TSIME Chapter 4

Chapter 4
Encounter (3)

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50 years ago, Jing Yan was not called Jing Yan. His name was Qin Zichen. He was a civil servant in the 21st Century.

He was born into a working-class family. The word “stable” encased almost his whole life. He didn’t like to take risks, nor did he yearn for the life of the so-called high-end people. From childhood to adulthood, his greatest wish in life was to be able to live a stable life. Stable grades, stable mentality, stable job, stable family, and last but not least, had a lively and lovely child. His life could be considered a fulfilling life by then.

He had achieved 80% of the plan. He had stable grades and had ranked first since he was a child. He had a stable mentality. Later, he became a civil servant and had a stable job. The only unstable thing was his love life.

Love was something beyond his plan. It began in his third year of junior high when a little girl named Su Qingyi stumbled into his life. She chased him for six years. Honestly, an impetuous girl like her wasn’t his type. He believed that love from such a girl was too fleeting, too intense. It came fast; It went fast, a cruel deception.

However, after a person had been liked for so long, some things would become a habit. He was used to her carefree smile, used to her being by his side all the time, used to her showering him with love anything and anywhere, and used to her waiting for him. In the end, he compromised. Sometimes, an unstable factor may turn into a beautiful thing. 

Hence, he accepted that bold girl, secretly planning his life with her. One day, out of nowhere, that girl demanded a breakup.

The breakup was done in a hurry, so hurried that he didn’t even have the time to react. The next time he saw her, she already had a new love. At that time, he didn’t hold back his emotion and punched the man beside her. Then, he felt like he just punched himself.

What right did he have to hit him?

It was Su Qingyi who was sorry for him. Yet, because he couldn’t bear to beat or scold Su Qingyi, he beat others. What right did he have to hit others?

When he was in a trance, the other party quickly reacted and beat him back. He didn’t fight back, just curled up on the ground without saying a word. Su Qingyi seemed to be afraid of an accident and hauled the other party away.

He just curled up on the ground and cried in silence.

More than 50 years later, the memory was still vivid in his mind, the despair and uneasiness in his heart. At that time, he had so much to say to Su Qingyi that he nearly abandoned all his dignity to knelt and beg her. 

Don’t leave. Don’t leave me. If there is something unsatisfying about me, I will change it. 

He understood that he was not entertaining, not fresh, and not romantic. He was slow to understand things and his future was not that promising, but for her, he could change.

But, he couldn’t say it out loud, he could only hug himself and wept.

Since then, he discerned his whole world was in chaos. He had no stability in his life, neither in his heart, his job, or his love. He began to wallow in recreation like games and play, until one day, someone told him that Su Qingyi had gone abroad.

When he heard the news, he was pouring water. He couldn’t utter a word. The water overflowed and spread to his computer. 

The other side kept asking, “Hello? Qin Zichen? Do you hear me?”

He opened his mouth and was about to answer, at that time, there was a crackling, and a burst of electric current shocked his body. The next time he opened his eyes, he was a five-year-old child, the Qin Zichen of the Cultivation World.

He was born with Sword Spiritual Body and Variant Thunder Spiritual Root. He became the disciple of the Sect Leader of Tian Jian Sect at the age of five. His fate seemed to be particularly bright. With little effort, he breakthrough and became an existence that others looked up to. 

His Shifu gave him a Daoist name, Jing Yan. Others started calling him that, save for a very small number of close people who occasionally called him Zichen. The name of Qin Zichen appeared to be unheard of, compared to Jing Yan. 

His Shifu said that he had no desire. He had no attachment and was free of all constraints. His character was the best for someone that cultivated Immortality. In this world, he learned how to wield a sword and kill people. The people here were pretty different from those in the 21st Century. People in the 21st Century put their “lives” as their priority, but people here put the “Dao” as their priority.

