A Finger Points Out Past Events

Chapter 39: A Single Point Reveals the Past

Coming out of the old man's house, Zi Bofeng felt as if he had forgotten something.

There had been something in the old man's words that touched a chord in his heart, yet it remained vague and elusive, impossible to grasp.

"Forget it, if I can't figure it out, I won't think about it..." Zi Bofeng shook his head. "It'll pop up on its own sooner or later anyway."

As for the jade and such, Zi Bofeng wasn't particularly worried. After all, there were plenty of them beneath Uncle Blue Rock's backside. Although Zi Bofeng hadn't counted them, there were at least a few hundred; he just wasn't willing to hand them over.

When he returned home, Zi Jian was busy tending to the donkey, Tauxue—brushing it, feeding it, and building a shed. Little Stone was hugging two puppies, watching Zi Jian work.

"You're back. Your aunt has already finished cooking; we were just waiting for you to start." Zi Jian set down his work, wiped his hands, and walked into the kitchen, bringing the food out shortly after.

After eating in silence, Zi Jian sent Little Stone out to play and said to Zi Bofeng, "Bofeng, I have something to tell you... I don't know if I should say it or not."

Zi Bofeng was stunned, asking in surprise, "What is it? Father, just say what's on your mind."

Could it be that he was feeling stingy about the donkey he bought today and intended to lecture him?

To his surprise, Zi Jian looked up at him: "Bofeng, these past few days, you've been a bit strange."

Zi Bofeng's heart skipped a beat. Had his old man discovered something? What if he thought he wasn't his son and decided to disown him!

"I know you've been hiding things from me... you've liked keeping secrets since you were small." Zi Jian looked at Zi Bofeng. "You've started associating with monsters again, haven't you..."

You've started associating with monsters again... You've started associating with monsters again... You've started associating with monsters again...

Zi Bofeng's head buzzed, that single sentence echoing in his ears. He was so terrified he nearly collapsed onto the ground.

His father's tone, that word "again"—what was going on? Was there something he didn't know about?

"You used to run to the mountain every day to read and write with Big Blue Rock, and I never stopped you. As long as you stayed out of trouble, I was at ease. But ever since you fainted during your exams, you've been a different person. You were like this when you were little—sharper and more headstrong than anyone. I told you not to associate with monsters, but you wouldn't listen. These past few days, that Big Blue Rock has grown circle by circle; it must have become a monster too..."

His father's eyes were filled with worry and helplessness. He reached out a finger and tapped Zi Bofeng on the head: "Don't you forget, once a monster grows up, it will stir up trouble. Have you forgotten how the flood in our Zi Village came about all those years ago? Have you forgotten that Luo Fish?"

Have you forgotten that Luo Fish?

Forgotten that Luo Fish?

Luo Fish...

His father's finger felt like a sudden, jarring awakening. Another layer of memory exploded in Zi Bofeng's mind. He clutched his head and let out a low groan.

The world was just like this: the things that should never be forgotten were the very things most easily lost. In a corner of his mind he had never accessed, those sealed memories were overturned by his father's blunt reminder.

When Zi Bofeng was three, the Luo Fish emerged, the Meng River flooded, and the deluge submerged the Zi family village by the riverbank. Zi Bofeng had been forced to flee with his father.

They wandered for years, traveling hundreds of miles, drifting back and forth, until they finally settled in Lower Yan Village at the foot of Bird-Mouse Mountain.

This was what Zi Jian had told Zi Bofeng.

However, no one knew that the flood back then had not been caused by the Luo Fish. Even if someone did know, they would never dare to speak of it.

As a breeze blew, Zi Bofeng seemed to return to the age of three, to the days in the Zi family village beneath Gui Mountain, by the banks of the Yang River.

It was a clear spring day. A gentle breeze brushed the willows by the river. The Yang River at the foot of Gui Mountain suddenly took a turn, its rushing waters becoming calm and clear. The Zi family village sat right in that river bend.

Three-year-old Zi Bofeng dipped a twig in water and wrote large characters, stroke by stroke, on a Big Blue Rock in the river bend.

The characters were written on the rock, which was scorched by the sun. Before he could even finish a line, the sun had already dried them, yet Zi Bofeng wrote them over and over again.

When he grew tired, he would sit on the rock, dangling his fair, chubby little feet into the water, letting the current wash over his soles as he gazed into the distance.

Having lost his wife, Zi Jian played both father and mother, caring for Zi Bofeng. At first, whenever Zi Jian went out to work, he would lock Zi Bofeng inside. But Zi Bofeng was exceptionally bright; after debating with his father several times, he finally convinced him to let him walk about on his own. Although he was limited to the village and its immediate surroundings, his range of activity was much larger, and he wouldn't be stifled to the point of illness at home.

Zi Bofeng didn't like playing with the other children; he was always on that Big Blue Rock, writing sentences no one could understand.

Zi Jian didn't know that Zi Bofeng had actually encountered danger by the river. When he was two, while writing on the rock, he had accidentally slipped off just as he stood up to break off another twig.

