My Little Ghost

Volume 1.0.3 — The Transition

Bai Bing Wen takes the pair of small earrings, pricks his index finger with the pointy ends, and hands them over back to his mother. Wei Mingmei gives him another pair. “Who even made these?” he asks. “You hated it when I wore earrings.”

“It’s from your uncle Hao Ran.” His mother takes the marked earrings and replaces the ones on her ears with the marked ones. “He predicted you wouldn’t just stay behind and let things be. He knew you’d insist on going to school because of your brother. I was almost tempted to ask Xiao Jie to stay behind, too, but that would be unfair to your brother.”

“How do I turn this off during awkward times when I don’t want you to hear what’s going on?”

Wei Mingmei glares at her son. “Well, try not to do anything awkward for your parents to hear because your dad and I would be taking turns in this. Whatever you do, always keep in mind that your family is listening so try not to make us uncomfortable.”

“Well, what if I need to take a piss or talk to someone I find int—”

“Whatever. I’ll try to unhear them but I’m not sure your dad can say the same. Only those who have higher cultivation can deactivate them so be careful. If they have enough power to get rid of these, you run as far away as you can and call for help.”

As the mother and son walk back into the Bai clan estates, Bai Hao Ran stands near the living room entrance, as if expecting to see them. “You’re both wearing the earrings. I’m assuming we’ll proceed with plan B?”

Wei Mingmei glances at her son before giving him a subtle nod. She walks out of the room, locking the door behind her, leaving only Bai Hao Ran and Bai Bing Wen to talk about things.

“You know your uncle Qing Yuan came from a family of High Priests, right? They can predict two possible futures of an individual with great talent in cultivation. When you were younger, we brought you to his family and asked their elders to see what your possible future might be. This was how they knew you have the potential to be an immortal.”

“Mom might have told me about this once or twice. About the flying demon beasts I loved so much from the central country. But her version sounded more cheerful than how you are telling me about it now.”

Bai Hao Ran presses on his space ring and takes out a glass bottle with silver water inside. “In a sense, you can say that it’s my fault that the Rongs are after your core. However, they also said that at exactly one sunrise away from this night, your future is about to change drastically. And whether you’re on a path towards immortality or your end depends solely on the choices you will be making after you heard about your future’s prediction.”

Bai Bing Wen takes a look at the small bottle in his uncle’s hand and blinks up innocently when his uncle hands it to him. The liquid form inside starts glowing brightly. “What...”

“This is a luck potion made by your mother’s ancestors. Your uncle Qing Yuan and your mother went to steal this just this morning. It was meant to be given to another cultivator a few thousand years ago, probably even more, but the cultivator had met his end before he received the Heaven’s blessings. Since the silver blood of the Qilin has been reacting to your touch, this means that the Heaven is permitting you to borrow this luck. But in due time, you would have to build a few temples for the cultivator who’s meant to take this luck to pay the blessing back.”

“So am I supposed to just... drink this?”

Bai Hao Ran smiles at his nephew before pulling out a teleportation talisman. “Let’s go for a short stroll.”

“Wait. What—”

Before Bai Bing Wen can finish his sentence, his surrounding has changed to the top of the mountain, under the bright light of the moon. As he regains his balance, he takes a look at his little uncle who’s staring at the moon with admiration. “When the moon is at its bluest form for the first time in a few decades, the blood of the Qilin would take you to the path you’re meant to take. But you have to bring the Qilin’s most prized possession with you, and keep it safe.”

“What’s the Qilin’s most prized possession?”

Bai Hao Ran shakes his head. “Unfortunately, this is a question I cannot answer. I guess you would find out once you see it for yourself.”

The two of them look up at the clear skies, waiting for the blue ink to consume the entirety of the moon. This is the first time in decades that the blue moon has appeared. There are many other stories about the wonders that this rare event has brought over generations, but the most prominent one is the distortion of time and space realm. Although many cultivators have told different stories about it, nothing has ever proven it factual. Only stories that turned into tales and tales turned into legends.

At the peak of the blue moon, Bai Bing Wen drinks the small amount of formula into his mouth. The blue ink of the moon soon turns red, painting the surrounding with a similar color. Bai Bing Wen looks around them, at the small houses from afar, and at his uncle who’s still staring intently at the moon.

“Uncle, what’s going on?”

“It’s over. The blue moon ceremony has passed.”

“What does that mean?”

Bai Hao Ran looks down on his feet, sighing deeply. “I don’t think it worked. Seeing that nothing has changed.”

Bai Bing Wen can only look on helplessly, looking at the empty bottle that has slowly turned into ashes. “Let’s just hope that by some miracle, it at least changed something about my luck tomorrow at school.”

The following day when it’s time to go back to school, the three Bai brothers stand by the door of Bai Bing Wen’s bedroom. After gathering the ingredients to open the portal to the school’s realm, they bid goodbye to their parents and prepare to leave.

“Wait. I need to hug,” Bai Li Jie quickly blurts out, embracing the closest one. He buries his face in his brother’s chest and closes his eyes. Everyone knows how much he hates these teleportation arrays.

Bai Bing Wen takes his brother into his arms and looks back at his parents one last time before they step into the void that would take them to their school. As the portal closes and the three of them wait, three pairs of golden sparkles light up their eyes in the dark for a few seconds. When they turn, they finally see the familiar realm of their school, and another academic year begins.

“Professor Bai, please don’t be too harsh on me later,” Bai Li Jie tells his older brother, making the same innocent face that gets everyone all the time.

