That night, Wang Qi and Wang Dashan spent a long time discussing a "military survival manual." Now that Wang Dashan no longer opposed Wang Qi joining the army, he seemed determined to pour his entire bellyful of "devious tricks" into him.
Wang Qi summed it up: the gist was to "keep his head down and survive"... Wang Dashan did not want him taking risks. He only hoped Wang Qi could scrape by alive in the army, then "transfer to civilian work" when the time was right.
The mountain weather really was changeable. The downpour stopped around midnight, and the clouds even parted to reveal the bright moon, already high in the sky.
Listening to Wang Dashan's rambling, Wang Qi lay in a dry spot and drifted groggily off to sleep.
He needed a good rest tonight. Once they ventured deep into the mountain forests, there would be plenty to worry about.
Because of his unusual nature, his understanding of sleep differed somewhat from other people's.
To others, sleep was naturally a state in which the mind rested and the body recovered its strength. For him, however, only his body rested; it was actually the best time for his consciousness to "jump" out.
His body soon entered a dormant state, but his consciousness remained utterly clear.
At such times, even though his consciousness was awake, he could not command his body to move at all... Ordinary people called this "nightmare paralysis," a terrifying state in which they believed some unclean thing had latched onto them.
Wang Qi had originally thought it might be an illness that ruined the quality of his sleep...
But after he had actually "jumped" out on one occasion, he realized it might be a form of cultivation... Only, he had no source of knowledge about such things, and Wang Dashan knew nothing about it either, so he could only feel his way forward through trial and error.
Just as he did now: with his awareness perfectly clear, he began to struggle.
He felt as though his body, his entire head and face, were vibrating rapidly, as if he were shaking with a bout of ague.
In reality, his body had not moved at all. The vibration was merely an illusion... Or rather, what vibrated was not the body lying there.
Years of attempts had given him plenty of experience, and soon he felt the restraints binding him loosen somewhat beneath those vibrations.
His "head" could lift.
This time, he could not "jump" all the way out in one go. It seemed he had spent too long reciting scripture the previous night, leaving his mind somewhat fatigued.
Still, he gritted his teeth, and soon his entire upper body sat up.
He even felt his "whole self" rise at an angle that utterly defied the laws of mechanics, with only the parts below his knees still seemingly pinned down, unable to lift.
At that moment, Wang Qi turned his head for a glance and saw his body still sleeping peacefully on the floor, utterly motionless.
Yet a wave of exhaustion washed over him, as though he had reached the end of his strength.
He knew this was the very last step. Giving up now would mean a truly enormous loss.
Several previous experiences had taught him that if he failed to break free at this final step, all the energy spent struggling to escape would come back to haunt him the next day... In short, he would be listless all day long.
But if he managed to break free...
Gritting his teeth, he jerked backward and "stood" up.
His whole being immediately felt lighter as he completed the final separation... Or rather, he preferred to describe it as "leaving the body."
He had left his body.
Wang Qi thought this conscious form that had "gone out" might be his soul, yet it did not quite seem to fit, because there was clearly still awareness within his physical body.
His flesh was still asleep while his consciousness remained awake. Only now, that consciousness seemed to have split in two, leaving two versions of himself gazing at each other from a distance.
Wang Qi had succeeded in entering this out-of-body state fewer than ten times in total. Practicing it depended on his mental condition, and success was clearly impossible when his mind was exhausted.
This time, he had taken advantage of the "birth of a single spark of yang" within him. Feeling that his mental condition was quite good, he had wanted to try again on consecutive nights.
Since he had actually succeeded so few times, his disembodied spirit did not dare stray too far from his physical body. He was like a newborn infant now, filled with unfamiliarity and fear toward everything outside, worried that danger might await if he went too far.
Wang Qi understood that he could not let that fear grow, or this excursion would once again fizzle out before anything came of it.
Controlling his emotions was extremely important in an out-of-body state.
Once any deluded thought arose, all manner of demons, monsters, and illusory scenes would appear before him... After struggling with them, he would certainly be utterly exhausted the next day as well.
So this time, Wang Qi kept his thoughts in check, allowing no stray imaginings to arise. Calm, with only the purest curiosity in his heart, he began exploring this world that was entirely unfamiliar to him.
In fact, he practiced "leaving the body" precisely because he was so curious about this strange world.
And as he grew more proficient, he had begun daring to venture farther and farther.
His surroundings still looked like the hunter's cabin, and Wang Dashan was sleeping soundly.
Wang Qi's spirit drifted to the doorway, intending to push the door open, only for his entire form to pass straight through it... He had no physical substance now; it was merely everyday habit that had made him try to push the door.
Once outside, he looked around curiously... This was his first time leaving his body in the mountains, and he had no idea what strange sights he might encounter.
As he gazed at the pitch-black woods around him, a powerful premonition suddenly struck him. He felt as though some terrifying creature might spring out of that darkness.
The instant that thought arose, Wang Qi knew something was wrong... He had let a deluded thought stir!
Sure enough, in the next moment, shadows swayed in the pitch-black woods, followed by what sounded like something moving through them.
Something's there!
That thought surged powerfully into Wang Qi's mind again. Even though he knew his deluded imaginings were growing stronger, he still could not stop wondering what might charge out of the darkness.
Then, in the next instant, something really did charge out...
It was a pack of wolves, lunging straight at him!
Wang Qi's emotions immediately surged, every nerve pulled taut to its limit...
And it was precisely in that taut state that his consciousness suddenly cleared, and he sat up on his bedding on the floor.
He felt a scorching heat throughout his body. This was the "afterglow" of returning from an out-of-body excursion, and he even knew that cultivating properly in this state would yield tremendous gains.
But now he was in no mood to savor it. Instinctively, he threw himself at one of the cabin's lookout openings and stared into the pitch-black woods outside, as though trying to make something out.
"Did you have a nightmare?" Wang Dashan had woken up too.
He said mockingly, "You're all grown up, and you still have nightmares?"
Still staring into the dark, dense forest outside, Wang Qi asked in return, "Uncle Dashan, do you think a wolf pack might pass through here?"
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