Chapter 53: Heresy
Because he has not yet grasped the essence of the technique of transforming into a human form, or perhaps because the spiritual energy stored in his body is insufficient, Qing Bai can only live with this cat-like body for the time being. After graduating from university, he once again lives a life of working from 8 to 9, plus self-study in the mornings and evenings.
Fortunately, it is one-on-one teaching, and the teacher is gentle, kind and pleasant. This kind of life... is quite easy.
It was just because he was focusing on the 'Transformation Course' that he had to put the takeaway business aside temporarily. Fortunately, the delivery fees from the first few orders were received on time, and Qing Bai now had some savings, so his daily life was not a problem.
Unfortunately, Qing Bai's luck has always been bad. Although his life is fine, his studies are a big problem. In short... there is no progress at all. He has really become a poor student.
He is the kind of student that teachers are most helpless about. It's not that he doesn't want to learn, nor that he doesn't study seriously, but he just can't learn. It's like he was born without a brain. No matter how much he learns, he is just a poor student who can't get anything out of it.
If it were a serious school, teachers would not get angry when encountering such students. Instead, they would earnestly advise parents to let their children learn a skill as early as possible, or find a job moving bricks at a construction site, and not waste time on studying.
...Qing Bai, who has been a top student since childhood, has never suffered such injustice.
After teaching for a few days, Jiu Nian seemed to have given up. Qing Bai's originally full schedule of courses was reduced to morning and evening self-study - he sought enlightenment while looking at the Lingxi statue.
When Qing Bai had finished arranging the colors and began to count the long hairs on Lingxi's body in the painting one by one, he finally couldn't help it and took the initiative to expand the scope of learning.
"Who is this painting of?"
Jiunian, who had been sitting aside with his eyes closed to rest, opened his eyes. He had not had an easy time these past few days. As he had said before, most spirit beasts were born with knowledge and learned everything without a teacher. Each had its own set of inheritance and did not need a teacher. It was also difficult for them to truly learn things that would be helpful for their own practice from a so-called "teacher".
But there was no other way, since this little cub knew nothing and understood nothing. In order to avoid making a bigger mistake, he could only flip through the classics while considering and combining his practice experience when he was young many years ago. He did not ask for rapid progress, but only hoped not to regress.
But after a few days of persistence, he felt that this kind of exhausting effort was pointless. Why torture the child? As long as he didn't grow up to be a cat, everything else could be done slowly... So Jiu Nian, who was destined not to be a strict teacher, was not actually anxious about Qing Bai's progress in cultivation. He was just quietly increasing the pressure on himself.
"The painting shows the leader of the Lingxi clan."
Clan leader? Qing Bai jumped to Jiu Nian's feet, and then Jiu Nian bent down to pick him up and hold him in his palm as usual. He was too small now, and Jiu Nian was tall, so only in this way could they communicate face to face.
"I heard from Ai Chan that the Lingxi clan was exterminated. Is that true?"
Jiu Nian looked at the tiny Qing Bai. His snow-white fur was fluffy and soft, and his dark eyes were like black agate immersed in a clear spring, clean and clear. So soft, yet like a cool magnolia blooming in his palm. His slender, powerful fingers gently folded together, protecting Qing Bai in his palm, as if holding the most precious and fragile treasure in the world. Even if there was no danger at the moment, he wanted to shield him from the wind.
Jiu Nian's eyes were serious and his tone was calm: "As long as you are still here, the Lingxi clan will not be wiped out."
In fact, Qing Bai has always had doubts. According to Ai Chan and Jiu Nian, the Lingxi clan was born in the Nai River and lived in the underworld for a long time. Their mission is to deal with wronged souls. For spiritual beasts like them who were born to be associated with "death", where is the boundary between life and death?
Is their death... the kind of 'death' that humans understand?
Was the genocide of the Lingxi clan really the kind of 'genocide' that I thought it was at the beginning?
Having lived as a human for over twenty years, Qing Bai didn't feel a strong sense of belonging to the Lingxi clan, from his memories to his emotions. He was simply curious: "Humans are social animals, while spirit beasts seem to be the opposite... But being able to support an entire clan by myself is a bit of a compliment to me."
Jiunian's eyes were somewhat complicated, and his words were full of meaning: "Spiritual beasts born and raised naturally should be unique. If there are too many of them, the good will be mixed... This is not a good thing."
Qing Bai was a little surprised. What Jiu Nian said meant that there was a root cause for the extermination of the Lingxi clan back then?
But some questions couldn't be asked directly, especially since he hadn't even mastered the art of shapeshifting yet, and his eagerness to pry into the past seemed impatient and unstable. Furthermore, seeing how Jiu Nian had been teaching him step by step, chasing him around and feeding him as a means of transportation, and practically wanting to shelter him from the elements and let him grow up carefree under his protection, it was as if he were being pampered like a real cub. Qing Bai thought for a moment and decided to ask indirectly, "...Have you read Red Mansions?"
Qing Bai regretted the words as soon as he said them. It was not that he regretted asking the question, but that he felt that the example he gave was not good. This self-taught beast of Jiu Nian could only trace his schooling back to the 'private school' era. Although he was polite in daily conversation and could occasionally recite a poem, he had lived too long. What if... wouldn't it be very embarrassing?
