Chapter 15: Main Text: Qi Perception Realm

Main Text: Qi Perception Realm

Outside the window,

Rain lines fell from the sky like a string of beads, striking the trees, striking the stones, and also striking the window before his eyes.

A dense, chaotic rain roared in his silent ears.

It was like the blade forest and sword rain he had heard of years ago, winding around his heart each night like a nightmare.

Listening to the rain outside, sorrow continually gathered on his blade‑sharp face.

Today is the Mid‑Autumn Festival, yet the moon can be full while people cannot be whole.

When he thought of his loving mother in the ward, still tormented by cancer,

His compassionate heart hardened once more. He kept praying and repenting,

Silently vowing: once he saves his mother this time, he will submit to legal punishment, to hell's judgment!

"Rain falls on the rich, and also on the poor; it falls on the righteous, and also on the unrighteous;

In truth, rain is not just, because it falls upon a world without justice."

These words were penned long ago by a writer named Lao She,

but he thought: the injustice lies not in this world, but in fate.

Fate is always like that, delighting in tormenting the good while favoring the bad.

May I ask, under such unjust fate, who still dares to be a good person, who still wishes to be a good person?

Isn't he exactly like that now? Isn't Li Feifan exactly like that?

Isn't Li Yijie like that too? And Lao Touzi, Lao Zhao, Li Xingyang, Lou Yueru…

They are not, after all, being twisted by fate into unrecognizable shapes for the sake of their belief in goodness?

Now he is about to become a murderous villain for his mother's sake.

The world is just so; we always hurt one group of people for the sake of another,

In this, right and wrong, merit and demerit, fate and destiny, no one can ever clarify.

The rain keeps falling, but he can no longer wait.

Killing in the rain will chill the blood of his compassion even more,

and killing in the rain will also make escaping to save others a bit easier!

Thus, he moved, without any cold‑blade poison dagger in sight,

with both hands empty, he leapt out the window with a swish,

blending with the rain's sound, he vanished into the dense jungle, leaving no trace.

On the other side of the rain,

the Ten Thousand Spirits Fate Tug‑of‑War continues tense and unrelenting.

And three days and three nights have already passed,

Inside the Thousand‑Temperature Heating Box, aside from the light becoming even more mystically hazy,

there is no other change,

yet everyone's mood grows increasingly heavy and complex.

Today is Mid‑Autumn, yet a torrential downpour arrives,

as if shattering countless hearts that cannot reunite.

But more painful than the inability to reunite is when people are together yet their hearts remain ununited.

At this moment, the true spirit Li Feifan is just so; over these three days his consciousness has only grown weaker,

he feels like a firefly,

its tiny glow constantly being devoured by an endless, heavy darkness.

He feels so exhausted,

A chilling helplessness and loneliness has deeply entangled every corner of his soul.

Meanwhile, in the darkness, voices of "Mommy" keep calling,

his father's silhouette flickers on the other side of the darkness,

as if smiling at him, urging him to go over.

Yet deep within his soul a voice always tells him:

"Don't go over, brother. That isn't real; it's just a trick devised by the vengeful spirit Li Feifan,

If you cross over, everyone will be doomed. The vengeful spirit Li Feifan will devour the entire world,

You will truly never be able to see your mother and father again. For their sake, please believe me.

Hold steady, brother, we can win!"

On the other side of Yuan Feijie's 'Abyss of the Vengeful Realm', Li Yijie continues to circulate the 'Underwear Qi Technique'.

Twelve‑colored strands of primordial Qi ribbons dash recklessly toward the black line,

Sweat droplets fall like raindrops.

Li Yijie is also about to collapse, though he wishes to help Li Feifan repair his body's internal injuries,

using his body's instinctive protection system to resist the vengeful spirit Li Feifan's evil black line.

But now the true spirit Li Feifan is about to be breached by the cunning vengeful spirit Li Feifan.

His entire body is like an army whose morale has shattered, completely demoralized,

each cell like a tiny Ah Dou,

the desire to die can no longer be restrained.

And across the billions of stars, the old man who hunts the Mo Family Three Brothers is pursuing.

Suddenly his heart raced, and he twirled the old sword.

The tip of the sword pointed toward the Milky Way.

A surge of twelve‑colored sword qi shot through the void at a speed almost like thought.

In this world, the fastest thing is not light, but human thought.

The transmission of thought requires no medium, regardless of distance,

a mere stir of the mind can cross the barriers of thousands of universes.

However, the mind‑to‑void transmission method has long been only a legend in this world,

the ancient one makes people doubt its existence.

