Striving for Science C28 pt2

After a lively birthday celebration at Dao Nian's house, Shen Chang'an drove back in the small car Dao Nian had lent him, carrying a pile of food and clothes.

When getting out of the car, he ran into the father who was arguing with his child about homework and threatening to jump off the building. The father seemed quite enthusiastic when he saw him: "Little brother, did you buy a new car?"

"No, a friend saw me cycling to work every day and thought it was too hard, so he lent me a car to drive." Shen Chang'an carried three large bags out of the car. Seeing this, the father helped him carry one of the bags.

"Brother, you live in this building?" The man's voice trembled slightly in the hallway.

"Mhm." Shen Chang'an nodded. "When I moved here, the location was good and the rent was cheap, so I chose this place."

"It's cheap, but..." The man jumped when he heard footsteps coming from upstairs. He was relieved when he saw it was an old man with a ruddy complexion.

"Uncle Zhang, you're back?" Shen Chang'an saw Uncle Zhang and greeted him with a smile. Noticing his pale complexion, he quickly pulled out a few fruits from the large bag and stuffed them into Uncle Zhang's arms. "You should take care of yourself and get some rest."

Looking at the fruits brimming with spiritual energy in his hands, Uncle Zhang racked his brains, trying to think of something good to give in return. "I came back a couple of days ago." He wondered what Shen Chang'an had been doing during his absence, why his merit had become even deeper?

"I've been staying at my friend's place these past few days, I didn't know you were already back." Shen Chang'an felt a little embarrassed. He had been staying at Dao Nian's place for several days.

"Your friend..." Uncle Zhang desperately wanted to know who this friend of Shen Chang'an's was, someone who could give him these spiritual vegetables and fruits as if they were worthless. In his long life, he had never seen such abundant spiritual energy in any crops, not even the legendary hundred-year-old Ganoderma lucidum or thousand-year-old ginseng could compare.

It was simply not something that could grow from the earth.

Shen Chang'an didn't want to discuss Dao Nian's personal matters with Uncle Zhang, so he smiled and shouldered the two large bags, saying, "I'll put these things upstairs first."

"Hmm." Uncle Zhang, who had been about to leave, turned back into the house, clutching the fruits Shen Chang'an had given him.

He carefully took out the fruit flesh and ate it all, even storing the peel and seeds in a jade box for future medicinal use.

He couldn't bear to eat the remaining fruits and decided to take them back for the elderly elders in his sect. His Zhang lineage sect was considered a top-tier cultivation family in the country, possessing resources that many cultivators envied, yet they couldn't cultivate such things. He wondered whether the person who had given these fruits was human or yao?

It was clear that in this mysterious world, humans were not necessarily the most extraordinary beings.

He had just finished putting away the fruits when the communication device in the room buzzed. He pressed the answer button, and the images of several powerful cultivators appeared on the projection screen on the wall.

"What happened?" Uncle Zhang, seeing all these masters present, realized something major had occurred. A sense of unease crept into his heart. Had another demon emerged to wreak havoc on the world?

"A major event." One of the masters spoke. "Last night, I observed the stars and discovered a change in Heavenly Dao."

"A change in Heavenly Dao?" Uncle Zhang jumped to his feet, wanting to see the master's expression clearly. Then he remembered that this was a projection, not a real person, and reluctantly sat back down, trying to maintain his composure. "How could Heavenly Dao change so easily? Will it have a significant impact on us humans?"

"How can ordinary people like us easily calculate the trajectory of Heavenly Dao?" The master chuckled wryly. "If Daoist Master Yuan and Huang Guanzi were still alive, they might be able to make some deductions."

Everyone fell silent. These cultivators, generation after generation, were becoming less and less capable. Many couldn't even master the divination techniques passed down by their ancestors, let alone observe the Heavenly Dao and predict the rise and fall of things.

This person, who could discern changes in Heavenly Dao, was the most skilled among them in divination and astrology. If he couldn't figure it out, no one else could.

"Then let's take it one step at a time?" After a long silence, Uncle Zhang was the first to speak, "A while back, because of the matter of the evil energy in the north, there's something I forgot to tell you. I found a young man with a ten-life merit body."

"Ten-life merit body?" Dharma Master Yan Yin, who had remained silent the entire time, looked at Uncle Zhang with a serious expression. "Amitabha, Daoist Zhang, is this virtuous person married?"

"No marriage."

"Are his parents enlightened?"

"No."

"Then…"

Dharma Master Yan Yin's words were interrupted by a knock on the door. Uncle Zhang walked out of the room, got up and opened the door to the living room entrance. Shen Chang'an was holding a plate of washed cherry tomatoes, "Uncle Zhang, take this and eat it. I've already washed it."

"Chang'an, keep these things for yourself and eat them well, don't just give them away." Looking at the plate of spiritual fruit emitting a strong spiritual aura, Uncle Zhang resolutely resisted this powerful temptation, and said coldly, "It's not appropriate for me to take things that your friend specifically gave you."

What if this powerful being mistakenly thought that he, as a cultivator, was cheating a young man out of good things? Then not only would he be in trouble, but the entire sect would be affected.

"Don't think too much about it. I specifically told my friend that there's a neighbor downstairs who likes to eat this kind of dish, so I asked him to pack more." Shen Chang'an stuffed the plate into Uncle Zhang's hands, "You can rest assured and eat it. My friend is not someone who cares about such things."

When he received this plate of spiritual fruit, Uncle Zhang's legs went weak. Did that big shot already know that he had eaten Shen Chang'an's things?

