Mysterious Existence

"You... who are you?" Tian Buyi forced himself to stay calm, asking in a stammering voice. That single question seemed to drain every last bit of strength from his body, and in an instant, his clothes were soaked through with cold sweat.

There was no such thing as sweating in the sea of consciousness; Tian Buyi's reaction was the direct reflection of his soul.

"I know what you wish to ask!" That voice that did not belong to this world rang out once more.

Tian Buyi no longer had the strength to speak. At this moment, he did not even have the strength to so much as move his lips.

That voice did not seem to be waiting for Tian Buyi to reply, either. A book half as tall as he was abruptly appeared before him and slowly opened.

On the opened pages, there were no passages of text, but scene after scene of images, like an illusion.

A group of men in black faced off against government soldiers. The man in black standing at the very front held a newborn infant in his hand, raising it before him, and seemed to be saying something to a richly dressed man in front of the massed soldiers. Regrettably, the illusion could only be seen; no sound could be heard.

The two sides seemed unable to reach an agreement. The man in black struck the infant decisively with his palm, then hurled it high toward the richly dressed man.

A man wearing dragon robes suddenly appeared among the soldiers. His face filled with anger, he raised his hand and pointed at the group of men in black, shouting furiously. Countless soldiers swarmed forward, instantly engulfing the men in black.

One man in black who had slipped through the net suddenly appeared beside the man in dragon robes, gripping a blade and stabbing at him. The richly dressed man held the dead infant tightly in one arm while using his other hand to block with all his might. In the back and forth struggle, the infant's corpse was knocked into the rushing great river and vanished from the river's surface in an instant.

The final scene was of a crystalline halo of light suddenly appearing in the river, just happening to meet the infant. It wrapped around the child and drifted along with the current. Along the way, it constantly gathered branches and other things from the surroundings, forming something like a bird's nest.

That "bird's nest" kept drifting and drifting along with the river!

After who knew how many suns and moons had passed, a string of clear infant laughter abruptly rang out over the great river. It startled away the fish that had been chasing and playing around it, frightened off the birds that had paused to rest on the bird's nest, and also woke Tian Buyi, who had been immersed in the illusion.

That string of infant laughter was the only sound that appeared in the illusion. All the previous images had been silent.

Tian Buyi took a deep breath and was about to ask something when the page turned again.

On this page were two images. In one, after the infant was struck by the man in black, his soul shattered and scattered. In the other, after the infant's body met that cluster of light in the river, the light actually slowly gathered up the fragments of his broken soul. At the end of the image, it filled and mended the soul that had already shattered beyond repair with its own firefly-like glow, until the infant's soul was whole.

This was Luo Yunji's origin.

Tian Buyi silently brought both hands together in salute, bent deeply at the waist, and respectfully performed a great bow.

"There is no need for this!" That indifferent voice slowly rang out. "He and I are two souls in one body. I have no desire to interfere with his life. When he dies, that will be the time I depart."

"You..." Tian Buyi had originally wanted to ask the other party's identity, but when the words reached his lips, he thought of the other party's terror and stopped.

"If I leave now, my essence and soul will go with me. Then he will return to his original fate—his soul flying apart and scattering, no longer existing in this world!"

"Now that you know the answer you wished to know, leave!"

Before Tian Buyi could salute, his consciousness swiftly withdrew and dispersed.

"Buyi! You didn't get in? Or have you already come out?"

The moment Tian Buyi's consciousness returned to his body, he heard his wife's anxious voice beside him.

"How long has passed?" Tian Buyi rubbed his throbbing head, grimacing as he endured the intense pain tormenting both body and mind.

"I only saw that not long passed after you had just formed the hand seal! About the time of half a cup of tea," Su Ru thought for a moment and replied.

"Is this that one's ability too?" Tian Buyi murmured to himself.

They carried Luo Yunji back to the room shared by the couple. Tian Buyi watched his wife settle the little fatty on the bed and cover him properly with the quilt.

The two walked to the table and sat down. Tian Buyi told his wife everything he had encountered in the sea of consciousness.

