My Little Ghost

Volume 1.5.1 — The Theory

“This one is the emblem of honor,” Bai Bing Wen says. “I got this when I had my license as a cultivator two years earlier than how others would usually obtain theirs.”

They’re now sitting in the middle of the vast bamboo garden, on the ground which Bai Bing Wen has dried with his spiritual energy. Since it has been raining the whole afternoon, the bamboo garden is a bit misty and cold—something that Bai Bing Wen enjoys in places with a garden. And while rubbing his essences all over Ji Feng Huang’s body is going to help the smaller man maintain a bit of warmth, Bai Bing Wen opts to use his newfound skill of lending a bit of his fire spirit for warmth that could last a whole night. This, Ji Feng Huang enjoys so much and even remembers to thank Jian Bing for.

About ten glowing blue lights are floating around them, making it seem as if there’s just the two of them in their own galaxy with a lone constellation, courtesy of Ji Feng Huang. Bai Bing Wen has also regenerated the concealment talisman and is now explaining the meaning of the pins on his uniform to an amused Ji Feng Huang.

“It has the same color as your dantian,” Ji Feng Huang comments, staring at the odd pin in his hand.

“Yes. It’s too blinding to look at.” Bai Bing Wen hands him another one. “This one is the emblem of integrity. I earned it when I returned an expensive device to someone who left it in class.”

“There’s a symbol of white tiger on it,” Ji Feng Huang observes, looking closely at the pearl white pin.

Bai Bing Wen moves closer to look at it, too. “You’re right. It does.”

Ji Feng Huang examines the gold one again. “Oh. This one has a qilin inside.”

Bai Bing Wen snatches the pin and looks at it. “It... does. How come I never even noticed them before?”

Blinking up innocently, Ji Feng Huang shrugs. “I just took them from your memories. You must have seen them before if your memories can extract them for me.”

Bai Bing Wen looks lost for a bit before the gold in his eyes light up again. “I just know these symbols have been there, but I never realized what creatures they symbolized until now.”

The two of them place the pins in a row in front of them on the ground to try and see if they can discover some more.

“This one, the emblem of compassion,” Bai Bing Wen tells the smaller guy, pointing at the red one. “I was given this pin when I secretly conducted tutoring sessions for those students who were still behind of their lessons. It was my brother’s idea but because of his soft nature, nobody listened well and only cooed at him every time he talked. But a lot of students registered for it just for the sake of seeing him up close so he convinced me to teach in place of him. When I did, everyone was so scared to speak, they had no choice but to listen to everything I had to say. Which I think was effective in our intention to help, anyway.” Then he points at the bluish-green one next, “The emblem of wisdom. This was given to me when our school was attacked by poison worms. My brothers and I have conducted an elaborate plan to get rid of the worms and at the same time, save the students. It worked out well so those who helped also got the same emblem.”

“Vermilion bird and azure dragon,” Ji Feng Huang adds respectively, pertaining to the pins. “You sound like a wonderful person even in another world.”

“Not really,” Bai Bing Wen replies. “I just happened to be an heir to a very powerful clan, making people want to observe me all the more. And because of this, they tended to witness things that weren’t even that big of a deal. They just liked to blow things out of proportion because I came from the said clan.”

“My point still stands. You truly are a wonderful person.”

Bai Bing Wen gives Ji Feng Huang an impassive look before going on to the next pin. “This is the emblem of fearlessness. Got the pin as a result of being the front man during that poison worms incident.”

Ji Feng Huang nods, looking at the green pin with streaks of black on it. “Black tortoise.”

There are still a total of three pins remaining and none of them represent any other great empire or royal beasts. The only great empires with royal beast ancestors that Ji Feng Huang knows are those of the northern, eastern, western, southern, and central. But he stares longer at one of the pins that looks different from the others.

“This... Why is this like this?” Ji Feng Huang asks with a quiet voice.

Bai Bing Wen glances at the pin in Ji Feng Huang’s hand. It’s the special platinum pin with a small lapis lazuli stone in the center. “It’s the emblem of autonomy.”

Ji Feng Huang looks up at him with confused eyes. “What does that mean?”

“It means that one can act in accordance to objective morality instead of being influenced by peer pressure or selfish desires, regardless of who’s asking them to do so.”

Looking back at the pin in his hand, Ji Feng Huang scowls deeper. “This one looks familiar to me. Like I’ve seen it somewhere but I can’t quite put my finger on it yet.”

“What? How is that possible?”

