Transformation

Si Ming couldn't explain why, but Liu Qingqing didn't mind. "Since you have that kind of talent, why don't you become an entertainer? Maybe you'll become a big star someday, and some of your glory will rub off on me."

"My dream is to become a martial arts grandmaster."

It wasn't just the present Si Ming; the previous owner had harbored the same wish. The harder something was to obtain, the more he longed for it.

"The two don't conflict. You can become both a martial arts grandmaster and a musician. It's not as though nobody has done it before. There are Spirit Transformation experts among musicians too."

"That's because they can cultivate internal arts. I was born with severed meridians, so the only way I can become a martial arts grandmaster is through external body refinement. Tempering the body takes more time and effort than anything else. If I divide my attention and pursue music, it will inevitably hold back my martial cultivation."

Even with his talent for mastering things as soon as he learned them, he wouldn't have to waste time learning professional skills, but if he really took the road to stardom, making records, appearing on television, giving interviews, and even holding concerts in the future would inevitably demand a great deal of effort. Under those circumstances, Si Ming thought he'd have heaven and earth to thank if he could reach the Spirit Transformation Realm before forty.

The two walked in silence until they came to the fork where their routes home diverged.

Liu Qingqing said, "I can't help you with this, but I think the most important thing is not to have any regrets yourself. As long as you think it's worthwhile, nothing else matters."

Si Ming chewed that over. "No regrets... I understand. Thanks for your advice. I'll give it some serious thought."

Liu Qingqing waved a hand. "I wouldn't call it advice. That sort of thing is easy to say but hard to do. If it were me, I probably wouldn't have the courage to make a decision at all. I'd just leave it to someone else, too afraid to take responsibility."

With that, she headed down the other road, but after only a few steps, she turned around again. "I don't have any talent that lets me shine, so I really envy people who do. But sometimes I think that even if I can't shine myself, I can still dazzle by borrowing someone else's light, just like the moon. So—you have to become the sun!"

A faint blush showed on her face, as though she found what she'd said a little embarrassing. For an ordinary person, thinking such things in private was one thing, but saying them aloud in front of someone was a little chuunibyou.

Si Ming didn't feel embarrassed. He had always been easygoing about such things, and he could tell she was encouraging him. "Don't worry. That day will come, I promise!"

After they said goodbye, Si Ming continued toward the orphanage. On the way, he spotted a familiar figure.

"That's... Ying Zhou?"

He wasn't entirely sure. He hadn't met Ying Zhou since transmigrating and recognized him only from the memories that remained. Besides, the previous owner's relationship with him had been quite distant, so his impression wasn't strong.

Ying Zhou was also a member of the orphanage, four years younger than Si Ming, and the last member besides Yao Bilian and Hongdou.

There were few orphans in this world because policies encouraged childbirth. The government provided charitable assistance to families with many children, reduced or waived tuition, and so on. With the profession of True Qi charger as a fallback, even in places where sons were strongly favored over daughters, parents didn't abandon baby girls. After all, once a daughter had been raised through middle school, everything she earned afterward was pure income. Ordinary people had their own little abacuses and knew which choice paid better.

No one had been willing to adopt Si Ming because he couldn't cultivate internal arts. Hongdou wasn't an orphan at all; she was merely staying at the orphanage.

Ying Zhou came from a single-parent family and had often been abused by his father as a child. After a neighbor reported it, the government stripped his father of custody. Under normal circumstances, Ying Zhou should have been placed with relatives, but before going to prison, his father had threatened to take revenge by any means on anyone who dared adopt his son once he was released. The man had such a fearsome reputation that no one dared cross him, and so Ying Zhou became an orphan.

Now, Si Ming saw Ying Zhou fleeing in panic, with several strong, sturdy students chasing desperately after him. They were about to catch him.

"Is this... school bullying?"

After giving it some thought, Si Ming felt he couldn't stand by and do nothing, so he used his lightness skill and hurried after them.

The effects of practicing the Hundred Birds Frolics showed themselves at once. He easily reached the limit of his former speed. If he trailed his hands behind him, imitating the pose in the game of eagle catching chicks, he could pass for a ninja.

"Stop right there! Students fighting is against school rules. What class are you in? Who's your homeroom teacher?"

Si Ming had no intention of fighting elementary schoolers, so he opened by unleashing the great technique of "reporting them to the homeroom teacher."

Sure enough, the older students were frightened into stopping at once. They looked at Si Ming hesitantly, because the lightness skill he had displayed made them mistake him for an expert well versed in martial arts.

However fierce and quarrelsome they were, they were still only elementary schoolers. Had they been high school students, seasoned old hands, they certainly wouldn't have taken such a threat seriously.

"You actually got an older student to help you? Ying Zhou, you're such a coward!"

"You got lucky this time. If you dare mess with our World Society again, we'll beat you so badly even your own parents won't recognize you."

"Haha, he's a bastard with no father or mother. Nobody recognizes him anyway."

The students cursed and flung their taunts at him before reluctantly leaving.

"Are you all right?"

"Who asked you to stick your nose in my business?!"

Si Ming's concern was met with a reply as cold as ice.

"You think I ran because I couldn't beat them? Let me tell you, I was letting them catch up on purpose!"

Ying Zhou turned around and looked at Si Ming with displeasure. There was a sinister, savage look between his brows, like an untamable wild wolf.

"With what little skill you have, you can't even protect yourself, so why are you pretending to be some great hero? Seeing a self-proclaimed righteous guy like you makes me want to puke. Who the hell do you think you are? I'm warning you, if you meddle in my business again, I'll beat you up too!"

Ying Zhou glared viciously at Si Ming, then picked up his schoolbag and left.

Only then did Si Ming discover from his memories that the previous owner had been bullied by Ying Zhou. No wonder Ying Zhou didn't think anything of him.

But now he couldn't spare the attention to care about any of that.

"Can't even protect myself... self-proclaimed righteous... pretending to be some great hero..."

After standing there in a daze for a while, Si Ming suddenly burst out laughing. "So that's how it is! I've been such an idiot, hesitating over something so trivial. After absorbing someone else's memories, I almost forgot my original aspiration. I didn't have martial arts in my last life, but didn't I still want to be a great hero? As for which road to choose, the answer has been there all along!"

Chapter 10: Transformation

At the foot of the mountain, the first light of dawn fell gently over the park.

Si Ming's arms danced like streaks of white silk, a muscle on his back trembling constantly as though he had sprouted a pair of invisible wings. He wasn't standing on the ground as he practiced martial arts, but in a giant banyan tree.

To practice the Hundred Birds Frolics, one had to imagine being a real bird. For that reason, practicing on level ground was far less effective than practicing in a tree.

Si Ming twisted and darted about, each movement flowing into the next without the slightest hitch. Completely free of the human body's limitations, he could change direction at any angle. Even amid the dense branches, he seemed to have eyes all over his body, naturally avoiding obstacles as he leaped freely from branch to branch. The shadows of all kinds of birds could be faintly seen behind him.

Twenty days had passed since he declined Aunt Liu's proposal. Without the slightest reluctance, Si Ming had spent the money from six songs on Six-Transformation Bear and Snake Pills at 998 apiece, buying a month's supply in one go. The shopkeeper had courteously given him a fifteen percent discount.

In the past, pills like the Six-Transformation Bear and Snake Pill could only be refined by professional alchemists, and very few were produced. Not only had they cost ten times as much as they did now, but even money couldn't guarantee a purchase.