RNP Chapter 6 Fuso
Chapter 6 Fuso
Lu Siye could sense the primordial energy.
That was the forty-third day since I came to Jiugongling.
That afternoon, he sat in meditation in the wooden hut as usual.
The sunlight slanted in through the window, casting a golden patch on the ground.
He sat there with his eyes closed, not thinking about anything.
Then, he felt it.
It felt like a very gentle breeze brushing against the skin.
It was like a very thin, warm current seeping in from some unknown place, slowly, slowly, flowing into his body.
He opened his eyes and froze.
Yi Songjin was looking at him with a hint of expectation in her eyes.
"You felt it?" he asked.
Lu Siye nodded.
Baozi, standing nearby, slapped his thigh excitedly: "Holy crap! You felt it?! Forty-three days! Faster than me!"
Su Nian glanced at him, then lowered her eyes again, but the corner of her mouth seemed to twitch slightly.
Xiaoman clapped her hands: "Amazing! Amazing!"
Zhou Che adjusted his glasses and, unusually, spoke up: "Congratulations."
Lu Siye looked down at his right hand.
My palms were still clean, there was nothing there.
But he definitely felt something flowing inside his body, very faintly.
"This is... primordial energy?" he asked.
"Yes," Yi Songjin said, "you did it."
Lu Siye was silent for a few seconds, then suddenly asked, "So, am I considered a Xia Lan?"
Yi Songjin did not answer immediately.
He walked over, squatted down in front of Lu Siye, and carefully examined his right hand.
He stared for a long time, then stood up, his brow furrowing slightly.
"You can absorb Qi," he said, "which means you do indeed have the aptitude of a Xia Lan."
He paused.
"But your mark... has never appeared."
Lu Siye also looked at his palm.
The pattern that had appeared before had never reappeared since that day.
It was as if it had never existed.
"If there's no mark, does that make you a Xia Lan?" he asked.
Yi Songjin was silent for a moment, then said, "There is no precedent in history."
He didn't say anything more, but Lu Siye understood.
There is no precedent for this in history.
Therefore, he is a special case.
An unspecified exception, whose fate is unknown.
That night, Yi Songjin spoke with him alone.
The location was still the same wooden house with the words "Qi Circulates Through Heaven and Earth" hanging on it.
It was just the two of them, sitting face to face.
Moonlight streamed in through the window, casting a silvery-white glow on the ground.
Yi Songjin looked at Lu Siye with a calm gaze.
"Have you considered it?" he began, "whether you'd like to become a Xia Lan?"
Lu Siye met his gaze without flinching.
"I've thought about it," he said.
Yi Songjin waited for him to continue.
Lu Siye was silent for a few seconds before slowly saying, "I grew up listening to stories of Xia Lan. When I was little, I thought they were amazing and impressive. But as I grew up, I realized they were just legends, so I stopped thinking about them."
He paused.
"Now that we know it's true, on the contrary..."
He didn't go on.
Yi Songjin spoke for him: "Are you scared now?"
Lu Siye nodded.
Yi Songjin looked at him, her eyes showing no disappointment or blame, only calmness.
"What are you afraid of?"
Lu Siye thought for a moment and said, "I'm afraid of dying."
Very direct, very frank.
Yi Songjin nodded without saying anything.
Lu Siye continued, "My grandmother is still in the village. She lives alone, and I'm her only grandson. What will she do if something happens to me?"
He thought for a moment and said, "Besides, I haven't thought it through. Being a Xia Lan means fighting those things, which is dangerous and doesn't earn much money. I finally got into university and I want to find a job after graduation so that my grandma can live a better life."
Yi Songjin listened without any change in expression.
"Also," Lu Siye said, "I can absorb Qi now, but I don't even have a formal Xia Lan Seal."
"What am I? Half a worker? A temporary employee? What if that mark reappears one day and then disappears again? What am I then?"
He finished speaking and looked at Yi Songjin.
Yi Songjin remained silent for a long time.
It wasn't until Lu Siye began to feel uneasy that he finally spoke.
"You're right," he said. "Being a Xia Lan (a type of martial arts expert) really doesn't have any advantages. It's dangerous, there's no money, and you have to live in constant fear. It's normal that you don't want to be one."
Lu Siye was stunned for a moment, not expecting him to say that.
Yi Songjin stood up, walked to the window, and turned her back to him.
"I was like that back then." His voice was devoid of emotion. "My father was a Xia Lan. He taught me to cultivate when I was a child, but I didn't want to. I felt that why should I live this kind of life? Later, he died at the hands of Zero."
Lu Siye looked at him, unsure of what to say.
