Xiao Yi held the handlebars with one hand and a freshly bought, still-warm flatbread with the other, taking the occasional bite as he leisurely rode his bicycle through the crowds. The flatbread was coarse and bland. Aside from filling his stomach, it hardly qualified as delicious.
"Ah, compared to the egg-stuffed flatbreads and jianbing wraps you could buy from any roadside stall on Blue Star, this is earth against heaven." He smacked his lips, missing those breakfasts loaded with chopped scallions and chili sauce, each bite bursting with texture and flavor.
Xiao Yi rode aimlessly, scanning the assorted stalls on either side of the street in hopes of finding more useful "spellcasting materials." As he passed a stall specializing in unusual little trinkets, something hanging in a corner suddenly caught his eye. It was a pendant made of some unknown silvery-gray metal, with a peculiar shape: a vertical bar intersected a horizontal one, forming a cross.
This thing... Xiao Yi muttered inwardly and stopped his bicycle. Does this world have symbols like crosses too? Or is this a coincidence-or even a relic left behind by some unlucky transmigrator who came before me? His interest instantly piqued, he walked over, pointed at the pendant, and asked the stallholder, "Boss, how much for this?"
The stallholder was a wiry middle-aged man. Seeing a customer approach, he hurriedly launched into an enthusiastic pitch. "You have a fine eye, young master! This is a treasure I picked up from an ancient ruin. It's made of a special material, impervious to water and fire! Just look at that design. Isn't it distinctive?" Apparently, the stallholder had no idea what the symbol really meant and simply regarded it as an unusual ornament.
Xiao Yi curled his lip and once again put his "haggling" skills to work. With a mixture of bluffing and browbeating, he finally pocketed the "cross." Whatever its origins, now that he had found it, it might come in handy. After all, he had attended plenty of theology lectures while studying abroad. Although he had only treated them as a way to learn about Western culture at the time, perhaps he could test some of those theories about prayer and communicating with "deities" in this world.
After putting away the cross, he began picking through the neighboring lumber stall. His master had told him that sincerity brought miracles; some ritual implements did not require expensive materials, only care and concentration during their creation. Remembering the prayer beads Buddhists often used to calm their minds and focus their spirits, he decided to make a strand himself. He carefully selected a dense wooden board that gave off a faint, pleasant fragrance, just large enough to carve a sword and polish a string of beads, and bought that too.
"Taoist talismans and formations, Western prayer and communion, Buddhist meditation and mental power..." Xiao Yi climbed onto his bicycle, considering the copper coins clinking in the basket and the various "strange" materials he had just purchased, and could not help feeling a little wistful. His life had certainly been bizarre enough. As a child, he had wandered with a Taoist master, who later sent him to a temple to chant scriptures with monks and live a peaceful life. Then his master suddenly reappeared and, claiming he needed to escape a calamity, forcibly sent him off to the "Church of the East," with whose members he went abroad to believe in Jesus...
"Heaven never bars every road! I, Xiao Yi, am no good-for-nothing who wails to heaven and beats the earth, blaming everyone else the moment I hit a setback. All roads lead to Rome. If I can't cultivate Dou Qi, I'll try another path!" Xiao Yi shouted. "I refuse to believe that my knowledge of the three major 'mainstream mystical traditions' isn't enough to solve this little problem!"
At that thought, he pedaled harder, and the bicycle carried him and his pile of hope-filled "junk" toward the Xiao Clan Courtyard with a chorus of creaks. On his way back, he also bought bells and stopped at a tailor's shop...
With a creak, the bicycle stopped outside the somewhat remote, shabby little courtyard assigned to him. Xiao Yi hopped off, casually leaned the bicycle against the wall, picked up the basket of odds and ends he had bought, and pushed open the gate.
Xiao Yi dumped everything he had bought onto the stone table in the courtyard and began sorting it into categories. He carefully placed the black lump of "Black Rock Lizard" blood in a chipped bowl pilfered from the kitchen; he poured the red mineral powder onto a small saucer, intending to mix it with some liquid later to draw talismans; and he spread out the coarse paper that would substitute for yellow talisman paper sheet by sheet, feeling its texture and ability to conduct energy with his hands. He hefted the silvery-gray cross pendant, then casually hung it around his neck. The cool touch of the metal refreshed his spirits.
As for the wood, Xiao Yi found a slightly cleaner stone to sit on, took a small carving knife from inside his clothes, and began shaving the wood with intermittent strokes, intending to polish a single bead first to get a feel for it. As his hands worked, he focused on his recollections.
Xiao Yi could vaguely sense that the disappearance of the Dou Qi within him was no coincidence. It felt more like... something had forcibly sucked it away. Moreover, that sensation was particularly strong whenever he approached Xiao Yan. Could there be something strange about Xiao Yan? That seemingly ordinary ring? Or something else?
"Damn it, I really got the short end of the stick. If I'd known, I'd have stayed away from that kid," Xiao Yi cursed under his breath, though his hands never stopped carving. Whatever the cause, he had to get to the bottom of it as soon as possible. Otherwise, never mind gaining a foothold in this world-even protecting himself might become a problem.
Hidden in the shadows, Ling Ying's brow furrowed more and more deeply. As a Dou Huang expert, he had seen a great deal and encountered plenty of strange cultivation methods and secret techniques, yet the things this adopted son of the Xiao Clan was tinkering with lay completely beyond his understanding. Just what is this strange boy trying to do? Some sort of evil ritual? None of it had anything to do with him, but he still found it odd and could not help watching the figure who had started hammering and tapping again.
The tapping, filing, and occasional muttering sounded especially clear in the quiet night. At last, Xiao Yi stopped working. He clapped his hands in satisfaction and surveyed the finished, odd-looking ritual altar. Four small swivel casters underneath made it look even more ridiculous. With a gentle push from Xiao Yi, the "ritual altar" smoothly spun in place. He seemed extremely pleased with the result, a childlike grin of pride spreading across his face.
"Mmm, not bad, not bad. Perfect! Next, it's time to prepare my 'battle robes.'" Xiao Yi took out the fabric he had obtained from the tailor's shop and began sewing...
Ling Ying silently grumbled to himself, This kid's imagination is far too wild. Isn't this the crucial age when boys from ordinary families should be tempering their muscles and bones and refining their Dou Qi? But him? Building platforms, making clothes-anything but his proper work!
The longer Ling Ying watched, the more he felt that Xiao Yi exuded an indescribable strangeness from head to toe, utterly out of place in this world where Dou Qi reigned supreme.
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