The boy on the ledge

June 26, 2013, was an ordinary day for many people, and a day that would shape the rest of many others' lives.

"Haha, I've got a shot at a top-tier university!" A boy who usually did well in school was overjoyed. "I'm screwed. I might have to repeat the year." A student who had gambled on his luck looked dejected. "Xiaoming, I've decided to go find work." A high school student who had known what to expect had already made plans for his life. Amid all the noisy voices, Xiangyang High School somehow seemed very quiet.

At that moment, seven teenagers had gathered on the fifth-floor rooftop. They were neither the Calabash Brothers nor there to celebrate. They were there to stop a classmate sitting on the railing opposite them, who might jump.

"Zheng Fan, could you come over here? I know you're upset about your exam results and can't accept them, but please think about your parents. They'll be devastated if you jump," a girl named Li Xiaojiao said anxiously.

"Zheng, I always thought of you as my biggest rival. Who knew you were trash who couldn't handle even a little setback?" A boy named Gao Da tried to goad him.

"Fan, what about your dreams? What about the girl you promised to help me get? What about Xiaoxiao, the girl you said you'd sacrifice yourself to protect? Are you giving up on all of that?" After speaking, Zhang Xiaopang gave the boy and girl nestled together behind him an apologetic look. Hearing her name, the girl glanced nervously at her boyfriend, and they immediately let go of each other's tightly clasped hands. Although Xiaoxiao's boyfriend tried to look perfectly calm at Zhang Xiaopang's words, he was still an inexperienced young man. Everyone could see his nervousness.

Xiaoxiao said, "Zheng Fan, even if I didn't have a boyfriend, I would never like a coward who jumped off a building." Then she took the boy's arm again, gripping it even tighter. Another couple looked utterly innocent. They really had only come to celebrate, and had no idea what to do in a situation like this.

"Zheng Fan, I didn't realize you were so popular. Can someone with a Buzhou temper really make so many friends?" Just as everyone was on edge, a calm, even voice rang out.

"Who are you? Get lost! Class One doesn't welcome you." Although many of the students had been trying to goad him, and although this voice sounded noble and righteous, everyone could hear its ill intent. At the sound of it, Zheng Fan finally moved on the ledge. He raised his head toward an empty spot on the rooftop and roared, "Get lost!" An invisible blast of air surged from his mouth and burst a short distance away.

"Cough, cough. You really are something, Zheng Fan. I never imagined the gap between us was this wide." This time, even the ordinary teenagers could tell the stranger had been hurt. But Zheng Fan also spat out a mouthful of blood on the ledge. Zhang Xiaopang moved first. He grabbed a large iron padlock and hurled it hard in the direction of Zheng Fan's shout. The mysterious stranger clearly hadn't anticipated this and took the hit. The iron padlock abruptly stopped at chest height. Evidently, the invisibility item had withstood the energy blast, but couldn't stand up to a physical attack-even one from an ordinary high school student who had never cultivated.

Ripples spread through the air, and a person abruptly appeared before them. Yet rather than the black-clad figure they had imagined, he was a young man wearing white clerical robes. Xiaoxiao was startled when she saw him. "Aren't you... aren't you..." "The priest from the cathedral?" Li Xiaojiao finished for her.

"Today, I am here on behalf of the Lord to judge a heretic," the young cleric said. "Are you willing to follow in the Lord's footsteps?" Li Xiaojiao and the other believers stood stunned. "Father, why is this happening?" Li Xiaojiao asked. "Those who believe in the Lord shall have eternal life. Those who do not are mortals. But these people not only refuse to believe in the Lord, they bargain with devils for power and eternal life. The Church must punish these heretics." The cleric looked around at everyone present and continued, "I have seen several of you praying in church. You all have the potential to follow the Lord into heaven. Will you help me destroy the heretic?"

Xiaoxiao wanted to argue after hearing the cleric's words, but her boyfriend dragged her straight off the rooftop. Looking at the stunned Li Xiaojiao and the departing Xiaoxiao, the cleric felt rather helpless. It was difficult to cultivate blindly devoted believers in the twenty-first century. On his own turf, there would have been no question of choosing between more than a decade of faith and a classmate they had spent three years with.

"Look," the cleric said. "These are the young people your Buzhou Domain has raised. They have never even heard of Mount Buzhou. You chose to hide yourselves and bind yourselves with the Buzhou Blood Oath. The end result is that all of Buzhou has become fertile ground for our faith, and Buzhou's talents have become the Pope's most loyal supporters." The more he spoke, the smugger and more pleased he became. He walked to the ledge and shouted, "I will become the greatest Pope!"

"Pope, my ass!" Zhang Xiaopang had found a thick steel rod somewhere. As the cleric turned away, he swung it hard at the cleric's head. But Zhang Xiaopang was an ordinary person, after all. Even though he had made up his mind, he still held back a little at the last moment and shifted the angle slightly. The rod still came down hard, slamming into the cleric's shoulder. In the next instant, however, a tremendous force surged from the cleric's body. The rod rebounded and struck Xiaopang's own shoulder hard, leaving it a bloody mess.

