Chapter 779: Chapter 003: Soul Swallowing
“We should go for another check-up first,” Jiang Ningxin looked at Zhou Yan. “You’ve been completely engrossed in ancient knowledge, but now we live in a scientific society…”
“Science? Do you know where I’ve been all these years?”
Zhou Yan faintly smiled. He didn’t contradict Jiang Ningxin.
“Where were you? Weren’t you lying in the hospital?”
Jiang Ningxin followed Zhou Yan’s lead and asked.
“Old legends speak of Pangu’s Heaven Creation, Kua Fu chasing the sun, the diligent bird filling the sea, Nuwa mending the skies, Hou Yi shooting the suns, among others. And then there’s the famous Zhuang Zhou, who spoke of dreaming he was a butterfly.”
Zhou Yan said softly.
The chaos triggered by the earthquake in the hospital led many to rush out, but after some time, nothing out of the ordinary ensued, allowing the atmosphere of fear to gradually subside. Many, though, had left the hospital to wait and watch outside.
Zhou Yan and Jiang Ningxin were still inside the hospital ward, a private, cozy room, where only Zhou Yan had been staying, but there, the smell of disinfectant was long gone.
The dust and impurities could not approach Zhou Yan’s body.
“You mean to say? You’ve witnessed those legends?”
Jiang Ningxin, reverent of ancient knowledge, had always harbored doubts, unlike Lin Qianqian who completely disbelieved.
“Yes, Zhuang Zhou is a main figure of the Taoist school, not a fool. But why couldn’t he distinguish whether it was Zhuang Zhou dreaming he was a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming it was Zhuang Zhou?”
“Geniuses, after all, are somewhat different, ‘great wisdom appearing foolish, great skill appearing clumsy’ are not just idle talk.”
This time, Jiang Ningxin also grew more serious.
Zhou Yan spoke logically, not like someone spouting nonsense. This eased the doubts she originally harbored.
“You want to tell me… these years, you were truly not foolish, but… were cultivating? Traveling through the soul world?”
Jiang Ningxin was highly adaptable, a trait common in modern people amid complex and chaotic information.
“Pretty much, just like I can now see that your bodily condition is very poor. But you are virtuous, not self-exiled, without losing your chastity lightly in youth. This alone has saved you. A girl losing her chastity too early may lose the body’s protective ability against peril, attracting misfortune. Lin Qianqian, her family’s Qi Fortune is good, yet due to her lacking virtue, has attracted bad luck, latent and about to encounter disaster.”
Jiang Ningxin exclaimed, involuntarily covering her mouth, showing her astonishment.
Only she knew her physical condition so far. As for Lin Qianqian’s situation, she knew a bit, yet had been unable to contact Lin Qianqian, unaware of her recent state.
Yet unexpectedly, Zhou Yan saw through it all.
Jiang Ningxin felt as though she was in a dream.
Being directly told by a man that she was still a virgin was strange, not as embarrassing or panicky as Jiang Ningxin had imagined, because Zhou Yan was too calm, like a deep, clear pond, exerting no pressure or embarrassment.
Jiang Ningxin, with cheeks slightly flushed, looked at Zhou Yan, suddenly feeling a vague dependence.
But Zhou Yan slightly distanced himself from her, saying, “Don’t be dependent, nor foster any fondness for me. After all, we are not of the same world. I came to this world to comprehend my own path, untainted by romantic entanglements.”
“You… you can understand what I’m thinking?”
Jiang Ningxin incredulously looked at Zhou Yan.
She uncontrollably recalled the experience when Lin Qianqian tricked her into watching a foreign art film, thinking of times when she cared for Zhou Yan, occasionally ‘checking’ his body while washing him.
She immediately felt very uneasy, as if all was seen through.
This made her extremely uncomfortable, her pretty face instantly flushed, her heart full of fear.
People are indeed strange, sometimes unable to control their thoughts, the more they try to control not thinking about something, the more it occupies their thoughts.
Jiang Ningxin, being merely a mortal, exhibited such behavior as well.
Zhou Yan looked at Jiang Ningxin strangely. This calm gaze suddenly made Jiang Ningxin feel somewhat abashed.
“Emotions are simple, just follow your heart, no need to worry. I, too, won’t entertain any thoughts because of it. I am just someone who walked the path of an ordinary person.”
Zhou Yan’s voice contained a trace of Soul Power, calming the anxious heart of Jiang Ningxin.
“It seems… you really have changed. You were truly not foolish, only because you practiced a peculiar Cultivation Technique, embarking on the path of cultivation.”
Jiang Ningxin finally calmed down, because of this, she could now speak less distantly with Zhou Yan.
Once breaking through that bit of reserve, even a lady can become carefree.
This is a unique characteristic of modern women, unfelt in other Star Domains.
“I originally thought that for my Soul to merge with my withered and corrupt physical body, I would need several days. However, the permeation of Soul Power has fused them into one so quickly. Compared to the strength in that other world, it has clearly decreased by a hundred million times. But, I still possess the strength of the Nine Changes of Sword Void. It’s just this world’s own suppression, as if entering a Gravity Array, a billion times stronger than an ordinary Gravity Array.”