My Little Ghost

Volume 1.4.5 — The Transcendence

Probably getting Ji Feng Huang back by his side as soon as possible would help alleviate Bai Bing Wen’s worries about Meng Zhang’s lingering feelings for Huang Di. But borrowing spiritual energy from superior-leveled cultivators is proving to be a little more difficult for someone whose core isn’t responding at all.

After a sleepless night, Bai Bing Wen and the three Crown Princes are gathered around the same table in the same seating arrangement, watching as Bai Bing Wen draws a complicated array on the table with his blood.

“What exactly are we watching?” Ling Guang asks impatiently.

“Xiao Bing is going to borrow our spiritual energy to try and get in touch with Feng-Feng,” Meng Zhang explains, looking intently at the array.

“Can you really do that, Young Master? Can we finally talk to Lord Ji Feng Huang again?” Jian Bing asks.

Bai Bing Wen gives Jian Bing a strained smile, feeling his energy depleting fast. “I hope so.”

“He’s been using so much blood and nothing is happening. Is he an i***t?” Ling Guang snappily remarks.

“I can hear you, you know,” Bai Bing Wen replies without looking.

“Good. Because that’s the intention.”

“Stop antagonizing him,” Meng Zhang says.

“I’m not antagonizing him. What he’s doing is such a waste of time.”

“Ling Guang,” Meng Zhang warns him.

“I could be out there hunting fierce ghosts with little kitty instead of just sitting here and watching this odd form of pointless entertainment,” Ling Guang continues to grumble on, rolling his eyes.

“I want to learn it, though,” Jian Bing quietly says with a pout giving Ling Guang an innocent look.

Is Jian Bing the ‘little kitty’ that Ling Guang is talking about? Bai Bing Wen isn’t sure but if that’s the case, then at least, he agrees with Ling Guang on one thing.

“You want to learn what exactly?” Ling Guang chides the not-so-little kitty. “He’s not doing anything remarkable but waste our time. Right, this is a remarkable way of wasting someone’s time. Was this your initial plan?”

Bai Bing Wen chooses not to mind Ling Guang’s snide remarks this time and focuses on his task instead. He knows that Ling Guang is probably glaring daggers at him right now.

“Are you alright, Xiao Bing?”

Bai Bing Wen glances at Meng Zhang for a bit before turning to look back at his unfinished array. “I’m fine. Just give me a bit more time. I get easily exhausted doing this with an offline core.”

“What are you mumbling about?” Ling Guang asks, taunting Bai Bing Wen further.

“We’ll wait,” Jian Bing answers, probably trying to make sure that Bai Bing Wen doesn’t get distracted by Ling Guang’s unhelpful words. He even moves his head in an attempt to cover Bai Bing Wen’s view of Ling Guang’s face.

Bai Bing Wen only gives him a helpless smile. “Thank you,” he mouths at the little kitty.

Jian Bing gives him an adorable smile in return, with only his tiger teeth showing.

After some time of concentrating, Bai Bing Wen sighs again. “You know, this really isn’t helping because I practically can’t use my cultivation. Last night, it felt like I was on the fifth light of the first level. But today, I feel like I’m a coreless human again, you know. The ones that don’t have a dantian.”

“There’s no such thing as. Everyone is born with a dantian,” Ling Guang quickly argues.

“Not in my world, no,” Bai Bing Wen denies.“There are only a few thousands of children who got blessed and born with dantians. The rest of the billions of others are coreless.”

“What? What kind of world is that?”

“Can so many people actually fit in one world?” Jian Bing asks with an innocent face.

Bai Bing Wen pauses on his task to glance and nod at Jian Bing. Then he looks up at Ling Guang to answer simply, “The modern world.”

Everyone turns quiet at this. They all seem to have blindly dedicated an unwarranted sympathy for Bai Bing Wen’s world, when in fact, the modern world is a lot less complicated than this one.

Coreless humans have developed a way to cope with magic by creating genius inventions through science, while cultivators rely on magic to catch up to such technological advancement. Their coexistence has been seamless so far. Cultivators provide talismans and stored spiritual energy for coreless humans to defend themselves with from untamed beasts and greedy cultivators while these humans trade inventions that help the cultivators make their living a bit easier. Cars for sight-seeing, well-developed buildings, and the useful device for communication that doesn’t need spiritual energy to work—smart phone.

So in reality, Bai Bing Wen considers the modern world a little better in terms of living environment. Compared to this world where there are so many things to consider even with cultivation.