"At that time, I thought, if I didn't take the job, someone else might be the next to die." Yi Songjin turned around and looked at Lu Siye. "But that was my choice, not yours."
He walked back to Lu Siye, lowered his head, and looked at him calmly and gently.
Have you thought this through?
Lu Siye met his gaze and hesitated for a long time.
Then, he shook his head.
Yi Songjin looked into his eyes for a while, then suddenly smiled.
It was a very gentle smile, completely different from the cold and serious Yi Songjin he usually was.
"It's alright," he said. "If you ever want to become a Xia Lan, you're always welcome here."
He turned and walked out, pausing at the door.
"Classes will proceed as scheduled tomorrow," he said. "Now that we can absorb Qi, let's continue learning. Once we've mastered it, it'll be good for self-defense."
The door closed.
Lu Siye sat there, looking at the empty wooden house, and suddenly felt a strange feeling in his heart.
He refused.
Yi Songjin was neither angry nor disappointed; she simply said it was okay.
He even said that it would be good to learn self-defense.
Lu Siye lowered his head and looked at his right hand.
The moonlight shone on my palm, casting a faint silver glow.
In the days that followed, Lu Siye continued attending classes.
Yi Songjin taught as usual, and Baozi and the others learned as usual; everything was the same as before.
But Lu Siye always had a strange feeling in his heart, as if he owed something.
He has already refused to become a Xia Lan, but he is still learning Xia Lan's magic.
What is this?
Auditing classes? Getting something for free?
He started to become somewhat absent-minded.
When he was learning to gather Qi, he kept thinking about this, which caused his primordial Qi to run rampant in his body, giving him a severe headache and making his vision go black intermittently.
"Stop." Yi Songjin's voice came from the side.
Lu Siye opened his eyes and found himself covered in sweat, his heart pounding so hard it felt like it was going to jump out of his chest.
Yi Songjin looked at him calmly: "You have something on your mind."
Lu Siye lowered his head and remained silent.
"Don't feel pressured," Yi Songjin said. "Once you learn it, it'll be good for self-defense. If you happen to run away, you've already won."
Baozi chimed in, "Yes, yes, Uncle Yi is right. Even if I can't beat him, at least I can run a little faster than an average person."
Lu Siye was silent for a few seconds, then nodded.
But he knew in his heart that he still cared.
Days passed by like this.
The start of the school year is getting closer.
Lu Siye counted the days; there were only a dozen days left before he officially reported for duty.
He was thinking about how to get down the mountain and how to explain to Tang Yuan where he had been for the past two months.
That evening, he and Baozi were strolling around the back mountain.
The setting sun dyed the horizon orange-red, and the distant mountains were gilded with a layer of gold.
The two walked slowly along the mountain path, chatting casually.
"Baozi," Lu Siye suddenly asked, "what exactly is zero?"
Baozi thought for a moment and said, "How should I put it... it's a really disgusting thing."
"Be specific."
Baozi scratched his head, organizing his thoughts: "Zero is something that specifically targets people's minds. If you have any evil thoughts, like hatred, resentment, or greed, it will follow those thoughts and crawl into your body."
Lu Siye listened without saying a word.
"At first, his eyes turned white and zero marks appeared on his forehead," Baozi said. "At that time, he was still a human being and could be saved. But as time went on, the zero power increased, and he became a walking corpse, remembering nothing and only knowing how to destroy."
He paused.
"After that, he completely became Zero. That thing is no longer human. Once you kill him, you can't bring him back."
Lu Siye asked, "Is Lingzang the one from that night?"
"Yes, that's the kind," Baozi said. "That's just a regular small treasure. I heard that a thousand years ago there was a huge treasure, ten times bigger than that thing, one of which could destroy a city."
Lu Siye remained silent.
The two continued walking until they reached a square.
The square is not large, with a huge ancient tree standing in the middle, its trunk so thick that it would take several people to encircle it.
Some red ribbons were hanging on the tree, fluttering in the wind.
"This is Fusang Square," Baozi said. "This tree is called Fusang. I heard it's been there for a thousand years. Those strips of cloth are hung by tourists to make wishes."
Lu Siye looked at the tree and suddenly heard a faint sobbing sound.
He turned his head and looked in the direction of the sound.
A small figure was squatting on the stone steps at the edge of the square.
It's a child.
He looked about seven or eight years old, wearing a dirty T-shirt, hugging his knees, burying his head in his arms, and his shoulders shaking.
Baozi and Lu Siye exchanged a glance and walked over.
"Little one?" Baozi squatted down, trying to make her voice sound as kind as possible. "What's wrong? Why are you crying here all by yourself?"