The old man had merely stumbled upon a fragment of a text similar to the mind‑to‑void transmission method,

yet that alone was enough for the world to look up to.

After finishing the sword point, the old man cast a complicated glance toward the direction where Li Yijie stood,

muttering to himself, "Is this what they call destiny?"

I once thought that the twelve‑year reversal of time could help you escape a disaster,

but now I see it was merely self‑deception.

I once believed we could evade that old fate,

only to find that, in the end, it was all just different paths leading to the same end."

After the muttering, the old man, without looking back, leaned on his sword and flew toward the Great Moon Star Cluster.

Because he knew that, though it lasted only a moment, it was enough for the three demon brothers to escape to the Demon Clan Stronghold.

Moreover, the recent mind‑to‑void transmission had already drained his unparalleled cultivation.

He must wait until the full‑moon night of the fifteenth day of the first month,

when the Yin Qi that devours the Great Moon Star Cluster can be restored.

If his mortal enemies were to learn of this now, he would likely die before Li Yijie,

and then how could he ever see Xiao Jiu again? With that thought finished, he surged even faster.

Because waves of aura that would make even him tremble a quarter turn were racing toward him,

whether he could escape this disaster still depended on fate…

The Milky Way within the star sea resembled a tiny firefly in the vast darkness,

its slow drift carrying an indescribable loneliness and desolation,

cold and desolate like a relic in dust, silent as an abandoned ruin!

And within this relic, Earth is merely a slightly larger shrimp.

Within that shrimp, a scarcely populated mountain village is even less than a grain of sand in the ocean.

Thus how lonely Earthlings are; they are still a hundred thousand and eight thousand li away from the true world!

Yet in that tiny mountain village, a cataclysm capable of shaking heaven and moving the universe rages fiercely.

A strand of twelve‑colored sword qi, as fine as a wisp, slipped in while no one was watching,

and with a whoosh it pierced Li Feifan's brow, vanishing.

Once inside, the sword qi rushed straight toward the black line, as if it were the black line's natural enemy,

attacking black at sight, diving into black on contact. And each swallow of the black line

makes it grow a bit. In a single snap of the fingers, it becomes as thick as an arm.

At this moment, the sword qi silently and astonishingly split into countless tiny sword filaments,

those filaments resembling little dragons of various colors,

swift, majestic, and sanctified, emitting a light that terrified all darkness.

In no time, the black line's evil army melted away like a flurry of black snow,

the black resentment dispersed.

Li Yijie, fighting desperately, also sensed it,

uncontrollably shaking with a surge of spirit, wildly trembling,

twelve‑colored qi‑light stars burst forth like raindrops,

directly joining the sword filaments' black‑annihilating torrent. The cells, like resurrected ashes,

each organelle united with sincere resolve,

countless black smoke was digested by lysosomes into little clumps!

Since the filaments pierced his brow, in the time it takes to drink a cup of tea,

the black resentment army was cut to pieces, scattered in all directions,

fleeing east and west, hiding north and south. The once‑mighty black resentment legion was reduced to a few timid remnants unworthy of fear.

Meanwhile, Li Feifan's body gradually turned white again,

he seemed to have unintentionally set the world's fastest whitening record,

If he entered the Gilis World Record,

perhaps he could even bring back a medal.

Dr. You, who was outside, was the first to notice the change,

screaming like a child, excitedly hopping about,

shouting, "Xiao Feifan is saved, Xiao Feifan is saved. Aunt Lou, Xiao Feifan is saved.

Fei Yun, Xiao Feifan is saved, Little Yi, little brother, your brother is saved, you know,

Haha! I succeeded, I succeeded, Xiao Feifan is saved! I'm so happy,

I'm about to lose control of myself, hahaha! Hahaha......

Dr. You got so excited that he started dancing with his hands and feet, and even ran over to give Shangguan Feiyun a bear hug.

Then he gave Wang Yi a hearty pat on the shoulder while laughing, and just as he was about to extend the "Demon Hand" toward Lou Yuèru,

Shangguan Feiyun snatched it away, chuckling, and looked at him saying, "Calm down, Sister‑in‑law Lou's body is still very weak,

it can't withstand your bear hug, so stop it right now."

The happier a person is, the more they resemble a child,

If a person lives more like a child, that proves they are living more happily.

Every adult was once a child, but not every adult ends up living as a child.

On the journey of life, the vast majority of people walk farther and farther in the direction that turns their backs on children,

until the moment they die they discover, when they look back suddenly, that

the few years when they were children were the happiest.

