Traveling Together

A'Du noticed the change in Li Qi's expression, so he immediately went into greater detail. "This is what we usually call Essence, Qi, and Spirit. But qi is not air—calling it 'air' is purely a mistransmission."

As he spoke, he dipped his finger in tea and wrote two homophonous characters on the table to distinguish them.

"Essence refers to the strength of the physical body—its blood and vital energy, muscles, bones, and internal organs. Taken together, they make up one's vitality. When we do physical labor, what we consume is vitality. When your vitality is vigorous, you carry Fire Qi, and ordinary little ghosts cannot come near you. Big Brother Li, you are brimming with vitality. Anyone can see that your Fire Qi is strong. Even if you walked through a graveyard, no ghost would come looking for you," he said with a smile.

"Spirit refers to the vitality of our thoughts. When we think and remain alert, we are using spiritual power. Sometimes, even if we lie in bed and do not do a scrap of heavy work, after a full day of thinking, we can still feel utterly exhausted. That is because our vitality remains, but our spiritual power has been worn away completely. When spiritual power is abundant, the mind becomes quick and incomparably intelligent," A'Du explained.

"Then, Brother A'Du, you must be the sort of person with abundant spiritual power, right?" Li Qi said with a smile.

"Hehe, not really, not really." A'Du scratched his head and gave a foolish grin, then steered the conversation back to the point. "As for the last one, qi, that is the most important."

"Essence and Spirit are indispensable to the human body's workings. Without them, a person grows weak. We often say someone has no spirit, but those simple words contain great meaning. These most fundamental things were spread throughout the world by the sages long ago," A'Du said to Li Qi with a sigh.

Li Qi felt this deeply.

The most fundamental axioms had always spread the widest. Yet the more basic something was, the more unshakable it became, because every higher existence was built upon it.

Everyone knew that cutting-edge technology in top journals was constantly being overturned and rebuilt every year, and ordinary people could not be bothered to learn about it.

But whenever even one law in an elementary school textbook changed, it shook the entire edifice of science.

This world was presumably the same.

"But Essence and Spirit do not exist independently. Qi mediates between them. Qi has neither form nor substance, yet it is the foundation of Essence and Spirit. Yang Energy is one form transformed from qi. All life activities depend on qi—it is the origin of life itself."

"The three are closely connected, nurturing one another and relying on one another as one whole. Together, they make a person. And this is the key point I want to discuss next. Big Brother Li, the Three Innate Treasures can be weakened or activated through certain methods. Once activated, they restrain demons and ghosts. If we want to travel through the wilderness, we must learn these methods," A'Du said.

"You want to teach me?" Li Qi was startled.

Not only had this man told him what the Three Innate Treasures were for free, he was also willing to tell him how to activate them?

This could not quite be called a cultivation method, but such little tricks could not possibly be told to just any passerby, could they?

Li Qi's vigilance rose.

One who offered undue attentions was either a traitor or a thief. This man might be looking for someone to walk through a minefield for him.

"It hardly counts as teaching. I just want a little more assurance. Big Brother Li, I truly have something very important to do—important enough that I have to leave even if I am alone. We both know how dangerous it is for one person to travel far from home." A'Du scratched his head with a bitter smile. "So I am truly afraid something will happen. If something happens to me, that does not matter much. But if it delays the matter I carry, then it will become a real disaster. I would regret it for the rest of my life."

"So, I will definitely do anything that can raise my chances even a little, just as I suddenly came to bother you." A'Du's expression was sincere.

"Then why don't you join them?" Li Qi quietly pointed with his finger at a group of traveling merchants nearby.

There were two such merchant groups in this tea stall. He had pointed to the closer one beside them.

Both groups had more than ten people, gathered together as they ate and drank quietly. Even their conversations were conducted in low voices, just like Li Qi and A'Du's.

Li Qi and A'Du had also kept their voices low; anyone a little farther away could not have heard them.

Yet somehow, they seemed to have been overheard.

"Hey, what do you mean by that?" A tall man among the merchants Li Qi had pointed at suddenly stood up.

He wore coarse linen clothes and stood more than eight feet tall, a full foot taller than Li Qi. He was powerfully built, with large joints and thick body hair. His beard and chest hair merged into one mass, and his features were fierce. Wearing a conical hat, he strode over in displeasure.

"Ah, sorry. I was only using them as an example." Li Qi immediately rose and apologized with a smile.

It was rather awkward to be overheard talking about someone behind their back. Best to apologize.

The burly man had only made it halfway when he heard Li Qi stand and apologize. He snorted coldly. "At least you know what's good for you." With that, he went back.

That was not surprising. When traveling outside, having a hot temper was one thing, but if someone started fights at every turn and kept escalating conflicts, they certainly would not last long. More likely than not, they would die out in the wilds.

Li Qi sat back down and did not feel humiliated. But after this incident, he understood why A'Du did not travel with that group.

Taking the opportunity, A'Du explained in a low voice, "So... Big Brother Li, do you understand why I came looking for you? If I traveled with them... I am afraid they would not even leave my bones behind."

Li Qi nodded, fully agreeing.

A group of hotheads who would stand up over a single remark, banded together in a crowd—if those merchant groups harbored ill intent, never mind whether they dared to kill with their own hands, even stripping A'Du of all his goods and tossing him straight into the wilderness to die without even a corpse left behind would be perfectly normal.

If someone died in the wilderness, who would know how they had died? The authorities would probably not even bother investigating.

In other words, A'Du had chosen Li Qi because he believed Li Qi was not such a great threat. A'Du was confident that if Li Qi suddenly attacked him, he could still escape with his life.

As he thought about this, Li Qi suddenly froze.

Was he being a little... paranoid?

It was only traveling with someone as companions. Such a normal matter—why did it require this much scheming and intrigue? Constant probing, every sort of speculation, arrogantly guessing at other people's intentions.

"Ha..." Li Qi shook his head and rubbed his temples.

One must guard against others, but that did not mean one had to be like a hedgehog, treating everyone with extreme wariness. Besides, A'Du did not seem to have any problems. Everything he had said matched up. There was truly no need to keep viewing him with malice.

Though he spoke of killing as if it did not affect him, it seemed to have left a bit of a psychological shadow after all...

"Big Brother Li, why did you suddenly sigh?" A'Du was puzzled when he saw Li Qi's expression abruptly change, his previous guardedness turning into a bitter smile and a shake of the head.

"It's nothing. Let's finish eating and resting quickly, then get on the road." Li Qi did not say much more, but he was no longer so resistant to having someone by his side.