The child looked up.
It was a boy, with tear stains on his face, red eyes, and a red nose.
He glanced at Baozi and Lu Siye, sniffed, and said nothing.
"Don't be afraid, we're good people." Baozi pointed to himself. "My name is Baozi, his name is Lu Siye, what's your name?"
The child was silent for a few seconds, then whispered, "My name is Xiaohai."
"Xiao Hai, are you here all alone? Where are your parents?"
Xiao Hai's lips trembled, and he looked like he was about to cry again: "I...I'm afraid to go back..."
Why?
Xiao Hai began to sob as he spoke.
It turns out his dad smashed his newly bought game console today, saying he doesn't study and plays games all day.
Xiao Hai was furious, so he secretly broke his dad's electric bike by unplugging the wires and letting the tires go flat.
Then he ran away, all the way from his home to the mountain. Now it's dark, and he's too scared to go back.
After listening, Baozi scratched his head: "Well... you really are ruthless."
Lu Siye, standing beside him, asked, "Where do you live?"
Xiao Hai shook his head: "I won't tell."
Why?
"If I tell you, you'll have to send me back."
"So you're planning to stay here overnight?"
Xiao Hai stopped talking and buried his head back in his arms.
Baozi looked at Lu Siye and asked with her eyes: What should we do?
Lu Siye thought for a moment, then squatted down and looked at Xiao Hai: "Have you eaten?"
Xiao Hai shook his head.
Are you hungry?
Xiao Hai hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
Lu Siye stood up and said to Baozi, "Take it back first."
Baozi nodded and held out her hand to Xiaohai: "Come on, come back with us. Let's eat something first, and then we'll take you home when you're ready to talk."
Xiao Hai looked at his hand, hesitated for a moment, and slowly reached out his hand.
The three of them walked back along the mountain path.
By the time we reached the entrance to the back mountain, it was already completely dark.
The moonlight shone on the mountain path, and three figures, one long and two short, moved slowly forward.
Xiao Hai, led by Baozi, walked for a while, then suddenly asked, "Do you live here?"
"Yes," Baozi said.
"Isn't this a tourist area? Can people stay here?"
"Yes, we're located on the back mountain, so tourists can't get in."
Xiao Hai said "Oh," and then asked, "What do you guys do?"
Baozi glanced at Lu Siye and said with a smile, "We're security guards, we watch the mountain."
Xiao Hai believed him, nodded, and didn't ask any more questions.
Back at the back of the mountain, Baozi took Xiaohai to his room and found him some food.
Xiao Hai wolfed down his food, yawned, and his eyelids started to droop.
"Tired?" Baozi asked.
Xiao Hai nodded.
"Let's go to sleep first. We can talk about it tomorrow."
Xiao Hai climbed onto Baozi's bed, covered himself with the blanket, and fell asleep in no time.
Baozi tiptoed out, found Lu Siye and Yi Songjin, and explained the situation.
After listening, Yi Songjin remained silent for a few seconds.
"His parents are definitely looking for him," he said. "It would be best to contact them."
Baozi said, "He won't tell us, what should we do?"
Yi Songjin thought for a moment: "Let him stay for one night first, and ask him again tomorrow. If he still doesn't talk, call the police. The police can find out."
Baozi nodded.
Lu Siye, who was standing nearby, suddenly asked, "He climbed up the mountain all by himself, and it was already dark. Wasn't he afraid?"
Yi Songjin glanced at him but didn't say anything.
Baozi scratched his head: "Kids are bold."
Lu Siye felt that something was wrong, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.
He looked towards Baozi's room, where a dim light shone through the window.
The boy named Xiaohai should be asleep by now.
But for some reason, he always felt that something was vaguely watching him from behind that window.
He shook his head, realizing he was overthinking things.
Maybe they're just tired.
He turned and went back to his little cabin.
Lying in bed, he tossed and turned, unable to fall asleep.
My right palm started to sting again.
It was clearer than before, like something was tapping his skin.
He raised his hand and looked at it in the moonlight.
There was nothing there.
But the stinging sensation grew stronger and stronger.
He closed his eyes and tried to sense the primordial energy using the methods he had learned during this time.
The faint current of air was still flowing within his body, steady and quiet.
But for some reason, he felt that his vital energy was more restless tonight than usual.
He opened his eyes and looked out the window.
In the direction of Fusang Square, the shadow of that thousand-year-old tree stands faintly in the night.
Lu Siye stared in that direction for a long time.
Then he closed his eyes and forced himself to fall asleep.
Let's talk about it tomorrow.
We'll talk about it tomorrow.