A Blue Stone Guards the Mountain Village

Chapter Twelve: A Blue Stone Guards the Mountain Village

The village elders said that ten years ago, there had been a night of thunder and lightning, when mountain floods burst forth and even triggered a mudslide. At that very moment, a huge boulder fell from the sky, forcibly smashing apart the mudslide's dragon head and saving the villagers' lives. It was this Blue Stone.

Big Blue Rock leaned against a Mountain Locust Tree. The tree's crown spread wide, shrouding the entire stone. When the sun rose, there was always a patch of shade that sunlight could never reach. Zi Bofeng would sit there to recite poetry and study books, only returning at sunset.

Over the years, one spot on Big Blue Rock had been worn exceptionally smooth. If not for the earlier Zi Bofeng's deep accumulation, there would not have been the later Zi Bofeng's sudden flourishing.

But ever since Zi Bofeng had gone to the city to attend the academy, he had rarely come here. After the Prefectural Examination, this was his first visit.

Walking along the path with his head lowered, Zi Bofeng happened to look up. He could not help letting out a startled cry. When he focused his gaze, his mouth fell open, and he stood frozen on the spot.

Heaven and earth possessed spiritual energy, but it was dispersed and difficult to see. Because of the Porcelain Shard between his brows, which burned like blue flame, Zi Bofeng had eyes of insight that could see spiritual energy. Yet he could not see the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, because it was faint and detached, visible only when especially concentrated.

For example, Galloping Horse Stone, which had been touched by the wishes of countless people returning home, and Clan Elder Yan Lao Wu. Aside from them, neither Uncle Zhuzi nor his own father possessed that shining Soul-Nature Light. Yet now, Zi Bofeng saw it here again.

It was that Big Blue Rock—the Blue Stone as large as half a house, shrouded in a radiance so dense it seemed tangible.

Calling it radiance was not quite accurate. It should have been called a flow of glowing spiritual energy.

The enormous Blue Stone was like a Big Turtle breathing. With every inhale and exhale, winds rose and clouds surged. It was also like an endlessly beating heart; with every expansion and contraction, spiritual energy raced like blood.

If Galloping Horse Stone were ranked by stages, it should have been in the early phase of the first monster stage, the Ink Trace Stage. Its difference from an ordinary stone was that it had absorbed the obsessions of many people and stored them within itself. Compared with the spiritual energy produced by the Monster Raising Art, this energy and those obsessions were neither particularly mystical nor capable of driving it into motion. But after being enlightened by Zi Bofeng's Monster Raising Art, it was like lighting a candle with a match. All the accumulated spiritual energy and obsessions were ignited, ultimately transforming into a galloping horse and releasing all that energy in an instant. Though it looked extraordinarily wondrous, the true wonder lay in the Monster Raising Art, not Galloping Horse Stone. It merely acted according to the purpose bestowed upon it by the Monster Raising Art. It had no consciousness of its own and had never truly become a monster.

But the Blue Stone before him looked like Blue Stone, felt like Blue Stone, and even tasted like Blue Stone. Yet it had truly become a monster. Judging by the way it inhaled and exhaled spiritual energy, it had at least reached the third realm—the Spitting Spiritual Energy Stage!

Little Stone widened his eyes as he watched Zi Bofeng touch, sniff, and bite the huge rock. Unable to resist, he went up and took a bite himself—only to nearly chip his teeth. There was only one thought in his mind: Oh no, Uncle Zhuzi beat Brother stupid!

Zi Bofeng took another step back and stared at Big Blue Rock before bursting into laughter.

That laughter immediately set off peals of rumbling. The mountains were laughing, the earth was laughing, and the stream was laughing. But most importantly, the stone before him was laughing.

Zi Bofeng suddenly understood what had answered him when he had laughed aloud at Galloping Horse Stone.

It was it! This huge stone! This Big Blue Rock that had kept him company day and night! It was laughing because he had returned!

Peals of laughter came from Big Blue Rock, shaking the earth, shaking the mountains, shaking the stream, shaking the air, even shaking the clouds in the sky.

"Who's laughing?" In the mountain village and in the schoolhouse, people involuntarily poked their heads out, rubbing their foreheads and looking around in confusion. Such immense laughter—what wonderful fortune could have happened?

"Brother... what are you laughing at?" Little Stone was utterly bewildered. "Why is this big stone... laughing too? Could it be..."

Before he could say the word monster, Zi Bofeng hurriedly said, "No, it's an echo."

Zi Bofeng stepped back two paces and pointed at the stone. "Look, this stone happens to be shaped like an arc, reflecting my laughter outward. And the surrounding peaks also happen to form an arc, creating resonance between the mountains. That's why the sound became so loud. Little Stone, this is called science."

"What is science? Is it a monster?" Little Stone asked blankly.

"Of course not." Zi Bofeng held Little Stone and explained the principles of echoes to him. Little Stone listened with great interest, nodding again and again, utterly fascinated by "science."

While Zi Bofeng's mouth spoke of science, his mind was occupied by something utterly unscientific.

He watched and sensed, wanting to know exactly how this Big Blue Rock had become a monster.

Big Blue Rock had no special shape. It was not atop a lonely cliff, not in the depths of the sea, and not in some place blessed with spiritual beauty. It was simply an ordinary large stone. Why had it become a monster?

