“Like, like what?”
Following Yin Qing’s gaze, Yin Zhaoxian looked up and a sense of familiarity rose in his heart as he saw the statue of Shing Wong calmly sitting high on its platform.
“Dad…”
“Let’s go home!”
Yin Qing was hesitant to speak, and Yin Zhaoxian didn’t mention it either. He pulled his son up and walked out of the temple in silence.
Passing by numerous pilgrims going in and out of the temple, and ignoring the various goods being shouted and sold outside. The Yin family’s master walked faster than when he came.
It wasn’t until they left the temple district that Yin Zhaoxian slowed down his slightly sore steps.
“Qing’er, what did you say was similar to what just now?”
Yin Qing nervously answered his father’s gaze.
“The appearance of that old gentleman just now looked similar to Shing Wong in the temple!! Dad, I’m not mistaken or talking nonsense!!”
“Um!”
Yin Zhaoxian answered softly, making Yin Qing, who was prepared to face his father’s criticism, a little stunned.
“Actually, your father also felt he looked a bit familiar just now, but I wasn’t sure.”
Normal people wouldn’t carefully observe the appearance of Shing Wong when worshiping. As for the old gentleman just now, he only caught a few glimpses but didn’t remember his face clearly, so Yin Zhaoxian wasn’t sure, but Yin Qing remembered it clearly.
“Qing’er, today’s events must not be mentioned to anyone, not even your mother, do you understand?”
“Oh…”
“Hm?”
“I understand, dad…”
Yin Qing was a bit puzzled as to why he couldn’t even tell his mother, but he didn’t dare to argue with his father.
“Remember, women have long hair and short knowledge. Your mother is better, but she still has limitations. When she chats with the neighbors, she will talk about everything!”
Now Yin Qing seemed to understand something.
“Oh, and when you see that gentleman you just mentioned in the future, you must bow and greet him. Do you remember that?”
“Um, I remember!”
Yin Zhaoxian led Yin Qing back home, thinking that if the new resident of Ju’an Pavilion had no problems within half a month, he would personally visit him with Yin Qing!
Belief in ghosts and gods varies among people, some believe it while others scoff at it. Tales are often passed down by word of mouth, and few have seen them with their own eyes. However, it cannot be denied that most people maintain an attitude of “better to believe than not,” and even those who do not still hold a sense of awe.
For Yin Zhaoxian, this event was truly mysterious!
…
Ji Yuan had already arrived home. Even though he didn’t lock the courtyard and inner house when he went out, it was not only because there was nothing to steal, but also because there was no thief who dared to come to Ju’an Pavilion to steal.
Pushing open the door, he took out a willow twig he had picked up on the way and rolled up his sleeves to start his belated teeth-brushing routine.
Brushing his teeth was one of the most inconvenient things Ji Yuan had felt since coming here, and he couldn’t just use any old twig. Before brushing, he would break the willow twig into sections and take two of them with fibrous tips at the top to brush his teeth all over, then use a thinner willow twig to clean between his teeth.
After fiddling around for a while, Ji Yuan picked up a wooden ladle and poured half a ladle of water into his mouth.
“Er bu bu bu bu… pui…”
Spitting out mouthfuls of greenish mouthwash, he rinsed his mouth several times before feeling that it was clean enough.
In fact, using salt would be more effective, but salt was expensive. If you weren’t a wealthy person, using it to brush your teeth was too wasteful. Ji Yuan felt that he wasn’t wealthy enough to be that extravagant.
After brushing his teeth, Ji Yuan felt that he might not have anything to do for a long time that day. Without the internet or a cellphone, and with no one familiar to chat with, going out wouldn’t be very interesting unless it was for a night market.
‘Ah, I’m living like a lonely old person… How did my grandfather and uncle-in-law used to pass the time?’
He had just thought of the problem when an answer popped into his mind.
Playing chess!
And this was also related to his greatest reliance. Ji Yuan couldn’t help but feel grateful that he had just asked Old Shing Wong for a record of chess.
