Volume 1 Chapter 26: The Great Magician Also Wants To Join In

  Took Hong Jie out, strolling slowly along the lake. The night before didn't take a close look, only now did I realize that the scenery around the lakeshore is extremely beautiful, with green willows and shallow grass, spring breeze blowing gently, feeling comfortable and relaxed. Along the lakeside, there are stone tables and stools for people to rest.

  I sat down with Hong Gu and stretched out my legs comfortably, arching my back in a lazy stretch.

  Hong Gu saw my relaxed face and smiled lightly: "It seems that sister likes our Return to Nothingness Institute very much. That day, I saw sister's 'magic', I thought the castle owner had recruited another strange person to move in, but unexpectedly, sister, this thousand gold young lady, is also a person who understands heterodox techniques."

  I only just remembered the little magic trick I performed that night to change the subject, and it turns out they all believed it. I burst out laughing and carefully explained the whole thing to Hong Jie, who listened with a loving scolding expression: "So that's how it was! We all thought you really made that copper coin disappear, and afterwards we even discussed it for a long time, all of us admiring you."

  I blushed and said, "Actually, it's just a very ordinary trick. In my hometown, many people can do it. Even if they don't know how to do it, because they've seen it so many times, they all know it's an optical illusion. We also have real magic masters there who can make people disappear out of thin air, or make a mountain disappear from people's sight, cut someone in half and then put them back together...

  I talked endlessly about the various magic tricks I had seen in my past life, and Hong Gu was stunned. In fact, magic is just relying on and using multiple scientific principles of physics and chemistry, such as light, sound, and electricity, to create all sorts of bizarre and clever performance images through ingenious artistic ideas. I once watched David Copperfield's "Magic World", which had an episode called "Century Illusion" where he made the Statue of Liberty disappear in plain sight. My amazement and admiration at that time were really beyond words. As a result, I later developed a strong interest in all kinds of magic tricks. Just a few days ago, I naively fantasized that if escape magic could really let people escape from a closed environment, it would be easy for me to escape from Furong Castle. However, magic is just magic after all, and the Statue of Liberty cannot disappear out of thin air - what disappears is only our short-term memory.

  Hong Guo was stunned for a long time before she came back to her senses, and with an expression of admiration, she said: "I didn't expect that Feng Ming country would have such an extraordinary person. Hong Guo must find an opportunity to go visit him."

  I almost fell off the stone bench when I heard this, and only then did I remember that my current identity is Feng Ming Guo's most cherished treasure. I was so annoyed that I almost wanted to bite my tongue, but I've always been like this - if I like and trust a friend, I won't have any guard against them in my heart. But today, under such an embarrassing identity and environment, I couldn't help myself.

  I coughed lightly and smiled awkwardly, saying: "This eccentric person has spent his life wandering the four seas, with no fixed abode. I met him once when I was very young, and since then there's been no news of him."

  Hong Gu sighed regretfully, then her eyes lit up: "Who knows, maybe this strange person has heard that our Furuong Fortress's Guiwu Courtyard gathers all the eccentric and extraordinary people under the sky, and will come to us of his own accord."

  "This idol is really not to be worshiped casually, I stared at her in shock, and another question floated up in my mind, I opened my mouth and said: 'By the way, how did Guiwu Courtyard have so many strange people? Even Lu Dashi, who has been out of touch with the world for decades, was attracted to come?'"

  Hong Gu smiled lightly and said, "Sister, how could you not know this? Since the establishment of Furong Fortress, the fortress master has been opening warehouses to help the poor, generously giving out wealth, and has gained the respect and admiration of the people. The fortress master also personally invited out two venerable predecessors, Lu Dashi and Jia Shifu, but not for any other reason than to bring blessings to the common people of the world. That's why people from all sides have been coming to join us."

  I was stunned. Isn't Ling Yi a big drug lord? How can he still do such things? Doesn't he really know that the stuff he's growing is poisonous and harms people? Does a person really have dual personalities? Or does he know what he's doing isn't good, so he wants to accumulate some virtue to offset his sins?

  He was manufacturing and selling drugs, consolidating his economic foundation, building such a huge fortress; on the other hand, he was also recruiting talents from all over the world, establishing a public image of being virtuous and capable. How can I help but think of the gathering at Mount Liang? But this is not a chaotic era, what does he want to do? Can the current imperial court tolerate him doing so? Any emperor would not allow such a civilian organization and power to exist, right?

