The next morning, Jiang Lin woke up after the village roosters crowed twice.
He pushed open the door to the house he was staying in. The thin mist in the courtyard had not yet dissipated, and the air was filled with the scent of earth and grass. A Shan was already sitting on Shitou in the courtyard, holding a blade of grass in his hand, his head down, seemingly lost in thought.
Yi Chen sat on the threshold not far away, a few feet apart, and neither of them spoke.
Bai Lingyu came out of the next room and yawned. "I didn't sleep well last night. This village is too quiet; I'm not used to it."
Jiang Lin glanced at him. "Finished looking at the map?"
"I've finished looking." Bai Lingyu walked over. "If you go south from this village, the map will only show mountains, and there will be very few villages marked. It might take several days to find the next inhabited place."
"No rush," Jiang Lin said. "Let's finish dealing with things here first."
He turned to Yi Chen on the threshold. Yi Chen was still sitting there, in a similar posture to last night, knees together, hands on his lap, eyes downcast, but with a bit more life than last night—at least he would occasionally look up at people.
Jiang Lin walked over and sat down on the stone steps in front of him, level with him.
How did you sleep last night?
Yi Chen paused for a moment, then nodded gently. "Mm."
"Do you notice anything different?" Jiang Lin asked. "For example, is there anything in your mind that you didn't notice before?"
Yi Chen looked up at him, as if she was seriously considering the question.
After a while, he slowly began to speak, "I used to feel that there were more things around me than I could see."
It's like... sometimes even when no one is talking, I always feel like someone is thinking, like something is buzzing around.
He paused for a moment, then said, "I used to think I was overthinking things."
"You're not overthinking it," Jiang Lin said. "That's your Martial Soul sensing things. Your brain itself is Martial Soul, and its range of perception is much wider than that of an ordinary person."
What others are thinking, what's happening around you—your Martial Soul is constantly receiving these signals for you, you just don't know how to discern them."
Yi Chen pursed her lips, remaining silent, but her eyes revealed a mixture of confusion and curiosity.
Jiang Lin didn't rush to continue. He sat on the stone steps, waited quietly for a while, and then said, "Try closing your eyes, not thinking about anything, just pretend you're listening to the sounds around you."
Yi Chen hesitated for a moment, then closed her eyes.
"No need to strain," Jiang Lin's voice softened further. "Just... feel it. Whatever sounds you hear around you—the wind, the trees, the sound of footsteps in the distance, anything. Don't try to identify what they are, just sense their presence."
The courtyard fell silent. Bai Lingyu leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed, watching this side without making a sound. A Shan stopped turning the blade of grass in his hand and carefully looked at Yi Chen.
After about seven or eight breaths, Yi Chen's eyelashes fluttered slightly.
"I... I heard it."
"What did you hear?"
"I heard something over there..." He tilted his head slightly, looking towards the outside of the courtyard, "Someone's walking, walking very fast. And another... it sounds like a child running."
Bai Lingyu raised an eyebrow.
The alley outside the courtyard was nearly twenty paces away from where they were sitting. Separated by an earthen wall and a few trees, such subtle sounds were impossible for a normal person to hear. He listened carefully and, sure enough, he could faintly hear footsteps coming from that direction.
Jiang Lin's lips curled into a slight smile, "That's right. Your Martial Soul is helping you receive signals. You've only opened the receiving channel now. In the future, you'll be able to do much more than that."
Yi Chen opened her eyes and looked down at her hands, as if to confirm that her ordinary hands could really do these things.
"Then why couldn't I feel it before...?"
"Because nobody told you that the 'buzzing' sound had any meaning," Jiang Lin said. "Your Martial Soul has always been sensing everything around you, but you just don't know what it's telling you."
Now that you know, you can gradually learn to control it.
When you want to understand your surroundings, let it listen and sense; when you don't want to be disturbed, bring it back so it doesn't affect you.
Yi Chen looked at Jiang Lin, her lips moved, and after a long while, she softly said, "Then... can I learn from you?"
Jiang Lin looked at him and nodded. "Of course, I came here for someone like you."
Yi Chen lowered his head, neither agreeing nor disagreeing, but he clutched the hem of his clothes for a long time before slowly letting go.
A Shan jumped down from the Shitou next to him, walked up to Yi Chen, and extended his hand to him.
"Come on, I'll show you where we live," A Shan said. "From now on, we'll travel together, and you'll have someone to talk to along the way."
Yi Chen looked at the hand A Shan extended—his left hand, the scales on its skin faintly visible. It was a body part that, like him, was "unusual."
He hesitated for a moment, then extended his right hand and grasped A Shan's hand.
Two children, about the same age, one seven and the other eight, clasped hands, as if making a simple promise.
Bai Lingyu leaned against the doorframe, a slight twitch at the corner of her mouth. "You certainly know how to pick people."
Jiang Lin stood up from the stone steps, brushing the dust off his trousers. "I didn't pick it out, I just stumbled upon it."
"Even if we run into them, that's fine too," Bai Lingyu said. "We've got two already."
Jiang Lin glanced out of the courtyard. The sun had already risen, and the fog was dissipating. The distant mountain ridge was clearly visible, indicating the direction they were heading.
"Pack your things," he said. "Let's leave before noon."
"So urgent?" Bai Lingyu asked.
"There's still a road ahead," Jiang Lin said. " Yi Chen and A Shan's situation is definitely not unique."
Bai Lingyu didn't ask any more questions, turned around and went inside to tidy up.
Before noon, the four of them left the village.
Yi Chen's family didn't offer much resistance. For the past few years, they had always been like an isolated household in the village. The child had Soul Power but no one cared for him. He was neither accepted nor driven away, and they had long since lost what to do.
Jiang Lin revealed his identity Soul Master and explained that he would take Yi Chen to cultivate. After a long silence, they let Yi Chen choose for herself.
Yi Chen stood at the door, glanced back at the house she had lived in for eight years, then turned back and stood beside A Shan.
He didn't say anything, but that gesture was enough.
The four walked south along the dirt road at the village entrance. Jiang Lin was in the lead, Bai Lingyu was beside him, and A Shan and Yi Chen walked side by side behind.
About half an hour after they walked out, A Shan suddenly asked, "Master, where are we going next?"
Jiang Lin didn't stop walking; his gaze remained fixed on the horizon.
"Keep heading south. There should be another town ahead, called Maple Forest Town."
Bai Lingyu glanced down at the map. " Maple Forest Town... it's marked on the map. It's larger than the villages we've encountered, so there should be permanent residents."
"Then let's go to Maple Forest Town," Jiang Lin said. "I have a feeling that someone is still waiting for us."
A Shan didn't ask any further questions, but quickened his pace to catch up with Jiang Lin.
Yi Chen walked at the back, following silently, but his steps were more steady than in the morning.
The four of them walked south along the mountain road, gradually disappearing into the distance.
The direction of Maple Forest Town is ahead.