With that in mind, Ji Yuan sat down on the stone bench in the courtyard, extended his right arm, and formed a sword finger, while visualizing the chess piece in his mind.
After the familiar tingling sensation rose, the phantom image of the chess piece appeared at the tip of his finger.
‘Black!’
Ji Yuan’s heart shook. The original chess piece was a vague phantom, making it difficult to distinguish between white and black pieces, but at this moment, the chess piece was still illusory but was already colored black.
Not only did it turn black, but at this moment, the black spot at his fingertips produced a sense of being closer to solidness, which made Ji Yuan wonder if the piece could “fall” onto the chessboard at some point.
As for why this change occurred, it was probably related to the monstrous thing that Ji Yuan pointed at last night. Thinking back to the cold feeling of that thing when it was being sucked and spun into his arm, it was not difficult to infer that the stone had absorbed something.
‘Yin qi? Baleful energy of the earth veins? It can’t be the evil miasma, right? Let’s try to see if I’m still able to absorb spiritual energy.’
In fact, before, Ji Yuan had a strange feeling. Normally, holding the piece would gather spiritual energy, but it never absorbed it or absorbed very little. He needed to figure it out slowly in the future.
Setting aside the unexplainable things for the time being, Ji Yuan put aside distracting thoughts and began to visualize the Lan Ke chess game in his mind.
As Ji Yuan’s distractions became less and less, the wind began to rise in the small courtyard.
The wind was not strong, but it was incessant, surrounding Ji Yuan within a range of about one meter. Streams of green spiritual energy converged from all directions, and a gradually dense greenery accumulated around the black piece.
“Good, very good!”
This time, no one disturbed him, and Ji Yuan tried to see if he could reach a limit.
Woo…woo…
The wind was still the same size, but it seemed to let Ji Yuan hear the sound of the wind. The branches and leaves of the jujube tree in the courtyard swayed, and the rustling sound scattered with the wind.
As for Ji Yuan’s fingertips, in addition to the little black spot at the center, a large group of green spiritual energy had gathered, with a range of about half a person’s length, showing a slowly rotating vortex.
At this point, Ji Yuan couldn’t hold on any longer. His mind began to sting, and his arm felt as heavy as lifting a heavy barbell.
Everything had to have a limit, and even someone like Ji Yuan, who valued his life, was a little afraid to absorb so much spiritual energy.
‘Let’s dissipate some of it first and then absorb it when it becomes thin enough!’
Willing the idea, Ji Yuan suppressed the visualization of the chessboard, and the surrounding green spiritual energy began to disperse little by little, turning into spiritual winds flowing in the courtyard. When it dissipated to only one-third, Ji Yuan began to concentrate on absorbing the energy.
Hiss…
At first, there was an electric shock-like feeling, and then a sore feeling in his fingertips. The green spiritual energy flowed into his body, and the sense of soreness climbed up his arm.
“Ah…”
Ji Yuan almost reflexively stood up.
Endure it!
The sensation was highly unpleasant and indicated that his body was being pushed beyond its limits, akin to how overindulging can turn toxic. Fortunately, his time spent at the mountain temple had strengthened his ability to withstand discomfort, so he was able to bear this minor pain.
Ji Yuan kept his mind in tune with his breathing and guided the spiritual energy to circulate in his body rather than gathering at one point, gradually reducing the pressure.
About ten or so minutes passed before the pain began to subside, but at this point, Ji Yuan was already trembling and experiencing involuntary spasms.
‘Fortunately, I was smart and dissipated most of the green spiritual energy beforehand. Otherwise, if I die because of this, it would be too stupid!’
Another ten or so minutes passed, and all the reactions in his body had calmed down.
“Hoo…hoo…hoo…”
Ji Yuan breathed heavily, calming his heart rate and his tired body. He lazily sat down and lay on the stone table, not wanting to move.
Feeling the wind around him gradually dissipating, the branches and leaves of the jujube tree in the courtyard swayed happily.
A dried up mushroom currently addicted to translating novels. Totally not on caffeine!