He became a Jian Xian and became famous. He was undefeated. His appearance was perfect. All women who had seen him would blush. In this world, he learned to draw his sword and learned to cast life and death out of his mind……

He thought that the present him probably had become someone that Su Qingyi would admire in her heart. However, that Su Qingyi would never appear again in his life.

Did he miss her? 

Was he reminiscing about her?

He didn’t know.

For a person like him who almost had no desire, this girl was something akin to his demon. When he passed the Thunder Tribulation of Mahayana Realm, he was caught off guard. He was hit hard by her appearance in his Heart Demon Tribulation and it gave Xiao Yunyun the opportunity to chase him down to this point. 

And, it happened that there was a girl who looked exactly like the person in his tribulation. She was there, like a rabbit, as if waiting for him to appear so she could save him.

She would say “Fuck” with the exact appearance of Su Qingyi. For a beat, he couldn’t help but wonder, is the person in front of him Su Qingyi?

He transmigrated. Might Su Qingyi, who liked to read romance novels, also transmigrated?

With that thought in mind, he actually felt a bit of excitement in his heart. But, on the second thought, he asked himself, so what If she is indeed Su Qingyi?

After all, from long ago, she didn’t love him anymore. He was merely a plaything in her heart. When she was tired of playing with him, he would be discarded. He wasn’t one to play around and his temperament also wasn’t suitable for it. Even if he had become a Jian Xian, if he met with Su Qingyi again, he probably was fated to end as her plaything again, wasn’t he? With his dull personality, a girl like her would never like him, regardless if he could give her a stable place. Or, she couldn’t survive by herself, so she hoped that he could become an umbrella who would protect her.

Although he didn’t mind that much,  he was unwilling to pretend to be that for the sake of love. 

Figuring this out, Qin Zichen closed his eyes. He stopped guessing the identity of the person in front of him and fell asleep. 

The next morning, Su Qingyi roused up. The first thing she saw was the sleeping Qin Zichen.

The ice-carved and jade-carved facial features exuded the fairy aura when he opened his eyes. Now it was closed, she could see a hint of red dust. He was so peaceful, a little bit too peaceful, and even a bit silly. Su Qingyi unconsciously thought of the first person she had ever liked, Qin Zichen. 

That scumbag who eventually cheated on her. 

He always looked calm and quiet, sometimes he appeared a bit silly and was cute. When she told him jokes, his gaze would often be blank; When she took liberties with him, his face would redden until it reached his ears.

At the thought of Qin Zichen’s loveliness, Su Qingyi slapped herself in the face.

She had no Stockholm Syndrome! She must not reminisce good things about the people who bullied her!

The sound of her slap woke Qin Zichen up. Su Qingyi hurriedly leaned over and carefully observed Qin Zichen’s injury. His injuries healed faster than she anticipated. It was already scabbed and his complexion returned to normal. Aware that this person had strong recovery ability, Su Qingyi breathed a sigh of relief. She sat aside and offered, “Do you want to drink water? Or wash your face first?”

Qin Zichen didn’t answer her, so Su Qingyi went to fetch snow to melt. She put the pot containing snow on the firewood and Qin Zichen spoke, “Who are you?”

“Me?” The sudden question shook Su Qingyi. She turned her back to Qin Zichen and poked the snow, desiring the snow to melt as soon as possible. She casually replied, “My name is Su Qingyi.”

She turned her back to him, so she didn’t notice it, but Qin Zichen’s eyelashes fluttered down when he heard her name. He clenched his fist and scrutinized the girl’s back, “Why did you save me?”

Why did she save her? Should she tell him the truth and say, because the System told her to ah?

Nah. She would be arrested because of Demonic Possession or because she was a lunatic. She feigned innocence, “I was eating a carrot down there. Someone suddenly fell from the sky, naturally, I would save that person.”

In order to improve her credibility, Su Qingyi asked him back, “Who are you? Why did you suddenly fall from the sky?”

“This Humble One^[1] is Qin Zichen.” The voice came from behind her with a covert implication. Su Qingyi spun her head and stared at the cultivator who was as cold as Kunlun Baixue^[2] in disbelief. She sized him up once again.

