My Little Ghost

Volume 1.3.5 — The Transmission

After all the trouble they’ve caused at the tea house, Meng Zhang  left the owner twice the value of whatever they destroyed, paid the other customers for the inconvenience, and now, they’re quietly sitting at a cozy table set, waiting for someone to start the conversation.

This place is where Meng Zhang is currently staying at while waiting for the ceremony to get the blessing of the qilin royal beast. He has a bamboo garden right outside and a big pond with a lone koi. The house is mostly made of lightwood with only an incense burner and tea set to decorate the interior. It looks like a place not lived by anyone, but comforting nevertheless.

“So. Are the two of you ready to talk like civilized people?” Bai Bing Wen begins, looking back and forth between Ji Feng Huang and Meng Zhang.

Meng Zhang is the first one to actually humble himself. “I was just trying to make sure I’m not being tricked. I did, after all, feel that you were in danger. Forgive me for being too difficult.”

Bai Bing Wen turns to look at Ji Feng Huang this time.

Sighing, Ji Feng Huang looks away, crossing his arms over his chest. “What gave you the impression that this isn’t me? Or that I am being put under a spell? You know I’m a special type of mage, how can you think that?”

“You have always been too trusting and it’s not impossible for you to fall into traps of powerful people with no good intentions.”

“You swung Clover at me!”

“I swung Clover at him, not you,” Meng Zhang argues, pointing a hand at Bai Bing Wen.

“You swung Clover at me four times. That cannot be all for him!”

Meng Zhang rolls his eyes, exasperated. “That’s because you swung Frostbite at me, too!”

“Because you were going to hurt my Xiao Bing,” Ji Feng Huang argues back, preparing to summon Frostbite again.

Bai Bing Wen quickly stops him, holding him by his wrist. He shakes his head, gently sliding his hand and holding Ji Feng Huang’s smaller one instead, to make sure he doesn’t impulsively summon any spiritual weapon. “If you hurt your friend, is it going to help our case?”

“No.”

Bai Bing Wen gives him a sweet smile before hearing Ji Feng Huang go on.

“It’s going to help me be less pissed off, though.”

“Little ghost,” Bai Bing Wen says with a gentle voice. “If you let this one pass, I’ll teach you more magic.”

At this, Ji Feng Huang slowly takes his aura back, still staring at Bai Bing Wen. He glances innocently at Meng Zhang and pouts. “You’re lucky, I’m really interested in modern magic,” he mumbles more to himself.

Meng Zhang frowns a bit, hearing this. “Modern?”

“If I need you to trust me, I guess I need to part a bit of my trust in you, too,” Bai Bing Wen says, taking control of the interrogation part. He figures it would be easier to explain things himself instead of having Ji Feng Huang relay whatever it is that he already knows. He thinks back to the conversation he’s had with the smaller guy earlier before they walked into that teahouse. “I am from the future world, Your Highness.”

Bai Bing Wen figures it’s a lot to take in so he gives Meng Zhang a bit of time to absorb this information. But he’s surprised when Meng Zhang replies, “What era did you come from?”

“Hey. Are you not even going to question his credibility?” Ji Feng Huang complains, raising an eyebrow at his friend.

But Meng Zhang’s face remains stoic. “Was it the era when demon beasts can no longer cultivate to human forms?”

Bai Bing Wen’s eyes widen a little. If Meng Zhang knows that there’s a time in the future when demon beasts can no longer cultivate to human forms, then there’s a possibility that he knows a future like Bai Bing Wen’s world is existing. He turns to look at Ji Feng Huang and notices that he’s also looking confused, so he reckons that Meng Zhang’s reaction is not usual.

“I think it’s far more advanced than that,” he explains lightly. “We belong to the era in which demon beasts are being restrained because most of them are difficult to tame. They live by consuming coreless human bodies, sometimes even those with cores...”

“Cores?” Meng Zhang asks in a low voice. By his tone, he seems to have possibly heard the word somewhere.

“Dantians,” Ji Feng Huang supplies.

