Chapter 21: Li Xu

The strange middle-aged man introduced himself as Li Xu. Although he was middle-aged, the long middle age of a Mage meant he was not at all greasy; rather, he possessed a certain sophisticated charm. By his own account, he was a history Scholar. Luo Qi was slightly suspicious; scholars did not look like this—he was more like a Treasure Hunter. Just then, their conversation came to a natural pause, and Majiang was completely captivated by this man.

The so-called Treasure Hunter is, in fact, an ancient profession. Mages are always drifting, not like humans who diligently guard their land, and their personalities are more reclusive than humans; most great Mages eventually go missing. Fortunately, in the eyes of humans, these great, reclusive Mages are often seen as sages outside the world. In the good old days, human villages often formed in the vicinity of Mages. As a result, one could often deduce the tracks of a Great Mage from human historical records, local chronicles, and even myths, legends, and ghost stories. The Crystal or jade used by such a Great Mage is a supreme treasure, the target pursued by Treasure Hunters.

However, these were all Luo Qi's speculations.

He had not spoken a single word to this man named Li Xu. For some reason, Li Xu had not even glanced at Luo Qi once, as if he did not exist at all.

Luo Qi was not a narcissist who had to be the center of attention, so he did not pay much mind to it. Besides, he was still weak and soon began to feel drowsy, listening to their chat only half-attentively.

"When do you think humans will truly discover our existence?" When Li Xu asked this, Luo Qi suddenly woke up.

He lifted his heavy eyelids. The lights in the tavern had dimmed significantly; the singing girls had left at some point, and the music still lingered and swirled among the gold-leaf chocolate pillars. In such a scene, Li Xu's expression was somewhat solemn. There were already many fine lines at the corners of his eyes, but his eyes were shining brightly, the pupils glistening like those of a high monk.

Luo Qi understood this; when a party moves into its second half, the manic Mages also begin to become serious, suddenly starting to discuss questions they believe are full of philosophical thought. According to his observations, humans have this habit too. When a lively banquet nears its end and the festive atmosphere fades, the bland sorrow of the music ending and the crowd dispersing invades the heart and lungs. Humans begin to discuss the meaning of life, patting each other on the back to talk about brotherhood and sisterly bonds, but after they wake up from the booze the next day, all that remains for everyone is a hangover headache.

Majiang did not speak; he looked like he had already drunk himself into a stupor.

Li Xu waited patiently for his answer, the tranquility in his eyes seemingly stemming from wisdom deep within his heart—so, since he was so enlightened, Luo Qi was very puzzled as to how he had chosen Majiang, that big fool, to strike up a conversation. Majiang might be a genius Doctor, but he was certainly not someone skilled in philosophical thought.

Majiang certainly looked like he really did not want to discuss this topic. But he was not good at dealing with such stubborn questioning; he could not even handle Du Zhengyi, let alone that kind of old fox. Luo Qi began to feel sorry for Majiang.

"Humans probably won't discover us," Majiang said, his perfunctoriness quite obvious.

"I don't think so." Li Xu smiled slightly, leisurely picking up his wine cup, his fingers stroking the porcelain of the Jun Kiln back and forth as if feeling the warmth of the ceramic. "Humans have been closing in step by step."

Majiang began to feel a bit uncomfortable and shifted on his stool. "We have always lived with humans; we were already very close to begin with."

Luo Qi knew Majiang was playing dumb, and Li Xu understood it even better.

"Besides living with humans, where else could we live? The North or South Pole? Humans haven't really left us any space." Li Xu said with feigned difficulty, then shook his head. "I also study their history; in all their historical stages, their attitude toward outsiders has been more or less to exterminate them."

Majiang seemed deeply troubled. He rubbed his mop of curly hair and said suspiciously, "Actually, it's not like humans haven't discovered us before. Discovering us isn't a big deal; psychological intervention can quite easily make them forget about it." At this point, he laughed heartlessly. "Humans are especially easy to hypnotize. Sometimes humans can even hypnotize themselves; they can sell non-existent products to others, and they can even raise funds for non-existent businesses. It's hilarious."

Luo Qi guessed he was talking about pyramid schemes. He figured Li Xu might not necessarily know what Majiang was talking about; Li Xu was old enough to be Majiang's father.

"Doctor," Li Xu smiled gently, but his tone became heavier. "You surely understand better than others that Mages with Telepathy abilities are no longer numerous, and they may not necessarily be able to complete psychological intervention in time. Not to mention that the speed of human internet dissemination today is astonishing. In the blink of an eye, everyone in this world could potentially know our secret. By that time, there will be no Telepathy power left that can cleanse billions of brains."

