Opening the Spiritual Aperture

"Xiao Chuan?"

Song Yiren's expression changed slightly when he heard that. He now saw the boy rolling around and throwing a tantrum in the courtyard, too, and let out a soft sigh.

"No matter what, Steward Lu, you... you should take him away and soothe him for now. It's not appropriate for him to be out here today."

"Yes!"

Lu Liang's eyes were a little red. He lowered his head, looking remorseful, and was about to turn and leave when he heard this.

"Wait!"

Jiang Ziya stepped forward and called out. After looking at the boy in the courtyard, he asked, "Big Brother, Steward Lu, what's the matter with that boy?"

Steward Lu froze for a moment, then let out a long sigh. "Alas, what a calamity, Old Sir Jiang. It's all the sin I've brought upon myself in this life. I gave birth to such a little sinner, and I..."

Pain and anguish showed on his face.

As he spoke, he suddenly turned away. His shoulders trembled faintly, and he could say no more.

"Worthy brother, that boy is Steward Lu's son. His name is Lu Chuan, and he was born three months after Yu'er. But from birth, his mind was incomplete."

Song Yiren continued, "As he grew older, his intelligence never improved. He has the body of a sixteen-year-old now, but the mind of a child under three. You can imagine..."

He, too, let out a long sigh.

"His mind is incomplete, his mind is incomplete..."

Jiang Ziya lowered his head and pondered for a moment, then stared at the boy for a long while. Suddenly, he smiled and said, "I've spent these past years studying the Dao in the mountains. Though I haven't yet attained the Immortal Path, I do have a little insight. Would the two of you allow me to take a look and examine him?"

Song Yiren's eyes lit up. He hurriedly asked, "Oh? Could it be that you have a way to cure this condition? If there's truly a way to treat him, please don't hesitate to help Steward Lu and his family."

Lu Liang looked at Jiang Ziya urgently, like a drowning man spotting a straw.

Jiang Ziya smiled. "I can't promise to cure him, but I can certainly take a look."

With that, he walked down the steps and slowly approached the boy, who was throwing a tantrum in the courtyard. Song Yiren, Steward Lu, and several of the guests quickly gathered around to watch.

Jiang Ziya crouched beside the boy and smiled kindly. "Xiao Chuan, Xiao Chuan..."

"Meat, meat! Baby wants meat..."

But the foolish boy only rolled around on the ground, constantly shouting that he wanted meat. He glanced at Jiang Ziya, but paid him no mind.

Steward Lu asked anxiously, "Old Sir Jiang, what do you think...?"

"It's all right."

Jiang Ziya thought for a moment, then smiled. He stood up, parted the crowd, and broke off a golden chicken leg from a banquet table. Then he crouched down, held it out to the boy, and smiled. "Xiao Chuan, what's this?"

At the sight of the golden chicken leg and the sound of those words, "Lu Chuan" really did stop crying and throwing a tantrum.

He sprang up, snatched the chicken leg, and sat quietly on the ground, gobbling it down. Every few bites, he raised his head and gave everyone a silly "hee-hee-hee." The crowd didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Then they all fixed their eyes on Jiang Ziya, eager to see what he could do.

Jiang Ziya smiled, stroked the now-quiet boy's head with his left hand, and began calculating with his right.

A moment later, Jiang Ziya stood up and nodded at the boy on the ground. "I see."

Lu Liang asked nervously, "Old Sir Jiang, how is he? Is there still hope for my son?"

Jiang Ziya didn't answer. He frowned and pondered as he watched the boy, then suddenly said to the others, "Everyone, step back a little."

Everyone quickly retreated several paces, clearing the space until only Jiang Ziya and the foolish Lu Chuan remained.

Jiang Ziya formed a sword gesture with his right hand and quietly circulated the magical power within him. He swiftly traced the air above Lu Chuan's head, and before long, the outline of a golden talisman had taken shape.

When he finished, the talisman blazed with golden light. The onlookers gaped in astonishment and marveled at the sight.

"Go!"

Jiang Ziya pointed at the boy eating chicken on the ground. With a whoosh, the talisman turned into a streak of light and plunged into the boy's crown.

"Attend!"

Next, Jiang Ziya formed a Daoist seal with his right hand and chanted for a while. At last, he shouted, "Today, by the command of Taishang Yuanshi, I open the spiritual aperture you were born with but which has yet to awaken. If you do not wake now, then when?"

His shout rang out like a sudden clap of thunder above everyone's heads. Their eardrums throbbed with pain, their minds went blank, and for a long while, they couldn't hear a thing.

But they could still see.

And they saw that at the sound of that shout, the foolish "Lu Chuan," who had been bent over his chicken, abruptly stopped moving and slowly raised his head.

His face was first filled with confusion. He looked around at the crowd, and a spark of awareness appeared in his vacant, foolish eyes. The half-eaten chicken leg fell from his hand, but he didn't even notice.

"He's all right! My son's all right..."

Seeing awareness return to his son's eyes, Lu Liang cried out with excitement. He had never been so happy in his life.

"Where am I?"

"Lu Chuan" had a look of awareness in his eyes now. He rose from the ground, confused, and stared at the people around him. "Who are you?"

That was right. He didn't recognize any of them.

Not one.

Waking up to find so many strangers staring at him left him bewildered and uncomfortable. It gave him the creeps.

"Worthy brother, is Xiao Chuan really all right?"

Song Yiren looked at Jiang Ziya and asked, "What did he just say? What kind of language was that? Why can't we understand him?"

They hadn't understood a single word of what Lu Chuan had just said.

"Hm?"

Hearing the other man speak, Lu Chuan's expression changed, too. What was that old man saying?

A dialect? A foreign language?

Neither one sounded right!

Something was wrong!

Very wrong!

Lu Chuan looked around suspiciously. He'd stayed up late rewatching that old mythology series, but how had he woken up to find himself...

Wait, these buildings, and the styles of their clothes—they were way too old-fashioned. They were even older than the costumes in the period dramas he'd seen on TV.

Damn it, had he transmigrated?

Lu Chuan shuddered and blinked. Then he suddenly closed his eyes and fell straight down.

Either he was dreaming, or...

Thud!

The moment he hit the ground and felt the pain, Lu Chuan knew this wasn't a dream!

If it wasn't a dream, then he really ought to pass out. In a situation like this, blacking out was definitely the best choice. It would give him time to figure out what had happened.

Except...

He hadn't hit his face, so why did his face hurt so much?

"This..."

Jiang Ziya was startled when he saw Lu Chuan faint. He quickly worked out calculations with his fingers, muttering, "That's not right. Once the spiritual aperture opened, he should've been fine. How...?"

"My son!"

Lu Liang rushed forward and shook the unconscious Lu Chuan, crying, "Wake up! What's wrong?"

Man, stop wailing! My ears hurt!

Lu Chuan discovered that pretending to be unconscious wasn't always easy. He'd made a complete mess of it this time.

A grown man was shaking him and bawling, saying things in a language he couldn't understand. The shaking made his head spin, and his skull kept banging against the ground...

In the end, he really did pass out.

His last thought before blacking out was that standard Mandarin hadn't become widespread in this world yet.