"...what Jia Tanchun said to Wang Xifeng?" Jiu Nian was stunned for a moment after he finished speaking. He didn't think much when he heard Qing Bai's question and answered subconsciously. But it was precisely because it was subconscious that he was so surprised. The words were too natural and smooth, as if... as if they had communicated with each other in this half-hidden and tacit way countless times, so you said the first sentence and I subconsciously followed your train of thought and replied with the next sentence. This can only be understood through years of knowing each other.
But he had clearly just met Qing Bai not long ago... Jiu Nian looked at Jiu Nian with sparkling eyes, and he seemed... very happy?
Qing Bai was indeed very happy. When he was young, he preferred science subjects that required more logical reasoning, while Tong Jiunian was the one who liked literature.
They were clearly about the same age, but while other kids were obsessed with video games, Tong Jiunian, like a pedant, spent his days poring over tomes. To find common ground, and given that video games were certainly childish and boring, Qing Bai had no choice but to risk his life to keep him company, meticulously following Tong Jiunian's book list. This back-and-forth, acrimonious relationship lasted for over a decade. However, thanks to the solid foundation he'd laid since childhood, his subsequent transition from science to liberal arts was much easier...
For Qing Bai, this moment is the true "telepathy".
Qing Bai had a good memory and slowly quoted, word for word, what Jia Tanchun had said to Wang Xifeng in the book: "'You must know that a family like ours, if attacked from outside, will not be able to die immediately... We must commit suicide within ourselves before we can be completely defeated.'"
...And the Lingxi Clan was no exception. In the underworld, given the Lingxi's unique nature, they would be meticulously guarded, but they certainly wouldn't let things slide without a care. Furthermore, with nine years remaining, how much external force would it take to annihilate the clan?
Jiu Nian pursed his lips, and the lines at the corners of his lips seemed a little cold and hard at that moment.
Seeing him like this, Qing Bai smiled instead. Even though he now had a fluffy cat face, it didn't stop his eyes from being filled with smiles.
Jiu Nian looked at the little white ball in his hand for a long time, whose eyes were bright and seemed to glow, and suddenly smiled. His eyes were still soft and gentle, but they were less "loving and doting" and more serious.
Qing Bai looked at it and estimated that his age in Jiu Nian's heart had finally increased from single digits to tens. Although it was very likely that the single digits after the tens were not enough to round up, it was still a good sign. He would keep working hard and would eventually be able to remove this man's inexplicable "cub filter".
"A spirit beast with a divine mission will not perish, it will only..." Jiu Nian paused, as if he couldn't find the right words for a moment.
Even though he hadn't finished speaking, Qing Bai had a feeling that it was just as he expected. He followed the underlying meaning of his words and asked, "Only what? Going astray? Or forgetting your original intention? Deviating from the teachings? Changing course?"
After saying so many words, it all means the same thing.
Jiu Nian pondered for a moment: "It's a heresy... Whether it's cultivation or the abilities and responsibilities bestowed upon us by the beings of heaven and earth, it's all the 'Tao' we follow."
Finally having discovered something, Qing Bai was delighted and spoke more casually: "Since you've already strayed from the orthodox teachings, why should I look at the Lingxi portrait? Aren't you afraid that I'll learn bad things from this portrait?"
Although the "truth" was still half-hidden and shrouded in mystery, Qing Bai did not know the "cause", but he could roughly guess the "result" based on just a few words: the "genocide" of the Lingxi clan did not seem like death, but more like an internal rebellion or external exile.
Jiu Nian stared at Qing Bai in silence for a long time, then sighed, "There's no such thing as 'learning bad things', it's just a matter of following different paths... Until the last moment, how can you know if one path is right and the other is wrong?"
Qing Bai knew that Jiu Nian was tolerant, but he didn't expect that he could be so tolerant that he could even take a slow approach to such a principled issue.
"While the paths may differ, justice and good and evil each have their own rules." Jiu Nian looked at Qing Bai, his words containing a warning, "Everyone has his own path, there is no need to force it. But if you go beyond justice and good and evil, even if it is the path to heaven, there will be people who will sever it with a sword and show no mercy."
At this moment, the man who had been taking care of Jiunian's food, drink and transportation gently and tenderly finally showed the temperament of a strict teacher. His black robe fluttered in the wind, and he looked cold and murderous. The terms "gentle husband, male mother, househusband" were like soap bubbles in the sun, which burst on their own without being pricked. The red under the black robe clearly showed blood.
Qing Bai, however, was not frightened at all. He raised his paw and stepped on Jiu Nian's palm. His voice was light and matter-of-fact: "Please return the portrait. I don't want to see it anymore."
Jiu Nian thought Qing Bai didn't understand what he meant, so he explained, "As long as it doesn't go beyond the boundaries of justice and good and evil, you can choose as you wish..."
Qing Bai smiled: "I know."
He already knew the importance of Lingxi to the underworld or the netherworld, otherwise he wouldn't have been inseparable from the Lord's personal guidance for nine years. Just from the few words revealed by Ai Chan and the Lord of the Underworld, one could foresee how much work he would have to do in the future.
Comforting injured souls is not a game, and not all wronged souls are kind and willing to listen to people. Although he has not suffered yet, if it were all good things, the Lingxi clan would not have "deviated from the norm."
But so what?
"You said everyone has their own path, and there's no need to force it. I completely agree... But congratulations, I've found my path."
"The way you walk is the way I will walk from now on."
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