Chapter 53: I Am Fueling Your Dream. Do You Dare Claim You Have No Dream?...

At this, Lin Zhao grew quite annoyed. "Who could have known those conch shells were actually giant megaphones? So what if they can sing?"

The surrounding warriors chuckled softly. Some of them already had hair as white as snow, while others were still green youths. A warrior currently taking a leaf from Lin Zhao's hand could not help saying, "Little Wizard, you're going to the Wizard State's Grand Selection this year, aren't you? With your great skills, you're sure to be admitted to Mount Dantu."

Lin Zhao raised his chin slightly and said with modest reserve, "Well, I suppose I should be able to."

Ji Yaoguang is the Lord of the Azure Wood Stream at Mount Dantu, so if I go to Grand Tu and become a... well, a Sunlight Stream Lord who provides sunshine for the trees, that's not too much to ask, is it?

For a moment, envious gazes surrounded him from all sides.

Having finished handing out a batch of leaves, Lin Zhao felt his guilty conscience ease slightly. He let out a sigh of relief, draped his arms around the ancient tree's neck, and said with satisfaction, "Brother Yaoguang is truly wonderful. Having you by my side gives me the greatest peace of mind."

Ji Yaoguang chuckled softly. "Well, since I'm so wonderful, you only call me 'Brother'..."

Lin Zhao thought to himself that made sense. Looking into the ancient tree's clear and gentle eyes, a strange itch arose in his heart. He whispered softly beside his ear, "Well then, good brother, how should I thank you～?"

Ji Yaoguang had never encountered such a trick before. Instantly, his ears turned crimson, his heart hammered like a drum, and he stammered incoherently, "This, um, well, then, why don't you call me 'Brother' a couple more times..."

You stupid tree!

Lin Zhao instantly let go of his hands and let out a cold huff. "Good brother! Let's go back!"

Sensing danger, Ji Yaoguang immediately softened his tone to salvage the situation. "Ah-Zhao, we're still missing a few furnishings for that eggshell carriage. How about we go shopping and buy some before heading home?"

Lin Zhao replied coldly, "Buy what buy? Do you even have any money?"

Originally, he had wanted to extract some favors from Sijin, but after running into that trouble, he had lost all interest.

Ji Yaoguang smiled slightly, took Ah-Zhao's hand, and gave it a gentle squeeze. "I don't, but *he* does."

With that, he reached out and grabbed into the empty air, pulling out a plump, brightly colored emerald-feathered little bird from afar. The bird's eyes were blank for a second. "What?"

Ji Yaoguang said earnestly, "I want to buy some things with Ah-Zhao, but I'm not familiar with the Di State. I'd like to ask you to be our guide."

The little bird immediately sighed over the decline of public morals and the erosion of ancient honesty. "Lord Azure Emperor! You used to be so virtuous. Even when you had no money, you never resorted to highway robbery..."

Ji Yaoguang smiled with utmost sincerity. "You wouldn't want your brother to find out about you playing with the letter-conch just now, would you?"

The totem bird of Sijin fell into silent despair, then muttered gloomily, "Fine, whatever you two spend today, I'll cover it."

...

On the streets of the Di State, pedestrians came and went in a hurry. Most of the wizards carried their own totoms around, and exotic beasts from different lands did not attract the slightest bit of attention.

Commoners set up stalls at street corners to sell small handicrafts, while various large domesticated beasts dragged long cargo frames. Cyan orioles flew overhead, having already introduced the sixth shop along their route: "Hangings, water source stones, and storage cabinets equipped with space-light stones have all been purchased. Up ahead is the shop that sells letter-conches. Would you two like to buy a couple to keep at home?"

"You charge us for your loudspeakers out of our own pockets?" Lin Zhao muttered under his breath while curiously walking into the narrow shop.

Inside the store were conch shells of various colors and patterns. Shells of the exact same color and pattern always came in multiples; not a single one was unique.

There were also some seashells, placed individually in a display counter. An elderly man with white hair sat behind the counter, holding a white seashell and carefully placing it to his ear, listening quietly to something.

