Xia Lan: From Meeting a Martial Arts Girl

Chapter 16 The Border of Japan

Sunlight streamed in through the window and fell on his right hand.

warmth.

Lu Siye raised his hand to his eyes and opened his palm.

The image of Xia Lan is there.

It appeared and disappeared intermittently, brightening and dimming, brightening and dimming again.

Each time it appears, it's a little fainter than the last, but the outline is much clearer than it was a month ago.

Now, he can see a blurry pattern.

It's not exactly beautiful, but it's not ugly either.

He stared at the pattern for a long time.

Then put your hands down and look at the ceiling.

He can't go back.

This thought had been with me since the moment I woke up.

It's not that I can't go back.

There's no going back.

He knew what had happened on that ship, what those five black things were, and how incredible it was that he was alive and lying here.

But he didn't know why.

Why him?

He never intended to save anyone.

He was constantly being pushed along.

Now, he's been pushed into this position.

A place whose location is unknown, a bed whose owner is unknown, and a future whose future is unknown.

Footsteps came from outside the door.

It's very heavy; it creaks and groans when you step on it on the wooden floor.

The door was pushed open, and a middle-aged man walked in.

He was in his fifties, with thick eyebrows, and his sleeves were rolled up to his shoulders, revealing two strong arms.

He has dark skin and many scars on his hands.

He was holding a bowl in his hand, steam rising from it, carrying the smell of Chinese medicine.

"Awake?" he said.

Lu Siye nodded.

Xiang Dingkun later told Lu Siye his name. He walked to the bedside, put the bowl on the table, then bent down, lifted the thin blanket covering Lu Siye, and checked his injuries.

"You're recovering quite quickly," he said, gently pressing his fingers on Lu Siye's ribs. "Does it hurt here?"

"It doesn't hurt."

"And here?"

"A little."

Xiang Dingkun nodded and pulled the blanket back over himself.

"You still need to lie down. The bones have healed, but the internal parts aren't fully healed yet. Moving around too much will cause problems."

Lu Siye remained silent.

Xiang Dingkun sat down by the bed and handed him the bowl.

The medicinal soup was dark brown, smelled bitter, and tasted even more bitter.

"I found you when I was picking crabs on the beach," Xiang Dingkun said, watching him drink his medicine. "The first day, I thought you were dead. Your heartbeat was so weak that I couldn't hear it unless I listened carefully. I hesitated for a whole day about whether to bury you."

He paused.

"You were out of breath again the next day. I thought, 'Fine, I'll just carry you back first.'"

Lu Siye finished drinking the medicine and put the bowl down.

"Where is this?" he asked.

"The border of Japan," Xiang Dingkun said. "A small island, on the eastern side of the sea, quite far from the mainland. The kind you can't find on a map."

"Are you alone?"

"I'm the only one for miles around," Xiang Dingkun smiled. "It's peaceful."

Lu Siye remained silent for a while.

"Thanks."

"Don't thank me." Xiang Dingkun stood up, picked up the empty bowl, and said, "You survived because you're lucky, it has nothing to do with me."

He walked to the door and paused.

"Rest well. Call me if you need anything, I'm right outside."

The door closed.

Lu Siye lay back down and looked out the window.

The cherry blossoms are still falling.

A month later.

Lu Siye is able to get out of bed.

He stood at the doorway, looking at the world outside, feeling as if he were in another world.

The sky was so blue, it seemed unreal.

The distant mountains are dark green, while the nearby trees are light green. The cherry blossoms in the yard have passed their peak bloom, with only a few scattered blossoms remaining on the branches, ready to fall with a gust of wind.

He took a deep breath.

There was no smell of car exhaust, no smell of cooking oil from the cafeteria, and no smell of stinky socks from the dormitory.

There was only soil, grass, and a faint lingering floral scent.

Xiang Dingkun was chopping firewood in the yard. When the axe fell, the firewood split in two with a crack.

"Can we walk now?" He looked up at Lu Siye.

"able."

"Then don't just sit there. The water tank is empty, go and fetch two buckets."

Lu Siye paused for a moment, then nodded.

He found a carrying pole and a bucket, and walked along the path behind the house toward the stream.

The road was narrow and half-hidden by weeds, but it was still fairly steady to walk on.

The stream flows down from the mountain, so clear that you can see the stones at the bottom.

He squatted down and pressed the bucket into the water. The icy water washed over the back of his hand, making him shiver.

He carried the water back, his steps unsteady, spilling some water and wetting half of his trousers.

Xiang Dingkun glanced at it but didn't say anything.

That's how life goes.

Every day at the crack of dawn, they would get up to chop wood, fetch water, start a fire, and cook.

Xiang Dingkun taught him how to use a wood-fired stove, how to control the heat, and how to make dishes taste good without MSG.

"I've been in the city for too long," Xiang Dingkun said. "My tongue is practically useless now."