"So! Little Ji's comprehension of cultivation and techniques comes from that one?" Su Ru listened in astonishment as her husband recounted tonight's strange encounter, wave after wave of surprise rising in her heart.

"I'd say that's about right! A world made entirely of books! The city was books, the mountains were books, the trees were books, even the earth itself was made of books!" Tian Buyi recalled what he had seen and heard in the sea of consciousness, his face full of shock and awe.

"Although Little Ji's soul has been repaired, will there be any hidden ailments or anything like that in the future?" After being astonished for a while, Su Ru's concern for Luo Yunji still gained the upper hand.

"That one used his own essence and soul to mend Yunji's remnant soul. Now this child can no longer be considered that dead infant. That one was right; the current Yunji is two souls in one body. Fortunately, that one does not seem to want to enter the world. He has always been organizing and building that sea of consciousness made of books."

"I think that knowledge about great principles, cultivation, and techniques should all be memories left behind by that one's essence and soul. As for loving food, being lazy, loving sleep, and loving play, those are all the innate traits of that little brat's own remnant soul!" Tian Buyi glanced at the sleeping little fatty on the bed with some disdain and took a sip of tea.

Su Ru shot him a reproachful glare. "In any case, the Little Ji we have now is a disciple of my Big Bamboo Peak. The Little Ji we met at the beginning was already like this! You're not allowed to treat him as some kind of oddity!"

Tian Buyi rolled his eyes at his wife. No matter what, in his eyes, his little disciple had always been the one they had first met! He had never changed. As for his origins, Tian Buyi did not care.

"Rising from death back to life..." Tian Buyi recalled the clear string of infant laughter amid the turbulent river in the illusion, and warmth filled his heart. His mind and spirit were also shaken and tempered by this miracle of life.

The married couple did not sleep all night, only quietly keeping watch by the bedside.

Until...

"Master! Little Junior Brother is gone!"

Tian Buyi and Su Ru had just been about to get up and wash when they heard their eldest disciple's anxious shout from the doorway.

Tian Buyi sighed and rubbed his throbbing temple. In his heart, he lamented the many headaches his little disciple had brought him.

Song Daren had just run to the doorway and was about to knock when he saw the door open in an instant. Then a huge object smashed toward his face.

Song Daren instinctively turned sideways to dodge. Thinking it might be something Master was giving him, he hurriedly reached out to catch it. In that instant of hesitation—

With a splat, the thing fell to the ground.

"Mmgh!" A muffled, indistinct sound came from underfoot.

Song Daren lowered his head to look, black lines all over his forehead.

Luo Yunji had been dropped like this and still had not woken up. He merely turned over, shifted his body, found a comfortable position, and went on sleeping.

Inside the room came two sharp smacks.

"You treat your disciple like this! What kind of master is like you!" As Su Ru spoke, she slapped Tian Buyi's arm twice more.

Then Song Daren heard the sound of the door opening and hurriedly bent down, scooping Luo Yunji up from the ground into his arms.

After Su Ru opened the door, she wanted to check whether the little disciple her husband had thrown out had been hurt. Seeing that the person in Song Daren's arms was still asleep, she relaxed and gave Song Daren an approving smile, then closed the door.

Song Daren kept holding the smile he had deliberately put on. Only after Su Ru shut the door did he feel his face ache a little, and he moved his cheeks to ease the stiffness.

Song Daren adjusted Luo Yunji's sleeping posture in his arms. Seeing no reaction from inside the room, he finally let out a breath, hugged him close, and hurried off.

When Zhang Xiaofan woke early in the morning, he found that there was actually no one beside him. Panicked, he quickly got up and searched everywhere—the wardrobe, under the bed, everywhere—but inside and outside the room, there was no sign of Luo Yunji.

So anxious he cried, Zhang Xiaofan rushed off to find Song Daren, and in doing so alarmed all the disciples on Big Bamboo Peak, setting off a flurry like chickens flying and dogs jumping.

That was what led to the scene of Song Daren rushing in a frantic panic to Tian Buyi's door.