Jin had a rough awakening. He could only remember that he was beaten badly by the Three Tailed Demon Fox. However, when he woke up, he was all alone in the isolation ward but with large fat candles lit at the corners of the room.
“System? Kraft, Zeru, Pei?”
Yet he got no answer.
“Shit, where am I this time?”
At the centre of it all, he saw a kid’s outline trying his best to practice his skills, but it was not going well at all. Jin immediately took a glance at the isolation ward and realised that the damage done by Three Tailed Fox Demon was not there. In fact, most of the wall and floor was still intact. Even the pictographs were not as faded as before.
Immediately he knew that he had to be in some dream or some alternate dimension and tried to see if there was anything around to beat himself up so he could wake up. Yet, his storage watch was not working a single bit.
“It’s no use. Nothing works in here. I guess that man trapped both you and me here. To fight to the death!” The kid who was practising stopped and said to Jin.
“Oh urm, I am sorry. Who is that man who threw you in here?” Jin guessed he would just play along with this dream. He could always try to run into a wall, but for now, he was somewhat curious to see where this was going. Still, he reminded himself to remember all of this wasn’t real.
However, there was something that he was mistaken. As that kid approached him, he realised that it was a girl. With an unpracticed and a rather slow swing, she placed a sword at his throat.
“I do not know, he kidnapped and threw me here. All I know is I saw a crescent moon on his forehead. I happened to see when I tried to bite his hand. If not for his long hair, I might not be able to see it.” The little kid had beautiful blue hair flowing to her chest, yet her speech seemed a tad broken.
“He said that I have to kill all inside room. Else I turn into a demon.” Her hands were trembling with the sword, and her eyes were teary. The kid’s voice, however, was the opposite. Filled with determination to complete the job as tasked, it was as if she had been through some sort of event that scarred her life.
Jin did not know what or who this crescent moon tattooed man was, but to kidnap a kid and telling the kid to kill a random person, he had to be totally insane. “Do you think that you can kill me with that sword?” Jin knew that this was most likely just a dream, but at the same time, he could not help but pity the little girl.
“What is your name?” Jin gently pushed the sword away, but the moment he did that, she decided to swing the sword at him. Jin was able to catch it with ease since he could see the trajectory of it (He would have been unable to face his master if he lost against an untrained kid.)
Jin grabbed onto the sword and pulled it out of the little girl’s hands, which caused her to step back. Her eyes were filled with harmful intent as if she had wronged, yet still resolute to get out of the situation in any way possible.
“Tell me your name, and I shall give you another chance of killing me.” Jin tried to coax this little kid in his dream.
“…Ryuli.” The girl breathed anxiously as she realised she lost the advantage the moment he caught the sword from her hands.
“Oh? Erm okay, hi there Ryuli.” Jin was definitely sure that it did not sound very Chinese at all, not even given the context that they should be in the same Isolation Ward. Nevertheless, he did not care that much about the name but more about why she was here.
The blue haired girl ignored his greeting and extended her hand out, indicating that she wanted the blade back as promised by Jin. Jin sighed as he knew that he had to keep his bargain; otherwise, he was sure she would not even speak to him anymore. He placed the sword on the floor and slid it towards her, which she took the opportunity to run towards him to grab the sliding sword.
“Hmm, for a kid, her instinct for a battle seems to be remarkable,” Jin remembered the talk with Qiu Yue when he shared that he wanted to build a sort of tuition centre to cultivate children and in a way possibly act as a childcare centre too.
Ryuli’s breathing was chaotic as she tried to swing her sword towards Jin though he dodged it quite easily. Jin also checked if he could activate his chi since in the previous dream he was not able to. “Hmm, but for me to have two lucid dreams in one day, that’s definitely more than just a coincidence.”
The chi checked out, but even though he could dodge Ryuli’s attack with ease, he could feel that his internal organs and bones were cracking within him. “Could it be a side effect from the fight with the Three Tailed Fox Demon?” Jin pondered while he finally had had enough and snatched the sword away from her again.
Only this time around, it seemed Ryuli was more clear headed and felt more determined to fight back as she ran away… Reaching for her school bag. (Jin inserted chi into his eyes to activate the infrared vision and saw her trip a few times before reaching for her school bag.)
There and then she came back with a kid umbrella and held it in front of Jin. She was not going to fall for the same trick again and took upon the umbrella to defend and attack Jin if needed. “You sure you want to fight me with that umbrella?”
“Uncle can have the sword! I will defend myself with this!” Ryuli said, and Jin could see that she was putting up a strong front. There were some bleeding scrapes on her knees and despite the pain, she believed she needed to defeat the person right in front of her. Only then Jin vaguely remembered what she said.
“Why did you say that you had to kill me in order not to become a demon?” Jin asked as he tried to use chi to influence the kid’s mood. A trick that he learned from Pei during his break time.
She said it would be useless against humans since cultivators had some basic form of mind guard with the chi around them. The higher the grade, the stronger the guard against chi influence.
But right now, the kid in front of him was not a cultivator as he sensed nothing from her. She was just a commoner. Influencing her with chi was literally child’s play.
“Because…because mama…*sniff* Papa …became demon. Papa ate Mama. Burnt the temple. But Ryuli confused. Papa never eat me. He made all others bleed. Ate anyone who came in his way. Papa used flames to burn people. Many many people in order to protect me.” Ryuli suddenly broke down under the influence of the chi as her words were almost incoherent.
