Always Think of your loved ones (Part 2)

After filling Chasing the Wind's food bowl, Qin Ran let him take it aside to eat by himself. Qin Ran looked at Huang Feiyu and asked, "Can you still eat?"

Huang Feiyu shook his head.

"What about fire? Have you ever tried eating fire, like fire crystals, strange fires and stuff?"

Huang Feiyu said, "I'll try it if I get the chance in the future..."

"If you really encounter a strange fire, pay attention to whether there is a technique called Burning Rites. You may reach the pinnacle of your life because of it," Qin Ran joked.

Clearly, Huang Feiyu didn't understand the meme in his words. He still said, "I'll try again if I have the chance."

"Do you resent me?" Qin Ran suddenly asked.

Huang Feiyu was taken aback. He hesitated, looked out of the pavilion at the bright moonlight on the lake surface, the ripples caused by the gentle breeze. After a long while, he nodded imperceptibly.

He murmured, "Actually, I'd rather die than become like this."

Qin Ran looked at the moonlight on the railing of the pavilion in the lake and asked Huang Feiyu, "Do you know what the definition of a human is?"

"The spirit of all things?" Huang Feiyu gave an answer.

Qin Ran didn't negate Huang Feiyu's answer, but gave another one: "A human is the sum of all social relations."

He further explained, "When you were born, you were your parents' son, your grandparents' grandson, your seven aunts and eight uncles' relative; when you grow up, you'll be your friends' friend; after you worship a master, you'll be your master's disciple; you are Liu Boxian's direct disciple, you are the senior and junior brothers of Sword Peak... you are Tian Wenjin's senior martial brother. The sum of all these relationships is you.

"This shell is just the carrier of these identities. What it is doesn't matter."

This was a perspective Huang Feiyu had never heard before, giving him a brand new angle to think about things.

"But..." he raised his own doubts, "Now that I've turned into fire and am no longer my original self, they see me as a monster. Can I still carry those relationships in their eyes?"

Qin Ran looked at the fire man and smiled, "How could you forget? This is the world of immortals. All kinds of gods, demons, ghosts, and bizarre powers are reasonable.

"Here, everything is possible!

"It's just fire... Besides, you can still cultivate. When you reach the Symbolic Manifestation stage, you can divide your primordial spirit and refine an avatar..."

Huang Feiyu understood and looked at Qin Ran with sincerity as he bowed, "Thank you."

"Haven't you noticed how handsome you are now?" Qin Ran asked Huang Feiyu, "The legendary fire god must have looked like you."

"Is that so?" Huang Feiyu smiled. His body suddenly leapt out of the pavilion, standing on the lake.

In the azure sky was a bright moon with wisps of clouds as light as gauze around it. Below the flowing clouds was a small lake.

The lake was calm with only tiny ripples. In the center was a small pavilion with upturned eaves. Inside the lively pavilion were six or seven people. Outside on the lake stood a man of fire... made up of flames.

Under the moon this night, he let the fire around him erupt. With a roar, flames burned and soared. Bathed in the bright moonlight, he looked like Zhurong who had descended to the mortal realm.

What is called imposing manner and awe-inspiring righteousness.

"Alas..." Li Shiyin was the first to cheer. She raised her hand and waved, shouting, "Senior martial brother Huang, so amazing!"

Chasing the Wind howled, "Awoo..." in the midst of eating, just to liven up the atmosphere.

In the interplay of light and shadow, Tian Wenjin looked at Huang Feiyu on the lake, silent.

Everyone in the pavilion applauded for Huang Feiyu, celebrating his acceptance of his new body.

The violently burning flames shrank back. Huang Feiyu flew back to the pavilion. Leaning against a pillar, Qin Ran raised a jug of wine and softly asked, "So, still going to Lingnan Immortal Sect?"

Huang Feiyu halted in midair at the edge of the pavilion. He lowered his head without answering.

Looks like he still plans to go.

After a while, Qin Ran asked again, "When are you leaving?"

"Lingnan Immortal Sect's year-end assessment... starts in a few days," Huang Feiyu said.

No wonder the atmosphere between him and Tian Wenjin was this tense already.

