Stargazing

To observe the subtle, one must be without desire; to observe the limits, one must have desire.

Ink Bamboo Mountain, Spanning three thousand li, with fourteen peaks across two mountains, it is a place where demonic beasts roam, poisonous miasma is dense, and human habitation is rare.

Yet, amidst these overlapping peaks, sheer cliffs, and bamboo forests, a patch of land, one mu square, has been carved out by human hands.

In the center of this flat ground, grass is gathered to build a structure, an altar is erected with a statue. An effigy of a Demon Lord, with eight arms and six heads, bearing a non-human appearance, has been built.

On the four sides of the altar, arranged in a grid of seven by seven, are forty-nine meditation cushions, scattered like stars.

At this moment, before the altar stands only an old Daoist priest, wearing a black cap and brown robes. He cradles a three-foot, seven-inch vermilion wooden sword, a strip of green bamboo leaf in his mouth, his head drooping, dozing off intermittently.

As he slept soundly, three metallic chimes and two bell rings echoed from the depths of the ink bamboo forest.

The old Daoist sniffed, raised his head, and flicked his fingers as if plucking a string in the wind.

The bamboo forest rustled, and soon, figures emerged from it.

Leading the group were three Daoist cultivators in black robes and green caps, their faces veiled with silk. The one in the center, at the forefront, had a three-foot copper coin sword strapped to his back, slung diagonally over his shoulder with a red rope. The two on either side followed, holding golden bells and silver chimes.

Behind them trailed twenty-one children, of various ages, the oldest no more than thirteen or fourteen, the youngest just four or five. Some were clad in brocade and adorned with jade, others in simple hempen clothes. They followed the sound of the bells, dazed and uncomprehending.

"Esteemed Master," the three masked cultivators bowed in unison.

The old Daoist pouted, pointing at the children with the bamboo leaf in his mouth.

The cultivator holding the copper sword spoke, "A while ago, Granny Jade Toad from Yaoguang Cave visited. She lost a game of Go to the Mountain Lord and flew into a rage, devouring quite a few children. Thus, we disciples were ordered to go to the human world and select another batch of Golden Boys whose primeval essence has not yet been released. We trouble you to examine them."

The one holding the golden bell added with a smile, "Those with insufficient spiritual roots will be sent to the outer sect for labor. Those born with a Dao heart will be taken in as inner sect attendants. As for those harboring demonic fetuses, hehe, they will be sent as a drink for the Mountain Lord."

The old Daoist snorted, his lips pursing in apparent assent.

The three cultivators bowed again, led the children to their seats, distributed a meditation cushion to each, and then retreated into the forest to wait.

Old Daoist looked at the children, some sitting, some lying, on the cushions. He spat out the leaf, stood up, took his vermilion wooden sword, and walked past each child, drawing a circle outside their cushion. He then sat back in his original spot, but facing the opposite direction, not towards the bamboo forest, but towards the Demon Lord effigy, lost in thought with his sword.

Silence fell upon the forest. The twenty-one children did not cry or fuss, sitting on their cushions like wooden figures.

After about two hours, one of the children could no longer bear it. He stealthily turned his head, glancing at the back of Old Daoist. Then, he secretly twisted his head to look at the ink bamboo forest behind him, his face a mask of conflict.

The old Daoist, without turning his head, spoke as if to himself.

"Sit here for the night. Sleep, and nothing will happen. If you cannot sleep, no matter what you hear or see tonight, as long as you do not step out of the circle, your life will be safe."

The child was startled and quickly pretended to be oblivious, retracting his neck and feigning ignorance. He knew his little tricks were seen through and could only inwardly lament.

What is going on?

What in the world is going on!?

Civilian nuclear fusion is almost a reality, orbital elevators are being planned, and I wanted to tour the lunar city! And now I'm being transmigrated?! Heaven help me! This is completely unscientific!