Meng Zhang’s eyes bewilder, looking at Bai Bing Wen in disbelief. “That really is way too far into the future.” He stares at the table, looking lost. “My great-grandfather says there’s a time in the future when people can no longer cultivate due to the lack of spiritual energy. And only a few hundred sects are living.”

Bai Bing Wen leans forward in his seat, eyes focused on Meng Zhang. “Yes, that’s true. Where I’m from, spiritual energy is scarce and so are the cultivators.”

“The thought is honestly disturbing. To think that there would be a time in the future when we can no longer cultivate...” Meng Zhang moves to lean his elbows on the table, hugging his own shoulders. “What would happen to the immortals? How are they to make sure that they won’t watch their bodies rot due to the lack of spiritual power?”

“The immortals are doing fine. Our cores generate their own spiritual energy but it’s slower than how it regenerates here,” Bai Bing Wen answers before he remembers a passing memory in his life in the modern world. “Actually, that’s not true.”

Both Meng Zhang and Ji Feng Huang look at him with questioning eyes.

“Before I came here, there was a group of cultivators with auras solidly formed by killing intent and evil cultivation.” Bai Bing Wen looks back at Ji Feng Huang and his temporary black hair. “The one leading them is an immortal wearing glorious white robes. He destroyed almost half of the academy I was attending just to find me. He was looking for someone.”

Ji Feng Huang frowns, worried eyes looking back at Bai Bing Wen. “You didn’t tell me about this.”

Bai Bing Wen nods. “It’s nothing personal but I actually have trust issues so at that time, I really cannot tell you everything about the world I came from. Especially the last moments I had before my eyes closed.”

“What happened? Before you came here,” Meng Zhang asks.

“There was an attack in our academy. It was supposed to be a safe place for young people guarded by seventh and eighth-leveled cultivators. My great-grandfather who’s an immortal is the school’s headmaster but even he had not much power against these people. They were wearing black robes, only the one leading them was wearing white.”

“Are they not people from your world?” Meng Zhang follows up.

“They’re not,” Bai Bing Wen replies, his eyes glowing a bright golden color as he recalls the last few moments he had in his world. “I’m guessing they actually came from a time in the past when becoming an immortal is not yet as impossible as it must be in ours. The cultivators in black were not less than level eighth. The one in white was an immortal. The moment I opened my eyes after I lost my consciousness, I immediately deducted that they must have come from this time.”

Meng Zhang quickly stands up from his seat and runs to one of the rooms. When he walks out, he’s holding a brush pen, a rolled parchment, and a thick scroll. “By any chance, does the one wearing white look similar to this?”

Holding his breath, Bai Bing Wen follows Meng Zhang’s every move, finally having a bit more hope in finding answers for his endless wonders. When Meng Zhang spreads out the scroll on the table, Bai Bing Wen can only sigh disappointedly. “Where am I suppose to compare them to? This is...” He stares at the black ink painting of a normal-looking cultivator, not knowing if it’s any different with anyone wearing ancient robes. “This could probably be just anyone.”

Ji Feng Huang leans over to look at the scroll. “No, it’s not. How are you not able to see this portrait clearly? It is so distinct.”

This is probably where the technical gap in time becomes more prominent for Bai Bing Wen. Pictures and portraits of the ancient era can be more aesthetic than they are in modern times, but this doesn’t mean the ancient portraits are very distinct. He needs to see something with colors, something that shows this cultivator has this kind of nose and those kind of eyes. It’s really difficult to tell whose picture it is.

“I’m guessing that this is not how a portrait looks like in your world?”

Bai Bing Wen gives Meng Zhang an apologetic nod. He feels Ji Feng Huang’s hand holding his and squeezing.

“I have a way to know.”

Both Bai Bing Wen and Meng Zhang turn to look at Ji Feng Huang who’s now staring at Bai Bing Wen.

“But this can only work if you can trust me not to hurt your dantian.”

“It’s too dangerous,” Meng Zhang quickly denies, glaring at Ji Feng Huang. “Not only for his dantian but also for your spiritual cognition.”

