Caring

Yu Chen was clearly very surprised by Jin Guang's arrival as well. Looking at Yu Chen, he asked in confusion, "Why are you here, fellow Daoist?"

"I came for this boy!" Yu Chen said, pointing at the unconscious Dong Family boy.

Yu Chen then gestured for the Dong family to leave. The three of them did not understand at first, until White Fox leaped out, transformed into an old man, and said, "Dong Family, you should go outside first. Leave this place to us!"

When Auntie Dong saw White Fox, she nodded and led her worried husband and her still somewhat bewildered eldest son outside.

With a sweep of his hand, Yu Chen summoned golden light that enveloped the area, preventing anyone from eavesdropping with spells. As he examined the Dong Family boy's condition, he told Jin Guang about what he had experienced.

Upon hearing this, Jin Guang laughed. "I was wondering why people kept hoping I would visit Little Fragrant Mountain along the way. So they were plotting against you, fellow Daoist!"

Yu Chen smiled as well. Though they had not known each other long, he could tell that Jin Guang had something of a burning hatred for evil. If the person behind this had planned things well, and Jin Guang had encountered Yu Chen just as traces of White Lotus Sect magic appeared around him—or as Yu Chen controlled the guardian deity to attack Jin Guang—it truly might have sparked a conflict between them.

Afterward, regardless of who won or lost, all an interested party had to do was stir the pot a little more, and Yu Chen and Jin Guang would have fought to the death.

Unfortunately, Yu Chen had sealed White Hua Monastery's guardian deity early on, then used his cheat to absorb every last bit of Incense and Fire Prayer Power from the goddess statue. Not only had he cut off the schemer's plot at its root, he had also earned Jin Guang's approval with his masterful Golden Light Mantra and Purify Heaven and Earth Spell, gaining quite a bit of cultivation knowledge in the process.

But what mattered most now was not those matters that had already become settled facts, but the Dong Family boy. Yu Chen looked at Jin Guang. "You came for this boy too, didn't you, fellow Daoist?"

"Yes." Jin Guang nodded, her gaze upon the Dong Family boy conflicted. "Actually, if my martial uncle had not deliberately left a gap in the seal back then, he could never have been reincarnated. I came this time because my martial uncle discovered a problem with the seal he left behind and sent me to take a look."

As Yu Chen processed this unsurprising information, he asked, "Then do you know what is happening to him now? Is there any way to call this child's soul back?"

"Before coming here, I already visited the mountain god temple. Someone used the gap left by my martial uncle to perform a blood sacrifice on the three thousand military souls suppressed within, causing those military souls to show signs of falling into corruption. This child's soul was drawn in because of that. I have no way to call his soul back at present."

The moment Yu Chen heard this, he knew the matter would be difficult.

In his previous life, the Dong Family boy had formed close ties with those three thousand military souls from the very beginning of his cultivation. Now that something had happened to the military souls, it was less that the Dong Family boy's soul was trapped among them than that the boy himself was unwilling to return.

"What are we supposed to do now?" Upon hearing this, White Fox immediately pulled a long face, looking extremely anxious.

It cursed inwardly: Why was I foolish enough to believe Hu Fifty-Two and take over this mess with the Dong Family? First my fortune leaked away, then the Wang Family targeted me, and now I'm even tangled up with that general. I really...

Unlike White Fox, who stood at the center of the whirlpool and was frantic with anxiety, Yu Chen and Jin Guang did not feel any better.

After a long silence, White Fox said, "How about I go beg the City God?"

"Though the City God is restricted by his office and cannot directly act against the boy, he would certainly be delighted to see something like this happen!" Yu Chen bluntly shattered White Fox's hopes, and Jin Guang fell silent as well.

As the nephew of the current Imperial Preceptor, Jin Guang knew the ways of these City Gods all too well. They were no different from mortal officials, one and all. Some were good, naturally, but some were bad; when faced with profit, there were plenty who would stand by with folded arms.

Jin Guang knew very well that even if she invoked her martial uncle's name, the other party would have all sorts of excuses to delay.

And if they dragged things out through this period, the Dong Family boy's soul would inevitably fall into corruption under the influence of the three thousand military souls. At that point, the City God could act to eliminate demons, earning both reputation and benefits. Why would he not?

As for sacrifice? He was merely a boy from the Dong Family. Who would care?

Thinking of this, Yu Chen touched the Dong Family boy's forehead and could not help recalling an incident from the Blood Seal Stone instance.

At the time, one player had been infuriated beyond measure by the story of Blood Seal Stone. He deliberately captured the entire Wang Family and, before the Wang Family patriarch, insisted that the man's son had stolen his dragon meat. He demanded that the patriarch cut open his own son's belly to prove his innocence.

Driven to desperation, the Wang Family patriarch's eyes turned bloodshot as he roared, "What exactly do you want? There are countless injustices in this world! Even if you have a good heart, how many people can you save? How many matters can you manage?"

The player answered like this: "There are too many injustices in this world. I cannot save many people, nor can I manage many matters. But does being unable to manage them mean I should do nothing?"

Afterward, some people thought the player had gone too far and deliberately caused him trouble online. That player posted a story on his own account.

Legend had it that, in the past, a great sage went out traveling and saw the seawater churning in magnificent waves. Deeply moved, he remained by the shore to watch.

When the tide receded, the great sage prepared to leave. At that moment, countless little fish had been left in the shallow water along the beach, unable to return to the sea. Such things were commonplace, and the great sage gave them little thought.

But then, a child on the shore kept running back and forth between the shallows and the sea, ceaselessly carrying the little fish back into the water.

The great sage found this rather strange and went forward to advise him. "Silly child, there are so many little fish. How many can you possibly save? It is nothing but futile labor! Who would care about these little fish?"

Yet as the child sent the fish in his hand back into the sea, he answered with childish innocence, "No, someone cares. At the very least, I care. And the little fish I save cares too!"

Where the mortal heart turns, plain shoes carry it onward; life is an inn along the journey, and one reed serves as a boat.

When had wrongdoing become so commonplace that it was no longer considered wrong?

From childhood, we were taught that good would be rewarded and evil repaid, that we should do good deeds and be good people.

Yet reality constantly told us that good people might not receive good rewards, and bad people might not meet bad ends. The world was closer to gray, and we were supposed to learn tolerance, to accept things that ought to have been bad.

Yu Chen looked at the Dong Family boy, and a sudden realization arose in his heart. What was his purpose in cultivating the Dao? Was it merely to live forever? Or was it to gain the power to do things he had once wanted to do but could not?

Then what were the things he truly wanted to do? Or rather, what was the carefree freedom spoken of in the immortal Dao?

The divine soul within Yu Chen's sea of consciousness trembled. The seal-script characters imprinted upon his divine soul Daoist robe flickered and shifted without end. The light of wisdom and the light of enlightenment he had previously comprehended trembled continuously, bright one moment and dim the next. His innate spirituality throbbed, as though something was about to emerge.

P.S. I revised this several times, but it still feels a little off. Just give it a read, everyone—don't dig too deeply into it!

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