But fate has already brought them to the end of the road, and only voices of regret pray for the next life:

In the next life, I want to be both a big and a small child, even after tasting all the worldly storms,

and still possess the courage and strength to defy the mundane!

The others, seeing Dr. You so thrilled, still harbored doubts about whether Xiao Fan could awaken,

but out of trust they also laughed joyfully together.

After laughing for a while, Shangguan Feiyun tugged Dr. You and said, "What exactly did you see? Quickly tell us all,"

"Don't keep the joy to yourself! We only saw the light inside the box dim a little; how did you judge,"

"and we didn't see you use any high‑tech!" Shangguan Feiyun, being impatient, voiced everyone's questions in one breath,

"and I don't know why they all came, but it's good to satisfy Dr. You's sense of achievement."

"Feiyun, you guys are being hasty and confused! Even a three‑year‑old can see it,

yet you grown adults remain oblivious. Take another good look at what's added to that dim light?"

Dr. You still acted like a mischievous kid who, after getting a bargain, pretends to be obedient,

But besides light, it's still light; also cannot see how Xiao Fan's body changes.

Hearing him say that, Shangguan Feiyun, Lou Yuèru, and Wang Yi hurriedly widened their eyes and concentrated carefully,

but aside from the light it was still just light, and they could not discern Xiao Fan's bodily changes.

At this moment, Lou Yuèru spoke up: "Oh, Dr. You, you're truly brilliant. No wonder you could revive Xiao Fan,"

"I really don't know how to thank you; please accept a bow from this humble lady."

"That can't be done, can't be done. Aunt Lou, please stand up; you're crushing little brother."

Being tasked at the moment of life and death, saving a life within seconds, this is precisely the attitude and inescapable responsibility of us healers.

"If you insist on thanking me, just come to me whenever you have any illness." Dr. You, upon seeing Lou Yuèru about to bow to him,

quickly stepped aside, then swiftly moved forward to help Lou Yuèru up. Shangguan Feiyun, seeing this, only smiled and said to Lou Yuèru:

"Sister‑in‑law Lou, don't thank him. Did he actually do anything? If you want to thank, you should properly thank that Xuantai Illusion Crystal, and also this thousand‑degree heating box,"

"you see, the hardest work should be theirs. Look, the thousand‑degree heating box is sweating,

and the Xuantai Illusion Crystal also heroically offered its own life.

"They are Xiao Fan's benefactors!" Before the words finished, everyone burst into laughter,

the whole room seemed illuminated by the laughter,

the house was filled with pleasant and joyful air, as if today were truly

the laughter formed a chorus, like little swallows freely twirling,

Turning toward Li Feifan's interior, Li Yijie relaxed as if sighing and sprawled himself within the Hongmeng brain band; the subsequent matters no longer required him.

He only needed to watch. Sometimes, watching a life gradually thrive,

his own soul seemed to attain the most joyous elevation. At this moment,

Li Yijie recalled the days when the old man teased him,

each time, just like today, a trial is a post‑calamity relief.

Logically, with the old man's torment, Li Yijie should be the type whose seriousness makes the air itself hesitant to approach,

but in the end, Li Yijie is still Li Yijie; after countless trials he still smiles brightly enough to light up the four winds,

he can still laugh like a fool, still the very little laugh ha from our past memories.

Fate is like that, it likes to twist people into the shape you dislike most;

but people are like that, they like to twist fate into the shape they idealize.

In this clash with fate, the overwhelming majority of people lose.

And punishment is a nightmare of regret and remorse that entangles their whole lives,

making their lives far from easy.

Of course, the reward is not generous; it's merely the form you like,

not even a lifelong achievement award titled "Fate Saint Warrior".

Nevertheless, that's enough for others to truly "envy a pot"!

Just as the anti‑crime and grievance‑clearing work was nearing its end,

all twelve‑colored sword qi halted their tasks as if summoned,

and rushed toward the brain region where Li Yijie was located,

like a dying person who, before departing, longs to see the one they most wish to see.

Indeed, when Li Yijie saw these mixed‑color sword qi surging toward him,

【181】 an urge to cry spun wildly in his vast, water‑like eyes,

【182】 an unspeakable longing seemed to try to pierce the barrier of his soul,

【183】 he truly wished to instantly flash to the old man's side,

Then he grabbed him hard and never let go.