Hearing this, Bai Bing Wen is already having an idea of what Ji Feng Huang is thinking. He’s experienced accompany as a kid and for some reasons, it was also that time in his childhood that he can no longer remember. It only happened after he once visited the Rongs with his uncle Hao Ran and uncle Qing Yuan.

But despite all these precautions...

“Okay,” he still says, surprising Meng Zhang.

“The two of you should learn how to not trust people so easily like this. It’s too dangerous. You can get an irreparable c***k in your dantian, and you...” Meng Zhang points an accusing finger at Ji Feng Huang and seethes, “You can lose your spiritual cognition and never get it back.”

“I trust that my Xiao Bing won’t let go of my spiritual cognition,” he says. He offers both of his hands to Bai Bing Wen. “Are you ready?”

Bai Bing Wen stares at those white hands with long, slim fingers then up at Ji Feng Huang’s gentle smile. “I am... little ghost,” he answers in a low voice.

“Whatever happens, you can never, ever, let go of my hand while we explore your quiet consciousness. Do you understand?”

Bai Bing Wen knows that only powerful high priests in his world can perform accompany and even those cultivators needed thousands of years worth of studies and practices to finally understand how it works. And Ji Feng Huang is not even a year older than him. This only shows how powerful and talented ancient cultivators are.

“I’ll be your guardian,” Meng Zhang says with a resigned sigh, focusing most of his essence in his hands. He has probably figured that these two won’t be convinced otherwise so he resolves to just make the task easier for all of them. When bluish-green glow bursts out of his palms, he transfers them to Ji Feng Huang’s forehead and another one to Bai Bing Wen’s abdomen. “You’re the only one I can hear from here. Call my name once Ji Feng Huang tells you to then follow the sound of my voice once you hear it. Do you understand?”

Bai Bing Wen nods, taking a deep breath. This is probably one of those times he’s never really thought things through and it just has to have Ji Feng Huang involved in it again.

Holding both of his hands, Ji Feng Huang closes his eyes almost at the same time Bai Bing Wen does. “I need you to open your meridians and let me through,” Ji Feng Huang says in a soft, velvet voice.

Bai Bing Wen takes another breath, letting his meridians open one by one. This leaves his core at its most vulnerable but he knows Ji Feng Huang would never hurt him. Now, with his consciousness floating amidst his cultivating matter, he sees a glowing blue ball of light and takes it in his hands, feeling the comfortable coldness he’s now been familiar with.

“You’re so small,” he mumbles, hugging the blue light close to his chest.

“I can hear you,” he hears that familiar voice answering, feeling a few small pins made of ice poking his hands.

“I know. Now, where shall I take you?”

“We need to find your dantian... your core, I mean. So that we have a source of spiritual force.”

Bai Bing Wen brings his spiritual consciousness to the center of his force, seeing a big ball glowing in solid gold. This is not the first time he’s seen his core. According to his parents, he’s already seen it during his elemental test when the academy needed to know the potential of his cultivation, but he can’t remember that time anymore. Seeing it now, he feels proud of cultivating purity, making his core as strong as his spiritual energy.

“It’s so beautiful,” he hears Ji Feng Huang saying.

Bai Bing Wen lets the ball of blue light in his hands go closer to his core. When the two lights touch, Bai Bing Wen’s consciousness suddenly travels back to his memories in the modern world, starting from that time when school was about to start again.

“I’m telling you, Xiao Bing. Great-grandfather’s stories are true!”

A lump starts forming in Bai Bing Wen’s throat, seeing this scene before his eyes. This time, instead of a blue ball of light, Ji Feng Huang’s true form is standing right next to him, holding his hand as they watch a scene in Bai Bing Wen’s memory. And he can only feel his heart almost breaking at this.

He misses his family the most. He misses his brothers. And hearing Bai Li Jie’s voice again after what feels like a lifetime away, for almost just a fraction of a minute, he almost doesn’t want to leave this state just to see them one more time.