Reverence

At that thought, a glimmer of realization shone in Qin Yi's eyes.

He began trying to move the body that seemed no longer his own. After slightly adapting to the pain that clung to him like maggots to bone, he climbed straight up from the ground and raised a hand to brush the dust from his clothes.

[?]

This time, the voice did not punish Qin Yi for the defiant act of rising without permission. Instead, it simply stared blankly at the scene.

Qin Yi walked over to the cabinet of his own accord, took out the needle-and-thread box Ruan Su used to mend the siblings' clothes, then called loudly outside:

"Big Sis—come back for a moment—"

"Okay—"

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Her pleasant voice drifted over from a hundred zhang away in the mountain forest, piercing through the oppressive atmosphere indoors.

Seeing this, Qin Yi turned and walked to the earthen kang. Before climbing onto it, he did not forget to take off his shoes. He leaned against the head of the bed and waited for Ruan Su to return.

[...]

The voice in his head seemed to have sunk into some contemplation beyond his understanding, yet the level of pain it inflicted was still gradually rising.

Before long,

Ruan Su came rushing in with a blade in hand, bits of withered yellow leaves caught in her hair and collar. Seeing Qin Yi sprawled on the bed beside the needle-and-thread box, she tilted her head and asked strangely:

"What's wrong?"

Qin Yi chose not to tell her about the presence in his head.

Enduring the agony severe enough to drive anyone mad, he smiled faintly at the girl as though nothing were wrong and raised the hand seal he had formed:

"I'm going to cultivate. Help me secure this hand seal with thread."

[You could still put on an act under that kind of pain... I truly underestimated you.]

At last, the voice sounded again, carrying a hint of contemplation.

Qin Yi did not even raise his eyelids. He ignored it, giving it the cold shoulder.

Ruan Su walked over somewhat curiously, but she still did as he said, using coarse hemp thread to bind Qin Yi's hands together like a rice dumpling.

Watching this, Qin Yi nodded in satisfaction and smiled.

"All right, go practice your blade. I'll call you when it's time to eat."

[Boy, I am asking you a question!]

The ethereal voice lowered, signaling the fury it was desperately suppressing after being ignored.

Watching Ruan Su's back disappear into the bleak forest, Qin Yi slowly closed his calm eyes as well, immersing all his focus and energy into inward observation and completely shutting out the disturbances of the outside world.

The voice seemed finally to have been thoroughly enraged by this wordless contempt. It gave a chilling laugh.

[It seems I have been far too merciful to you...]

"Uncle, I want to ask you something."

[...]

Qin Yi suddenly spoke, treating the other's previous warning like toilet paper as his calm childish voice directly interrupted its display of might.

"From what you said earlier, you're not human? So are you a demon scourge, or something else? Could you clear up my confusion?"

[Ha...]

The voice seemed never to have expected such a sudden reversal in attitude from the boy who had been as lowly as an ant only moments ago.

[Did you not understand? I said earlier that I don't like...]

"I don't really like having such empty conversations either, Uncle."

Qin Yi sighed softly, his tone filled with understanding and empathy.

"But perhaps it isn't your fault. Just as I cannot understand emotions, judging by the way you speak, you should be something born as imperial nobility, shouldn't you? Hmm... considering Spirit Resonance cultivation and what you said earlier, I think your confidence comes from yourself rather than your status.

"So, you should be some species born with immense power?"

[Insolent thing! Who gave you the courage to make such presumptuous guesses about me?]

"Yes, yes."

Qin Yi answered the uncle, smiling faintly as he estimated that he had guessed correctly.

So,

he truly did not blame the other for oppressing him.

Just as he would not blame himself for being unable to understand others' emotions.

However...

Inside the dim little room, Qin Yi moved again, shifting until he lay flat on the pillow.

Under inward observation, he had already locked onto the crimson mass in his head that continuously emitted "pulses." Controlling that thread of deep-blue Spirit Resonance, he carefully and precisely guided it through the complicated, vast network of meridians within his head, gradually approaching the other like a venomous snake flicking its tongue.

Before that, he softly offered the other a suggestion.

After all, the other should be different from him. He had been born flawed and could not change, but the other should still be able to become better.

His steady childish voice sounded as he said:

"Uncle, no matter what you are, I think you should know that there is something in this world called reverence. Only by understanding reverence can people achieve a win-win outcome."

The voice thundered through his head, still steeped in lofty arrogance.

[Reverence? There is nothing in this world that could make me feel reverence. You little brat... urgh!!!]

Before it could finish, the sudden pain made the presence in his head let out a suppressed, agonized growl.

Qin Yi had already controlled the thread of Spirit Resonance, driving it like an ice awl into the surface of that crimson mass. Immediately afterward, a violent pulse spread outward!

The Spirit Resonance within Qin Yi's body began to fall into chaos. Amplified into physical sensation, it became an immense, dam-breaking agony, as though every inch of his body were being ground into minced flesh.

Under such pain, Qin Yi instantly lost control of his entire body. Fortunately, the hand seal formed by his hands had been firmly bound in place beforehand by the hemp thread.

The little room fell into deathly silence.

The chilly autumn wind swept past the boy's body as it trembled faintly beyond his control from the pain.

After an unknown amount of time,

once he had adapted somewhat, Qin Yi gently let out a breath and chuckled softly in his childish voice.

"We've only just begun, and I haven't even cried out. What are you howling for?"

[...]

The pain of being stabbed, together with the furious rage of being humiliated by a creature as lowly as an ant, nearly drove the lofty presence in his head completely mad. An intense oppressive feeling gradually spread.

It said no more and began gathering its strength.

But just then,

the thread of Spirit Resonance embedded in that crimson mass suddenly erupted with a "pulse" similar to its own under Qin Yi's control!

It was exceedingly faint,

but to the presence in his head, it was agony like bone being shaved and marrow being corroded!

[Urgh!!!!!!]

The voice's growl echoed beside his ears, tearing apart all the arrogance and majesty it had amassed before.

It worked.

Sensing the agony that had swept through his entire body gradually fading, Qin Yi calculated as he sat up from the earthen kang, feeling the crimson mass tremble within his head.

"Stop howling. It's noisy."

The voice fell silent for several breaths. Suppressing the fury of having its dignity trampled by an inferior, it asked word by word:

[How is this possible? How did you do it? You lowborn wretch should only have just begun cultivating, so why...]

Bzz—

The thread of Spirit Resonance erupted with another "pulse." This time, however, the presence's proud self-respect made it endure the agonized growl, though its words were forcibly cut off.

In the silence, the mountains and waters after the rain were hazy.

Qin Yi tilted his head in the dim light and shadow, observing the crimson mass within himself. The expression on his pale cheeks was like a pool of stagnant water.

"If you still don't understand reverence, then start learning from now on."