Chapter 26. Connecting the Heaven and Earth
Lord Jellyfish - no, he should be called Shui Mu now, gloomily looked at the person in the mirror. He had a head of long, silver tresses that shone like moonlight. When it was paired up with the moon, it looked especially beautiful. In the past, he had even used this head of beautiful long hair to pretend to be a mermaid. But now that he had to go to school……
It had to be cut!!!
Behind him, Hua Ji held a pair of scissors and gestured around. Shui Mu's heart ached at the sight.
He tried to save his long hair. "My hair is formed from my tentacles. You cannot cut off my tentacles."
Hua Ji smiled fakely. "But you can let your tentacles change colour, isn't that right?"
Shui Mu turned his face away. "My hair represents my strength, it can't become shorter."
Hua Ji was angered into laughter. "Nonsense! If we go by your words, are the monks in Moulin Temple all trash? Quickly make your hair shorter, otherwise I won't let you leave the house."
Shui Mu lightly frowned. His eyebrows were also silvery-white, long and narrow. When that thin line of pale silver suddenly quirked up, it resembled a zither's string, tempting a person's heart.
Hua Ji watched until his heart trembled, but he still resolutely said, "The times are growing, society is changing. If we cannot alter our surroundings, then we can only adapt to them……"
In the middle of his sentence, he suddenly remembered an issue. "Speaking of which, when you took part in the University Entrance Examinations, didn't you have short, black hair?"
Shui Mu said, "That was an illusion." He reached out a hand and tugged at his face. The next second, that handsome face had become water.
Hua Ji was silent for a moment before he spoke again, "Yet didn't you enter society before in the past? I recall there were no silver-haired people in the history of China?"
Shui Mu smiled coldly. "Who said there was none? I said I was an immortal!"
Hua Ji also smiled coldly. "An immortal who took the Imperial Examinations?"
Shui Mu was stunned. "……How did you know?"
Hua Ji scoffed. "All the things you said, I remember them clearly."
Shui Mu hung his head. Right, previously when he took the exam at the Mystical Protection Department, he said that the Mystical Protection Department's exam was infinitely weaker than the Imperial Examinations.
Hm? Hold on now, what did the little fox just say? All the things he said, he remembered clearly?
Shui Mu's mood inexplicably improved. He patiently answered, "In the past, every person in China had long hair."
Hua Ji said, "…… Then first change the colour."
Shui Mu slowly changed his silver hair into black.
"There's also your eyebrows and eyes! They must become black too."
Shui Mu curled his lips. He dispiritedly turned his eyebrows and eyes black. Staring at the person in the mirror, he lifted his hand and smacked it.
The next second, the mirror had shattered into fragments.
Hua Ji asked speechlessly, "What is it?"
Shui Mu replied, "Ugly." A beat. "It looks like a squid inked all over me. It's so ugly I could die."
…… Hua Ji said sardonically, "Many apologies, we've all been inked by squids."
Shui Mu turned his head to look at Hua Ji. Suddenly he reached out a hand to lightly brush over Hua Ji's eyes. He shook his head. "I can see very clearly, you are a red-furred, golden-eyed fox." After a pause, he supplemented, "You are very good-looking, very dazzling."
Shui Mu's voice sounded like the bubbling of a flowing stream, soft and exquisite yet clear and attractive; silky smooth yet fresh and elegant. Just from listening, he felt as if his ears were pregnant.
Hua Ji stiffened. He unceasingly told himself jellyfish had no heart, jellyfish had no heart, yet…… ah ah ah the hand stroking his forehead was so cool, so comfortable!
Sob[1].
He forced himself to ignore that cool hand on his forehead and said in a calm voice, "You can see my true form?"
"In my eyes, all of you are in your true forms." As Shui Mu stroked, he felt that the texture under his hand was great, so he continued to stroke. "That one over there is a bee, isn't she?"
Hua Ji took a step back, avoiding Shui Mu's hand. He replied, "You're right, she's a queen bee."
When Shui Mu felt the disappearing warmth at the tips of his fingers, he felt a sense of loss. Just as he was about to say something, he heard Hua Ji say, "Even though I can't see your true form when you take a human form, however……"
Hua Ji suddenly reached out his hands and grasped Shui Mu's hands. Hua Ji's hands were very warm, while Shui Mu's hands were faintly cold; when the two pairs of hands interlocked, something seemed to bubble up.
He said, "However, I only need to hold your hands, and I would be able to feel your truth."
"So there's no need for you to care about outer appearances."
Shui Mu stared at the faintly smiling Hua Ji and suddenly felt that the little fox was especially pleasing to the eye. He wanted to always keep him around, just like that old clam outside his home.
However, when compared to the old clam that could spit out pearls that could be used as currency, the little fox before his eyes was more suited to be kept in his home.
…… But kept in his home for what? As a statue?
"Cough, cough. Sorry for the interruption." Zhu Mimi drily stared at the two people's interlocking hands. "The documentary's editing and sound design is almost done, do you guys want to have a listen?"
Hua Ji very naturally let go of his hands and smilingly said, "Of course, I've been looking forward to this for a long time."
Behind him, Shui Mu gazed at his own hands, expression profound.
This was an unchecked, overgrown, wild world. The sky was white and the earth was ash; smoke billowed everywhere; boulders tumbled and tossed and lava constantly bubbled. The ocean was suffused with a deep purple, the heavens and earth were deathly still. There was nothing there.
