Dream Walker: Feng Shui Master Bai Ya

"Let's go somewhere? Where to?" Shang Muchen tried to sit up straight on the sofa, but after several attempts, he couldn't. He was not only drunk and tired, but also almost numb.

"Come on, let me help you up." The older brother stood up, reached out, grabbed Shang Muchen, and pulled him up from the sofa.

The moment he stood up, he felt a sticky sensation as if he were "detached." He subconsciously looked back and saw that his body was lying drowsily on the sofa, seemingly asleep.

"Um... is it okay if we don't come together?" Shang Muchen asked weakly, pointing to his body.

The older brother laughed and said, "No problem, the physical body is just a 'blood-stained robe'."

The real you is a soul in a robe, not a physical garment.

"Oh..." Shang Muchen nodded as if he understood, but he thought, didn't his brother say that he would help him recover from the damage to his brain, remove the nanobots from the Supernatural Disaster Management Bureau, and develop the potential of his own body?

Isn't the brain also part of the body?

If the "body" doesn't go, and only the mind and soul go, will it be effective?

Shang Muchen was too embarrassed to ask, fearing that his brother would launch into another long, incomprehensible theoretical rant, so he could only obediently follow along.

The older brother called to Amy to set off, and led Shang Muchen to the front door of the house.

Amy asked, "Master, where are we going?"

"Qingming Temple," Shang Muming greeted Amy, "I need to borrow Wang Dayu's 'Boundless Return to Emptiness Mirror' for a while."

"Yes."

Amy nodded in agreement, opened her arms, aimed them at Shang Muchen's door, and recited a long string of coordinates that Shang Muchen couldn't understand:

"Starting point: Saha world - Humanity - Fourth density - Laniakea Supercluster - Virgo Cluster - Milky Way - Orion Arm - Gould Belt - Local Bubble - Oort Cloud - Solar System - Earth - Northern Hemisphere - Yanji City - Chaoyang District - No. 44, Section 13, 157 Art District, Baiya Studio;

Destination: Eloin Network - 21st Simulated World - Humanity - Fourth Density - Xiyi Jiuzhou World - Donghua Shenzhou - Chaoyang Prefecture - Jiuxian County - Donggao Town - Qingming Mountain - In front of Qingming Temple Gate.

Shang Muchen craned his neck, watching curiously. As the maid Amy chanted, a nebula-like flow of light and shadow appeared out of thin air between her hands.

As she recited the location more and more accurately, the chaotic location information gradually made the light and shadow displayed between her hands clearer and clearer. From nebulae to galaxies, a planet gradually appeared, and finally settled on a rather beautiful hillside.

"Come on, I'll introduce you to a friend." The older brother pushed open Shang Muchen's door and beckoned him to follow.

Shang Muchen was shocked to see that it was no longer night outside the door, but daytime, and that they had already arrived at the hillside that Amy had revealed between her hands.

Turning back, he saw that his body was still lying on the sofa. Shang Muchen shook his head and decided to treat it as just another bizarre dream. He then followed his brother out.

As soon as he stepped outside, the incredibly fresh air rushed towards him. The fragrance of flowers, along with the fresh scent of earth after the rain, forcefully entered Shang Muchen's nostrils, the refreshing feeling reaching the top of his head.

Shang Muchen trembled subconsciously, almost feeling as if his entire being had been elevated.

"Isn't this place nice?" the older brother said with a smile. "Actually, this is the world that the Eloin tribe simulated, which I told you about."

From a physics perspective, the physical structure of this world is no different from the naturally evolved world you inhabit; the only difference is the size of the universe. Just as there is no essential difference between cultivated and wild apples.

But cultivated apples are often sweeter than wild apples, right?

Shang Muchen nodded sincerely and said, "It really is beautiful. The sky here is so blue it looks unreal, and all the colors seem much richer than where I live. The smells in the air are also much more varied than where I live."

"So, people should travel more often, they can't always stay at home, haha." The older brother laughed and beckoned Shang Muchen to go up the steps.

Shang Muchen suddenly realized a crucial question: "Brother, have we time-traveled?"

"Hmm, you can use the word 'time travel.' Is there a problem?"

Wow! That's amazing.

"Is it that impressive? Actually, it's nothing special. You dream every day, and in your dreams you're traveling between different universes. The people you meet in your dreams are from other worlds, and the things you do are things you encounter in those other worlds," the older brother said dismissively.

"Essentially, the human brain is not a generator of consciousness, but a receiver of consciousness—a terminal that receives experiential signals from the 'Boltzmann brain' that wanders in the source field, like a radio."

