The candlelight flickered as Li Sanjiang began to mutter under his breath. He spoke quickly in the Nantong dialect, and even though Li Zhiyuan listened carefully, he couldn't understand.
However, he felt that the tone was quite similar to the little tunes Grandmaster hummed while lying on the bamboo chair after a meal.
After muttering for a while, Li Sanjiang finally stopped. He smacked his lips a bit, probably because his mouth was dry, but it wasn't a suitable time to leave the array and drink water. So he cleared his throat with a dry cough and then reached behind him. When he brought his hand back, it held a talisman.
Li Zhiyuan was a bit curious as to where the talisman had been since Grandmaster was only wearing shorts.
After lighting the talisman with the candle, Li Sanjiang began to wave the talisman paper.
Just as the paper was about to burn his hand, Li Sanjiang slapped the talisman paper between him and Li Zhiyuan.
Instantly, all the candles went out, and the incandescent bulb in the room flickered for a moment before returning to normal.
Li Zhiyuan looked left and right, then looked down at the black rope tied around him:
*Was it really over?*
*It didn't seem like much.*
Li Sanjiang stood up, walked up to Li Zhiyuan, bent down, and used his teeth and hand to tug and break off the excess parts of the three ropes. However, black rings remained around Li Zhiyuan's neck, wrists, and ankles.
"Little Yuanhou, don't untie these three knots tonight. Just sleep with them, and I'll cut them off after breakfast tomorrow."
"Mm, go back to sleep."
"Good night, Grandmaster."
"Good night, good night."
Li Zhiyuan stood up and had just reached the doorway when he heard a "thud" behind him. Turning back, he saw Li Sanjiang had tripped over his own feet and fallen to the ground.
He was probably biting through the rope earlier for him and had accidentally fallen when he tried to bite the one on his own ankle.
Li Sanjiang crossed his legs and propped one hand behind his head while waving the other toward Li Zhiyuan:
"Get to bed already."
Li Zhiyuan returned to his bedroom and lay on the bed. Although he hadn't felt too sleepy before, as soon as he lay down, drowsiness overwhelmed him.
He pulled a thin blanket over his stomach and fell into a deep sleep.
"It should have worked, right?" Li Sanjiang mumbled to himself, "It definitely worked. The bulb flickered. It can't just be a loose circuit."
Then Li Sanjiang glanced at the book tossed on the floor and doubted himself, "Wait, the person who wrote this book couldn't have seen light bulbs back then, right?"
Soon enough, Li Sanjiang found another bit of evidence, "What am I thinking? All the candles went out. It definitely worked."
Having said that, Li Sanjiang stretched and walked to the bed, lying down.
"Oh, today was really exhausting, sleep... sleep."
He had done so much today, from guiding corpses to recovering them, then drawing the Array Map. Being old, he really couldn't handle it.
As soon as his head hit the pillow, he started snoring.
But as he slept, Li Sanjiang turned over, muttered a few times, and his brow gradually furrowed.
he found himself sitting on a white jade stone platform, surrounded by towering palace walls and majestic halls.
To his front right was a doorway, and to the left was a broad open space stretching to a pool and the Dragon Bridge.
"Damn, is this The Forbidden City?"
Li Sanjiang had never been to Beijing and certainly not The Forbidden City, but he had seen it on calendars and outdoor movie screens. Wasn't this where the Emperor lived?
Ha, he was dreaming of this kind of place, interesting.
Li Sanjiang instinctively wanted to reach for a cigarette in his pocket, should he light one up?
But when he reached down, he felt something furry. Looking down, he saw a ginger cat lying on his lap.
The ginger cat seemed to have just been sleeping and was annoyed at being disturbed, turning over with some dissatisfaction.
Li Sanjiang unceremoniously shoved the cat away.
The ginger cat rolled once on the ground and stood up, giving him a discontented "Meow!"
Li Sanjiang paid no mind, brushed the remaining cat fur off his lap, then took out his cigarette box again and lit one for himself with matches.
Just then, from diagonally ahead, there came a "creak..." and a dull scraping noise, suggesting the palace door was being opened.
Li Sanjiang took a drag of his cigarette, "I remember hearing you need to buy tickets to enter The Forbidden City. Will I get fined for sneaking in?"
Then, Li Sanjiang smacked himself on the back of the head, "I'm in a dream, damn it, who needs a ticket!"
Blowing out a beautiful smoke ring, Li Sanjiang smiled smugly, "This is a real deal. People have to take a train to Beijing and buy tickets to enter The Forbidden City. I'll just visit in this dream."
The sound of the palace doors scraping finally stopped. Ahead, footsteps echoed from within the three doorways.
The steps were heavy and synced.
Li Sanjiang leaned forward slightly, curious, *Did you have to line up and march in The Forbidden City?*
Li Sanjiang froze because stepping out of the three doorways weren't tourists, but three lines of people dressed in Qing Dynasty official robes with dark, ashen faces. They hopped out in synchronized rhythm.
The cigarette in Li Sanjiang's hand had unknowingly slipped away.
Suddenly, they all stopped in their tracks, coming to a dead halt.
they collectively turned left to face Li Sanjiang.