That's right, among these twenty-one children, there was one ordinary-looking boy who was a transmigrator.

Li Fan, a completely unremarkable office worker, a standard, ordinary, unremarkable person. His transmigration scenario was even the cliché: 'Ah! I woke up and I've transmigrated!'

Sigh... If he had transmigrated to an ordinary world, Li Fan might have been able to engage in some re-invention and creation – glass, soap, papermaking, tanks, Zakus, planet destroyers, anything! But this turned out to be a Xianxia cultivation world.

Li Fan only remembered that the moment he opened his eyes, before he could even figure out what dynasty or year it was, he was whisked away to this deep mountain forest by those three masked figures, who could have been gods or demons!

Instant teleportation, can you believe it! Spatial teleportation, can you believe it! This is too fantastical! I'm truly speechless!

And that old Daoist over there, with his hidden boss, sweeping monk-like aura, doesn't seem like a demon or a wicked Daoist. But if he wants to run, he probably can't escape...

So, Li Fan decided to embrace the traits of an office worker: accept what comes and lie flat.

Li Fan slumped onto the cushion, stretching his numb legs. He thought, and following the choice every transmigrator would make, he tentatively tried something in his heart.

System?

And then, the system appeared.

'Welcome to the Transmigrator Psychological Health Maintenance System.'

Hmm, thank goodness for...??

Psychological health? Psychological health is very important... Bullshit!

No! What is a Psychological Health Maintenance System?!

Quest system? Leveling system? Stat enhancement? Summoning gacha? Check-in system? Auto-pilot?

'Please host select Innate Talent.'

Oh, oh, oh, thank goodness, thank goodness, you scared me to death. Li Fan wiped the cold sweat from his brow. Innate Talent, that sounds like a Xianxia term! I knew it, systems that mess with hosts are no longer popular...

'Heaven Falls, Unmoved: Greatly reduces the chance of mood depression.

Contentment and Destiny: Maximum mood limit increased, mood increase value doubled.

Calm Down: When mood fluctuates, only changes by a small amount.'

"Oh, Calm Down... Calm down my ass! It's a psychological health system, and the buffs it gives are also related to psychological health, damn it!"

Li Fan couldn't hold it in anymore. He jumped up and let out a roar like an enraged dragon.

Then he saw the old Daoist turn and glare at him. He quickly bowed and sat cross-legged, "Sorry, sorry! Don't mind me, don't mind me!"

The Old Taoist had already walked over with a grim expression, standing before Li Fan like a withered tree trunk, his imposing shadow nearly obscuring Li Fan's face. It was like a homeroom teacher bursting into the classroom during evening study to catch someone.

Li Fan broke out in a cold sweat, swallowed hard, and stared at the other man.

The Old Taoist also glared at Li Fan for a moment, then reached out and grabbed a few sesame cakes from thin air, tossing them into Li Fan's arms before turning back to sit on the futon.

"..." Li Fan looked at the old Taoist, then at the cakes in his arms. Before he could react, the system started messing with his head again.

'Confirming host's choice of Innate Talent, "Calm Down".'

Oh my god...

'Li Fan's mood has decreased by 1 point.'

What the hell... what kind of crappy system is this...

'Li Fan's mood has decreased by 1 point.'

Shut up, will you!

'Li Fan's mood has decreased by 1 point.'

Li Fan rolled his eyes and flopped down onto the futon, staring at the ceiling.

'Li Fan's mood, 97/100.'

Yeah, that's right. That's it. No stats like attack, defense, speed, bone root, spiritual root, comprehension, or even elements like gold, wood, water, fire, and earth. Just a mood value...

Damn it! What kind of lunatic developed this crappy system!

'Li Fan's mood has decreased by 1 point.'

Li Fan really wished he could glare the system to death. He was truly helpless against such a scam of a system. Annoyed, he grabbed a sesame cake and took a bite... Oh, it was actually quite tasty.

'Li Fan's mood has increased by 1 point.'

