Birth

Gongshu Feiliang fell into memory.

He would never forget that Hengyue night, twenty-four years ago.

Back then, Gongshu Feiliang was still a young man.

He had two very close friends: Xia Chong and Shi Buyi. The three of them had been known as the Three Musketeers back in school.

A great many things had happened that year.

First, Xia Chong had developed a mental illness and been admitted to the Wellness Hall. Then he learned that Shi Buyi had been dismissed from his job at the city bus company.

That day, he had been in high spirits. Xia Chong had recovered and been discharged from the hospital, Shi Buyi had become a mystic, and he himself had a happy family.

He walked along the road with a light step.

Suddenly, a figure in yellow robes appeared ahead of him.

“Shopkeeper?”

Gongshu Feiliang had seen the Shopkeeper once while caring for Xia Chong in the hospital, and the impression had been a particularly deep one.

“It’s me.”

“Shopkeeper, did you come looking for me?”

“Mm. One of your mentors commissioned me to help Shi Buyi resolve the petrification afflicting him, but he doesn’t seem to be at his residence.”

Gongshu Feiliang’s eyes lit up. He trusted the Shopkeeper greatly by now. Previously, it had been thanks to the Shopkeeper’s repeated reminders that Xia Chong had gone to the shop and recovered.

“Ever since the petrification began, Shi Buyi hasn’t been living at home. He likes to leave the city and find somewhere to bury himself in the earth and rocks.”

“My time is limited. Can you take me to him?”

“Of course. I know several stone pits he often visits. I’ll take you there, Shopkeeper.”

When Shi Buyi had first become a mystic, his [Mystic] rank had been low. He hadn’t dared venture too far from the city and usually stayed in only two or three places.

They found no trace of Shi Buyi at the first location. Instead, they encountered a merchant.

The merchant had fallen victim to something strange and was on the verge of death.

Chen Miemie did not intervene. Gongshu Feiliang stepped forward instead.

The strange creature was relatively weak and was soon driven away.

The merchant was so grateful that tears streamed down his face. Clutching Gongshu Feiliang’s hand tightly, he said, “My name is Old Zhang, and I sell candles. I have nothing to repay you with, so please accept these eleven Radiant Candles.”

Gongshu Feiliang had not saved him for a reward. He could tell that Boss Zhang’s clothes were worn and that he was no wealthy man.

Gongshu Feiliang accepted the candles. “Boss Zhang, I often travel outside at night, so these will come in handy. But I’m not taking them for free—I’ll buy them. How about this? I’ll purchase the first ten, and you can count the last one as a gift. Buy ten, get one free. That should be all right, shouldn’t it?”

After a lengthy exchange, Boss Zhang was more or less forced to accept payment for the ten candles. Watching Chen Miemie and Gongshu Feiliang depart, he wiped at the corner of his eye.

“I really did just barely survive. I’ll never forget today. From now on, whenever I do business, I’ll buy ten and give one free.”

After that little interlude, they found Shi Buyi at the bottom of a small valley at the second location.

Unlike Gongshu Feiliang’s enthusiasm, Shi Buyi—the person directly involved—actually refused the Huangyi’s help outright.

He rose from the pile of stones and shook the rocky soil from his body.

“Mr. Shopkeeper, I don’t know which mentor commissioned you to help me, but this is my own problem. I don’t need anyone else to pay the price for it.”

Gongshu Feiliang grew anxious. “Are you stupid? Who cares which mentor it was? If you don’t get treatment, you’ll turn completely to stone! You can find that mentor and repay him later!”

Once Shi Buyi made up his mind, he became extremely stubborn and would not change it easily.

He looked at Chen Miemie, who had transformed into the Huangyi. “Mr. Shopkeeper, I presume you are an incomparably powerful being. May I ask you a question?”

Chen Miemie was already here and did not mind talking for a while. “Go ahead.”

“Thank you. To be honest, when the petrification first appeared on my body, I thought I was going to die, and I was terrified.

“But after burying myself in stone every day and connecting with the earth, I gradually began to feel an overwhelming sense of security—a profound, weighty calm.

