Chapter 180: Shuozhou

Luo Qi requested to stay in the Guan Family's old house, for at least one night.

When the two of them were together, Du Zhengyi was of course the one in charge, but if Luo Qi made up his mind to do something, he could always get his way. Du Zhengyi would retreat a step from time to time, letting Luo Qi owe him an even greater favor so that he could manage him more effectively when it mattered. The two of them pushed and pulled, haggling, yet they got along harmoniously.

They ate some bread and snacks bought from a country convenience store for dinner; of course, the snacks were mainly eaten by Luo Qi. It wasn't that Du Zhengyi didn't eat snacks, but Luo Qi had already discovered that his taste was just more particular, unlike himself who could put anything into his mouth.

Luo Qi lay down on the bed at nine o'clock, pillowing his head on his arms, looking relaxed and at ease, as if anywhere could be his own home. His headache had improved a bit; the incident yesterday had taught him a great lesson, and he firmly remembered this lesson: the speed of surfacing after a Deep Dive must be slow.

But honestly speaking, his life had long since reached deep water.

He had a cigarette dangling from his mouth; the cigarette was Du Zhengyi's, but he had dug it out, and once he dug it out, it was his. Du Zhengyi was washing up and didn't sound like he would be back for a while, so he hesitated, carefully lighting a tiny Fireball at his fingertip, and moved the Fireball to light the cigarette.

Du Zhengyi really hadn't lied; his Magic Ability was indeed much more stable and much richer than before. Given time, perhaps he could eventually reach a thousand miles. However, he had no dreams of a thousand miles; he was a pragmatic person. He had already looked into the depths of many people's souls; people mostly reached the same destination by different routes—they would eventually grow weary of what they had obtained, and happiness was forever out of reach. There were also some pitiful people whose living was nothing more than lingering on in a steadily worsening condition. A special forces soldier had become a company boss, had a responsible wife, and two cute children, yet he lived forever in the day his comrades died miserably.

Luo Qi was lost in thought, and when Du Zhengyi returned to the room, he didn't particularly react.

"What are you doing?" Du Zhengyi asked him.

"Contemplating life," Luo Qi said honestly.

"In my view, you are smoking," Du Zhengyi prompted him dryly.

Luo Qi suddenly snapped back to his senses; actually, he hadn't taken many puffs, and it was all in his mouth and out of his mouth, not going through any other aperture at all. He blinked his eyes and looked at Du Zhengyi in terror, afraid of getting beaten, but suddenly thought, what am I doing this for? Du Zhengyi is his friend, not his dad.

"I am just..." He thought about it; Du Zhengyi smoked too, so how could he have the face to lecture him? He had only taken a cigarette from Du Zhengyi without asking; what was a cigarette shared between brothers? Thinking of this, he decided to drag Du Zhengyi into it so he wouldn't have the face to scold him. He put the cigarette back in his mouth, "I am learning to smoke from you."

Almost as soon as his voice fell, a wave of Water Bullets hit his mouth accurately and without error, not only extinguishing his cigarette but also choking into his mouth. He jumped up abruptly, spat out a large mouthful of water, and coughed "cough, cough."

"You damn brat, you still have a few years before you're fully grown; you might even grow a bit taller. If you don't grow because of smoking, how am I supposed to answer to your parents?" Du Zhengyi said, still not satisfied, and took the opportunity to lift his long leg and kick Luo Qi on the butt, "More trouble every day, damn it."

"Damn, why do you care so much? Are you my dad?" Luo Qi coughed while scolding and accusing, but spinelessly ran out of Du Zhengyi's sphere of influence in one breath to go to the bathroom and dry himself off.

Du Zhengyi lay down on the bed and took the cigarette case from beside the pillow; he had clearly tucked it into his coat. He sighed and felt a bit sleepy again; his fatigue always came so quickly now. Sometimes he didn't use any Magic all day, yet he still couldn't maintain even basic energy. In this state of exhaustion, he didn't want to bother figuring out what Luo Qi was up to if he caused any more trouble.

He fiddled with the cigarette case, calculating his own time; he had already given most of his time to Luo Qi. Among his attitudes toward everyone, he was most generous to Luo Qi. Hopefully, when Luo Qi was in this world by himself in the future, he would think of this and not be too angry with him.

It was unknown what Luo Qi was dawdling about in the bathroom; Du Zhengyi was too sleepy to keep his spirits up, so he turned over and fell asleep first.

Luo Qi finally poked his head out from the doorway, carefully observing Du Zhengyi's sleeping state for a while. Then, he quietly slipped into the living room, sat down in a comfortable armchair, and checked the time first; it was already almost eleven o'clock. He calmed down for a while, then slowly slid into the Consciousness World, first checking the Volcano that belonged to Du Zhengyi. The magma was surging gently inside; Du Zhengyi was sleeping very well.

Luo Qi silently wandered around Du Zhengyi, also regarding Du Zhengyi as an Anchor Point and Coordinate in the real spiritual world, because this time he was going somewhere further away. He had already experimented with the range his Yajian could cover in the forest of the Public Post Station, but this time he might walk a longer path. An experienced Old Mage like Guan Yushan might not necessarily walk that far. Before setting off, he had to first confirm the existence of the Lighthouse.

The world of consciousness rose up, covering the natural world where he was located. Luo Qi was excited and completely immersed in it, observing this same world within his own field of vision. He flew on the wind again in the world of consciousness, circling above the small village. Country folk were used to sleeping early and rising early; most humans had already fallen into sleep, and the kingdom of the mind was calm and waveless.

Luo Qi lingered here for a while, adapting to the brand-new world. He cruised in the world of the mind like a fish in water for a while, then he began to push toward the distance. He successfully restrained the thought of gifting the aunt next door a nightmare, holding back the urge to play a prank; he still had serious business to do.

He could feel one side of the world piled high with dense consciousness; that was a human city, with countless voices of consciousness overlapping together. He would never rashly approach that side. Instead, he chose the desolate little hill behind the village, where there were only sparse, simple consciousnesses—small animals in the mountains and fields.

Du Zhengyi refused to tell him, but he believed that Guan Yushan was definitely guarding something here, and the location would not be too far from his house. Of course, far and near were always relative; his distance was in terms of the perception range of a Mind Mage.

The Kongsang Mountain in Ganzhou buried the secrets of Mages, and the Old Mage in Shuozhou was guarding something else. The Ancestor Mages, those truly Great Mages, must have buried some secret underground; he had to at least take a peek.