Chapter 128: Chapter 125: The World Behind the Door, a Strange Encounter
Xie Yunxiang was gone, but the Soft Whip was still in Song Ciwan’s hand.
Song Ciwan looked up at the brilliant flares of light shining in the night sky. WHOOSH! WHOOSH! WHOOSH! Fireworks of all shapes and colors shot into the heavens, their explosive cracks echoing through the night.
The sounds of human laughter and cheers drifted in and out of earshot.
This was, without a doubt, the unmistakable atmosphere of the Mortal World.
But if she focused her senses, something seemed... off.
Song Ciwan stroked the Soft Whip in her hand and immediately took out three Ancestral Dragon Coins.
’No matter what’s different,’ she thought, ’I’ll start with a Divination.’
This time, Song Ciwan performed a Divination for the direction of opportunity. This "opportunity" could include the possibility of finding Xie Yunxiang again, the chance to acquire a Spiritual Treasure, or some other stroke of fortune—
In short, Song Ciwan’s Divination was vague and generalized.
She didn’t possess any profound Divination Techniques, so she simply performed a vague reading, ready to take whatever came her way.
The advantage of such a vague Divination was that it required no special price, nor did it risk any significant backlash. At most, she would lose some True Qi and stamina.
The downside, however, was that its accuracy was not guaranteed. Whether it worked or not depended entirely on how much luck the Ancestral Dragon Coins would bring her.
Song Ciwan performed the Divination six times in a row. Taking the average result, she chose a direction and set off.
With the Qimen Taoist Skill, A Grain of Sand in the Sea, enhancing her, Song Ciwan’s steps were light. She moved like a wisp of night wind drifting through the Mortal World.
As the wind blew past, a figure suddenly staggered out from the bustling street ahead.
Song Ciwan came face-to-face with the figure. At first, she paid him no mind, but the instant she passed by, the rattle at his waist suddenly made a soft DONG DONG sound.
The staggering man abruptly straightened up, his hand clamping down on the rattle as he bellowed, "Who’s there!"
No one answered. Song Ciwan was standing right beside the man, but as he scanned his surroundings, his gaze swept right past her. He couldn’t see her!
Song Ciwan frowned slightly. ’This... doesn’t seem to be the effect of A Grain of Sand in the Sea.’
A Grain of Sand in the Sea merely lowered her presence; it couldn’t make her invisible.
Furthermore, as Song Ciwan took a closer look at the man with the rattle, she suddenly realized that she knew him!
Back when Song Ciwan had left the Situong Escort Agency’s caravan, she had chosen a group traveling from a nearby village to trail behind, allowing her to slip into Pinglan City unnoticed.
At the time, the leader of that group had been this very man. The younger members of the group called him Sixth Uncle, while others who knew him called him Niu the Sixth.
Niu the Sixth held considerable prestige in the countryside and had once been a man full of vigor. Song Ciwan remembered how he used to look.
But the Niu the Sixth before her now reeked of alcohol, his expression dejected. The bellow he had let out just moments ago while clutching his rattle had been powerful, but after shouting into the empty air, Niu the Sixth’s shoulders quickly slumped again.
Hunching his shoulders, he gave a bitter smile and muttered, "I’m having one of my fits again. There’s no one there. Nothing at all!"
"Niuniu, Niuniu, where are you... Daddy can’t find you!"
Niu the Sixth mumbled her name a few more times and staggered again.
Song Ciwan walked right up to him, dispelled her Qimen Taoist Skill, A Grain of Sand in the Sea, and waved her hand in front of his eyes.
Niu the Sixth still didn’t see Song Ciwan. Mumbling "Niuniu, Niuniu," he lifted his feet and continued to stumble forward.
This time, Song Ciwan deliberately stood her ground.
Then, something even stranger happened.
Niu the Sixth walked right through the spot where Song Ciwan was standing, as if she were a phantom!
No—Song Ciwan focused and understood. It wasn’t that she had truly become a phantom. Rather, though they appeared to be in the same place, they actually existed in two different planes of space-time!
It looked like Song Ciwan was standing in front of Niu the Sixth, but in reality, she was in another dimension entirely.
While she couldn’t touch Niu the Sixth, she could see him. Niu the Sixth, however, could neither touch nor see her at all!
This bizarre experience was novel to Song Ciwan, but it also forced her to think more deeply about her current situation.
Clearly, the world behind the door was the Mortal World, and yet it was not!
’So, was this encounter with Niu the Sixth a coincidence, or was it fate?’
’And what’s his story?’
Song Ciwan decided to follow Niu the Sixth for a while to see what was going on.
Niu the Sixth staggered and swayed, making his way from a dim street corner to a bustling thoroughfare, alternately crying and laughing as he mumbled nonstop.
"Niuniu, you wanted a rattle. Daddy bought it for you, see? Why haven’t you come back?"
"Niuniu, please come back... If you want a rattle, Daddy will buy it. If you want a red ribbon for your hair, Daddy will buy that too. I’ll never hit you or scold you again..."
"My child! My child!"
On this New Year’s Eve, fireworks continued to burst. Amid the sounds of laughter and celebration, no one paid any attention to the dejected man walking through the streets.
Niu the Sixth crossed a street and passed through several alleys. He appeared to be wandering aimlessly in a drunken stupor, but Song Ciwan, who had been following him the whole time, realized he had come here deliberately!
And where was "here"?
Song Ciwan wasn’t particularly familiar with Pinglan City, but thankfully, she had heard Xie Yunxiang mention that Liuyu Square was where all walks of life in the city converged.
There might not be any truly powerful or orthodox Cultivators here, but it was certainly home to all sorts of strange and bizarre things an ordinary person could never imagine.
As Niu the Sixth stumbled drunkenly into Liuyu Square, Song Ciwan saw all sorts of Little Demons scurrying about.
Most of these Little Demons had not yet fully shed their bestial forms. Some had cat ears, others had rabbit ears, and some possessed other animalistic features, like mantis legs or dragonfly wings. They were a truly strange sight.
Some of the Little Demons looked dazed and innocent, others were sharp and cunning, and some would grab passersby and call out in coquettish voices, "Hey there, handsome, care to join me in my room for a chat? I only charge five hundred cents for the night!"
Song Ciwan was almost dumbstruck. She had never seen such a scene before—not even Bright Moon Square was like this!
’Is it the humans who are debauched, or the demons?’
She quickly averted her gaze, not daring to look too closely at the Little Demons, and kept her focus on Niu the Sixth.
She watched as Niu the Sixth pushed through the crowded street, dodging the hands that reached out for him. Occasionally, he would mutter, "I have no money!"
At that, a Little Demon would "Tsk!" in disgust and push him away.
Niu the Sixth was shoved to the ground, eliciting a wave of derisive laughter. He paid it no mind, simply picking himself up with his head lowered, clutching the rattle at his waist as he scurried into a small alley off to the side.