Seeing Zi Bofeng lost in thought again, Little Stone opened the wooden case, took out a small wooden bucket, ran to the stream, stuck out his bottom as he filled the bucket with water, and handed it to Zi Bofeng. "Brother, practice your calligraphy."

"Right, calligraphy!" Zi Bofeng suddenly clapped his hands.

This stone, this stream, this Mountain Locust Tree—they had no eyes and no ears. Without the Monster Raising Art, a monster could only become a monster through the accumulation of days and months, sensing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth or the obsessions of humans. But this was not a place blessed with spiritual beauty. Heaven and earth did not favor it, and people did not constantly pass through it. The only person it could sense was Zi Bofeng. Under the same circumstances, why had Big Blue Rock become a monster?

At the root of it all, the crux lay in Zi Bofeng's "characters."

Every day, he dipped his brush in water and wrote characters upon the mountain stone. The stone was tough and felt nothing, but the water gradually seeped into its heart.

There was also the sunlight. The sun dried away the water, yet left water stains behind, remaining upon the Blue Stone, once each day, day after day without pause.

Over time, this had artificially accumulated countless "fortunate opportunities" for the Blue Stone. Unwittingly, Zi Bofeng had created a "Unity Transformation into the Ink Trace Stage."

Ten springs and autumns, ten years by the cold window. One man and one stone had continued to advance in this way.

Then, once the stone had gradually passed the first realm and the second realm, entering the third realm, Blue Stone began to inhale and exhale spiritual energy on its own. Zi Bofeng had bathed in that spiritual energy every day and was unknowingly nourished by it. That was why he had been strong and healthy all these years, free from illness and disaster. Whenever he rested on the large stone, he had never caught a chill from wind or been drenched by rain and dew, leaving him with more energy and time to study.

All of this was because of this Big Blue Rock.

Thinking it over carefully, he did not know whether Zi Bofeng had achieved Big Blue Rock, or Big Blue Rock had achieved Zi Bofeng.

"Thanks, Uncle Blue Rock." Zi Bofeng gently patted the Blue Stone. It felt warm and smooth as jade. Blue Stone had existed for who knew how many years, so calling it uncle did not put Zi Bofeng at a disadvantage. Then he turned, picked up a fallen Mountain Locust branch from the ground, dipped it in clear water, silently employed the secret of Unity Transformation, and began to write.

Zi Bofeng had understood six arts of the Twelve Arts of Monster Raising, but he was only an ordinary human. Since his own spiritual energy was sparse, the only art he could truly use now was this one.

As lines of writing spread across the Blue Stone, what flowed out was Zi Bofeng's wisdom, while threads and wisps of spiritual energy flowed from Blue Stone into Zi Bofeng's body. The spiritual energy that had been depleted when he poured it into Galloping Horse Stone gradually filled up again.

When Zi Bofeng had covered the entire front of the Blue Stone with writing, he felt a strange swelling, as though something were about to gush forth from within his body.

Zi Bofeng had heard many tales about monsters before, but he had never heard that humans and monsters living together could bring so many benefits. Nor had he ever heard that monsters could be raised this way. Humans naturally generated all manner of wisdom, while monsters generated spiritual energy themselves. Humans gave wisdom and gained spiritual energy. Such harmony seemed only natural.

Since Blue Stone had such a wonderful effect, Zi Bofeng began considering how to let others enjoy these benefits as well.

He turned to look. Little Stone had taken off his shorts and was carrying a small wooden bucket as he caught fish and shrimp in the stream. He was not far from Blue Stone, and threads of spiritual energy seeped into his body as well. Though the weather was growing warmer, the stream water was icy. In the past, Little Stone would bare his teeth and scramble out after standing in it for a short while. Yet now he had played for a long time without complaining of cold.

Zi Bofeng could not help thinking of the wrinkles on his father's forehead, the crow's feet at the corners of his eyes, and the white hair atop his head.

If only he could move Uncle Blue Rock into their courtyard.

At the very least, he had to find a way to raise a monster for his father.

But his father held so many prejudices against monsters. That was troublesome.

Perhaps because he had been nourished by spiritual energy, the swelling on Zi Bofeng's face had subsided before noon. He went home to mooch lunch, then wandered into the office that afternoon, ready to work his ass off—no, to strive with determination. Little Stone had come along too, but the stench of all kinds of moldy documents quickly drove him away.

The smell of moldy parchment, tsk tsk...

But Zi Bofeng could not run. He opened the documents one by one, spread them across the desk, and began checking them.

At this moment, Zi Bofeng greatly missed the paperless office work of his previous life. He soon discovered that it did not matter if there was none. This old man had a photographic memory. With one quick glance and another mental recitation, it was as though everything had been printed into his mind.

So convenient. I really am a genius!

Zi Bofeng was immensely pleased with himself.

But he soon discovered that although his memory was excellent, his analytical and calculating abilities were nothing special. Even if he remembered something, he still had to mull it over before truly understanding it. And those numbers were not something his simple mental arithmetic could handle. Realizing this, Zi Bofeng could only sigh and obediently begin copying, sorting, organizing, and annotating.

What the hell, this was clearly the miserable life of a little village headman!

Record of Raising Monsters