Since he had already taken the blame, he might as well eat it. Eating it would also make him a ghost with abundant spiritual energy. Uncle Zhang turned around and took a box of Ganoderma lucidum tea from the room and gave it to Shen Chang'an: "Take it, share it with your colleagues."

"Thank you." Shen Chang'an was used to Uncle Zhang sending ginseng and Ganoderma lucidum, "Then you get some rest early, good night."

Uncle Zhang closed the door, returned to his room, and said to the direction of the camera, "The young man who just brought me fruit is the one I told you about, the ten-life merit body."

"As expected of a ten-life merit body, even with an old man with a strange temper like you, he can be so gentle."

Uncle Zhang frowned, how could he say that?

"His voice is also pleasant, clearly someone favored by Heaven." Dharma Master Yan Yin said, "I see that he has a great affinity with my Buddha. Tomorrow I will fly over."

Another Daoist cultivator quickly said, "I see that he has a great affinity with my Dao."

Uncle Zhang: "You guys, stop thinking nonsense. He doesn't even believe there are ghosts in the world." He recounted his experience of taking Shen Chang'an to see a ghost, and looked at the cultivators who were eager to recruit him with a mocking tone, "Do you believe that when you go to ask him to cultivate, he'll pull out a few bills and tell you not to be superstitious, not to go out and cheat people?"

The cultivators: "..."

"A person with a ten-life merit body, without the protection of cultivators, is hard to survive to adulthood. Since he doesn't believe in ghosts and gods, how did he grow up so big?" The master who was good at prediction and deduction found it strange, "Is there a place in the world that can hide from ghosts and monsters?"

"There is. People with righteous energy have no ghosts daring to approach them, but such people are very rare. There are also places with abundant yang energy, where ghosts cannot approach, such as…"

"A place related to the military?!" Everyone reacted, "He grew up in the military district?"

No wonder he was so patient with Uncle Zhang, a lonely old man, and didn't believe in ghosts and gods. If he had lived in this kind of environment since childhood, it wouldn't be strange at all.

Realizing this, everyone's mood became complicated again. It was like watching a magic attack expert go and train in physical attacks, and still believing that magic attacks don't exist.

After a long silence, a master who held a position in the Security Department coughed and said, "Right, there's something I forgot to mention. The plague ghost was also captured by a young man with a ten-life merit body in Wuming City. If there are no accidents, the young friend with the ten-life merit body that Master Zhang mentioned should be the same young man who captured the plague ghost."

"There's another very important matter, I need everyone to swear by Heavenly Dao, and I will only tell you after you swear not to reveal it." This master's expression was serious, "Because this matter could very well involve the life and death of our cultivation world."

Involving life and death, rise and fall, everyone dared not be careless. They swore by Heavenly Dao, set up a barrier around them, and then continued to listen.

"This young friend with the ten-life merit body, has probably unknowingly cultivated the ability of golden words and jade phrases. This ability is not only effective for humans and ghosts, but also for demons and monsters." The master spoke slowly, "In other words, his sincere blessings have been recognized by Heavenly Dao. Whatever he says has a chance of coming true. From last night until now, I've been researching ancient texts, and only found a few brief records. All those who possessed this ability were ordinary people with profound merit and pure hearts, but none of them could maintain this ability for their entire lives."

"It could be as short as a few months, or as long as nearly ten years, but ultimately, Heaven will reclaim this ability." The master's expression turned serious, "But no matter what, he possesses such profound merit, it is a blessing for our cultivation world. Even if he never believes in ghosts and gods in his life, I hope all of you Daoists will still take care of him."

"Rest assured, after this kid moved into this building, all the ghosts in the entire building disappeared, even the earthbound spirits escaped during the downpour." Master Zhang said, "This kind of person will have better and better luck as they grow older. Offending him will only bring misfortune, nothing good will come of it. Who knows, maybe one day he'll be the one taking care of us."

The cultivators all said in unison: "..."

Even if that's the general idea, is it really necessary to say it so bluntly? Don't these cultivators have any face?

***

Back in his own home, Shen Chang'an couldn't sleep. He tossed and turned in bed, took out his phone to message Dao Nian, but worried that it would disturb his rest, he put the phone back down.

"Sigh." He lay on the bed and let out a soft sigh, "It's easy to go from frugality to luxury, but difficult to go from luxury to frugality.

Having gotten used to having someone by his side, he felt uncomfortable returning to this quiet environment.

***

In the quiet room, Dao Nian looked at the pitch-black night sky: "Why are there no stars tonight?"

"Maybe the clouds are thicker tonight?" Liu Mao looked up at the sky in confusion. When did the master start paying attention to such trivial matters?

Dao Nian pointed a finger towards the sky, and instantly the dark clouds dispersed, revealing the twinkling stars hanging in the sky, adding a touch of dazzling beauty to the night.

After doing all this, he leaned back lazily against the chair, closing his eyes.

***

Through the window, Shen Chang'an unintentionally saw the beautiful stars in the night sky. He sat up, draped the sheet over himself, and sat cross-legged, looking out the window.

The night sky is so beautiful tonight.

The weather forecast had tricked him again. It had said there would be rain tonight, but looking at the sky full of stars, it didn't seem like rain at all.

A shooting star streaked across the sky. Shen Chang'an took out the small round lamp he kept beside his pillow, held it in his hand and shook it. The small round lamp lit up.

It seemed... that Dao Nian's gift of this small round lamp was even more beautiful.

After playing with the small round lamp for a while, he finally felt sleepy. He hugged the lamp and burrowed back into the covers. The lamp flickered faintly, and finally went out the moment Shen Chang'an fell asleep.

The whole world seemed to fall silent.