To Raise a Soul 35.1

Yu Zhen was ill. He had a high fever and was unconscious. Although his forehead was unbelievably hot, his limbs were ice-cold and nothing could warm them up.  

“What could be the issue? Why don’t we go to the hospital? Xiao Yan, let’s take Yu Zhen to the hospital.” Qiu Feiqian was both frustrated and worried. 

She was angry at the Qiu family. Yu Zhen had a gentle and honest personality. He was perfectly fine, but during their visit to the Qiu residence, he was insulted and even returned with an illness. There was an eighty or ninety percent chance that he came down with something due to frustration. 

And if that weren’t the case, it must’ve been the obvious dislike they displayed towards him which drove him to take a breather on the balcony, causing him to get chilled and fall sick!

Either way, it’s the Qiu family’s fault!

“I’m not going anymore. Once the old man is gone, I’m never returning to that place. There’s no need to invite trouble for myself!” She recalled how those in the younger generation had clambered to take jabs at Yu Zhen yesterday and imply he was a poor man hanging onto a wealthy branch. She itched to rush back over to the Qiu residence and teach the ill-mannered youngsters a lesson!

“We should have stopped visiting long ago. Yesterday, Older Cousin almost hit me…” Yin Le mumbled.

Qiu Feiqian’s ears perked up at his comment and her anger flared.

He almost hit someone?! How old is Junwen? And how old is Xiao Le? On top of that Xiao Le was a guest! He almost hit someone! Does he not have any respect left for this elder?!

Seeing that Qiu Feiqian was so angry that she looked ready to fight with the Qiu family over the phone, Yin Yan let go of Yu Zhen’s hand and said, “Mom, Aunty is visiting today. She should be here soon. I’ll stay here. Why don’t you prepare some things downstairs?”

He motioned to Yin Le to calm Qiu Feiqian down, else they might have an unfortunate situation on their hands.

Yin Le’s skill at understanding unspoken prompts was first class. He knew that the words he had uttered just now were like adding fuel to the fire of Qiu Feiqian’s anger. He quickly went over to lead his mother and said, “That’s right, that’s right. Aunty will be here soon. How could we not have someone welcome her? Let’s go downstairs first.” 

“But Xiao Zhen…” Still worried, Qiu Feiqian was hesitant to leave. 

Yin Yan coaxed further, “The family doctor said that it will take a while for the antipyretics* to work. If the temperature really doesn’t go down, then we’ll go to the hospital. Mom, don’t worry.”

^{*Medication which reduces fevers.}

Qiu Feiqian looked at Yu Zhen’s pale face. Thinking that he would be jostled around if he were to be taken to the hospital, Qiu Feiqian reluctantly accepted Yin Yan’s decision and let herself be led away by Yin Le. 

After they had left, Yin Yan shut the bedroom door and called Xu Wu out to stand guard by it. Then he returned to the bedside and lifted the covers, slid under them, and held onto Yu Zhen.

After Yu Zhen had lost consciousness yesterday afternoon, he’d started running a high temperature that wouldn’t go down, causing Qiu Feiqian to call over the family doctor. 

To placate Qiu Feiqian, Yin Yan had given Yu Zhen a pill after dinner. It made Yu Zhen’s temperature appear to have dropped, causing Qiu Feiqian to stop insisting that Yu Zhen should be brought to a hospital. 

In the morning, the pill had lost its effect and Yu Zhen’s high temperature returned.  However, Yin Yan couldn’t give Yu Zhen another pill. He had to let Yu Zhen genuinely recover.

Yu Zhen didn’t have a fever. His soul had left, causing negative energy to flare up within him. There was also his damaged soul and Taoist heart which had frozen his cultivation. His lost-soul illness had reappeared which was reflected by his cold limbs. 

“Yu Zhen.” Yin Yan held onto the hand that wore their wedding ring. Slowly passing power through his hand, he whispered beside Yu Zhen’s ear, “Come back. This time, it will be Master who is waiting.”

From within a thick fog, Yu Zhen’s consciousness regained some clarity. He opened his eyes, and found himself standing under the peach blossom tree in the mountains behind the temple. 

“Why are you back?”

A childish voice complained half-heartedly and then a small branch of peach blossoms fell and landed on Yu Zhen’s head. The childish voice then continued, full of exasperation, “Here, take it, take it. You humans are so troublesome. You lose your souls so easily. Why are humans so weak?” 

When the peach blossom branch struck Yu Zhen’s head, it didn’t hurt at all. Instead, there was a feeling of warmth which spread from that spot to the rest of him.

Surprised, Yu Zhen touched a hand to his head but he felt nothing. He then looked towards his feet but didn’t see the fallen twig.