A deep trill suddenly rang out, it was like a beam of light had descended from the heavens. The long sound of a xiao[2] resounded, sounding almost like a sobbing cry. A drop of water flew upwards then splashed down again. A change had appeared in the light within the ocean.
From the initial piercing beam of light, in a short few minutes it had turned into a gentle, golden glow, falling into the ocean. There was a lifeform moving about.
It was the microscopic cyanobacteria.
The cyanobacteria took in and released a miraculous gas which stirred up the entire planet. Gradually, something seemed to be slowly appearing in the sky of this blueish-purple planet.
This was the ozone layer.
The ozone layer filtered out the strong rays of radiation, the resplendent sunlight covered the entire Earth; the energy of the sun was pulsing. At the same time, the sound of the xiao faded away and the sound of a tinkling river trickled by. It was like every living organism was rejuvenated, and life had begun to blossom.
Hua Ji blankly watched tis scene; even if he'd already seen the original memories, now that he was watching the version that Zhu Mimi had edited and added music to, he still felt shaken, as if his heart and spirit had undergone a cleansing and his soul had ascended to a higher level. Watching the evolution of life, it was like looking a planet breathing, growing and thriving. That sort of bone-deep reverence and appreciation caused his entire body's demonic energy to boil.
Resilient and tenacious during life, and returning to the cycle of rebirth after death; it was nothing more than a road that couldn't be travelled to the end.
Hua Ji locked himself in his room for a long time and didn't emerge.
Shui Mu pursed his lips; he could feel Hua Ji's power growing and transforming, as if his cultivation was progressing to another realm. He absolutely could not be disturbed.
Zhu Mimi naturally was also able to feel Hua Ji's demonic energy changing. She was especially gleeful; the film that she edited could actually cause Hua Ji to progress in his cultivation. That meant that it would also be useful to other spirits, monsters and even the sect.
She cast a look towards Shui Mu, who was unceasingly staring at Hua Ji's bedroom door, and suddenly remembered an issue.
"Aiya! He's about to form his third tail!"
Shui Mu looked at Zhu Mimi.
Zhu Mimi's expression wasn't too good. "To the fox race, forming the third, sixth and ninth tails is a risky affair, there will be a Heavenly Tribulation descending. This time Hua Ji suddenly broke through, he…… is he prepared for the Heavenly Tribulation?"
Shui Mu asked, "Heavenly Tribulation?"
Zhu Mimi said, "That's right. Cultivation is going against the Heavens. When the Heavenly Tribulation descends, it is the Heavens meting out punishment. You- you've never encountered a Heavenly Tribulation?"
Shui Mu thought for a while before answering, "…… I might have?"
"Might?"
"The ocean frequently experienced immense wave and typhoons, I've already grown used to it." Shui Mu said, "My body had once been crushed into pieces by the lightning bolts that fell from the sky and the typhoons. But it's no big deal, I just have to stick myself back together."
He looked at Zhu Mimi. "Is that the Heavenly Tribulation?"
"………………" Zhu Mimi didn't want to talk to Shui Mu anymore.
Yet Shui Mu didn't let Zhu Mimi go. He asked, "Is the little fox about to face a Heavenly Tribulation? Where the Heavens send down lightning?"
Zhu Mimi drily said, "That's right, the Heavenly Tribulation has a targeting ability, it will only strike Hua Ji and won't affect you or me."
Shui Mu said, "Is the Heavenly Tribulation very powerful?"
Zhu Mimi gave a fake smile. "You will soon be able to see for yourself."
The so-called 'soon' actually dragged out for three days. After three days, S city suddenly experienced a typhoon; not only S city, the nearby regions also experienced heavy rain. It was basically the same as what Crow Hei went through that time in Guangzhou when he underwent his Tribulation.
A crash sounded from Hua Ji's room. Shui Mu's expression changed and rushed in, but all he saw was the wide-open windows - the little fox was gone.
Zhu Mimi rapidly spoke, "When undergoing a Tribulation, you need to be at a place with less people. This is a city region; Hua Ji has to leave."
When Shui Mu heard this, he followed close behind and rushed out. He was originally a jellyfish; at this moment, rain fell down in sheets and the water falling from the sky connected the Heavens and Earth. In the span of a few breaths, he gained control of all the rain and water in a thousand li radius!
He suddenly looked towards the Huangpu River. "Over there!"
Zhu Mimi threw herself towards the window. With a stamp of her foot, she gave a call to the old tortoise to let him know and leapt out the window to chase after them.
In Shui Mu's awareness, Hua Ji's speed was lightning-fast; he had already reached the Huangpu River.
At this moment, the sky darkened and an incredibly thin bolt of lightning suddenly struck down!
When Shui Mu saw this scene, his body exploded, as if it had collapsed into beads of water, disappearing with a bang.
Zhu Mimi suddenly stopped. She raised her head and looked towards the distance in shock.
In the distance, the vast Huangpu River suddenly churned, tides surging towards the clouds and stirring up a massive wave that brushed the sky. And then……
"Oh my god! The Huangpu River is flowing backwards!!!"
[1] – From what I can find, this (嘤) is a way to show crying, but is used when someone is trying to act cute or sell meng. It apparently comes from Japan, and is an onomatopoeia for a loli crying?
[2] – A xiao is a chinese bamboo flute that is played vertically instead of horizontally. Have you seen Mo Dao Zu Shi? The instrument that Lan Xichen plays (and is always drawn with) is the xiao.