Majiang's fingers left the wine cup, his fingers twitching in the air. Luo Qi noticed his expression had become serious, his demeanor looking somewhat detached.

Li Xu turned a blind eye to his resistance. "Most of human science has nothing of value, only biology is worth noting. They have proposed a viewpoint: if the number of a biological population is too small, it will inevitably undergo decline."

Luo Qi suddenly understood what Li Xu was talking about, and also understood why Majiang had become so stiff and unaccommodating. In a fit of anger, Luo Qi blurted out, "Then what do you mean? You think Mages should leave human society, find a secluded little village, and everyone get on the kang and have babies? Are there still people saying these clichés now?"

Li Xu accidentally dropped the Jun Kiln wine cup in his hand. The small bowl-shaped cup knocked against the tabletop at an angle, rolled away, and the leftover wine spilled all over the table in a messy stream.

Majiang was stunned, probably not expecting Luo Qi to be so bold; he had just assumed Luo Qi was already asleep.

Luo Qi was taken aback, a bit confused by his own lethality... he hadn't expected someone so old to be so unable to take a comment. He had only expressed a different opinion a bit intensely.

Li Xu did not care about the messy tabletop. His gaze pressed down heavily on Luo Qi. Luo Qi instinctively looked away; although he was full of resentment, he was not essentially someone who could stand up to his elders. Just now, it had been a slip of the tongue out of sudden anger.

"Excuse me," Li Xu said slowly.

Luo Qi did not feel he was sorry at all; a trace of familiar arrogance was becoming clearly visible from his brows, eyes, and lips. In an instant, Luo Qi's Yajian automatically identified what was going on with Li Xu's loss of composure. Although he had not yet figured it out, a familiar shame surged up, burning his forehead. He sat up straight unconsciously, his ears began to roar, and he instinctively resisted what Li Xu was about to expose.

It was a pity he was never prepared to accept humiliation. Even though his ears were filled with buzzing, he still heard Li Xu's subsequent words clearly: "You don't have even a shred of aura, so I didn't notice you sitting there. My apologies."

Luo Qi's throat felt as if it were glued together.

"Are you really a Mage?" Li Xu asked, suspiciously yet sternly.

"Hehehe," Majiang interjected, his face also looking a bit unpleasant. "Don't, Mr. Li, what is this supposed to mean?"

Luo Qi's chest heaved, yet he could still spare the energy to grasp Majiang's meaning. Living with humans was one thing; bringing humans into the Mages' circle was another. Majiang could not afford to bear that charge.

Li Xu glanced at Majiang and smiled modestly. "A misunderstanding, I didn't mean that. It's just that there isn't a trace of Magic on him, so I guessed he rarely uses Magic. But there has never been a Mage who could resist using their own power. So I was just curious, which is why I couldn't help but ask."

Majiang put down his wine cup, pondered for a moment, smiled politely, and his gaze fell on Luo Qi. It was likely an indication that he was on Luo Qi's side, and if Luo Qi intended to retort, he would fully understand.

Luo Qi, however, was too lazy to actually argue about anything. This kind of thing had happened too many times in his life, so many that it already made him feel somewhat exhausted. He just felt the scene before him was strangely familiar, as if he had experienced it somewhere not long ago. His gaze fell unintentionally on the overturned Jun Kiln wine cup on the table; the thing looked very much like the one used for tea, and he had drunk tea with Du Zhengyi a few times not long ago. Suddenly, he realized, looking at Li Xu in shock. Just a few days ago, at the teahouse near the school, when the most remarkable Mage on this continent, Pei Shu, first walked to his table and sat down, his eyes had also only been on Du Zhengyi.

This comparison made him guess that Mages like Pei Shu did not use their eyes to view this world; they must be accustomed to observing energy, and Du Zhengyi had this tendency as well. To use an intuitive analogy, what they habitually saw was an energy view, much like the infrared view used by humans. In a Great Mage's "infrared view," he was like a corpse without heat Radiation, blended into the environment.

In other words, in the field of vision of a Great Mage, Luo Qi did not exist.

He raised his head to look at the refined stranger. How interesting; he walked into this bar, took one look, and picked Majiang, even lying through his teeth that he had only sensed the traces left behind after Majiang had cast a spell.

The man lowered his eyes, also looking at him, his gaze like thorns. Luo Qi was just a young man who had just turned twenty; an hour ago, he had no connection to him, and up to this point, it was nothing more than a single offensive sentence. Yet, a civilized man of several decades was vaguely revealing a desire to chase and beat a child.