“Fool, you’ve already absorbed the sprig. You won’t be able to find it,” the childish voice said. At its next thought, it hurriedly added, “No, no, no. You’re so annoying. Scram. Go on, I don’t want to turn into a bald tree.”

The next moment, the tree beside him suddenly shook wildly and then disappeared into the ground. 

Yu Zhen stared blankly. He walked around the tree’s former spot. He then squatted down and patted the ground. There wasn’t even a hole left behind. There was only a patch of dried grass, leaving Yu Zhen stumped. 

Where’s the tree? How can it just disappear?

Before he could make sense of what was going on, a thick fog surrounded him again. The image of the mountain vanished and was replaced by a vast landscape of bare soil. There were some traces of cleared-up building ruins.

Taking in his surroundings, Yu Zhen recognized it as the location of the temple. The temple that no longer existed.

So it turned into this…

He squatted down and touched the ground fondly, his expression mired with a tinge of sadness.

“Xiao Zhen.”

An old man’s voice suddenly came from behind him. Yu Zhen was surprised for a moment. Then he eagerly turned around, but there was no one there.

“Go back.”

That time, the voice rang from beside him. 

Yu Zhen turned his head again. Because he was too impatient, he lost his balance while turning and fell on his butt. However, he didn’t have time to pay attention to that. He anxiously looked around and asked, “Grandpa, where are you?”

“In your Taoist heart.”

Taoist heart?

Yu Zhen immediately looked down in the direction of his chest and dantian. With horror, he realized he was see-through. He could see the ground through his own body.

Raising his hand that had been solid a few moments ago, he found that it had also become transparent. 

“Xiao Zhen, go back. Grandpa will show you the way.”

[Yu Zhen, come back, this time it will be…]

The elderly voice and the cool voice spoke at the same time. From a distant point within the fog, a beam of golden light reached Yu Zhen. The illusions disappeared and his mind suddenly became clear as he returned to reality.

Yu Zhen’s eyes opened. He instinctively clung onto the warm body before him and frantically absorbed the power which drifted from that body.

Yin Yan paused briefly and then hugged him tightly. He turned his head and called Xu Wu. 

The white cat guarding the door meowed and ran to a corner of the room. It transformed into a tower and opened its door.

Yin Yan lifted Yu Zhen and entered the tower. After he had set up a spirit gathering array, he sealed the tower and sent it back into the mustard space within his sea of consciousness. Then with a wave of his hand, he cleared away the lingering spiritual energy in the room. At the same time, he produced a simple branch and threw it onto the bed. A ‘Yu Zhen’ lay on the bed peacefully.

The action was immediately followed by a knock on the door. Qiu Feiqian said, “Xiao Yan, how is Xiao Zhen? Your aunt is here. Is it alright for her to go in and have a look?”

“Coming.”

Yin Yan surveyed the room, making sure there was no problem before he walked towards the door.

Warmth enveloped Yu Zhen’s whole body. Under the warm conditions, Yu Zhen noticed that the seed within his dantian rapidly swelled, began to germinate, and then grew its first tender leaf. 

At some point in time, he had become the seed within his dantian. Some white mist had snuck in, mingled with the merits and surrounded him, acting as nourishing soil. Little by little, it slowly nourished him. 

It was so comfortable that Yu Zhen couldn’t resist extending his single leaf and swaying to the rhythm of the swirling ‘soil’. He slowly ‘breathed’ in time with the flow. 

After an unknown length of time, the ‘soil’ around him began to swirl faster and his body began heating up. He became bloated and when the heat reached its peak, with a ‘poof’, a second leaf sprouted.

When his consciousness returned and he opened his eyes, Yu Zhen found himself in a space which flickered with the glow of spiritual energy. In front of him, an ancient book floated mid-air. 

As if sensing his gaze, the book began to flip through its pages. A line of large ink writing appeared. Part Two: Seed of the Childish Heart.

The large words appeared… then disappeared. It was followed by a line of smaller text. ‘To be reborn as a human, what is the reason?’

The handwritten words disappeared, leaving a golden glow that flew into the space between his eyebrows.

A light breeze blew on his face and a heavenly music seemed to play by his ear. Yu Zhen closed his eyes and then opened them again. He vomited out a stream of impure energy, then finally felt completely clear-headed again.

The heavy doors rumbled as they opened up.

As the door of the pagoda tower opened, both the divine light and darkness disappeared. Outside of the tower there were green hills and clear waters. There were flourishing flowers that dotted the scene like embroidery. There was a lofty palace hidden by clouds on the top of a distant mountain. With only a peek at a corner of the place, Yu Zhen was overwhelmed by the feeling that he had gotten a peek into paradise. 

Yu Zhen was so shocked, he couldn’t help but take a step out of the tower’s doors. The sight of a paradise was spread out before his eyes.