin Fei. The ghostly faces in the air howled and screamed.

Whoosh!

A sudden blaze of blue flames burst forth from Lin Fei. These blue flames leaped about, devouring all the encroaching gray smoke. Ravenous and thirsty, they made faint, indistinct roars, as though demons imprisoned within Lin Fei’s body. The gray smoke that drew near was promptly consumed, and the rest scattered in panic. The blue flames made several eager leaps into the air but seemed unable to stray too far from Lin Fei, dissipating within a fixed distance.

Lin Fei’s eyes shone like blue-glowing gemstones. Leveraging the power in his hand and the brief contact from moments before, he slowly approached the corridor near the elevator.

"Such a pathetic flame... poor, little matchstick." The longsword, pointed lightly at the ground ahead, burned with a dense blue fire. Countless wisps of blue smoke rose gently. Lin Fei resembled a demon straight out of hell.

"Impossible!! You shouldn’t be able to see me!!!" A sharp voice cried out in alarm from ahead. "You shouldn’t be able to see me!!! How is it possible for you to harm me inside the dream?!"

"Mommy... Mommy, where are you... Yanyan is so scared..." The voice suddenly changed into that of a young girl’s.

"I won’t die!! I am the strongest Dream Eater of the future! How could I possibly die here?!" The voice shifted back to the previous sharp tone.

Snap!

Lin Fei stepped on a seemingly empty spot on the ground, yet it sounded as if he had stepped on something solid.

"Where is your real body?"

Hiss!

His left hand emitted countless wisps of blue smoke, which instantly tore a piece off the gray smoke in the air before him.

"Ahh!" A shadowy figure screamed in agony.

***************

The moment Wang Chunli and Chen Jing collapsed in front of the Quiet Room, Chen Jing vaguely saw through blurry vision a well-built young man stepping out of the room, his sword at his waist incredibly dazzling.

"Huh..."

"Awake?" The voice of Wang Chunli came from beside her.

Chen Jing raised her head, finding herself surprisingly on a street in the Central Trade building’s district.

She and Wang Chunli were sitting on a bench by the street.

"Since we left the Central Trade building, we’ve been trapped in a dream," Wang Chunli said with a pale face.

"So you mean just now, we were dreaming?" Chen Jing said, looking equally pale; her stomach didn’t hurt as much, and she spoke much more fluently.

It was almost noon, and the winter sun offered no warmth. The number of people around them was increasing.

Wang Chunli looked around. The sounds of people talking, car horns honking, and the faint noise from an old tape recorder playing "The East is Red" by elderly people exercising in a nearby square, all brought a sense of reality to the environment.

"Woof woof!!"

A nearly two-meter-tall wolfhound rushed by them, its chain pulling along a man in white sportswear who was trying to hold it back.

The sudden proximity of the sound and the scent of hair gel from the man who passed them...

Watching the pair disappear into the distance.

Chen Jing suddenly said, "Was everything we just dreamt fake?"

Wang Chunli seemed to breathe a deep sigh of relief.

"I actually dreamt that you took me to the Swordsmanship Club where your brother is. In the end, just as the red boots nearly caught up with us, I even saw a young man walk out from that door. It was really..."

"You dreamt it too?" Chen Jing was startled. "I thought everything in the dream was fake?"

Wang Chunli was also stunned.

"Could you also be...."

"My younger brother indeed works at a place called the Swordsmanship Club," Chen Jing’s heart suddenly rose with a hint of hope.

**************

"Chen Chen? Drop everything you’re doing and come pick me up right now."

Lin Fei put down the phone, smiling as he accepted a Longsword Ring handed to him by a club member. The fact that he had fallen asleep in the Quiet Room was certainly alarming, proving the grey shadow’s abilities in the dream were indeed terrifying, able to affect anyone in its vicinity unknowingly.

"Though it was a dream, I’m not so out of touch as to not recognize the difference between active and passive." Lin Fei turned back for a glance at the special Quiet Room and then strode out with big steps.

The clear sound of footsteps echoed continuously in the vast, abandoned building. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

The grey hues, the dilapidated walls, and occasionally, dirty words written on the walls in red paint were visible. Garbage and rocks littered the floor.

The place was silent, as if permeated with a hint of death. There were no people, nor any animals like cats or dogs; it seemed to be a corner of the world that had been forgotten.

Lin Fei gently drew out the Longsword Ring, its cool blade reflecting silver light on the surrounding walls.

He spread out the palm of his left hand, a wisp of grey smoke trembling faintly amidst numerous strands of blue smoke. As the blue haze slightly dispersed, the grey smoke instantly transformed into a fast-escaping shadow, flying towards a direction deep inside the building.

Lin Fei quickly followed, entering a narrow little room.

Sunlight scattered through the half-broken window, casting patches of light, while in a dark corner, a small figure quivered and curled up into a ball.

The figure was encased in tattered black cloth, giving off an unpleasant odor. A pair of distinct white and black eyes on the face watched Lin Fei with fear as he suddenly entered.

Chen Chen followed in behind as well. Upon seeing the small figure in the corner, his eyes couldn’t help but shrink instantly in reaction.

"Such a fragile true form," Lin Fei slightly shook his head. His figure vanished in an instant, reappearing abruptly in the corner.

Boom!

The small figure was engulfed by a patch of Blue Flame for a moment, and a piercing scream echoed simultaneously.

Lin Fei reappeared in front of the corner, slowly crouching down.

What he saw now was a filthy, dark child, different from a normal one in that this unrecognizable boy or girl had an extra small face the size of an egg on the left side of its face. What might have been a cute child suddenly became eerie due to the additional face.

Lin Fei’s gaze was gentle as he stretched out his hand slowly, his fingertips bearing traces of the Blue Flame, lightly touching the child’s face.

"Does it hurt?"

"Mm!" The child suppressed a cry of pain, the fear in its eyes deepening as the Blue Flame continued to burn its skin, emitting a sizzling sound like frying fat.

The small face on its cheek also let out tiny screams, sharp and piercing.

"Do you want to come with me?" Lin Fei asked softly.

The child shook its head in fear, its body straining to move back, but it was cornered against the wall with nowhere else to go.

Lin Fei’s gaze swept over the surroundings. The floor was littered with moldy buns and rotting vegetables. Only a piece of bread placed on the nearest black cloth appeared relatively clean. He pressed it with his hand, and the bread was hard as a rock.

"Do you have anything to eat?" he asked Chen Chen, turning around.

Chen Chen looked somewhat uncomfortable as he nodded, pulling out a few pieces of chocolate from his small bag and throwing them to Lin Fei. However, he finally couldn’t restrain himself.

"I’m sorry, I need to step out for a moment," she said, leaving the room at a trot, her complexion slightly pale.

*************

Two days later

Lin Fei had a child on his shoulder, its face wrapped in black cloth with only a pair of eyes visible, as they stood in front of an elementary school on Huayuan Road. It was just the time when school was letting out in the afternoon. A flood of elementary students poured out from the school, filling the surroundings with loud noises.

Among them, a pretty little girl with long hair and a white bow bounced out of the school gate, playing and laughing with her friends.

"Is that her?" Lin Fei asked softly.

The child on his shoulder slowly nodded.

The setting sun was blood-red, and the biting cold wind whisked the fallen leaves across the street.

The gaze of both fell on the little girl’s bright red boots.

The Red Boots, it turned out, were merely the fantasy it longed for.