Once Bai Bing Wen is done drawing the complicated array, he sighs to himself. “This is really difficult with my almost nonexistent cultivation. I think I need to—”

“I’ll help.”

All three of them turn to look at Ling Guang who uncrosses his arms and sprawls them on the table. His unbuttoned shirt is showing the most part of his chest with that beautiful sun-kissed skin, which he seems to not mind at all.

“How?” Meng Zhang asks, looking at Ling Guang like he’s grown two heads.

“Is idiocy contagious? This was your observation, remember?” Ling Guang tells him, rolling his eyes. “Now, tell us how I can lend him my cultivation. The one you were trying to experiment with last night. How do we do that?”

Bai Bing Wen quickly moves away from him. “What? Are you an i***t? Don’t you remember what happened to us both last night?”

“I’m not an i***t and I do remember what happened last night. But if this brings us progress to whatever it is that we’re trying to achieve right now, then I’ll just have to endure it for a bit and let the little dragon heal me afterwards.”

“You’re only mirroring your cultivation and the one with the superior level will be followed. It’s not going to be as chaotic as last night anymore if none of you have the slightest ill intention for the other,” Meng Zhang says.

“I don’t know about him but I easily forgive people after an hour of staying pissed off to keep my own peace of mind so I’m good,” Bai Bing Wen replies. “Are you alright with me, Your Highness? Or do you need a bit more time to relax and tame yourself?

“I don’t really have anything against you,” Ling Guang says with an exasperated sigh, eyeing Bai Bing Wen. “It’s just… You’re coming on to me too strong so my fire spirit gets a bit agitated with your presence.”

“I’m coming on to you too strong? You’re the one with an agitated spirit. Why are you making it seem like it’s my fault?”

“Because it is. You keep acting like you’re not the least bit intimidated to my aura and that pisses me off.”

“And how is that my problem?”

“How is it not? Did you not hear me say that you agitate my fire spirit?”

“Well, calm down your fire spirit, then. I don’t want things to end up like they did last night so try your best not to get pissed off.”

Meng Zhang hits the table loudly with his palm, infusing a bit of spiritual energy, making the two of them shut up. “You two...” he calls out through gritted teeth. “Just meditate for a bit before we go through with this. Once both your minds are at ease, I’ll teach you how to harmlessly do the mirroring spell. Don’t make me call out on you twice.”

Bai Bing Wen is trying his hardest to stay civilized with Ling Guang because he understands that if he’s going to be involved with Ji Feng Huang in the near future, then he must practice better endurance for seeing this man often. But the guy is always pushing it. He gets that it has something to do with the combination of a high cultivation and fire spirit, but really, do they need to argue about the most trivial things all the time?

But to his surprise, both he and Ling Guang are actually listening to what Meng Zhang is telling them. They meditate for a few minutes and when Bai Bing Wen opens his eyes, with mind at ease and heart beating in strong, steady beats, Ling Guang also seems to be mentally and physically prepared of what they’re about to do.

“Palms up,” Meng Zhang instructs, tapping Bai Bing Wen’s shoulder. He’s already standing at the alpha seat’s place in between Bai Bing Wen and Ling Guang.

Bai Bing Wen does as he’s told and places his arms on the table with his palms up.

“Put your hands on top of his,” Meng Zhang tells Ling Guang this time who also wordlessly does as instructed. “It’s important that none of you lets go in the middle of the process. So, for your safety, I’m going to do this.”

Both Bai Bing Wen and Ling Guang only watch on as Meng Zhang grows vines that hold their arms together. When he’s done, he summons his spiritual weapon, Clover, and gives them individual glances.

“Now, since Xiao Bing can’t do it on his own yet, you have to force open his meridians but you have to be careful not to damage them during that process. Can you do that?”

Ling Guang closes his eyes, an overwhelming level nine aura exuding from his body. “Don’t fight it,” he says.

Bai Bing Wen doesn’t need to ask to know that Ling Guang is talking to him. He closes his eyes, too, feeling his meridians being opened one by one, and the flow of an oppressing spiritual energy slowly flooding his body.

“Slower,” Meng Zhang says.

“I’m trying. It’s difficult,” Ling Guang answers.

“I’m alright. It’s bearable,” Bai Bing Wen informs them both.

“Good. Now, you have a bit of spiritual energy flowing in your body which you cannot control. Since this is Ling Guang’s spiritual energy, he can do anything with it. Do you trust him?”

“I don’t have a choice, do I?” Bai Bing Wen answers, feeling cold drops of sweat gathering on his sideburns.

