Chapter 123 - This Life
The dark world was thick with jealousy and hatred. In the chaotic space, Zhuang Qing even saw Fu Li linking hands with the human called Bo Lian.
The voice in his heart seemed to be spurring his anger and resentment, even causing a hint of killing intent to arise.
Zhuang Qing raised the sword in his hands and forcefully plunged it into the ground. The red and black world was gradually taken over by rays of light. Wangliang gave a smothered groan of pain, telling Zhuang Qing who had already left the illusion, “Worthy of a yao who became the Dragon Emperor just after their transformation. You still have some use.” All of a sudden, he manifested multiple doppelgangers that encircled Zhuang Qing. “Even then, I still see your weakness.”
“So what?” Zhuang Qing sliced through all the doppelgangers. “Any living creature with emotion will have weaknesses.”
“Only with weakness can one become stronger!” A blinding radiance abruptly emanated from the sword in Zhuang Qing’s hand. A blood-curdling shriek came from Wangliang, and all doppelgangers turned to dust. He took a few steps back, seemingly in disbelief that a two thousand year old dragon with no inheritance from his elders could have such outstanding cultivation.
Fleeing when one wasn’t a match for an opponent had always been the tradition in the yao world. Wangliang hesitated for only a blink of an eye before preparing to conceal himself in the shadows and escape. However, just as he was fading into the shadows, a hand suddenly reached out from the side and dragged him out of the shadows.
“Wangliang?” The man shook the black shadow in his hand. Throwing him onto the ground, the man stepped on him with a foot to prevent him from running off.
“Many thanks for your assistance, daoyou,” Zhuang Qing glanced at Wangliang, who was completely unable to resist on the ground. Vigilance rose in his heart.
“You’re welcome. Wangliang has always been best at attacking the heart. The fact that you were not influenced by him is something of considerable rarity,” The man twisted Wangliang around, squeezed him into a ball, and then flung him into the bag on his back.
Zhuang Qing could tell that it wasn’t an ordinary bag but a smokescreen for a Qiankun pouch. He could vaguely sense a hint of auspicious qi from the yao. After receiving the Blue Dragon’s inheritance, he could distinguish the true forms of yao cultivators, the only group whom he couldn’t distinguish through the naked eye being the ancient great yao who were born fiends or auspicious beasts.
Not wanting to infuriate this sort of great yao, Zhuang Qing didn’t use any magic to distinguish the other party’s true form. He merely kept his sword and did a junior’s bow towards the man. “This junior is Zhuang Qing, I supervise the human and cultivation worlds. May I know what business senior has in the human world?”
“I’m here to find a junior,” The man’s gaze settled on Zhuang Qing. What was originally the eyes of a normal person suddenly changed colors – one turned white and the other black. White symbolized yang while black symbolized yin. Where they intersected was the flow of time.
The man took a sudden step back. His complexion was pale and a smidgen of blood dripped out of the corner of his mouth. He clutched at his chest. His gaze turned extremely strange, but contained no malicious intent.
Zhuang Qing didn’t know what the other party had seen on him, but still asked very carefully, “Senior, are you okay?”
“No issue,” The man casually wiped the traces of blood at the corners of his mouth. He turned, looking out the door. “There’s a human coming.”
Zhuang Qing shot a glance at the mess of a room. “The manager behind this hotel is part of a sect in the cultivation world. There is no need for senior to worry that other issues will crop up.”
“Yao and human cultivators are on such good terms now?” The man was a little moved. When he glimpsed Zhuang Qing’s past just now, he saw only half of it before the other party’s powerful golden glow of virtue rendered his head dizzy and vision blurred. He hadn’t managed to continue. But just one half of the information had already put him in a complicated mood. He didn’t know whether he ought to feel deeply moved or helpless.
“This junior wasn’t aware that Chief Zhuang had come in person, please excuse this junior for not going out to meet you,” Wang Han strode over with a smile. He didn’t even take a single look at the chaotic mess the room was in. “It’s been hard on Chief Zhuang, may I know which evil guy has been executed?”
Zhuang Qing glanced at the male yao of unknown identity. “There’s nothing much on this end. As for the hotel’s losses, you can write a report and apply for compensation at the management bureau.”
“Chief Zhuang has helped us to resolve such a major problem, no compensation is needed for such a minor thing,” Wang Han was being truthful. If all the famous authors across the country ran into trouble at their hotel, their sect’s hotel chain would be severely impacted.
Competition in the country’s food and beverage industry was fierce; nobody wanted any trouble to occur. At this point in time, not only did he not want to report his losses, he even wanted to send Chief Zhuang a big red packet. Unfortunately, Chief Zhuang was more on the upright side and had never accepted bribes. The only issue of bribery that had caused a stir was a misunderstanding, since it was a gift from Fu Li daojun’s elder to a junior.
