Exploring Immortality Cultivation

Chapter 81 - 43: Wang Qi's Joyful Delight [1st Update]

Facing Su Junyu's inquiry, Wang Qi didn't respond. Seeing that Wang Qi didn't want to talk, Su Junyu didn't press further but instead instructed the four to rest well that night.

By midnight, Wang Qi quietly opened his eyes.

Since the campfire was unattended, it had become very weak. Wang Qi casually stirred it and threw in a few dry branches. Then, he tiptoed toward the lakeside.

To avoid waking the others, he walked on tiptoes, carefully making his way. It was nearly the new moon and only a sliver of moonlight remained, making the night quite dark, and avoiding stepping on branches or the like was somewhat difficult. For this reason, Wang Qi specifically concentrated his Spiritual Sense on the ground beneath his feet.

After walking some thirty-some yards, Zhen Chan suddenly spoke, "Stop here. If you want to vent alone, then don't go any further. This is still within the range of Su Junyu's Spiritual Sense alert. A few more steps and you'll wake Su Junyu."

Wang Qi let out a sigh, "You actually saw through what I was planning?"

"After all, I've taught you for several years. Even if you never acknowledged me as your mentor, I've always regarded you as my own kin."

Wang Qi found a relatively even rock and sat down on it, "I'm feeling a bit troubled."

They were in a sparse forest, with not many trees obstructing the view, the sightline was relatively clear. In the distance, Jiachen Lake reflected the myriad stars, shimmering with faint ripples. Wang Qi just gazed at the lake's surface, silent.

After a while, Zhen Chan finally said, "My boy, it's not that your mind is troubled, but rather, it has settled."

Wang Qi chuckled, "I certainly don't think so."

"Your mind has never truly been at ease."

"Is that so?"

Zhen Chan replied with a wry smile, "Indeed, the participant is confused. Haven't you noticed that you've been off lately?"

"How so?"

"When I first met you, you had little interest in cultivation. Even after embarking on the Immortal Path, you could barely muster up any enthusiasm for Combat Skills. Plus, you were always cautious, never willing to practice any slightly risky Cultivation Techniques. That's the you I knew."

Wang Qi looked at his palm, then clenched his fist, feeling the Mana inside his body, and murmured, "To have cultivated to this extent, it really isn't like me."

"Heh, you realize that, huh? To ensure your Combat Power, you concurrently cultivated ten Divine Skills. Sure, there's your overconfidence in your own talent, and the misleading advice that 'at this stage, you have the opportunity to make mistakes', but it's undeniable, you've been impatient this time. Not to mention a few days ago, you rushed to put into practice the Inspiration you found for unifying several Cultivation Techniques, almost losing your life. If it were you who always valued safety, you would have spent days pondering over the techniques."

"Yes, indeed."

The two of them were silent for a moment. Zhen Chan suddenly said, "That village, and the matter with Li Ziye—it matters more to you than you think."

Wang Qi suddenly lifted his right hand and slammed it down onto the rock beneath him, causing several fragments to scatter, "Those bastards... The death of the villagers in Dabai Village has nothing to do with me, but after all, I spent over a decade with them as my neighbors; as for Li Ziye, though we only met briefly, he did save my life..."

"You, my boy," Zhen Chan sighed, "If you had a good cry and shouted a few times 'I swear to slaughter the entire Emperor's Extreme Split Sky Dao', you might feel a bit better."

Wang Qi's expression changed, but ultimately he managed a weak smile, "That's not my style. My goal in life is to be happy."

"Being happy is good," said Zhen Chan, "But you're not happy."

"I feel like I owe someone something, and it's distressing, especially since this debt is quite difficult to repay."

"So, is that why you've been working so hard on the Combat Skills?"

"Whatever makes me unhappy, they have to die."

Zhen Chan remained silent for a while, then said, "However, I feel that you have never been quite happy. Or rather, you only know what makes you unhappy, but you have never talked about what makes you happy."

Wang Qi looked down and said nothing. Zhen Chan continued, "You indeed seem interested in certain things on ordinary days, but in my opinion, you do these things not so much because you 'particularly want to,' but more like... out of habit? Or as a memorial to something?"

"Such as?"

"You always love playing that 'card game' with Su Junyu, isn't it? You are not like Su Junyu, who genuinely loves the game. Also, you have an obsession with that half-demon girl's ears, but you don't actually have a unique preference for half-demons."

A memorial? A memorial to my previous life?

Wang Qi laughed at himself mockingly. In his past life, he used to read transmigration novels. Back then, he found it amusing when characters in those stories would frivolously play with Earth's products in an otherworld or became obsessed with things in the otherworld that resembled those from Earth. But he had never thought that after transmigrating himself, these feelings, once they fell upon him, were not amusing at all.

The subconscious actions he took might just be his way of memorializing his past on Earth.

"You clearly aren't interested in anything, but you keep laughing and joking all the time. What exactly makes you happy? That old man's last words?"

Wang Qi struck the rock forcefully, angrily saying, "That was my grandfather!"

His palm power was so strong that it left a print on the rock.

Wang Qi's birth did not bring the slightest joy to the Wang Family in Dabai Village of Shenzhou Land.

Likewise, for quite a long time, it did not bring any joy to Wang Qi himself.

Having transmigrated, should I be happily shouting "I'm unrivaled under the heavens," embracing strangers, calling them mom and dad, enjoying a few years of family bliss, and then start plotting my grand ambitions?

Heh.

Back on Earth, I still have parents, kin, a bunch of friends, besties, confidants, and admired women. Not to mention a decade of struggle for my studies, career, and my dream of exploring the truth.

Now, you suddenly want me to abandon all that and start calling these few people dad, mom, and grandpa? Start a life I never wanted in this world?

That was Wang Qi's initial thought. He felt no great attachment when his birth mother died during childbirth. Even upon seeing his distraught birth father, he felt more pity than closeness.

We're both unfortunate beings. My misfortune lies in transmigration; yours in lacking a normal son, heh.

It wasn't until his birth father died and his grandfather held him, crying bitterly, that Wang Qi began to feel that he had done something wrong.

Thus, he tried calling Old Man Wang "grandfather."

In front of Old Man Wang's wrinkled smiling face, he finally chose to be a normal grandson.

In the end, when Old Man Wang died, gripping Wang Qi's hand, his last words were, "Good child, good child, be happier from now on. You have to learn to smile a bit. Children who smile are not taken by ghosts, eh."

Wang Qi felt it was his responsibility to live happily.

He thought that living happily wasn't difficult—finding one's own entertainment isn't hard for anyone.

But...

Wang Qi looked up at the sky and said, "According to Su Junyu, I only know my joy, but I do not know the joy of enjoying it."