The two of them fell silent for a while.
Su Mo spoke. "Can't sleep?"
Ma Hongjun nodded.
Silence again.
After a while, Ma Hongjun suddenly spoke.
"Boss Su."
"Mm?"
"Do you know why I came to the Star Dou Forest alone?"
Su Mo said nothing, waiting for him to continue.
Ma Hongjun gazed at the river, his voice growing quieter.
"I... I'm a worthless loser."
"In my village, nobody thought anything of me. My father died young, my mother remarried, and I lived alone in a shabby house at the edge of the village."
"When the village kids saw me, they threw stones at me. The adults even went out of their way to avoid me. They called me a jinx. They said my father died because I brought him bad luck."
Su Mo listened quietly.
"Later, my Martial Soul mutated." Ma Hongjun's voice rose a little. "My teacher—Flender—was a Soul Saint. He passed through our village and discovered me. He said my Martial Soul was the Evil Fire Phoenix, that I was a genius, and that he was taking me with him."
"I was so happy."
The corners of Ma Hongjun's mouth tugged into a smile, but it was a bitter one.
"I thought I wasn't a worthless loser anymore. I thought I could finally become strong like the heroes in those storybooks, slap down everyone who looked down on me, and make them kneel and call me 'Daddy.'"
"But..."
His voice dropped again.
"Everyone out there says this whole Evil Fire Phoenix thing is just me trying to make myself look good. They say my Martial Soul's just a barnyard chicken. A mutated barnyard chicken. They say 'Evil Fire Phoenix' is just a nice way of putting it, and really, I'm nothing but a horny chicken."
Su Mo turned his head to look at him.
Ma Hongjun lowered his head, his hands clenched tight.
"I wanted to argue back, but I couldn't."
"I can't control that fire. When it burns, I start wanting to do those things... Those... those disgusting, sleazy things that even I look down on."
His shoulders began to tremble.
"I'm scared."
"I'm scared that one day I really will turn into the thing they say I am."
"Into a monster who can only lust after people."
"Into a pervert who disgusts everyone."
"Into a piece of trash even I can't stand."
He lifted his head, his eyes red-rimmed as he looked at Su Mo.
"Boss Su, tell me. Am I really just a barnyard chicken?"
Su Mo fell silent for a few seconds.
Then he took a little booklet from his robes and handed it over.
"Take a look at this. It might take your mind off things."
Ma Hongjun took it and looked down at the cover: Nezha.
He opened to the first page.
In the moonlight, the writing was clear.
He read about the boy named Nezha, born a monster and pelted with stones by the whole village.
He read about Nezha sitting alone on a wall, with no friends and no playmates.
Ma Hongjun's eyes reddened.
He turned the pages until he reached one.
Nezha stood beneath the heavenly thunder, raised his head, and shouted:
"My fate is mine to decide, not Heaven's! Whether I'm a demon or an immortal, I say!"
Ma Hongjun shuddered from head to toe.
He stared at those words without moving.
After a long while, he leapt to his feet.
"Boss Su!"
Su Mo looked up at him.
Ma Hongjun's voice caught in his throat, but his eyes blazed with an almost frightening brightness.
"This book... could I borrow it for a few more days?"
Su Mo nodded.
Ma Hongjun grinned. As he smiled, tears began to fall.
He hurriedly wiped them away with the back of his hand, pretending he hadn't been crying.
Su Mo stood and patted him on the shoulder.
"Go back and get some sleep."
Ma Hongjun nodded hard.
Late at night, beside the campfire
Everyone was asleep.
Ma Hongjun sat beside the campfire, holding Nezha and turning the pages one by one.
He reached the last page, then flipped back to the first.
He read it over and over.
A few drops of water stained the pages.
Whether it was dew or something else, no one could say.
Su Mo leaned against a tree not far away, watching him.
After a while, he closed his eyes.
But Ma Hongjun's words kept circling in his mind: "I'm scared I'll turn into the thing they say I am."
He thought back to his previous life.
He remembered an old acquaintance who played basketball.
He, too, had been mocked across the whole internet.
"Chicken You Are Too Beautiful."
"Girly."
"He plays basketball like a chicken."
Those people had laughed so gleefully.
What had happened to that young man later?
He'd crushed the meme beneath his feet.
He'd turned it into his own path.
Su Mo opened his eyes and flipped open his Book of Dao.
The "Create" page.
He thought for a moment, then put pen to paper.
A Soul Master.
Born to humble beginnings, with a Golden Pheasant for a Martial Soul.
The most ordinary kind of chicken.
Mocked by great sects as a "mutated barnyard chicken."
He'd hidden away and cried, asking himself: Am I really just a chicken?
Later, he figured it out.
So what if he was a chicken?
A chicken had its own way of living.
He created a set of physical techniques.
Yield to overcome strength, use an opponent's force against them.
The names of the moves were strange:
Iron Mountain Lean—one shoulder strike, and the rocks shattered.
Back-to-Basket Dribble—twist the body and use an opponent's force against them.
Void Shot—Soul Power flew in an arc, striking its target with pinpoint accuracy.
With this set of techniques, he fought his way through the entire Soul Master World.
In his later years, someone asked him what kind of fighting style it was.
The old man smiled. "Kun Fist."
"Chickens have Kun, too. The universe is vast, and so are heaven and earth."
"Also, don't catch a cold."
Su Mo put down his pen.
The Book of Dao glowed.
Two characters slowly appeared on the cover—
Kun Fist
Creation complete.
He closed the book and looked toward the campfire.
Ma Hongjun was still holding Nezha, but his head was nodding, and he was about to fall asleep.
Su Mo smiled and closed his eyes.
The next morning, at dawn
The eastern sky grew pale as a fish's belly.
Su Mo opened his eyes and noticed someone was missing from beside the campfire.
He looked toward the river.
Sure enough.
Ma Hongjun sat on the same rock as last night, holding Nezha.
He was still in the same position as the night before.
He hadn't slept all night.
Su Mo walked over and sat beside him.
Ma Hongjun turned his head.
His eyes were swollen, and dried tear tracks marked his face.
"B-Boss Su..."
"I understand now."
Su Mo: "..."
He understood again?
Tang San kept saying "I understand now" all the time, and now you're doing it too?
Couldn't you come up with a different phrase?
Ma Hongjun didn't notice Su Mo's expression and went on speaking to himself.
"You were trying to teach me that my fate is mine to decide, not Heaven's."
"Whether I'm a barnyard chicken or a phoenix is for me to decide."
Su Mo opened his mouth.
He wanted to say, Actually, I just gave you a book to read so you wouldn't feel so emo.
But looking at Ma Hongjun's swollen yet shining eyes, the words that reached his lips changed to:
"...Mm. As long as you understand."
Ma Hongjun grinned.
Su Mo took another little booklet from his robes and handed it over.
"Take a look at this one, too."
Ma Hongjun took it—Kun Fist.
He opened to the first page.
[He wasn't human. He was a chicken.]
Ma Hongjun froze.
He stared at those words for a long time.
For the first time, someone had directly said he was a chicken.
They weren't insulting him. They were acknowledging him.
And this chicken had fought his way through the entire Soul Master World.
Ma Hongjun's hands began to tremble.
He turned to the second page, the third, the fourth...
Iron Mountain Lean, Back-to-Basket Dribble, Void Shot...
Every move, every stance, seemed tailor-made for him.
He read it through once.
He flipped through it again.
One more time.
After finishing the third read-through, he suddenly closed his eyes.
For the first time, the Evil Fire inside him didn't run out of control.
It flowed through his meridians along a certain path.
Warm, not burning.
As if a figure in overalls with a center part appeared in his mind.