Ji Feng Huang looks thoughtful for a moment, too, but resolves to just leave it be for now. “I don’t understand the concept of how and why you were earning these. I get that they symbolize something, but why do you need these emblems? Are they helpful in your cultivation?”

Bai Bing Wen picks one of the pins, a violet-colored one, and explains the dynamic of pin-awarding in his academy. “Back in my world, we attend schools that help us understand how our cores work and how we can advance. The purpose is to teach us morals without actually telling us what those are. Every time we do an act that promotes these core values unknowingly, we get awarded with pins so that everyone in our school can see that we earned something like such, and it should inspire them in collecting some for themselves, too.”

Ji Feng Huang glances at all the pins that Bai Bing Wen has. “You were awarded a lot.”

“It is above average, all right,” Bai Bing Wen confirms. Then he picks up the golden pin and attaches it on the soft fabric of Ji Feng Huang’s robe, on his left chest. “But the most we can get is ten and there are only a few in our school that I remember having all of them. They all proudly wear these at school every day, which is a requirement, anyway.”

Ji Feng Huang smiles as he watches Bai Bing Wen putting all the pins on him. “Oh? So who are those great ones that received them all?”

Bai Bing Wen chuckles lightly. “Both of my brothers have them all. And also a rogue cultivator we’ve known in school. His name is Ling Mao.” By the time he’s finished saying Ling Mao’s name, Bai Bing Wen has already placed five pins on the chest area of Ji Feng Huang’s robes.

“Which one are you missing?”

Bai Bing Wen gazes into Ji Feng Huang’s eyes that are sparkling due to the reflection of the blue lights surrounding them. When the smaller guy notices the way that Bai Bing Wen is staring at him, his eyes start glowing their own blue lights, making Bai Bing Wen smile some more.

“It’s an awful mix of black and gold, like a round marble, following the shape of these pins,” Bai Bing Wen finally says. “It’s the emblem of friendship.”

“Why did you not get that? It sounds like the easiest to earn.”

Bai Bing Wen continues to attach the three other pins on Ji Feng Huang. “But it isn’t. Or at least, for me. The emblem of friendship can only be earned when most of the school population wrote your name during surveys and they attached evidences of your friendliness. I cannot, for the life of me, be friends to just about anyone unlike my brothers. Although people in our school knew who I was and what my name was, it still didn’t equate to me, being friendly. I even glare at people whenever they try to approach me because I hate my peace being robbed so, no. I would never get that emblem even if I paid the whole academy.”

Ji Feng Huang giggles at this, probably thinking that Bai Bing Wen’s predicament is as amusing as his excuse for not wanting anyone to get closer to him. “It must have been lonely to be surrounded by so many people in that world and not being able to call anyone your friend.”

“Oh, I do have friends. The problem is, even those people would not say I deserve the friendship emblem, because even I know that. And also, I’m already used to having only my two brothers to call friends and the very few people who have seen me at my worst and still remained rooting for me regardless. I have issues with trusting people so I would rather not make myself paranoid every time.”

“Does that mean you don’t trust me?”

Bai Bing Wen stares at Ji Feng Huang’s face for a long time. When he speaks, he can only speak the truth... “I don’t know. But for some reasons I have yet to know, I always find myself believing in everything you tell me.”

Ji Feng Huang nods with a subtle smile, touching the pins that Bai Bing Wen put on him. “What do the other three symbolize?”

Grinning back like an i***t, Bai Bing Wen presses lightly on the violet one. “This one is the emblem of innovation. I got this after I successfully presented an idea for a new weapon and the cultivation masters approved of it. It just hasn’t been made yet until now because it would need a lot of spiritual energy, something that my world is lacking of.” Then he presses lightly on the one that has swirling colors of pink, violet, and blue. “This one is the emblem of diversity. You may earn one by establishing your stand against discrimination of someone’s originating clans, eye colors, skin colors, or levels of cultivation. I earned mine when I fought against three of my seniors after I found them ganging up on a junior because he was a rogue cultivator with no background to help him secure a place in the cultivation world.”

“Your world is a strange one, isn’t it? They celebrate the littlest of things and I think that’s wonderful.”

“It is,” Bai Bing Wen firmly agrees. “Although it is inevitable to have morally idiotic people in all worlds, compared to ancient times, mine is more tolerant to differences.”

Ji Feng Huang takes a look at the pins on his chest again, probably counting them in his head. He gives the last one to Bai Bing Wen—the one he claims to be familiar with. “How did you earn this?”

