UCS Chapter 105

Gao Gusheng stood up.

The bone-chilling cold startled him awake. Only then did he realize that at some point he was no longer on the bed but moving rapidly through the mountain forest, snowflakes sweeping past him.

What the hell?

Am I dreaming??

He looked down and found black mist wrapped around his body. This mist held him up over a meter off the ground, preventing him from being dragged along the earth while also restricting his movement.

He actually felt it was pretty fast, with no bumping at all, but this open-air transport was really cold. Gao Gusheng felt like his ankles were about to turn blue.

As he shivered slightly, a faint fragrance began to emanate from his body.

He certainly knew something had its eye on him again. But since Gao Shi was around, he wasn’t too nervous. Perhaps more importantly—compared with potential future harm, the current harm was worse. For example, this fog was utterly unprofessional at kidnapping; he was going to freeze to death before even meeting the mastermind.

Gao Gusheng pulled his hands and feet into his one-piece pajamas and hugged his plush toy tighter, but the mist was moving too fast; any warmth he built up was instantly carried away by the wind.

Shivering, he tried negotiating with the fog. “Brother, can you turn up the heat? If this keeps up, I’ll freeze to death before we get there.”

The fog paused, then, as if understanding him, its temperature gradually rose.

Gao Gusheng felt his numbed hands and feet warm up. He flexed his wrists and ankles. “Yes, yes, that’s the right temperature. Good, keep it like that.”

“The wind’s a bit much. Can you block it?”

Once familiar, twice skillful: the mist turned into a sphere and wrapped around him. Now it really wasn’t cold at all.

Gao Gusheng lowered his head to look at his GPS watch. It seemed true that tech products fail in supernatural events—his watch had no signal. He scratched his head and pressed the protective talisman on his chest.

Hopefully Dad and the Daoist will realize I’m gone soon.

He looked around. He had no idea how long the mist had been traveling; he was still shuttling through deep forest, trees and snow identical on both sides. After a while it got boring. Once he realized he couldn’t memorize the route, he yawned and gave up on that hypnotic self-rescue.

He patted the mist. The texture was strange and hard to describe, a bit like reaching your hand into dense fog—the farther you reach, the stronger the resistance. In any case, there was no breaking through the mist. In this damned weather, even if he did get out, he’d freeze or get lost and die out here.

“If you understand human speech, could you send me back?”

The black mist, unsurprisingly, gave no response. Apparently not.

Flopped inside the sphere with his plush, his stomach growled.

He poked the fog ball. “Buddy, I’m a bit hungry. Can I get something to eat?”

This time the black mist paused longer. After a while, a ginseng root appeared before him.

Gao Gusheng shook his head quickly. “No, no, I want proper food that fills you up. If not a meal, then snacks—chips, cola, fried chicken, I’m not picky.”

…

Moments later, Gao Gusheng was hugging a bag of chips, gnawing on wild fruit, and drinking cola, letting out a satisfied burp.

Listening to the sound of wind and snow, drowsiness gradually washed over him.

Dad must be worried sick right now. Dad and Daoist Ying, hurry up and find me…

＊＊＊

Gao Shi was still dreaming.

The instant the Ghost King in the dream shattered, he should have awakened, but this time he didn’t.

The dream began to shift. He sensed it and knew he was about to dream of that suspected past-life world again.

But just then, even in sleep, he felt something wrong—as if something unpleasant was drawing near, coveting Lele at his side.

He tried to get up, but something in the dark pinned his soul down. A surge of sleepiness dragged him deeper into the dream.

That fleeting discomfort was buried deep.

…

Sunlight blazed.

Music drifted by his ears.

Ying Bujie, robed in black, wasn’t wearing his usual formal suit this time. With no extra adornment, he looked a bit lazier than usual. He sat before the zither, plucking casually. The melody flowed like a mountain stream, like towering peaks.

An eagle flew from a high cliff. Its wings spanned over a meter; a single powerful beat could send it soaring for thousands of li.

On impulse, Gao Shi laid his long axe across his knees and flicked the shaft with a finger. The sound clanged like weapons clashing. He sang loudly in time with the tune, startling even the drifting clouds in the sky.

Suddenly he lifted his axe and stood. Smiling, still singing, he swung the axe at Ying Bujie with mountain-splitting force.

The music quickened. Ying Bujie’s left hand plucked rapidly. His right hand rose, but instead of blocking, it drew the axe toward his chest. Gao Shi was startled, tried to pull back, and toppled straight into his arms.

Gao Shi laughed in exasperation. “You cheated! This round doesn’t count. We’re doing it over!”

Ying Bujie smiled, circling him with his right arm as his left hand struck the final chord.

“All’s fair in war.”

