22. Night Dream of the Divine

Several decades ago, when the Democratic Republic of East Continent had only just been founded, the cult of the Black Lantern Temple was already flourishing in Huaidong Province. The Black Lantern Temple in Kangle County had nearly forty years of history; its outer walls had long been worn down by the passage of time, yet for all these years, incense had never ceased to burn.

“So this is the Earth Deity... the Black Lantern Matron?”

Lin Guichen stepped into the temple, and the first thing he saw was a stone statue of a goddess. She appeared to be an elderly woman clad in splendid robes, her face kind and her gaze profound, as if she could perceive all the secrets of the world. One hand gripped a cane while the other carried a lantern, and beneath her feet lay a ritual drum inlaid with lotus petals.

Before the statue stood an incense burner, spirals of fragrant smoke rising into the air. The walls were adorned with exquisite murals that seemed to recount the legends and history of the Black Lantern Matron.

The temple was filled with worshippers, a constant stream of devotees arriving to pray and offer incense.

Lin Guichen, following the example of the others, knelt before the Black Lantern Matron’s statue and lit a stick of incense.

Whether or not his prayer was successful, he could not say.

According to what Chen Linyu had told him, when offering incense and worshipping the deity, no one ever knew if it had worked. One could only wait until nightfall and see if the deity appeared in their dreams.

“With two spiritual apertures, there’s about a twenty to thirty percent chance; with three, most succeed; with four, it’s almost guaranteed...”

Lin Guichen muttered to himself, “If it still doesn’t work, then there’s nothing more I can do. I’ll just have to escape with Chen Linyu...”

Although leaving the Chen family’s ancestral estate after nightfall meant encountering wandering fiends and evil spirits, as long as he chose the right time and used a Talisman of Flight before dark, he had a fair chance.

After worshipping the Black Lantern Matron, Lin Guichen stood up, ready to leave—when suddenly, his body froze.

There was murderous intent nearby.

If not for his four open spiritual apertures and heightened sensitivity, he would never have sensed it so clearly.

“Who is it?” Lin Guichen considered quickly. “Is this a test from Third Master Chen? Or one of the Old Drumstick’s men?”

The wandering spirit behind Old Drumstick, the “Drum Demon of Limbo,” belonged to the Black Lantern Temple’s faction. Coming here was like walking straight into enemy territory; it was no surprise to feel such hostility.

But regardless, now was not the time to show any reaction.

He was supposed to be just an ordinary person with no spiritual apertures—how could he possibly sense hidden killing intent?

If this was a probe from Third Master Chen, he could only feign ignorance.

If it was the Drum Demon’s men, Third Master Chen would certainly have anticipated as much and prepared accordingly.

As expected, although the murderous intent lingered, no one made a move, even as Lin Guichen walked out of the Black Lantern Temple.

“Lin Guichen.”

Standing at the entrance was Su Zichu, her expression cold as she said, “Wait here with me. Third Master has already donated to the temple and is now asking the Matron for a protective talisman on your behalf.”

“I thought Old Drumstick was part of the Black Lantern Temple’s faction?” Lin Guichen asked, puzzled. “Shouldn’t you be with Third Master to protect him?”

Su Zichu cast him a glance. “Third Master also worships the Black Lantern Matron. According to the temple’s rules, as long as he remains within the Black Lantern Temple, Old Drumstick’s people cannot harm him. Otherwise, they would face the Matron’s punishment.”

“Oh? There’s a rule like this?” Lin Guichen was surprised. “What if they hire outsiders?”

“That’s even more impossible,” Su Zichu replied. “Unless the outsider is someone who doesn’t worship any deity, or follows the Way of the Sky Gods. Any other worshipper who dares act here would be seen as provoking the Matron herself, and the punishment would be even harsher.”

“The Way of the Sky Gods?” Lin Guichen asked curiously.

“Those who worship Earth Deities walk the Way of the Earth Deities; those who worship Sky Gods, such as the followers of Lady Black Sky, belong to the Way of the Sky Gods—more precisely, the ‘Great Black Sky Way.’”

Su Zichu explained this casually.

Lin Guichen understood.

It seemed the Earth Deities truly occupied a lower status than the Sky Gods.

“But...” Su Zichu glanced at Lin Guichen again. “You’re not a worshipper yet—there was more than one person watching you just now.”

“Oh?” Lin Guichen feigned confusion. “Why didn’t they act?”

“Because I am here,” Su Zichu said simply.