Li Yijie roared at the wildly solidified sword qi:

"You old hag, you big fool, you big liar. You lured me to this godforsaken place with no kin or friends,

and then ran off elsewhere to enjoy yourself, right? Come out now, or I'll kill you,

Come out quickly, come out… come… come……"

A desolate longing for home and a yearning for loved ones, like a flood breaching a dam,

No matter how strong Li Yijie was, he was still just a thirteen‑ or fourteen‑year‑old kid,

Even if a hundred million sturdy horses tried to pull him back, he couldn't hold back his tears.

The whimpering sounded like needles piercing his heart, stabbing Li Feifan's defenseless soul.

At that moment he realized: the more frivolous a person is, the more affectionate they are;

The more lively and cheerful a person, the more likely they've endured heart‑wrenching, desperate stories.

He was too superficial, seeing only the surface of people.

It seems everyone has their own story, and each story has its own reason for disguise,

Each reason could also break hearts.

Not only Li Feifan, even the ruthless mixed‑color sword qi seemed to hear with a broken heart,

The sword threads that had once converged wildly began to slow down, strand by strand,

As if they were sorrowful and sad, they all became gentle and soft,

The sword qi that intended to solidify dispersed individually,

As if the would‑be formed being was "afraid" to see Li Yijie, and gave up appearing early.

Soon, strands of sword qi, like the old man's white hair and eyebrows,

Gently swirled around Li Yijie,

Some of the smaller sword qi resembled the old man's seasoned hand,

Lightly brushing his cheek,

Lingering at the corner of his eye, unwilling to leave,

Like the old man's reluctant gaze before departing,

Finally assessing the kid he had raised with his own hands.

A series of mournful sighs rose from somewhere unknown,

As if the old man's parting whispers lingered unsettled.

Li Yijie, as if exhausted from crying, burst into laughter again:

"Hahaha! Hahaha! Damn, I actually cried, and cried so sadly, old man.

Hey, tell me, am I cowardly? It's just a person leaving home for a stroll, yet crying like a girl,

Isn't that funny? If you want to leave, I won't stop you. But before you run away,

I punish you to give me a laugh, then I'll allow you to go. Come on, don't hold back, laugh at me with all your might!

Hahaha! Hahahahaha! Hahaha……… Hahahaha!"

Peals of unrestrained, carefree laughter burst from Li Yijie's tearful eyes,

Causing the spirit Li Feifan to laugh along with him,

What a bizarre pair, making one's heart ache with an urge to laugh!

On the other side of the Star Sea, in an empty cave,

The meditating old man chuckled and said, "You little disaster, you really don't follow the rules.

I originally intended to have a deep gaze with you, but you made it so hard for me.

"Haha! But you have character, that's fine with me, I like it!" He finished laughing, and within three seconds,

He got up and fled away, looking dejected.

A few miles outside the cave, space ripples rose up,

And a peerless beautiful silhouette flashed out. The silhouette, looking at the cave the old man had just left, said:

"You're a dog, even I have to avoid you; do you know how hard people have worked to find you?"

Then she murmured resentfully, "Hmph, whether you run to the ends of the sky or the corners of the sea, I, Yan Wushuang, will capture you.

I want you to never leave me for a lifetime. Back then, if it hadn't been that little fox spirit that stole your soul,

…perhaps now." Before the words finished, space nearby surged again, and a earth‑shaking, sky‑rupturing aura shot through the air,

Strands of chaotic mist qi surged, as if cleaving heaven and earth, booming and exploding.

Yan Wushuang saw it, and a few rare solemnities appeared on her flawless, perfect face,

But she resolutely charged forward, wielding her long‑famed technique "Yan Guo Wushuang's One Red Dot",

And a boundless red sea of qi surged from her delicate, graceful hands,

Rushing at a hundred‑thousand‑fold speed toward the chaotic qi sea, drowning it madly,

A colossal unseen cosmic battle erupted pointlessly because of that lone old man…

Days are like the Diamond Sutra before Lou Yue Ru,

Turning page by page like this. The Diamond Sutra remains the same Diamond Sutra,

But the person is no longer the 2050 Lou Yue Ru. More precisely,

The 2051 Lou Yue Ru is the Lou Yue Ru who should be thirty‑one:

A head of alluring black hair draped enticingly over her snow‑white vest,

The fish‑tails seemed too shy to linger any longer on her moon‑like smiling face.

I don't know on which night it slipped away in secret.

It has been several months since Li Feifan awoke, and now it is the bright March of 2051.

The gentle spring breeze brushes the pages of Lou Yueru's books, as if scattering all the shadows of suffering.

In these months, Li Feifan, who was almost resurrected, has become as if a different person.