Qin Ran sat on the railing, leaning against the pillar and put down the wine. He took out a jade flute and said,

"In my hometown, there was a great poet who wrote a lyric called 'Song Head in Place Style'. The verse goes: When will the bright moon come? I ask the blue sky with wine in hand. Not knowing which year it is tonight in the heavenly palaces, I wish to ride the wind back home, but fear the bejeweled towers there... People have sorrows and joys, reunions and partings; the moon waxes and wanes. It has always been hard to keep things whole. I hope people stay together for long like the moon shared by thousands of li.

"I gift you the line 'I hope people stay together for long like the moon shared by thousands of li'. When you see the moon in the future, think of Dao Sword Sect."

Huang Feiyu forcibly contained his own temperature. He raised a cup of wine with both hands and bowed deeply to Qin Ran before pouring all of it down his throat.

With a "ziz" sound, the wine he drank evaporated instantly in the flames... permeating the entire Heart of the Lake Pavilion with the fragrance of osmanthus wine.

"Master..." A silly girl raised her hand in puzzlement, "Why is the structure of your poem so weird? I've never seen anything like it."

Qin Ran glanced at her, too lazy to answer. Literature in Northern Chu was still at the Rhapsody stage. Poems and lyrics weren't valued by the literati. It would be weird if she had heard of ci poems.

He picked up the jade flute and looked at the stretch of lake water, thinking of the hometown he couldn't return to. He played a tune. The clear and serene melody floated over the lake surface and lingered in the pavilion.

The tune was quite picturesque, evoking images in the listeners of the bright moon over the sea into which the Great River runs, the moon arising from the sea, and peach blossoms under the moon... Its artistic conception was vast, pure and beautiful. Although the flute player's skills were poor, on such a moonlit night and idyllic scene, all the people in the pavilion listened, enraptured.

After a short rest, the tune ended. Qin Ran sighed softly, "This song is called 'Night Flower-viewing by the Spring River Under the Moon'. It accompanies an outstandingly sublime poem."

Brought back from the artistic realm by the flute, Li Shiyin couldn't help but ask, "Master, when did your flute playing become so good?"

Qin Ran had learned to play it before her eyes, going from a total beginner to now proficient in just over six months. Why had it suddenly become so pleasant to listen to? Had he been hiding his skills?

Leaning against the other side of the pavilion, Tushan Youyou felt dizzy, perhaps from the wine.

Facing Qin Ran, she saw the moonlight on him, which looked like rays emanating from him instead.

She felt Qin Ran was very charming—learned and knowledgeable. She wanted to seduce him badly, whisk him away and make him her harem plaything.

After all, fox spirits loved scholar types like him...

Seeing the bewitching look of lust sent by the fox spirit, Qin Ran unconsciously hugged himself tighter in fear.

Sensing the peril, Li Shiyin gave a cold humph. Sword drawn, she flew onto the lake with a tall and upright posture, loudly declaring, "I'll perform a sword dance for you!"

Thus, there was a maiden dancing with the sword under the moon's glow.

The sword dance was beautiful indeed, combining a maiden's allure and a sword's sharpness; very dream-like—the lithe and supple feminine form juxtaposed with the upright and forceful sword moves.

Except the occasional sword qi coming through the pavilion from the lake reminding people it wasn't that beautiful.

Watching Li Shiyin's sword dance under the moon, Tian Wenjin glanced at her, then Qin Ran, Huang Feiyu and finally back at herself, feeling somewhat miserable... The atmosphere here was lively but had nothing to do with her.

Lying against Tushan Youyou, Long Qiqi watched the sword dance with glittering snake eyes that now resembled a fox's... She's a busybody through and through.

And of course, there was a fool whose expression never changed—still engrossed in eating, Chasing the Wind.

Compared to eating his fill, what's the point of frolicking around dancing with swords?

Watching Li Shiyin's maidenly sword dance under the moon, it reminded Qin Ran of the mythical Chang'e fleeing to the moon. Smiling, he watched the sword dance and said,

"Let me tell you all about the origin of the Mid-Autumn Festival. Legend has it there was an emperor called Hou Yi. He asked an alchemist to produce three immortality pills... One of his concubines was called Chang'e. She's said to have been a nine-tailed fox demon... Chang'e stole those immortality pills from him...

"To avoid Hou Yi's wrath, Chang'e swallowed the pills and ascended to the moon... There is Guanghan Palace, along with the Jade Rabbit pounding medicine and Wu Gang chopping trees on the moon..."