“A few days ago, a thought suddenly occurred to me.

“Perhaps petrification isn’t a bad thing.

“It has made me more solid, more grounded, immovable as a mountain. Why should I regard this as an illness that must be cured? Could I not follow this trait and use it to develop my [Mystic] powers?

“Mr. Shopkeeper, I’ve read through many books, but when it comes to mysticism, I’m still a complete beginner. I wanted to ask—what do you think of this approach?”

Chen Miemie’s pair of Hengyue eyes studied Shi Buyi for a full minute, as if trying to see straight through him.

“As a mystic, I can tell you clearly: your idea is not feasible.

“If people could turn side effects into positive power simply by looking at things from a different angle, then the objective laws of the world would make no sense.

“Shi Buyi, the petrification of your body is easy enough to treat. But the petrification of your heart—no one can save you from that but yourself.

“You are like a stone: steadfast and unyielding, but incapable of adapting.

“I know very well that even after I tell you this is not feasible, you will still continue along the path you have chosen.

“I came here at a gentleman’s request. Since you refuse treatment but have asked a relevant question, I’ll make an exception and point you toward a way to survive.

“Pure petrification is irreversible. However, you can try to merge with a power even more unshakable than stone, in accordance with your own aspirations.

“When you place absolute faith in the power you merge with, even petrification will have to yield.

“Of course, petrification is an objective condition. Since you are not eliminating it but merely suppressing it, one day, as your power grows and you use it more frequently, you will still turn completely to stone.”

For a newcomer to mysticism like Shi Buyi, those words contained an enormous amount of information. He was overjoyed, and hurriedly pulled out the book he carried with him to record everything.

“Thank you for your guidance, Shopkeeper.”

Just then, the wristwatch on Gongshu Feiliang’s arm lit up. He glanced at the message and cried out in alarm, “Why now of all times? Shopkeeper, Shi Buyi, I have to get back to the city. My wife has gone into labor early!”

Shi Buyi immediately urged him to hurry home.

Chen Miemie thought about it. It was he who had stopped Gongshu Feiliang on his way home and asked him to come search for Shi Buyi. Gongshu Feiliang had left the city to help him.

“Where is the delivery room? I’ll take you there.”

“The obstetrics department at the Wellness Hall.”

Chen Miemie grabbed Gongshu Feiliang and flew straight into the sky.

Left behind in the valley, Shi Buyi first offered Gongshu Feiliang a blessing—“May mother and child be safe”—then looked down at the book in which he had recorded that precious information.

It was a copy of the Civil Code.

He murmured to himself:

“A power more unshakable than stone. The Civil Code. A code of laws… That’s it—law!

“Only the law is harder than stone. My heart shall be rock-solid, my actions governed by rules. Why shouldn’t I merge with the law itself?”

Less than five minutes later, Chen Miemie arrived at the entrance of the Wellness Hall with Gongshu Feiliang dangling from his grip and hollering all the way through the air.

The moment Gongshu Feiliang touched down, he dry-heaved several times from dizziness before immediately sprinting toward the obstetrics department.

Chen Miemie followed at a leisurely pace.

They had not waited long outside the delivery room on the third floor when the doors opened and the cry of a newborn rang out.

Gongshu Feiliang was so overwhelmed with excitement that he refused to let go of his child.

After hearing that both mother and child were safe, Chen Miemie nodded slightly and prepared to leave.

Unexpectedly, Gongshu Feiliang rushed over with the baby in his arms.

“Shopkeeper, would you do us the honor of giving my child a name?”

Chen Miemie looked at the baby girl in her swaddling clothes, then at Gongshu Feiliang, whose face was full of anticipation.

A thought flashed through his mind: “Forget it. During both of your commissions, you lent a hand so enthusiastically without asking for anything in return. Consider this my way of repaying you.”

With that, two rings of Evermoon light shot from Chen Miemie’s eyes and bathed the swaddled infant. He spoke softly:

“This child [mysteriously] has an affinity with metal. She was born beneath the Evermoon and is destined to be bound to the moon. Let’s use ‘metal’ as her radical and give her the moon’s sound. We’ll name her ‘Yue.’”