Volume 3
179 Meditation and Cultivation
Li Wen did not argue in the face of my callous response.
Well, that joyous mood would hardly be dented even if her pet scratched her a little, since that pet would be able to win a battle for her.
"What I want you to do is simple. You'll just need to stay here and I'll help you with your training."
Training? I wanted to laugh at this. Why did everyone want to help me train? Before this, it was Ta Lai, now, it was Li Wen. Did I really possess some sort of hidden great power?
"And you're not telling me the reason why you're doing this? What's your goal?" There was no need for me to take a roundabout approach, since we were already being so frank.
Li Wen smoothed her skirt. "You wouldn't believe it even if I told you I didn't have a goal. People are always like this. The wife would never believe it even if her husband was loyal, and she'd make a big fuss over it. But if her husband really had a mistress and admitted he was wrong, then she might just let it go."
"Enough with the bullshit."
"I'm being honest. I don't have any goal. If you want me to just say something that can be considered a goal, then this might probably be a little hobby of mine."
Li Wen flashed an arrogant smile. "Me, I love to see things liven up. So I really hope to see the Gate of Ghost in a mess. Everyone in the Gate of Ghost would probably quake in fear if I can force that person out of you successfully."
My heart dropped.
As expected, she was the target all this time? It's no wonder she said he was looking for her when I heard her the first time while training with Ta Lai.
Seems like no one else knows I can see her with my split symbol activated, and that she isn't always by my side.
But even if she was by my side, I didn't feel any different. My power and abilities were the same as before, so why are they all looking for her?
"You're talking about my second personality?" I asked carefully, trying to get more information out of Li Wen.
"Yes, that personality you're supposed to be closest to, but have forgotten about."
"Why are you guys looking for her?"
Li Wen looked at me with an impenetrable gaze. "It's a secret, I can't tell you that."
I was sure I didn't look too happy at this.
I decided not to ask any further. Li Wen was a crafty one, and I'd never be able to get any information from her if it was something she wasn't willing to share. I didn't have the skills to force her to come clean nor did I have anything I could intimidate her with.
She reached out, taking my hand in hers gently. "Anyway, you have to believe me, Ah Shen. I'll never hurt you as long as you do what I tell you to. You'll obtain power others can only dream of having. I hope you'll be able to defeat the ones who hurt you in the Gate of Ghost, and those who hurt your friends. I'll also return Song Lu to you."
Hah, of course. Your eventual aim is to go against those in the Gate of Ghost.
I found this rather amusing. I was always that crazy, ostracized person when I was alive, and now that I'm braindead, I'm forced to become this useless district commander in this godforsaken place. Now, I've become a weapon that others want to make use of in their war.
My, my, Li Shen, are you considered down on your luck, or is this a blessing in disguise?
My hand was still in Li Wen's as she asked softly, "Are you agreeable to this?"
I remained silent.
As if out of patience, she leaned in closer. "Actually, you don't have a choice. You aren't familiar with this place, so do you think you can escape from me? Also, do you think Jiao S can really trap that female monster in that river? I added something in the river after I saved you, and only then could she really trap Du Yue there. But Du Yue is powerful, so even with my help, she'll only be trapped for a maximum of three days. If I don't see your second personality within three days, I'm sure you know what will happen to your friend…"
I whipped her hand away!
Staring at her, I said, "Let's stop talking and start then."
Li Wen laughed. "This isn't difficult, actually."
She pulled me up from the bed of grass.
"The aim of this training is for you to wake her up and obtain her power, that is, that power sleeping within you. We have to use a two-pronged approach to unlock that deep power within you. First, you'll have to remain still."
I raised a brow. "Still?"
Li Wen nodded. "That's right, just like Song Lu who can manipulate MF very accurately. It's intricate to the point that the MF is evenly distributed across every single blood vessel. Only when you do that can you unlock your full potential. You need to learn how to manipulate MF like her, and the first step is to remain still so you can feel it. Feel that power coursing deep within your veins."
Hearing Song Lu being mentioned so suddenly made me a little upset, and I said impatiently, "Just tell me how to do it."