“Ah. Whatever. Just don’t make any trouble for me, you understand?” At this, Bai Zhang Wei walks to the faculty building in her black pristine suit, in all her beautiful and sophisticated female glory. Her lips are as red as her high-heeled shoes, and her long brown hair down in big curls.

“She really looks beautiful when she’s a woman,” Bai Li Jie quips, hooking arms with his younger brother.

“He likes his form better when he’s like this but for some reasons, he feels embarrassed when it happens. I don’t understand. Even dad says he’s beautiful in his favorite form.”

The two brothers walk towards the dormitory building. Their rooms are right next to each other, but Bai Li Jie spends most of his time cooped up in his brother’s room because he hates being alone. Students, on a rare occasion of being seen wearing casual clothes, are walking in all directions, trying to get to their rooms before roll calls.

“Is that Ling Mao?” Bai Li Jie gasps, a little dumbfounded.

Bai Bing Wen turns to look up at the blond-haired boy with red glowing eyes approaching them. “Bing’er! It’s been a long time,” he greets, although his smile is obviously directed at Bai Li Jie who’s only looking on with an innocent face. “Ah, Shixiong. How are you doing?”

“I’m all right,” Bai Li Jie answers with his eye smile. “You seem to have grown a few inches, Shidi.”

“R-really? I didn’t notice—”

“We’ve seen each other through video calls almost every other day the whole break,” Bai Bing Wen cuts him off. “What ‘long time’ are you talking about?”

“We did?” Ling Mao exaggeratedly feigns ignorance, throwing an arm over Bai Bing Wen’s shoulder, despite being a few good inches shorter. “I don’t remember seeing my Shixiong, though.”

Bai Bing Wen instinctively removes Ling Mao’s arm and glares. “What the heck are you doing? Do you not understand the concept of personal space?”

The blond-haired boy pouts. “Why are you acting like this, brother? You’re always acting so distant from me. We’ve been best friends since first grade.”

“I’m not acting distant with you. Don’t take it personally, I’m always like this with everyone. And, no, we’re not best friends. I have way too many trust issues to have one, anyway.”

Ling Mao’s attention has obviously been more on Bai Li Jie than on the person he claims to be best friends with. That’s why when they are almost close to the vine lifts of their dormitory, Bai Bing Wen deliberately misdirects Ling Mao’s mind.

“Look! It’s Professor Bai with his toothache charm. You better hide before he sees you around Jie-gege again.”

“What? Where?” Ling Mao exclaims as his heart lurches, turning to see if the majestic-looking professor of the graduating class with a terrible hobby of hurting people who get too friendly with his little brother is anywhere near. Although there are too many people walking and running around, making it difficult to identify everyone, Ling Mao has a special ability to easily lock eyes with the eldest Bai brother. Despite his strict nature, no one can deny that the professor would always stand out amongst a crowd since he’s as tall as Bai Bing Wen—with kinder eyes and gentler features. He’s also always wearing a neutral facade compared to Bai Li Jie’s smiling face and Bai Bing Wen’s scowling default. With all this, it is fairly easy for Ling Mao to find the professor.

Or probably because Professor Bai just doesn’t like him a lot and Ling Mao can always sense his presence because of this.

“I don’t see him. That’s weird. I usually feel his eyes glaring holes at the back of my head whenever he’s around, but I can’t sense...”

When Ling Mao turns to look back at the other two, the brothers are already inside the platform while he’s still standing outside with a dumbfounded look. Bai Li Jie is only staring at him with his innocent blinking eyes as the vine lift’s doors close.

Before they disappear, Bai Bing Wen throws Ling Mao another piercing glare. “Stop hitting on my brother before I plant a permanent disfiguration talisman in your pretty face. Yes, I can do that and get away with it.”

When the doors are shut, Bai Li Jie giggles and looks up at his brother. “Why are you always giving him a hard time?”

“Why not? If he wants to become a part of my family, he has to endure some more.” Bai Bing Wen turns to look at his older brother with a knowing smile. “He won’t give up. Trust me.”

“You do know he doesn’t really like me, right?”

Bai Bing Wen shrugs. “I’m not sure if it’s because he got rejected by Zhang-gege when he was a freshman that he’s coming after you or he really does like you like that, but it’s obvious how he always anticipates seeing one of you whenever he calls me. He can like you or Zhang-gege all he wants, but if he starts liking me like that, too, those threats I always give him are going to become promises.”

“He’s never hit on me. He’s only trying to get on my good side because he can’t get on yours. He seems to like Zhang-gege a lot. He blushes every time he sees him, whether in his woman or original form.”

“Zhang-gege is a little difficult. Especially since Ling Mao is a rogue. Poor kid.”

Bai Li Jie laughs a little louder. “Look at you, talking like an elder. Ling Mao is the same age as you.” He squeezes his brother’s cheeks with his warm hands and tries to ease the scowling default. “My Xiao Bing is all grown up.”

As they enter their old rooms, the oppressing level seven auras of the professors in charge of the roll calls start emitting all throughout the entire realm as a sign of the closing portals. At exactly seven in the evening, everyone has to be in the dining hall to attend the orientation after dinner.

When everyone is gathered in the hall, the opening ceremony has begun and the familiar uniforms with different elemental pins and badges on them are finally giving Bai Bing Wen a sense of security. He feels his older brother sitting right next to him and they all turn to look at the podium where the headmaster, the Bai Clan elder and immortal, is standing to give a speech.

 *****

Ah + Name: A form of endearing nickname

Name + er: Also a form of nickname used by close friends

Shixiong / Shidi: Cultivation terms for brothers in Senior-Junior relationships

High Priests: People who can predict one’s fortune and future through practiced divination