Lin Guichen looked at her in surprise. “I never realized Miss Zichu was so formidable. You can deter those people alone? Whose shade do you worship? Is it perhaps the Matron of Baoding Pavilion?”

He had suspected a connection between Su Zichu and Baoding Pavilion; perhaps she was the bodyguard they’d assigned to Third Master.

But he hadn’t expected her to be this powerful.

“No,” Su Zichu replied flatly, clearly unwilling to elaborate.

Just then, Third Master Chen walked over from behind the temple, accompanied by an elderly white-haired woman in plain clothes—she seemed to be the temple’s chief attendant.

“That’s far enough, Granny Zhan,” Third Master said politely, pressing his palms together before approaching Lin Guichen.

The elderly woman lingered nearby, giving Lin Guichen a brief, scrutinizing look, but said nothing.

“Here’s the talisman—keep it with you.”

Third Master handed Lin Guichen a black silk pouch. “This talisman will be effective until the seventeenth of next month. Since you’ve now worshipped the Matron, during this period, anyone directly under the Black Lantern Temple’s lineage who harms you will be treated as if they attacked a fellow worshipper within the temple itself.”

So that was its purpose.

Lin Guichen accepted the black silk pouch and put it away.

“We should return,” Third Master said, leading the way to the carriage.

...

Inside the Black Lantern Temple.

After Third Master and his party had left, the silver-haired chief attendant made her way deep into the temple, opening a concealed door to an underground passage.

“They’re gone,” she said in her hoarse voice, which carried into the depths below.

“Granny Zhan.”

A man’s voice echoed from within the passage. “Just now was the best opportunity—why didn’t you let us act?”

“There was no chance,” the chief attendant replied softly. “Third Master Chen personally brought his attendant to protect that boy. How could you have succeeded? He may well have been trying to lure you out.”

She paused and shook her head. “You’d best wait until Old Drumstick returns.”

“I’d hoped to foil Chen Jingchong’s schemes before the Master returned next month,” the man in the tunnel sighed. “It seems we’ll have to wait until he comes back from Yihai.”

...

That night.

“Your grandfather didn’t discover you have spiritual apertures?”

No sooner had Lin Guichen blocked out the sounds around them than Chen Linyu couldn’t help but ask, disbelief in her eyes.

“He didn’t,” Lin Guichen replied with a smile. “Otherwise, how could I have dared ask him for a gun last night?”

Chen Linyu gave him a curious look.

She knew this boy harbored secrets—such as the talisman he used to control her, which she still could not fathom the origin of.

“Since you worshipped the Black Lantern Matron today, you might dream of her tonight,” Chen Linyu said with a trace of regret. “But with only two spiritual apertures, you have at most a twenty to thirty percent chance. Still, it’s an opportunity.”

Lin Guichen smiled without comment.

He couldn’t very well reveal that he was actually born with four spiritual apertures—that would be too outrageous.

After all, Chen Muzhi had already confirmed through the marriage contract that he was born with two. If he gained a third or even a fourth after worshipping a deity, that could be explained. But if he had four before ever worshipping, it could only mean he had consumed some rare spiritual treasure.

“What changes after dreaming of the deity?” he asked.

“Nothing,” Chen Linyu shook her head. “No one else will know unless you say something. Even the chief attendant will only be summoned before the Matron in dreams if they’re a prodigy with at least five spiritual apertures.”

Lin Guichen pondered. “After dreaming of the Matron, can I begin visualization?”

“Yes. As long as you see the deity’s image in your dream, it’ll be imprinted in your mind, and you can begin visualization at any time,” Chen Linyu said. “The effect depends on your spiritual apertures. In theory, if someone with only one aperture succeeds in worship, the visualization effect is weakest—they can only glimpse a vague image of the deity and visualize once a day, gaining just one additional day of spiritual power each time.

“One extra day per visualization?” Lin Guichen was intrigued. “Is spiritual power measured by time?”

“Of course. Spiritual power accrues with age,” Chen Linyu explained. “Normally, without worship, you gain a year of spiritual power for each year you live. After worship, with one aperture, you can visualize the deity once a day and gain an extra day’s worth of spiritual power each time; with two apertures, twice a day for two days each time; three apertures, three times a day for three days each time, and so on.”

She looked at him. “So, if you succeed, you could visualize twice a day, each time gaining two days of spiritual power—an extra four days each day.”

Lin Guichen nodded thoughtfully. “So, over time, if you visualize every day for ten years, you’d gain forty extra years of spiritual power?”