Qin Zichen……Qin Zichen？

Could he really be that Qin Zichen?

Why did the System specifically ask her to assist a Jian Xiu? She transmigrated. Maybe Qin Zichen was also transmigrated?

At the moment when words were already at the tip of her tongue, a thought stopped her. 

Back then, she beat him, humiliated him, and caused him to lose his job! Qin Zichen cared so much about his stable life and she practically ruined all his stability. Didn’t she travel abroad in haste because she was afraid of Qin Zichen’s retaliation?! Damn it, he was now a Jian Xian and she was a waste that just entered Qi Condensation. Wasn’t this just serving him a chance to retaliate in a silver platter!

Who could guess if Qi Zichen, who had been in this dog-eat-dog cultivation world for more than 50 years, or if a Jian Xiu, who had fought and killed people for more than 50 years, would straight draw his sword to stab her to death at this juncture?!

Oh, now that she thought of it. He had stabbed her once.

Moreover, thinking about it again, the probability of Qin Zichen transmigrating was small. Was transmigrating like buying cabbage? They could transmigrate as they liked? Let’s just say that Qin Zichen indeed transmigrated and became a Jian Xiu. With his temperament, he would have been stabbed to death long ago……

The rumors she heard about Jian Xian Jing Yan were that he was cold, arrogant, slow, defiant, fastidious, and pretentious. Wherever he was, chickens and dogs^[3] within a radius of ten miles would be quiet. His clothing was all top-notch. And, his sense of justice was bursting. His desire to fight was strong. He participated in all activities to slay demons. Though, because of his strength, he was exempted from the general demon-slaying activities. He stayed in retreat^[4] all year round in the Wen Jian Cliff of Tian Jian Sect.

There was nothing in common between such a person and Qin Zichen. Qin Zichen was gentle and introverted, he was sometimes shy. He didn’t like to trouble others and didn’t like others to trouble him. 

Most likely, they just shared the same name.

She came to a conclusion and calmed down. Qin Zichen analyzed her expression from the side. He was more or less certain that the person in front of him was the Su Qingyi he knew. Only, he didn’t plan to expose himself. He pretended not to know anything about her. He inspected his injuries and observed the cave.

The cave was densely covered with arrays made from blood. He moved his gaze to Su Qingyi and noticed the wounds on her arms and fingers. He looked up at the domineering little girl in his memory and furrowed his brows, “Are you a Fu Xiu?”

Duh. If she wasn’t a Fu Xiu, a cultivator who borrowed power from Heaven and Earth, could she save him from Xiao Yunyun only relying on her broken body who just entered Qi Condensation?

However, for the sake of establishing a good relationship with her task goal, Su Qingyi nodded.

“You are in Qi Condensation Realm, why can you use this array to escape the search of the Huan Yin Palace?”

“It’s like this. It has something to do with the way Fu Xiu practices,” Su Qingyi couldn’t resist her impulse to show off when it came to her area of expertise, “What you Jian Xiu pay attention to is the stability of the Dao Heart, the unity of Man and Sword. You use your own power to fight. One’s own strength is equal to the strength of the Sword, right?”

“Exactly.” Qin Zichen nodded seriously, listening to Su Qingyi continued.

“But, Fu Xiu is different. What we Fu Xiu pay attention to is to transform ourselves into nothingness, integrating ourselves with Heaven and Earth. From that, we borrow the power of Heaven and Earth. Our Dao Heart must coexist with Heaven and Earth, a symbiosis. Thus, our cultivation is not the most important thing. The most important thing is our comprehension.”

“Comprehension?” Qin Zichen appeared to be puzzled, Su Qingyi hooked the corners of her lips, her face was full of confidence. She didn’t dare to say anything more, after all, as far as it was related to Fu Xiu, probably no one in this Cultivation World could compare to her.

Nevertheless, she was proud when she saw the puzzlement in the Jian Xiu in front of her. In a good mood, she added.