He has become more spirited and bright. His watery eyes now shine even more sharply than before.

At this moment Li Feifan stands on two wooden stakes, legs slightly bent, arms spread as if cradling a gigantic watermelon.

His upper body is naturally upright, and his half‑closed watery eyes are like those in deep meditation.

And in the half‑air that outsiders cannot see,

Li Yijie lies there like an old grandpa reclining in a rickety rocking chair,

suddenly reclining, legs crossed in the classic "two‑leg" pose,

exhibiting comfort and leisure flawlessly.

The serenity on his face seems to blend joyfully with the pale blue sky.

At this moment, Li Yijie is only a stalk of Yellow Bamboo Night‑Smoke away from the neighboring old grandpa.

As if he could no longer bear the lying position, Li Yijie claps his hands in the air and stands up,

shouting at the sleepy‑looking Li Feifan below: "Hey, good fellow,

I told you to stand on the stakes seriously, yet you fell asleep on me.

You're looking for a beating, aren't you? Hurry and gather your spirit and converge your divinity,

and earnestly feel the threads of primordial Qi drifting between heaven and earth.

This godforsaken place where not even a bird can defecate,

the primordial Qi is so scarce you could count it on your fingers, now reduced to filamentous wandering,

so why don't you step up your effort.

At this rate, you'll need a monkey‑year and a horse‑month before you reach that "Qi Perception Realm,"

your aptitude is so poor,

I recall when I, a youngster, once stood there,

the primordial Qi between heaven and earth bowed its proud head before me,

it must be that your Yin‑Qi innate talent is lacking,

unable to attract the attention of those tiny Qi threads.

Therefore you must feel them more, summon them,

until you earn their acknowledgement.

Only then will they wander into your body out of sheer boredom, just to look around

and, in passing, let you experience their charm."

In truth, Li Feifan has already endured enough hardship,

He has been rising at the rooster's crow since morning,

Li Yijie, with a flattering name, says: the body is the capital for cultivating Qi,

the more capital you have, the broader the Dao.

Thus he demands that he first spend two hours after the rooster's crow each day,

then soak in a half‑hour of a special medicinal bath,

to dissolve lingering resentment within him and strengthen his sinews and physique.

In Qi cultivation this technique is called: laying the foundation!

The better the foundation, the Qi tower can be cultivated to pierce straight into the clouds,

rising as high as one wishes; if the foundation is poorly laid,

it is certain that halfway through you'll end up with "the tower collapses, the person perishes, the essence gone; a bamboo basket fetching water in vain!"

That is why Li Yijie constantly torments Li Feifan.

And when the medicinal bath is finished,

the most shameful moment of the day arrives.

Indeed, had Li Yijie not told him about the great calamity soon to come,

Li Feifan, to protect his beloved whole family,

would never have done such a shameful act.

Even so, at the beginning,

Li Feifan would still bolt away in less than two seconds,

embarrassed, his handsome face darting like a thief, scrambling east and west.

Li Feifan vividly recalls once being caught by Mommy,

at that moment he truly wanted to drop his pants, fling his arms, and fly away with his head down,

or pretend he hadn't seen Mommy,

letting Mommy figure it out on her own and walk away.

But the dream, aside from being realized in sleep,

has essentially nothing to do with reality.

Because that time it was mealtime,

Lou Yueru had to call Li Feifan back to eat.

At that moment she again displayed Lou Yueru's empathy and extraordinary wisdom.

Luo Yue Ru didn't open her mouth to call him, nor did she leave at that point,

instead she drew two big characters on the ground with her foot: "Eat!"

You can imagine how intensely suicidal Li Feifan felt at that moment,

a seventeen‑ or eighteen‑year‑old member of society,

only wearing underwear, he stepped out swaying left and right,

and striking some bizarre, odd poses.

Anyone who saw it would be embarrassed beyond words,

let alone Li Feifan, who since childhood had been a bookish, courteous, thin‑skinned "the other family's well‑behaved child",

how could he compare to Li Yijie's "face already lofty and as thick as a lid"!

Li Feifan, at that time, without even smashing his head, could already be called "Li Strong".

Days turned a few more pages forward,

Li Feifan gradually stopped feeling that embarrassed,

the footprints of his progress became increasingly clear,

everything seemed once again so beautiful that there were no worries left.

Aside from his old man being taken by Dr. You to a secret base for covert treatment,

this life seemed to start favoring this little family again.

But in places they couldn't see,

danger had already crept in like a silent venomous snake……