"Oh?" Shang Muchen didn't understand and didn't quite believe it.

However, after only a few steps, he believed it.

Climbing the steps along the hillside, after a few steps, a tall and magnificent mountain gate comes into view.

Above the mountain gate are three large characters “Qingming Temple”, and on the redwood pillars on both sides are two couplets.

A short couplet is engraved on the outermost pillar, with the upper and lower lines as follows:

In the realm of serene emptiness, dreams transform into butterflies, seeking their former secluded home.

Before the clear and bright platform, the mind follows the moon's reflection to realize true reality.

An even longer couplet, densely engraved on the inner pillar, consists of the following lines:

[When spring is out, rain washes away the dust of the world; watch as paper ashes fly and turn into white butterflies. The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao. How can it compare to the sun and moon in a pot, the universe in a sleeve? When I wake up, I can still lie with my head on the pine root.]

With eyes closed, clouds rise beneath my feet; I hear the chanting of Buddhist hymns dissipate into the azure sky. Form is emptiness, not different from emptiness; it is but sand flowing beneath my fingers, dew in a cup of Dharma. Only after enlightenment do I realize that bubbles and shadows do not exist.

Shang Muchen was stunned. He clearly remembered that he had been to this place when Liu Qingyang, who had transformed into a flying bat woman, chased him earlier, and that he had been deeply impressed by these two couplets.

My brother is always right. Indeed, the so-called "time travel" and "dreams" are essentially the same thing.

Following my brother through the mountain gate, we arrived at a bustling market. Clearly, Qingming Temple was a tourist attraction, with many locals setting up stalls to earn money from tourists.

Shang Muchen observed the crowd. Judging from their clothing, they seemed to be from the Ming Dynasty, dressed in ancient costumes commonly seen in TV dramas. However, he could understand their speech, and their accents were not very noticeable.

Passing by a fragrant fried dough stick stall, the older brother made a special stop and asked Amy to buy some fried dough twists and fried dough sticks from the stall owner for Shang Muchen to try.

"You definitely shouldn't miss these local delicacies," the older brother recommended with a smile.

Shang Muchen took a bite, and a rich aroma instantly filled his mouth.

This is amazing, because after dreaming for so many years, this is the first time I've experienced "taste" in a dream state.

Dreams are always blurry; in most cases, you can only experience sight, hearing, and touch. Even with sight, you often can't distinguish characters and numbers.

He couldn't get his sense of smell and taste from his dreams, and he didn't know why, but after taking a bite of the fried dough stick, he felt like he was being elevated.

"Delicious~" Shang Muchen's eyes lit up.

"Eat as much as you like, the lady at the fried dough stick stall said with a smile. "This young man knows his stuff! Here, pack a few more to eat on the way."

After Amy paid, Shang Muchen ate fried dough sticks and twisted dough sticks. He got thirsty, so Amy bought him some rice wine.

It was just like a vacation. Shang Muchen happily ate and drank, following his brother through the market, past the huge incense burner where many people were burning incense, past the flagpole and the sculptures of the twelve beasts at the gate, and finally arrived at the entrance of Qingming Temple.

Shang Muchen observed carefully and found that it was a small Taoist temple with a newly painted mahogany gate that was tightly closed, while the small side gate was slightly ajar.

The older brother gestured with his lips towards Amy, who happily skipped to the small side gate, knocked, and asked in a sweet voice, "Is anyone there?"

A huge, dark, hairy black head poked out from the side gate, which really startled Shang Muchen.

Shang Muchen turned and ran without hesitation, but his brother grabbed his arm and said with a smile, "It's okay, don't be afraid."

Following the big black head was a huge black bear body.

A large black bear, about 2 meters tall and wearing a tattered Taoist robe, timidly stepped forward and replied in a slightly cowardly voice, "Nobody's here."

"Nobody? Nonsense, you're right here." Amy lightly punched it, startling it into dodging away.

"I'm not human... I'm a bear." The black bear was very strong, but looked very timid. Its eyes were always darting around, and it dared not look people in the eye. Its voice was also weak. "Why don't you go inside and wait for a while? Master went to have a drink. He should be back soon."

"Oh, great!" Amy seemed to be very familiar with the black bear. She rubbed the bear's belly, which was exposed by her tattered Taoist robe, with a look of delight, and invited Brother Shang Muchen into the courtyard with a smile.

When the big black bear saw his older brother Shang Muming, he bowed respectfully.

The older brother nodded and gently patted the black bear's head, like patting a domesticated guard dog.

Shang Muchen carefully squeezed into the courtyard of Qingming Temple, turning sideways and trying to stay as far away from the black bear as possible.