“Once you collect the emblems of integrity, compassion, fearlessness, wisdom, and honor, then you will be observed for some time without your knowledge and the masters would decide if you deserve the emblem of autonomy.” Then he attaches this last pin on Ji Feng Huang’s robe. “I think you deserve one so I’ll give it to you, too.”

“You’re giving them all to me?”

Bai Bing Wen tickles the smaller guy’s ear. “They are yours now.”

Ji Feng Huang scrunches up his nose and observes the pins once more, as if trying to check if he’s already heard everything. Then he pauses and looks up at Bai Bing Wen again. “I am missing one.”

Bai Bing Wen counts on the pins, too. “No, I only have nine of them. And you have them all. I never had the friendship emblem.”

“I mean, you only told me about the eight others. What is the other one?”

Bai Bing Wen scratches on his head. “There are so many of them. I have, like, three seconds of attention span so I don’t know which of these I have not told you yet. Do you want me to tell you about them from the start instead? So that I can make sure that we won’t miss one again.”

Ji Feng Huang grabs onto Bai Bing Wen’s hand and slowly presses his finger on one of the pins. “This.”

Bai Bing Wen glances at the pin that looks like a flag of red, yellow and blue colors. “Oh. This one is the emblem of creativity. I got it after I successfully made use of three different capsules at the same time and getting the best results right after.”

“Capsules?”

Bai Bing Wen nods. “In the future, many cultivators will be relying on these. There’s one to help you advance in cultivation, one that helps stabilize your aura, and some can help you appear attractive even to your enemies. All working without the use of so much spiritual energy at the time of use.”

This elicits a gasp of surprise from Ji Feng Huang and making his eyes light up in excitement. “Like alchemy?”

“Oh? You know alchemy?”

Ji Feng Huang nods excitedly.

“Then, yes, it is exactly alchemy that I’m talking about,” Bai Bing Wen informs him.

“I’m good at alchemy. I can make pills that have the same effects as those of what you’ve said, maybe some more.”

Bai Bing Wen raises an eyebrow with an amused smile on his face. “Is there anything you’re not good at, little ghost?”

When Ji Feng Huang only stares at him with utter confusion, Bai Bing Wen can only laugh.

“It’s a joke. Stop thinking about it too seriously, little ghostie. And stop looking so adorable—you might catch me staring at you again.”

But of all that Bai Bing Wen has said, Ji Feng Huang can only focus on one thing and forgets about the rest, even though the colors of his cheeks and ears are practically betraying him. “What’s a joke?”

This time, it’s Bai Bing Wen’s turn to gape at him. “So ancient people know alchemy but they know nothing about the idea of joking?”

Ji Feng Huang shakes his head.

“It’s like something you tell someone to make them laugh or... or a punchline that results in someone’s amusement. The point is, it has to sound funny or amusing. It doesn’t necessarily have to be true.”

“So you can lie when you joke?”

“In a sense, yes. But make sure that you clarify things immediately so as to not be perceived as a liar instead. And also make sure that your jokes aren’t going to offend or insult anyone because that defeats the intention.”

“So... how do I joke?”

Bai Bing Wen lets out a helpless chuckle. “I can’t really tell you how exactly. This sort of thing just comes out naturally and my style of joking might not be your style of joking. I don’t talk about it or explain it to people because that makes the joke less funny.”

“Oh. Wait! I should tell you something.”

Bai Bing Wen gets lost for a second before he recovers. “What... now?”

Ji Feng Huang gives him an enthusiastic nod.

“What is it?”

Ji Feng Huang breathes in deeply and straightens up his back. The next words he says are shocking enough to make Bai Bing Wen speechless for the next fifteen seconds. “Xiao Bing, I like you.”

Since they’re talking about ‘joke’ and its meaning, Bai Bing Wen doesn’t know how to take Ji Feng Huang’s words. Is he joking, or not? Should he take it seriously, or not? Is it just a coincidence that they are on the subject of joking when Ji Feng Huang starts saying this mild confession? Or does it have something to do with the fact that he’s threatened by Bai Bing Wen’s treatment of Meng Zhang?

Maybe this is the result of a combination of factors. The mood of the setting, the scent of the air, the temperature of the place, the silence of the surrounding, and the longing that has agonized them both during the time they’ve been away from each other.

Most of all, it can also be because of the things they’ve gone through together in a short span of time and how they stick blindly into trusting each other in a foreign realm despite being strangers because they have no choice. A lot can be a reason, an excuse, for Ji Feng Huang to like him. It might even be a product of confusion or haste.

But Bai Bing Wen isn’t lying when he grins at Ji Feng Huang like an i***t and tells the smaller guy in return, “I like you more.”