“You don’t have to trust me. Just trust that Ji Feng Huang can kill me if I do something to damage your dantian,” Ling Guang smartly says.

“Bai Bing Wen, are you holding up alright?” Meng Zhang asks.

“He’s sweating so much,” Jian Bing says with a worried voice.

“I’m alright, I’m alright. Let’s go on. What next?”

“Before we go on, I would just like to tell you both that it’s not always successful on your first try, but doing it successfully is not impossible. In this part, Bai Bing Wen, you have to let Ling Guang gain total control of your dantian so ample trust is required.”

“I trust him,” Bai Bing Wen answers, feeling his body getting weaker and weaker, as if he’s being drained of his own spiritual energy once more. “I trust you,” he says weakly, breathing getting a bit more strained.

“I got you,” Ling Guang replies.

“Little bird, you have to concentrate on protecting his dantian. Surround it with a layer of spiritual force.”

“There’s a layer of frost with Lord Ji Feng Huang’s essence on it surrounding his dantian. Do I still need to?” Ling Guang answers, hands gripping Bai Bing Wen’s tighter.

“Yes, just to be safe,” Meng Zhang tells him.

Bai Bing Wen feels a blanket of unfamiliar warmth surrounding his core outside the protective layer that Ji Feng Huang left. After this, he no longer feels too uncomfortable and weak.

“What now? I feel like he’s draining me,” Ling Guang says.

“That’s normal,” Meng Zhang answers. “Open your own meridians and burst your spiritual energy to its highest force, targeting Xiao Bing.”

“What?” both Bai Bing Wen and Ling Guang answer at the same time.

“You want me to hit him?” Ling Guang follows up, sounding a little troubled.

“Yes.”

“Are you sure? This could kill him, Meng Zhang.”

“You won’t kill him. He trusts you so don’t break that trust.”

“Are you an i***t? That’s the most unreliable thing to say right now!”

“You won’t kill him. I promise.”

“How are you so sure? I’m a level nine cultivator, if I hit him with my spiritual force, he’s done for.”

“Just do it!”

At Meng Zhang’s sudden yell, Ling Guang finally lets his spiritual force burst to its highest and concentrates the hit towards Bai Bing Wen’s aura.

Five, ten... fifteen seconds of deafening silence later. . .

“What?” Bai Bing Wen opens his eyes, almost at the same time that Ling Guang does, too. He looks at his hands in bewilderment then up at Ling Guang. “I’m at the ninth level.”

Ling Guang is staring at his hands in disbelief. “How is this possible?” He gives Bai Bing Wen a once over, raising an eyebrow. “You’re alive.” He assesses his own cultivation and scowls deeper. “I’m... okay.” Then he looks up at Meng Zhang and frowns.

“How do you feel?” Meng Zhang asks him.

Ling Guang shakes his head, still looking a bit lost. “Instead of feeling a temporary loss of spiritual energy for that powerful burst, I feel like I’ve just finished cultivating to stability.”

Meng Zhang leans over the table with a gentle smile on his face, patting their shoulders. “Congratulations and you’re welcome. Now, your cultivation levels are mirrored.”

“I’ve never felt so much power my entire life,” Bai Bing Wen remarks quietly, still in disbelief. He looks at both of his hands exuding a powerful spiritual force and closes them, trying to establish control over his own core.

Ling Guang clears his throat and crosses his arms over his chest. “What’s the level of your cultivation before you came here?”

“Seventh light of the sixth level,” Bai Bing Wen answers politely. He might not be saying it outright, but he really does want to enclose Ling Guang in his embrace for letting him mirror his cultivation. Now, they’re one step closer to getting in touch with Ji Feng Huang.

“Why is it so low? I thought you said you had the same age as the Crown Prince Huang Di?” Ling Guang asks.

Bai Bing Wen observes him for a bit. This time, Ling Guang doesn’t seem to be embarrassing him or something. If anything, he looks concerned. “It’s because it’s difficult to cultivate in our world.” He looks around them and takes a deep breath, closing his eyes gently and feeling the warmth of dense spiritual energy surround them. “Let’s just say that the consumable spiritual energy in this room is already supposed to be shared for the entire world. Our world.” He opens his eyes to see them giving him varying looks of disbelief so he decides to just tell them more about it. “In order for us to cultivate, we have to wait for our cores to generate spiritual energy, in which we consume for cultivation. There are realms where spiritual stones are available—they’re good enough sources of spiritual energy, but not everyone has access to these places.”

Jian Bing shifts in his seat to face him. “Then... do you still want to go back to that world?”