Having consumed a primordial source in his previous life cycle, Lin Zhao had now attained the realm of an Earth Wizard, possessing extremely acute hearing. Almost instantly, he caught the sound emanating from that conch shell—it was none of other than Sijin's bubblegum pop song.

Although the sound was not entirely clear and many details were lost, that cheerful and joyful melody echoed right within the conch. Sijin's voice was simply too easy to distinguish. Lin Zhao had to admit that the oriole totem could indeed sing; he himself could not compare.

However...

"There are actually things in this world that can record sound! How marvelous." Lin Zhao could not help exclaiming in wonder.

"You mean this?" The shopkeeper smiled slightly. "This is the song of Lord Kim-wizard. It's something I treasured back then; countless people offered to buy it from me, but I never sold it. If it weren't for the fact that it can only be played a limited number of times, I would pass it down as a family heirloom."

Hearing this, Sijin's totem bird proudly puffed out its chest on Lin Zhao's shoulder.

"Is there anything special about this song?" Lin Zhao asked, full of curiosity. "I listen to it and find no purifying effect, nor any profound and abstruse meaning."

The shopkeeper smiled, though his smile was far too standardized to convey any genuine sincerity. He asked, "When listening to a song, why must there be purification? Why must there be profound meaning?"

Lin Zhao was stumped by the question, unable to answer for a moment.

"I was born in the Wizard State," the old man said in a calm, unhurried tone. "My spiritual will was insufficient, and I failed to become a wizard. In the land of wizards, those who fail to become wizards, once they reach adulthood and cannot find a livelihood, are assigned to the logistics corps and must serve on the front lines for ten years before they can return to their homeland."

His expression turned wistful, his thoughts seemingly drifting back to the battles of many years ago.

Back then, as a young man, he had still hoped to win military merits on the battlefield, exchange them for spiritual beasts and spiritual treasures, and try once more to see if he could become a wizard.

Yet, a mere two or three major battles completely shattered his illusions. The great fierce beasts were resisted by Heavenly Wizards and Earth Wizards; under the command of Human Wizards, ordinary people occupied strongpoints, collected ashes, and gathered minerals, all the while worrying constantly about being polluted and corrupted by the wilderness.

Comrades died every single moment, and they could only burn them, adding their remains to the collected ashes.

Such days would destroy all hope in a person, instilling a dread of dying the very next moment, a dread of becoming a wandering ghost in the wilderness...

"...But we mortals with low spirituality performed the hardest and most exhausting tasks, and when danger struck, we had virtually no ability to resist. After two or three rotations, out of the hundred-man squad I belonged to, only I was left. Could I not feel afraid? Could I not cry? Could I not miss home?" The old man's narrative voice carried a faint hoarseness. "Back then, the only comfort was that during our free time, we could hear the Kim-wizard's singing."

"The Kim-wizard was just an ordinary minor wizard back then, holding the most useless oriole totem, without even any healing ability," a faint smile surfaced on the old man's face. "But what did that matter? His song sounded wonderful."

"He sang so beautifully. In those sunless days when death could come at any second, there was the Kim-wizard's singing on the battlefield."

No healing was needed, no doctrines were required. They simply huddled together on the cold wilderness, humming along with the melody, and the panic, unease, and sorrow in their hearts received immense solace.

"We just wanted to listen to a song. Back then, we didn't need to think about anything else. Being able to fall asleep peacefully was already the greatest happiness on the battlefield."

"That's why we love listening to the Kim-wizard's songs—not for any other reason, simply because we love them."

Lin Zhao understood somewhat. For these vulnerable people, fatigue and suffering were life itself, joy was meager, and liking something was a luxury. Liking Sijin's songs was a precious comfort in their lives, granting them a sliver of happiness amidst their exhaustion.