Lu Siye did not refute.

Life was ordinary.

It was as ordinary as going back to the last century.

No cell phone, no internet, no messages.

The phone had long since run out of battery, and the charger had sunk to the bottom of the sea along with the luggage on the ship.

He wanted to contact Xiaoman.

I wanted to tell her that I was still alive.

But the nearest village is 20 kilometers away, with electricity and signal, but he can't walk that far.

Xiang Dingkun said, "What's the rush? We'll contact each other when the time is right."

Lu Siye didn't know what he meant, but he didn't ask any further.

He accepted it all.

It's a rare opportunity to get a good rest.

No need to go to class, no need to work, no need to think about those messy things.

As long as you're alive, that's enough.

In the evenings, he would practice Qi in the courtyard.

The moonlight was beautiful, shining on the bluestone slabs. He sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, and felt the world around him.

Absorbing Qi.

This is what he's most proficient at right now.

Choosing a suitable environment, Xiang Dingkun's courtyard is at the foot of the mountain, surrounded by mountains on three sides and facing the sea on one side, with a very rustic feel.

He didn't know what his element was, but the earth element environment did make him feel comfortable.

Inhale, drawing the Qi into your body.

He could feel those tiny, faint breaths surging in from all directions, seeping into his body through his skin and pores.

Then he exhaled, locking the energy in his dantian to prevent it from escaping.

Over and over again.

Back and forth.

He can now absorb more than three times more Qi at a time than he did a month ago.

The tiny vortex of energy in my dantian has transformed from a grain of rice into a walnut, heavy and warm.

Gather energy.

This is the most difficult.

Draw out the primordial energy from the dantian and concentrate it in a certain part of the body.

He tried many times and failed many times.

But now, he can do it.

Although we're not very skilled yet, and sometimes we fall apart, at least we can get back together.

He extended his right hand, palm up, and with a thought.

The primordial energy rises from the dantian, travels upward along the meridians, passes through the arms and wrists, and gathers in the palm.

My palm lit up.

The light was very faint, almost invisible under the moonlight.

But it did light up.

Explosive Qi.

He released the condensed primordial energy instantly.

A sudden burst of light shone from my palm, followed by a popping sound, like a bubble bursting.

A very fine ripple spread through the air, and then disappeared.

Yuanqi Palm.

The most basic kind.

The impact is roughly equivalent to being patted on the shoulder; it won't kill you, nor will it hurt you.

But at least it's usable now.

Lu Siye withdrew his hand and looked at his palm.

The Xia Lan mark lit up for a moment, clearer than ever before.

Then it slowly darkened.

It turned back into that faint, indistinct pattern.

He recalled what Yi Songjin had said.

To become one of the Four Symbols Warriors, one previously had to go through a selection process.

However, there are too few Xia Lan members now, so the selection process has been simplified. It has become a matter of being able to defeat a Ba Ling in a three-person team to qualify.

Ba Ling.

It was much stronger than the Zero I encountered that night.

At his current level, he probably couldn't even beat Zero.

The road ahead is still long.

But there was one question he hadn't been able to answer.

He didn't know what his primordial energy attribute was.

Yi Songjin said that each Xia Lan has their own Yuan Qi attribute, which consists of five basic elements: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth.

Through quiet introspection, corresponding colors of light will appear in your consciousness.

Gold represents metal, cyan represents wood, blue represents water, red represents fire, and yellow represents earth.

He tried many times.

Close your eyes, calm your mind, and look inward at your dantian (lower abdomen).

I can't see anything.

It was all pure white.

It was as white as snow, as white as paper, as white as nothing at all.

Sometimes, when consciousness is unstable, the color white can change.

It turned black.

Pure, utter black.

Like that space that night.

The darkness he saw when he woke up—a darkness where there was nothing.

He didn't understand what that meant.

Rare attribute?

Su Nian once said that in addition to the five elements, there are some very rare attributes.

Wind, thunder, light, darkness.

But he felt he wasn't that lucky.

He knows his own talent.

He's not a genius, not a prodigy, just an ordinary person.

If he had to guess, he thought it would probably be the earth element.

After all, I grew up in the village and spent more than a decade working with the soil.

The bald old man in the village often said that he was destined to make a living by digging in the soil. Although the words were crude, the truth was not wrong.

He looked at his right hand; the moonlight fell on his palm, illuminating the faint mark.

So be it, it's rustic.

As long as they can fight, that's fine.

He stood up, dusted off his pants, and went inside.

Xiang Dingkun was already asleep; the room was dark, with only a little moonlight in the courtyard.

He pushed open the door, went inside, and lay down on the bed.

Outside the window, the moon is round and bright.

He looked at the moon and suddenly thought of Tang Yuan.

I remembered the last message she sent.

"I received the gift... I love it!!!"

He didn't know why he kept thinking about it.

A necklace that will never be delivered.