“To put it bluntly, comprehension is actually perceiving. It’s like this, for you Jian Xiu, your comprehension is to be able to feel the Sword Intent. We Fu Xiu, our comprehension is to be able to feel the “Dao” between Heaven and Earth, that is, the Heavenly Dao, so as to communicate and be able to use it. An enlightened cultivator who has reached Mahayana Realm is not necessarily able to create a talisman. In contrast, an enlightened Fu Xiu can create a good talisman even if they just entered the Qi Condensation Realm.”

“Though, that doesn’t mean cultivation is unimportant. Just like you Jian Xiu. You can kill people that are leaps and bounds from your own cultivation and win with only Sword Intent. But that doesn’t mean cultivation has no effect. You see, if you are in a Nascent Soul, you can fight with someone in the Combination Period, but you absolutely can’t fight against someone in Tribulation Crossing. The same is true for Fu Xiu. The cultivation base limits the upper limit of the spells and talismans you write. The higher the cultivation level, the more Dao of Heaven and Earth I can perceive. The more Dao of Heaven and Earth I can perceive, the more energy I can borrow. In case for this moment, I can only borrow the energy to write simpler arrays and spells. I can use my blood to write it down and confuse someone in the Golden Core Realm, but I can’t confuse someone above that Realm. But, if I use only pen and ink, I may not be able to confuse even someone in the Foundation Establishment. However, if I am in the Golden Core Realm or above, I can use pen and ink to draw runes and recite spells directly. In fact, I will no longer need pen and ink.”

“So, yesterday, it was our luck that Xiao Yunyun left early because of her injury. If she came to check here, she would be able to see through your cover-up. ”

“Bingo.”

Su Qingyi nodded proudly, appearing like she had accepted a clever and well-behaved disciple, which resulted in her feeling satisfied. As a result, this clever and well-behaved disciple suddenly raised his head and expressed, “Guniang seems not to be surprised at the appearance of the Huan Yin Palace and the Palace Master of the Huan Yin Palace? These arrays couldn’t be written in an instant. Even the plume that caught me before wasn’t a ready-made talisman that someone will bring all year round. In this case, shouldn’t Su-guniang give me an explanation?”

Su Qingyi’s heart clattered, oh shit, she is done.

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Footnotes

1. 在下 – zàixià; lit. stay in the low ground. A very modest term to address oneself.↵

2. 昆仑白雪 – kūnlún báixuě, Snow in Kunlun Mountain. Often used to describe a cold, proud, and dignified beauty.↵

3. 鸡狗 – jī gǒu; Chicken and Dog. A mess; A chaos.↵

4. 闭关 – bìguān; Retreat. Closed-Door Cultivation. Means to close the door, as a metaphor for not interacting with the outside world. Retreat in Daoism means that Cultivator needs to practice their Dao quietly, not interact with anyone, and go out only after the specified time.↵

Lei’s Corner

A hint of how much of a mess their 21st Century Relationship is. This time it only skimmed on the surface and is told from Qin Zichen’s PoV.

A friendly reminder that NEITHER CHEAT ON EACH OTHER. There, thank you.

“Ah, yes, crippling depression, my old friend.” -Jing Yan, probably.

Other Romance Novels available in Elysian Pit
The Memory Lost in Space by Tong Hua [Interstellar]
A man with no future and a woman with no past, what will their end be?

The Villains I Raised All Died by Mo Shu Bai [QT]
Dying for others sucks.

Low IQ Supporting Female, Waiting for Death Online by Wei Ke [QT]
Dying for others sucks (2)

The Husband was the Long Aotian by Mo Shu Bai [Transmigration]
I just want to be a Salted Fish… – the FL, most likely.

The Sword Immortal was My Ex-Boyfriend by Mo Shu Bai [Transmigration]
Ai? Why is this Sword Immortal similar to my Ex from the 21st Century? – the FL, most likely.

Words count (excluding title, footnotes, TL’s corner): 2832

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