Li Fan, "..."

'Li Fan's mood has increased by 1 point.'

Hmm, eating two cakes brought back two points... But I can't eat any more...

But if that's the case, then to maintain psychological health, wouldn't eating something normally be enough? So, besides actively ruining my mood, what the hell use is this psychological health maintenance system anywayyyy!!

'Li Fan's mood has decreased by 1 point.'

'This system can also be used for gacha draws.'

Gacha draws!

'Li Fan's mood has increased by 1 point.'

Draw, draw, draw!

'Gacha function currently unavailable. Charging progress: 8/100.'

What the hell! No, you know what, a system that doesn't even give you a free ten-pull at the start has no future, don't you understand!

'Li Fan's mood has decreased by 1 point.'

'Gacha function currently unavailable. Charging progress: 9/100.'

Oh... Alright, alright, stop babbling, I get it.

Li Fan rubbed his temples with effort. Dealing with such a scam of a system was truly exhausting...

In short, it seems that the system's points increase or decrease based on Li Fan's psychological state. Every emotional fluctuation charges the gacha. Judging by the progress, both upward and downward fluctuations, a total of 100 points are needed for one draw.

Although he didn't know what kind of scammy items he might draw, at least this system wasn't completely useless. It gave Li Fan a glimmer of hope. With gacha, would sign-in quests, leveling up, and other features be far behind? He could explore them slowly.

However, the current awkward situation was that Li Fan's initial Innate Talent had inexplicably chosen "Calm Down," causing fluctuations of only one point each time!

So frustrating! Going up by one and down by one, how long would it take to charge for a single draw, damn it!

While Li Fan was frowning and studying his mood-disrupting system, the sky gradually darkened without him noticing.

"Ha! The twin moons hang in the sky!" The Old Taoist in front suddenly let out a strange laugh. "Kid! You're out of luck! If you can't take it later, gouge your own eyes out! And! If you don't want to die, don't look up!"

What?

If you don't want someone to look up, then don't tell them not to look up, you idiot! Unfortunately, the old man didn't understand such a simple principle, and thus he screwed Li Fan over.

He was lounging on the futon, picking his nose, and subconsciously looked up at the night sky that obscured the heavens.

Two large, round, bright moons were reflected in his pupils.

These were clearly not Earth's moons. One on the left, one on the right, one large, one small, one azure, one violet, like two fireballs held in the palms of an eight-armed demon lord, shining down.

The moonlight illuminated the demon lord's six heads and faces, one side cast in an ashen hue, the other a deep purple. The obsidian inlaid on its heads gleamed with golden light, as if countless eyes were opening.

Faintly, Li Fan seemed to hear a sword cry like a dragon's roar. Then, the entire dark bamboo forest suddenly erupted with black and purple miasma. Subsequently, clouds gathered, and a strong wind began to blow, stirring up a tornado from flat ground. It circled Li Fan's futon, contained by the circle drawn by the Old Taoist with his wooden sword. Layers upon layers of smoke and mist were kicked up, almost obscuring the sky.

Li Fan felt as if he were caught in a storm, his hands and feet clutching the futon as he instinctively crouched down. The black wind raged before his eyes, kicking up sand and stones, forming a vortex that reached straight into the heavens. It blocked Li Fan's vision, leaving only the moon shining with purple light in his sight.

Before he could even blink, the whirlwind vanished in the next instant. All was silent.

The destructive, world-ending sandstorm and tornado from moments ago had dissipated like smoke.

The bamboo forest, mountains, altar, demon lord statue, boy, and Taoist—all seemed like an absurd dream, as if they had never existed.

All things in heaven and earth, the laws of the universe, even the flow of time seemed to vanish at this moment.

Only Li Fan remained, sitting alone under a purple sky, on a flat rock formation.

Before his eyes, the sky suddenly cleared. The purple moon was gone.