Those who did business understood very well what could be said and what could not be asked. He didn’t recognize the stranger in the room, but definitely wouldn’t foolishly eavesdrop out of curiosity. He helped Ma Ha, who was hiding in the bathroom and couldn’t even stand straight, to the couch and sat him down properly.
“Many thanks Chief Zhuang for your lifesaving grace,” Ma Ha legs trembled uncontrollably.
Wang Han glanced at him, thinking silently about how unexpected it was for a swamp eel yao to undertake the profession of an author and to be so successful too. There were truly a myriad of ways in which yao cultivators assimilated into the human world.
“No need to be polite, protecting the comrades of the cultivation world is the duty of the management bureau,” Zhuang Qing’s expression was indifferent. “The management bureau will dispatch people over later to deal with the authors’ memories.”
“Thank you very much for all the trouble you’ve taken, Chief Zhuang,” Wang Han wanted to ask how Fu Li had been recently, but swallowed the words out of fear that Zhuang Qing would think that he was intentionally worming his way into being friends.
Zhuang Qing led the man out of Affinity Moon Hotel. “Senior, please follow me.”
The man followed Zhuang Qing into the car and buckled his seatbelt like how Zhuang Qing did.
“If senior wants to seek out a junior who has already entered the human world, you can provide his name and photograph, and the management bureau will help you find information on him,” Zhuang Qing stated. “According to work procedures, you will have to fill in a form at the management bureau, after which an audit will have to be carried out before we can help you obtain private information.”
Zhuang Qing could look up information at any time through the work system. But this man’s identity wasn’t clear, so filling in the form at the management bureau would make it easier to control.
Fortunately, the man was very easy to talk to. When Zhuang Qing brought up filling in the form, he didn’t raise any objections either. This sort of cooperative attitude further improved Zhuang Qing’s favorable impression of this yao.
Upon reaching the management bureau, Zhuang Qing directly brought the man to the communications records branch for him to fill in the form himself while he returned to his office. The situation involving Affinity Moon Hotel was originally going to be handed to Fu Li to settle, but something unexpected happened in the south and Zhuang Qing was concerned that the strength of the other staff wouldn’t suffice, so he had no choice but to let Fu Li lead a team over to settle it.
The staff at the communications records branch were extremely busy. Not only did they have to pick up all sorts of calls from people wanting to make reports, they also had to filter out the useful bits of news. After handing the form and a pen to the man Zhuang Qing brought, they were so busy that their feet practically didn’t touch the ground, lacking even the time to drink a mouthful of water.
The man discovered that there were both humans and yao in the room, and among the yao, there were herbivores as well as carnivores. Despite that, the atmosphere was very harmonious.
The form was in simplified Chinese – the commonly used characters now. The man didn’t seem to be very familiar with these characters, so he filled it in at a very slow pace, only completing it after a good tens of minutes.
“Which yao is this who came down the mountain without knowing the rules? He directly vanished in the telephone booth. It’s fortunate that the surveillance camera in the telephone booth was spoilt, otherwise this matter will cause a huge commotion,” An employee swiftly tapped on the keyboard as they transferred the matter to their colleague to handle. Turning, they noticed that the man had already filled in the form. “Please give me the form, thank you.”
He took a look at the form. The characters on it were very beautiful, but were so complex that he couldn’t understand them. This should be seal script? He passed the form to the colleague in the opposite cubicle, who was a tree yao over the age of two thousand years old. Though this colleague’s reaction speed was a little slow, they were very knowledge.
The tree yao took the form and leaned close. They took a few good looks at it, thinking that they had read wrongly.
The person this yao cultivator was applying to search for was named Fu Li and their ancestral hometown was the Weishui area. Wasn’t this their bureau’s Fu Li daojun? What did the boss mean by this? He had definitely brought this man to their bureau so that they could help find the person, but if the person to be found was Fu Li daojun, then was there any need to fill in the application form?
He pondered over it. Putting down the form, he told the man seated opposite, “Wait a moment.” He got up and went to the back. Fishing out his phone, he gave Zhuang Qing a call, wanting to ascertain what Zhuang Qing’s intentions were.
Zhuang Qing responded without even thinking after receiving the call from the communications records department, “I’ll rush over immediately.”
When he thought about Fu Li’s enigmatic elders, Zhuang Qing didn’t find it all unexpected that Fu Li was the junior yao this man wanted to find.
He strode into the communications records department and spoke to the man, “Senior, I didn’t know the junior you wanted to find was Fu Li. He is an employee of our management bureau and is currently in the south settling some matters. He’ll be back very soon, come and sit in my office first.”
The tip of the man’s brows shifted subtly upon hearing that Zhuang Qing and Fu Li were in the same workplace. He nodded at Zhuang Qing. “Thank you for the trouble.”
“This junior is called Zhuang Qing, you can call me Little Zhuang,” Zhuang Qing pushed open his office door, making a ‘please’ gesture. “Please take a seat, I’ll pour you a cup of tea.”