"You should be glad you showed mercy." The cleric looked down at Xiaopang, who had fallen to the ground, with an air of absolute superiority. "As priests of light, we have weak bodies. The Divine Light Shield is our last line of defense. Would you like to learn it? God said, whoever believes in me shall have eternal life. The same goes for you students over there." Having finished his sales pitch, the cleric swept a wash of light from his hand, and just like that, Xiaopang's shoulder healed.

At the sight of the cleric's healing spell, regular churchgoers like Li Xiaojiao in particular lost the will to resist, while the boys merely found it rather amazing. Just a healer. Druids could restore health too.

Gao Da spoke. "Let's assume you really are God's messenger. Could you explain what's going on here? We might be on the sixth floor, but I don't think either of you would die from falling off it."

Although hailed as the most outstanding talent of the younger generation, the cleric had his own twisted feelings. He envied ordinary people's freedom and resented their love. Showing off his power before mortals was his favorite pastime, and answering their questions gave him an even better chance to display his greatness. More importantly, he wanted Zheng Fan to die with bitter regret.

"We began carrying out our plan two years ago. First, we set up Magic Circles throughout Xiangyang Town. Then we gave people blessed crosses. You can think of it this way: whenever believers pray, the crosses convert those prayers into energy, which gathers through the Magic Circles, until today, when it delivers a fatal blow." The cleric smiled smugly.

"This Magic Circle is a simplified version I worked out from old books. Besides immobilizing people, it can block their vision. If he really fell and died, that would make everything perfect." At this point, the cleric's smile grew even smugger. "I heard you mention somewhere called Buzhou earlier. Are you people from Earth?" The couple who had been mere bystanders until now finally spoke up.

"You can blame Buzhou for all the hardships in your lives." The cleric ignored their scornful looks and continued, "Originally, everyone could cultivate. But Buzhou's rules made it incredibly difficult for ordinary people to embark on that path. Unless you were born in Buzhou or possessed extraordinary talent, you could go your whole life without ever encountering that wondrous world." He infused these words with a touch of enchantment, making the others' gazes turn faintly hostile toward Zheng Fan.

The cleric was thoroughly enjoying himself, but Zheng Fan, sitting on the rooftop, was also laughing happily. "Impossible! This binding array immobilizes you from head to toe. You clearly don't have the strength to break free, so how can you make a sound?" Hearing Zheng Fan's laughter, the cleric could only react in disbelief. "Nothing's impossible. I've only been stuck here this long because I was too timid." Now Zheng Fan could even move his hands, assuming the palms-and-soles-facing-heaven posture everyone recognized. Speaking still strained him; after just a few words, he had to gather his energy again. "I sensed that flaw from the start, but I was worried it was a trap. People from the Light Domain tend to be straightforward, but you might have used that to trick me. Since an idiot like you worked it out yourself, though, there's nothing to worry about."

Zheng Fan fell silent again, evidently preparing to break through the flaw in one push. "You really are impressive, Zheng Fan. Unfortunately, you caused Xiaoxiao's death. Even if I kill you, it hardly counts as an elder bullying a junior." The mysterious speaker's thunderous shout carried a mind-shaking power that brought the enchanted students back to their senses.

"So it's you." Zheng Fan recognized the voice. "Xiaoxiao's death was all my fault. Although I've been struggling to stay alive, it was only because I wanted to surrender my life to the Northern Sea. I stopped wanting to live long ago, but Xiaoxiao wanted me to stay alive even more." Before the mysterious speaker appeared, Zheng Fan had looked utterly composed. Afterward, his expression was distinctly cunning.

"That's a tempting offer, Zheng Fan. But I have no intention of killing anyone. In fact, all I've been doing this whole time is helping you destroy this Magic Circle. The young people of the Buzhou Domain are too outstanding. I have to seize every opportunity." Maintaining a flawed Magic Circle was a burden even for the mysterious speaker. He could no longer control even the energy keeping him invisible, and an old man dressed in black appeared before everyone.

This time, the old man spoke in a language none of them understood. The young cleric understood it, of course, and began chanting a spell in the same language. Explosions began at the edges of Xiangyang Town, each one blooming in wondrous elemental colors. The final explosion erupted on Xiangyang High School's sports field. "How could you do this? How many people will die because of your plot? How can you call yourselves the Lord's messengers?"

At the sound of the explosions, everyone fell into despair. Xiangyang Town was their home. Li Xiaojiao angrily demanded answers from the cleric. Having given up on these believers, he couldn't be bothered to answer such a pointless question. Instead, Zheng Fan, who had breathed a sigh of relief when the Magic Circle self-destructed, spoke up. "Don't worry, everyone. No one will die. They wouldn't dare offend Buzhou."

Then he turned to the young cleric. "Hey, you. I still don't know your name. Are you Smith's younger brother or Catherine's younger brother? Or are you their son? Hahahaha!" The old man beside them explained, "Those explosions were a kind of projection. They had no effect whatsoever on the real world. As for the claim that we wouldn't dare offend Buzhou, that's nothing but a joke. And that last bit-rumor has it the Pope has 108 illegitimate children, one for each of the Heavenly Spirits and Earthly Fiends. Hehehehe." It had to be said that compared with Zheng Fan's hearty laughter, the old man's snickering sounded positively sleazy.