Luo Qi let out a "humph," shook his head, and moved his gaze away first.

Majiang said slowly, "If you go by the standards of a hundred or so years ago, our generation of Mages isn't much different from humans. I guess, maybe it's because there's too much pesticide being sprayed, leading to poor sperm quality."

"This is a characteristic of population decline." Li Xu looked at Majiang quietly, then glanced at Luo Qi, who was clearly resisting him. "Even humans know this principle now; inbreeding leads to deformed children. If our numbers are too low, it's inevitable that everyone's genes will be a bit similar."

The tone of his voice still carried a soothing cadence, every word clear, but Luo Qi's emotions were like a bucket of gasoline poured into a fire that was already raging. He stood up abruptly; the movement was so fast that the wine cup was knocked off the table by his clothes.

"Luo Qi!" Majiang grabbed his wrist.

He shook off Majiang's hand heavily, his anger about to burst through his skull, his lungs stinging with a burning pain.

"Luo Qi!" Another call, coming from behind him.

A hand suddenly reached over from behind and pressed onto his tense shoulder.

He turned his head back in annoyance and met a thorny gaze. Du Zhengyi was pressing on his shoulder just like that, with the arrogance of a hawk catching a mouse, squinting his eyes and looking at him threateningly. Luo Qi sobered up in an instant, as if a bucket of ice water had been poured over him; his fire was extinguished, leaving only a small flame hissing and smoking.

"What are you doing?" Du Zhengyi asked.

Luo Qi did not speak; he turned back to stare at Li Xu. Sure enough, Du Zhengyi had attracted his attention; his eyes were happily sizing Du Zhengyi up and down, his lips trembling with excitement, looking just like a 150-year-old lecher who had just popped a stimulant and turned to see a vibrant, beautiful young girl. Now Luo Qi did not think he was charming at all; he was simply like a hyena searching for the scent of blood everywhere.

Subconsciously, Luo Qi moved a step, standing between Li Xu and Du Zhengyi, blocking Du Zhengyi. He knew that his act of seemingly protecting Du Zhengyi's chastity must be ridiculous if thought about carefully, but Li Xu just made him instinctively feel disgusted. Perhaps that little old man really was a Treasure Hunter, only the treasure he was hunting was people like Du Zhengyi; they were the rare gems that were already few and far between in the entire Magic World.

Luo Qi successfully intercepted Li Xu's attention, and a trace of curiosity flashed through those eyes that had seen so much of time.

Du Zhengyi's hand tightened on Luo Qi's shoulder, capturing his attention, then asked, "I just heard someone say you were born of inbreeding?"

Luo Qi's face flushed, but Li Xu behaved quite openly and naturally; he just smiled slightly, responding to the junior's insolence with great tolerance.

As it turned out, Du Zhengyi did not buy his act at all, not knowing when to stop while he was ahead. Luo Qi remembered that even when facing the Great Mage Pei Shu, he had that same attitude; Du Zhengyi seemed born with a rebellious streak.

"I heard there was a human who was born to an uncle and a niece, and he also had some views on the superiority or inferiority of species."

Luo Qi was amused. "Don't you not understand humans?"

He looked toward the stranger; the man's expression finally turned gloomy.

"I still have a reserve of knowledge that is necessary to understand." He tapped his finger on the back of Luo Qi's head twice, as if trying to test whether his head was empty.

"There is no need to be so hostile," the stranger said. His tone was steady and soft, carrying a hint of condescending consolation. Luo Qi suddenly realized that this actually had nothing to do with age; this man must be accustomed to holding a high position.

"You know that everything I say is correct. Someone as intelligent as you, who has also received a good education, cannot possibly fail to see the truth," the man continued to speak slowly, raising his eyes to look at Du Zhengyi. "As a young person, perhaps you should have a greater sense of historical responsibility."

Du Zhengyi looked back at him for a while, but said nothing at all.

So the man felt he could speak again, and he asked a rather profound question, "Do you understand history?"

This time Luo Qi did not understand and felt it was somewhat inexplicable.

A suspicious smile bloomed on the man's lips, "Have you ever seen the future?"

Luo Qi felt that Du Zhengyi seemed to be angry; the hand he had just rested casually on his shoulder suddenly became stiff.

"Do you believe in the soul?" the man pressed on in a low voice, his tone so light it was almost inaudible.

Luo Qi could no longer hold back, "What is this supposed to mean? History, the future, the soul? Isn't this just 'where do I come from, where am I going, who the f*** am I?' Are you kidding me? Mages talking about philosophy?"