The man scanned the surroundings. He smelled Fu Li’s scent inside; the yao cultivator called Zhuang Qing was not lying to him.
Zhuang Qing returned very quickly. The man accepted the tea he handed over, asking, “I don’t have a name, you can call me Uncle Yuan.”
After introducing himself, he took out a few boxes from his Qiankun pouch and offered them to Zhuang Qing. “Come, these are my gifts to you.”
Seeing these boxes, Zhuang Qing no longer turned them down and accepted them after thanking him, because he knew that declining was of no use. Fu Li’s elders were very unified in the way they gave gifts. That is, they were all generous.
But the word ‘Yuan’ made Zhuang Qing think of White Ape, who had guided Fu Li on Reflecting Mist Mountain into assuming that everyone were ordinary yao cultivators. “Forgive this junior’s presumptuousness, but would senior happen to be the Elder White Ape Fu Li frequently mentioned to me?”
“Does Little Li really mention me often?” Elder White Ape, the man whose true identity was the Xing Xing, had a moved expression.
Zhuang Qing nodded.
The smile on the Xing Xing’s face lit up even more and he asked many questions about Fu Li in rapid succession – whether his cultivation had advanced, whether he got along well with other yao cultivators, whether he had been bullied by other yao cultivators, and whether he was short of anything.
Zhuang Qing answered them one by one with an abundance of patience.
“Does Little Zhuang have a Dao Companion?” The Xing Xing looked at the thick virtue and purple qi rolling off Zhuang Qing, and a faint plan took shape in his heart. But without having seen Fu Li, he couldn’t have too many ideas.
“Many thanks senior for your concern, this junior already has a lifelong partner.”
“So that’s the case,” The Xing Xing sighed inwardly. This was what was laughable about fate. An enormous price was paid in a past life and what was sought was still not obtained, yet there was no affinity despite meeting in this life.
Whether one was yao or human, no one could evade fate.
He could only hope that Little Li would meet his benefactor and avoid the greatly ominous situation in his fate.
Zhuang Qing was going to tell the other party that his Dao Companion was Fu Li when a knock abruptly sounded on the door. Half of Fu Li’s body leaned in. “Zhuang little dragon, I heard there was trouble at Affinity Moon Hotel?”
“Little Li?” The tall man whose presence had been extraordinarily imposing just a while ago stood up in bewilderment after Fu Li appeared, just like an adult who had done wrong, brimming with guilt and love in front of their child.
“Elder White Ape?!” Fu Li thought he was mistaken. Blinking, he bounded up like the wind, turning into his original form and hugging the Xing Xing. “It’s really you?!”
The Xing Xing hurriedly reached out and caught Fu Li in his original form, smiling yet sighing emotionally. “You’ve really grown up, even your original form has become handsome and mighty.”
“Right? I think so too,” Fu Li shook his tail in delight and received another long string of praises from the Xing Xing. After the uncle and nephew flattered each other in Zhuang Qing’s office for half an hour, Fu Li asked, “Elder, why were you with Zhuang little dragon?”
The Xing Xing recounted the events that had taken place. “I really have to thank Little Zhuang, otherwise I would still not know where you were.”
“All’s fine, don’t you know now?” Fu Li wiggled his ears at Zhuang Qing, a bashful smile seemingly on his shaggy face. “Elder, you’re back just in time. I might be holding a Dao Bonding Ceremony a while later, I’m very happy that you can take part in it.”
“Dao Bonding Ceremony – with who?” The Xing Xing thought that something had gone wrong with his ears.
Shaggy and chubby claws slowly, unhurriedly pointed towards Zhuang Qing, who was seated at a corner in habitual silence.
The Xing Xing’s eyes widened, shifting between Fu Li and Zhuang Qing. He had only seen half of Zhuang Qing’s past just now – from his past life, his reincarnation and to the torment he had experienced to survive in the human world – before his divine consciousness was sent shooting back by Zhuang Qing’s golden light of virtue and purple qi.
He hadn’t expected Zhuang Qing to eventually be with Fu Li.
Thinking that the Xing Xing was dissatisfied with Zhuang Qing, Fu Li said in a haste, “Zhuang little dragon is especially good, he’s also the Dragon Emperor of the aquatic races. King Ganglie and Uncle Feng also like him very much, you...”
“I am also very appreciative of this junior,” The Xing Xing interjected. “When is the Dao Bonding Ceremony? The eighth of the next month is an auspicious date, is it fixed on that date?”
Fu Li: ...
Were all these elders of his so anxious for him to marry? Under normal circumstances, shouldn’t his elder be most concerned about Uncle Feng and the King’s whereabouts?
What kind of mentality did he have to be so anxious about his marriage?
“Who would have expected you two to still end up together after going around in circles.”
Zhuang Qing raised his head at once, looking at the Xing Xing. What did he mean by that?