"Later on, after we left, we thought we would never hear the Kim-wizard's song again." The old man's voice suddenly turned cheerful. "To our surprise, the Kim-wizard activated the golden letter-conch, letting the entire Wizard State and all allied principalities hear his singing... Back then, we were truly, truly so happy! We are truly, deeply grateful to the Kim-wizard."

Sijin's totem bird said nothing. It simply left behind a few golden shells, took the two letter-conches, and walked outside.

Lin Zhao and Ji Yaoguang naturally followed behind.

As soon as they stepped out, Sijin's totem bird burst into soft, aggrieved cries, whining, "I promised them I'd sing for them often in the future."

The corners of Ji Yaoguang's mouth twitched uncontrollably. "That is the letter-conch used by the entire Wizard State for alarms and major disasters! You stole your brother's golden conch and had a merry time singing, but all the regions of the Wizard State thought some terrible disaster had struck the capital, causing massive panic! With such a huge mess, your brother only gave you a beating, spent an enormous amount of energy helping you smooth things over with the stubborn old fogies in the Wizard Temple, and your final punishment was merely being barred from using the letter-conch to sing ever again—and yet you're actually feeling aggrieved!"

"Hn..." The totem bird felt even more wronged, crying until it curled into a ball.

"That letter-conch is a nationwide public broadcast system after all. Using something like this only in critical moments—isn't that a terrible waste?" Hearing the whole story, Lin Zhao couldn't help chiming in. "Broadcasting the news and playing songs during peacetime would at least make full use of it."

"That won't do. The usage of letter-conches is limited. Once their spiritual energy is exhausted, they lose their effect. They are national treasures meant to guard against the Black Tide," Ji Yaoguang said with a smile, handing him a cup of juice. "That's why, after Sijin used the red conch, it triggered massive condemnation among the group of Grand Wizards."

The subjects of discussion were invariably those few points: abusing public property for private use, squandering the precious usage opportunities of the letter-conch just so he could sing, and singing such songs to ordinary people which dragged the dignity of the Grand Wizards in the mud. He deserved to be put on trial no matter what.

However, Sijin was a Heavenly Wizard. Such an offense, while grave to the extreme for an ordinary wizard, was nothing much when committed by someone like Sijin—whose brother was also a Heavenly Wizard. After debating for more than ten days, the Grand Wizards handed down their final verdict: he was forbidden from using the letter-conch to sing anymore. If he violated the rule, it didn't matter; he would just be fined—heavily fined.

"Of course, there is also the most important reason," Ji Yaoguang analyzed. "Sijin used the collective faith of all living beings to help himself unlock his true self. Other people tried the method too, but the results were close to zero. Many believed that Sijin was hiding some crucial technique and unwilling to share it. But the inherited wizardry of Heavenly Wizards is inherently protected, and keeping it within the family is customary. So they wanted to use this method to force Sijin into an exchange."

"That's right! But when I became a Heavenly Wizard, I was utterly confused myself, so how could I give them any pointers?" Sijin bit into a fruit. "And the result was that I'm no longer allowed to sing..."

"You're just not allowed to sing using the giant megaphone," Lin Zhao also felt the contradiction. "You hacked the nation's highest broadcasting station just to sing! Not getting severely punished is already entirely due to you having powerful backers! Besides, if you sing here in the Di State or up on the Great Wall, who's going to care?"

"Not being allowed to use the letter-conch makes it feel like something is missing!" The totem bird looked melancholic as it placed the small conch horn in front of itself and blew into it, as if blowing into a microphone.

A thought stirred in Lin Zhao's mind. "By the way, Brother Yaoguang, what is the Wizard State's method of communication?"

Ji Yaoguang smiled. "There are far too many methods for that. As long as you have the other party's spiritual imprint, you can communicate using wizardry, secret treasures, or formations, and you can even transmit people and objects. For instance, since I have the scale of the Di State Lord, I can contact him instantly."

Sijin added, "Mm, normally speaking, Mount Dantu also has a special wizardry secret treasure—consisting of more than fifty masks. As long as you put on one of those masks, you can enter a realm to converse and exchange supplies with other Heavenly Wizards wearing the masks."