Mirror Dream Tree V.4.182. Dream Powder

rin follows the distortion.

By the ti he reaches its source, the sun has already set.

Qinyun Street has awakened.

Crowds flood in from every direction, voices overlapping, laughter rising, lanterns igniting one by one until the street glows like a river of light.

Shadow puppets dance against white screens.

Fire perforrs twist flas into beasts and flowers.

Illusionists pull birds from smoke and turn wine into sparks.

rin moves through the crowd without hurry.

The distortion leads him to a wine hall.

He steps inside.

The scent of alcohol crashes into him at once, thick and suffocating, layered with sweet smoke.

The air is hazy.

n and won sit shoulder to shoulder, wine cups clinking, laughter loose and careless.

Between drinks, long pipes are passed around.

Hokkah smoke coils upward in slow, lazy spirals.

rin’s gaze sharpens.

He lets a thread of Dao slip through his eyes.

The world peels open.

Colors dull.

Structures reveal themselves.

He sees it.

From one man’s mind realm, a red vine extends outward, thin but alive, pulsing faintly as it drinks.

Not attached to the hall.

Not bound to the room.

But anchored through what the man inhales.

rin withdraws his Dao at once.

He turns and signals an attendant.

“What powder is used for the hokkah?” he asks calmly.

The attendant hesitates, then produces a small packet.

rin weighs it in his palm.

“I’ll take three.”

He pays without bargaining.

The attendant hands over two more packets.

rin pockets them and leaves.

Outside, Qinyun Street surges around him, louder now, brighter, more reckless.

He reaches the carriage and speaks through the window.

“To the dical centre.”

“Yes, Lord,” the driver answers.

rin climbs inside.

The carriage pulls away, lantern light sliding across its walls.

Minutes pass.

The wheels slow.

They stop.

rin steps down.

Ahead of him stands the dical centre, its gates open, lamps burning steadily against the night.

He walks forward.

Inside, he approaches the counter and places two small bags of powder down with a soft thud.

“Examine these,” he says.

Before any questions can form, he turns and leaves.

Outside, he speaks to the driver.

“To the Pearl House.”

The carriage moves.

—

When they arrive, rin steps down and looks back at the driver.

“You can withdraw and go ho to sleep.”

“Yes, Lord.”

rin enters the Pearl House alone.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

The lobby hums softly with late-night voices and drifting incense.

He turns toward the dining hall, finds an empty table, and sits.

An attendant brings his regular al without asking.

He eats quietly.

Efficiently.

When he finishes, he rises and heads for the stairs.

An attendant follows behind him.

rin does not climb to the third floor, where his private room awaits.

He stops on the first floor.

He turns down the corridor.

Toward Yu Diexin’s room.

She seduced him.

Now she bears the consequence.

He pauses beside the attendant.

“Find out if Zhao Wenjie is present,” rin says calmly.

“If he is, bring him here.”

The attendant nods and leaves at once.

rin knocks.

Monts later, the door opens.

Diexin’s eyes widen.

“rin,” she whispers.

She straightens almost instantly.

“Lord Duan,” she says formally, “what are you doing here?”

“I’ve co to sleep,” rin replies.

She freezes.

“…What?”

rin steps forward and pushes past her without waiting for permission.

He enters the room and heads straight for the bathing chamber.

The door closes.

Minutes pass.

When he erges, dressed loosely, he finds Diexin sitting rigidly on the bed.

Zhao Wenjie sits in a chair near the door.

Seeing rin, Zhao Wenjie stands at once.

“Lieutenant.”

rin sits down on the chair beside the bed.

“How was guarding Shen Ling?” he asks.

At the na, Diexin’s posture shifts.

She masks it quickly, feigning indifference.

rin notices.

Zhao Wenjie glances at Diexin.

rin tilts his head slightly.

“Is there sothing secret?”

Zhao Wenjie shakes his head.

“No secrets,” he says.

“Shen Ling t with the heads of the Cao and Lin families.”

He pauses.

“He also visited your estate.”

rin lowers his gaze a fraction.

“My estate?”

Zhao Wenjie nods.

rin leans back.

“You can leave.”

Zhao Wenjie bows and exits.

The door closes.

Silence stretches.

rin speaks.

“I don’t know why you hate Shen Ling,” he says evenly,

“But learn to hide your killing intent.”

He stands and begins to undress.

Diexin rises from the bed.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she says.

“I don’t hate Shen Ling.”

rin scoffs.

She steps closer.

“Are you really going to sleep here?”

rin looks at her.

“You are my fiancée,” he says calmly.

“If not with you, then with whom should I sleep?”

Diexin freezes for a heartbeat.