The night sky was adorned with stars, a river of stars stretched across the heavens, a brilliant, boundless firmament like a rain of stars.

Faintly, through the clouds, he could see patches of purplish-red bubbles, like soap bubbles, floating in the starry sky, refracting the light of the myriad stars through their curved surfaces and projecting it onto his retinas...

Then, Li Fan's right hand suddenly felt heavy. Something fell into his palm. He instinctively clenched his fist, and the stinging pain that pierced his palm momentarily broke his trance as he gazed at the sky.

Li Fan lowered his head and saw a small sword, three inches long, in his hand. The sword had no guard, its spine shimmered with starlight, and its two edges were sharpened into diamond-shaped points, as fine as needle tips, as sharp as a star shuttle, and incomparably keen. Just by loosely holding it, Li Fan's right palm was cut open, a line of blood appearing. Then, the small sword whooshed and burrowed into Li Fan's palm, clearly traveling up his right hand's meridians like a silver fish, drilling into his body!

What the hell was that!

Before Li Fan could react, he heard his own voice, as if transmitted through a rain curtain to his eardrums, saying to him:

'Charge 100/100, lottery complete!'

'Li Fan's mood decreased by 1 point. Warning! Li Fan, Mood, 8/100, Extremely Dangerous!'

'Li Fan's mood decreased by 1 point. Warning! Li Fan, Mood, 7/100, Extremely Dangerous!'

'Li Fan's mood decreased by 1 point. Warning! Li Fan, Mood, 6/100, Extremely Dangerous!'

Wh-what, what is this situation!? My mood is dropping every second! Why is there suddenly a countdown!

Li Fan instinctively grabbed the biscuit in his arms and took a large bite.

He ate too quickly and almost choked to death!

Cough cough cough! Water! Water!

"Hah!"

Suddenly, a gust of wind swept past his face, and then someone reached out, grabbed Li Fan by the collar, and yanked him up.

Li Fan's vision was suddenly filled with the old Daoist's face.

In the span of a breath, a bloody hole the size of a walnut had appeared on his forehead, as if something had drilled through his skull. Black and red blood gushed out. His eye sockets were empty, gouged out into bloody hollows, dug out with his own fingers. His old face was contorted into a terrifying visage, like a demon from hell, scaring Li Fan into swallowing the biscuit in his throat with a gulp.

'Li Fan's mood increased by 1 point. Warning! Li Fan, Mood, 6/100, Extremely Dangerous!'

Although the system was still issuing warnings, the state of dropping one point per second seemed to have stopped.

"What exactly did you see!" the old Daoist roared at Li Fan, spitting blood and foam all over him.

"Wh-what did I see..."

This guy really dug out his own eyeballs...

Li Fan stared at the fierce man before him, then couldn't help but be drawn to something else, his gaze shifting to behind the old Daoist.

In just those few short tens of seconds of trance-like gazing, he was back in the clearing in the bamboo forest, but the altar was gone.

The demon lord with six heads and eight arms had been split open by a sword, cut in half from the center. What had clearly been a statue made of mud and stone moments ago was now two halves of rotting flesh.

In the blind old Daoist's hand, the vermillion wooden sword glowed with rainbow light. The blood steaming from its spine generated a terrifying heatwave, and when it reached Li Fan, it felt like the breath of some colossal beast.

Around the altar, on the scattered cushions, the young disciples who had come with Li Fan were nowhere to be seen.

But Li Fan could roughly guess their fate from the scorched corpses and dried bones scattered outside the circle, the seven-headed, eight-armed stillborn fetuses with mutated organs, the monstrous forms, neither human nor not, all cleanly bisected, one after another...

"Chi Qiu said you still had a human heart and couldn't be killed. So what exactly did you see?"

The old Daoist thrust his face right in front of Li Fan, the bloody hollows in his eye sockets staring directly into Li Fan's pupils.

"Was it 'thing'? Or 'non-thing'?"