“In theory, yes,” Chen Linyu replied.

“In theory?” Lin Guichen was puzzled. “What about in practice?”

“In practice, visualizing the deity for too long can cause you to lose your sense of self and become completely devoted to the deity. At that point, your spiritual power stops increasing,” Chen Linyu sighed.

“How long does that take?” Lin Guichen frowned.

“It’s hard to say,” Chen Linyu admitted. “Some people last decades, others only a few years—depends on willpower. But those with more apertures usually last longer.”

Lin Guichen pondered. If he opened all nine apertures, he could visualize the deity nine times a day, each time gaining nine days—a total of eighty-one days per day.

In a year, he’d gain eighty-one years of spiritual power.

No—nine apertures would allow him to worship a Sky God. Perhaps the effect would be even greater.

So this was the difference between ordinary worshippers and geniuses.

“You want to inherit Chen Muzhi’s secret technique, don’t you?”

Chen Linyu glanced at him. “I’ve heard you need three apertures and twenty years of spiritual power to inherit it. You’re still far from that.”

“Not so far,” Lin Guichen replied.

“Not far?” Chen Linyu shook her head. “You’re only sixteen, so you have sixteen years of spiritual power. You’re four years short. With two apertures and an extra four days a day, it’ll take about ten months.”

She studied him. “But the hardest part is opening new apertures. That depends entirely on fate—effort is useless. Many people visualize for ten or twenty years and never open another. Who knows how long your third will take.”

Lin Guichen nodded slightly. “It does seem a bit distant.”

“Exactly,” Chen Linyu said. “And with only a twenty or thirty percent chance of succeeding in worship, there’s no point discussing it further.”

Lin Guichen smiled calmly. “Let’s talk about it once I succeed.”

...

As night deepened, Lin Guichen gradually fell asleep.

In his dream, he found himself in endless darkness. He could see nothing, not even sense his own existence.

He didn’t know how long had passed when he saw a lantern.

It emitted a faint, dim flame, as if its light struggled through black oiled paper.

Then a slightly stooped, elderly figure appeared in his dream—one hand on a cane, the other carrying a lantern made of black paper, standing atop a lotus-shaped ritual drum, shrouded in a faint golden aura, drifting out of the darkness.

He could not see her face or the patterns on her cane or robes. Only her indifferent voice echoed throughout the dream:

“Good child, come...”

At that moment, the world of darkness seemed to freeze completely.

Only her voice rang out, and in that world, she alone was visible.

“Hm?”

The world of darkness suddenly shattered. Lin Guichen’s eyes flew open and he sat up in bed, still in his room at the Chen family ancestral home.

Most importantly—

Even awake, the image of the deity lingered deeply imprinted in his mind.

“I did it...”

A hint of joy showed on Lin Guichen’s face.

“You really succeeded?” Chen Linyu drifted out of her spirit tablet, unable to contain her curiosity. “You dreamed of the Black Lantern Matron?”

“Yes,” Lin Guichen nodded slightly. “She even gave me a method to examine my own spiritual power and apertures. She called it... The Matron’s Teachings: The Rings of Years. What a strange name...”

“Hush,” Chen Linyu’s expression changed slightly. “Now that you’re a worshipper, don’t be disrespectful to the Matron.”

Lin Guichen made a sound of acknowledgment. “Do you know this method to examine your own spiritual power and apertures?”

“Of course. Every worshipper knows methods like these,” Chen Linyu nodded. “It’s just a little bonus from visualization. I hear that from five apertures onward, the Matron may personally impart even more special arts.”

“Oh?” Lin Guichen noted this silently, then said, “Let me check my spiritual power first.”

He closed his eyes, using the method the Matron had left in his dream, visualizing his spiritual power as a spirit tree, then, with a mental axe, cleaving it to reveal the rings of age.

“One, two, three... nineteen?”

He was stunned.

His spirit tree had nineteen rings, and the twentieth was nearly complete.

A full ring meant one year of spiritual power.

Did this mean... he had over nineteen years of spiritual power?

But his previous self had only been sixteen years old.

“Could it be...”

Lin Guichen suddenly had a guess. “Is spiritual power based on my age?”

He was nearly nineteen; the math fit perfectly.

“So I’m just a few months’ worth of spiritual power shy of twenty years?”

Lin Guichen couldn’t help but feel excited.

With his current rate—visualizing four times a day, gaining four days each time—he’d be increasing by sixteen days every day!

In less than ten days, he’d reach the twenty-year mark required!