“The man…who brought me here, killed my papa. He said that I might become a demon. Threw me here. He also said that *sniff* kill anything here and survive, I will not become a demon.” Ryuli rubbed her eyes and held on to her umbrella.
“But can you defeat me at your current state?” Jin squatted down to be on her eye level and asked her the question seriously. She knew it was not possible, but she did not dare to give the answer that Jin wanted to hear.
If Jin was not mistaken, that crescent moon man was putting her to starve to death and gave her the illusion that if she can escape from here, she would not be a demon. Even if she did become a demon, the isolation ward would be able to prevent that from happening.
“Solitary confinement will drive the girl insane the moment those candles die out. Making her go insane, fighting her inner demons and later starve to death…what a cruel way to die…” Jin pitied the girl upon hearing the story.
“How about this? I will teach you about cultivation? That way, maybe you can defeat me and not become a demon?” Jin proposed as he placed the sword down to show that he was sincere and not intent on hurting here.
“Why would uncle want to do that? Teach me cultivation, so I kill you? You are strange… make no sense at all?” Ryuli was confused whereas Jin was confounded.
“Let’s just say, I want a fairer fight.” Jin kicked the sword towards her and despite the heaviness, she carried it one handed and with the umbrella on the other hand.
“Now look at this.” Ever since Jin saw those Astral Pandas, he had been wanting to try that again. He only hoped those Pandas could still appear even though they were just in a dream. Lucky for him, it did work, and a big fat panda appeared in front of her.
The little blue hair girl was dumbstruck by the cute fat panda. Some instinct compelled her to go forward to touch it, but she managed to remain vigilant. “Hahahah! You are right to be aware of it despite its cuteness.” Jin praised as he could see that the little girl was wary of it. “And that is cultivation.”
“I know what cultivation is! I am not stupid!” Ryuli replied back and tried her best to summon some chi out even though she had yet to break the barrier of awakening the chi circuits. Sometimes, kids could be gifted with the ability to break that barrier naturally. More often however they got to be forcibly awakened. (Only if their aptitude for cultivation was positive and reached a particular mark).
The chi circuits were like those science experiments, all they needed was just a jolt of chi from their family members or perhaps a grandmaster that was willing to pass their secrets down. That way, the dantian would be activated and use that chi as a basis.
The System had warned Jin that if he planned to open a teaching hall for kids, all of them had to be awakened first and it emphasised that under no circumstances should Jin or his Sub System Users be the ones to give their chi to kids.
Of course, upon hearing this, the first thing Jin asked was for the reason why. Yun, who was around, explained that their unique cultivations and being in contact with the System made them exclusive. “It will have severe consequences to a kid as compared to an adult,” Yun said as she reminded Jin about the first time he came in contact with the System.
Only then did he realise the process was similar to him having his chi circuits being awoken by his Grandfather. Just that the System’s jolt of ‘chi’ had been way more painful than he could ever remember. “Okay, I understand. I shall never to do that to any kid.” Jin promised, and Yun told him that if he ever wished to awaken a commoner, to get her instead. She could predict the aptitude with the System and adjust the chi output while ensuring it would be a normal jolt.
But this time round, it’s just a dream, right? He could play the Devil’s Advocate for all he cared.
“So how about it? I help you gain your cultivation, and in return, you give me a fair fight? But I have to warn you, the activation of your chi circuits will be extremely painful. It will be okay if you refuse it. Instead, I can teach you some basic sword skills.” Jin offered as if to tease her.
“I will do it.” Ryuli said without hesitation.
“Wow, are you sure? That response was really fast. Don’t you want to think about it for a moment, at least? I assure you the pain will be 10 times, if not 100 times more painful than that pain you are experiencing with your knee scrapes.” Jin warned Ryuli.
“But Papa said if someone gives a lending hand in your darkest time, take it. No matter how evil the other person was. Take it. Move forward. Kill evil if need to.” Ryuli replied, and Jin felt that was a very mature response for a little girl. He could not help but feel encouraged by it too.
“Very well, take a seat near the candle and face the wall,” Jin instructed her because he realised that he needed to have some skin contact at Ryuli’s back to activate the dantian. He did not want to be seen as a child pervert so he asked her to sit near the candle.
But to his surprise, she removed her shirt but carefully covered her front as if she knew the procedure of how the chi transfer will work. “Guess…that makes my job even easier if she vaguely knows how it goes.” Jin thought to himself.
“Mama and Papa…tried for me…they cannot activate the chi circuits. That is why we come to the temple and ask for help.” Ryuli said out loud to calm herself down.
Jin then recalled that temples usually have a grandmaster or at least a monk healer that knows how to unblock chi points. Something similar acupuncture, but for chi points. Her parents probably brought her to the temple to seek help.
Still, to feel that the dream was in a way continuous from the previous one, was too much a coincidence. He guessed he should tell the System about it and see if it or any of the bellators knew anything.
“Hmm…” Other than that Jin did not know to respond to the little girl’s reply but decided to remain confident that he knew what he was doing. “If you think it’s painful, scream. Scream out loud until you lose your voice. Do not hold it in.” Jin told Ryuli, and she frighteningly nodded her head.
“Here goes…” With the chi of the Lazy Astral Pandas surrounding his hand, Jin gently pressed it onto her.
…only for her screams to fill the room consistently.