At that moment, Zi Bofeng truly thought he was going to die. He only remembered water rushing in from all directions, pouring into his nose and mouth. He thrashed wildly, trying to scream for help, but every time he opened his mouth, more water poured in.

Just then, he felt something prop up his waist, lifting him up and letting him float on the surface.

That was the first time he saw the Luo Fish.

His fair little feet dangled in the water, ripples spreading out from beneath them. Even the flowing river couldn't wash away those rings. Suddenly, he felt a tickle on his sole. Zi Bofeng looked down and saw a large fish with two wings on its body, gently kissing his foot with its mouth.

That was the Luo Fish.

The legendary Luo Fish, whose appearance heralded great floods for the town.

Starting a year ago, whenever Zi Bofeng read or wrote on the rock, the Luo Fish was there. From being unable to understand human speech at first, it had gradually learned to communicate with Zi Bofeng, growing significantly in the process. Its size had increased, and the most dramatic change was the pair of wings on its body. Initially, they were just fish fins, only slightly larger than normal, but now they had completely transformed into a pair of wings. Whenever there was a thunderstorm, it would spread its wings and soar through the sky, sometimes even perching on the Mountain Locust Tree outside Zi Bofeng's window.

The Luo Fish splashed in the water, sending droplets scattering onto the rock and onto Zi Bofeng. The river water felt cool and refreshing, and Zi Bofeng laughed happily, his laughter carrying far into the distance.

Whenever this happened, the Luo Fish in the water was exceptionally happy; it seemed that making Zi Bofeng happy was its favorite thing to do.

But things did not always move in a positive direction. The Luo Fish grew increasingly fond of Zi Bofeng, often landing quietly in the courtyard in the middle of the night to watch him sleep under the moonlight or read and write by the lamp. More and more villagers saw it, and rumors of the Luo Fish's appearance began to spread.

Finally, one day, an immortal arrived. He rode a Cloud Carriage pulled by white cranes and claimed to be a Daoist from Bird-Mouse Mountain, having come specifically to subdue the Luo Fish that was plaguing the world.

Afterward, mist and clouds shrouded the entire Yang River bend. The Luo Fish hid in the water, raising waves ten thousand feet high to fight the Daoist. At that moment, the usually calm river bend became like a raging, angry sea, snapping the willows on the bank and shattering the boulders at the riverbed. The water was like an enraged beast, roaring and devouring everything in its path.

People fled their homes in a panic, only to be overtaken and swallowed by the roaring river. The water flooded the village and destroyed the fields. The Daoist from Bird-Beast Mountain didn't even look down once; holding a cold, gleaming sword, he stood high in the clouds, intent only on slaughtering the Luo Fish.

It was then that the Luo Fish looked down and saw Zi Jian, who was clutching a door plank and floating in the water, with Zi Bofeng sitting atop it.

The towering waves suddenly calmed. Zi Bofeng watched as the old Daoist swung his sword, severing the Luo Fish's tail, and then thrust his blade through its spine.

The river, having just calmed, surged forth like a wild horse off its tether, crushing everything in its path. The Daoist from Bird-Beast Mountain joyfully stowed the Luo Fish into his Cloud Carriage and drifted away on his white crane.

That was an immortal.

"Bofeng, Bofeng, what's wrong? Don't scare me like this!" Zi Jian clutched Zi Bofeng, shouting desperately. He remembered how, after Zi Village was submerged and they had fled as refugees, Zi Bofeng had fallen deathly ill. When he finally woke, he had seemed like a soul lost, dazed and foolish, taking a long time to recover. Even then, he had always seemed a bit slow in the head, unable to adapt to the ways of the world, as if all his spirit and vitality had been drained away.

"I'm fine..." Zi Bofeng shook his head, struggling out of his father's embrace. He touched his face, realizing only then that it was already drenched in tears.

Many things were coming back to him now, falling into place.

The Zi father and son had wandered for two years before finally settling down in Lower Yan Village. On the night they arrived, a torrential downpour struck, and with a thunderous roar from the mountain behind them, a massive boulder had appeared out of nowhere.

That was the Big Blue Rock.

That Big Blue Rock was none other than the very same one by the banks of the Yang River where Zi Bofeng used to read, write, and play with the Luo Fish. Over the years, as Zi Bofeng read and wrote upon it, the blue rock had grown three inches every year. After a decade, it was many times larger than it had been by the Yang River.

And now, the stone was still growing, and at an even faster rate.

So, it wasn't that this Zi Bofeng possessed the Monster Raising Art, but that the other Zi Bofeng had it... Though he could no longer recall many things, his heart must have been silently chanting, yearning for the means to raise monsters. Zi Bofeng finally understood why that Porcelain Shard had granted him the "Monster Raising Art" instead of an Art of Cultivating Spirits or an Art of Cultivating Demons.

Because he had no choice but to raise them.

Record of Raising Monsters