I wanted to know if there really was a way to force her out or a way to regulate her appearances so that I wouldn't have to be alert all the time.
"Don't do anything, just sit." Li Wen pointed at that pile of grass in the middle of the cave. I looked at her in suspicion, but I did what she said and sat cross-legged on the grass. Since we're going to sit, why did you pull me up in the first place.
Li Wen looked down at me. "That's right, sit straight like this. Close your eyes, but don't fall asleep. Three days. You'll just have to sit on the first day. There're 60 hours in a day in the Northern District, and the sun is out only in the day. Just sit here for 60 hours, and within this time, no matter what I say, what you hear or what you see, you cannot do anything but open and close your eyes.
"You'll fail if you move, and we'll have to do it again tomorrow. There're only two things we're practicing, and we have three days. If you're unable to return to the river before Du Yue escapes, your friend will probably be subjected to some horrible torture."
I knew that this wasn't difficult, but it wasn't an easy task either.
It was close to impossible for anyone in the real world to sit still and not fall asleep for 60 hours, and even though we could use MF in the Split Zone, this was still no easy feat. But I'll not give up since I've already agreed to her training.
"Alright, shall we begin?" Li Wen smiled. "Right, sit straight from now on, you cannot move after that. Remember that Jiao S's life is in your hands."
I shot her a cold look before shutting my eyes.
I began to think about what she would do to make me move. Would she stab me with numerous tiny needles? She probably wouldn't. She should know that such pain is nothing to me.
"Sit here, I'm leaving for a short while. Don't worry, no one will come here, but I'll definitely know if you move."
She seemed to be walking towards the entrance.
My eyes remained shut.
After she left, I thought about what happened in the past few days.
Yu Liang crossed my mind.
All this seemed to have started from when Yu Liang attacked us as we were heading for the Southern District, and it was the reason why we were in a rush to head for the Northern District.
There's no way someone intelligent and level-headed like Yu Liang would act rashly, so it's not true that he was looking for me because he hated me. According to Gaoqin Jiuye's analysis, we all agreed that it was because Yu Liang wanted to force us to hurry to the Northern District to save Song Lu.
I agreed with that too.
However, there seemed to be other reasons.
Yu Liang's hands were mutated, so that means he was one of the experimental subjects in experiment number three. If so, was he trying to warn us of something under the guise of taking revenge?
Sacrificing one Yu Liang was nothing to Du Yue, since he was just an experimental subject. So did Yu Liang come to me to warn me of something else?
But why didn't he just say it? Or was he being watched? Yu Liang never feared death, so why did he choose to freeze himself?
There was something else going on here. Apart from getting us to save Song Lu, Yu Liang might have wanted to tell me something about the mutations.
Wait, mutations?!
Yes!
I got it. Yu Liang froze himself because he anticipated that I'd send him back to Jie Pa! There might be something on him that could give us a clue about the experiments!
I'm guessing that he already knew this catastrophe would happen, and that's why he got injured by me on purpose. This way, he could send himself to Jie Pa, and Jie Pa can then get a better understanding of these mutant subjects and prevent the catastrophe!
I guess being still can really help clear your head. I had no time to think about all this previously, but now that I have the opportunity to do so, I had a much clearer train of thought. Just like that time when we were training with Ta Lai, I could think about the cause and effect of everything right now.
That must have been Yu Liang's aim all along.
However, I was still pretty upset. Whether Jie Pa was able to understand what Yu Liang wanted him to do, it was too late now. I saw the massacre happen with my very eyes on that screen.
In the words of Mr Blond, people are always selfish. If we weren't able to prevent the deaths of so many, then I just hope that Jie Pa would come out of it alive.
How upset would Nie Zun be if Jie Pa died. But how could Jie Pa survive in the Western District when his constitution has already been altered to that of a normal human being?
I wonder where Yu Liang is now, and has that split freeze been undone?
Right!
Since the split freeze can only be undone with one's own consciousness, if we misunderstood Yu Liang, we wouldn't have known what his goal was! If he didn't do it for Song Lu, then he wouldn't undo the split freeze even when we brought Song Lu back!