Chapter 1593 - The Soul Returns to the Ancient Temple on a Rainy Night

Wang Lin stared at the sky and the two rays of light disappearing into the distance.

“Who is she… Very familiar, very familiar…” Wang Lin murmured, feeling a sting of pain in his heart. This fused with the inexplicable sadness and turned into a strange force that caused Wang Lin’s breathing to become rushed and his face to turn pale.

His body staggered and he retreated a few steps as his gaze toward the horizon collapsed. His right hand pressed against his chest where the stinging pain was coming from. The pain washed over him like a tide. It was an unspeakable pain, as if his heart was being torn apart, and a sense of melancholy surfaced.

All of this came from the woman that flew through the sky. The woman seemed to exist in Wang Lin’s mind for countless years, but the thoughts accompanying that figure were very complicated.

After a long time, a tinge of color returned to Wang Lin’s face. He breathed heavily and closed his eyes.

“So immortals really exist… Then, is my dream… really a dream…

” Wang Lin sliently pondered as he stood on the damp dirt after the rain. It wasn’t until the sky was completely bright that he opened his eyes in a daze and silently walked forward.

“Did I dream of an immortal or… Did an immortal dream of me…”

 Wang Lin didn’t understand. It was as if that drunken dream before had changed the trajectory of his life.

Wang Lin stepped onto the main road and walked toward the capital once more. He no longer had the urge to observe his surroundings but silently walked with the bamboo backpack on his back. His footsteps caused crunching sounds to echo as he walked.

The sun rose, the sun set.

Wang Lin walked along the official road the entire day. When he was tired, he would sit on the side and take out some dried food to eat. After resting a bit, he would continue on.

When the sounds of horses and carriages would drift in from the distance, Wang Lin would dodge to the side. Only after the carriages or horses passed would he return to the road.

In the blink of an eye, seven days passed. During these seven days, Wang Lin’s weak body gradually became stronger. From sunrise to sunset, Wang Lin walked on the road. If there was an inn on the road, he would rest.

Or if he could see smoke from a village during sunset, then it would be even better. Wang Lin found it more comfortable than staying in an inn.

However, most of the time, Wang Lin would have the illusion that he was the only one left in the world after the sun had set. He would find some shade along the road and cover himself in thick clothes. Then he would count the stars in the sky as he thought of the warmth of his home and his parents as he slowly fell asleep.

The fire he had started crackled before him and gradually extinguished. The smoke rose into the air and seemed to fuse with the sky.

The wind in the night was cold and would often wake Wang Lin up. Every time he woke up, he would looked at the silent surroundings. He felt very familiar with this darkness, and he wasn’t afraid. Instead, his head was calm as he looked around before falling back asleep again.

This was the rainy season in the country of Zhao. Even if the rain stopped, the sky would be covered in dense clouds and thunder would echo. The rain would often stop for half a day before falling again.

On the dusk of the eighth day, Wang Lin propped up his umbrella and rushed forward with a wry smile. The rain fell outside his umbrella and thunder rumbled. Although it was only dusk, the sky was already dark.

“One more day of travel and I’ll reach the capital, but this rain is getting more and more intense.” 

Water covered the ground, so as the rain fell, drops of water would bounce off the ground and land his clothes. His green robe became soaked and constantly suck away the heat in his body. This slowly made Wang Lin feel very cold.

When the moist wind blew, the coldness was bone-chilling. Wang Lin shivered and placed his umbrella to mostly cover his bamboo backpack. There were books and dried food inside, along with his replacement clothes. Those things couldn’t be drenched.

Wang Lin quickly walked through the rain and looked around for some place to take shelter. In the distance, he vaguely saw the shape of a house.

He didn’t have time to look closely, but Wang Lin propped his umbrella and walked closer. When he got closer, he saw that it was an abandoned temple.

Creaking sounds echoed in this rainy night, giving off a sinister feeling as it entered one’s ears.

The temple wasn’t large and was broken. There were two doors to the temple, with one closed. The red paint on the door had faded and the ring on the door was covered in rust. Rain gathered on the rusted ring and dripped down.

The other temple door was broken badly. Although it was still slightly connected to the frame, it could no longer be closed. It constantly rocked under the wind and rain, giving off the creaking sound Wang Lin was hearing.