  What's it to me? Got curious again! I shook my head hard. What else can he do? It has nothing to do with me anymore. This is not the world I used to know. I have no feelings for it at all. I'm still very unfamiliar with it even now. The matter of running away hasn't been settled yet. Don't bother thinking about these things!

  Hong Gu saw me looking dazed and asked: "Sister, what are you thinking about?"

  I hastily covered up by saying: "I was thinking about sister's ability to traverse the realms of yin and yang. That should be considered a one-of-a-kind feat in this world, right?"

  Hong Gu shook her head and smiled: "This is something I brought with me from my mother's womb, even my parents don't know why. All I remember is that when I was very young, I would often come to various unfamiliar places in my sleep, surrounded by darkness, but I could see people dressed in strange clothes, their faces filled with sorrow, and they were all walking in a line towards some place. At first, I thought it was just a dream and didn't pay attention, but later the things I saw became clearer and the dreams became more real, so I knew it wasn't a dream. But every time I woke up, I would fall seriously ill, and my parents spent all our family's wealth seeking medical help and asking for medicine, until finally they met my master."

  "Then my sister was taken as a disciple by Pingyang True Man?" I asked curiously.

  "Yes." Hong Gu nodded and said, "Master has always said that his life span had long been exhausted, but he managed to evade the heavenly rules and survive in the cracks. That's why he never accepted any disciples until he met me." Hong Gu's words were filled with a strong sense of reverence and admiration.

  She continued, "Later, my master taught me various ways of divination and I realized that the place I went to in my dreams was the underworld. It wasn't a dream at all, but rather my soul leaving my body. The things I saw were all kinds of wandering spirits."

  "Is it scary there?" I asked curiously.

  "It's not scary." Hong Jie chuckled and shook her head, "But it's best not to go. Once you've gone there, the body in the mortal world will be unbound, and if an accident happens, you won't be able to come back. That's why Master requires me, unless absolutely necessary, to travel through the netherworld only on the night of the full moon, because at that time the earth energy is condensed, it's the weakest time for yin energy in a month."

  "Oh, I see." I nodded. Suddenly remembering Ling Ye's gathering of Gu Qingying's soul, I asked in a hurry: "Can people whose souls have scattered still be seen in the underworld?"

  Hong Jie lightly laughed and scratched my nose, saying: "You're so distracted, where's your soul?"

  "I wrinkled my nose and said: 'After the soul flies away and scatters, can the soul be gathered together again?'"

  Hong Gu thought for a moment before saying, "I seem to have heard Shifu mention it before. This is an extremely dangerous technique because it goes against the will of heaven. Unless someone is willing to sacrifice their own life span and use their own blood as a sacrifice, the operation is extremely complicated and the chances of success are very slim. In short, I've never heard of anyone trying it."

  "Alas," I muttered to myself, "how can a person's soul scatter and flee?"

  Unexpectedly, Hong Gu pulled me and said: "The question you asked the other day, after that, I also discussed it with Shenyi, Shenyi asked himself that he had never heard of any strange poison that could make people's souls fly away, but I seem to have heard of it..."

  "Ah!" I tensed up instantly and asked urgently: "What kind of poison?"

  Hong Gu lightly shook her head, and after a while, she said: "That's not poison, I just saw it in one of my master's very old books. It says that there is a kind of evil technique in the world that can control people's will, but if the practitioner operates incorrectly, they will be counterattacked by the spell, resulting in their soul flying away and dispersing, but the book doesn't describe the specifics."

  Is that so? I was stunned, could Gu Qingying actually use this lost evil technique? Why did she want to use this evil technique? Whose will did she want to control? Was it Ling Yi? No way, no way. I shook my head, she clearly knew how much Ling Yi loved her, why would she want to control his will? There must be another reason.

  Hong Gu exclaimed: "Sister, why do you always bring up this soul flying and spirit scattering matter?"

  I suddenly came back to myself and hastily shook my head: "I'm just curious, that's all."

  Under Hong Jie's puzzled face, I lowered my eyelids and didn't dare look into her eyes.