“I… I’ll go change,” she says.

She picks up a folded sleeping dress and slips into the bathing room.

rin removes his outer clothes, leaves only his inner wear, and lies down beneath the covers.

He waits.

Inside the bathing room, Diexin ties her hair loosely and stares at her reflection.

She had known this would happen.

After what she did, sharing a bed was inevitable.

If she wanted a child, if she wanted leverage, this path was unavoidable.

Yet not like this.

Not before a full day had even passed.

She exhales slowly, steadies herself, and opens the door.

She returns to the room.

Night passes in silence.

Later, rin sits cross-legged on the floor.

His consciousness sinks inward.

He touches the rhythm of his internal organs, drawing upon their latent power.

Fire, tal, wood, earth, water.

He does not force them.

He listens.

He searches for the common ground that binds them.

Balance.

Circulation.

Harmony.

By morning, pale light filters through the curtains.

Diexin stirs.

rin is already dressed.

“Ask Yueqing to take you to the estate,” he says.

Her voice is still heavy with sleep.

“Why?”

“I don’t want to co here to sleep anymore,” rin replies.

“Oh,” she murmurs.

As he finishes adjusting his uniform, he pauses.

“Did you write down the process for refining the Dream Gu?”

“Yes,” Diexin says.

“It’s in the first drawer.”

rin opens it, takes out the paper, and scans it once.

The content etches itself into his mind.

Still, he folds it and keeps it.

—

At the Divine Guard office, his three captains arrive to report.

Their investigation yields nothing about the white powder.

rin does not comnt.

He assigns them other serious cases and orders the sleeping case to remain under continuous investigation.

Later, Ye Wen arrives.

rin informs him about the white powder from Qinyun Street.

“Find its source,” rin orders.

Ye Wen bows and leaves.

Before nightfall, the dical examiners send him a list of ingredients used to refine the powder.

rin returns to his estate.

Inside the refining room, he recreates the powder step by step.

He compares the finished product to the packets he obtained.

They match in structure.

In effect.

Yet sothing is missing.

He probes deeper with his spirit.

Understanding settles.

The powder does not help the Dream Demon locate its targets.

The demon’s power within it serves another purpose.

Concealnt.

Stabilization.

It hides the aura of the demon’s influence and anchors the connection once contact is made.

rin leaves the refining room with the powder in hand.

As he walks toward the main house, a carriage rolls into the courtyard.

The door opens.

Yu Diexin steps down.

Beside her stands Yueqing.

rin walks toward them.

Seeing him, Yueqing straightens as if caught stealing.

“Cousin.”

“Yueqing,” rin says calmly, “help your sister-in-law settle into my room.”

Yueqing blinks, then nods quickly.

“Yes, cousin.”

rin turns to Diexin.

“If you need anything, tell Yueqing or Uncle Chen.”

She nods once.

rin enters his carriage as the noon sun begins its slow descent.

—

At the office, he goes straight to Commander Di.

He lays out the truth of the demon powder, its concealnt function, and the Dream Demon’s thod of anchoring itself.

Commander Di listens in silence.

Minutes later, rin leaves.

The case is solved.

What remains is only to pull the thread and uncover the hand behind it.

—

Night falls.

rin returns ho.

After sleeping beside Diexin, he rises before dawn.

He sits alone.

Still.

His breath slows.

His awareness turns inward.

The heart pulses first.

Fire within it is no longer fierce or consuming, but rhythmic, a drum that sets the pace for all motion.

He follows that rhythm downward.

The lungs expand and contract.

tal within them sharpens perception, not to cut, but to refine, to separate what is essential from what is noise.

Each breath polishes intent.

The liver stirs.

Wood coils there, flexible and alive, adjusting without resistance, storing montum rather than force.

Growth without haste.

Change without loss.

The spleen anchors him.

Earth does not move, yet it supports all movent.

It accepts, transforms, and distributes, turning chaos into nourishnt.

Stability becos a quiet strength.

Deepest of all, the kidneys flow.

Water holds mory.

Water adapts.

It does not confront, yet nothing withstands it.

In its depth, rin senses continuity, the thread that binds past, present, and future.

He does not command the organs.

He listens.

He aligns.

Fire feeds earth.

Earth bears tal.

tal enriches water.

Water nourishes wood.

Wood fuels fire.

The cycle turns within him, not as doctrine, but as lived truth.

Blood Qi smooths.

Breath deepens.

The boundary between organ and ridian blurs.

They are no longer separate systems.

They are in one circulation.

One balance.

One body.

rin opens his eyes as the first light of morning enters the room.

His cultivation advances, not in leaps of power, but in depth.

And depth, he knows, is what endures.