As wind and rain became larger, the door rocked even more violently as if it was going to be blown off the frame.

Wang Lin quickly walked closer and looked at the temple before walking in. The yard of the temple was covered in gravel and weeds. The wind and rain caused the weeds to bend, and the rattling of the rain mixed in with the creaking door.

There was a flash of lightning followed by rumbling thunder that lit up the world, allowing Wang Lin to see everything inside the temple. Wang Lin exclaimed and subconsciously took a few steps back. He saw several white skeletons at the edge of the temple.

His heart pounded and his face turned pale, but the rain was getting heavier. He clenched his teeth and ignored the bones of the people that had died here an unknown amount of years ago as he walked into the temple.

A large statue dozens of feet tall was inside the temple. It was impossible to see its appearance, and its color had long faded. It was broken everywhere.

There was water inside the temple. Many of the roof tiles were broken, so rain fell in, causing a lot of water to gather in the ground.

A cold aura surrounded this temple. Wang Lin took a deep breath and his face turned pale. He first bowed toward statue before finding a place without water to place his bamboo backpack. Then he placed some dried branches before him and tried to light them.

These branches weren’t completely dry, so Wang Lin failed to light them up after many attempts. His body was very cold and he trembled as he attempted to light them again.

However, just at this moment, a bolt of thunder exploded inside the temple. The resulting rumble caused Wang Lin’s hands to shake. A huge shadow appeared and surrounded the area.

“Who!?” Wang Lin suddenly looked up, suppressing the shock in his heart and looked at the door.

His voice was very loud, almost a roar. Just as the thunder dispersed, it caused the person who was about to enter the temple to tremble in fear.

“Who!?” A frightening voiced came from outside. A middle-aged man wearings rags who seemed to have just climbed out of the water took a few steps back before falling over.

After taking a closer look at Wang Lin inside the temple, the middle-aged man relaxed a bit. He quickly entered the temple and glared at Wang Lin. Then he vigorously patted his chest and roared at Wang Lin.

“You scared me!!”

Wang Lin was startled for a moment and revealed a wry smile. He relaxed and then clasped his hands at the middle-aged man and apologized. “The night was dark and I couldn’t see clearly. The thunder also came too suddenly, so I hope Brother won’t mind.”

The middle aged man snorted, and after muttering for a bit, he no longer paid attention to Wang Lin. He sat down on the side and reached into his sleeve to take out half of a wet chicken leg. While looking at it, he burst into tears.

His cry was extremely sad in this rainy night, and this caused caused Wang Lin to feel a chill. Wang Lin moved further away and finally lit up the branches before him.

Under the flickering fire, everything inside the temple became more clear.

The middle aged man cried and cried as he took a bite of the wet chicken leg before he started to grin. Then he let out a loud laugh, which startled Wang Lin.

“A madman…”

 Wang Lin moved further away. If not for the rain outside, he would have chosen to leave. Although this was next to the official road, if a madman appeared in the middle of a rainy night, it was still chilling.

The middle aged man laughed and laughed before crying again.

“They don’t care about me, they don’t care about me… I can’t remember… Who I am…”

His cries filled the temple and made Wang Lin feel pity. He turned to look at the madman and sighed.

“The life-like dream before one awakens. Life is like a play, but who am I… Dreaming is living and waking up is dying, or the dream is dying and waking up is living… The moments of closing and opening the eyes are the moments of life and death, or perhap it is when one can’t separate the real and fake lives...

“This life is a reincarnation cycle, and perhaps it is also a karmic cycle… However, when will I awaken…” Wang Lin murmured, then confusion filled his eyes. During these days, his dreams had caused him to become confused. As he thought for the past seven days, he vaguely felt something.

With a sigh, Wang Lin took out dried food from his backpack and looked at the fire before him. He listened to the rain outside the temple and began to silently eat the dried food.

The rain leisurely fell from the sky, shrouding the mountain, the earth, and the temple. In this temple, next to the fire, two dream souls that didn’t seem to belong to this world entered.

One looked at the fire and one gnawed at the chicken leg. The statue between the two of them had an elusive smile as if it was looking at the two of them.