Gao Shi narrowed his eyes. Taking advantage of his guard being down, he tilted his head up and kissed him. Using the momentum, he gripped the back of Ying Bujie’s neck, conquering thoroughly. At the end, he even scraped Ying Bujie’s lower lip with a canine tooth in a mock threat, totally unrestrained.

Breathing a little heavily, Gao Shi rolled onto his back and pinched Ying Bujie’s cheek, putting on a bully’s air. “Now you know how formidable this god is?”

Ying Bujie chuckled low. “Formidable. Truly formidable.”

Gao Shi pretended to be angry. “Still dare next time?”

Ying Bujie pulled him closer. “I dare next time.”

“You—”

Ying Bujie lowered his head and kissed him. Gao Shi met him head-on, running rampant until he himself was panting hard. In the end, he was the one routed, trying to escape, only to be pulled back into that embrace.

So he simply found a comfortable position and stopped moving. Just then his gaze fell on the spirit flower beside them. After years of cultivation, it had become completely translucent, like drifting mist or winter ice crystals.

Curious, Gao Shi reached out and lightly touched a leaf. The leaf nuzzled his fingertip like a small animal.

Smiling back at Ying Bujie, he said, “Since this little thing drank your blood, does that make it your child?”

He played with the leaf in high spirits. The flower gave off a faint fragrance that calmed the mind.

“No wonder Yi You took it in as a disciple. The little fellow is indeed interesting.”

“Should we give the little one a name?”

Gao Shi had zero awareness of his naming skills and even had the nerve to ask Ying Bujie’s opinion. “The spirit flower lives for a hundred thousand years, formed from the essence of heaven and earth. A single petal can let someone ascend on the spot. Some say if you take the whole plant at a million years, you can glimpse the Dao. If it takes human form and goes out into the world someday, it’ll be in danger.”

“I heard cheap names help kids survive. How about calling it ‘Dog Leftover’? Or ‘Dog Egg’? Actually, I think ‘Iron Pillar’ isn’t bad either.”

Ying Bujie was silent for a long moment, then said tactfully, “With you and me here, it couldn’t possibly die young.”

Gao Shi stroked his smooth chin. “Good point. Then how about Lingbao? Spirit Flower Baby?”

Lingbao…

Ying Bujie thought for a moment. “It does seem to really like music. Just now the flower leaned this way.”

Hearing this, Gao Shi plucked the strings twice and saw the flower unfurl its petals, its leaves swaying gently. It looked like it was bobbing its head, quite adorable.

Gao Shi’s eyes curved. “Then how about calling it Lele? ‘Le’ as in music. Since I’m giving the name, you can choose the courtesy name.”

Ying Bujie contemplated for a moment, then said slowly.

“Since it kept looking toward the music just now, how about we call it…”

“Gusheng.”

…

“Lele?!”

Gao Shi bolted upright in bed. The discomfort from before entering the dream resurfaced. Instinctively he reached to his side—his hand met only cold emptiness.

No time to ponder the dream’s meaning. He flew toward Ying Bujie and Kongmiao’s room, only to find Ying Bujie’s eyes tightly shut, his face deathly pale, sweat on his forehead, his breathing weak—as if he’d just endured a great battle.

Beside him, Kongmiao’s face was grave, both hands pressed against his back, spiritual energy pouring forth continuously.

“Old man, what happened to Daoist Ying?!”

Kongmiao said through gritted teeth, “This old Daoist doesn’t know. I slept unusually deeply. When I woke, Xiao Ying was already like this.”

Gao Shi stepped forward two paces and asked in a low voice, “What can I do?” He took a deep breath. “Also, Lele is gone.”

As he channeled spiritual energy outward, Kongmiao’s face gradually paled. “Xiao Gao Shi, you have no spiritual energy. There’s no way to send it to Xiao Ying.”

“Xiao Ying’s injuries may have been left from fighting whoever took Gao Gusheng.”

Gao Shi had never questioned his own abilities before, but remembering the mountain-splitting, sea-cleaving force from his dream, he unavoidably felt a hint of frustration.

If only he truly had the power from that dream…

Frustration was useless.

Gao Shi forced himself to calm down. “I’ll request reinforcements from the Anomaly Management Bureau headquarters. And… we’ll surround the mountain.”

What Gao Shi least lacked was money.

Over these years, he’d managed the Gao family’s R&D department, using his business acumen to analyze commercial opportunities revealed in the dreams, finally pushing the Gao family to an unrivaled peak—all in preparation for this very day.

The dream was connected to people he’d encountered in reality. If he hadn’t guessed wrong, the Ghost King in the dream was the “True Immortal” the traffickers mentioned. The traffickers’ base was somewhere in these endless mountains.

Fine. Since he had no spiritual power, he’d buy up all the world’s rare treasures, summon all the world’s extraordinary people and strange events—and surround the mountain!

***